. . .and Surprise! . . .more on The Kelley Family and Winfield, Kansas
Cowley County Historical Society Museum
The Kelley grandkids may remember the stone schoolhouse on the next corner down from Granny’s house on Mansfield Street. It had a playground and we used to go over there when we were visiting Granny. It is now the home to the Cowley County Historical Society Museum.
This is their web site — http://www.cchsm.com/home
The Cowley County Historical Society Museum is housed in one of Winfield’s original schools built in 1886. The native stone building and its historical displays keep local history alive and available to the people.
I emailed the historical society today and asked how I could get a copy of Dr. Kelley’s obituary and they emailed a copy back very quickly. Many thanks to Shawn at the Cowley County Historical Society! That is the fastest response to a genealogical question I have ever received.
Dr. Forrest A. Kelley’s Obituary
I have also wondered why Forrest and Mary Kelley ended up in Winfield. In a book (that is online) titled “The Cowley County Heritage Book”, I found that Dr. Kelley bought Dr. Rall’s general medical practice and I bet that is why they ended up living in Winfield.
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/cowley/people/heritage/heritage-book.html
This piece is actually about the Ralls family, but tells how Dr. F.A. Kelley took over Dr. Ralls’ practice. The section on delivering babies sounds like the same stories I heard from Mom about her father.
The ironic thing is that the Ralls returned to Winfield and lived on the corner across the street from Granny on Mansfield. The Ralls and the Kelleys were great friends.
The first home of Dr. & Mrs. Ralls was on Fuller Street. About a year later they built a house at 801 East Eleventh. In 1910 Dr. Ralls realized he could not keep up physically with the night work required of general practice. Dr. F.A. Kelley took over this practice, while Dr. Ralls and his wife and children went to New Orleans and Chicago where he again entered medical schools to practice eye, ear, nose, & throat. Thinking he would not return to Winfield, he had sold his home on Eleventh. He bought the family’s present home at 922 Mansfield.
Dr. Ralls retired from practice in early 1965. The next months were spend driving around the back roads in this part of the county. He loved pointing out who had lived at this or that place, that he had attended a birth at this or that place, and had slept on the kitchen floor awaiting the birth. The standard obstetrical fee was (hopefully) $10. Often it was paid with chickens, vegetables, eggs, or most anything else available.
Traveling to these rural areas was done by horse and buggy, if the roads were reasonably dry. If not, the trip might be made to the Tisdale area by hand car on the tracks, a farmer perhaps meeting him with a horse.
915 Mansfield Street, Winfield, Kansas. Granny Kelley’s Home.
Granny’s stone house seemed like a mini castle to me as a child. It doesn’t seem as big these days. It had a mysterious basement that was actually just a dirt cellar. On the front porch, someone had carved a likeness of their dog into the stone. It was probably carved by one of the masons or the builder. I remember hearing that the house was a “Caton” stone house. There are many beautiful buildings and bridges in Winfield made out of this native stone.
This is the link to the official Winfield site and a slideshow titled “Historic and Caton Homes”.
http://www.winfieldks.org/gallery.aspx?AID=25
The Kelleys were staunch Presbyterians. Tim and I were christened at Granny’s house probably in 1951.
Kelley Grandchildren Christened Here Sunday
Below is a photo of my family with Dr. Jackson, formerly of the First Presbyterian Church in Winfield. Dr. Jackson officiated at the service.
Dr. Jackson with Page Family
Below is a photo of Granny with the newly christened grandchildren. Granny is holding Joe’s arm still to keep him from launching a plane at the cameraman.
After christening at Granny’s house.
I included this photo of Joe on a pony in front of Granny’s house to show the native stone work. Joe must have been pleased by the pony because he is actually sitting still for this photo.
Joe on Pony in Front of Granny’s House in Winfield, Kansas
And More Kelley Photos!
Left: Dr. Kelley
Right: Dr. and Mrs. Kelley
Above right is a photo of Grandfather Kelley with Granny
The Kelley family — children Harriett, Margaret, Robert and Patricia
Virgil and Pat Moreland with baby John
The Beginnings of the Moreland Family
John with his Father
Above is a photo of John landing an airplane in Granny’s back yard.
John as a baby
Little Baby John
Harriett and Baby Susan
Aunt Harriett with her Niece Susan
Earl Page (Ray’s brother) and Margaret Kelley in NY during WWII.
Margaret Kelley studied at Columbia University in NY for her Master’s Degree. While she was there, Earl Page stopped (either coming or going) during WWII. It looks like they are at the Empire State Building in NYC.
Two Kelley sisters, Harriett and Patricia with their husbands Raymond and Virgil.
Harriett with John
John with his Everloving Aunt Harriett
And some more of Daddy Ray’s Slides. . .
Jan with Amy
My First Birthday Party. Granny Kelley is standing next to me and beautiful Aunt Pat is to the right of the photo.
Before attending our Flapper party. My dog’s name was Gretel.
Mike helping me with a birthday cake. I don’t know which birthday this was, but there are a plethora of candles!
My beloved long haired German Shepherd, Roscoe P. Lashley. He was brilliant.
Actually doing homework. This studying trait ended by adolescence.
And now for more family photos from Daddy Ray’s Slides!
Cousin Susan and Uncle Bob. (and Gretel)
Great Aunt Edna Romick, Aunt Helen and Mom
Marissa, Mom and me. Taken in Coral Gables, FL
Grandma Florence, baby Marissa and me
Mom meeting Aunt Edna on the tarmac. Remember Braniff? Remember meeting a plane? This is obviously a very old photo.
Uncle Bob down at the Winfield Farm. Don’t know the gentleman on the right. Maybe Farmer Brown?
Uncle Bob looking very serious. He actually loved to tell jokes and laughed a lot.
Dr. Bob performing surgery on the turkey with Joe and Susan.
The Kelleys and the Pages with Aunt Edna (with the bright red hair)
Kelley residence in St. Louis
Mom and Pete at the farm.
Dinner party in Coral Gables with Tim & Helen, Mary & Karl, Val, Marissa and Mom
My Daughter said that she wanted to see more photos . . . . so here they are
My 1st Birthday!
whatever happened to Baby Jan? Marissa, see that book on the table? It is in pieces, but I’ve saved it for you & Zenda
Here I am with cousin Dr. Tim at our very geekiest. And we’re looking like twins. Oh my, love the matching shirts.
GEEEEEK! Daddy Ray, what were you thinking!
Grandma made the fabulous popcorn cake! Taken with Joe & Meg
adolescence is so awful . . .going to a slumber party with my “Beach Boys” album & wearing my new stirrup stretch pants with white socks. say no more.
a fun day with the Morelands. Any day was fun with the Moreland family!
being supervised on my piano lessons — wish it had been jazz piano
I don’t remember dressing this dog, but I am sure someone else will. Taken at the Bumpas home.
Marissa & Momoogy
1st doll house & also when I learned that I never wanted to be an interior decorator
Time for Some More Embarrassing Family Photos (from Daddy Ray’s slides)
I mailed a box of Daddy Ray’s slides off to http://digmypics.com/ They have great recommendations & after the job they did on these 50 plus year old slides, I am very happy with them. If you have any old slides that you would like made into jpeg files, I recommend them.
Love the glasses that the Kelley sisters are sporting.
Two Year Old Birthday Party. I think it was probably Pete’s birthday.
Great photo of Grandma Page (& baby Jan)
I am amazed that cousin Tim could read “The Brave Little Steam Shovel” all by himself.
Aunt Helen’s fabulous turkey, along with some goofy girls & Aunties Helen & Harriett
Here’s that darn Bumpas family. Darn those Bumpases (is that plural for Bumpas?)
Breakfast in the Kelley’s yard.
I must have been the birthday girl since I have the crown on! Make a wish!
Cousin Martha & Jan taking the combine out for a spin.
and finally, the Page family Christmas Cards!
Nanny and Daddy Ray were early photographic addicts. My brother and I have the best “baby books” ever. We have slides and photos of almost everything we ever did. For people who aren’t famous or important, we certainly have a photographic history. There are a few missing years that I will search, but this is what I have found at this point.
So here are the Page family Christmas cards — I’ve tried to put them in order, but I am not sure of all of the dates.
Joe Page, probably 1950
Joe & Jan Page, 1951
The Page Family, 1952
Jan & Joe Page, taken at Grand Lake, OK in 1953
1954, Joe & Jan Page
Joe & Jan Page, 1955
The Page Family, 1957
Page Family, 1961
The Page Family, 1972
Wonderful Family Christmas Cards from 50 Years Ago. How quickly time flies.
I received a surprise package in the mail today from a childhood friend who was visiting her 97 year old father. The connection point here is Winfield, KS. Her grandfather & grandmother were friends of the Kelley family as her grandparents were Dr. & Mrs. Wilmer. Her mother was Mrs. Josephine Wilmer Moore, a good friend of all of the Kelley girls. As my friend was going through her parent’s albums, she came across a bunch of our family (from the Kelley side) Christmas cards. She thoughtfully put them in the mail and voila! I decided to post them as a reminder of all of our Christmas’s past.
from the Moreland family, Virgil Moreland & Patricia Kelley Moreland
The Moreland Family
The Moreland Family
From the Bumpas Family, Andrew Bumpas & Margaret Kelley Bumpas
Timothy Bumpas
And Finally the Robert Kelley Family!
Old Photographs and some Christmas Party Pics before Facebook
I love looking at old photos even if I don’t know the people in them. The greeting card industry has figured out that a lot of us like to see old photos and they have used them to get people like me to buy a bunch of their cards.
With all of this in mind, I urge everyone to buy a scanner for their photos. Scanners are finally very inexpensive and easy to use. Please go through your family photos and scan them and preserve them for your children’s enjoyment. Plus, if you scan your photos and your house burns down, you will still have all of your treasured family memories. I use a couple of sites to save my digital photos — Picasa and also Shutterfly. With Picasa you can save your photos on your computer and you also have the ability to save them out in cyberspace.
Daddy Ray took about 10,000 slides. I need to take the time to digitally scan what I consider the most relevant slides. Men tend to take photos of sunsets & landscapes. I will only scan the slides that contain family and friends.
I’ve copied some free sites below where you can look at old photos. I especially like the old humorous ones.
http://www.ancientfaces.com/vintage_photos
On Shorpy, check out the quintessential Christmas photos http://www.shorpy.com/vintage-christmas-photos
Please go to this site to see an enlarged version of this spectacular Christmas party photo. The hair styles are amazing. And you can imagine who will get a little tipsy later on and who is the most popular woman in the office, etc. A picture is worth 1,000 words.
G.E. Christmas Party, 1925
Below is a photo of a Christmas party at Daddy Ray’s employer, Brown & Ginzel in Wichita, Kansas. I don’t know the date of this photo, but it looks like the 1960’s. I doubt that their parties that included the wives were that all lively, but Daddy Ray does look like he is choking back a big guffaw. Their company owned a lake house (at Grand Lake, Oklahoma) but that was another story. Hubba, Hubba. I wish I presently owned any of the girly pin-up lamps, photos, mosaics, etc. that decorated that lake house. When we got to use our week of vacation at Grand Lake as a company perk, Mom (Harriett) would make us wait in the car until she went inside and slid all girly “art work” under the beds (like we couldn’t get it out later). It was an amazing 1950’s and 1960’s totally tacky Mid-Western man cave complete with a wooden speed boat and a “yacht club”. And also a completely stocked bar. In those days the I.R.S. allowed all sorts of deductions for office perks. Even country club memberships.
Daddy Ray Page’s Christmas Party at Brown & Ginzel
My Favorite Veteran, Raymond F. Page, (aka Daddy Ray), A Proud World War II Marine
My father, Raymond F. Page, was one of the nicest & most honest men I have ever met. He grew up in the oil fields of central Kansas. His father, Fred Page, kept the oil pumps working for their owners and didn’t make a lot in return. Ray was born November 8, 1913 in Lincoln County, Kansas to Frederick Copeland Page and Myrtle Revella Shaver Page. He died June 22, 1998 in Wichita, Kansas. Raymond F. Page was my adopted father.
Ray received a full scholarship to attend Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas during the Depression. The scholarship was provided as long as he kept one of their buildings clean. In return, he got to sleep on a cot in the basement. While at Southwestern College he met my mother, Harriett Kelley. Harriett was a Home Economics major who attended college while living at home with her parents. Life was a slightly easier for the Kelleys. Her father (Forrest Aaron Kelley, M.D.) was a physician in Winfield and often received food as payment during the Depression.
Raymond F. Page & Harriett N. Kelley married on June 11, 1939.
Ray & Harriett’s Wedding on June 11, 1939
From left to right, Fred Page (Ray’s father), Robert Kelley (Harriett’s brother), Reva Shaver Page (Ray’s mother), the minister, Ray Page (the groom) and Harriett Kelley (the bride), Mary Romick Kelley (Harriett’s mother), Forrest Kelley (Harriett’s father), Nadine Page (Ray’s baby sister), Earl Page (Ray’s brother), Patricia Kelley (Harriett’s sister) & Margaret Kelley (Harriett’s sister).
My father was a bit old for World War II. Right before he was to be drafted into the Army, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp in hopes that he might have a better chance of survival. Ray had already graduated with a degree in Business and Accounting from Southwestern College and because of this, he was taken into the Marine Corp. at a higher rank. Luckily for Ray, his main wartime duty was to be a pay officer in Hawaii. The younger men called him “Pops”, and he spent his time in Hawaii making sure they all received their pay on time.
Raymond F. Page, Point Loma, CA, January, 1944
Ray & Harriett Page, Point Loma, CA, January, 1944
