TLC logo TLC #141  January 5, 2014


 

Dear Hearts & Gentle People:

And a Happy New Year to all. Good health, happiness and good fortune to you from the old hometown.

We’re going to have a contest this issue! I hope the photos come through embedded.

Dennis Whitehead is an author living in Arlington, Virginia, who is writing a book about a father and son killed in World War II.  Love and Sacrifice chronicles the lives of the Reed family through the first half of the 20th Century. Lexington plays an important role in the story. He writes:

We've briefly corresponded in the past about my documentary and book about a father and son killed in World War II, and I have finished the book and am now filling gaps. I have a selection of photographs from Lexington, 1933-36, and would love for your readers to have a go at faces, names and places. Please let me know if you need any additional information or any of the photos resized.

This is a bit of a Lexington history mystery hunt. Following are photographs that the author hopes will elicit information about the people and places in Lexington during the 1930s. As this was a time and place where the Reed boys grew into and through their teen years, it is a critical location in their life stories.
 
From 1933 to 1939, Captain/Major Ollie W. Reed was professor of Military Science at Wentworth. The Reed family – wife Mildred and son Theodore “Ted” (their other son boarded at Wentworth) lived at several addresses during these six years: 1622 Main Street, 1823 South Street and 1824 South Street. The snow photographs show Ted Reed shoveling snow in front of an unidentified house and the other is of his parents while looking down the block. I need help with identifying the location.

Dennis Whitehead’s comments are shown in black. My responses/guesses are in green. Since receiving this, I have had a few people chime in. Please, Readers, join us in the fun. I know some of you have better information/memories than I do!

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This is the house at 19th St and South St. (south side, faces north). In the 1940s and 50s it was owned by Bob & Lola Burgess Beretta. The Reed parents are standing in front of that house, not shown, looking west on South St. (the south side) up the block – I mean the photo looks west, the couple faces east.
 
Ted was in fourth grade at Arnold School at the time the family arrived in Lexington. He is at the top left in the class picture, presumably in 1933-34.

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The costumed photos (below) are from the 1934 Arnold School May Fete when Ted (second from the left in the foursome photo; second from right, peeking through, in the group) was a member of the gypsies in the production. Any thoughts and recollections of any of those in the photos will be most appreciated.

I think both of the photos below were taken in front of Arnold.

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I know we will have many IDs on these people. I know of a few myself. (Beissenherz has two s’s, BTW);  almost all of these people have relatives/descendants still living in Lex. I will gather detailed information from our readers. Tom Johnson, brother to Claudia Dell Johnson Young, lived across and east of the Beretta house on South Street between 19th & 20th during some period of time. Nancy Lee Aull is the sister of attorney Bill Aull and the daughter of attorney Wm Aull Jr., the aunt of Joe Aull who lives in Lexington and, as it happens, works at WMA.

 
The Reed’s elder son, Ollie W. “Buddy” Reed, Jr., was a cadet at Wentworth from 1933 to 1937 when he left Lexington to attend West Point. His girlfriend in Lexington was Nancy Campbell who lived at 1824 South Street with her grandmother, Mattie Yingling. Nancy was the daughter of Ralph and Lola Campbell. Ralph was a WWI hero and Lola a teacher who passed away by the time Nancy was 14. Nancy graduated from Lexington High School in 1938 and went to William Jewell College. She was a member of the 1938 LHS Pep Squad (Nancy is shown dead center).

Oddly enough, an Army Colonel named Yingling was PMS&T at Wentworth in later years. May be a coincidence, but it’s a pretty unusual name.

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Jim O’Malley said he thinks this was taken on the concrete bleachers at the Goose Pond. I think he is right. Some of these gals look very familiar!

Below is Nancy and her grandmother, Mattie Yingling

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I think I know where this house is, possibly facing 18th Street between Main & Franklin. Anyone?


After Arnold, Ted was a student at Lexington High from 1936 to 1939, completing his junior year before the family left for the Philippines. Does anyone have Lexington HS yearbooks from these years that I can reference?

Probably. Also try Classmates on the Internet. They have some LHS ‘annuals,’ but I don’t know what years.
 
During his years in Lexington, Ted was very active in Scouts, starting as a Cub Scout and rising to Eagle Scout with Troop 318.

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Can you determine the names of the Chairman and the Director on this original?
 
The photographs of the teens come from Ted’s July 25, 1939 birthday luncheon, just days before the family left Lexington. The threesome photo shows Ted, left, with Norman White and Bob Morrison. Ned Barnet and Freddy Antone are standing outside an ice cream shop. Any idea of the shop’s name?

We can ID this with some research. I believe Ned Barnett married Shirley Russell, whose father Paul Russell owned the lumber yard at 12th and Main.

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In the larger group below, Ted, second from left, is standing next to his girlfriend at the time, Virginia Lee Beisenherz (sic). Next to them are Shirley Russell, Norman White and Mancy (sic) Lee “Bitty” Aull. Anecdotes about any of the people shown in these photos will be most helpful. And, correct name spellings are critical. Anyone know what building is in the background?

Below:  The building in the background is known as The Boone House. It is on South Street facing north, east of Lafayette Arms. It was the President’s House when Lafayette Arms was the Baptist Seminary. (Please, People, correct any errors!) Nancy Lee “Bitty” Aull was the daughter of Wm. Aull Jr. and sister of Bill Aull and Ann Aull Griffiths (mother of Ann “Puddin” Griffiths). That family home was at 16th & Main, southeast corner. 

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The photo of the four boys was thought to have come from Ft. Leavenworth but I suspect it might be Lexington. Ted is second from the left and his older brother, Buddy, is on the right. Is he wearing a Wentworth sweater? Any thoughts about the other two boys and the location?

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This might be in front of the Wentworth House, southwest corner of Main & 16th.  Yes, that is a definitely a WMA sweater that was worn with khakis (the khaki uniform) up into the late 50s or 60s, possibly later.

 
Finally, there are two photographs from the Reed collection without any caption information. The girl standing alone and Ted with his friend who appears in a number of photos (class picture and gypsy groups). Any thoughts?

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That is in the front yard of the Aull House, 1601 Main (looking east). I believe the photo of the two boys is taken in that yard, facing north. The house across the street (in background) is on the northeast corner of Main at 16th if I’m correct. The girl in the left photo is probably Bitty Aull.
 
Your assistance in adding life and substance to these photographs is most appreciated. Please visit www.loveandsacrifice.com for more information about the project. Use of these photographs is solely restricted to The Lexington Connection for purposes of this research. Other use or reproduction is prohibited without written permission from the author.

People will have a lot of fun with this, Dennis. Write soon, Folks!

Norma Wilson ’54 Gadt wrote that she enjoyed seeing our pictures, and I’ll bet she will love this edition.

Linda Marchetti, who is quite an historian herself, wrote: Raymond Delaqua - reared in Lexington and at 96 still very good mentally even though his eyesight has failed - resides in Oceanside, California.  He was a Marine helicopter pilot in the Vietnam Conflict and completed many missions. I know he would like to hear from other vets…relatives and acquaintances. I have his phone number and address.

Duncan Lee ’60 addressed the new water tower from a personal perspective: I was interested to see that a new water tower is planned.  I remember the present one being built, but not the exact year, '50's I think. The old one then was a standpipe painted silver and leaked like a sieve. My father, being the manager of the water company, got his company to put in a new, sort of ball-shaped one and he painted it a green color. He said it was designed to keep the water cooler in summer. So if you ever noticed your water being slightly cooler than that of neighboring towns, you can thank Ed Lee. During my two summers working for the Missouri Water Co., I had the dubious distinction of being in charge of cutting the grass (weeds) around the water tower. Not an easy task until Dad fronted up and rented a tractor. One of my other duties was painting every fire hydrant in town. Half one year, half the next. What fun!

The new water tower is an addition, if I understand correctly, to the water tower you reference, Duncan.

Don Armbruster, always one to stir the pot, sent some thoughts of his own about the past and the present:    Interesting thought occurred as Sally and I were driving back this Christmas Eve from the Walmart Supercenter  (less than 8 miles from our door - way out here in Lexington J):  so many quality products; at such affordable prices; in such a pleasant one-stop-shop setting, with such good product service. I'd bet this, if we all had grown up with a Supercenter available to us,  then it was taken away and we had to shop as we did in the 1950s   (or worse yet in the 1930-40s) we would feel our standard of living had taken a substantial turn for the worse.  Or at least we would. Sheppard’s Hardware, Bings, Montgomery Wards, back then were wonderful.  However in comparison to today's experience, well nostalgia is pleasant but.........as for me - I would describe it as a consumer environment I would not opt to revert to. Be interesting to hear your readership's take on it all.  I can just about imagine. All I.M.H.O.  by the way, not fact, just opinion.

I told Don I have a foot in both camps, being the past and the present. Still having those businesses would offer job opportunities to local youth who must now move away to find work. It would certainly make for a stronger Community and stronger economy here – but I do understand the economics that changed this way of life.

He responded: I have both feet in both camps, as well as the Wellington camp. Both Wellington and Lexington are my official hometowns.  To complicate matters, I love Columbia Missouri, too. There are strong emotional ties to all three. So nice to have a home place. I have three.

Jim O’Malley ‘49, who has about the best memory for the Old Days of anyone I know, wrote about one of our distinguished residents: Susan, how great it was to get TLC #140 and catch up on the Lexington news.  It's been bone chilling cold here in Warrensburg, too!   Katena Kehrees Vleisides mentioned in her contribution about a famous Lexington musician named Carl Stalling.  He should be included in Lexington's "Hall of Fame."  While growing up I saw many "Looney Toons & Merrie Melodies" cartoons at our local Mainstreet Theatre.  These included Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig.  Remember them?  Well, at the beginning of each cartoon when the credits were rolling you'd see "…. Music Director: Carl Stalling."  Several years ago I decided to Google his name and was able to read his bio and see several of his photos on Google images.  To my amazement I learned that he came from Lexington, MO.  I even found out recently that he was related to Lexington resident Bill Cohrs. Mary Kay Wilcoxon ’58 Gooseman told me that Carl was born in Wellington but moved as a child to Lexington.  I'm including a couple of pictures of him.  Hope you can use these in your next TLC.   Oh yes, it was nice hearing from Katena in #140.  She's the sister of my dear classmate Sophia Kehrees ’49 Vialle, Norman's wife.  I recently was visiting with a Greek speaking physician in the KC area and asked her what Kehrees meant in English. She said it meant gift (or perhaps gifted).  The Kehrees family was certainly a gifted family!  Susan, thanks for publishing these TLCs.  They bring back such wonderful memories!    

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I believe we in Lexington had re-discovered Carl Stalling a few years ago, and there was lengthy reporting on his Lexington connection in the local newspaper. I was in hopes there would be a move to erect a statue/monument of Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse, etc. to memorialize that in the small park facing the movie theatre (now on Franklin, Cannonball 6). Stalling has been neglected far too long.

I will be eager to hear from ALL of you. Please comment on these wonderful individual contributions, and I’ll send more in February!

Your devoted Scribe,

Susan

 

 

 

 




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