Joe was born at Morland, Kansas on March 19, 1915. Frances was born February 17, 1915 at Park, Kansas. They both grew up in western Kansas, Joe around St. Peter and Frances around Oakly.
The
gypsies came through town about three times a year, they would come to
Frances’ parents house and beg for food.
They had a lot of dust storms in western Kansas.
The dust would get so thick that at times they would have to scoop it out
of the house. The wind blew most
all the time.
Neither
one got to go to school very much. As
soon as they were old enough to help on the farm they were kept home to work.
Both came from big families. Frances
was the oldest in her family of 13, I
believe Joe was the 7th in his family of 11.
Joe learned a lot working on the farm and being around livestock, which
is what he did for the largest percent of his life.
He got to where he could tell a cow, pig, etc, was sick just by walking
through the lot, had he been able to get an education, he would have made a good
veterinarian.
Mom
(Frances) spent a lot of her earlier years in bed.
She had a bad lung that had gotten infection in it.
When she was in her teens, she worked for a very elite family.
She learned a lot about catering and entertaining.
She also had a knack of designing clothes, curtains, ect., had she been
able to get an education she would have been a good designer, interior decorator
etc.
Most
everyone in Dad’s (Joe) family could play a musical instrument, but none of
them could read music. Dad played
the harmonica. Mom was a good singer.
Joe
came to Washington County with a harvesting crew.
He liked it better here away from all the dust storms.
When he went back he returned with Frances, her sister Isabell, and his
brother Ben. He worked on a farm
for John Mathy in Morrowville, Frances did housework for August Nutsch.
They were married at Morrowville Catholic Church on November 26, 1935. They took a honeymoon to Haddam, Kansas.
They left Washington County in 1936 and moved to Silver Lake, Kansas.
Joe worked on a farm there. Alfred,
John, and I were born there.
Mom
tells me about getting a rope swing twisted around my neck and hanging from it
when Alfred and I were out playing. Alfred
started screaming. Mom heard him
and came running. She said I was
turning blue when she got there to get me.
They
later moved back to Washington County and lived by Hanover, Morrowville, and
Washington. They had four children:
Alfred, Delores, John, and Janet.
Their
last move together was in 1957, when they moved to Lenexa, Kansas. Joe worked on
a farm there also. From there he
went to work for the coca cola company and they moved to 1342 E. 84th
Terrace in Kansas City, Missouri.
Joe
died of cancer on November 1, 1975, at age 60 at St. Lukes Hospital in Kansas
City, Missouri. He was laid to rest
at the Washington City Cemetery, Lot 11. At
the time I’m writing this (1993) Frances is still living at 1342 E. 84th
Terrace.