Spotlight #6 Alice (Cole) Morgan

Life at the moment is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. I hate to say that I was one of those people who three weeks ago thought this Covid-19 pandemic was being greatly exaggerated. When I started seeing empty shelves in grocery stores, and people scrambling over toilet paper I rolled my eyes and was thankful I lived in rural SW Missouri away from big cities where things like that were happening. Then I walked into my local Walmart and was shocked to find that it was even happening here in our part of the world. I’m blessed that we have a freezer full of meat so I know we will always be ok, but was saddened to see that they were out of so many things. Then I found out our former superintendent had tested positive for it and passed away a few days later. Suddenly things seemed to get a little more real. His wife’s Facebook post were gut wrenching. Today I am taking it more seriously as I’ve seen how quickly it can affect even healthy people. My family (who is growing by 2 more this summer) means a lot to me and I want to take care of myself the best I can.

Joseph & Alice (Cole) Morgan

March is winding down but I’m hoping to get in a few more spotlights. March’s #6 spotlight is my 3rd great Aunt, Alice (Cole) Morgan. She was married to Joseph Morgan, the brother of my great great grandfather EP “Ted” Morgan. As our pandemic has been growing I started looking into relatives who might have passed during the huge Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918, but did surge again in 1919. While scouring newspapers it was sad seeing the the number of families it affected. Joseph and Alice were one of those families.

Alice was born in October, 1873, the 3rd of 8 children born to David and Flora Cole. Her father was born in Indiana, but he came to Missouri as a young man and settled in SW Missouri. He did a brief stint in the Civil War with the Iowa Infantry Regiment K, but from the 1860 census on he is found in Lawrence and Newton County, Missouri. He was primarily a farmer (stated on all census), but it’s been also noted that he was one of the pioneer preachers in SW Missouri.

Alice married Joseph Morgan on Nov 7, 1897 in Newton Co, Missouri. She was 24 yrs of age and Joseph was 25. Joseph was the son of  Edward Payson Morgan and Margaret (Stinson) Morgan (my 3rd great Grandparents) and was the oldest of 5 children. Searching thru census information is always fun because so many times I see several different family ancestors on the same page. Both sides of my maternal grandparent’s family are pioneer families in Newton, Barry, and Jasper Counties. In 1900 Joseph is down as a blacksmith. In those 1st 3 yrs of marriage they’ve had their first 2 children, a son Ray in 1899 and a daughter Ruth in 1900 who was 3 months old at the time the census was taken. By the 1910 census Joseph has his own store and Alice is down as a clerk. Ray is 11 is down as a farm laborer at their farm. Ruth is 10 and they’ve had 2 more sons Robert 7 and Larry 3. The next several years would see them have several more children Dorothy who was born in 1911 and their baby George born in 1917.

Standing-Glen, Bob, Ray, & Ruth
Seated-Alice, Dorothy, & Joseph holding George
1918

In 1918 the country was in the grips of a Spanish Flu epidemic and unfortunately it would hit Joseph and Alice’s family as little George came down with the flu. His death certificate stated he was seen by a dr from July 20- July 25 when he passed away at home. He had just turned a year old. The picture I have must have been taken shortly before George passed and shows all their children. I’m sure this was a huge loss not only to Alice and Joseph, but to George’s siblings as well.

The 1920 shows the Joseph is now solely farming. The year 1926 was a tough year not only on Joseph and Alice, but on the entire Morgan Family. In January, Alice and Joseph’s  youngest daughter Dorothy who was 14 yrs old came down with influenza. She was thought to be getting better when suddenly she passed. The death was hard on not only the family, but the community as well as she was a member of several  groups such as 4H, an organization my own family is quite involved in. I’ve always heard death comes in 3 and that seemed to be true for the Morgan family. Less than two weeks later Dorothy’s cousin Arthur Anderson who was 26 yrs old and lived close by, accidentally killed himself while grabbing his gun as he was getting into the hog pen. His family had been butchering hogs that day. His death is thought to be almost instantaneous. Arthur’s mother Lucy was Joseph’s (and my great great grandfather EP “Ted” Morgan) sister.  That September Arthur’s married sister, Millie Smith (who was married to my great grandfather Garner Smith’s brother Ray) passed away after a battle with tuberculosis. All of these families lived in the same community, some like Joseph their entire life. His obituary stated that he was born on a farm near Granby, Missouri and lived his entire life within a 1/2 mile radius of that farm. I think of my own family and how tough it was to lose my niece Haidyn that passed away after living only a few short hours.  I can’t imagine had I also lost not one but 2 children that same year. How tough that would be on our entire family. The grief the Morgan Family endured must have been overwhelming. I spotlighted Alice to tie in to what was going on in the country today, but Lucy also lost 2 children and it was in the same year leaving her with only one living child. Were they good friends as well as family?? Lucy’s own husband passed in 1905 and Census show that she never did remarry so she didn’t have a partner to lean on during those tough times. Hopefully they were a good support system for each other along with the rest of the family who lived around them and their church family.

There is no doubt that life was tougher 100 yrs ago, much more so than today. As I said before, there weren’t any therapist and I know just from doing genealogy that a lot of times things like this weren’t even discussed. I hope that Alice and Lucy at least had that one person they could talk to, someone to share their sadness with so that sadness didn’t turn into bitterness. It would be hard to go thru life with that black cloud continually overhead, but keeping those kind of emotions buried could possibly do just that. Both women lived around the Pepsin Community their entire married lives. Alice’s obit said she had lived in the area for 52 years, moving there from Carthage. Lucy lived around their her entire life, marrying a local boy Harry Anderson. Both are buried in the Powers Cemetery in Newton Co, Missouri.

The following pieces were in the Neosho Daily News from 1926. Sadly I could find nothing on the death of George at all. 

** Side Note ... Lucy and her brother EP “Ted” married siblings Mary Jane & Harry Anderson
** 2nd side Note ... Lucy and EP’s Sister Helen Florence married Alice’s brother William. 

Spotlight #5 - Maude “LuLu” (Pfander) Budd

Claude Budd & Maude “LuLu” Pfander

I’m continuing my spotlight on women this March for Women’s History month. This blog post I’ve decided to spotlight Maude “LuLu” (Pfander) Budd, my husband Henry’s great grandmother. I remember seeing her in her wedding picture the first time and thinking they made such a striking couple and that she was absolutely beautiful.

Maude “LuLu” Pfander was born in November of 1888 to William E Pfander and Orelia (Evans)Pfander. I’m assuming she was born in either Jasper or Barton county as that’s where the extended family lived, but I don’t know that for a fact. She was the 4th of 5 kids and the only girl. I have to wonder if her brothers were the over protective type or if maybe she was a bit spoiled being the only girl.

LuLu Pfander as a child 

LuLu married Claude C Budd in 1916. The paper said they married at the parsonage in the Nashville community, Barton Co Missouri, in front of a large crowd. They would settle down and live in the Blue community, Barton Co, MO. The 1920 census showed them living in a household with Claude’s mother Mary, and his 2 siblings Phillip and Violet. Claude was shown as being a farmer, a profession he would have the rest of his life.

June 1917 would see the couple welcome their first child, a girl named Lena Avis. Unfortunately she would pass away approximately 5 weeks later in August. I know 100 years ago it was more common to lose a child, but I’m sure it wasn’t any easier on the the parents. I’m sure the grief would be overwhelming at times and there would be no support systems in place like there is today.

In 1918 they were blessed with another daughter, Edith Budd, my husband Henry’s grandmother. They would go on to have to have 2 more sons, Claude “Melvin” in1925, and Merle Rex in 1928. Merle’s nickname was “Buck” and he was born on Nov 25, 1928. Unfortunately shortly after his birth LuLu came down influenza which happened to be going around. Three days after Christmas on Dec 28 LuLu passed away. Her death left Claude a widow with 3 small children including one a so that was barely a month old. An obit from the Lamar, MO paper said:
:

SAD DEATH OF YOUNG MOTHER -----

Mrs. Claude Budd, who with her husband lived in the south part of Northfork township, just across the road from the Blue Schoolhouse, died at 9 o'clock, Friday evening. She contracted the flu, which developed into a fatal case of pneumonia. Mrs. Budd's death in most tragic and heart-breaking. She leaves her young husband with a tiny babe, five weeks old, and with two other little children, four and six years old.
Lamar Democrat, 3 Jan 1929

In a news clipping from around 2 weeks later said he had moved in with his mother though she was quite old being almost 80 yrs old. My husband’s grandmother Edith was 10 yrs old at the time and believe a lot of responsibility was put on her shoulders at a young age. It would be tough on a child to lose their mom at a young age. Having adult type responsibilities like taking care of your siblings would make it even tougher to grieve for your mother.

Obit from Jasper paper

Maude “LuLu” Pfander m Claude Budd
Edith Budd m Ray Arnold
Linda Arnold m Richard Morgan
Henry Morgan m Michelle Immekus (me)

Spotlight #4 Susanna (Smith) Phillips

Susannah (Smith) Phillips
1822-1893

I haven’t had the time to spotlight as many women as I had hoped this month, but I still have several more days.

My Spotlight #4 is my 3rd great grandmother on my father’s side. Susannah (Smith) Phillips. She has quite a story that happened to her during the civil war. Susannah was born in about 1822, the daughter of Thomas Smith and Nancy Williamson. I don’t know a lot about her early life. She would marry my 3rd great grandfather Jonathan Phillips on Christmas Day - Dec 25, 1850 in Franklin County, Missouri. Jonathan was born in 1827 in Tennessee to Nathan Phillips and Hannah Leeks.

Jonathan and Susanna (aka Anna) settled down around St Clair, Missouri around the Anaconda area on the Meramac River. The census and war roster that I’ve found said that Jonathan was a farmer. They started a family and in 1852 Nathan Henry Phillips was born, then Jesse B Phillips in 1857, and finally my great great grandmother Emma Thankful Phillips in 1862. When Susannah was around 6 months pregnant with Emma, Jonathan joined the Union army. He mustered in on December 17, 1861 at Camp Herron in Pacific Missouri with the 26th MO Vol infantry. This would be the last time Susannah would see her husband. He would die on May 21, 1862, just a few months after Emma was born. He passed in the hospital in Farmington, MS and is buried in Shiloh National Cemetery.

Jonathan Phillips
1827-1862
Buried in Shiloh National Cemetery 

I’ve read several accounts of the story I’m about to tell but the ending is always the same. The year is fall 1864 and Susannah was a widow with 3 small children. The Civil War had already taken her husband and Missouri was a very volatile area. Emma, my great great grandmother was only 2 yrs old at the time, but she had heard this story many many times thru out her life. Her mother Susannah had left the children at home with relative while she went to visit her brother John Smith who lived around 5 miles away. It was at this time that the Confederate Army would invade Franklin County in the famous Price’s Raid led by General Sterling Price. While visiting her brother the soldiers surrounded the house. John saw the soldiers coming and fled the house to the backside of his property. He watched as the soldier slaughtered his fattest livestock, stole his horses, and torched his hay, oats, and wheat. John knew he could do nothing about the pillaging and would cross the river to find a safer place with his mother in-law. Some might think of John as being a coward, but he knew they would either kill him or force him to join the confederate army. Typically the soldiers would leave the women and children alone.

Susannah was getting quite worried about her own children at home, but her and John’s wife were being held captive. They ordered the women to fix them something to eat. She was concerned as she looked out the window and saw the soldiers removing her side saddle. She had tears in her eyes as she had a nursing baby at home and without her horse it the 5 mile trip would take quite a bit of time. She went out to plead with them to leave the horse be. The captain of the group showed up at this point and ordered the men to leave the horse alone and put the side saddle back on. The side saddle was a sign that the horse belonged to a woman and they knew that they NEVER robbed or stole from a lady. While her horse was left alone, she did have to watch them ransack the house. They stole anything that was edible like chickens, eggs, vegetables, etc. They also found Susannah’s one picture she had of Jonathan where he was dressed in his Union uniform. I’ve often wondered how they found it as I’m sure she had the picture in a pocket or someplace else on her. Once the soldiers found the picture they took and burned it so my great great grandmother was never knew what her father looked like since he never came home from the war. Some of the soldiers bedded down for the night at the Smith place while others spread out thru the neighborhood. Fortunately they never invaded the home so Susannah was able to mount up and head home.

I cannot imagine how frightened she must have been, yet knew she must be strong so she could get home to her young children. I’ve not found much more about the rest of her life. In the 1880 census it says she was keeping house and I do know she was getting a widows pension from losing Jonathan.
She would pass away in Nov of 1893 at the age of 71 and is buried at the Anaconda Cemetery in St Clair, Missouri. From what I have researched she never did remarry.

Susannah (Smith) Phillips m Jonathan Phillips
Emma T (Phillips) Reed m George Reed
Lucy (Reed) Immekus m Francis “Frank” Immekus
Leo Immekus m Laura Faye “Sally” Clary
Larry Immekus m Donna Turner
Michelle (Immekus) Morgan m Henry Morgan

Strong Woman Spotlight #3 Lucinda (Evans) Morgan

Lucinda (Evans) Morgan is the woman I’ve chosen for Strong Woman Spotlight #3. I don’t have a lot of concrete info for her, most is speculation, but I’m in hopes by getting her story out there I might be able to learn more.

Lucinda (Evans) Morgan was my husband Henry’s 2X great grandmother. She was born to Harvey Evans (spelled Ivens in some census) and Rachel Trimble in June 1837, the 2nd of 11 children and the oldest daughter. Here is what I know about her siblings

• Wesley Evans 1835 — he has a infant child buried in Killy cemetery in the family spot in Barton County Mo but that’s all I know.
• Lucinda
• Louisa Evans 1841-1941 married Benjamin Miller and buried in Killy Cemetery 
• George Evans 1843 married Mary Abbott last found in 1920 census in Oklahoma 
• Etta Evans 1845-1892 married a DePew and buried in Killy
• Martha Jane Evans 1847 married George Roberts last found in Colorado in 1910
• Allen Edwards Evans 1850-1921 married Catherine Trout buried in Oregon
•  Sarah A Evans 1854 m John Buzzard buried in Oakton Cemetery in Barton County MO
• Zeruia Adelaide “Dade” Evans 1857-1932 married Lewis Trout buried in Killy Cemetery 
• Silas Sherman Evans 1858 married Rebecca Eckles last found in Crawford Co KS in 1920
• Nancy Evans 1861-1887

Lucinda Evans & William Morgan
Wedding license
Nov 4 1860

On Oct 16 of 1860 Lucinda Ann Evans would marry William Washington Morgan in Andrew County MIssouri. She was 21 years old at the time and William was around 23. They must have immediately left because on Nov 4, 1860 they had their first child Nancy Ella Morgan in Wright County Iowa, meaning she traveled in I assume a covered wagon approximately 240 miles in her last weeks of pregnancy. I don’t know what brought them to Iowa in such a hurry, but one theory would be all the unrest that was going on before the Civil War. Andrew County was on the Kansas/Missouri line which was a very volatile area at that time. I also have to wonder if William was truly the father of her child. I would have thought they would have married earlier than roughly a month before she was due. Maybe she had been married before, though in the 1860 census that was taken in July she is shown living in her father’s house with the last name Evans. In that same census there is a W. W. Evans shown living in the same home and is a farm laborer. Is that her brother Wesley or is it William Washington ??? The age fits both. I will say that Nancy’s (that first child) gravestone shows her birthdate as 1861 but her death certificate lists it as 1860 as do all the census, not to mention that they had another child born in 1861. Their first 3 children were born in Wright Co Iowa and the rest in Missouri.

1. Nancy Ella Morgan 1860 - Iowa
2. William Harvey Morgan 1861 - Iowa
3. George Sherman Morgan 1864 - Iowa — My husband’s great grandfather
4. James H Morgan 1866 - Missouri
5. Danial David Morgan 1868 - Missouri
6. Charles A Morgan 1870 - Missouri
7. Ettie 1871 - Missouri

I’m guessing at the close of the war they moved back to Missouri. The 1870 census shows them in Dade County Missouri which is in SW Missouri. William is shown as a farm laborer and 3 of his brothers are living with them. Lucinda’s family is shown living one county over in Barton County which is where they pretty well stayed the rest of their life.

For the longest time I could find nothing else on Lucinda. I didn’t know when or where she died and no clue where she was buried. I finally figured out she must have passed sometime after 1871-1880 because I never found her on any census. I then found an obituary of William’s that spoke of her and saw where he remarried, but no dates of when Lucinda died or even when he remarried. I was getting quite discouraged and was saddened by her short life. Then one day this past summer I was walking Killy Cemetery which isn’t far from my home. It’s an older rural cemetery and I was taking pictures of gravestones to upload. I knew Lucinda’s parents were buried there as well as some other family members just from Find a Grave but as I was walking along that day I got a huge surprise when I came upon her gravestone. Finally I found her resting place, and while so many find this strange it gave me a sense of peace. I still don’t know much of her story. I don’t have a death certificate and probably won’t since she died in 1874, and I’ve never been able to find any kind of obit or death notice, but at least I found one piece of the puzzle!!

Lucinda Evans & William W Morgan
George Sherman Morgan & Lizzie Mitchell
Freddie Arthur “Art” Morgan & Rosa Alice Pugh
Richard Morgan & Linda Arnold
Henry Morgan & I

Week 10 - A Strong Woman & spotlight #2 Dora (Strong) Turner Greer

Dora Strong & Clebert Turner
Wedding Day
1925

The theme for week 10 of 52 ancestors in 52 weeks was a “Strong Woman.”  My great grandmother and spotlight #2 was just that, a strong woman! Dora Strong that is! My great grandma saw a lot of sadness in her life that might make some women bitter or depressed. By all accounts though she was a loving woman who was a caregiver to both her family and the community.

Dora Strong was born Dec 5. 1905 to Susie (Reber) Strong & Henry H Strong Jr. She was their 3rd child and oldest daughter. Their children were:

• Leland Oliver 1902
• Emit 1903
• Dora (my great grandmother) 1905
• Gertie 1908
• David 1911
• Velma 1912
• Hubert 1915
• Naomi 1917
• Henry Harold “Pete” 1920
• Margaret 1922

When she was around 6 yrs old her older brother Leland Oliver would pass away when he was around 10 yrs old from dysentery. Two years later her other older brother Emet would pass away when he was approximately 10 yrs old. His death certificate number indicates he died from a disease of the bones and says a contributing factor was poor health. I would think that losing 2 siblings by the time you were around 8 yrs old would be tough on any child. 

On Aug 16 of 1925 she would marry Clebert Turner in Sarcoxie Missouri. They would make their home near the Ritchey vicinity. In Oct 1926 they became parents of a baby boy named Clebert Eldon. Unfortunately he passed four days later. In 1928 their first daughter arrived Geraldean (Geri), followed the next year in 1929 with my grandfather Henry Eugene, and 1933 with son Gilbert Lee. In 1935 Gilbert, who was a month from being 2, came down with pneumonia and pass away within a week. My grandfather who was between 5-6 at the time of his brother’s death told me he could remember them laying his brother out in the parlor after his passing, before his burial and that after everyone went to sleep he would sneak back in and give his baby brother a final kiss goodby. To hear that from my grown grandfather about brought me to tears. In April 1937 Clebert and Dora would welcome their youngest daughter Barbara Jo. Sometime at the end of 1937 Clebert came down with Tuberculosis. In a Jan 27, 1938 bit in the Neosho MO paper it says they were getting rid of all their personal belongings and moving to Arizona in hopes that Clebert’s health would improve. Unfortunately, by the beginning of May they were back in Missouri with Dora and Clebert coming by rail and Clebert’s brother Carl bringing back the kids by automobile. Clebert would pass on May 16, 1938 at the age of 33 leaving my great grandmother a widow with 3 young children. She had already lost 2 children and now her husband. 

Dora & Roy Greer Wedding Pic

Dora, or Grandma Greer as I always knew her as, was blessed to live a long life. She would go on to marry a widower by the name of Roy Greer who lived across the road several years later and they enjoyed a long married life.  I’ve heard from several family members that she was a wonderful caregiver. I know that her parents were both living with her when they passed and just recently heard that she delivered her twin nephews when their dad went to get the dr but didn’t make it back because of snow. When you hear people describe her you will hear the adjectives kind, sweet, and strong in her faith. I would add patient as my grandpa was probably one of the most ornery people I know, and it sounds like he was pretty much that way his whole life. I was lucky to have her in my life for 23 yrs and wish I had taken the time to get to know her better. I’ve appreciated the family though that’s been kind enough to share all the family history.

Dora Strong (1905-1998) m. Clebert Turner (1904-1938)

Henry Eugene “Gene” Turner (1929-2011) m Melva Smith (1929-2011)

Donna Turner (1951- ) m Larry Immekus (1949-2015)
Me

Grandma Greer & I on my wedding day
Jan 24, 1992

Woman Spotlight #1 Laura Faye (Clary) Immekus aka Sally/SalSal

Laura (Clary) Immekus
“Sally”

March is traditionally Women’s History month and I would like to take this time to focus on different women in either Henry or I’s family. So often it seems we focus on a whole family or the father of the family, but this month I would like to take a closer look at all the moms, grandma’s, aunt’s and daughter’s out there who have made us who we are today. There might be some that I don’t know a lot about, but just getting their name out there might help someone else who is researching a family. Other women I will have more info on. I had hoped to do one a day, but as you can see it’s March 5 and this is my first one. Hopefully thru out the month I can get to several.

The first special lady I’m spotlighting is my paternal grandmother Laura Faye Clary. Laura was born June 18, 1925 in Fredonia, KS. She was the 5th of 6 children born to David Oly Clary and Phoebe (Hobert) Clary. When Laura was 11 yrs old her mother would pass away from cancer at the age of 46. The next year her dad would remarry a lady named Nettie, but he would eventually pass away a few years later when Laura was 15. She would go on to live with her older sister Christina and husband Clarence. While working in the kitchen of Crowder Camp in Neosho, MO she met a skinny guy she use to call pinto. That young man was a guy by the name of Leo Robert Immekus. She and Leo would eventually marry on Aug 4, 1945 in Cherokee Co, Kansas. My grandpa Leo served as a medic during WW II. When he came home they settled in Joplin, MO and started a family, raising 5 children—Anna, Larry, Linda, Bruce, and Marty. You could say she also hand a hand at raising several of the 12 grandchildren she had as well as she babysat several of us at different times while our parents worked.

My grandma was known as Sally, or SalSal to us grandkids, a name my aunt Linda Hostler said was given to her by her best friend. She said grandma’s friend just said she “looked like a Sally” so Sally it was. My oldest cousin TD had trouble saying Sally, so he’s the one who started SalSal and it just stuck. SalSal always had a smile on her face, a big boisterous laugh, and a love for rummage sales. I’ve asked my cousin Jacque Smith to be a guest writer as I felt like she would do a great job of showing people just what a wonderful lady SalSal was and keeping her memory alive for future generations and I was right. The following is what she had to say about our SalSal......

Laura Faye Immekus was my maternal grandmother.  Her laughter was larger than life.  It could fill a room.  A house.  I’m sure her laugh could be heard around the world sometimes.  As a child, I loved her and enjoyed spending summer weekends at her and grandpa’s little house on the “farm”.  They had a mutt dog named Ubu that my sister and I would chase around the house.  Grandma made the best burgers on the grill, super peppery, which I learned to love.  Thinking back, her kitchen was a really ugly bright orange, but at the time it just felt warm and inviting.  She always bought the variety pack of little boxes of cereal and I’m pretty sure she lost some money when my sister was there (a serious “cereal killer”) 😊.  After my grandpa passed away, my mom and sister and I would go visit grandma one evening each week.  We girls would take homework that we needed to complete while Mom and Grandma would visit, and Mom would help Grandma with anything she might need.  By then, at the age of 13, I was much too mature to be outside playing with the dogs.

My Grandma decided to move on into town a short time later and our weekly visits ceased.  I began living my own life as a teen and had no need for time with my grandmother.  ☹  But then, at 19, I became a mother and suddenly needed a sitter for my son, as I worked full-time at a local law firm.  Two amazing, selfless ladies offered to care for him while I worked:  my Mom and my Grandma Sally.  They loved him and took great care of him.

When I finally quit working, I showed up at Grandma’s during my lunch hour.  Days Of Our Lives was on.  Grandma wondered why I was there.  During the commercial break, I began telling her the story of why I quit my job.  When the show came back on, we paused our discussion and watched intently.  At the next commercial break, we resumed conversation.  That is one of my favorite memories with her.

Over the next several years we would go out to lunch together, I’d drop in with my kids to visit, she’d come by my house to visit, and then she’d call me.  During America’s Funniest Videos, she’d call, cackling, and ask if I had the TV on and if I’d just seen the cat fall off the table, or the bride’s hair go up in flames.  We wouldn’t hang up throughout the episode, but just laugh into our phones and occasionally question if people had permanent scars or disabilities from the things they incurred.

Grandma loved garage sales.  She had a bumper sticker on her little old tan station wagon that stated, “This car stops at all yard sales.”  She loved can spray cheese and Ritz crackers and kept a supply on the table behind her recliner.  She ALWAYS had at least one box of Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls in her kitchen.  She had tons of kids’ movies and enjoyed watching them with my kids when we went to visit.  She had a short, fat dog named Susie that my kids loved, and then she got a tiny little white dog named Molly.  She loved children and babysat more kids after I began my new life as a stay-at-home mom.   One little girl would constantly be reprimanded, “Put that dog down, McKenna!!”

Grandma was always joyful, though she wasn’t necessarily always happy.  She dealt with pain in life, as we all do.  When people hurt her or those she loved, however, she didn’t hold a grudge.  She didn’t seek revenge.  She knew The Lord and left that in His perfect, capable hands.

One of my uncles used to call me Little Laura Faye.  I greatly miss hearing that.  But I miss that precious woman so much more.  So very much more.

Sally & Leo Immekus
Anna, Larry, and baby Linda

My grandpa Leo passed in 1990. SalSal would move back to town and live another 13 yrs, passing in 2003. Both are buried in Hornet Cemetery in Newton County Missouri.