Barber County Kansas
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Barber County Kansas |
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From Barber County, Kansas: The Chosen Land, page 165.
Franklin Luther Eby and Nettie Rachael Groendycke were married August 24, 1918, at the home of Nettie's parents, Robert and Bell Groendycke. They had grown up in Medicine Lodge except for Nettie's first twelve years on a farm near Gerlane. Their families came to Kansas in the previous generation - Franklin's from Pennsylvania and Illinois, Nettie's from Iowa and Missouri.Five children were born - Virginia, Jean, Isobel, Jim, and Kathy. We all started school in the same old building where parents and one grandparent, Minnie Eby, had attended. Virginia was the first graduate of Medicine Lodge High School whose parents both graduated from the same hometown school.
We lived over twenty years on Cedar Street in a small house on fourteen acres of orchard, farmland, and a garden which gave Dad much pleasure; he took pride in always furnishing ripe tomatoes for the annual Fourth of July picnic! In a house where there was not enough space, and never much money, there was always an abundance of love and happiness. We have remained close throughout the years, no matter how widely separated geographically.
Dad operated a cleaning shop next to the clothing store of his father,
L.A. Eby , when we were young. Later he worked in various state and county offices until retirement in 1965.In 1941, after Jean's marriage to Dale Keith, the rest of the family moved to California where Virginia was working, but after one year they decided that some Kansans don't transplant easily and returned. In 1942. Virginia married Jim Palotay.
During World War II, the sons-in-law were in the Army Air Corps, the girls came home and the first granddaughter, Janis Keith, was born December 26, 1942. The boys returned safely; then followed a happy period with the entire family under one roof in a big old house on Walnut Street, which was removed later when the new grade school was built. Then we scattered - the Palotays to Manhattan, where Jim was in the KSU Veterinary School, and the Keiths to Wichita.
Mom became librarian in 1953, with Isobel as volunteer helper; both are affectionately remembered by the patrons of the Lincoln Library. Old library and librarian were retired at the same time, sadly making way for the new.
Jim married Marian Moyers; they have two children, Doug and Laurel. Kathy married John Stephenson; they have three children, Mark, Bob, and Candy; Mark has two sons, J.J. and Tony; Bob also has two sons, Billy and Clinton. Virginia has two children, Jim and Maren. Janis Keith Mackinnon has two boys, Chris and David.
One of the high points of our parents' later years was their Golden Wedding in 1968, with the entire family present.
Dad's death in 1972 and Mom's in 1972 were soon followed by that of Isobel, who had spent her entire life with her parents and found it hard to adjust to life without them. Her help made it possible for them to spend their last days together and still in their home.
Also see:
Luther A. & Minnis (Minnick) Eby, parents of Franklin Eby.
A List of the Graduates of Medicine Lodge High School (1890 - 1937)
Medicine Lodge Freshmen Basketball Team, 1924
Medicine Lodge High School in the 1930s
Medicine Lodge High School Class of 1939's 10th Year Reunion
Happenings of 1936 Presented For Index Readers: Week By Week Happenings Of 1936 As Recorded in The Index Files Presented For Review
Barber County Index, December 31, 1936.
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