52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 32

Chicago ~1958

With the writing prompt this week being Youngest, my mind went to youngest in the family. I am the baby in my family, having three older brothers (one of whom died before I was born) and one older sister. That made me think about other members of my family tree, wondering if any of them were also the youngest born child. I knew that neither mom nor dad were the youngest in their families. As it turns out neither Grandma or Grandpa Kubler, my dad’s parents, were the babies in their families, nor were my mom’s parents, Grandma or Grandpa Crusham.

In looking at the ancestral chart, I had to go all the way back to my maternal great-grandfather Peter Metz, who was the youngest of 9 kids, to find another baby. None of my other great-grandparents fell into this very special place in their families.

In a way my family is unique in that my parents had almost two separate sets of children. My sister is 11 years older than me, followed by a brother who is 9 years older than me, and then a brother who is 18 months older than me. In between the boys, my mom suffered a couple of miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy which resulted in all of one and most of the other ovaries being removed. She was told she would most likely not get pregnant again, and if she did would not carry the baby to full term. And then along came my brother and me.

My sister was like a second mother to me, and she spent a lot of time caring for my brother and me. With my brother being so close in age to me, we were best buddies as children. We shared bottles and toys, and got along great. My sister has corroborated that we were sickeningly sweet to each other. We played a lot of games together, rode our bikes and acted out war scenes with his G.I. Joes, and later played baseball with the neighborhood boys.

Maybe due to our close age, I never really felt like the baby of the family. I certainly never was aware that I received special attention. Mom never played favorites with any of us, and if anything my dad favored the brother next closest in age to me. I don’t think my dad ever got over losing his oldest son to aplastic anemia at the age of 7, and I believe my brother reminded dad of Roy.

One benefit of being the youngest is that I learned a lot from my older siblings. My dad had a bit of a temper, so by observing what set him off with the older kids, I avoided doing those things. It was also nice to have my parents to myself for the last couple of years of college, when the others had married and/or moved away.

It was a good childhood, with a lot of love and laughs. I enjoyed my place in it as baby of the family. Even if I often shared that place with my not too much older brother.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 23

Kirche St. Peter

We are Going to the Chapel with this week’s writing prompt, and my approach is to write about an old ancestral church that I visited. The oldest church (or perhaps I should say portion of a church) where ancestors worshipped that I have seen in person is the Kirche St. Peter in Büsserach, Switzerland. This Roman Catholic Church stands on a hill on the south side of Büsserach, which currently has a population of 2,251. About 76% of the village is Catholic. While a 1759 church was demolished in 1951 to make way for the existing building, the attached tower dating back to 1464 is still standing.

bells

Within the tower is a museum containing photographs and relics of the church’s history. When I visited in 2013, my host arranged for a private tour of the museum. It was fascinating to see all the displays, and climb the steps to the top of the tower. I counted at least five bells. Did one of my ancestors ever climb the stairs with the responsibility of ringing the church bells to call parishioners to Mass?

painting of the old church

There were many death memorials hanging on the wall with my maiden name Kübler on them. I took photographs, even though I am not sure how they fit into my tree. But the most interesting and exciting thing for me to see was the antique baptismal font, which I was told would have been the exact one used to baptize members of my Kübler family, who emigrated to the United States in 1854.

baptismal font

Walking in the town where they lived, seeing the sites that they saw every day, and finally "going to the chapel" where they worshipped all gave me an opportunity to travel back in time and experience a bit how they had lived. And to wonder all over again, how did they ever leave it all behind?

Büsserach, Switzerland

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 18

Catherine Crusham

This week I selected a photograph of my mother, Catherine (Crusham) Kubler, for the writing prompt Close Up. While I do have a photo of her from when she was quite small, she is in a baby carriage and her features are hard to make out. I believe this picture was taken around 1923 in Cincinnati, Ohio. You can’t tell from this black and white photo, but my mom was a natural redhead as were her father and at least two of her seven siblings.

Catherine was the third child born alive (two others were stillborn) to Michael and Mary (Metz) Crusham, and five additional children followed her. I’ve always been a bit surprised that this photograph was taken, as it was obviously done in a studio. Michael and Mary were not a well-to-do couple, and by the time it was taken a fourth daughter would have been added to the family. Where did they come up with the money for the portrait? Did the other children have their photos taken as well? I’ll have to ask my aunts next time I see them.

Mom seems pretty pensive in the picture. Perhaps the gargoyles carved on the chair scared her! Most likely she had never seen a photographer with a big camera before. But smile or no, I am grateful to have this depiction of what my mother looked like as a child.

Kim Kubler

I find it interesting to compare her photograph to one taken of me around the same age in Chicago where we lived from the time I was a few months old until I turned five. I obviously had no qualms about having my picture taken. My dad always had a camera around, so I was used to having one pointed at me.

Mom and I both had curly hair, though mine was brown while hers was red. I see the most similarities in the upper part of our faces, in the shape of the eyes and the nose. From my mom I also inherited my height, or lack thereof, my pear shape and my bunions. Yay…

But it is inside where we are most alike, I think. I share my mom’s sense of humor, her view of seeing the glass as half full, her fierce protection of her family, her love of travel, and her willingness to try new things.

It would have been wonderful had she lived long enough for us to be able to travel and try some new things together.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 17

Kubler family stone

With the writing prompt being Cemetery this week, I immediately thought of the cemetery plot that has me the most puzzled. My second great-grandfather, Vinzenz Josef Kubler, died 19 September 1886 and is buried in the Connersville, Indiana cemetery aptly named City Cemetery. When I went to Connersville many years ago to research that branch of my Kubler family, I headed first to the local library.

It was there that I found a newspaper article describing the death of Joseph Kubler, which is the name he went by in America. He died in the St. Gabriel's Catholic Church following Mass one Sunday morning at the age of 38. The librarian indicated that most residents of the town who died during that time period were buried in the City Cemetery. Unfortunately (at least at that time) no records existed to show where he was buried within the cemetery.

Alfred Kubler

After driving through the cemetery I did locate the tombstone for Joseph. It is to date the largest monument of any of my ancestors. On one side of the stone was listed Joseph V. Kubler, along with his death date and how old he was at the time of his death. On the other side was Alfred, son of J.V. & J. Kubler along with his death date of 3 October 1885 and the fact that he was 8 when he died. That is clear enough, but there are four other small stones on the plot: Father, Mother, Alfred, and Henry.

Alfred and Henry (my great-grandfather) were both sons of Joseph and Josephine Kubler. Initially I thought Father and Mother referred to Joseph and Josephine. However, I later discovered that Josephine remarried after Joseph died, and again following the death of her second husband. I would imagine that she was buried with her third husband and not her first husband.

It is possible that they refer to Joseph’s mother and father, though the last records I have found for them are located in Cincinnati, and some of Joseph’s brothers had remained in Cincinnati as well. It would make sense that they would have their parents buried in Cincinnati.

Unfortunately, City Cemetery does not have records that indicate who might be buried beneath those small stones. The other occupants of the Kubler plot remain a mystery for now.

smaller Kubler stones

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 11

The writing prompt for this week, Lucky, can be taken many ways. With all my Irish heritage, it would be easy to default to writing about my Ireland roots since it’s St. Patrick’s Day. Instead, I think I’ll write about how luck played a part in finding out more about my Kubler heritage.

My dad always said that our Kubler family was from Germany. He didn’t know what part of that country we came from, only that he had heard Germany was the homeland. But I wasn’t having any luck finding a link between the family and Germany.

My grandfather, Joseph Henry Kubler, was born in Connersville, Indiana, and my great-grandfather Henry Kubler was raised in the same town. My 2nd great-grandfather, Vincenz Josef Kubler, had moved to Connersville with his wife and children around 1870.

On several occasions I traveled to Connersville, and I was able to piece together the lives of the family members in this town. Vincenz, who was known as Joseph in the community, operated a grocery store in town. In an account that was written about his store, they mentioned that Joseph was a native of Switzerland. This was my first inkling that the Kubler family came not from Germany but from Switzerland.

Joseph Kubler stone

Through a search at the local cemetery, I was able to locate the Kubler headstone, and determine when Joseph Kubler died. That led me to the library to look through the local newspaper, where I found a story about Joseph’s death. The article stated that he dropped dead after mass on a Sunday morning at St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church. He was 38 years old. It went on to mention that Joseph was born in Büsserach, Canton Solothurn, Switzerland.

Finding that death notice was the missing piece I needed to determine the ancestral hometown of my 2nd great-grandfather. That knowledge led to a trip to Büsserach several years ago, culminating with a family gathering in a nearby castle. Now THAT was some luck!

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 7

Skipping weeks 5 and 6 due to the Family History Writing Challenge, today I turn my attention back to the 52 Ancestors challenge. The writing prompt for this week was Valentine, appropriately. I don’t have any old Valentine’s Day cards in my possession, nor do I know off the top of my head about any births or marriages which took place on February 14th. But I do have four men in my family tree named Valentin, and one who was named Valentinus.

Valentin is the Spanish form of Valentino, from the Latin name Valentinus. The Latin name comes from an old Roman family name originating as a nickname from the adjective valens, meaning the healthy, the strong. Valentinus is the original form of Valentine. It is no surprise that the person most associated with this name is St. Valentine.

As an aside, in 2016 Valentin was ranked 65th out of the top 100 most popular names for boys in Switzerland. For purposes of this post, I am going to focus on three of the Swiss Valentin males as they are all in the same family line.

Switzerland Cantons

Valentin and Claudia

Valentin Kübler, my 3rd cousin 3 times removed, was born on 17 May 1899 in Büsserach, Canton Solothurn, Switzerland. On 26 July 1924 he married Claudia Josefina Schonbachler in Einsiedeln, Canton Schwyz, Switzerland. The distance between those two towns is 141.6 km, and Einsiedeln is where Claudia was born. The distance makes you wonder how the two met.

Valentin and Claudia resided in Büsserach, and that is where they had their six children. Two boys and three girls were born before their youngest son, Valentin Anton, arrived in 1944. He is my 4th cousin 2 times removed. Valentin died in Breitenbach, a town located near Büsserach, in 1979. Claudia died in Büsserach in 1996.

Büsserach, Switzerland 

Although Valentin Anton died in 2001, many of his family members are still living so I will be somewhat vague in their details. Valentin Anton and his wife had two boys and one girl, but did not name either of their sons Valentin. One of their sons, my 5th cousin once removed, named his youngest son Valentin, which makes young Valentin my 6th cousin.

Naming patterns in families are always interesting. Wouldn't it be great to have a name that is synonymous with the Saint of Love?

Love

Family History Writing Challenge Day 3

In yesterday's post I identified Albert M. Hungler's parents as John Hungler and Anna (Hightower) Hungler. Because I am focusing on the Hightower line, today's post will be about Anna. She was born about 1849 in Covington, Kentucky to Thompson Hightower and Elizabeth (Hopper) Hightower. Anna was the 4th of 8 children born to Thompson and Elizabeth. An older, unnamed sister appeared as a female child under the age of 5 on the 1840 census, but apparently died young as she was not listed on the 1850 census. Marjorie Frances (also known as Missouri) was born about 1842, James R. about 1845, Rolla about 1850, an unknown female was born on 22 November 1852, Alice about 1854, and Belle about 1858. Marjorie died of typhoid fever when she was 23 and James was around 19 when he succumbed to typhoid fever in 1863 while serving in the Union army. No death information on Alice has been located, but she was living with her sister Anna and her family in the 1880 census.

Around 1869 Anna married John Hungler. John was born 20 December 1850 in Cincinnati to Andrew Hungler and Malinda (Harcourt) Hungler. They had two sons, Albert M. and John P., who were covered in the previous post, which can be found here.

In the 1870 census 21-year-old John and 19-year-old Anna were living in Covington with their infant son Albert. But also in the household are the following children: Richard age 14, Annie age 10, Laura age 7, Lucilla age 4. These four children are John’s siblings. His father Andrew died on 3 May 1869 in Covington. Perhaps his mother Malinda was too overcome with grief to take care of her children at that time. But one can only imagine what it must have been like for John and Anna to take on the responsibility of these additional children while dealing with a relatively new marriage and their own child, who was just 7 months old when the census was taken.

By the 1880 census John and Anna are living in Covington with their two boys, Albert and John. Anna’s sister Alice Hightower resides with the family as well.

By 1884, Anna was deceased. She would have been no more than 35 years old. John married Mary Elizabeth Carver, and they went on to have 12 children.

Family History Writing Challenge Day 2

As mentioned in the previous post, Lillian (Hungler) Kubler’s father was Albert M. Hungler. He was born 17 October 1869 in Covington, Kentucky to John Hungler and Anna (Hightower) Hungler. His death certificate lists 17 October 1870 as his year of birth, but as he appears on the July 1870 census in Covington, that date is obviously incorrect. His brother John P. Hungler was born in Covington on 2 November 1876.

Roebling Suspension Bridge

Located across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Covington had a population of just over 24,500 people in 1870. The first successful bridge connecting the two cities was opened in 1866, enabling citizens on both sides of the river to travel without having to be ferried across the river.

Before Albert was 14 years old, sometime between 1880 and 1884, his mother Anna died. No information on her death or burial dates has been located so far, but John Hungler remarried in 1884. John and his second wife, Mary Elizabeth (Carver) Hungler, went on to have an additional 12 children, one of whom was stillborn.

Albert was 24 when he married Catherine Cramer in Cincinnati on 3 July 1894. They were married by John Schornhorft, a Catholic priest, and set up their household in Cincinnati. The children from this union were outlined in the previous post, which can be found here. After Catherine died in 1900, Albert married Matilda Stritzinger and they had 8 children together.

In the 1910 census Albert is listed as being a hostler in a livery barn. A hostler was a barn man responsible for the care of horses in a livery stable. Historically, a livery stable was a place where horses, teams, buggies and wagons were for hire. Horses could also be boarded for short periods of time.

By 1920 his occupation was listed as a chauffeur for a delivery company, and by 1930 he worked for the City of Cincinnati in the street department doing repairs. He was still working at the age of 71 in the 1940 census.

Albert was 83 when he died in Cincinnati of pneumonia and heart disease on 9 February 1953. He is buried in Old St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Section 36, Lot 848, Grave 1. His second wife Matilda is buried next to him in Grave 2.

Family History Writing Challenge 2018

This is the seventh year in a row that I am participating in the Family History Writing Challenge, and the fourth year that I will be posting my daily writing on this blog. Prior to 2015 I kept it all in a Word document on my computer.

This year I am using the challenge in a slightly different way. Everyone has at least one brick wall that they are struggling to break through, and for me the biggest one is the Hightower family. The search seems as insurmountable as the Great Wall of China, and just as unlikely that I will be able to scale it on my own.

Before I admit defeat and turn what I have over to a paid genealogist, I need to survey all that I have done so that a new person isn’t retracing my same steps. I’m going to use this challenge as the motivation to revisit all my old notes, documents, reports, etc. and establish where I have been so that I understand where I/we need to go.

But I will begin the challenge by covering what I do know so far about the Hightower family. I am confident in my knowledge and documentation of the connection back to my fraternal 3rd great-grandfather, Thompson Hightower. But it is with him and his wife, Elizabeth Hopper, that I run solidly into a brick wall.

In last year’s challenge, which you can find here, I wrote about my dad’s Kubler family. In the February 15th post, I mentioned that my grandfather, Joseph Henry Kubler, married Lillian Marie Hungler in 1912. It is through my grandmother Lillian that the Hightowers appear in my family tree.

Lillian and Alice Hungler

In a departure from previous challenges, I’m going to begin with Lillian and work my way back to Thompson Hightower. Lillian was born to Albert Hungler and Catherine (Cramer) Hungler in Cincinnati, Ohio on 25 October 1895. She was the oldest of four children, though only she and her younger sister Alice lived to adulthood. Lillian was 18 months old when her brother Corry Albert was born, and 3 when twins Alice and Albert came along. It is believed that Albert died as an infant.  Catherine Hungler lost her battle with tuberculosis on 16 April 1900. She was not yet 23 years old.

Albert Hungler found himself a widower at the age of 30 with a 4-year-old, a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old to rear. So that he could continue to work as a laborer, he and the children moved in with Catherine's parents, Michael and Anna (Willard) Cramer, where they appear in the 1900 census record. As if the grief of losing Catherine weren't enough for the family to deal with, little Corry Albert died of tuberculosis on 10 October 1900. How devastating this must have been for the entire family.

But Albert found love again and married Matilda Stritzinger on 10 May 1906. Albert and Matilda went on to have 8 children. Lillian remained living with her grandparents, while Alice stayed with her dad and his new wife.

Somewhere along the line Lillian met Joseph Kubler, whom she would later marry. It would be interesting to know how they became acquainted as they did not live in the same part of Cincinnati, nor attend the same Catholic church. Joseph was 5 years her senior, and employed as a clerk in a liquor retail house.

St. Lawrence Church

On her application for a marriage license on 23 July 1912, Lillian stated that she was living at 928 Wells Street, which was the home of her grandparents Michael and Anna Cramer. Wells Street is located in the East Price Hill neighborhood. She listed her employment as a saleslady. She further indicated that she was 18 on 22 October 1911, which was inaccurate. In fact, she was just 16 on that date. While it is possible she did not know her birth year, it is more likely she put that on the application in order to avoid the issues that came along with being a minor trying to get married. Or perhaps she had even misrepresented her age when she got a job and had to carry through with the deception when she got married.

Lillian and Joe, 1944

On 24 July 1912, 21-year-old Joseph Kubler was married to 16-year-old Lillian Marie Hungler at St. Lawrence Church. Their daughter Ethel was born in 1913, followed by son LeRoy (my father) in 1917, daughters Mary Jane in 1925 and Gloria in 1930. The couple had been married for 57 years when Joseph died in 1969 of congestive heart failure. Lillian died in 1979 at the age of 83.

Küblers to America

Büsserach, Switzerland

Thus ends the chronicle of my branch of the Kübler family from Büsserach, Switzerland to America. I've traveled to Büsserach and walked the villages, inhaled the mountain air and seen the beautiful  countryside through my own eyes. I've met some of the descendants of Vinzenz Joseph Kübler's siblings and other extended family. I even slept in the building where Vinzenz made the exchange of money for his land so that he could come to America with his family. Despite all that, I cannot conceive of what it must have felt like to take a last look at everyone and everything you have ever known and loved and say a final good-bye. How tough was his life that he would risk everything to take an arduous one way trip on a sailing vessel with his young family to an unknown country and an unknown future?

I never had the opportunity to know him, of course, as this was long before I was born. I barely knew my grandfather, Joseph Kubler. Although I was 13 when he died, traveling from Des Moines to Cincinnati in the 1960s was not an easy trip due to the lack of interstates. Busy, two-lane highways meant the drive was long and often slow, so visits back "home" were limited to once a year at best. Our family always stayed with my mom's parents, never at the Kubler house. We would go over to see Grandma and Grandpa Kubler when we were in town, however. They were nice to me, but I could sense the closer relationship that the cousins who lived in Cincinnati had with them. I always felt a bit like an outsider.

My memories of Grandma Kubler are much clearer, as I was 23 when she passed. She was kind and friendly, and a great cook. It was always a treat to be able to have a meal with her. It seemed like she was always in the kitchen when we visited. I'm grateful for her cooking skills as she passed them along to my dad. Though my mom was always the cook in our family during the week, on the weekends my dad nearly always helped out in the kitchen. Once he retired, cooking and cleaning were activities he shared with my mom.

Like most young people, I never sat down with my grandparents to get their stories. By the time I got interested in genealogy, following the death of my mother, all my grandparents were gone. I have tried to make up for that by talking with my older relatives each time I go to Cincinnati for a visit, and by participating in the Family History Writing Challenge so that I get the information placed somewhere besides my genealogy software. I have a long way to go, but at least I am taking steps to get there.

Dad and me circa 1958

I forgot to include in the last post the poem I wrote for my dad when he died, so it appears below. This is a scan of the original I placed beside his casket in the funeral home, somewhat wavy from the tears and snowstorm it was carried through. I have written poetry since early childhood, but I don't share it very often. I wrote a poem for Aunt Marie (my mother's sister) for her funeral, and another for my sister-in-law Lynn to express my feelings and hopefully console my brother, Joseph. So it seemed fitting to put my thoughts on paper for my dad. He was not always an easy man to be around, but I never doubted his love for me. It's an odd feeling when your second parent dies, as if you are now an orphan. The two people who were responsible for your very existence, and the anchor for your entire family are no longer a phone call or relatively short drive away. Pieces of my heart were buried with each one of them, but I am extremely happy that I have the photographs and memories to tuck away in those empty spaces.

Dad's Poem

Family History Writing Challenge Day 29

Note: Technically the writing challenge was for 28 days, but I haven't finished the story yet so I will be continuing. It seemed simplest to keep the same name for this blog post.

After three weeks in the hospital following his car accident, Roy was ready to be released. Numerous options were discussed for how to transport him, and where he should be taken to recuperate. In the end, Kimberly and James rented an RV in St. Louis and drove it to Hays. That way Roy would be able to lie flat on the bed to protect his broken bones. When they arrived to pick Roy up, they found his room filled with a dozen people who wanted to tell their patient good-bye and wish him well. Some homemade cookies and other treats were sent along with him as well.

Roy spent a month at the Wolterman's home, with Kimberly coming home every day at noon to make him lunch. Her boss, Dr. Richard Bradley, stopped by the house to check on Roy and made a referral for an orthopedist for follow-up X-rays. Roy's strength eventually came back, and he began to put back on some of the 40 pounds he had lost in the hospital. He was soon doing laps inside the house in an effort to get stronger, and worked up to walking 2 miles per day. In good weather Kimberly would take him to the high school track to walk for longer periods on a level surface.

He received over 100 get well and sympathy cards while he was in St. Louis. He talked a lot about the accident, and as expected blamed himself for Catherine's death. He carried a lot of guilt with him the rest of his life. His grandson Andrew was a source of joy and distraction for him. Every day when Andrew came home from preschool he would ask his grandpa how he was feeling. They spent a lot of time watching t.v. together.

When Roy was finally able to travel, Kimberly, Andrew and Chris Lane drove him back to Cincinnati, and they stayed with him for the first week. Kathleen then came to Cincinnati for the second week, and Joseph for the third week. By then, Roy felt he was well enough to be on his own.

Ultimately he returned to his volunteer activities and directing the senior chorale group. He joined a fitness center, and every Monday-Friday he and his life-long friend Max Schoener would work out for an hour. He lived a full and active life, with his children coming to town to visit when they could, particularly when he planned family reunions. The children surprised him with a party on his 80th birthday, and he was thrilled!

Roy with his children; with his grandchildren; and his great-grandchildren

During a routing eye exam in 2000, Roy's ophthalmologist noticed something in his eyes that didn't seem right. He told Roy that the whites of his eyes were somewhat yellow, and that he should go to his primary care doctor and have it checked out. Roy did, and before he knew it he was having a bone marrow biopsy done. The results were not good. Roy had multiple myeloma, a cancer formed by malignant plasma cells. Plasma cells are mostly found in the bone marrow. Virtually incurable, the prognosis is 3-5 years life expectancy. Roy, in typical form, told the doctor, "At my age if I get 3-5 more years I'll be doing good."

Side effects of the disease are low blood counts, anemia, fatigue and the inability to fight infection. It is interesting that all of these things also affected his son LeRoy once he contracted aplastic anemia. Roy was told that most likely it would not be the myeloma that would kills him but rather an infection. He was warned to keep away from crowds where the likelihood of contracting germs would be greater. Unfortunately, that meant he had to stop doing all the things he loved outside the home. His life became a series of doctors' visits, trips to receive transfusions, and short jaunts to the grocery store.

For the first year of his disease he lived on his own, and then his daughter Kathleen moved in with him for a couple of years. He spent the last 10 months alone by his choice, with hospice coming to the house in December of 2003. Kimberly had driven over to meet with the hospice coordinator, and also a real estate agent so that Roy could discuss putting his house on the market. It was decided to list the house once Roy passed.

Roy Kubler

By the end of that month he entered an in-patient hospice floor at a local hospital. That is where he remained until he died on 21 January 2004. He was 86 years old, and had lived 4 years with the multiple myeloma. The day of his funeral, January 25th, began with rain which turned to sleet and finally snow. Many friends and family were not able to attend the funeral due to the weather. Catherine's sister Margie arrived via snowplow! The snow did not, however, prevent the Air Force from honoring their commitment to provide Roy with the Military Funeral Honors to which he was entitled as a veteran. The honor guard had to drive 50 miles from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton to Cincinnati in the dreadful weather. It was a moving ceremony, and fitting for a man who was proud of his service to his country.

And when it was all over, Roy was once again able to lie beside his beloved Catherine.

Family History Writing Challenge Day 28

Kubler's Dairy Queen

Roy continued to work for the trucking company in Des Moines for about a decade, but his constant travel and entertainment commitments took their toll on the family. Eventually he quit and tried other pursuits, including selling record-a-phones (early answering machines for businesses), Airstream Motorhomes (until his business partner took off with the model they had purchased and left Roy with the payments on it), and owning a Dairy Queen for a brief period. He then settled into selling commercial real estate for a few years, and his last position of employment was as the manager of a store selling parts and supplies for motorhomes and campers.

Oldest daughter Kathleen married Joseph Lane in 1968. They have three children: Julie, Joseph and Christopher. Julie married Ralph Maness in 1991, and they have two daughters: Molly and Cordelia. Joseph married Susan Sheets, and Christopher is unmarried.

Kenneth married Virginia Staley in 1969, and their children are Todd and Sara. Virginia died of complications from an aneurysm in 2015. Sara married Jonathan Wendt in 2006, and their children are Leo, Owen and Hazel.

Kimberly married James Wolterman in 1978. They have two children: Andrew and Kathryn. Andrew married Megan Englert in 2008.

Joseph married Lynn Graber in 1990 and their children are David, Stephanie and Rebecca. Lynn died of pancreatic cancer in 2002. Joseph remarried in 2010. David passed in 2013. Stephanie has two children: Arabella and Killian.

Kubler home in Cincinnati

Roy retired in 1984, and he and Catherine sold their house in Des Moines and moved back to their hometown of Cincinnati. They immediately began reconnecting with relatives and friends, and became extremely active in the local senior citizens center. They both enjoyed the card games and dances, Catherine loved the crafts room, and Roy became the director of the chorale group, which Catherine also participated in.

In the summer of 1989, they traveled out to Colorado to visit their son, Joseph. They stopped in St. Louis and stayed a couple of days with Kimberly and James, and also got to see Kathleen and her family as they lived in the area as well. They spent a couple of weeks enjoying the scenery in Colorado and were on their way home on July 18th. In the middle of Kansas on Interstate 70, Roy fell asleep at the wheel of the car. They had stopped for a potty break in the afternoon, and neither one of them put their seat belt back on when they reentered the car. Driving off onto the shoulder of the road, Roy awoke and over-corrected his steering. The car went off the road, flipping a couple of times. Catherine was killed instantly, and Roy was severely injured. The car behind them happened to contain a couple of off-duty paramedics, who immediately stopped to offer assistance and dialed 9-1-1. Roy was able to give them Joseph's phone number from memory, and he is the one who received the first call about the accident.

Roy was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Hays, Kansas. He suffered from a broken collar bone, all the ribs on one side were fractured, and he had internal bleeding. Joseph, in the meantime, faced the unpleasant task of notifying his siblings. He left a message on the answering machine at Kenneth's house and called Kathleen at work. She told him that she would call Kimberly at home that night after she knew her sister was done with work and had picked up her son Andrew at his baby-sitter's home. Kathleen was so distraught that someone drove her home from the office.

Joseph then had a friend drive with him from Colorado Springs to Hays, and Kathleen and Kimberly drove there together from St. Louis the next morning. Once they assessed their dad's situation and realized he would be in the hospital for quite a while, it was determined that Kathleen would fly to Cincinnati to begin making funeral arrangements for Catherine. In the meantime Kathleen's husband Joe would drive to Kansas and stay with Roy while everyone else made their way to Cincinnati for the funeral.

Catherine's obituary

Catherine's body was shipped by train to Cincinnati. It was very difficult for the children to plan their mother's funeral, especially knowing that their dad would not be able to attend it. They also did not know all of his wishes for the funeral, though he and Catherine had purchased a burial plan so that helped with some of the decision-making. The funeral was well attended by family and friends as Catherine was well-loved in the community. Men from the senior chorale group, dressed in their performance best, escorted the casket into the church while singing, "When Irish Eyes are Smiling." There was not a dry eye in St. Dominic's Church.

One thing that Roy made clear from his hospital bed was that he did not want anything personal of Catherine's to be in the house when he returned home to Cincinnati. He told Kathleen and Kimberly to pack everything up and have a yard sale in St. Louis. It was a very difficult thing to ask of two grieving daughters, but they reluctantly complied with his wishes, bringing Catherine's personal belongings back home with them after the funeral.

The beloved matriarch was dead at the age of 69. The foundation of the family shifted, and the children were numb.

Family History Writing Challenge Day 27

Catherine with Joseph
and Kimberly

Following Kenneth's birth, Catherine experienced a couple of miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy, resulting in the removal of one ovary and all but a piece of her second ovary. The doctor told her that she had a chance in a million of ever conceiving again, and a chance in 10,000 that a baby would be carried full term. When she started feeling ill in 1953, the doctor ran a pregnancy test even though he was sure she could not be expecting. At the time, the test involved injecting the urine of a woman into a female rabbit. If the woman was pregnant, the chorionic gonadotrophin in the urine would cause the rabbit's ovaries to enlarge and develop characteristic surface changes. Unfortunately, the only way to read the test results was to cut open the bunny. This is where the expression, "The rabbit died" comes from. Son Joseph joined the family in 1954. In 1955, she advised the doctor not to kill the bunny because she knew she was pregnant. Kimberly (that's me) was born later that year. Catherine definitely defied the odds, not once but twice!

Roy's household was expanding during a time period when the Railway Express Agency was contracting. Following the war a flurry of construction on highways and the widespread purchase of automobiles resulted in a downturn of passengers traveling by the rails. The railroads began sharp reductions in the number of passenger trains, which cut back on the reach of Railway Express Agency. It was perhaps this turn of events that caused Roy to seek employment elsewhere. He ultimately took a job with a trucking company in Chicago, Illinois at about the time Kimberly was born. He went ahead to find a house for the family and get established. A few months later, Catherine boarded a train in Cincinnati and took the four children to Chicago. How hard it must have been for her to leave her friends and family - her whole support group - behind.

Catherine's mother Mayme
Crusham comes to visit in
Chicago for Easter 

The house purchased was in a new subdivision by O'Hare Airport. The airport had just officially opened to commercial air travel in 1955, and their new next-door neighbor worked in the control tower at O'Hare. The second story of the home was unfinished, so all 6 members of the family slept on the main floor until Roy could add two bedrooms upstairs. Chicago was close enough to Cincinnati that both Roy and Catherine's parents could come over for a visit.

By 1960 Roy took a position with a different trucking company in Des Moines, Iowa. The family was on the move again. This time Roy and Catherine purchased a 3 bedroom, 1 bath home located on the north side of Des Moines. The walkout basement afforded extra living space for the family, and the dead end street was a safe haven for growing children. Cornfields surrounded the area, giving a feel of country living in the city. Nearby Woodlawn Park was easy walking distance, and offered play equipment, a baseball field that converted to an ice skating rink in the winter, a wading pool and a park shelter with games and activities throughout the summer.

Des Moines house with neighbor
girl and Kubler dog, Duke

Holy Trinity Church and School

The three older children were enrolled in various Catholic schools, and Kimberly attended kindergarten in the Johnston School District as Holy Trinity did not offer this grade. Roy and Catherine found a bowling league to join, and resumed their golf games. The family members settled nicely into their new lives in Des Moines.

Family History Writing Challenge Day 26

Catherine with her arm around LeRoy,
her nephew Danny Wambaugh
and Kathleen in the chair

While Roy was away serving his country, Catherine did the best she could at their home in Cincinnati. Unable to work due to the presence of two small children, she survived on the small allowance Roy was able to send her from his military pay. Perhaps she had some assistance from her family next door as well. She kept her spirits up by writing to Roy and letting him know how she and the children were doing. She eagerly awaited his replies, and kept those letters until the day she died.

Cincinnati, like all of America, had done its part to aid in the war effort, buying war bonds, accepting rationing, and creating jobs to help build or make the supplies needed for the soldiers. So it was no surprise that when President Harry S. Truman announced the end of the war on 14 August 1945, a crowd of 15,000 gathered at Fountain Square downtown, blowing horns, singing and shouting under a shower of paper graffiti tossed from office windows above. Thousands attended services at churches and synagogues.

But under all the relief and gaiety was a nagging concern about the economy. Many of the jobs created during the war were as a result of government contracts, which were cancelled when the war ended. Industrial employment in Hamilton County had nearly doubled during the war years, including women who entered the job force as well as men who had relocated to the area because of defense-related job opportunities. What would happen to all these employees? Would the returning 12,000-15,000 local veterans be able to find employment?

Many of the manufacturing plants went back to their original pre-war product lines once their government contracts ended. Returning servicemen were offered their old jobs, and many women were displaced from the job force. A new automobile plant built by General Motors in Hamilton County following the end of the war also offered employment opportunities to veterans and other men in the community.

Roy was lucky to be able to return to his job at the Railway Express Agency, a company that had boomed during WWII. He was happy to go back to a more normal life with work, his family and worshiping at Resurrection of Our Lord Catholic Church in Price Hill. The original church was built in  1919, and a school was added in 1920. By 1952, the growth in attendance by parishioners necessitated that a new church be constructed. The new building was completed in 1954.

Shortly after Roy's return from the war, the family was dealt an incredible blow. LeRoy was diagnosed at the age of 3 with aplastic anemia, a rare, serious blood disorder caused by failure of the bone marrow to produce blood cells. Symptoms of the disease are anemia, bleeding and infection. Some cases have been linked to exposure to toxic environmental chemicals such as benzene, a colorless and highly flammable liquid. It is used as a starter material for other products, including rubber. Because Catherine worked in a factory sewing rubber basketballs before and during her pregnancy with LeRoy, it begs the question - did exposure to benzene cause him to be born prematurely, and then later contract aplastic anemia? While there were studies done to examine the impact of benzene in the workplace, there were none conducted at that time to examine the impact on a fetus. Maybe it's just as well, as Catherine would have been devastated to find that something she had done caused her little boy to be sick. She was most likely pregnant with her third child, Kenneth, when they found out about LeRoy's illness.

There was no cure for aplastic anemia in the 1940s. Patients were being injected with horse serum - antithymic globulin. Side affects included fatigue and serum sickness, with fever and edema. The cost of the injections was exorbitant, and the family could not afford the treatment. The drug manufacturer agreed to cover the expense if the Kubler's would allow LeRoy to participate in a study. Roy and Catherine willingly agreed, eager to do anything to save their boy.

Ken in arms of Catherine's
brother Charlie, LeRoy and
Kathleen circa 1949

LeRoy was able to go to school off and on when he felt up to it, but he hated the fact that the nuns at Resurrection School always made him sit by the radiator in the classroom. He was extremely susceptible to infection with the disease. In his 7th year he developed pneumonia. On the morning of 31 January 1950, Roy went into his son's bedroom to check on him before going to work. LeRoy asked for a drink of water, and by the time Roy came back with the glass, LeRoy had died.

Because of the rareness of his disease, the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote a story about his death. From that story, many people wrote letters to Roy and Catherine. Most of them were expressing condolences, but some were filled with hate, claiming that they must be really bad people of God had chosen to take their first-born son away from them. There were some letters that Roy never let Catherine see because they were so terrible. As if the loss of their son wasn't enough, the couple had to deal with the judgmental words of others. Kathleen was barely 6 and Kenneth 4 when their brother died. It must have been horrific for the family to endure.

newspaper article
about LeRoy's death

Family History Writing Challenge Day 25

Camp Kilmer

The Army’s New York Port of Embarkation could process up to 250,000 troops per month. The returning soldiers were greeted with signs of welcome, bands, and refreshments. Upon docking, Roy’s group was ferried to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. Camp Kilmer had a relatively new history, having been completed in just six months in 1942. The facility covered more than 1,500 acres and contained 1,120 buildings. During WWII the camp processed over 1.3 million service men and women for duties overseas. Following the end of the war, it became the main center for receiving soldiers returning home from Europe and the Pacific, with more than 5,000 coming through the camp each day.

Fort Knox

Roy spent only a couple of days at Camp Kilmer. He remarked that they had good food there, as they were served by Italian prisoners of war. When released, he traveled by train to Fort Knox, Kentucky. His separation was processed there and occurred on 13 November 1945.

Roy spent two years, three months, and seventeen days in continental service, and one year, four months, and eleven days in foreign service, for a total service of three years, seven months, and twenty-eight days of active duty. His decorations and citations included a World War II Victory Medal, the American Theater Ribbon, an Asiatic Pacific Theater Ribbon with two Bronze Stars, a Good Conduct Medal, and a Distinguished Unit Badge. Roy was honorably discharged as a Buck Sergeant on 13 November 1945. He enlisted with the Reserve Corps on 14 November 1945 at Fort Knox.

Roy decided to immediately reenlist because it meant a four year commitment instead of a ten year commitment to the Army Air Forces. Also, it assured him that if hostilities broke out again, he would not be sent overseas. He was never required to do any reserve work, and he was again honorably discharged, this time as a tech sergeant on November 13, 1948. A tech sergeant is right underneath a master sergeant, and is the second highest rank that could be achieved as a noncommissioned officer.

Roy in front of house

Roy returned home to Cincinnati on a train, compliments of his employer, Railway Express Agency, in November of 1945. He came back to a new house, a now three-year-old son and a seventeen-month-old daughter he had yet to meet. But he never expressed regret over what he had missed, instead feeling grateful for what he had experienced and the fact that he was able to come home at all. The greatest generation, indeed!

Family History Writing Challenge Day 24

new Kubler house

At some point during his stay in Chabua Roy received a letter from Catherine telling him that the Koch's house, located next to her mom and dad’s home, was for sale. She asked if he thought she should buy it. Before he even had a chance to reply, he got another letter telling him that she had borrowed money from her brother Charlie and advising him, “I bought the Koch's house!”

The house at 1240 Rosemont Avenue in Cincinnati was right next door to the house Catherine grew up in, still owned by her parents Michael and Mayme Crusham. This was a godsend for Catherine with a toddler and a new baby to take care of on her own. Catherine had a family picture taken to send to Roy; he would not get to meet his daughter, Kathleen, until she was seventeen months old.

LeRoy, Catherine and Kathleen

After the surrender of the Japanese on 15 August 1945, troops in the CBI Theater began to demobilize. The order that released Roy from service was dated 1 October 1945. Soldiers were furloughed home according to the number of points they had accumulated under the Advanced Service Rating Points System. The points were awarded as follows: 1 point for each month served in the Army, 1 point for each month served overseas, 5 points for each campaign star worn on theater ribbons, 5 points for the first and each award received (such as Distinguished Service Cross), and 12 points for each child at home under 18 years of age (up to 3 children). Points were awarded for months served between 16 September 1940 and 12 May 1945.  

Originally a soldier was required to have 85 points in order to go home. The number was lowered as demobilization continued. On 1 November 1945 the military began to release soldiers who had 60 points. By the time Roy was released, he had 90 points. He was a little peeved about the change, considering what he had gone through to obtain his point total. The India-Burma-Theater Roundup Vol. IV No.7 issued 15 October 1945 indicated that according to the War Department there were still 5,000 soldiers in the India-Burma-China Theater with 85 or more points in October of 1945. 

According to the same issue of the Roundup, the allotment of planes from Chabua and Calcutta to Karachi in October of 1945 carried 700 men per day, and 10 trains transported troops that month from Assam to Karachi. With 500 troops being flown from Assam to Karachi and 200 from Calcutta to Karachi each day, only one troop train every third day was used in the evacuation of troops from Assam and Burma. 

Two types of troopships were used in evacuating India-Burma: 3,000 and 5,000 capacity ships. Seventeen ships handled troop movements from Calcutta and Karachi during September and October.  Ships leaving Calcutta reached the East Coast of the United States in 26 days, while those leaving Karachi made the voyage in 21 days. Four troopships - the Taylor, Anderson, Eltinge and Patrick - sailed during the week ending October 24, which was the week Roy began his voyage home.  A total of 14,500 troops were evacuated on these ships, bringing the combined strength of the India-Burma and China Theaters down to 170,000.  

C-47

Roy remained at the Chabua Air Base until October 1945, when he flew on a C-47 to Agra, New Delhi, Jorhat, and finally Karachi. It is unknown how long Roy spent in Karachi before boarding his ship. According to the War Department, the men would remain in the staging area at the ports of embarkation anywhere from seven to twenty-one days. At this time they would receive medical checkups and processing.  
By strange coincidence, on 21 October 1945 Roy again boarded the USS General A.E. Anderson (AP-111) for the trip home. This was cruise number thirteen for the USS General A.E. Anderson, and the ship was captained by George Whitefield Mead, Jr. The ship arrived in New York City on 9 November 1945, sailing past the Statue of Liberty, much to the delight of all the servicemen.

Family History Writing Challenge Day 23

While Catherine was settling into her life with a two year old and newborn, Roy was adjusting to life in India. Beginning in 1942, India served as the base for all Army Air Forces operations against the enemy in Burma, providing aid to China. Following the ship’s arrival in Bombay on August 7, 1944, Roy was stationed at Camp Worli, a British Royal Air Force transit camp located just north of Bombay, for two to three weeks. The buildings were made of brick with no glass in the windows or doors in the door frames.  After the confines of the ship, the camp seemed like a motel to Roy. He had a whole bed to himself, even though it was made of wood and roping. The soldiers received mosquito nets and sundry clothing.

Indian train 1944

Following his stay at Camp Worli, Roy boarded a train across India to Camshupora, located just outside of Calcutta. This train ride would probably have taken about three days. From there they took another train to the Brahmaputra River. On this leg of the journey, Merrill’s Marauders were on the train with them and Roy was able to meet some of the men.

One of the things that amazed Roy about the trains was that the track was laid by different groups of people, so they weren’t built to the same gauge. Apparently the Army Transport Command had purchased the railroads from several small railroad companies, who had used different track gauges when they originally built the tracks. The track would simply end and they would have to change trains. Because of this, a trip that could have been accomplished in one day ended up taking several. However, Roy said the scenery was beautiful on the trip.

riverboat

Once they arrived at the Brahmaputra River they took a riverboat to Jorhat, India.  The western flank of the Brahmaputra River is big-game country with tigers, wild elephants, and herds of rhinoceros. Jorhat had one of the largest airstrips in northeastern Assam. It was at Jorhat that Roy was trained to become a loading supervisor, and he learned how to convert B-24s to C-109s. Loading operations were under the supervision of qualified enlisted air transportation technicians. Roy’s Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) was Air Transportation Technician.

Following six weeks of training, Roy flew to Chabua, India, which is located in the district of Dibrugarh in the state of Assam. Chabua is in the northeastern part of India. During WWII, the Chabua Airfield was constructed in the Assam Valley outside the small town of Chabua. The Himalayas rise to a height of 10,000 feet around the area. Planes taking off essentially had to fly circles around the immediate area in order to get the height needed to clear the mountains. The flight over and through the Himalayas was known as “flying the Hump.”

Chabua ATC

Roy served in the 1333rd Army Air Forces Base Unit, Army Transport Command. Air Transport Command (ATC) was established in 1942 as a unit of the U.S. Army Air Forces. Previously named the Air Ferrying Command, its mission was to meet the urgent demand for the speedy reinforcement of the U.S. military bases worldwide during WWII, using an air supply system to supplement surface transportation. ATC also operated a worldwide transportation system for military personnel.

actresses on base

One of diversions on the Chabua base was the Bamboo Music Hall. Roy had always enjoyed music and entertainment, so he likely passed quite a bit of his free time here. Stars of many USO shows appeared in this hall, such as Joe E. Brown, Noël Coward, and Paulette Goddard. From late October through early December 1944, Pat O’Brien, Jinx Falkenburg, Harry Brown, Betty Yeaton, Jimmie Dodd, and Ruth Carrell Dodd performed more than a hundred shows in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater.  Dixie Walker and his troupe, made up of major league baseball players, also entertained. What a thrill that must have been for the men on the base to be able to have a taste of home in India!

Bernie Downey, Bill Penney, Roy