Roger’s Remembrances

I never paid much attention as to who was who in the way of relatives. Mom and Dad never told us much either. I think there was some sort of friction among Dad’s half-siblings.

Dad’s Side
My paternal grandfather William married his first wife in 1861 and had Carrie, D.W., and Annie (who died young). After the death of his first wife he married Sarah, my “Grandma Ghormley”, in 1871(?) [photo with Roger in 1938] and had Hattie, Charlie, Jessie, and Ray (my father). It’s interesting to see (if this picture comes out) the disparity in ages between Sarah and William. [Front row is baby Ray, Sarah, William, Jessie] Grandfather William died in 1909 at the age of 72.

Grandma Ghormley lived at 507 East Avenue B in Hutchinson, just around the corner from Aunt Jessie. I had many hours of fun poking around the old-fashioned 507. It had a nice wrap-around porch and a big bay window in the sitting room. There was an old pump organ in the parlor. Grandma Ghormley was a very sweet lady and remained mentally alert until she died soon after I went to Chicago in 1941. I came home for the funeral.

Aunt Jessie was a full sister of Dad and married Earnest Murphy. We had many fun dinners at Aunt Jessie’s house at 110 South Plum in Hutchinson. My own family used to stop and see Aunt Jessie at 110 on our way down to Margaret and Ellsworth’s in Texas.

You always knew where you stood with Aunt Jessie. If she did not really want to go for a ride, she would say so. I have many times asked my own kids to “be Aunt Jessie now, and tell us what you really want to do”. One of the first trips we made after I retired in 1981 was go to Anthony for her 100th birthday. She was still spry and alert. Mary and I regularly visited her at the Newton (KS) Manor on our return trips from Sterling Board meetings. She was very close to her Lord and was ready to go whenever He said. She died in 1984 (I think) at the age of 103 (I think).

Uncle Earnest was a short man, had a round face, and a pleasant chuckle when he laughed — which was often. He was active in the church. We always had a blessing at his table. He had a work shop in back of 110; and after Aunt Jessie died, we inherited one of the tables Earnest had made. Uncle Earnest died while I was still in Hutch — but I can’t give a date.

Cousins Jeanne, Joan, Paul, and Ralph were all part of the dinners at 110 Plum. Joan (on Bud’s left) was the youngest and my brother Bob’s age. She and Bob would call each other up after an athletic contest between Sherman and (1)Liberty Junior Highs, and the winner would taunt the loser. She taught me to dance in the attic at 110. Joan came from Tulsa to Bob’s funeral in 1986, but she was in poor health and I saw her only briefly. She died soon after that.

. . . . . 1 Athletic games between the two junior highs were discontinued before I started to Liberty. Maybe because of the Depression.

Jeanne used to play (2)piano and organ numbers with Mom. Paul and Jeanne were both college professors and are both dead. Ralph (“Bud”) is the only living cousin as I write. Mary and Peggy and I visited Bud briefly last year (1990) in a nursing home in Hutch.

. . . . . 2 The way they played “The Heavens Are Telling” made the chills run up and down my spine.

Aunt Hattie married C.G. (I never knew what the initials stood for) Hamilton. They lived in a little house in Partridge, Kansas. They had one son, Gerald, much older than I. He later taught music in Wooster, Ohio. C.G. ran a hardware store and sometimes took Bob and me down to look at things. Aunt Hattie was lively and fun, and we often drove to Partridge (15 miles) for good family dinners at her house.

Aunt Hattie ran a little “library” in her home for a few years. Mom loaned her some of our books. My “Little Brown Bear” book has a dozen dates in 1931-32 written inside the front cover from this experience.

Dad’s older brother, Charlie, hanged himself when I was just a few years old. I can remember Dad’s crying in the south bedroom. I didn’t ask any questions (as usual), and for a long time thought that my grandpa had died. It was Aunt Jessie who years later told me of the suicide.

Aunt Carrie, the half sister, married Charlie Flagg. They lived down B Street east from Grandma. We visited them irregularly. Aunt Carrie was a severe person.

D.W., the half brother, had five children. He and Aunt “Babe” lived across town from us. We seldom saw them, but in my adult years I did have some contact with a couple of the children.

Mom’s Side
I never knew either of Mom’s parents. Ellen Broadhead Botkin, my maternal grandmother (of “A Year to Remember”), died in 1913. She is buried in Fairlawn cemetery in Hutchinson.

Theodosius, my maternal grandfather, died in 1918 at the age of 72. When he died, he was U.S. Consul to New Brunswick, Canada, and is buried in Bellefontaine, Ohio. It’s an interesting coincidence that both my grandfathers plus my brother Bob all died at the age of 72. I beat them — I’m 73 as I write this (1992).

Clyde was the older brother of Mom (on Clyde’s right, Ethel on his left). He was a claims adjuster for the Sante Fe railroad. Uncle Clyde was good at entertaining Bob and me when we visited them several times in Marceline, Missouri. I liked him. He and his first wife, Annette (sp?), visited us regularly in Hutch. Annette died — when I was about high school age (I think) — and Uncle Clyde married Grace, a widow with one boy, Bill. Grace smoked, and we were not quite comfortable with that style. I have lost track of Bill.

Uncle Clyde had played around with radio receivers in the early ’20s, and gave me lots of early-type parts. I foolishly let them slip through my fingers. See HAM RADIO about his helping me get started there. Uncle Clyde died in the late 1950s after both his sisters, Aunt Ethel and Mom, were gone. In his last years he wrote lots of letters to us having info about earlier years and asking about available pictures of our family. Those letters would make an interesting book sometime, but I probably will not get to them for a while. He was an avid picture taker, but I don’t know where they all are.

Ethel was the older sister of Mom. Aunt Ethel was so special she deserves a section all to herself. See AUNT ETHEL.

(End of OTHER RELATIVES)