Answers: 20 Questions Reply to Roger's request for individual personal memories Name: George Louis Templeton E-Mail Address: GEOLTEMP@AOL.COM I have not treated these answers as a thumbnail sketch. Initial entries may possibly be dissected with the information plugged in as partial answers to other questions, as they come up. I find a narrative-type answer treatment more to my liking. This has stimulated my interest in completing the story of my life, which has been set aside, with much to be added. #1 How much do you know about your family s history from the days before you were born? Answer: The earliest source of information was my two grandparents. My mother's father, Louis F. Niece, and my father's mother, Emma Jane Templeton. However, I don't recall either one of them dwelling on their childhood nor stories about their family members. My mother was interested in her maternal family history and pursued information available about it. Her grandfather, Edgar Thorne was a veteran of the Civil War, Northern Army. She also researched documents and achieved membership in The Daughters of The American Revolution (DAR). Therefore, she was proud to declare that my twin sister, Oma Loverne (Templeton) Cunningham was likewise eligible for membership in the DAR. Edgar During his later years, Thorne lived with his daughter, Ida Wilson, at Des Moines, IA. Grandpa Niece lived with us, from time to time, during his later yearsÐ GrandmaÐBritta Niece died some time before I was born. Niece was an itinerant house painter and carpenter during the later part of his life, before he retired from that occupation. Prior to that time he had served as a Postmaster at Natoma, KS and we have heard that he served in a political (appointee?) Office. That may have been at Dighton, KS. (?) He was a Democrat and lived in several small Kansas towns. For several summer seasons, while living with us, he managed the concession stand at Lake Barton, about 6 miles north of Great Bend. Niece had a sister with whom he maintained a weekly correspondence, who lived in California. At times he would live with her for extended periods of time. He always referred to her as ______ . He also lived for a time in the Bremerton, WA area, of which he often spoke. He had a Model A Ford car, which he had modified for cooking, when he traveled. (He must have tent camped at those times, I don't believe he had a bunk in that car). Grandpa Niece died in 1938 at our home in Great Bend, a victim of prostate cancer. He is buried at Natoma, Kansas. Grandpa L.F. Niece had a brother, Fred, whom I never met. He is buried at theÐ Great Bend, KS cemetery. Great-grandfather, George Niece, a farmer, lived near Mount Ayer, IA, where he was buried. His obituary said that he was a good man, and what more needs to be said about a man? Grandma, Emma Jane Templeton, lived at the family home in Rich Hill, MO. She was involved in her association with a number of widow members of the Christian Church, where she was a member. She was widowed long before I was born. Her husband, (Judge) George Bostick Templeton, died in Atlanta, Georgia, where had been receiving treatments at a sanatorium. He was very familiar with handling horses and Shetland ponies. In that role he was killed, while at Atlanta, when he attempted to stop a runaway team pulling a street car. They had two sons, George Streator, (the elder) and Frank Harold Templeton. Emma continued to live at the family home until the time of her death. I remember visiting them with my parents about the time I was 12 years of age. My mother, Gladys Eleanor (Niece) Templeton, had two sisters. Grace and Adelaide (sp ?) (Niece) Hanna, had ill health as long as I remember, and died about 1930. Her husband was a Greyhound Bus Driver. They had lived in Tennessee for some time. She is buried at Natoma, KS. My aunt Grace (Niece) Garnett was an outgoing, boisterous rather heavy lady who was very jolly and like my mother, loved to sing. She had one son, Gail. She had been married and divorced several times, however I have no record of her previous marriages. Her daughter-in-law, Corinne, didn't know all of their names. Grace, operated a massage parlor and lived most of her life at Omaha, NE. She died about 1958, and was buried at Omaha. Frank H. Templeton, my father was born and raised at Rich Hill, MO where he graduated from High School. At home, he was always called Harold. However, when he went to enroll at Missouri Univ., his father advised him to start using his first given name, Frank, which he did. He attended and graduated from the University of Missouri, in Columbia, MO with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Thereafter, he was employed in Kansas City, MO as a consulting engineer by a Consulting Engineering Co. He was assigned to monitor construction projects in many places. One he told about was supervising the installation of communications equipment during construction of the Kansas City Union Railroad Station. That station is presently being restored as a historic tourist attraction. At other locations he monitored construction of municipal power plants and water/sewage disposal plants in several small Kansas towns. It was during one of these project assignments that he met and married Gladys Niece, at Natoma, KS. They were married in Kansas City, and established their first home at Spearville, KS, where he had a project assignment. Frank found moving from one project town to another was not conducive to family life. He therefore decided to enter the real estate and insurance sales profession. He started with the Penn Mutual Ins. Co. Later he elected to become a salesman for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. (NML). He continued with that profession for 60 years. The family moved to Great Bend, KS, where he was promoted to District Agent for Northwestern Mutual Life Ins. Co. Question #2: Where and when were you born? Describe the first home you remember vividly and the city-town-farm where you lived. Answer: We, my twin sister, Loverne, and I, were born May 15, 1920, at the hospital in Spearville, Kansas. (The building has been remodeled and now serves as an apartment house). Spearville is about 17 miles east of Dodge City, KS. The newspaper report of our birth indicated that we may not survive for long. We were pretty frail. Our family doctor had fashioned an incubator from shoe boxes, heated by an electric light bulb to maintain a temporary satisfactory life support system for us. There were no complications to our survival, and all went very well. Our home at Spearville (Population estimated at 550) was a two story white stucco, three bedroom house with a book-leaf type roof over the two upstairs bedrooms. A large screened porch reached across the front of the house. The Sante Fe Railroad tracks were close to the house. Parents would check their wind-up clocks by the arrival time of the train, which generally arrived on time, as it passed by the town. The house was equipped with running water, an indoor toilet, and electrical lighting. (That remodeled house is still occupied at the present time). The electrical, water and sewer service had just recently been installed in Spearville. Many of the houses in the community had not yet been upgraded for these services. The house did not have a hot water heater. The coal-fired kitchen range was used to heat kettles of water for bathing and cooking. Baths were taken in the kitchen, using a large diameter round laundry wash tub. To empty the wash tub, a hose was used, except in cold weather, to siphon the water out of the house. I don't know how the house was heated, but would guess it had a coal-fired furnace in the basement. That large iron cooking stove in the kitchen would have heated the first floor. I remember that we had one of the early radios (using the tuned radio frequency [TRY] systems of selecting radio programs). The house had a rural-type telephone, which required one to turn a crank to raise the telephone switchboard operator. When the operator answered the ring, my parents would tell her whom they were calling, or possibly tell her the three digit number of the called party. The operator would then make a cord connection for the call. When through with their call, the operator would get a signal light to pull down the connection. Being on the western plains of Kansas, wheat was the principle farm crop. Each farmer had several head of cattle. Everyone planted a large vegetable garden for fresh produce. 3. What was my earliest memory? Answer: We moved to Great Bend when I was about five years old, so I don't remember much before that move. However, one thing did impress me: most of the residents of Spearville owned Model T Ford cars. But, a banker, neighbor, had a grand looking, polished black electric car, which he kept in his carriage house. It had plush upholstery, large glass windows, and was taller than the Ford car which he regularly used. I don't remember seeing him drive that electric car, but he did show it to me. All Ford cars were painted black. Most of them had black canvas tops, which could be folded down. They all had spoke wheels. On any trip we would experience a flat tire, which Dad would replace with the spare tire. Upon arrival at his home, Dad would patch the tire's inner tube. 4. Give a physical description and character sketch of our parents, brother and sister. Describe your relation ship with each of them. Answer: My Dad was a slender man of about 5' 10''height. He had taken Reserve Officer's Training Corps instruction while a student at Missouri University. He knew and enjoyed the marching drills. His number apparently did not come up for the military draft.. He had helped organize the home militia at Spearvillle, which was organized during that war. In that role he trained the troops in military drill. So, he walked briskly and erect. He had very good health, which he maintained most of his life. He was an active member of the Methodist Church, Masonic Lodge, and Lyons Club. He had been raised in the Christian Church, however, when he married Gladys, he joined the Methodist Church. He was a Sunday School teacher for many years in the M.E. Church at Great Bend. He enjoyed playing the piano, and accompanied/lead singing for the Lyons Club. He was a ñ of the Masonic Loñ and had a fancy uniform which he wore as one of the Knight Templars. He enjoyed taking our family on summer vacation trips to old mountain mining towns in Colorado, and to Insurance Company annual meetings wherever they were conducted. We always camped at established campgrounds, where he and Grandpa would pitch a large family tent for our lodging each night. He, being an engineer, always sought opportunities for us to have conducted tours through major manufacturing companies in cities where we traveled. He would take us to major construction sites and explain the various building techniques. Having served as a volunteer fireman at his home town, Rich Hill, MO., he was always notified when the city fire department was dispatched to a fire. He would take us to watch the firemen do their work. He was neither a fisherman nor hunter, so we didn't get orientation on those skills. During the Great Depression years, 1933- 1935, he managed to keep up his insurance sales solicitation in the area of and around Great Bend. He had just contracted to buy and moved in to our home at 2522 Forest Avenue, Great Bend, KS. Mortgage payments must have posed a financial burden for him. He never mentioned such problems with us. Somehow, he persevered and managed to keep the home. In later years, about 1940, Mom wrote us requesting that we help Dad pay off that mortgage. That was the first inkling we had that he was in a financial bind. Gladys was a very industrious person, a Natoma High School graduate, who never had the opportunity to attend college. So, she loved to read to improve her knowledge of many subjects. She was an excellent seamstress, although utilized her skill only as a homemaker. I vividly remember her quietly sitting near us as we studied, as she darned holes in our socks, or patched our damaged clothing. She was a Christian, member of the Methodist Church. During the depression years at Great Bend, KS (1933-1935) she started renting bedrooms to hotel guests when they were unable to locate satisfactory lodging. She continued to provide lodging for long-term guests during the oil boom activity in Barton and neighboring counties. Our ten room, two story house had five bedrooms. At times grandpa Niece occupied one, three sons Robert (whom we always called "___"), myself, George Louis (whom the family called "___") and Marlin occupied a very large bedroom, Oma Loverne (who has always been known as "Loverne") occupied one bedroom, and my parents occupied the master bedroom. The other bedroom was available for guest lodging during the years when Mom was renting a room. Later, after all but Marlin had gone away to college or jobs elsewhere, Mom and Dad remodeled a room on the first floor for their use as a bedroom and rented several of the five upstairs bedrooms. Mom (Gladys) worked very hard during the years that she rented out bedrooms. She did all of the laundry and housekeeping chores by herself, after the children were gone. Although her washing machine was equipped to ring water from the washed clothes and linens, she wrung them by hand, and hung them on the outdoor clothes lines to dry. (At that time there were no residence laundry dryers). Then she would iron all of the sheets and clothes. That was a very labor intensive occupation. After we had all gone off to college and jobs, she was a volunteer at the Great Bend Public Library for many years, for which she received appropriate recognition. As noted previously, I had brothers, Robert Vincent and Marlin Streator Templeton. My sister, Loverne, and I were twins. Bob was two years my senior. When we were in elementary school we played and did our assigned household chores. We worked together improvising and building our toys under the watchful supervision of Grandpa Niece. Bob played football in High School years, games which the family always attended. During his Junior and Senior years he worked part time at the Great Bend Produce Company. This enabled him to enjoy a degree of financial independence, which I admired. He was about 6 foot tall and physically a strong man. He had a fine baritone voice and enjoyed singing. Loverne was practically always my constant companion while we grew up at Spearville and Great Bend. She was a good student, always getting better grades than I brought home. So, I wasn't surprised when she was awarded membership in the National Honor Society. She played the piano, and accompanied many musical performances by our school's choirs, and soloists. She also accompanied Bob, who had a fine baritone voice, and won honors at the regional school music festivals. She was always a bit taller than me. We both had rather slender stature, thus a bit underweight for our size. She attended her Freshman year at Kansas State College, after which she returned to Great Bend and produced a homemaker show for the local KVGB radio station. Marlin was 4 years my junior, so, with that age and size difference, we didn't buddy around much. He had his friends with whom he played, so there was really very minimal interaction between us. As three brothers, we got along remarkably well. I don't recall any fighting incidents in our household. Marlin had a friend who lived near town on a farm with whom he spent a lot of his leisure time, fishing and hunting. Physically, Marlin grew to be about 6' 1" tall and became a bit over weight later on in life. #5 Where did you attend school and what was it like, compared to today? Answer: I attended Washington Elementary School, which was about two blocks from our home on Forest Avenue. I failed the First Grade! So, I was behind Loverne's class through the 3rd grade. My parents enrolled me in summer school, where I really had to work hard to complete my 3rd grade academic requirements. In that way I rejoined her in the 4th grade. My grades didn't suffer from the summer session. Punishment for infraction of rules was swift and effective. One day while in the 5th grade I suddenly discovered that I was lifted by the nape of my neck, and was hustled to the principal's office for a spanking. I had been watching a butterfly flitting in and out near the open classroom window, completely oblivious to the teacher's class lecture. During a study hall session while in the 6th grade, a friend was comparing the marbles we had won during the noon hour. I dropped my bag of marbles on the floor, which resulted in hilarious laughter of the students, and disrupted the calm, study hall demeanor. For that, both of us were sent to the principal's office to receive paddle swats heard and counted throughout the school building. I graduated from Great Bend High School in 1938. Right after graduation, Loverne and I moved to Manhattan, KS, where we were employed to earn college tuition funds. We enrolled at Kansas State College for that fall semester. I attended Kansas State College at Manhattan Kansas for five semesters, studying Electrical Engineering. Later, after returning from military service I returned to Manhattan to continue the college work. I elected to change my major to Industrial Psychology (Personnel work) at Wichita University. I have wished that I had been able to become more proficient at advanced mathematics, and completed my engineering studies. I enrolled in Calculus classes at Washburn University (Topeka KS). And when necessary, had personal tutoring by my Professor, but, really I had not retained the necessary mathematics knowledge to really understand and do the problem solutions. ñ Therefore I elected to change my major to Industrial Psychology (Personnel work) at Wichita University. There I found a notch where I felt better adapted, in spite of the fact that I was deeply involved as an employee of Southwestern Bell Telephone Company throughout those years while attending Wichita University. And that was my final career occupation. Although I did not make the Dean's Honor Roll, I was awarded my Bachelor of Arts Degree at Wichita State University in 1950. Our schools had not yet enjoyed the high speed technology of electronic computers, excellent classroom lighting, air conditioning, school Security Police, school student bussing of rural area students to town, electronic sports events scoreboards, school book backpacks, school lunch programs, (only had such in large city High Schools during the 30's.) There were no School bands participating in nation-girdling trips to perform in Rose Parade and other special event celebrations. These and a multitude of other innovations had not been enjoyed by us back in theÐ The principle key training aids in our classrooms were the slate blackboard and the paper flip chart of prepared key items mounted on an easel in the front corner of the classroom. In our college engineering classes we did enjoy solving mathematics problems by using our fabulous slide rules, a manually operated calculator. In our statistics classrooms, manually cranked mechanical calculators were provided by the college. Our High School had a fine music program. The school had some brass instruments, and the city band director, Domingo Scotti, gave free music lessons to students. I had taken piano lessons for a couple of years, but had trouble reading so many notes at once. I bought a cheap cornet, and started taking lessons on it, which involved reading and playing only one note at a time. Later on, I played one of the school's E-flat alto horns for a while. Then, while in High School, Prof. Domingo Scotti told me he needed another baritone horn player, which he thought I would enjoy. They provided the fine quality instrument. Playing that instrument, I was awarded a Superior rating in the High School regional instrumental solo contests. We, as professionals, especially enjoyed playing in the Great Bend city band. City band members were PAID fifty cents for participation in each public concert! The High School Orchestra director was also the director of the choral groups. Thus we were involved in accompanying a major operetta each year. Those events were well attended by parents and many friends. Loverne was the pianist for most of those productions, so both of us were participating in such events. #6 What special family memories do you have? Answer: All holidays were celebrated as major events by our family. Birthdays were special for each member of the family. Mom baked a birthday cake, put candles on it, and there would be gifts to the celebrant from all family members. Christmas was special, with family participation in the church and home celebration. I believe all of us participated in taking part in the Christmas scene portraying the birth of Jesus. We kids really believed in Santa Claus and always hung our stocking for Santa to load while we slept. As the years went by we continued to enjoy and cherish the family gift exchanges. Decorating the house was a festive time, and we always had a Christmas tree. During the early years, one aspect was different from today: We used lighted candles, mounted on the branches by metal clips, because there were no electric lights for them. Surprisingly, I don't recall of any tree nor house fires caused by them. Of course, later, when strings of colorful electric lights were available, we used them. Halloween was a time for each individual child to use ingenuity in creating a costume, using old clothes and fabrics to fashion it. Masks were available for purchase, but not costumes. We would knock on doors, then run to avoid detection when the door was answered. In later years the Trick or Treats custom was the game, played by our own children. When we were growing up, we had to remove all moveable furniture, etc. from the outdoor premises, to prevent it being hauled off for display elsewhere by a prankster. Thanksgiving was the time for Mom to prepare a special feast. Dad always carved a turkey, and we all gave thanks to the Lord for our many blessings. ________ have any relatives living in Kansas, so we didn't go elsewhere to celebrate the day. Grandmother Emma Templeton lived over 300 miles from our home in Spearville. Easter was the time when we looked forward to an Easter Egg Hunt. Mom and Dad would be out early, making nests hidden around in the lawn, and loading them with colored candy eggs. Then, when we were awake, we would be quickly run out and start hunting the nests and loading our personal bags or baskets with the collected eggs. Prior to that day, we had gathered around the kitchen table, and colored hard boiled eggs to decorate the dining table. Of course, thereafter, we had deviled eggs at several meals. Each summer, Mom, Dad, and Grandpa would load up our car for our vacation camping trip. We went to the Colorado mountains several times. Dad would also attend the Insurance Company Sales Promotion conventions, which were held during the summer. We would all go on that trip, and tent camp at a nearby state or national park, while he attended the convention, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One summer, Dad visited his woodsman cousin, Victor Streator, at his isolated island home in the vicinity of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Victor had himself constructed several log cabins, including his larger one, on a forested island which he owned. He had been a voice teacher from Milwaukee, Wisc., who had a number of adult students. They would come for a period of special instruction to Victor's camp, being lodged in the cabins scattered around the island. Victor owned several canoes, row boats and motor boats, which were kept in a large log boathouse. He was a skilled woodsman, who fished and hunted for a major part of his subsistence. His wife didn't like that life style, so she remained in Milwaukee, where she owned and operated a restaurant. Victor taught Bob, Marlin and me to row a boat and paddle a canoe. He also took us ashore, into the woods to follow game trails. There he demonstrated how he blazed a trail, so he could find his way back to our boats. We gathered wood chips from around tree stumps where beavers had cut down the trees. That experience motivated me to join the Boy Scouts as soon as I was 12 years of age. 7. Were there any significant storms or natural disasters that you were caught up in? Answer: The dust storms of the dirty 30's were very bad. Where we lived at Great Bend, there was not a strong wind carrying the dust. The western sky would turn dark brown. It looked like a very dense cloud of smoke, creeping toward and eventually engulfing us almost in darkness. It was like a dense dirty fog. The street lights would be turned on in the middle of the day so one could see to walk along the sidewalks. Generally, the dust was being carried by a light breeze. We put glued paper tape around closed double hung window frames in an attempt to seal out the dust. We would wear handkerchiefs over our nose and mouth to filter out the dust. Regardless of how much we tried to keep the dust out of the house, it did get inside. As the dust cloud moved past, it would become lighter and a lot of it settled to the ground. I later earned money by washing porch walls where the rain had not washed the dust off of the wood siding. Generally the dust storm would last only a day or two, then it may be a week before another would plague us. During the summer months, during my High School years, I worked as a hired hand for farmer friends. One summer we experienced a grasshopper plague. I was told to take the horses-drawn mowing machine and get as much alfalfa hay cut as possible. The farmer followed with a horse-drawn hay rake, attempting to save what he could of the crop. The horde of grasshoppers moved across the field like a thick blanket, eating the green alfalfa. It was frightening to see them destroy the crop. All family members were frantically busy attempting to salvage that feed. It was needed for use as cattle feed. Although the field did not belong to my parents, I could see what a financial blow it was to the farmers in that area. While living at Beechwood in East Wichita, a small tornado ripped through a section of the housing development. The low pressure vacuum caused the walls of our two story apartment to bulge out, leaving the second story floor supported only at the corners. Windows were blown out, but furnishings were not damaged. The building was to be demolished, so we moved. (This item is covered in a later statement.) The most devastating storm we experienced was the Topeka Tornado in 1966. We were attending a church pot luck supper and business meeting in the basement of the Community Baptist Church, on 21st Street, across the street south of Washburn University campus. The storm warning sirens alerted us to the impending danger, and a church member (Don Tarver - ed.) told us to get the children down to the basement from the nursery area on the ground floor. All members of our family were together, and nobody attending the church meeting was hurt. The lights went off, and we knew by that, that the storm was tearing down nearby power lines. To relieve the pressure on the building, we opened the basement windows. While doing that, I could see roof sections, wall panels, timbers and tree limbs whirling in the storm as it passed over us. After the tornado passed by, we went outside to see the awesome devastation in that area. Our cars, parked behind the church, were about the only ones that had not sustained considerable damage. The flying sand had blasted most of the paint off of our Buick. A repaint job restored the car to its previous condition. We divided the contents of a first aid kit, which we had in the car, and went into the surrounding neighborhood, applying bandages to bleeding neighbors. Streets were strewn with downed power lines, trees and debris. So, injured persons were being carried on doors used as improvised litters, to an area where they were transferred to ambulances. For a week after the storm, the boy's scout troop members were busy each evening, supplying Coleman lanterns to residents and operating a portable gas engine generator as they moved from one house to another, supplying temporary electric power to keep refrigerators or washing machines in operation. Electric power to many undamaged neighborhoods, including ours, was not restored for almost two weeks. The storm had cut a half mile wide swath diagonally across the city. At the telephone office, where I worked as an engineer, the windows had been blown out, and all of our paper work was strewn over the downtown area. Anything that had been left on our desks was gone, and had to be redone. #8 What was your parents financial condition during your childhood years? Answer: My father, Frank H. Templeton, had switched from being a consulting engineer to a career Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance agent. His sales area included Barton and neighboring counties in Kansas. During the years (1933-35) of the Depression, most of the folks were hard pressed to provide adequately for their families. However, they were frugal and thrifty, in that they did realize that they needed to set aside a portion of their income for their family's future needs. This created a clientele, though limited, and he managed to fund our immediate needs. All of us were aware of the need to conserve. I wore hand-me-down clothes that my brother, Bob, had outgrown. Mom patched and mended them very skillfully. She darned our worn socks, which made them almost as good as new. We tended and raised a large vegetable garden. I sold the surplus produce to residents in our part of town. Bob and I both did odd jobs for neighbors and friends, being paid fifteen cents an hour for our labor. We were kept busy in all of our spare time. Thus we could buy our own new clothes when needed. During times when the summer heat was dangerously high, we would work very early morning hours, rest through the mid day, and return to work during the cool evening hours. I remember that we never exceeded the minimum amount of electric power usage each month. That meant that the minimum rate was all we were charged. We always studied in the library room of the house, all members were present, reading, writing and studying, using the ONE lightbulb socket suspended from the middle of the ceiling. To eliminate the need of electric fans during the hot summer months, we slept on cots on the cement patio in our back yard. Shrubs and trees provided privacy. #9 What did you do for fun? Answer: We handmade many of our toys, such as walking stilts, hoop sticks, and scooters. The scooters were made using the front and rear section of roller skates wheels fastened to the ends of a board, and fastening a vertical stick on the front for the handlebar section. These scooters were very speedy, the equivalent to the pricey Razor Scooters that sell for $60 to $100 at toy stores today. We had (steel wheels) roller skates. But, since the sidewalks in front of our house were made of bricks, which were unevenly laid, it was not easy for skating. The narrow cement sidewalks along the side and rear of our yard did not lend to ease of skating. Each boy had cut his own tree branch to obtain a shaped section for a sling shot. We would cut rubber strips from old tire inner tubes, and use a leather patch attached to the rubbers, to cradle the pebble. Having fastened the rubber strips to the slingshot, we could do target practice and scare sparrows away from the Martin's bird house. We preferred Martin birds to sparrows. Another favorite toy was the shaped hoop stick, with its handle about 18 inches long, we would take an old wheel, roll it down the handle and guide it with the cross bar, as we pushed and chased it down the sidewalk. That provided a lot of running exercise. We had our personal collection of marbles, which we used in games with neighbor boys. We always played, which meant that any marbles we managed to knock out of the marked ring with our shooters were ours to keep. Failure to knock out another marble would signal the opponent to take his turn. We also had children's and family card games which we played after dark, at home. Grandpa Niece was a carpenter. He used selected good scrap lumber to build a very nice playhouse for us. It was a neat looking small house, with a shingled roof, shiplap siding, equipped with double-hung windows and a door. He painted it a light gray color trimmed in white. When we moved to the house on Forest Avenue, it was put on a sled, and towed from the first house at 1310 Morton St. in Great Bend. That playhouse is still used by the family living at our former residence. Dad joined long sections of steel two and a half inch diameter pipe to construct a swing set. It also had a trapeze, this gym set was enjoyed by all of the neighbor kids. The kids in our neighborhood joined forces and produced a neighborhood children's circus. We paraded through the streets in our section of town, to advertise the Saturday afternoon performance. We had a good attendance, and repeated the circus the following summer. There was a fine city park at the north end of town which had playground equipment and a city swimming pool. Grandpa Niece operated the concession stand at Lake Barton, north of Great Bend. So, we would go to the Lake with him and enjoy swimming there, when we had a day off. At vacation time each summer, Dad would take the family on a camping trip to Colorado, or to Milwaukee, WI where the Northwestern Mutual Life Ins. Co. Convention was held. We would camp at a public campground at the Lake Michigan shore state park. We also made one vacation trip to Kentucky, where we visited caves and major cities. When possible, Dad would get permission for the family to attend tours through major manufacturing plants; ie. steel mills and auto assembly plants. #10 What kind of a child were you? Answer: I had a great buddy, my twin sister. We played together, and with neighbor children. I enjoyed reading books, the Horatio Algier series and Richard Haliburton adventures were among my favorites. The Boy Scout Troop had a very energetic and active leader, Louis Zutevern. That activity and training program was excellent for me. I played in the school and city bands, which was fun and entertaining. Loverne accompanied me on my baritone horn solo appearances, so we could get in the right amount of practice. I was small, compared to most of my classmates, and was not interested in contact sports, such as football. Physical education Gym classes were rough and tumble, and not my favorites. We played neighborhood baseball in the vacant lot behind our yard, but that didn't last long, the gardens took over that area. I enjoy baseball as a spectator. Bob went out for football, and played on the High School team. He was on the playing field, I was a member of the band in the bleachers or on the sidelines. I enjoyed reading true adventure books. I read of Richard Halburton's adventures, and of course fiction, like Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, and the Horatio Algier inspirational book series. We joined the children's book club at the city library each summer, where we had to write a book report on each book we read. I wondered who ever read those reports. #11 Did you or someone close to you have a serious accident or illness? Answer: My grandpa Niece suffered with prostate cancer. He was living with us and I was there during his illness (just before graduating from High School). I helped Mom care for him, doing as instructed by his doctor. About two months after I had moved to Manhattan, KS to earn tuition funds, I was notified of his death. His death was really a great loss, we had been very close. My niece, Rebecca -- Marlin and Carmen's daughter -- suffered a broken spine in a trampoline accident. She was a High School student. (See below. - ed.) In our own family circle, I believe that our son Craig had the most serious injuries. He was involved in a single car wreck while driving from Lawrence to Topeka, where he was to board a plane to join us soon after our arrival at San Francisco, CA. When he did not get off of the plane, we called to find out what happened. He was in the hospital with an injured neck, which bordered on being a serious condition. We immediately started our return trip to Topeka. While driving through New Mexico (Nevada or Utah - ed.), a highway patrolman stopped us, with an emergency message from home. A member of our family had died! Urgently making a phone call to the hospital, we were told that Becky, my niece had died. Craig was in serious but stable condition at the hospital. Upon our return to Topeka, we found that Craig was making satisfactory, but slow recovery. (Craig was treated at Lawrence General Hospital. - ed.) He had to lay with his head and shoulders held very still. We were in time to attend Becky's funeral. It was the end of several years of constant care, first at home, then in a Christian Science convalescent home. She was Carmen's only child. Marlin has an older daughter, Ricki Lynn, by his previous marriage with Betty (Hazel) Templeton. Craig made a complete recovery from the neck injury. Later, he was injured at his fraternity house, cause unknown, but was in a coma for three days, before regaining consciousness. Again, with rest and expert care he recovered from that injury. While on a volunteer project trip to California, our travel trailer was demolished by a car driven by a drugged and drunken driver who, with his companions, had been on a wild party. Our tow truck had a scratched fender, and neither Elva nor I was injured. The other party was wholly responsible, and the car owner's insurance paid for replacement of the destroyed trailer. Our sons, Gary and Craig, drove out to Liberal, Kansas, to help us salvage items from the trailer, and returned with us to our home. "Tell about your love life": Since Loverne and I were close, involved in most social activities together, we went to, and attended them together. Other friends would have a boy- or girlfriend which accompanied them. So, neither of us dated during our adolescent years. I don't know how Loverne felt about it, but I didn't think that I was missing out on any fun. I did take a date to our High School Junior/Senior Prom (dance party). But, since neither of us knew how to dance, it was a long, rather boring evening for me. My date was our preacher's daughter, and dancing was frowned upon in their household. While in 6th grade I teamed up with a girl, Kathleen Thompson, to sell bakery products in the West Great Bend residential section. The bakery furnished the insulated box that fit my wagon, which we pulled on the sidewalks throughout the neighborhoods. That was a good source of cash for both of us. Kathleen was a real tomboy type, a hard worker, and congenial partner. I once took her to a movie, but decided she might be expecting more movie. (We walked everywhere in Great Bend). So, I didn't mention movies any more. As a student at Kansas State College, my roommate, Bill Black, and I got dates to attend some school functions. We attended Methodist Student Youth activities, and it was proper to bring a date. Everyone was pretty much strangers, and since we were in Engineering classes, at that time there were very few women students to meet in classes. We had very little money to spend on dates, so that, too, was a handicap. Loverne had a job at a professor's home the first year. We attended things together. Later on, she moved to the Women's Dormitory, and we became acquainted with some of those women. Loverne became ill, and returned to home in Great Bend. Since I was working outside of school hours and during summer months to pay room, lodging, and personal expenses, I didn't have funds to spend on dating. As funds dwindled, I had to drop out of college and went to Wichita to seek employment at Stearman Aircraft Company (a division of Boeing Aircraft of Seattle WA). There I was employed first as a production department employee, routing parts through the plant for fabrication and assembly. Later on, I was promoted to be an aircraft sub-assembly inspector. We were building the Boeing B-17 Bomber wing sections. A new friend, whom I met at the plant, was dating a girl who attended the First Baptist Church. He introduced me to her older sister. We dated a few times, but I could see that the other couples were pretty serious, but I didn't want to get so involved, although my date was a nice girl. I rented a bedroom at Earnest and Ruby Pittenger's home. They invited me to attend First Baptist Church services with their family. A certain brunet beauty in the choir caught my attention. I asked Ruby who that girl was, I wanted to meet her. She was Elva Moore, daughter of one of the regular ushers. I don't remember our actual meeting, but it did come about. She was very active in the Baptist Youth organization, which had a big attendance and interesting program. As time went on we started to plan activities together. She lived 21 blocks north and 19 blocks west of Pittenger's home. I had a bicycle for transportation, so, since I worked the ll:00 PM to 7:00 AM shift, I rode my bike up to her home, where she joined me on hers, to ride off for a tennis game at her neighborhood park. Earnest Pittenger got a lot of laughs telling how he saw me (having over slept) take off on that bike pedaling as fast as I could, to make up time so as to arrive not too late for a date. If we had a late afternoon or evening date, I would get in my sleep time after arriving home from work. I rode to work with fellow employees who car pooled, however, I paid a weekly fee in lieu of having a car to use when it came my turn to drive. I had met my true love, a bright eyed beauty, vivacious and the respected leader among her many friends. Elva was a drama and music major, graduate of Friends University in Wichita, KS. She signed a teaching contract as music teacher at Cheney, KS. So weekends became the time for us to enjoy activities together. Later on, Elva signed a contract to be the music teacher in several Wichita public schools. This required her to drive to their locations, since she was their music class teacher. Elva was raised in a very stable, loving, Christian home, closely knit with the Moore and Butterworth household family members who warmly accepted me in their midst. The United States entered World War II right after our Naval installations and a major portion of our Pacific fleet was bombed by the Japanese on Dec. 7 1942 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The war and my subsequent enlistment in the U.S. Army interfered with our romance, because I wanted to wait until I returned from the service before marriage. Our allied forces were being mauled by both the German and Japanese armies, and the casualty rate was very high. (My Army experience is covered briefly in answer to question number 14.) Upon my discharge from the U.S. Army Signal Corps. in 1946, Elva and I set about getting married. That was the most wonderful life changing event of my life. Elva and I made the plans for our wedding, which occurred on April 5, 1946, at the First Baptist Church in Wichita, KS. We rented an apartment at 4313 East Kellogg St. in Wichita, KS. I was employed by Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. as a lineman. Since I needed to continue and complete my college education, started at Kansas State College in Manhattan, KS. My college enrollment, textbook and laboratory expenses were paid by the veteran's G I Bill of Rights, education fund provided to former service men who had received an honorable discharge from the service. The veterans paid their living expenses. Since I had started school at my own expense before the war, but had not completed it, I had enrolled at Kansas State College to complete that work. I continued my studies in Electrical Engineering. With funds running short, and my decision to change my major studies, we moved back to Wichita. There, I was employed by Southwestern Bell, and moved to work in their downtown switch room on the late night shift. I attended Wichita University classes during the daytime, until I received my B. A. Degree with my major in Industrial Psychology (personnel counseling). As a telephone company craftsman, member of the Communications Workers of America Union (affiliate of the CIO), this provided me with a great opportunity as a group work steward, to engage in grievance negotiations. Later, I was elected President of the Wichita CWA Local unit. There, I was much involved in dealing with labor-management grievance negotiations on behalf of our non-management employees. 13. Tell about your work and raising children. Answer: Two years after our marriage, we moved to Beechwood, a housing development created to house Beech Aircraft Co aircraft workers during the war. Beech had laid off a major part of their employees, who had then moved away from Wichita. Thus, we enjoyed reasonable rent. Elva was pregnant, so, at the time of her hospitalization for the birth of Gary, I stayed at her parent's home in North Wichita. A tornado ripped through Beechwood, ruining our residence. Fortunately I was with Zina and Jessie Moore, and therefore neither Elva nor I was at our home during the storm. We didn't know of the tornado until we heard the radio report of it the following morning. Our residence was not destroyed, but the storm damage was such that the building was not habitable. The Red Cross was mobilized to assist the displaced residents in securing another home, and moving our furniture to Plainview, a similar housing development north of the Boeing Aircraft plant which was south of Wichita. At Beechwood, I had to shovel coal into the furnace to heat the two story apartment. At our one story duplex in Plainview, we enjoyed a natural gas fired furnace. Gary's birth was a wonderful experience for both Elva and me. Elva's parents were loving, very supportive, and always a great help to us. Elva was a talented piano teacher and taught many youth to become very good pianists. By teaching piano in our home, she was able to devote time to Gary's excellent care. Two years later, Roger was born and was a delightful new family member. A contractor friend, Earl Rich, consulted with us, designed and built us a new two bedroom home on Minnesota Avenue in Wichita, the first one we could call our own. Two years later, at the time Elva's mother, Jessie Moore was suffering with cancer, Don was born. Although Jessie had hoped for a granddaughter, she was overjoyed to be with us to bring Don into our family circle. She delighted in holding and rocking him. Shortly thereafter, Jessie, at age 52, died of cancer. Her death was a great loss, felt by her family (Butterworth) and ours. I worked for thirteen years as a craftsman at Wichita. Our need for more living space prompted us to buy a new home in southwest Wichita, where we lived when Craig David was born. All of our boys were delivered in Wesley Hospital, Wichita, KS. I had advanced in my occupation from a lineman to telephone central office repairman. In 1960, we accepted a management appointment as Technical Training Instructor in the telephone company's Topeka craft training center. This entailed our moving to Topeka, where we rented a house and enrolled our three oldest boys in elementary school. Craig, younger than his brothers, was soon among the student crowd. As parents, Elva and I encouraged the boys to develop their natural talents and seek to improve themselves along career lines of their own choosing. Gary and Roger worked for and were awarded their Eagle Scout rank. Don and Craig participated in many scouting events, but were interested in other areas. Roger and Don became outstanding artists, and eventually embarked on art-related careers. Gary earned his Masters Degree in Social work and is now in charge of such counseling at St Francis Hospital. Roger, with his Master's art degree, has his successful freelance advertising and consulting business. Don, with his art degree and skill, is on the staff of the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York. Craig, with his journalism degree and penchant for public relations work is National Executive Director of his Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. All have achieved their remarkable career goals and continue to make contributions in other fields. The boy's wives have influenced and become an important part of our lives. Nancy, Gary's wife is an outstanding radiologist, highly skilled at operating the CAT Scan x-ray equipment at St Francis Hospital. She is also an accomplished sailor, and with Gary, enjoys sailing and managing the Perry Lake Yacht Club facilities. They have nurtured and raised daughters Jami Lynn and Erin Michelle who are now business women in their own right. Payton, Erin's daughter will soon be demonstrating her newfound kindergarten-learned skills. Marina, Don's wife, teaches in a New York City elementary school. They have traveled with us on vacations and been great camper companions. Their daughter, Ariel, is an accomplished instrumental musician (trombone and flute) and is now a Junior student at the University of Massachusetts. Debra, Craig's wife, is also a KU graduate. She teaches preschool youngsters in Richmond, VA. She and Craig are active participants in daughter Lindsay and son Cory's ongoing music and sports programs. These grandchildren were close to us during their early school years while living in Lawrence, so we thrilled at the opportunity to share in their activities. However, since they moved to Richmond, we notice how much those events meant to us, which we cannot now be present to watch. My Telephone Career work: After my discharge from the army, I was employed by Southwestern Bell Telephone Company as a lineman. We repaired inter-city long distance circuit wire, strung on pole cross arms, on routes radiating out of Wichita, KS. Then, for several years I taught craftsmen and women employees such skills as teletype machine repair, electromechanical (step by step) central office switch room maintenance, long distance carrier equipment maintenance, and basic fundamentals of electronic switching systems. I was appointed to be the (Kansas) Northern Division Maintenance Supervisor. My next appointment was as a Toll Circuit Engineer for the Northern Division. I worked at this position for a couple of years. (This was a position that did not bring much job satisfaction -- there was little meaningful person-to-person interaction at an engineer's drawing table -- and the Company was undergoing many "culture" changes at the time that compounded George's discontent. - ed.) Then, I was assigned to engineer the installation of the Bell System Telephone Power Plant Maintenance Training facility to be located at Mission, KS. Upon completion of that project, I requested to be returned to the Training Department. There, I was appointed Staff Training Supervisor of the new specialized training facility at Mission, KS. With three instructors, we trained power plant maintenance craft persons from all Bell System operating companies and many foreign students, who participated in the government-sponsored Aid training program for developing nations. I have been privileged to experience and participate in the evolution of telephone call switching from the hand cranked ringer, rural party-line phone system with operators making manual cord connections between local call numbers or city-to-city relayed long distance connections; then automatic electro-mechanical inter-city connections and into the electronic, high-speed solid state switching and digital switching technology. We retired from Southwestern Bell Telephone Company employment with a few months more than 39 years of service. # 14 Milestones, or turning points in my life include: After graduation from High School, I moved to Manhattan, KS. There, I became employed in various jobs, now being fully responsible for earning my own living. My objective was to also save enough to pay tuition in the fall school semester at K State. Dad had helped Loverne and me to move and paid board and lodging for my first week. Loverne was employed as a domestic servant at a professor's home, where they also provided her room and board. At age 18, working in the Building and Repair Department at the college, and other odd jobs, provided my necessary funds. This was a significant adventure for me, I found that I could earn my own living! My volunteer enlistment in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and the regimentation of that life-style, training and experience, was certainly a change of style and provided valuable training for my future career work with the telephone company. Meeting and eventually marrying the most beautiful, talented, adorable and outgoing girl in the world, Elva Viola Moore, really was an answer to my prayers. She has stood with and tolerated me for 55 years, and is still my lover, counselor, inspiring wife, and loving mother of our sons, Gary, Roger, Don, and Craig. All four of the boys selected their own education goals and graduated from college with fine records. Gary and Roger both were awarded their Master's Degrees. They, their wives, Nancy, Marina and Debra, are wonderful carefully selected additions to our family. Our granddaughters, Ariel, Jami, Erin and Lindsay as well as Grandson Cory are all doing quite well. And now, we have Great-grand-daughter, Payton, who is a jewel to be proud of. Roger's close friend, Karin Morris, a U.S. Air flight attendant, has also won a place in our hearts. This family, with their outreach and involvement, present a panorama of activities that is exciting to behold. Military Service: I was registered for military service in World War II. My sister, Loverne, happened to be the clerk of the Selective Service Draft Board at Great Bend, so she notified me when my draft number was coming up. I had decided that I would voluntarily enlist rather than be drafted and therefore assigned to an army unit not to my liking. Therefore, I enlisted in the Army Signal Corps Reserve. That placed me in a position to be ordered to report as a civilian to Army Signal Corps Radio Operator training schools prior to induction into the regular army. I was assigned (as a civilian member of the Signal Corps) to about one year of training at Radio Operator and Repair training schools in Wyoming and Colorado. I was inducted into the Regular Army at Fort Leavenworth, KS , assigned Army Serial Number 17175125. (The first two digits indicate that I was a volunteer). My first assignment was to Camp Crowder, MO (a Signal Corps training camp). There, upon completion of 7 weeks Basic Training, there was a surplus of radio operators and maintenance Military Occupational Specialist personnel. Therefore, I was assigned to the telephone switching communications section for additional training. Bell Telephone Company Training manuals and equipment maintenance was taught by former career Bell System employees. This training and experience prepared me for my eventual career with Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. (! -ed.) Upon graduation from the Technical Training Section, I was assigned to be a Basic Training Platoon Sergeant, training new inductees at Camp Crowder, MO. This was the Army's equivalent to the Navy and Marine Corps boot camp. This lasted for about 18 months. An urgent need for qualified technician replacements overseas at the time of the Battle of the Bulge in France -- the turning point for eventual victory in the European theater of war -- prompted my assignment to overseas duty in the Iceland Base Command, with headquarters at Reykjavik, Iceland. We went overseas on a converted freighter/passenger ship, landing at Cardiff, Wales. Then we were transported (at night) by train to Glasgow Scotland. We were billeted in a city park for four or five days that was walled-off from the rest of the city. We then boarded an Italian cold storage ship (there was no heat provided for our compartment -- we had been issued very heavy winter clothing which was turned in to the Army Supply when we arrived in Iceland) which transported us to Reykjavik Iceland. There were two British destroyers as our naval escort for half the way, and then we were on our own to watch for any submarines that may be lying in wait for our supply ship. From Reykjavik, I was assigned to be the (telephone communications) Wire Chief at the United States Army Air Base located at Meeks Field near Keplavik, Iceland. At that time there were NO trees in Iceland. The island was mountainous, and there were extensive lava beds, the outflow of volcanoes long since dormant. Fishing was the primary occupation of the inhabitants. Reykjavik was the capitol city, and the only one that provided an opportunity to shop. The Red Cross furnished all of our entertainment. They brought in performers and conducted special parties for the servicemen. They also organized trips into the mountains and provided skis for us to use. I never did learn to ski at all well. But, I did go on their organized trips. We traveled in Army ton-and-a-half trucks with canvas over the top that were open at the back. The trucks were all-wheel-drive powered (if it was shifted to that feature). Bus loads of civilians would go with us; they were expert at using skis. If a bus became stuck in the snow, our trucks would pull them out by using the truck's powered winch lines. However, at times the bus passengers would simply unload, tie a rope onto the front bumper, and all passengers would grasp the rope and actually, physically, pull the bus out of the snow drift, in most cases. Our trucks never left a bus stranded, so we were their backup tow system. There were no ski lodges, nor facilities available, so our Red Cross personnel would provide hot food and drinks for all, which was brought along in the trucks. The Signal Corps Command kept our unit supplied with the latest movies out of Hollywood, so our theater was busy almost every night, Air Force and Signal Corps personnel attended the movies free of charge. Civilian Movies were shown at Reykjavik, the language was Norwegian or Danish. The English translation was dubbed in (printed) across the bottom of the picture. A surprising number of soldiers dated and married Icelandic ladies. I always went to the city with my married friends, Sgt. Bill Abernathy and Robert Sterling, so we weren't looking for dates. We had a great time as a trio visiting town, or on a Red Cross ski trip. The air base chapel was where we attended church, an Army chaplain was our preacher. I think he would have had trouble finding a church which would hire him in the states. His most notable function was in dealing with soldier's family problems back home, or serious morale problems. A number of servicemen committed suicide, which was the result of their inability to adjust to long periods of service overseas, away from their homes. No members of our Signal Company committed suicide. We didn't experience any serious injuries nor sickness that I recall. I did sprain my ankle, which continued to cause problems at times over a number of months. Our army doctor taped it up, and I didn't miss out on any of my job assignments. The injury happened while on a fishing boat visit to several fishing villages. We had gone ashore to walk through the village when the ship's captain blasted the whistle for us to get back on board. We ran to the docks as the boat was pulling away. Each of us jumped to the boat deck. I happened to land on a coiled-up anchor rope, and twisted my ankle. Thus, the injury. After the end of World War II, I returned to Ft. Leavenworth, KS. where I received my Honorable Discharge from the Army in March of 1946. (Editor's note: George did not capitalize "Army", spelling it "army", through this entire narrative.) Life in Retirement: Since my retirement in 1985, we lived in Prairie Village until June of 2000. During that time, Elva and I have been involved in serving as volunteers on various assignments. We started this when we met campers who invited us to join the Mobile Missionary Assistance Program. Administered from their California headquarters, we would select from a list of projects, a site where a request for volunteer help had been approved. The assignment would run for a period of three weeks. We paid our own travel expenses, carried our own hand tools, and joined four or five other couples who were also assigned to the host site. This would be a church camp, conference center, or possibly a church. There were no denominational affiliations required. When we arrived on-site, the hosts would have prepared a central camping area for us to each have full hookups, electricity, water, and sewer connections for each recreation vehicle. They had a designated on-site leader to provide instructions, necessary special tools, equipment and supplies for the project. We worked five days a week, and had weekends off for travel. At the end of our scheduled assignment, we would then scatter to our next project assignments. If our project had not been completed, another team would show up to continue the work. One time, we had elected to remain as a crew to spend a second month on the job. That was near Camp Verde, AZ, at Rainbow Acres, a ranch home for mentally retarded adults. Other locations were at Vero Beach, FL., Pulsbo, WA, Reading, PA, and Mission TX. The last site was not prepared for us, so we moved on to Osage Beach, MS to clean up the aftermath damage to a youth camp/conference center caused by a hurricane. Following that, we volunteered to join Volunteers In Mission, an American Baptist Churches-USA project. We spent a summer session at Green Lake, WI, as boathouse attendant and Children's Center teacher. Then we accepted the greatest of all assignments: as volunteers to the Kodiak Baptist Mission at Kodiak, AK. We drove up the Alaskan Highway in our Ford (diesel) van and spent a year as managers of the Mission Thrift Store. We returned via the Cassier Highway to Seattle and on home from there. We returned to Kodiak using the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry on the inland passage to Haines, AK. This assignment was for 10 months to write a manuscript about the first 100 years of Baptist work in Alaska. We visited all American Baptist churches at Kodiak, Anchorage, Eagle River, Wasilla, Cordova, Fairbanks, and North Pole. Of course we traveled all of the highways and visited many points of interest: the oil pipeline to Valdez, a weekend flight was made to Nome and the native town Kotzebue. (There, we saw huge slabs of ice which had been jammed up on shore by Arctic Ocean storms.) We also observed present-day gold mining dredges working their way across the river beds. Individual gold-diggers were using their rocker contraptions, washing gold dust from the Nome beach sands, being washed by gasoline-operated pumps supplying sea water to the manually operated rocker-sieves. We returned to Kodiak one more time, to give a brief review of our findings to the celebrants at the 100 Year Birthday Party for the Kodiak Baptist Mission. We used the Alaska Marine Highway ferry boats to reach Haines, AK, and returned to the States the same way. Since that time, we have volunteered at Bacone Collelge in Muskogee, OK, Colgate Rochester Theological and Divinity School at Rochester, NY., Central Baptist Theological Seminary at Kansas City, KS, American Baptist Churches- USA Headqaurters Mission at Valley Forge, PA, and Cross Wind Conference Center at Hesston, KS. We have volunteered at these last three named sites several times for intervals of from one- to several months at a time. Our local recreation has been to a large extent camping with Telephone Pioneer Family Camper friends here in northeast Kansas. We also continue attending the American Baptist Church, participating in the Senior age-group Sunday School Class activities. We lived in the Prairie Village suburb of Kansas City, KS for fifteen years following my (1985) retirement. There, we attended Prairie Baptist Church at Roe Ave and 75th Street. Through that time we owned a home and lived at 6105 West 70th Street, Prairie Village, KS. We moved our membership back to First Baptist Church in Topeka when, in May 2000, we purchased and moved into our duplex in the Rolling Hill Retirement Community, independent-living section, at 2361 SW Fountain Place, Topeka, KS. During our retirement years we have lived for extended intervals at our volunteer project sites (previously mentioned). Our family genealogy search has been interesting aspect of our traveling to different areas. We have searched through personal ancestral records at the Mormon Library in Salt Lake City and Mesa, AZ. Elva's relatives have been good about sharing information and photographs. We enjoy going to the localities where those families lived and looking into County Clerk's records for information. It is a real thrill to find mention of family member's ownership and distribution of property. A lot of time may be spent on what appears to be a waste of time, but, occasionally one gets a clue, or mention of a name we have sought, and that makes it worth the time and effort. The major task which eventually must be faced, is organizing information which has been found. In this respect, Roger Templeton has fashioned a special World Wide Web computer site for family members to use as an organized depository. As we learn to utilize it, this may prove to be a most useful family records research resource. We have the Mormon Personal Ancestral File computer program with family trees and notes about many of our family members. The task before us, at this time, is to bring those notes up to date with mention of recent past achievements and experiences. This information must also be printed and filed in a manner that is accessible to whomever may want to read it. A taped interview must be accompanied by a recorder which can play it for the listener. If the equipment is not available, the record is not usable. In this respect, again I believe, a printed paper copy of the contents must be prepared and properly filed. We have often wished that each of our relatives had prepared and made available such a report as this one for themselves, to share with posterity. I believe that this has become a rather rambling, tho brief account of what I have done; and about friends and family members who have been influential in my life. We enjoy interactions and contacts with our family and friends and hope to live in a manner that will glorify God. There is much work to be done, and I hope that we can be among the workers who achieve it. (Editor's note: the last question in the "20 Questions" is, "20. What advice or philosophy of life would you want to pass on to your children and grandchildren?" I believe that these last two sentences of George's can serve as his answer, at least as I know him.)