JAMES (JIM) AND ROSALEE (CREW) HORTON
As told by Rosalee

There are many bits of Clarke County history our family was involved in. I have a tin box in which Mother kept such information, and it, combined with my own recollections, have helped me know some of it. Mother was a Main, and Grandma Main was a Hendrickson. About all I know of them is that they came from Ohio to the Grand River area.

There are two cemeteries —the Grand River Cemetery and Young's, a little country cemetery east and north of Grand River. Some of our ancestors are buried there. Grandad Main came from the Leon part of Decatur County. How they got together, I don't know because in those days, that was a long way away. Grandma's family didn't have a car for years, so when they moved, which was relatively often at that time, they did it with team and wagon.

Grandpa and Grandma loved to dance, and Grandpa played violin and harmonica. Mom's sister played guitar. After my grandparents were married, they went to house dances. The furniture was carried out and rugs rolled up. My folks went also and I remember being put to bed on a pile of coats. Grandad Main became ill with Parkinson's disease in the late '40s. Doctors didn't know much about it and there wasn't much medicine or treatment. He was one of the earliest patients with Parkinson's in the county.

I have more infoimation about the Crew side of the family: George M. Crew's great-grandfather, A.J. Crew, was born in North Carolina in 1819. His family moved to Ohio and A.J. came to Iowa by boat up the Ohio River to St. Louis, the Mississippi River to Keokuk, then by team and wagon to Leslie in Clarke County in 1855. A.J. and his second wife raised 11 children, including George W. Crew. The Crew family was one of the first three to settle in Knox Township in the Greenbay area. They prospered there and the older members of the family are buried in the cemetery by that name.

The Milton Greeley McNichols family also lived in Knox township. Earle Haldane Crew "took a shine" to Rosa Belle McNichols, who became his wife and mother of my father, George M. Crew, along with two other sons, Gerald and Leon. George M. Crew, was named for his two grandfathers, George W. Crew and Milton Greeley McNichols. We know very little about the McNichols family except that they moved from Knox township to Murray, where they lived out their lives and are buried in the Murray Cemetery.

A sister of my father's mother, Cora McNichols never married but always worked in a nursing home in Des Moines. In her declining years she lived in the Good Samaritan Home in Indianola, Iowa. She was the last of Dad's family, so he looked after her. She outlived him, so Mom, James and I took over her care. The only family information she gave us was that an ancestor had been a doctor. It was never written down and no name was given.

Like many other adults, I wish I had paid more attention to family background when I could have heard the stories, but I was busy raising children. In the tin box is accumulated memorabilia Mother had kept. The information covers many years. There are pedigree charts and all, and I have tried to absorb it. When I first began, the charts were totally Greek to me, but as I have read and reread it has become more clear and is beginning to make sense. I do know that Grandad, Dad, George and his two brothers used to play ball at Lewis, and they went to Lewis Springs to go swimming. (That was a recreation area developed by the Lewis family, told about by Dr. George Lewis in Volume I and Marilyn Foster in Volume XI of Recipes for Living.) I always wanted to talk to Grandad about all this but it never happened.

Uncle Roy Crew, and his wife, Genevieve, operated Crew's Cafe on the west side of the square, in the Garner hotel, where there have been many cafes. Mom and Dad both worked there. (Mom worked in several other restaurants over the years: for Opal Smith, Bernadine Simmerman, and Alfred Jones.) I was two or three years old when they worked in Crew's Cafe, and either I was told or have some vague recollection of sitting on the counter eating an ice cream cone. They were a wonderful aunt and uncle, and around a lot. Aunt Genevieve was also a Home Economics teacher in the Osceola junior college, which was held on the top floor of the high school building (now replaced by the North Main Manor apartments). When Aunt Genevieve's parents grew older, she and Uncle Roy moved to Mediapolis, Iowa, to take care of them. Uncle Roy farmed the family farm and she taught high school Home Ec. They raised a son.

We visited Mediapolis several times over the years and there are some of Aunt Genevieve's letters in the tin box. Because their only child was a boy, she asked if, when the time came, we would come back and she would take us into Burlington to the "BIG Store" and she could help choose my wedding dress. She had so many good ideas, how could we refuse? It was great that she could help Mom and me in picking out just the right one.

They were around when I was born in a little house on Adams and Clay on July 15, 1935. That house still stands on the same spot, although it has been renovated and repainted several times over the years. My little sister, Janice, five years younger than I, was born December 28, 1940.

Times were very hard in those days and pay was low. Dad learned at an early age to hunt and fish, and we ate everything he brought home — squirrel, rabbit, pheasant, quail or fish, depending on the season. One Thanksgiving we had pheasant and quail. Some of the best eating there is. I remember Grandma Main giving Mom some liver and I did not like it at all!

Other times I remember being really hard was during WWII, when Dad was gone to war. One day when mom was in the basement doing the laundry, I buttered a slice of bread and sprinkled sugar on top for my little sister, Janice, and myself. Janice was sitting on the table and we were having a feast until mom unexpectedly appeared in the doorway! We did get to eat our treat but Janice came down off the table! That house is 1 1/2 blocks west of the old high school where North Main Manor Apartments are now.

Dad and his buddy, Bud Saddoris, built a wonderful swing set for us to play on and entertain neighborhood friends. It was three ladders fastened together and anchored to the ground. We could do all kinds of tricks on it. There were also double swings to swing on. Bud and Dad grew up together and Bud and his wife, Meryle, were special friends. They were like an uncle and aunt to Janice and me.

Dad enlisted at the beginning of WWII. Bud did not go to war as soon as Dad. He waited for his "number" to be drawn and he was drafted. After they came home, sometimes if we entered the room unexpectedly, the conversation between the two of them was hushed. They were discussing old days when they both were in Europe. They were there at the same time and just missed seeing each other during the war. I was eight years old and Janice was three, when Dad left for the war. It was two long years before he came home. We received letters occasionally but never really knew what he was going through or what was going on where he was. Other men and women were going to war also. Husbands, fathers, uncles, and friends were fighting for freedom. Every Friday I took a dime to buy a savings stamp for my book. When it was full of stamps, I could buy a $10 savings bond.

Several years after he came home and we were older, he told us of the evening he and his platoon were resting in their foxholes. His buddy sitting next to him suddenly dropped over dead from shrapnel. They didn't know where it came from as there had not been any noise or gun fire anywhere in the area. This happened when Dad was in Gennany. He was also in France, Belgium and Luxembourg. I remember feeling I was helping some because we picked up metal for the "war effort." The country stockpiled scrap metal.

I started to school at West Ward. Lots of people will remember Nellie Bonham who taught first grade there. She was a cousin to my grandpa Hallie Crew and Dad. Nellie never married so Bonham was her maiden name. Several of her ancestors (including her father and mother) are buried at Greenbay Cemetery (mentioned earlier in this writing). There is a large grey stone with the Bonham name at Maple Hill Cemetery. We have no idea who these people might have been.

Nellie was around a lot with our family. I also always felt at home with her and stayed with her or Meryle Saddoris at times when mom sometimes went to visit dad while he was still stationed in the states, before he was shipped overseas. She visited Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He also was stationed at Camp Roberts, California but that was too far for Mom to travel. I loved staying with either teacher. They were good friends. I was never bored as they always had something for me to do. If there was no school in town, I could usually go to country school at Ward Center, where Meryle was teaching at the time.

I also remember my kindergarten teacher, Miss Keeker, who had a white rat in a cage. She would let us take turns holding it at certain times of the day. I also remember Mrs. Carson and Mrs. Simpson as friends but did not have them as teachers. Miss. Howard was the principal who was especially helpful when I had trouble with my math. She put in special time after school with me until I had a method she knew would work. And it did, although math has never been my specialty!

When Dad came home from the war, he and Mom left together looking for work for Dad, and a new home for all of us. While they were gone, Janice and I stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Main, when they lived south of Murray. I attended a country school taught by Junia (Davenport) McGuire. The people I knew as a child then, I now know as adults. There were the VanLoons and the Gonseth boys, who tormented me to tears. Ione VanLoon took care of me as she was some older and taller than I or the "boys" were. I will always remember Ione!

I went to junior high where the Methodist Church now sits. As I remember, that school­house was up on a hill. The church sits on a bit of an incline but not on a hill. I've heard people say as we get older, hills and buildings are not as tall as they were when we were young. It, was a tall, brick building with wide marble steps. I had wonderful teachers in junior high. I have a picture I took of three of those teachers. Miss Leonard and Miss Trumbo taught science and history, Mrs. Hertz was the principal and taught math and science health. In junior high we also had a man teacher for part of one year. Mr. Bowling taught English. He also crocheted for a hobby. He liked the design of one of my sweaters, and asked if he could borrow it to take off the pattern. I loaned it to him but never did see the outcome.

Charlotte Kelly was a very special teacher and friend. She also had one brown eye and one blue eye just as I do. She had a son, Jerry Kelly, and always said I was her girl as she did not have one. Jerry enjoyed having work horses as does Jim Horton. Later, he would occasionally ask Jim to help him with his horses and sometimes they would have a hayride. When Jerry's wife, Eva, knew Jim was coming, she baked a cherry pie. Jim never refused!

Jim came in to high school from country school, "Mudsock." His family lived north of Osceola. He and I both attended high school at the site which is now North Main Manor, an all new government apartment building which rents according to income. I had always gone to town school except for a period during WWII. I didn't participate in athletics or music, even though I always liked to sing. That group of students had to get up too early to practice. I never was an early riser.

Everything I participated in had to do with Homemaking Effie Crawford (Moffitt) was my mentor. Jim concentrated on agriculture. Our first date was an F.F.A. (Future Farmers of America) hayride. It's been a long ride of 54 years. I graduated in 1953, and our 55th class reunion will be August 31, 2008. Jim and I were married in 1954.

Janice died in 2001, at 60 years of age, from bone cancer. Her husband, Kenneth McComas, died in 2004, of several physical problems. I have made a separate story of Jan and Ken and their four children, which follows this one.

For 10 years after we were married, we lived in and around Indianola. We liked that town very much and Jim gained his experience in maintaining streets and running the equipment that is required to do the job well. We also had a stint of farming in the wrong years, as we had three drought years in a row. That put us out of business.

After our three children had graduated, Jim accepted the job at Murray maintaining the streets. Next to farming and horses he knew about taking care of streets. We lived in Murray for 13 years, he taking care of streets and showing horses. I worked in several different jobs — at Robinson's, as a Home Health Care Aide, and I opened Murray's Rose Petal Place (flowers and gifts). As we grew closer to retirement, we could see our parents were going to need some help, so we decided to move back to Osceola.

With the exception of Julie's oldest son, Philip Riemenschneider and his family, who live east of Arispe, this puts us closer to most of the family. Philip and Brenda have three children ages 5, 3,and 1.

Four years ago, Philip had really bad headaches all summer and in the fall the doctors discovered he had a brain tumor. Surgery was performed at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. They found cancer. The doctors communicated with doctors at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He has been through the series of treatments, and has check-ups every three months with specialists in Des Moines at Mercy hospital, watching his progress. He has seizures, which the doctors stated is a result anytime the brain is moved around. He takes medication regularly to help control the seizures, but it does not control them entirely.

Philip and Brenda's three-year-old son, Owen, seemed to have trouble seeing things properly. They discovered he only saw a two-foot square two feet away. He has had glasses a few weeks. They were concerned that he wouldn't leave them on, but on the evening of his first day of wearing them, as his mom was putting him to bed, she told him she would put them on the dresser until the next day. He exclaimed "But ,Mom, I can't see!" They did not have to worry whether he would leave them on or not! My optometrist stated it was a good thing to discover the problem at this early age while there is still a strong connection from the eyes to the brain. At six or seven it would take longer for adjusting.

Julie lives in Osceola and works full time at Fareway. Her daughter, Kim, is married to Tim Jackson, Celeste Jackson's son. Kim has a day-care in their home, and during the summer will sometimes have as many as 14 children of all ages. The older kids help with the younger ones, and Kim also has Suzanna Hart help. Suzanna is fifth in her family of five girls and two boys. She turned 15 on August 7, 2008.

Julie's younger son, Jeffrey (Jeff) Riemenschneider, lives on a farm between Osceola and Murray working for a farmer. He has two little girls, Lyla who is nearly 3, and Katelyn who turned 1 last January, 2008.

Sue's family is beginning to leave home as they get older. She and husband, Rick Hart, have had their hands full parenting seven children. Stephanie took a job at the nursing home and loves to visit with the older people. Rebekah and Sarah both are at home, and are a big help to Mom with the day care she provides several families She and Kim both keep up with their day-care education by attending classes at SWCC. (Southwest [Iowa] Community College) whenever they are available. Then came Reuben, Suzanna, Ryan and Rachel. Keeping boys busy has been a challenge with getting through the "drivers permits," etc. The biggest challenge of all has been Rachel having Juvenile Diabetes at age 4. As she grew older, she was eligible for the pump to be installed. She is turning 12 years old August 9, 2008. She gets along fine with the pump and no longer has to constantly stick her little fingers, which was a terrible thing to do to a little child. We donate to the diabetes fund every year and urge others to do so also.

Our son Brian is a welder and works at Mueller's. His wife, Belinda, is Rusty Haltom's secretary at Rusty's Auto. Brian and Belinda have three daughters — Gwen, Katie, and Jenny. Their oldest daughter, Gwen, was born October 22, 1980. In her first summer, there was a high population of mosquitos, which we blame for Gwen's episode of encephalitis. She had an extremely high temperature and was in the hospital in Des Moines for a long period of time.

The high fever left scar tissue in the left lobe of her brain, which the doctors said caused her to have seizures. As Gwen grew older, Brian and Belinda took her from doctor to doctor, but there was never much progress. Belinda worked at the Furnas Electric factory and became acquainted with a lady who had a similar experience and was taken to Mayo Clinic in Rochester. By this time Gwen had graduated from high school. Brian and Belinda were convinced they should make the trip with Gwen and after much testing, surgery was done. Gwen did well after returning home, and her health continues to be good. She is not on medication and does not have seizures, although the doctors did not make any promises that she would never have them. Perhaps as she gets older, it is possible they will return.

Gwen and Matt (grandson of preacher Dwayne Henrichs) were married July 7, 2001, and live in Murray with their three daughters, McKayla, 5, Heidi, 3, and Amanda almost one.

Brian's other two daughters, Katie and Jenny, also live in Clarke County. Katie and her husband, Tommy Bell, have a daughter, Natalye Veronica, born March 18, 2008. She is our Number 10 great-grandchild and they are all great! Katie commutes to Des Moines every day to work for an insurance company. Tommy commutes to work as a mechanic at the West Des Moines Street Department. He had a work-out this winter (2007-2008) with all the bad weather we had. It resulted in flooding of the river that runs through the southern side of West Des Moines. He soon learned there was more to being a mechanic than just wrenches.

Tommy helped Brian put a new clutch in Jim's tractor over a weekend last winter. Jim's pushing snow and ice all winter was too much for his antique Farmall. He was desperate, but the fellows came through and accomplished the job in record time. They are the best and the charge for their work is very reasonable! They enjoy the steaks Dad (Grandpa) bottle-feeds and raises for 16­18 months. It is as good as all the wild game my dad would bring home when I was growing up.

Brian's daughter, Jenny, and Danny Keller, have a darling baby boy, Troy James. He turned one year old May 20, 2008. He had a wonderful time with his birthday cake when he was allowed to eat it with his fingers. He had a bath when it was all over!

The 4th of July has always been a special time of the year for our family. My folks always had a fried chicken/ham, chocolate pie dinner, right after the parade. Mom had it all cooked and in the oven ready to eat. Anyone arriving was welcome. The pie had to be found as Dad would hide it from the sons-in-law!!! This has changed since the younger generation have taken over. Julie now has a bonfire in her backyard. The fried chicken has turned to grilled-over-the-fire and the ham is hamburgers. And hot dogs on a stick! It is still the rule that anyone who shows up is welcome!

The past two years we have entertained (whoever showed up) at a picnic to watch the fireworks, as we have a clear view from our front yard. No matter how hot its been all day, it cools down on the east side of our house. It was hard at first to make the change, but as I get older it becomes easier to let the younger members take the responsibility.

Also as I have gotten older, I realize there are many ways in which I resemble Mother. As well as looking somewhat like her, I have taken up saving and storing items, which "some day I might need." She was also a collector as I am. Dad's philosophy, on_the other hand, was, "If you don't use it regularly, get rid of it!" When I was in my early "going to the Saturday and Sunday Matinees" age, I would send a dime to movie-stars, and they would send me an 8x10 picture of themselves — sometimes in color, which was always a surprise! I had scrap books of those which I prized! But after I left home and forgot about my childhood prizes, those among other items were disposed of.

One of Mom's favorite things to do, which I have inherited, is to cut pieces of fabric and sew them back together! Mom and her neighbor Thelma Rinner, were great "piecers." They were long-time friends and neighbors and would be back and forth across the street helping each other a lot. Dad made a quilting frame and Thelma had the space for it to be set up. When one or the other had a quilt pieced together and ready to quilt, they would help each other until it was completely finished. As the health of both women declined, their helping each other discontinued. When they were in the height of their quilting, they would buy bags of fabric from Snowdons Lingerie Factory Outlet store to use in their quilts. Sometimes it seemed as though they tried to see who could get there first to get the best choices.

They both kept a photo record of the quilts they had made and given away. They even designed their own quilts. Their favorite pattern was Grandmother's Flower Garden, using tricot, which was a tricky fabric to work with as it does a lot of sliding around. Thelma's obituary read "If she had time on her hands, she made another quilt." She and Mom both left boxes of fabric and even fabric cut to be sewed together into blocks and quilts. There is evidence this art will continue as there are people (guys and gals) who quilt and give lessons. There is a Quilt Club and for the County Fair, the Extension Service provides fabric people can take to design a block to their own liking. No one knows what anyone else is doing with their package. These are judged and prizes are awarded. Later the blocks are made into a quilt and raffled off at Fair time the following year.

I have made a few baby quilts, piecing and machine quilting. Instead of quilting, I tie with pieces of yarn. The first baby quilt I accomplished was called Tumbling Blocks, which I machine stitched-in-the-ditch. Where the seams come together is considered "the ditch." After I finished and turned it over to see how it looked, to my amazement there was another design, "Stars." It turned out unexpectedly to be a reversible quilt.

In the 70s, I worked for Scottie Rilea in her flower and gift shop. That sparked my interest in  plants and floral designing with fresh and silk flowers. I enjoyed this work so much Scottie would have to tell me it was after 5:00. She kept a plant identification book that we used to help customers identify plants, and it helped us when a new plant came along we had not seen before.

Mom and Grandma Main also loved plants, always had them around the house and planted beds of annuals in the flower beds outdoors mixed in with the perennials. Mom especially liked African violets, and her prized one was her "flame violet," a trailing violet. It had foot-long trails of variegated colored foliage, and when it bloomed, the flowers were dark orange small trumpet-shaped. After she passed away I brought it home, but it did not accept the change in temperature and light, and proceeded to die. I saved clippings and started a new plant. During last winter's ice storm, our heat was off for a week it froze.

I'm still looking for a replacement for the Episcia (Flame Violet). I have learned orchids are easier to grow than violets as they do not take as much water. I had three orchids that lived through the cold 30° in the house during the ice storm. The one I owned the last three years was blooming with 25 blooms. As we had to move into town with Julie and heat, two cats and a dog, I cut several blooms which we laid in a dish of water. We enjoyed those flowers that week and they bloomed for Julie for some time. A week later, when we moved back home, I was happy to see the succulents had lived through the cold because they had not been watered. There was no water in the pot or foliage to freeze! It proves it pays to let pots dry out some times. I did not lose the Burros tails, Quails Breast, or Alovera.

Jim and I have always spent a lot of time outdoors with our children. He being a farmer, and always having an outside job, and my being raised to have an appreciation of the outdoors, it came naturally. Brian worked with his dad on the farm. The girls took care of the chickens and helped me in the garden. Along with that, we girls mowed the yard with a push lawnmower. We also had bonfires whenever dad burnt the old feed sacks. I quickly peeled potatoes, thawed ground beef and wieners, and finished off the meal with baked beans. We gathered sticks to build up the fire so we would have good coals to roast the meat and cook the other food.

Brian found a Luna Moth, which was, and is, a beautiful light green. They are very rare. We mounted it but did not know a moth ball should be put with it to keep the moths from eating it. A lesson learned, as well as many others along the way, and I'm sure many more to be learned before life is over!

Jim and I have been retired for a few years. He still farms 22 acres and raises a lot of veggies. 2008 is pretty close to being a loss. Early peas, onions, potatoes, a few tomatoes, peppers and one hill of pumpkins. Jim has hay, corn, and buys baby calves off the cow, bottle feeds and weans them to a pasture close by so they are grass fed. As a result, we have our own meat and know there are no hormones, and no growth additives. He does buy some supplements such as vitamins, minerals, etc. He does his own grinding/mixing, adding his own corn, hay, etc. Even though our steaks are not as big as most people are accustomed to, our family does not complain and we older people do not eat that much meat these days.
Mixed in with his farming, Jim also maintains North Main Manor, the Senior Center, mows lawns, and does "repairs" for a few elderly ladies. He started maintaining Full Harvest Housing on South Fillmore Street, when Loral Hullinger was the manager. Loral was a wonderful friend and advisor. Jim helped the contractor when the Manor was being built and became involved there also. When it was finished, Loral turned the management of Golden Threads over to someone else and took the job of managing the new building and getting the apartments filled. Jim moved along with Loral. He did so much for others and is greatly missed by everyone who knew him, as we do.

As we advance in age, we are happy to be close to our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren — as close as they allow us to be. They are all busy raising their families and getting older along with us, even though they do not recognize it yet. Some day, as we did, they will wake up to discover the time has passed and wonder where and when it happened! As Melvin Goeldner would say, "Keep on keeping on!"

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Last Revised October 14, 2014