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Written by Mary (DeCoursey) Stehly, 1995
These are a few of the things we remember about Mother and Dad and some stories about them.
Dad was born in Alma, Colorado in 1888. A few years ago we visited the house where he and his brothers were raised. It is still occupied and in great condition - but it looks very small for his parents to have raised their family. Dad had a younger brother, John, who died while the family was living in Alma. The cemetery where he was buried 1 is a couple of miles from Alma in the mountains. We went to the cemetery and it looked like a movie set for an old Western. There were iron fences to keep out animals, beautiful, tall pine trees - and it was so quiet! John is buried in the Kilduff family plot. The Kilduffs were Colorado cousins and Dad always kept in touch with them.
One of the stories Dad told was how as a young boy he was visiting Leadville relatives 2 in the summer and an early snow fell. The mountain passes were closed and he didn't get back home to Alma until Spring. Another story was how tunnels were dug in the snow from house to house in Alma so people could get out.
My grandfather, Edwin, had a silver mine located at 13,000 feet. The entrance to the mine is still open and the building where the miners lived is standing today. Dad and his brothers used to take mule trains, loaded with supplies, for the mines. I always heard that Uncle Frank and Uncle Jim loved the mountains of Colorado but Dad didn't have much to say about them and always took his vacations in Arizona and California. I believe the DeCoursey's also had some kind of store in Alma.
Why the Edwin DeCoursey family left Colorado and returned to Leavenworth is something I've wondered about. 3 Perhaps someone in Kansas knows the story. Also does anyone remember being told Uncle Eddie traveled with Wild Bill Hickock's traveling show? 4
Dad had lots of tales about walking into Leavenworth to go to school - in the snow - after milking the cows in the early morning. We once visited an elderly nun in Montana and Dad told us this particular Sister had been very kind to him. Many mornings, he would walk into class late because of farm chores and the Sister would tell him to come to the stove and get warm. She told him she had been raised on a farm and understood why he was late. He always sent her a gift at Christmas.
Both Mom and Dad left school after eighth grade. She went to work as a telephone switchboard operator. Dad helped on the farm. At sixteen, he left Leavenworth and joined Uncle Jim and Uncle Frank at the creamery in Kansas City, Kansas. My parents met at a church dance - and they were married at St. Mary's Church (the Irish church) in K.C.K..
As a young man, Dad often traveled in the South selling butter. In 1928, when Al Smith, a Catholic, was running for president, Dad was in Florida and he encountered a lot of bigotry. He never thought a Catholic could be elected president. He voted for John F. Kennedy in 1963 and was amazed and delighted that a Catholic actually was elected. When we asked why our family had come to California (Dad was 50 and Mom was 48) they told us Dad had a skin cancer removed and they weren't sure what would happen. Jim Kilduff (of the Colorado Kilduffs) lived in Anaheim and he wrote Dad about "Yankee Grove", a five acre citrus ranch with a nice three bedroom house that was selling for five thousand dollars (TOTAL)! Dad came out to see it, bought it and in 1941, the family moved to Anaheim.
It was great growing up in Anaheim, a town of 10,000, that had a Catholic grade school, a Catholic girls high school and a Catholic boys military school - all staffed by nuns. A big plus was that Anaheim also had three movie theaters.
During World War II, Dad was an air warden and kept Placentia Ave safe by making us observe all the blackout regulations. Have you seen movies of air raid wardens in London during the Blitz? Dad had the same tin hat and billy club 5 - and I surely wish I knew what happened to them. There was only one time when the coast guns were fired and search lights turned on. It was a false alarm - but we in Anaheim were ready!
Southern California was filled with military bases during the war. We had lots of company with young servicemen from Kansas City coming over on weekends. They came from the El Toro Marine Base, Santa Ana Army Air Corp. (no separate Air Force existed at that time.) Long Beach Navy Base, etc. Dad and Mom had a flock of chickens (meat was rationed) and every Sunday, Mom would fix six or seven chickens for dinner. She was an expert on fried chicken.
In the 50's and 60's, Anaheim's population exploded and much land was needed for schools, parks etc. "Eminent Domain" was used to acquire "Yankee Grove" for a school site - but somehow a big shopping center sits on Dad's ranch today. My parents moved into Anaheim - to an area near St. Boniface Church and the city park. I think they enjoyed "city life".
Mom had a talent for putting people at ease and was so very efficient. She would have made a great secretary for some C.E.O. (Today she would be running the company). Looking at the record books she kept for Dad, I marvel at how she did it with six children running around her desk. She was not well after Dad died, a heart attack one month after he passed away, and then a series of strokes that kept her bedridden for four years. I never heard her complain, never in my entire life.
Dad had a gentle and very funny sense of humor. Once during the Joe McCarthy hearings (I hope you know about Joe McCarthy), I asked him what he thought about Senator McCarthy. "I think he is working too hard" was his answer. That was a real criticism by his standards.
Mother and Dad enjoyed living in California - but they always liked going back to Kansas City and seeing everyone.
We had wonderful, loving, caring parents who lived their Catholic faith to the fullest. And I still miss them tremendously.
1 John is buried in Buckskin Cemetery located northwest of Alma.
2 Some of his McCormick aunts and uncles lived in Leadville.
3 Because of the falling prices of silver. (see "Edwin Eugene DeCoursey" and "James H. DeCoursey, Leaders In Our Town, 1952")
4 Also mentioned in "Edwin Joseph and Mary DeCoursey".
5 A policeman�s club or baton.
