The Andrews Sisters Were From Howard

[W. Gray]

Topeka Newspaper, 1921

[larryJ]

Wow!  I had not seen that picture for a long time.  I have one stored away somewhere in a box.  I think it is from the paper and not an original photo.

From left to right:  Bernadine who married Forest Redmond and had Edith, William (Bill), and Robert (Bob).  She then married second John Weyrauch and they had a farm southwest of town.  She worked for many years as a telephone operator in Howard.  She was in a car accident and spent the latter part of her years in a wheelchair.  Next is Iva Jane, my mother.  She married Harry Jordan and had three sons.  She suffered from asthma all of her life and this prompted a move to a drier climate of New Mexico where I was born.  She was a teacher and taught school where she could in places in New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming.  Next is Beulah.  She married Fred Shepard and they operated the dry cleaning shop in Howard.  Last is Emaline.  She married Pete Leonard and they had a farm also south west of Howard out by the low water bridge.  The last time I was there Bill Redmond took me for a ride around the country and I seem to remember that the Leonard farmhouse was gone and a trailer was on the lot.  After Pete decided to give up farming he became the caretaker at Polk Daniels Lake. 

Thanks for posting this picture.  It brought back many pleasant memories.

Larryj

[Mom70x7]

Okay, cuz . . .

Help me out, please. Where's my connection? Is one of the Andrews brothers my grandfather?

Thanks.

[larryJ]

We are second cousins once removed. This means that your mother Mary Arlene Wisner and my mother Iva Jane Andrews were second cousins.  I will start from the top.  Amos Andrews had four children.  He came to Elk County in the 1880's.  One of his children was Albert Andrews my grandfather.  Another was Alta Andrews which would be your great-grandmother.  Alta had three children one of which was your grandmother Bertie.  Bertie and my mother Iva Jane Andrews were first cousins.  Your mother Mary Arlene Wisner and I would be second cousins and because you are from the next generation down that is the "once removed."  So we are second cousins once removed.  Hope this helps.

Larryj

[Mom70x7]

Yes, it helps. Nice job! Thanks -       

[larryJ]

Correction......That is what I get for trying to engage my brain before the second cup of coffee.  I said that Mary Arlene and my mother were second cousins.  Wrong.  I am a second cousin to Mary.  My mother Iva Jane was a first cousin to your grandmother Bertie.

sorry

Larryj

[Delbert]

Emaline Lenard was my teacher at Grenola.   I'm sure she thought about getting out of teaching after having to put up with me.   

[Delbert]

Leonard instead of Lenard.  Sorry  Emaline.

[larryJ]

An interesting memory here and one I might have told before.  Some of the older folks might get a chuckle out of this one.

One time when I was very young, my mom got very ill.  Why she didn't go to the hospital I don't remember.  Maybe she just needed a nursemaid.  Anyway, she told me to go to the phone and call my Grandmother Edith Andrews and ask her to come for a visit to New Mexico and help out.  In those days phones were basic black, sat in a cradle and were wired to the jack in the wall.  To make a local call you would pick up the phone and wait for the operator.  When she responded you would give her the number you wish to call and she would connect you.  To make a long distance call you would pick up the phone and when the operator responded you would ask for the long distance operator.

I asked the operator for a long distance operator and she asked where I would like to call.  I said I wanted to call Howard, Kansas.  She asked who did I want to talk to in Howard.  Now I was too young to know anybody's number so I told her I just wanted to talk to Howard, Kansas.  We went back and forth on this for awhile and then she gave up and connected me to the telephone operator in Howard who just happen to be my Aunt Bernadine working the switchboard.  So the message got through and my Grandmother and my Aunt Mary Ellen came the next day.

And another thing.....I soon discovered in those summers I spent in Howard as a teenager that I could not do anything without someone seeing it and reporting it to my Grandmother.  Don't get me wrong. I loved my Grandmother very much, but she could make me shrivel up with that "LOOK" if she got a bad report about me.  That's why I turned out to be such a good guy!

A great memory.

Larryj