APPENDIX TWO
TOM AND MARY DAVIS’ FAMILY &
DAD’S EARLY LIFE
INFORMATION ABOUT OUR DAVIS GRANDPARENTS
The
Davis Family-
I, unfortunately have very little knowledge about my
grandparents Davis, despite the fact that I lived some 25
and 34 years concurrently before losing each of them.
I never once engaged either of them about their early
years. MY BAD.
The best information about their early married life
with children and beyond, comes from the wonderfully
documented life histories of Aunts Safrona and Pearl, Tom
and Mary’s first and second child.
I have copied their stories as part of this Appendix
about our Grandparents Davis.
Our Grandparents Davis family history is otherwise
gone other than the memories of our Davis first
cousins and me. Several of my cousins have sent me comments
about our grandparents and memories of them which I have
added at the end of this bit of history.
I am also asking all of our first cousins who are
receiving this information to add their memories of our
Grandparents Davis.
Does anyone have their family Bible?
If so, please send me any family historical
information that is in it.
Thank you.
We will update this section to incorporate as much
information about them as possible.
Afterall, this is my primary motivation for writing
my autobiography and including as much information about our
Davis and Ware families as I can.
(As I write this I am the second oldest living
grandchild of our particular Davis Family.
Only Howard’s oldest daughter, Doris is older than me
and hopefully, she can add some thoughts about her
Grandparents Davis.)
Grandfather Thomas Wilson Davis was born on
June 5, 1885, in East Bend, Yadkin, NC and died on
November 8, 1961 in Marshall County, IA.
He was one of nine siblings.
His parents were
Jesse Franklin Davis who lived from 1844 to 1890 and
Sarah Matilda Hutchins Davis who lived from 1852 to 1932.
Grandfather Tom was a farmer in North Carolina raising
principally tobacco. He also worked
in West Virginia coal mines during those early
winters.
Grandmother Mary Ann (Hobson) Davis was born
on 17 July 1888 in
East Bend, Yadkin, NC and died on 6 July 1970 in Marshall
County, IA.
Her parents were John Henry Hobson 1861 - 1929 and
Virginia Lee
Hobson 1865 – 1918.
She was
one of eleven siblings. Tom and Mary are buried in the
Bangor, IA Friends Church Cemetery.
My father
was born at home in Yadkin County, North Carolina on March
11, 1913. When
father was two years his parents decided to relocate their
family of six to IA where farming was more rewarding and the
schools better. They
moved in with relatives in
Union, Iowa until they located a nearby farm to rent. The
farm had a very large house, which unfortunately was
destroyed by fire in February 1917. The family lost
all of their belongings as well as the coming year’s seed
corn. The family lived in a temporary storage building
while farming in 1917. In
November 1917, when dad was not yet five years old his
parents decided to return to North Carolina. In
January 1919 the family decided to return to Iowa once
again. My father
accompanied his father, older sister Safrona and older
brother Howard on the return to Iowa. Father’s
mother, two sisters and one brother stayed in North Carolina
until dad’s brother Thomas was born. Two
months after Thomas’ birth the five of them traveled to Iowa
to rejoin the family.
My father
began school in September 1920 at a country school south of
Union, Iowa. The
family moved several times with dad and his brothers and
sisters attending various country schools. In
1923 the family moved to near Clemons, Iowa
where he and his siblings attended and most of them
graduated from Clemons High School. Father
contracted osteomyelitis
in 1930
which required
surgery and
thirteen weeks of hospitalization at Mayo Clinic Hospital in
Rochester, Minnesota. He required the use of crutches
for several months thereafter. He dropped out of school his
sophomore year as he had lost
so much time because of his surgery.
He began working
as a hired man on a
farm directly across the road from where mom lived with her
parents on the then Ware family farm.
My earliest memory of my Grandparents Davis is attending a
summer family picnic at their farm located a little more
than a mile north of Clemons, IA.
They had a big farmhouse located some ¼ from the
gravel road leading to Clemons.
The long lane was bordered by fields of corn and
soybeans of the farm which I believe they were renting.
I believe that it was the first time that I met Aunt
Ruby and her son, our cousin Larry, who might have been
living with her parents at the time.
(Ruby was widowed
when her husband and Larry’s father was killed).We
celebrated nearly every year in those days with a summer
family picnic.
The other contemporary memories are the annual Christmas
gatherings of our family at Grandparents Davis’ house.
On every occasion the kitchen table(s) were loaded
with feasts, with foods provided by every family and
featured nearly every common meat, vegetable, salad, rolls,
deserts and condiments.
These were unbelievable noon-time dinners. No one
went hungry. An interesting tradition which I had forgotten
but cousin Doris reminded me about was that at these dinners
the men always went first.
Then the mothers with young ones, then the older
children and then the women.
Why, I don’t know.
I suspect that it might have been a family tradition
from either the Davis or Hobson ancestors. My grandparents
purchased a farm several miles east of the farm that I first
remember and described earlier, where they spent the rest of
their lives – although Grandmother Mary moved into a small
house on an acreage just east of this farm after the death
of Grandfather Tom.
I believe that subsequently Uncle Charlie then rented
the farm that I first remember my grandparents renting.
Our summer picnic venues rotated amongst dads sibling’s
homes. I
remember attending picnics at Uncle Howards, Aunt Safronas,
Aunt Pearls, Uncle Charlies and our place.
However, as long as the extended family gathered for
Christmas, it was always at our Grandparent’s house. The
Christmas decorations were modest, however there was always
a large Christmas tree well decorated and loaded with
presents. I
believe that my parents and dad’s siblings exchanged gifts
with ones of that generation based, I suspect by a drawing
of names.
Grandparents Davis had a gift for each of we grandchildren..
Additionally, they gave each of
we older
grandchildren a silver dollar for our birthday.
I don’t remember how long they continued these gifts.
We cousins had the run of the two story large house
and if the weather was not too inclement we went
outdoors to play in snow on the large lawn or to the large
barn and hay mow – the large open storage typically in the
upper part of a barn where hay is stored.
Neither Aunt Ruby or Uncle Bud were able to attend many of
these family gatherings which were so important to many of
our family. We
don’t know much about Aunt Ruby.
I don’t believe I ever met her first husband,
presumably Larry’s father who was deceased in 1945.
Larry was born when Aunt Ruby was 18 years old.
I remember again meeting her, Larry and Aunt Ruby’s
second husband and father of their two daughters,
Eddie Dauplaise at a family gathering in Iowa.
Eddie was a U.S. Navy submariner buddy of Uncle Bud,
who introduced Ruby and Eddie.
Uncle Bud enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1937 and
served on submarines as an electricians mate from before and
through WWII.
Throughout his service during the war the two
submarines that he served on
made nine patrols in the Pacific Ocean and were credited
with sinking some 27,000 tons of Japanese ships.
He resigned from the U.S. Navy after Japan
surrendered and returned to Marshalltown, IA.
After his return from his service and a short tenure
of working for a Marshalltown electrical contractor, Bud
joined the rest of the family as Iowa farmers.
Bud and his family were then able to participate in
these important family events.
The first time I remember meeting Uncle Bud is noted
in my autobiography.
He came home on leave from the U.S. Navy during the
war and surprised his parents (and the rest of
us) who were not expecting him.
He telephoned dad and asked him to come to the
Marshalltown railroad station to pick him up and take him to
his parents’ home.
He had a full beard at the time. The extended Davis
family, except for Ruby, all engaged in farming or farm
service in central Iowa.
Pearl’s family operated grain elevators and sold
related farming chemicals, feed and supplies.
They purchased and operated the elevator in Clemons
throughout most of their life.
Ruby whose second husband was
career U.S. Navy
who served primarily on the U.S. west coast did not
reside in central Iowa.
Consequently, we saw little of her and her family.
I remember visiting my grandparents, primarily with my
family periodically, but not frequently.
For some reason we always seemed to be too busy to
take time to go see our Grandparents Davis.
I never once stayed overnight with them and seldom
visited them on my own. I never attended church with them.
Never do I remember my grandparents visiting our home, with
the exception of the one summer family reunion picnic,
although they surely did.
In part, I am sure that the large family – eight
children and thirty three living grandchildren, made it very
difficult to be even remotely involved in their children or
grandchildren’s lives. Squandered opportunities on my part!
My grandparents Davis celebrated their 50th
wedding anniversary October 27, 1957.
Unfortunately, I was on active duty in California at
that time and could not attend the gathering of our large
family. The
celebration was attended by all of Tom and Mary’s children
and spouses as well as many of their 33 surviving
grandchildren and families.
Tom and Mary’s 50th Wedding Celebration
L to R: Wayne, Ruby, Howard, Safrona, Tom, Mary, Bud, Pearl,
Ralph & Charlie
I was living and working in New Jersey when Grandfather Tom
was diagnosed with leukemia.
I remember coming to Iowa for his service.
I remember the wake for him was held in their farm
home between Clemons and Albion, IA.
Grandfather Tom was peacefully presented in his
casket for the immediate family – and good friends to pay
their respects.
I remember visiting Grandmother Mary after she moved to the
nearby small house where she spent her next nine years,
entertaining family and friends, tending the quite large
garden, preserving her garden harvests
and baking her buttermilk biscuits for her guests.
I was not able to attend her funeral service as I was
working in Kentucky at the time of her death.
I know that both of our grandparents worked hard, supported
their family more than adequately, set a wonderful parental
example for their children and their families.
We have several pictures of particularly Grandfather
Tom – always working and in the interest of preserving them,
I have copied several of them at the end of this short
tribute to both of them.
Here are comments from several of
our cousins about Grandfather Tom and Grandmother/Grandma
Mary:
Doris Wrage’s
Comments:
Doris is
Howard’s oldest child.
She is five months older than me and is our
grandparent’s oldest granddaughter.
“I remember my father telling me
that when our grandparents lived in North Carolina, Grandpa
Tom would leave home in the winter and go to West Virginia
to work in the coal mines to earn extra money.
His job frequently was washing the coal in a sluice
in which really cold river water was used.
Although he wore heavy rubber boots, his feet would
get very cold. Thereafter, Grandpa did not want to have cold
feet.
“Aunt Ruby and cousin Larry lived
with our grandparents for a time during WWII.
One time Larry crawled behind the sofa and went to
sleep. No one knew he was there.
Our grandparents and many neighbors conducted a
search for Larry including walking the cornfields.
Later that evening Larry awakened and crawled out
from behind the sofa – everyone was relieved, although
exasperated.
“I remember that Grandpa Tom
particularly liked my mother.
And mother really liked Grandma Mary.
She so liked her that she saved her money and
purchased some small pearl earrings for Grandma Mary.
Grandma Mary was so appreciative that whenever we saw
her afterwards, Grandma Mary was wearing those pearl
earrings.”
“I also remember my father
telling me about the time that Grandma Mary asked my dad and
his brother, Ralph, to plant pumpkin seeds in the garden or
a nearby field.
Grandma Mary had saved the seeds from the prior year’s crop
and carefully stored them for the following years crop.
Dad and Ralph planted about one-half of the seeds and
decided that it was enough.
They hid the rest of the seeds under a large flat
rock at the end of the row.
After the plants had grown sufficiently, Grandpa Tom
went into the garden and saw that the big rock had been
raised up by plants growing under it.
Soon the rock was surrounded by pumpkin vines.”
Mary Dorman’s Comments:
Mary is Howard’s
fifth oldest child.
She is eight years younger than me.
“I do have one special memory of Grandpa Tom. I do not
remember what the occasion was, as I was very young. For
some reason Grandpa picked me up in his car and I assume was
taking me to their home. I was sitting in the front seat
and he was driving. I do not recall anyone else being with
us. It was snowing and he started singing winter songs
which he loved to
sing. "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow." I could
sing the chorus with him. He sang songs for the whole trip
and it made me happy. Maybe it was when Jane was born since
that was in January. He always called me Mary Kathryn
pronounced “Kathern”.
“I don't recall Grandma Mary sitting down much. Always busy.
I can imagine what it took to feed that many family members
daily, all without the amenities we have today. She made
awesome strawberry shortcakes and biscuits that melted in
your mouth. Her sweet smile in that lovely little face was
precious.”
Toni McCabe’s comments:
Toni is Wayne’s
oldest child.
She is fourteen years younger than me and had the very good
fortune of living near our grandparents.
We are blessed to document some of
her memories.
“Granddad Davis (Tom) passed from
leukemia. He was diagnosed only 1 week before he died,
though he had been sick for quite a while. I got to sit on
his lap a lot, even though he was sick, because I was little
and didn't weigh much. He would sing to me and give me
coconut candy.
“Grandma Davis (Mary) had
hardening of the arteries and it affected her cognitive
abilities. My sisters and I would take turns staying with
Grandma every night and the school bus would pick us up
there in the morning. We did that for quite some time. No
one thought to give us some little thing of Grandma's to
remember her. Kids weren't really given considerations then
as they are now. We lived next to her our entire childhoods.
Her possessions were auctioned between her children. These
are my memories specifically so others may have different
perspectives. We lived so close to Grandma that we were at
her home almost every day, either by walking or by pony. We
helped Grandma in the house and in the garden. Many times,
we were rewarded with a fried pie! So many wonderful
memories!!”
Vickie
(Davis) Mackin Ryther:
Vickie is Wayne’s second oldest
daughter who is 16 years younger than me.
“I am two years younger than Toni, and like her, felt
blessed to live so close to my grandparents. Approx. ¼
mi to the west was my grandma and Grandpa Ross, and the
other side was my Grandma Davis. This was after she
was in the little house. I do remember going to the
big house when Grandad was passing. I remember being
upset to not be able to see him. We were told it was
too hard on him, so we had to stay in the kitchen. But
like Toni I remember sitting on his lap, while he played the
harmonica and bounced me on his knee. I also remember him
spitting into his can by the chair. ( I think this is
accurate, but who knows what you remember accurately as a
kid!) I loved seeing them and I remember eating watermelon
at the picnics.
“After Grandma moved to the little house, she was so close.
I remember going there often, either by bicycle or walking.
Since it was so close, we were allowed to go about anytime
we wanted. One story I have is I was playing in the little
lot where there were sheep, I think, out back of her house.
I stepped into a nest of yellowjackets and started
screaming. She came running out of the house with her
kitchen towel swinging and swatting those wasps!!!!
“I stayed overnight with her a lot. She would take her
long hair down, brush it. Then she would always kneel
and say her prayers. I especially loved when she fixed me
breakfast the next day. She always watched the Billie
Graham specials on tv. They probably weren’t on that
often, but I thought it seemed like they were on all the
time! If we could be granted a “re-do” for a specific
time in our lives, I would choose time with my Grandparents,
oh how I loved them all.
“Grandma Davis wrote in a small 3x5 diary every day.
I have a few of these. One of them is from the year I
was born, where she wrote “ Wayne baby born today”.
Her entries always started with the weather, what she
did that day and if any of them went anywhere or if anyone
came to visit. I believe this was when my mom and Dad lived
in a little house on the farm and Grandma and Grandad lived
in the big two-story house.”
Dixie Walters’ comments.
Dixie is Charlie’s third oldest child.
She is nineteen years younger than me
“I have fond memories of my
sister Jo and I staying overnight often with Grandma Davis
on Saturday nights. Sometimes we would ride our horses over
to her house and keep them in the barn and grove. We
were welcomed into her house, just east of Wayne and
Clarice's, with homemade apple pies awaiting us cooling on
the washer and dryer. After a stomach stuffing grand
supper, we would watch Lawrence Welk then it was off to bed.
In the winter she would pile several wool blankets on us. We
could barely move, but sleep we did until called for
breakfast in the morning. At breakfast we had homemade
biscuits which she never measured any of the ingredients,
just kept adding ingredients until they "felt" right as she
kneaded them with her hands. They turned out perfect.
Grandma Davis would put milk in her coffee, then pour it
into a saucer to cool it. The practice of putting milk
in the coffee transferred to Dad (Charlie) and then to me
and Jo to this day. Before we ate, Grandma said this
prayer. "Our heavenly father, we thank thee for this
food. Bless it for our bodies for its intended use. Go
with us through life, save us Christ's name and bless our
companionship together." "I thank thee for the young ones
here to help the long and lonely days and nights. Amen."
“Along the "Davis road", now
named 148th street for 911 calls, farm driveways remain, a
few out buildings, the silo at Wayne and Clarice's and the
pampas grass blowing in the wind in the ditches, but oh the
memories! One day at Mom and Dad's we saw Grandma
Davis's house going down the highway toward St. Anthony!
Dad said, "There goes Ma's house!" It was being moved
to its new home west of St. Anthony. It was set on a
new basement and is still there.
“Hard, hard physical work was the
order of the day for Grandad and the sons. Dad always
called him Grandad. My sister Ruth's grandchildren called
Dad that also. Horses were loved and were for fun, but
were primarily for work. Grandad's first aid given to sores
on the horses backs was grease, to ease their discomfort so
they could keep on working. The love and enjoyment of
working with horses is a common thread among us Davis
grandchildren and beyond.
"All Is Safely Gathered In" as
the song Come Ye Thankful People Come says was a major
accomplishment by Thanksgiving. Grandad told Dad once
that he would be able to tell if Dad ran the horses on the
way back from Clemons because he could hear the clip
clopping on the wooden bridge a mile or so away.
“Grandad and Grandma are buried
in the Bangor Friends cemetery and other family members
since. There are also graves of runaway slaves there
who traveled on the underground railroad. Dad said one time
Ruby was riding a horse or mule on that little gravel road
near the cemetery and the animal bucked her off. He
said her little white dress poofed out like a parachute!”
Dixie also provided this 1963
picture of Grandma Mary, Dixie and her sisters Ruth (the
tallest) and JoDee (the shortest) in Grandma Mary’s home.
Judy Speas Beane's
comments.
I do have a couple of
memories of Grandpa and Grandma also. I vaguely remember
that it was quite an occasion when Grandpa had his few
remaining strands of hair cut, and he became "really
bald." One fond memory of Grandpa is that he let
me rub his shiny bald head. I somehow liked the
feel--my dad had a full head of hair, so this was a
curiosity for me.
When I visited Grandpa and
Grandma with my parents in the summer, Grandma would
always go to her garden or orchard and fill her apron
with whatever was in season and send it home with
us. My favorites were her homegrown peaches!
Early in our marriage, Dave and I would stop to see
Grandma in her small house. This was after Grandpa
had died, and she was still struggling to adjust to
living alone in this small house. But--she always wanted
us to eat something--usually a fried pie that she had
made. I think she always kept them on hand in case
someone stopped by. After Matthew was born she
loved to see the "little one." Every time we
stopped she would tell us about teaching Wayne to walk
by having him push a cream can across the floor.”
What follows are several pictures of Mary, Tom and the
family:
Grandma Mary, Dixie, JoDee And Ruth
Dixie
also provided the following photograph which was taken in
1952
which includes Grandfather
Tom and Grandmother Mary along with a number of our family
members.
We believe
the names of these family members are, from L to R, Front to
Back are: Clarice holding
Vicki; Lynda in front of Ruby; Grandmother Mary, Pearl, Toni
in front of
Safrona;
John Davis, grand-father’s Tom’s nephew from NC and his son
Duane.
Larry
Davis; Tom Speas, Grandfather Tom; Charlie; Ralph; Wayne;
Glenn Speas.
Grandfather Tom Removing A Tree
Stump From His Farmland
Grandmother Mary And Grandfather
Tom Harvesting Very Large Pumpkins
Grandfather Tom On Maybe
His First Tractor
L to R:
Charlie, Mary, Ruby,
Howard, Safrona, Ralph, Pearl, Wayne, Tom (Where is Bud?)
circa 1931
L to R:
Safrona, Tom, Wayne, Mary,
Ruby, Bud, Howard, Pearl, Charlie and Ralph
- Circa 1940
L to R: Safrona,
Mary, Ruby
and Pearl - Circa 1945
L to R:
Ralph, Charlie, Howard,
Bud, Tom and Wayne - Circa 1945
L to R:
Wayne, Pearl, Charlie,
Safrona, Bud, Ruby, Ralph and Howard
(Possibly the last picture of all
eight together, maybe at the time of Grandmother Mary’s
funeral in 1970?)
Immediately
following are Aunts Pearl and
Safrona’s documented memories about our family.
I have placed Pearl’s
comments ahead of Safrona’s despite Safrona being two years
older, as Aunt Pearl’s Story presents a better and more
comprehensive coverage of particularly the family’s early
years.
My
Life
Story
By
Claudia
Pearl
Davis
Christensen
August
1995
I,
Claudia Pearl
Davis Christensen, was
born April
28,
1910. in
Yadkin County, near East
Bend, North Carolina.
I
was the second of
the eight children born to
Thomas Wilson and Mary Ann Hobson Davis.
l
had
an
older sister.
Safrona
Edna. born October
2i.
1908.
A
brother
Howard Franklin
was born July 10, 1911.
My earliest recollection
was the day my brother,
Ralph Weldon, was born.
It
was March 11,
1913.
and before the doctor arrived
Safrona, Howard and I were sent over to Grandma Hobson's.
It was
raining and we walked
under a huge yellow umbrella.
On June 8, 1915, another brother,
Charlie Laurence
joined the family.
He had the
6 month's
colic
and he cried a lot.
In
September
1915,
the
family
attended
the
funeral
of
my
Mother's
brother,
Roy.
My
sister
and I were dressed in our
little white dresses and we rode over to Grandma's in a
horse-drawn wagon.
Roy had been paralyzed
since birth, but lived to be eleven years old and spent most
of
his time in a cradle which
was made especially for him.
Dad farmed with
one horse and a plow.
Mother
would take us children to
the field and make a pallet for us to stay on while she
helped
with the tobacco. There
was a lot of work to raising tobacco. People
went
through
the fields
to pull the
suckers
(as
they
were
called)
by
hand --- then when
harvested, it was hung in
a
barn especially
built for curing.
I remember
Dad spending several
nights at the tobacco barn.
When the tobacco
was ready for market,
it
was
loaded in a covered wagon and delivered to the R. J.
Reynolds
Tobacco Company
in Winston Salem.
This was a 2-day trip.
My sister Safrona and
I started
to
the Wilhelm School near
East Bend in the
fall of 19"14.
The one-room
schoolhouse
had a pot-bellied
stove in the center
of the room and the girls
sat on one side and the boys on the
other.
There was no plumbing.
Drinking
water was a
bucket at the back of the
room and everyone
used the same dipper.
We did not have pencils
and
paper, but used a slate
and slate pencils.
The schoolhouse
was located at the edge of
a timber.
There were no toilet
facilities
so the girls took to the
woods in
one direction and the boys
in
another.
Walking
was the way
of
transportation.
Wheat
and corn
were "carried" to
the mill and ground into
flour and meal.
Older
women still
spun the thread
and knit
stockings
for the family.
Grandma Hobson had a
spinning
wheel.
She had
suffered from "milk
leg"
for
years and always
spun and knit her
own
white stockings.
My Mother
was a good seamstress
and
made most
of
the clothing for the
family.
She was also a good cook.
Her chicken pies and
"dried apple fried pies" were her specialties.
She never measured
ingredients
and the food
was always
very tasty.
One day my young son
asked why I
didn't
cook like Grandma.
My Dad loved music and
played
the
harmonica.
Also, he would play and
sing church hymns
on the
organ
using only
the black keys.
He played by
ear.
The Davis descendants
held a family reunion in
August 1980.
All eight children and 32
grandchildren
were
present.
The
event
drew
76
family
members
including
spouses,
for
100
percent attendance.
The group met for a picnic
at the New Providence
Friend's Church with
156 present.
There
were
73
great
grandchildren
and
one
great-great-grandchild.
The
following is a tribute
to
Mother and Dad written by a granddaughter, Ruth Eggers
and
read at the family reunion
held
in
1980.
*
•
*
AS I REMEMBER
GRANDAD
I
don’t think I am
exaggerating when I remember him as the tallest man around!
It seemed that he was 10 ft. tall.
He had the biggest lap –
I never did touch the floor when I sat there, even as I grew
up.
Grand Dad always chewed tobacco and for some reason, this
aroused my curiosity, as did
the shine on
the top
of
his bald head. It
was rare, though,
that I could ever see over the top of his head to
see
that.
He was a hard worker, we all know, and expected the same
from those around
him, but when his work was done for
the
day, out came the harmonica
and the
toe
tapping
started! We loved
to hear him yodel, too.
One
of my fondest
memories--although I never got to do this with him--was tor
him to talk about taking
me
to North
Carolina
and "go down the
road just kickin' up the
dust!"
The
following is a tribute
to
Mother and Dad written by a granddaughter, Ruth Eggers,
and
read at the family reunion
held
in 1980
GRANDMA
She was the shortest TALL lady around, always wore a
dress, usually a cobbler apron and
lots of
times, a bonnet in
the
garden. She had
the smallest
feet
and longest hair
I'd
ever seen.
No one
at
our
house had
long hair
back then.
Once in a
great while when we were around, she
would
take it down, comb it, and put it back up, never using a
mirror in the process.
Let's talk about Grandma's
kitchen.
The
first
thing that comes back to mind is biscuits
and jam,
but
then.
too, chicken pie so big it was
made in a dish
pan, spice cake, and always the smell of bacon in the
morning--EARL Y
in
the morning!
Grandma told me
right
after our first son was born
that
"youngins" take a lot of doing for.
AND HOW.
Her family, her garden and home
were
her main projects in life.
She
had a
smiling little
face and as I
look
around
this room, I see her face over and
over again in your faces!
And
on it
goes.
*
•
*
In
November
1915,
my folks, hoping for better living conditions and a better
education for us children decided to move
to
Iowa. Lots of
excitement.
We were driven
to
Donahue
in
a surrey "no
fringe"
and
crossed the
Yadkin River
on a ferry
--
then on
to Winston
Salem where we
boarded the
train. It was a
long
ride
and Mother
had packed
a
lunch
for us to eat
on the
way. The
highlights of
the
trip were going through tunnels
in the Blue Ridge Mountains
and crossing
the
Mississippi
River. My
sister and I were poor,
travelers --
motion sickness most of
the way.
We arrived in Union. Iowa and
stayed
with relatives
until a house and furniture were available.
We moved into a rented house just
north
of where the Liberty Church used
to stand.
We attended Sunday School at the Liberty Church and enrolled
in the Liberty
Consolidated
school.
Rode to school
in a horse-drawn
hack - very
cold.
In the Spring of
1916, the family
moved
to a farm east of
the Bangor
Cemetery.
Sometimes as we
walked to
the Bangor
School,
we would
take a
short-cut
through the
cemetery.
We attended
Sunday
School at the Bangor
Friend's
Church in
the old
church building before the present
one was
built. The house
we lived
in
was
huge.
Grandma Davis,
Aunt Susie
and
Uncle
Wiley
Davis lived
in
part
of it. A
new
baby sister. Ruby Virginia joined us on
December
i0, 1916.
In February 1917,
the big old house
caught
fire and burned
to the ground
and
we lost most
of the
contents.
Dad had
his seed
corn stored
in
the attic
and it was
all
lost
That summer
we
lived in
a temporary large
3 room building
and when the storms came, we went
to the
com crib. Many
nights we
were
awakened and
spent
part of
the night
in the corn
crib.
As the cool
weather
approached,
we
moved into
a
house in Bangor.
When the
1st
World War
ended the
school teacher,
Mr. Sparks,
paraded all the children
around
town while he played his cornet
Then in late November, the folks yearning for their homeland
decided to
move
back to North Carolina.
The
flu was prevalent
and before
we boarded the train each one of
us wore a small piece
of "asafetida"
tied in a cloth and
suspended around our necks.
Although the supposed prevention was
hidden from
view, the aroma
was no secret.
Because of, or in spite of, the asafetida none of
us got the
dreaded flu which afflicted so many.
Dad
shipped
a team
of
Percheron
horses
and Mother's
sewing
machine to N.C.
People came from miles
around to see those "big horses".
Christmas was
spent
in
the sunny south.
I was visiting at
Aunt Tina's. The day before Christmas,
we cousins
went out to the woods
and cut a pine tree and stood it in the front
yard.
Next morning it
was covered
with snow
- a
big surprise since
snow was
a rarity
in that
area. I
remember
how
good the yams were that were roasted in the ashes in Grandma
Hobson's fireplace.
It
was
interesting
to see that the ashes
were saved, put in an ash hopper in
the yard and the
lye
from
these
ashes was used
to make soap.
The drinking
water was
carried up a hill from a spring.
For a cooling system,
a
large
box with
openings
on each
end was
placed
in
the stream
close to
the
spring
so the
cold
water would
flow through
it
The
butter and
milk were
placed
in the box to
keep cool
and brought
up
to the house for
each meal.
Another fascination
was watching Grandma
grind the coffee in
her little
coffee grinder.
We lived in house near Grandma Hobson and walked to King
Knob School. I
remember there was a holly bush beside the road.
A Negro family lived
near the school,
but
they walked five
miles
to their school
because
of segregation.
By
January 1919,
the
folks had
decided
to
move
back
to
Iowa.
My
Father,
Safrona,
Howard
and
Ralph
went
on
first
to
locate
a
farm
and
they
moved
to
the
Moorman
farm
east
of
Bangor.
Another brother, Thomas
Ambrose, was born February
23,
1919 and
when he
was
six
weeks old,
Mother and baby and
I
along with Ruby
and
Charlie boarded the
train for Iowa.
A
con
man
was on the
train and
said
he
had
to
report
all
money
the people
had
with
them.
When
he
handed
it
back
to
Mother,
the baby
was crying
.
A bit
later
when she counted it $40.00 was
missing.
Several
others on
the
train were also
robbed.
No trace
of
the
con man could be
found.
A
friend
of
the
family
was
on his
way
to Iowa and helped us when
we had to change trains.
The soil on the Moorman farm was
quite sandy and dad raised the best watermelons and
cantaloupe.
We attended
the
Hocket
School
south
of
Union near
the
Stanfield
farm and
went
to
Sunday
School
at Bangor.
That summer
I
remember
seeing the Iowa river
flood
out
of
its
banks
east of
Liscomb.
Our next move was to the Arney farm on
Mormon Ridge.
We attended Hazel green Country School.
Dad sold his crops in
the field and we
moved into
a house ln Bangor
for the winter.
The school at Bangor had two rooms and two teachers.
In the spring of
1921, we moved
to the Farber place north
of St
Anthony,
just south of
the gravel pit.
Again, we attended the Liberty
Consolidated
School and attended Sunday
School at the Illinois Grove
Church.
The hack route didn't include us
the 1st year
so we
walked two miles
to school. The next year
when we were riding in
the horse-drawn
hack and coming down the coal bank hill, the tongue
of the hack came unfastened and we all had
to. get
out before the driver
got the team stopped. We were all scared but thankful
no one was hurt.
In 1923 when
I was
in the 8th
grade, we
moved to the
Sadie Magee
farm
northwest of
Clemons. There
was a new house
which had been
built amid the
bricks and ashes of
the house which had burned the year before.
There was no electricity or water in the house.
We attended the Clemons Consolidated
School -- Sunday School at the Clemons Church.
In the fall I entered high school and played center
on the girls’ basketball team.
During the 1st years in high school, all the plays,
operettas and programs
were presented
in the Clemons
Church.
There were three high school teachers
and R.
C.
Ringold
was
Superintendent.
The school did
not have
a gymnasium
so
arrangements
were made
for
us to use the hall above the
storage quarters
of the elevator.
The basketball
games were played
around 4 supporting posts. My 1927 graduation
was the last one to be held in the hall.
The school gymnasium
was built
in 1928
and I had
a part in the
play, "Mummy
and the Mumps,"
which was
put on to raise
money for the curtains
for the stage.
After graduation
I did
housework for
Potsanders, Fred Clemons
and Cady
Everists. In
the Fall
of 1928, I entered Central
Iowa
Business
College and worked for my board and room in the Frank
Smith home.
That
year the Tall Corn Hotel in Marshalltown
was finished.
During the celebration of its opening, there was a
contest for Miss Marshall County
and I was chosen Miss
Clemons. A
girl from State Center was chosen queen.
On March 7, 1929, a baby brother, Wayne Burton, was born.
The snow drifts were so high the bobsled went right
over the top of the fences to bring Dr. Noble.
After college I worked in Marshalltown
and in January 1933, I was secretary for D. V.
McLean (Marshall County)
and Oscar Grace {Buena Vista County) at the Iowa
Legislature in Des Moines.
I was also
chosen beauty
queen of
the house,
a very
nice honor.
That was
the year the banks
closed, the
Beer Bill was passed and hybrid seed corn came into use.
In May
1933
Harold escorted me
home from
the Alumni Banquet.
He had
been a
senior when I
was a
freshman
and we
hadn't
noticed each
other.
After working
at the
Clemons
Elevator, he
went to
Stratford,
Iowa
in 1933
to manage
a co-op
elevator.
We were married
February i0,
1934 at
the Little
Brown
Church at
Nashua,
Iowa.
Ruby Davis
and Ronald
Everist
were our
attendants.
Rev Jesse
M. Kauffman
was the
minister.
We moved
into the
house
owned by
the
elevator --
bought our
furniture on
time and
paid
$300.00 for
the whole
bit and
paid it off
in a year.
We attended
the Methodist Church
in Stratford.
Our
delayed honeymoon
was spent
at the
World's
Fair in
Chicago in
August of 1934.
Our son Marvin Harold was born December 30, 1934.
It was a
cold night and Dr. Cunningham’s car stalled so we pushed him
on into the hospital in Webster City.
The country was in a depression – hogs were $0.03 a
pound and corn was a dime a bushel.
During the winter of
i936, the snow blocked the roads
and railroads.
Coal for heating
was scarce
and the
temperatures
below zero
for several
days.
Finally, when a
carload of
coal was
delivered it was
rationed. 1936
was not a good year weatherwise,
- dust
storms in the hot
summer, -
zero temperatures
and snow drifts in the winter.
On
May 24,
1938,
Sharon Lee
was born.
Harold
kept busy
with
work
at
the
elevator and served
on
the
state
grain
boards.
We
attended
conventions
in
Des
Moines
in
January
and
June
each year.
In
February 1939, I
had
goiter surgery
at the
Iowa
Methodist Hospital in
Des
Moines.
Harold
always liked
to
hunt
and
fish.
He
and
Marvin were
out hunting
on
December 7,
i941 when
the
news
came
over
the
radio
that
the
Japanese
had
bombed
Pearl
Harbor.
In
1943
we
moved to
Malcom,
Iowa
and
Harold
managed
the
Co-op
Elevator there.
Again,
we
lived
in
a
house
owned
by
the
elevator and
attended the
Presbyterian
Church.
Harold's father
Albert
S.
Christensen, passed away
in October 1943.
Edward
and
Lenore
Barnes
and
children,
Jeanne
and
Jack,
became
our
very
close
friends
and
we
spent
our
vacations together
on
Deer
Lake
in
northern
Minnesota.
In
October
of 1950,
we
brought
the
Clemons Grain
&
Supply Elevator and
moved
to
Clemons, Iowa
on
January 2,
1951,
our
old
home
town.
No
house
was
available
so
an
apartment
was
made
in the
hall
where
years
before
we
had
played
basketball_
And
we
lived
there
six
years.
It
was
a
busy time
keeping
up
with
the
school
activities.
Sharon
on
the
basketball
team
and
both
she
and
Marvin
were
in
band.
Marvin graduated
from
high
school
in
1952
and
attended
Iowa
State College
a
couple
of
years
and
then
went into
the
Air
Force
January 1,
1957
for
4
years.
Sharon
graduated
in
1956
and was
valedictorian.
Our
whole
family
graduated
from
Clemons
High.
After
high
school,
she
worked
for Carr
& Moehl
for
a
year
and
then
to
Iowa State
College
for
4
years,
graduating in
May
of
1961..
We
built our new
home
in
the
fall
of 1956
and
moved
into
it
January 20,
1957.
Harold's Mother,
Malinda
Christensen,
passed
away
July
12,
1958.
In
1959
the
feed
mill
was
put
in
at
the
elevator.
Sharon
and
Dick
Brown
were
married
August 23,
1959.
I
made
her
wedding
dress.
After
finishing
college,
they
both
taught
in
high
schools in
Davenport, Iowa.
Marvin
came
home from
the service
in
December
'1960
and
worked
at
the
elevator.
Harold learned
he
had
glaucoma.
My
Dad, Thomas
Wilson
Davis
passed
away
November
8,
1961.
Services
were
at
the
Clemons
Church
with
burial at
the Bangor Cemetery.
Clemons
Grain
and
Supply
was incorporated
and
became Clemons
Grain
and
Supply,
Inc.
on
January 1, 1962.
Marvin
and
Dorothy
Channell were
married
July
1,
1962.
I
helped
Dorothy
make
her
wedding dress.
In
1963
we
built
a
cabin
on
Holiday
Lake
near
Brooklyn,
Iowa
and
spent
summer
week-ends there
for
several
years.
November
11,
1963,
our
first
grandson,
Christopher
James
Brown,
was
born
and
on
December
15,
1963,
Rex
Marvin
Christensen
was
born.
Eric
Michael
Brown
was
born
July
18,
1966
and
on
November
25,
1969,
Steven
Paul
Brown
joined
his
brothers.
The
Browns moved
to Atlantic
in
August
of
1965.
I
served
as
Secretary
and
Treasurer
of
the
United
Church
of
Christ
Board and
was
Secretary and
Treasurer Of the
Memorial Committee for
30 years.
I was also treasurer of
the school board.
We
made
our
first
trip
to
Texas
in
1965
and
visited
the
Lyndon
Johnson Ranch.
My
Mother
passed
away
July
6,
1970.
Marvin
got
his
pilot's
license
February
1971.
Harold
retired
in
1972.
We bought our
mobile home
in
Texas and
we
spent 25
winters in
Mission.
Clemons Grain and Supply, Inc. was
sold to Marvin and Dorothy Christensen in January 1978.
We
attended
Sharon's
graduation
in
May
1978
when
she
received
her
Master's
Degree
in
political
science
and
public administration
from
Iowa State University.
She
was
appointed Cass
County Treasurer, May 1,
1979.
We
attended
the United
Methodist
Church in
Mission
and bowled
at the
Grapefruit
Bowl. In
an effort to
keep the railroad in
Clemons we
flew to a
meeting in
Chicago in 1977,
but to
no avail.
We celebrated our
45th
wedding anniversary February 10,
1979 in
Rollin' Home Park
in Texas
with all family
members present.
Marvin
flew his
plane
down leaving
Ames at
sunrise
and landing
in McAllen.
Texas at sunset.
Sharon
and
Sid
Winchell
were
married August
10,
1979 enlarging
our
family
with
four
step
grandchildren,
Kevin,
Kelli,
Kim
and
Kris.
We
sold
our
lake
property in
August 1982
--
celebrated 50th wedding
anniversary
on
April
20,
1984
at
the
Clemons United
Church
of Christ.
A
heart attack
in September
1987
slowed
me
down
a
bit
and
Harold
had
surgery
in
September of
1988.
Harold's
health continued to worsen
and
in
1991, he was diagnosed as
having Alzheimer's.
Our
last winter in
Texas was
rough
but
somehow
we
managed with
the
help
of good
friends and
neighbors.
On April 6, 1992, Harold entered
the Health Center in Indianola, IA.
I moved into the Village
on May 3, 1992 to be close
to
Harold.
During
the
summer I
had
cataract surgery on
both
eyes. Problems continued
for Harold and
on
December 17th, he
fell
and
broke his hip.
He
was in
Iowa Methodist Hospital
after
surgery for
17
days
and
was
brought
back
to
the
Health
Center.
He
just
didn't improve
and
passed
away February 22,
1993.
The
funeral was held
in
the
Clemons United
Church
of Christ and internment
in
the Clemons Cemetery.
On
June
11,
1993 my youngest brother,
Wayne
passed
away with
cancer.
The summer of
1993
was a very rainy season
and we
had
lots of floods
in
Iowa.
In the fall, I
sold
our home in Clemons
to
a
grandson
Rex
Christensen.
October
29th,
Sharon
helped
me
drive
to
Mission,
Texas
for the winter.
With
the
birth
of Kevin
and
Julie Winchell's baby May
26,
1994,
I now have
6 great step
grandchildren
Some trips that we
enjoyed:
-
1937
– Took my folks with us to Yellowstone National Park
-
1939 -
Took
Harold’s folks with us
to Deer Lake, MN.
-
1957 -
We visited Marvin
in the Air Force in
Moultrie, GA
-
1958 -
“
in Rantoul, IL
-
1960 -
“
in Mountain Home, ID
-
1961 -
Trip to Colorado with
Bill Everists and to Enid, OK for
a Legion baseball game
-
1974
-
Visited
Ruby
and
Eddie
on
Vashon
Island,
Washington.
Harold
and
Ruby
celebrated birthdays
with dinner in
the Space Needle
-
1975
-
January
-
Kent
Feeds
awards
banquet
in
Hawaii
•·
while
island
hopping,
we
flew
over a rainbow
-
1975
- April
-
I
went with Safrona and
Glen
to
North Carolina and
up
the
East
Coast
and home through Pennsylvania and Ohio
-
1979
-
Bus
trip
-
Pacific Northwest Tour
-
through
Canada,
rode
the
ferry
from
Vancouver
to
Seattle
-
1982
-
A
trip
to
Branson, Mo
with
Sharon
and
Sid.
Saw
the
play
"Shepherd
of the
Hills"
and the "Passion Play"
at Eureka Springs
-
1992
-
A
trip
to
New
Jersey
to
Eric and
Jenny's
wedding.
Also
to
the
Statue
of
Liberty
and Ellis Island
Grandchildren:
-
Rex
Marvin
Christensen
-
Rex
lives
in
the house we
built in
Clemons and
carries
on
the
family tradition at
Clemons Grain and Supply, Inc.
-
Christopher
James Brown and his wife, Debbie, live
in
Clive, Iowa, a
suburb of Des Moines.
-
Chris is
Director of Systems at
Equitable of Iowa.
Debbie currently works
at
International Travel
Associates.
They
are
expecting
their
first child in
December.
-
Eric
Michael Brown
and
his wife,
Jennifer,
live
in
Buffalo
Grove,
Illinois,
a suburb of Chicago.
-
Eric is a Write analyst in
the Tax Practices
Development
Section of Commerce
Clearing
House, Inc.
Jennifer
is
a
lawyer
with
the
firm
of Kantor and Apter.
-
Steven
Paul
Brown resides
in
San
Francisco,
California.
-
-
Steve
is a
bartender at
Fisherman's
Wharf and
will
be attending
San Francisco State
part-time in the Fall.
-
-
Kevin
Sidney
Winchell and
his
wife, Julie,
live
on an
acreage
near Kelley,
Iowa.
Kevin
is a
pressman
at Computer
Forms in Ames.
Julie works in Information Services at the McFarland
Clinic also in Ames.
They
have
three children:
James
Theo, born
May 30,
1982,
Christine Ann,
born September
19, 1985
and Stephanie
Brooke, born
May 26, 1994.
She has one son, Travis
Paul, born September 17, 1979.
Kim
works at
State Farm
Insurance and
Allen is
a Manager
at Iowa Select
Farms. They have
two children, Tyler Allen, born May 15, 1984,
and Danielle
Leigh,
born June
4, '1987.
-
Kristin Kae Winchell lives
in Maple Grove, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Kris
is the tournament director at Majestic Oaks, a 45-hole
golf course
I
am
blessed
with
a
fine
family
and
wonderful
friends
and
I
treasure
my
time
with
them.
I
enjoy
relatively good
health,
though back
surgery is
forthcoming.
Thank you
all for
your part
in my
life
story.
Claudia
Pearl
Davis Christensen
Sofrona E. (Davis) Speas
Life Story
I, Safrona E. Davis Speas, was born
October 21, 1908 near East Bend, North Carolina, the oldest of
eight children. My
parents were Thomas Wilson and Mary Ann Hobson Davis.
My first home was a log house.
Dad said that the song Dixie was appropriate for me
because I really did arrive in Dixie Land early on a frosty
morning.
On April 28, 1910 another baby
girl arrived, and I had a sister who has been very close to me
all of our years. A
family friend wanted her for a namesake, and she was named
Claudia Pearl.
During our early school days, I remember the “Claudia” part was
not too popular with Pearl.
Likewise, I had some problems with my “odd” name. We both
did survive!
The third child to arrive in
the Davis household was a boy, Howard Franklin.
He was born July 10, 1911 with white hair, blue eyes, and
a very red complexion (according to Dad’s description).
Pearl, too, had blue eyes like Dad’s.
Mine were hazel-colored, more like Mother’s brown eyes.
Ralph Weldon, also
white-haired, but brown-eyed was born March 11, 1913.
Another blue-eyed boy, Charlie
Lawrence, joined the family June 8, 1915.
The first few months of his
life, he had colic and cried a lot.
I imagined I could hear him crying even when out of
ear-shot. I
remember being in the field one day and starting to run toward
the house. When Dad
asked where I was going, I said, “The baby is crying.”
I guess I thought I could help.
The folks kidded me about that episode.
When I was about six years
old, and my sister Pearl and cousin Blanche Davis were nearly
five, we started to the Wilhelm School near East Bend, N.C.
Dad had taught me to read, the A B C’s and how to count.
Memories of my early schooling
are sketchy. It was
necessary for us to walk through some timber to reach the
schoolhouse. My
Aunt Wilda tied a rag on a tree where Blanche was to leave the
traveled road when she returned home.
The school was nearly surrounded by timber.
In those days there were no outhouses.
The boys used the timber on one side of the schoolhouse,
and the girls used the other side.
We didn’t have pencils and
paper, but each of us, when we started to write, used a slate
and a slate pencil.
Wearing apparel was very
different form school-clothes now.
The girls wore coverall aprons over their dresses.
We often tucked some home-dried peaches or apples in our
apron pockets for recess snacks.
Fruit was abundant in season.
In winter we had lots of baked sweet potatoes, dried
fruit, fried apple-pies, and sometimes home-grown peanuts in our
lunches. Those in
one family usually shared a shiny round lunch pail or a syrup
bucket for carrying their lunch.
Drinking water was brought
from a neighbor’s well.
We had a dipper in the water bucket, from which we drank.
A wash basin sat on a shelf near the water bucket in case
we needed to wash our hands.
At Christmas-time the teacher
treated her students with striped stick candy from a wooden box.
When we wished to visit close
neighbors or go to the store or mill, we usually walked.
Wheat or corn was “carried” to the mill and ground into
flour and meal.
Occasionally our whole family
traveled in a horse-drawn wagon to visit an aunt’s family a few
miles away. We
usually did this on a weekend and remained overnight.
The children used forerunners of sleeping bags at night.
We had pallets on the floor (home-made quilts).
Older women still spun their
thread and knit stockings for the family.
My mother sewed and knit.
Grandma Hobson still had a spinning wheel.
She had suffered from milk-leg for years, so she always
spun and knit her own white stockings.
Mother made all the clothing
for our family except Dad’s underwear, overalls, suits and the
hats. About
everything not raised or made at home was purchased at the
country store.
I remember once riding with
Dad to Winston Salem in a covered wagon loaded with tobacco for
market. I was very
interested in a blind man who sat in the warehouse singing,
“Life’s Railway to Heaven.”
Some of Dad’s family had moved
to Iowa and gave reports of better advantages in farming there.
His sister, Martha Speer, and her husband invited our
family to come and rent their farm located just southeast of the
Bangor Cemetery.
They built a new house on the farm and planned to sort of
retire.
In November, 1915 my parents
held a closing-out sale, and we left our North Carolina home for
Ioway! Family
friends and relatives took us and our belongings by team and
wagon to Winston Salem.
Enroute we crossed the Yadkin
River at Donaha on a ferry.
We came to Union, Iowa on the train.
A special piece of our baggage
was a large trunk which Dad had purchased while a young man.
It carried his belongings to West Virginia where he
worked during the winter seasons in the coal mines.
I still have the old trunk, with a leather packet in the
lid for business papers, a round rack for a man’s “Sunday hat”,
a deep covered tray for special storage, and lots of room
beneath.
There were five children when
we came to Iowa. I,
the oldest, was seven years old, and Charlie was five months of
age. I’m sure my
parents had their hands full as we traveled.
We took along cold lunches to eat on the train.
In Roanoke Virginia, Dad got hot sandwiches and fried
potatoes. My, how
good they tasted!
Sister Pearl and I were poor travelers.
We were train-sick most of the way.
From November until March 1,
we lived in a farm tenant house near the old Liberty Church,
along with Uncle Jesse Davis’ family.
When they learned that we were moving to Iowa, they
decided to come also.
The move was made in the fall so the men could purchase
farm equipment and horses at farm sales during the winter
months. Uncle
Jesse’s moved south of Union.
They became homesick after a year and returned to N.C.
School in Iowa was different.
We rode in a horse-drawn hack to the Liberty Consolidated
School. In winter
we wore long black leggings which we buttoned from ankle to knee
with a button hook (the girls) and overshoes.
When our feet got cold riding, we ran behind the hack to
get them warm. We
all used robes and blankets, and some even had soap stones
heated to place under their feet.
Because I was older and
already reading, I was placed in a grade ahead of Pearl.
Later, we graduated a year apart as we should have
because of our ages.
We moved to Uncle Jim Speer’s
farm in the spring of 1916.
While living there, we walked to school in Bangor.
We began attending Sunday school at the Bangor Friend’s
Meeting in the old church.
Uncle Wiley and Grandma Sara
M. Davis lived in part of our large farmhouse.
Later, Uncle Wiley got married, and Grandma returned to
North Carolina to live.
Our kitchen had “running
water” which, as I remember, was hand pumped from a cistern and
ran through a sort of cooling trough.
On December 10, 1916 following
my eighth birthday, a baby sister, Ruby Virginia, came to join
the family. Because
of a birth injury a lump appeared on her head and didn’t
disappear for several months.
One day as the folks were preparing to take her to the
doctor (via horse and buggy), a neighbor came by to report that
one of Dad’s best work horses had been struck by lightning.
He’d discovered it lying by a roadside fence.
The doctor’s appointment had to be postponed while the
neighbor helped Dad skin the horse.
The hide was later made into a fur coat which Dad wore
for several winters.
During cold weather, many farmers wore horsehide coats to
farm sales and whenever they left home.
Free lunches were served at
the farm sales. It
was said that some patrons went home with those large fur coat
pockets full of the free doughnuts.
Bangor had a two-room school.
The lower grades were taught by Wilma Pelham, and Ruby
Shahan was the upper elementary teacher.
It was at this school that I first met Hester Green
Parsons and her sister, Frances Green Norman, Florida and S.T.
Willits, Luella Good Speas, Ben Harris, Maxine Kersey Wright,
the children of Steve and Jack Jessup, and the Moorman children.
In September preceding my
ninth birthday, I became ill at school and had to rest on the
way home. That
evening Uncle Jim Speer and Dad took me to see Dr. Marble in
Liscomb. He
referred us to a Marshalltown doctor.
The next morning, I underwent mastoid surgery which was
followed by a two-week stay in the (then Deaconess) hospital.
Since my hair was long, it was cut, and the right side of
my head was shaved for the surgery.
Afterwards Mother parted my hair in the middle and pulled
some down over the bare side.
I started back to school with my head encased in a muslin
bandage. The
surgeon returned from a vacation, discovered an infection, and
stopped my school attendance for four and a half months.
In February of 1918 while the
eighth graders were taking their county exams, we younger
students were at home.
The weather was very cold.
In the afternoon, Mother went to feed the hens and gather
the eggs. Dad was
bringing in wood for the heater.
Pearl and I were watching the younger children.
We heard something fall upstairs, but were afraid to
investigate. When
Dad came inside, he asked why there was smoke in the house.
We told him we’d heard a noise upstairs.
He ran up, opened the attic door and discovered that the
house was on fire.
Apparently, a chimney going up through the attic had collapsed.
Dad called to Mother and then
gave a general ring on our several party telephone line.
He saw that all of us children were bundled up and
hustled us outside.
The neighbors began arriving in wagons and buggies to help in
any way they could.
One neighbor, Will Macy, took Mother and us children to their
home. We watched
from their east window as our house burned to the ground.
Uncle Jim, who owned the place, and his family were
wintering in Texas.
We lived in their house until they came home.
Later a three room “shack” was built as a temporary home,
and we lived there until fall.
We had many wind and thunder
storms during that summer.
On more than one occasion, the folks roused us during the
night and took us to the corn crib where they felt safer.
It had a strong foundation, which the temporary house did
not have.
When the weather became cold,
we moved into a house in Bangor until the corn was picked.
This was during the fall of 1918 when the influenza
epidemic was wide-spread.
Our school had only one
teacher then, Mr. Myron Sparks.
He impressed on the students the importance of being
careful about spreading germs.
We were instructed to drink only from our own cups and to
brush our teeth regularly.
I don’t remember why we were
using thread but each of us had to moisten only the end that we
broke off before threading our needles for hand-work.
On Armistice Day, news of the
end of World War I was received by Mr. Sparks.
The students formed a procession and marched around the
Bangor Square, each of us beating on or blowing into whatever we
could find that would make a noise.
I’m sure the U.S. flag was carried at the head of the
procession.
Everyone was celebrating the good news.
Late in November, 1918 the
folks held a farm-sale, and we returned to North Carolina on the
train. The flu was
still prevalent.
Each one of use wore a tiny piece of asafetida tied in a cloth
and suspended around the neck.
Although the supposed preventative was hidden from view,
the aroma was no secret.
It almost made on ill just to smell it.
Because of, or in spite of the asafetida, none of us ever
got the dreaded flu which afflicted so many.
From late November until
February we lived in a house quite near my Grandmother Hobson’s
home. We walked to
King Knob School.
It had the same kind of plumbing and facilities as the first
school I attended.
Near the schoolhouse was a negro church.
The colored people had their own separate schools and
churches.
We had happy times visiting
relatives and friends in the south again, but Dad wasn’t
satisfied in North Carolina after having lived and farmed in
Iowa. In February,
1919 after another sale, we came back to Iowa.
Since Mother was expecting again, Dad, Howard, Ralph and
I came ahead of the others in order for him to rent a place and
buy equipment. The
Moorman place east of Bangor was our next home.
Mother and the other children remained with her folks
until Thomas Ambrose who arrived February 23, 1919, was three
weeks old. Then
they arrived, also coming on the train.
While enroute several of the passengers were filched out
of their money by a man posing as an inspector.
Mother lost $40.00.
We attended the Hocket School
south of Union near the Stanfield farm.
Gail Jessup and Burma Barnes were our teachers while
there.
A year later we were on the
Arney farm southeast of Bangor.
While there, we were students at Hazel Green School with
Rie Arney Dickover as our teacher.
Another move when I was in
seventh grade brought us to the “Farber Place” north of
St. Anthony and south of the present gravel pit.
We were enrolled in the Liberty School again.
Our junior high teacher was Marie McCoy. My classmates
were all girls; Gladys Gilmore, Irene Dunn, Ruby Reece, Eva
Gabard, Irene Botts, and Regina Dunn.
In ninth grade, Mae and Ambrose Blayney and Dan Dunn
joined our class.
The spring I was an eighth
grader three pupils from our room had pneumonia:
Earl Drew from seventh grade and Irene Botts and I from
grade eight. Irene
lost all of her hair.
When school started the next fall, she had beautiful
short curls. I
envied her because they were so pretty.
I represented Liberty School
in the county spelling contest in Marshalltown and won third
place. I misspelled
“acquitting” leaving out one “t.”
In 1923, I made my last move
(with my parents) to the Sadie Magle farm northwest of Clemons.
I was a freshman in high-school.
There were three teachers in the high-school besides Miss
Golly. She came by
train from Zearing one day each week to teach music in all 12
grades. She also
directed the orchestra.
Miss McPherson and Mrs. Easton were our other teachers,
and Mr. Ringold, our superintendent, also taught several
classes. We had
only one school building and rode to school in a horse-drawn
bus. Edward Ross, a
tenth-grade student, was our driver.
Hampered by visual problems,
schoolwork wasn’t always easy.
I was assigned a seat with the best available light near
a window. Our
electric lights were not too efficient, just bulbs suspended
from the ceiling.
Test questions were usually
written on the blackboards.
This required several trips to the board to read the
questions, and then back to my desk to write the answers.
I started wearing glasses when ten years old.
They helped, but never solved the near-sightedness
problem.
In May, 1926 our class of nine
was graduated from the Clemons High School.
Hazel Roseburrough and Hazel Bryant had been our
classmates but dropped out of school during the senior year.
The grades were:
John Goecke, Leland Fricke, Lloyd Davis, Roland Camp,
Delbert Lee, Helen Nichols, Minnie Wantz, Katherine Hiatt, and
Safrona Davis. All
of the boys in my class are now deceased.
We had other teachers during
our high-school career, but Mr. Ringold remained as
superintendent. Our
last teachers were Evelyn Gebhardt, Edna Collar, and Bertha
Schneider.
During my first years at CHS,
all plays and operettas were presented in the Clemons church.
By the time we graduated, the hall above the storage
quarters for the elevator had been made into an auditorium.
Our basketball games were played around the supporting
posts. We had no
paid coaches. Edna
Collar, the English teacher, coached the girls, and Herbert
Armbrecht, the local banker, coached the boys.
In winter, we had a heating
stove in the northeast corner of the auditorium to keep us warm.
A stage was built across the east end of the room.
It was here that we presented our senior class play and
held our class night activities.
The high-school glee clubs presented the operetta “Love
Pirates of Hawaii” also that year.
Baccalaureate was held in the church, but we graduated in
our new auditorium.
The summer following
high-school graduation, I enrolled in the Industrial Science
course at Iowa State College.
My first roommate was Velma Pike, the seventh and eighth
grade teacher at Clemons.
I shared a room with Sylvia Boeyink of Sioux Center the
second summer session.
The following year, Essie Wykert from near Wapello was my
roommate. We lived
in the old wooden Elm Lodge.
During my sophomore year, Clara Blank, my twin in age,
from Coin, Iowa roomed with me in East Hall.
During that spring I met Glen
for the first time.
He came to our dorm to visit his then girl-friend, Verna Vieth.
I have many fond memories of
my sophomore year at Iowa State College.
We had a much better place to live.
The girls on our floor were friendly and fun to be with.
We enjoyed many happy times together.
I had planned to teach
following my two years of college but didn’t find a job.
I stayed at home for a year, working part-time in the
Fred Clemons home and doing odd jobs.
My youngest brother, Wayne Burton, was born March 7,
1929, so there was plenty of work to keep me busy.
Grandma Davis was living with us.
Pearl was working in Marshalltown, and Howard and Ralph
were away helping other farmers.
In the fall of 1929, I started
my teaching career at Clemons with fifth and sixth graders as my
students. Mr.
Ringold had been my superintendent throughout high-school and
was still there during my first year of teaching.
He was a man of integrity and did a lot to help me both
as a student and during that first year as a teacher.
I enjoyed my three years of
teaching. I feel
now that if I’d had fewer vision problems I could have done a
better job. I don’t
think I really realized how handicapped I was until much later
in life.
In December, 1929 Grandpa
Hobson died in North Carolina.
Mother took Wayne, then ten months old, to her old home
for the funeral.
Grandma Davis accompanied her and remained with Uncle Jesse
Davis’ family until her death in June, 1932.
During the time Mother was away, Glen came to visit me
for the first time.
The summer of 1930 found me
back at Iowa State College with Mabel Foster as a roommate.
We lived in the then new Birch Hall.
Our friendship has lasted throughout the years.
Glen and I visited her once in her home in Clinton, Iowa.
We kept in touch by correspondence.
Mabel died in March, 1987.
Following my second year of
teaching, I again attended Iowa State College for the first
summer-school session.
In the late summer of 1931,
the Clemons bank closed its doors, and the whole community was
in a turmoil. Dad
had put over $600.00 in the bank with the intention of paying
the rent in September.
That year my salary was $100.00 a month.
I loaned him my first month’s salary.
During my teaching career, I
lived at home and rode to school in the bus which Ralph and
Charlie drove (still horse-drawn).
I helped when I could in the home and purchased things
that mother needed:
silverware, curtains, towels, springs, mattresses and a living
room set, to mention some of them.
I also found a lot of pleasure in buying things for my
little brother, Wayne.
One article of clothing was a red snow-suit which Tom
later inherited.
Glen and I started seeing each
other more often during the winter of 1931-1932.
Our wedding date was set for June 1, 1932.
In those depression days, we saw each other about every
two or three weeks.
Postage for a letter was two cents.
We did a lot of letter writing.
Glen lived at home and drove a
school bus. He
farmed some of the neighbor’s land and helped his father who no
longer picked corn or did the main field work.
Shortly before our wedding my
students gave me a shower.
Most of my gifts were ten-cent items.
I received several green glass dishes and some green and
tan kitchen utensils.
Those were my chosen colors.
The adult ladies Sunday school
class held a shower for me at the Earl Van Metre home.
That night the restaurant in Clemons burned.
The shower committee had left some refreshments in the
cooler in the restaurant because no one had the freezing space
to keep them.
Needless to say, they didn’t get to enjoy the left-overs.
We were married on Wednesday
afternoon, June 1, 1932, in the formal gardens at Iowa State
College in Ames, Iowa.
We stood beneath a natural green arch over a gateway.
Reverend Jesse M. Kaufman, pastor of the Clemons church,
officiated. Glen’s parents, Maxine, my mother and all my family
except Dad and Wayne were there.
Pearl was my attendant and Wayne Powers, Glen’s cousin,
was his best-man. I
wore an orchid taffeta long dress with white hat, shoes and
gloves. Glen had a
navy tailor-made suit for the occasion.
We spent our first night in
the Sheldon-Munn hotel in Ames and then drove to Albany,
Missouri to visit Helen and Gordon Murray for a few days.
It was pouring rain as we drove south.
At one point, the motor in our Model T. Ford wet down,
and the car stopped.
It was raining very hard, and the visibility was almost
nil. While thus
stranded, one car met us at the same time that another passed on
the opposite side.
As we neared the Murray’s we went through water covering the
road, but there were no more problems.
On the way home we stopped in
Marshalltown to buy groceries and to get candy-bars for the
expected charivari.
My new home wasn’t new to Glen
since he had lived in the same house from babyhood.
His parents built the house the year he was born.
We had an apartment upstairs during our first one and
three-quarters years of marriage.
Glen’s parents had a
dinner-bell, the one that stands by my back door, mounted on a
closeline post.
Glen’s mother thought it might be damaged by the charivari
crowd, so the clapper was removed.
As they arrived, Glen and I watched from an upstairs
window. Imagine
their surprise when the bell didn’t ring.
During the time we lived near
Ferguson, we sometimes went to church in a buggy.
Many country roads were not graveled, and ours was one of
them. I rode with
Glen and his father to Laurel in a buggy to cast my first
presidential vote in November, 1932.
I helped Glen pick corn with a
team and wagon the first fall we were married.
Money was very scarce in the depression days.
For entertainment, we visited with our neighbors and
families and attended extra church functions.
The men gathered and sawed wood to heat the church, and
the women prepared the dinner.
There was much more exchange of work in the 1930’s.
On wood-sawing days, moving days, corn-shelling,
threshing, butchering, and hay-making days, some of the
neighbors were always there to help.
Women also helped to prepare the meals.
Our garden and fruit-trees
provided fresh vegetables and fruits in summer and fall, and
canned and preserved food for winter.
A flock of chickens provided us with eggs and some meat.
We traded the surplus eggs for staples at the grocery
store. A cow herd
produced milk for our use, and the separated cream brought in
some income.
We kept enough cream for cooking and table use and to
churn our own butter.
Glen’s father raised some wheat which he had ground to
use for cereal. It
tasted a lot like Malto-meal, but it took longer to cook.
Most of our bread was home-made.
How good it smelled and tasted with butter and sorghum or
home-made jam or jelly.
Needless to say, we raised our own animals for
butchering, and our chickens for frying and canning.
On Sunday morning, January 14,
1934 our first child, Thomas Williams, arrived at the
Marshalltown Evangelical Hospital.
A neighbor, Ernie Zesch, drove us to the hospital
Saturday evening. He
and Glen were equipped with scoop shovels.
Luckily, we followed the snow plow into town and they
didn’t have to use them.
The winter of 1933-1934 was a
hard one financially.
People tried every way to cut expenses.
We shut off extra rooms and used a heater instead of the
furnace. We all
lived together sharing the cooking and home duties.
Hogs brought two and a half cents per pound.
Corn was ten cents a bushel and eggs ten cents per dozen.
Income was at a very low ebb on the farm.
We always had plenty to eat but lacked many of the frills
which we consider necessities today.
March 1, 1934 Glen, Tom and I
moved to an 80 acre farm northwest of Marshalltown known as the
Shewalter Place. We
were just south of the farm where Burleigh and his family lived.
We were happy to have them as neighbors and enjoyed being
near some of the family.
Our house was in a bad state of neglect, so the officers
of the Fidelity Bank, who owned the farm, hired Carl Anderson to
paint and paper the interior.
The house was large so we only used one bedroom upstairs.
1934 was a drought year and
our crops were very poor.
We didn’t raise enough feed for the livestock.
Glen bought corn fodder, and people made fox-tail hay.
While living near Ferguson, we
attended the Christian Church there were Glen was a member.
After moving, we attended the Clemons Christian Church
where I had been a member before our marriage.
Outside activities besides
church and visiting families included programs at the Moninger
School were Burleigh’s children went, and programs where the
Minerva band played.
Glen had played the trombone in the band at Laurel for
several years. Now
he played with the Minerva band for several summers.
Winter began in earnest in
November of 1935. I
think the ground was snow-covered until spring.
It was bitterly cold, and the snow continued to come.
Roads were closed and also schools and churches.
Mail was relayed from one farm to another when possible
to get through.
Getting to town was next to impossible.
Neighbors were burning corn to keep warm.
Coal, if one could get to town, was rationed.
We had several dead trees in a grove near the house.
Glen cut them down, but it was so cold that he couldn’t
stand to cut them up outside.
Sometimes he dragged a log into the kitchen and sawed it
into shorter blocks for the heater.
On February 8, about the worst day of the winter we
discovered that Tom had a strangulated hernia.
We knew that some way we must get him to the hospital.
Cordis Speas drove a team and wagon ahead of the car
until we reached the Hartland Church.
It was blizzarding and bitterly cold.
Snow was piled high on both sides of the road and blowing
so hard that Burleigh stood on the running board to tell Glen
where to drive. I
held Tom in the backseat and covered him with a quilt and a
horse-hide robe. We
finally reached a service station just south of the Soldier’s
Home gate. I urged
Glen to stop because we were afraid his feet were freezing, and
Burleigh was so cold.
I always felt that the Lord was watching over us, for the
car refused to go any further.
Kind station attendants took us to the hospital.
We later learned that we were about the last car into
Marshalltown that day, and no one was permitted to leave.
There were no complications
from the surgery which took place on a Saturday afternoon.
Glen and Burleigh stayed with relatives in town until
Tuesday. I’m not
sure how they got home.
Glen never did get back to the hospital to see us.
The roads were still blocked, so Ralph took Tom and me to
their home on West Main Street road until Glen could get to
town. He finally
caught a ride to town and tried to get someone to deliver coal
to Hartland, where he planned to pick it up in a bobsled.
Our allotment was 200 lbs. because “of sickness in the
family”. We
stretched it by mixing it with wood.
When Tom and I finally went
home, we rode to Hartland in the car and finished our journey in
a bobsled, going over the tops of fences in places.
I was practically exhausted from trying to keep a very
active two-year old off his feet when I was nearly seven months
pregnant. With that
kind of surgery today, one is allowed to walk almost
immediately.
Neighbors had done chores while Glen was marooned in town.
When he returned home, frozen milk was sitting around in
pails, dish pans, and whatever containers they could find.
Canned food in the cupboard was frozen solid.
Also, the water system was frozen up.
From then until March 1, when we moved, we couldn’t use
the bathroom. The
only way we could get water for the house and livestock was to
draw it up with a rope and bucket from the well.
There were 32 consecutive days
that winter when the thermometer never registered above zero
degrees. By March 1
when we moved to the Robertson farm southwest of Union it had
thawed some but many roads were still impassable.
The movers detoured through Albion.
Glen’s car door came open and several of my dishes, which
were packed in the backseat, were broken.
Tom and I stayed at my parents’ home during the
transition.
This house also needed paint
and paper. Carl
Anderson again came and did that.
The house was very old and much smaller, but we spent
eight happy years there.
All three of our girls arrived while we lived there.
Marilyn Ruth was born about 8
A.M. on May 6, 1936.
Dr. E. H. Nobel from Clemons officiated and Mildred Hughs,
also from Clemons and a practical nurse, attended.
My sister Ruby helped in the home later.
Margaret Anne joined the
family on July 31, 1938, with the same doctor and practical
nurse attending.
She arrived on one of the hottest days of the summer about 5
A.M. Her father had
to go threshing that day after having been up most of the night.
Dr. Nobel had retired before
Judy arrived so Dr. P. L. Marble was the attending physician.
A neighbor, Cozzie Dillon, acted as nurse.
Lela Yantis Bacon worked for us prior to and after her
birth. Judith
Dianne made her appearance about 8:30 P.M. on February 7, 1942
on the day of Grandpa Speas’s closing out farm sale.
Glen’s parents had moved to a house east of Liscomb where
they resided for about a year and a half before buying their
home in Le Grand.
They had lived on the same farm for all except two years of
their married life.
They celebrated their golden wedding while I was still in bed
following Judy’s birth.
Glen took Tom, Marilyn and Margaret to their open-house
at the Ferguson Christian Church.
Lela stayed with Judy and me.
While farming near Bangor we
joined the Friends Church there.
Several people who attended were acquaintances of mine
since I had formerly lived in the area.
I taught the high school Sunday school class, and Glen
was active in the music department.
He frequently sang in a mixed quartet with Maurice
Griggs, Bea Eurom and Mabel Mostellar.
Our pastors were Charles Thomas, Lewis Savage and Arthur
Hadley.
We had a telephone at the
Robertson farm but no electricity.
I called my folks by going through three exchanges;
Union, Bangor, and Clemons.
It was sometimes difficult to get through all of them,
but persistence usually paid off.
We received electric service from REC in February of
1939, when Margaret was a year and a half old.
Glen had purchased me an electric iron for Christmas,
hoping that I could soon use it.
Ralph Beecher from the hardware store in Whitten was at
our house within a few hours to sell us an electric radio.
We then sold our battery operated radio to a neighbor.
Tom began his schooling in
Union in 1939, Marilyn in 1942, and Margaret in 1943.
In January 1944, we moved from
the Robertson farm to one in the New Providence community owned
by Jim Hutchens.
The children were enrolled in the New Providence School.
The Hutchens farm was sold,
and two years later, we made another move, this time to the
Eaton farm north of Clemons where the children then went to
school.
Soon after we moved, Margaret
contracted scarlet fever and the family was quarantined, an
unusual experience for us.
We never did know where she got it since no one we knew
had it.
We attended the Liberty
Friends Church near us.
Wade and Luella Dillavou were our pastors there.
We milked several cows and had our first experience with
milking machines.
Crops were good.
That was probably the best year we ever had on the farm.
We were saddened by the loss
of Glen’s mother on December 7, 1946.
She had a lingering illness and was hospitalized for
three months.
Our stay in the Clemons area was short-lived.
A son-in-law who returned from the service wanted to
farm. We had liked
the New Providence community, so when we learned that Mrs. Olive
Martin was seeking a renter, we contacted her.
We lived on her farm for eight years.
We were in a partnership farming operation, milking
several cows, raised many baby chicks and kept about 400 laying
hens. While there,
Tom, Marilyn, and Margaret graduated from high‑school and
Marilyn and Tom were married.
In the fall of 1948, Glen
contracted Malta fever and was ill all winter.
We had to sell most of our cow herd.
Before we left the farm, he had his first hernia surgery.
Following that there were five more; gall bladder
removal, diverticulitis, another hernia, prostate, and finally
surgery to release adhesions from all the others.
Our years at Mrs. Martin’s farm were busy ones.
There were many church and school activities.
Tom, Marilyn and Margaret all played basketball, and all
were in the band.
Tom was active in F.F.A.
Marilyn and Margaret both accompanied school musical
programs.
After Tom went to college, a
Quakerdale boy, Ernie Davis, lived with us for a year.
He helped with the chores.
We paid him $5.00 per week and paid for his school
lunches. Later
Carl Hansen also lived with us.
Both boys have returned to visit.
We visited Carl on two occasions when in North Carolina.
In the fall of 1955, we held a
closing-out farm sale and moved to an acreage on the west edge
of New Providence which we purchased from Mary Whitehead.
Margaret was in college at University of Northern Iowa,
and Judy was an eighth-grader.
From then until we bought the
café in 1959, we did various things.
Glen farmed Wilmer Cook’s land, worked in the Harris
furniture store, and drove a star mail route from Gifford to
Jewell. I worked in
the post office and the telephone office.
When we purchased the cafe, Glen was also driving a
school bus. We
remained in the building on the north side of Main Street until
August 1962.
We lost Glen’s father in the
last of December 1960 and my father November 8, 1961.
Margaret and Lisle Cook were married in November, 1958.
By 1962, when we moved to our present home, we had nine
grandchildren:
Craig, Ellen and David Moon, Steven, Michael, Kathy and Kindera
Speas, and Jeffrey and Scott Cook.
In February, 1962 I learned
that I needed corneal transplants to preserve my vision.
The telephone building was for sale.
Glen decided to buy it, and we moved the restaurant to
our remodeled home.
We hired Mary Waldo to cook while I was in the hospital and
recuperating from the eye surgery.
The first transplant was received on the left eye on
October 20, 1962 at University Hospital in Iowa City.
I was there for 26 days.
Glen wasn’t feeling well when he took me to the hospital.
He ended up in the Eldora hospital with bronchitis.
For three months following the
surgery, I was cautioned not to bend forward or to lift anything
heavy. The 20-20
vision in the left eye made it a very successful transplant, and
I rejoiced over being able to see so well.
I continued wearing a small
contact lens in the right eye until November, 1963, when I
underwent surgery for a second transplant.
This time I wasn’t so lucky.
It had to be resutured twice and then when completely
healed, the cornea clouded.
I returned to the hospital for a week of daily typhoid
shots meant to give my system something to fight besides the new
cornea. That didn’t
remedy the rejection situation, and the cornea is still clouded.
Because the eye bank network
was new, my first cornea was flown from the Chicago area to
Cedar Rapids, picked up by the Highway Patrol, and delivered to
the University Hospitals at Iowa City.
It was the first one received from out of state, and the
200th one transplanted in Iowa City.
I learned that it was donated by a lady around 40 years
of age. I never
knew from whom the second one came.
Again, when I arrived home
from the hospital Glen had just returned from a stay in the
Eldora Hospital.
Marcia Schradle was our good helper while we were disabled.
I returned to Iowa City in
October, 1965 to have adhesions released in the uncooperative
eye, but the cloudiness persisted.
We ran the café in our home
for eight years.
During that time Judy received her degree from the University of
Northern Iowa and taught in Ames for a year.
She and David Beane were married in July, 1964, and the
rest of our 15 grandchildren arrived:
Mark Speas, Daniel and Paul Cook, and Matthew, Kristin
and Laura Beane. We
lost Matthew on December 29, 1968 at the age of 20 months with
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome,
a deep shock and a sad experience for all of us.
Glen was the substitute mail
carrier for several years.
From money earned from that, we took several enjoyable
trips. We went to
the Ozarks with Burleigh and Maude Speas and went to North
Carolina three times.
On our second trip there, we drove south to New Orleans,
east through northern Florida and then north to Jekyl Island.
We spent a week in North Carolina visiting relatives in
High Point, Winston Salem and Yadkin County.
In 1976, we drove to
Fayetteville, Arkansas to visit the Mosey Dheils’.
(He had been a college friend of Glen’s.)
We then traveled to
Lafayette, Louisiana to visit Craig and Missy Moon who were
living there while Craig earned his M.A. degree.
From the Moons, we drove to Mission, Texas and visited
Pearl and Harold for a week.
On our homeward trek, tours of the Johnson Ranch, Oral
Roberts University, and the Eisenhower museum and burial site
interested us.
There were seven trips to
California, the first two by train.
Glen said that riding the rails was disappearing as a
method of travel so we took advantage of the opportunity.
Lisle, Margaret, Jeff and Scott took us to the Perry
station on a wintry December day the first time.
The second time we traveled on the Rock Island line to
Kansas City and took a southern route.
Twice we went by plane to
Seattle to visit Ruby and Eddie, and then traveled by bus to
Fullerton, California.
We wanted to see the scenic Oregon coastline and the
redwood trees. Both
times we visited Wayne and Isabelle Powers in Salem, Oregon.
In 1975 we also stopped in Oakhurst, California to see
Edwin and Caroline Snyder.
This was our last trip to California to visit our
children and grandchildren, the Robert Moon family.
My sister Pearl accompanied us
when we took our last trip to North Carolina in April, 1975.
She drove part of the time to relieve Glen.
We stopped in Akron, Ohio and attended the Cathedral of
Tomorrow Sunday morning church service.
Glen was interested in the Rex Humbard ministry and
especially enjoyed the music.
It was really quite a thrill to be in the meeting.
While in North Carolina, we visited our Aunt Susie Davis,
Aunt Tina Smitherman, and Aunt Laura Shaver and many cousins.
On our way home, Aunt Laura accompanied us to Virginia
Beach to spend some time with her son, Jerry Sneed Jr. and his
family.
From Virginia Beach, we
crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, visited Asateaque Island
where we saw the wild ponies and then drove to Atlantic City.
Mother –
After
Dad’s death in 1961, mother moved into a smaller house west of
their last home together.
We visited her often, usually going on Sunday afternoons.
Pearl took her shopping, to the doctor, and visited
during the week.
Wayne lived nearby, and they saw her about every day.
Bud’s stopped by after Sunday A.M. church services.
She did quite well until arthritis and hardening of the
arteries made it impossible for her to garden and do her
canning. She had a
lady helper live in from July to November in 1969.
Then, much against her will, we seemed to have no other
choice than a nursing home.
It was very difficult for her and for us, her children.
At that time, I assumed the responsibility of managing
her affairs at the nursing home (Valley View in Eldora).
In March,
1970, she apparently suffered a stroke and was in the hospital
in Eldora for a time.
She returned to the nursing home, but
was hospitalized again the last of June.
On Monday, July 6, she had a massive
stroke and died.
Her funeral was held in the Clemons
Church on July 8, 1970 with a large crowd attending.
Burial was in the Bangor Cemetery.
On July 25, shortly after Mother’s
funeral, Paul Rodney Cook arrived in the Eldora Hospital to
complete Lisle and Margaret’s family of four boys.
Before Margaret left the
hospital Glen was admitted with his first heart attack.
On August 10, we closed the café, later selling the
equipment to Marian Reiks.
She then opened an eating place west of the garage.
I cooked for her until she sold out to Joan Hoff.
I was employed as a cook for her until Glen had another
series of heart attacks.
At that time, Joan decided to give up the restaurant
business and later held a closing-out sale to sell the
equipment.
Later, I baked pies for Joan
Broer when she ran another eating place in New Providence.
I also helped Margaret Winters, Betty Wooten, and Twila
Winters serve dinners at the sale barn in Eldora on Tuesdays for
two years or so.
Glen took care of the cash register at noon.
In September, 1977 Glen and I
attended the Cattle Congress in Waterloo together.
He had always wanted to see the northeastern states
especially in the fall.
We stopped in Mt. Morris, Illinois where he had attended
college for a semester.
We spent a day and night at Niagara Falls and then went
east to Groton, Connecticut where we visited the ship yards.
From there we drove to Boston and Cape Code and visited
Plymouth Rock. We
went as far north as Bangor, Maine and then headed west.
The fall colors were at their peak of beauty.
Glen especially enjoyed the farmsteads along the way.
We drove west through southern Quebec and Ontario and
spent the night in a rustic motel on the shore of Lake Superior
near where we planned to take the ferry to tour Macinac Island
the next day. We
had planned to take pictures of a nearby mountain and the lake,
but it was pouring rain.
It was still raining when we crossed by ferry to Macinac
Island and for part of the time we were there.
We toured the island in an open horse-drawn surrey with
room for eight passengers and the driver.
He was clad in yellow plastic rain hat, coat and
trousers. We were
supplied with blankets to keep our feet warm.
The only motor vehicles on the island were firetrucks and
ambulances. Near
our tour’s end the sun came out, making our return ferry trip
much more pleasant.
We stopped briefly at the
Wisconsin Dells, since we’d been there before.
Our last stop was at Waverly, Iowa to visit Ruth
Crawford. We ate
out together in honor of her upcoming birthday and then drove
home in the rain.
It was an enjoyable and educational two weeks.
The early months of 1978 were
very cold, and we had lots of snow.
Howard Fuller was on vacation so Glen carried the mail.
I loaded the mail for him, and when the snow was so deep,
I rode along to put it into the boxes.
We sensed that the job was getting to be too much for
him, and he gave notice that he would retire in November, 1978.
Wesley John Beane
December 20, 1974
Early on the morning of April
7, 1978 David, Judy, Kristin and Laura Beane welcomed into their
family three year old Wesley John.
He arrived from Korea at the Minneapolis Airport where
they met him for the first time.
He knew only a few English words, but with two older
sisters around, he soon learned to express himself quite well.
Along with the rest of us Glen
enjoyed him so much.
When they came for a visit, he would rush out of the car
and toward the house yelling “Grandpa!”.
I have always been happy that Glen could enjoy him.
Because Glen didn’t feel up to
par during the spring, I encouraged him to go to the doctor.
Since he didn’t seem to improve, Dr. Thompson scheduled
an appointment for him in Iowa City for July 31, 1978.
On the morning of July 15, he was experiencing pain in
the arms and chest.
Virginia Tatum and I took him to the Eldora Hospital where he
was placed in intensive care, this time with more heart trouble.
After twelve days of ups and downs, he passed away about
3:00 P.M. on July 27.
Marilyn and Bob had been here
on vacation in June.
They came back on July 18 and stayed about five days
until Glen’s condition seemed stabilized.
Marilyn came alone for the funeral, returning on
Margaret’s birthday, July 31.
The service was held in the
New Providence Friends Church on Saturday afternoon July 29,
with a very large crowd attending.
Friends Virginia Tatum, Violet Moon, and Fern Cook were
in charge of the lunch afterwards in our home.
Glen was buried in the Bangor Cemetery beside my parents.
Reverend Lloyd McDonald was minister at the funeral
service. Mary Ellen
Power was organist and Fred Marsh soloist.
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