Submitted by Willora Glee Van Osdol-Krapf
From the La Crosse Chieftain Newspaper 5 Nov 1936
JOHN E. BECK
John E. Beck was bron August 14, 1871 at Flint, Okla., (to Julia
Hildebrand Beck and Jesse Beck) and departed this life November 1, 1936 at
La Crosse, Kansas, at the age of 65 years, 2 months and 17 days.
The early part of his life was spent on a farm near Flint, OK with his
parents, where he attended the public school. (His father died when John was
less than a year old.) He attended business college in Fort Smith, Ark., and
was graduated from there in 1895.
After graduation from business college he went back to the farm where he
remained until 1917. He then went to Tulsa where he was employed by the Lynn
Lumber Co., working there until his health failed three years ago.
He came to La Crosse in July of this year (1936) to make his home with
his sister. Mrs. (Mary Ellen Bee) Amos A. Fritts.
Before his health failed he was a regular attendant at the first Baptist
Church of Tulsa, Ikla.
There is left to mourn this loss three sisters, Mrs. (Willora) B C. Neel
of Peggs, Okla., Mrs (Mattie) R. A. Hughs of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Mrs
(Mary) A. A. Fritts of La Crosse. Three nieces, Mrs. (Jewell) Elton Van
Osdol and Mrs (Sevola) W. H. Huber of La Crosse, and Mrs. (Bonnie) H. S.
Saunders of McCracken, Kansas. Also other nieces and nephews.
His mother and father preceded him in death several years ago. (father
in 1872 and mother in 1908)
How still he lieth in his narrow bed!
The marks of rugged toil are on his face
And his face And hands folded so calmly in their place
Upon his quiet heart; the years have fled
And left a silver aureole on his head;
The lines of age are smoothed away, and now
The look of youth returning crowns his brow.
How peacefully he sleeps with naught of dread
That he must wake and hurry to his toil!
No fears of coming ill disturb his rest,
Nor tho'ts of sorrow o'er his spirit sweep.
Then lay him tenderly beneath the soil
And gently press the sod upon his breast.
For Lo! He giveth his beloved sleep!
The funeral was held Monday afternoon at the home of Mr. and Mrs. A. A.
Fritts, Burial in the La Crosse Cemetery. LaCrosse, Rush Co., KS.
Submitted by Willora Glee Van Osdol-Krapf his grand niece.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rush Co., Kansas News 17 April 1975
MRS. VAN OSDOL DIES APRIL 8, 1975
Mrs. Clara Van Osdol, Hutchinson, died Tuesday night at the Good
Smaritan Center, following a long illness. Born Jan. 6, 1889, in Rush
Center, (as Clara Ora Mc Clintock to Joseph and Francis Wolf Mc Clintock)
she moved to Hutchinson in 1961 from La Crosse where she has lived most of
her life.
(She worked for many years as the assistant Librarian at
Barnard Library, 521 Elm Street, La Crosse, KS 67548.
She was a wonderful seamtress and made clothes for her children and
grandchildren and others. She also made lovely pieced quilts. She took a
book binding course and rebound many books for the library to extend their
shelf life.)
She was a member of the Tenth Avenue United Methodist Church.
Survivors include sons Perry, Hutchinson and Elton, Santa Fe Springs,
Calif.; daughters: Mrs. Bertha Keck, Huston, Tex.; Mrs. Bessie Schneider,
Wichita; Mrs Dorothy Hicks, South Gate, Calif., Mrs Vesta Bowman, Katy,
Tex.; sister, Mrs. Virginia Elston, Paradise, Calif.; 14 grandchildren and
20 great-grandchildren.
Graveside services were held at 1 p.m. Friday at Locust Hill Cemetery,
Rush Center. The family suggests memorials to the Bernard Library
Association, La Crosse.
Submitted by Willora Glee Van Osdol-Krapf her grand daughter.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From Rush County News- Rush Co., Kansas- April 1948
FORMER RESIDENT TAKES OWN LIFE
William Weaver Van Osdol, 67, long time Rush county resident, died at
his farm home near Princeton early Sunday morning from a self-inflicted
gunshot on 4 April 1948. Death was instantaneous when the shot from a
20-guage shotgun struck his heart.
Relatives could give no reason for his action except that he had been
despondent for several weeks.
Mr. and Mrs. Van Osdol moved from La Crosse, KS. to near Princeton
several months ago. Prior to their move, he had been with the Rush county
road department for nearly twenty-five years.
Funeral services were conducted here Wednesday 7 April 1948 and burial
was made in the La Crosse cemetery.
Born in Bethel, MO., December 11, 1880, Mr. Van Osdol came to Kansas at
an early age. He lived in Rush Center for a number of years, later moving to
La Crosse.
He is survived by his wife, two sons, George of Pauls Valleey, Okla.,
Leland, of the home, one step-daughter Mrs. Juanita Kreie and by six chidren
by his first marriage, Elton of Los Angeles, CA., Mrs. (Bertha) A. L. Keck
of Colby, Ks., Mrs (Dorothy) C. E. Reneau of Los Angeles, Mrs.
(Vesta)Rexford T. Bowman of Loudonville, Ohio, and Perry of La Crosse, KS..
William Weaver Van Osdol's biography by his daughter Bessie Van Osdol
Schneider
He was a part-time farmer who never got the "feel of the land" but who had
"a way with motors," a "Natural-born mechanic" best described Weaver whose
relatives called him "Weave " and his friends called him "Pete."
He came to Kansas when he was about 19 years of age and eventually was hired
by Joseph Wesley Blackburn McClintock to help on his farm located south of
Rush Center. After his marriage to Mr. Clintock's daughter Clara in 1905,
Weve and Clara moved to Gove County, Kansas, "to live on a homestead and
prove it up." Elton was born there while they were living at Shields.
[Shields is in Lane Co. not Gove Co. Elton was born in a sod house on the
prairie.] when the young couple moved back to Rush Center Bertha [Bertie]
was born. Taking the two small tots, the couple returned to Missouri for a
visit; however, they remained and lived there for 10 years.
After Grandmother Catherine's [Catherine Vawter Van Osdol] death in 1913,
Weave and Clara moved into the George H. Van Osdol farm home to live with
Grandfather George while Weave tended the farm. They lived there for 3 1/2
years. But, because the nearest school was three miles from the farm, a long
walk for small Elton and Bertha, Clara insisted that they move to Shelbina
where there was a good school within walking distance, for now three of
growning family had to be considered. It was in Shelbina, MO that Weave's
mechanical ability came to light, especially when working on the motors of
cars at Saunder's Garage. For several years this became Weave's specialty.
Dspite the growing family, now numbering five, Weave became restless and
went job hunting in Kansas. He was hired as a machanic in the Harris Garage
in Hanover, Kansas, and so Clara packed up the family nad moved to Hanover.
World War I ended and with it came the dreaded 1918 flu attack, something we
managed to survive. When Vesta Merle was about three months old, Clara, this
time alone, packed up the family belongings and taking the six children feft
for Rush Center, Kansas where her parents lived in June of 1920. After about
a year, Grandmother Francis [Wolf] Mc Clintock became ill and left to live
in Dallas, Texas, with her daughter Mary Frances [Aunt May], and so Clara
and her six moved into the Mc Clintock residence (near Rush Center, KS.) to
take care of Grandfather Mc. [Joseph Wesley Blackburn Mc Clintock]. Because
of Grand-dad's 18 months service in Co. A, First Pennsylvania Cavalry during
the Civil War War, he qualified for entrance into the Veteran's Home in
Roseburg,Oregon, providing he could prove established residence in oregon
for a six month's period. He left Rush Center and went to live with a
daughter, Mrs. Matilda Thompson [Aunt Tillie] at Salem, Oregon, for the six
months required residence for entrance into the home. (His back was hurt
during the Civil War when his unit was out on patrole and as the years
progressed he developed a hunch back because of the ingury. It got so bad
that he could not longer work his farm. He had to prove how his ingury
happened in order to get a pension. His grand daughter Glee Van Osdol has
his pension records and he had a terrible time hunting down someone who knew
him when the ingury happend and could vouch for his back ingury. He finally
found someone who was able to do this.)
From then on the former Mc Clintock residence became our home for about 20
years.
In 1920, after the divorce decree had been granted to Clara, Weave married a
young divorcee Clara (Curtis) Wilkerson who had a small daugher, Juanita.
Weave and his second wife lived in La Crosse where he became a member of the
maintenance crew of the Rush County Highway Department, He becane foreman,
retiring about 1948. (Weave and Clara Bell married in 1923 not 1920 like
this reads.)
Like everyone else, we lived though the financial crisis, the stockmaket
crash of 1929 and the closing of the banks. Times were hard; jobs were
scarce. Then came the depression and next the Dust Bowl Era. Despite all of
this, Clara kept her brood of six together and saw five of them being
graduated from La Crosse Rual High School, yet managed to keep the home in
Rush Center.
Submitted by Willora Glee Van Osdol-Krapf
From the Riverside Press Enterprise
Sunday, February 18, 2001
RIVERSIDE
William Van Osdol
Services for William Elton Van Osdol, 93, will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at
Arlington Mortuary in Riverside. He died Feb. 15, 2001 of pneumonia at
Riverside Community Hospital. Friends may call from 4 until 8 p.m. Wednesday
at Arlington Mortuary in Riverside.
Mr. Van Osdol, who was born in Shields, Kansas on June 15 1907. He was born
in a sod house on the prairie. He graduated from La Crosse, Kansas High
School in 1929. He spent most of his growing up years in and around La
Crosse and Rush Center, Rush Co., Kansas. He worked the harvest each summer
when he was a teanager and was working for Mr. Amos Fritts in 1930 when he
met Jewell Neel who was there living with her Aunt Mary Bee who was married
to Mr. Fritts.
On July 12, 1930 Jewell and Elton were married at the court house in La
Crosse. They remained in Kansas till 1938 and then to get a better job
Elton, with his wife, moved to California. They lived in the city till 1964
then they moved to Santa Fe Springs. In 1977 they moved to Riverside. They
lived in Riverside 25 years. He was a stationary engineer with the Union
Pacific Railroad for 25 years until he retired in 1975.
He was a member of the Free Methodist Church in Riverside. He was the church
Janitor and maintance man for two Free Methodist church's, (not at the same
time) where he attended, while he was living in Los Angeles for about 28
years. One day a week for many years he volenteered his time at Gospel
Recordings.
Buriel will be in Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whitter, CA.
Mr. Van Osdol is survived by wife, Jewell; two daughters, Junelle "June
Ellen" Budzinski of Lake Forest, and Willora Glee Krapf of Tamaqua, PA.;
three grandchildren; two sisters, Vesta Bowman, and Dorothy Brigman; and two
brothers, George of Pauls Valley, OK., and Perry of Hutchison, KA.
Submitted by Willora Glee Van Osdol his daughter.
I also edited and added some additional information that was not covered in
the original article which was very brief.
The Riverside CA, Press-Enterprise
Tuesday March 5, 2002
Obituary
Jewell (Neel) Van Osdol, 90 died Friday 1 March 2002 at Villa Health Care in
Riverside. Born in near Hulbert, Cherokee Co., OK. on 31 May 1911. Mrs. Van
Osdol lived in Riverside 18 years. Previously she lived in Corona, CA six
years.
She was born and raised in Cherokee Co., OK. Most of her life was spent in
the Peggs area of the county.
She lived in Rush Co., KS for nine years from 1930 till 1938. She married
her husband there on 12 July 1930 at the court house.
She was a homemaker. Her hobbies were cooking, and gardening. She came with
her husband to Los Angeles CA in 1938 and lived in a number of different
places in the Los Angeles city area before she moved to Riverside in 1977.
She was a member of Free Methodist Church in Riverside and before that in
two different Free Methodist Churchs in Los Angeles. Mrs. Van Osdol is
survived by two daughters, Willora Glee Krapf of Pennsylvania and Junelle
"June Ellen" Budzinski of Lake Forest, CA (June was adopted as a baby from
Korea); three grandchildren; a brother , L.C. Neel of Bixby, Oklahoma; a
sister, Geraldine Crawford of Muskogee, Oklahoma; and her companion, Allan
Berndel of Riverside. She was preceeded in death by her husband of 70 years
in February of 2001, William Elton Van Osdol.
Services will be at 3 p.m. Thursday at Rose Hills Mortuary in Whittier (CA).
Friends may call at the mortuary from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Thursday Burial
will be in Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier.
Submitted by Willora Glee Van Osdol her daughter. I edited and added
material to this piece from the news paper for it was very brief.
This obituary did appear in at least one paper in Wichita and probably in
the La Crosse paper too. This was among my fathers papers after his death.
This obituary she wrote for herself.
Bessie E. Van Osdol-Schneider was a teacher for 42 years of which 39 were in
Kansas.
Born 19 August 1911 near Epworth, Missouri, she was 78 at the date her
death. March 25, 1990, in Wichita, Kansas.
She retired from teaching in 1976, having taught the last 13 years as an
instructor of journalism and English at Wichita High School Heights.
Mrs. Schneider received her bachelors degree from Fort Hays Kansas State
College, Hays, Kansas, and her masters degree from the University of
Missouri, Columbia. Also, she attended several universities taking extended
graduate studies.
She was a Life Member of the National Educational Association, A Life Member
of Fort Hays Kansas State Alumni Association, and an honorary member NEA
Kansas.
In addition, she was a member of Pi Gamma Mu, National Honorary Social
Science Fraternity.
For the last several years, she had been researching her genealogical
lineages, using her findings to compile her booklet on her agnate Van Osdol
lineage.
Internment will be in the LaCrosse City Cemetery, March 29, 1990.
Survivors include her sisters Mrs A.L. (Bertha) Keck of Houston, Texas; Mrs.
Marvin W, (Dorothy) Brigman of San Antonio, Texas, and Mrs. Rex (Vesta)
Bowman of Horse Cave, Kentucky, as well as her brothers Perry H. Van Osdol
of Hutchinson, Kansas, and Elton of Riverside, California, and a
half-brother George of Pauls Valley, Olahoma. Also included are 14 nieces
and nephews and over 30 great-nieces and nephews.
(She lived in Rush Co., Kansas most of her childhood and graduated from La
Crosse High School in 1929. Also in the class with her was her brother
William Elton Van Osdol.)
Submitted by her niece Willora Glee Van Osdol-Krapf
I added the part between the ( ) at the end of the obit.
May or June 1984 in an unknown Kansas Newspaper
These artices were in my mothers papers when she died.
Article by Fred Mann
Its Full Speed Ahead for "Steamboat" and the Torch
Every morning, Perry "Steamboat" Van Osdol chugs three miles around a
track in Hutchinson (Kansas) on his bad foot, holding a 3-pound hitching
ball aloft.
He is 66, a retired (medically retired) Army man. His foot was shot up
by a sniper on the beach at Anzio, Italy, in 1944 during World War ll.
On June 9, the hitching ball with be replaced by the official torch of
the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, and Steamboat will run one kilometer with it
through Independence, along U.S. 75, on its journey across America.
"I call it a fast walk," says steamboat, one of 25 Kansans who will
carry the torch in the state. "Ive gotten to where I can do jast a little
bit of a jog. I do sort of a side shuffle. Use the heel more than anything.
But I can make it in seven minutes."
He's working on his time with the help of his wife of 45 years, Hazel,
a.k.a. Tugboat, who trains with him.
He and Hazel plan to hitch up the trailer, go down and spend some time
around Independence waiting for the big moment, which, at least for now, is
scheduled to arrive about 10 a.m.
As of now, the torch is supposed to come through Kansas City to
Lawrence, then south to Yates Center, Altoona, Neodesha, Independence, Caney
and into Oklahoma, according to the Torch Relay Committee in Los Angeles.
Originally it was going to pass through Topeka, but the route was shortened
due to lack of sponsorship.
As long time members of the Good Sam Club, the organization that put
up the money for his kilometer, Steamboat and Tugboat spend only six to
eight weeks of the year at home in Hutchinson. But they train every day no
matter where they are. "When we stop at a rest stop, that's when we fo our
walking," Steamboat says.
The reason for all the training is that Steamboat is determined to
waive the exemption for handicapped torch bearers and try to do his
kilometer in regulation time.
"I think I can make it. If I can't make it in seven minutes they
won't put me in jail."
Steamboat got his nickname after he was hit in the foot at Anzio and
spent a lot of time on sodium pentathol. "I'd be on a binge for two days."he
says, During the binges, he'd emit guttural whistles that sounded like a
steamboat. It"s a sound so unique that he has a standing offer of five buck
to anybody who can match it.
Now he files his taxes under the name, and it's on all of his mail.
It will be engraved on the torch he carries in Independence. Each runner
gets his own torch.
Three other Sambassadors like Steamboat are running the torch in
other parts of the country. "I think every one of them is past 60," he says.
Old enough toknow better. But I think it's a real opportunity. It is sort of
floors you."
He isn't bothered by the political fussover the torch. The U.S. is
using it to raise money for youth clubs, and the Greeks objected to this
"commercialization." "I look at it this way," says Steamboat "I've had a
scout troop almost 30 years, and if this is going to the Girls clubs and
Boys Clubs, hey, whats' the difference? I just feel real humble to make the
run."
Good Sam members are pledging more money for each step Steamboat and
the other Sambassadors take on their legs of the journey. Half of the money
will go the the national Dogs for the Deaf organization, and half to the
U.S. Olympic track and field committee.
The member who pledges the most will get to keep the torch.
Steamboat will get to keep the the offical torch relay uniform.
Stamboat is ready. He figures neither his age nor his foot is a
drawback. Of his age he says, "I'm not over the hill. I'm on top of it. I
can see both ways."
And of his foot, he says, "It's like any thing else. The only
handicap is what you think you are. I say it's not a handicap, it's a
disability."
The first shot at Anzio hit him in the dog tags. The second hit him
in the middle of the foot, splintering the bone. "If I turn my ankle and get
a splinter to hat a nerve, that's where I have a problem," Steamboat says.
It hurts. It's kinda like a toothache, but you can always pull at tooth.
This you can't pull."
"Normally, I wear a leg brace below the knee. I can get along
withoutit shortly, but not real long."
Steamboat will shed the leg brace in Independence, take the 3-pound
torch, hold it aloft and become the focus of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games
for approximately seven minutes, running on a foot shot up by a World War ll
sniper.
"We're just a couple little peons out here," he says, nodding to
Hazel, "but we're honored in what we're getting to do. We're just fortunate
we're even around to be able to do this."
From a Rush Co., Kansas paper
Obituary for PERRY HUBERT VAN OSDOL
Perry H. "Steamboat" Van Osdol, 84, former La Crosse and Russell,
Kansas, resident, died October 22, 2001, at Colonial Manor Retirement Home
in Lawrence, Kansas.
He was born September 10, 1917, in Shelbina, Missouri, the son of
William Weaver and Clara McClintock Van Osdol.
He worked as a propane distributor from 1945 to 1961 for the Humburg
Company in La Crosse and Russell, then moved to Hutchinson and worked at
Phillips Petroleum Company from 1961 to 1989. He moved to Lawrence in 1998.
He was a charter member of the Good Sam RV Club in Aurora, California,
where he and his wife served as Sambassadors in Panama, Australia, New
Zealand, Mexico and all 50 states. He was a former Boy Scout Master in La
Crosse and Russell. He was a life member of the VFW in Russell and the
American Legion in Hutchinson. He was a member of the 10th Avenue United
Methodist Church, Hutchinson.
Mr. Van Osdol was a Captain in the United States Army, serving in World
War ll. He received a Purple heart from an injury he received on the Anzio
Beachhead while serving in Italy.
He married Hazel I. North on December 4, 1938, in La Crosse.
Survivors include his wife of the home in Lawrence ; two daughters,
Sherry Eales of Lawrence and Mary Rich of Alton, Illinois; two sons, Perry
Van Osdol Jr. of Lawrence and Jerry Van Osdol of Carmichael, California; two
sisters, Dorothy Brigman of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Vesta Bowman of
Glasgow, Kentucky; one half-brother, George Van Osdol of Pauls Valley,
Oklahoma; eleven grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by a brother, Elton Van Osdol of Riverside,
California.
Funeral services will be October 26, 2001, at 10:00 a.m. at Brock's
North Hill Chapel in Hays, Burial will be in the La. Crosse Cemetery with
graveside military honors by the Hays VFW.
Friends my call from 7 to 8:30 p.m. October 25 at the funeral home where
the family will receive friends.
The family suggests memorials to the Dogs for the Deaf, 70175 Wheeler
Rd., Central Point, Oregon 97502.
Submitted by Willora Glee Van Osdol-Krapf his niece
Rush County News, Nov 1977, Rush Co., Kansas
Amos "Red" Fritts
Dies Friday
Amos A. Fritts, 86. Yuma, Ariz. died Friday. Nov. 25, at a Yuma hospital.
Born March 23, 1891, near Benkelman, Neb., he married Grace Meyers in 1943.
He was a retired road contractor and custom wheat cutter.
He was a former La Crosse, KS. resident.
He was a member of the United Methodist Church. Masonic Lodge, both of
LaCrosse, KS.
Survivors include widow; son; Eddie, OverŠland Park, KS.; daughters: Mrs..
Maxine
Korte, Blue Springs. Mo; Mrs.. AnnaŠbelle McMillan; step-son: Elsworth
Meyers,
Dodge City, KS., step-daughters: Velma Edwards, Bison, KS.; Donna Abnot,
Amsterdam,
Mo.,
Alma, address unknown; brothers: Ralph, O.P, both of Amsterdam, Mo.;
sisters: Mrs..Fie McGill, Hoisington, KS.; Mrs.. Zella Kimsey, Mrs.. Goldie
Henderson, both
of LaCygne, KS.
Funeral services will be held Thursday 1 Dec. 1977 at the Janousek Funeral
Home. La
Crosse;
Rev. Leslie Andrews. Burial will be in La Crosse Cemetery, La Crosse. with
Masonic
rites.
*******************************************
The step-kids were Grace's by a previous marriage.
Amos Fritts was married to my great aunt Mary Ellen Bee in the 1920s and
1930s. She helped him raise his two daughters Maxine and Anna-belle.
Submitted by Willora Glee Van Osdol Krapf grand niece of Mary Ellen Bee
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