JEANNE EDWARDS WINTER

I was born to Perry and Flossie (Burch) Edwards. I was raised in the Murray, Iowa, area, but my two older siblings, Floyd Edwards and Wilda Edwards Groth, were born in Indiana before our parents moved to Iowa. Dad was working on the railroad but my uncle called and asked him if he would come to Iowa to help him get his crops in, because he wanted to move to Wyoming. I believe they came to Iowa on a train.

There were 11 children in the Burch family and Mother said they were very poor. She didn't believe they would have had enough to eat if the grandparents hadn't helped them. As it turned out, her brothers formed the Burch Construction Company out of Cedar Rapids. and were given the contract to build Interstate 35. Four of the boys became millionaires. I was working at Clarke County State Bank when their bookkeeper came in to open an account. I remarked, "That is my uncle," but I don't think they believed me.

My parents had five more children in Iowa. In birth order of the the seven of us: Floyd and Wilda, born in Indiana; Marret, Mary Jane (Boge),who lived in Dubuque, Earl is next to me. He lived in Moline. I, then Helen (Livermore), who lives in West Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. She and I are the only ones still living.

Floyd and Alice Fenn were married and farmed until moving to Osceola in 1980. They were a well known and highly respected couple. They had 5 daughters, and their daughter Sandye Edwards Kelso, who taught in the Clarke Community school system, wrote about them in the 3rd volume of "Recipes for Living." Their first child, Karen, was born December 24, 1940, and lived only 30 hours. Karolyn, Sandye, Barbara and Brenda all were graduates of Iowa State University — two became teachers, one a CPA, and one a computer programmer.

Wilda (Groth) lived in Springfield, Missouri. Marret married Esther Spencer from Winterset, and they had four children. In August 1952, only months before Jonas Salk made his breakthrough with the effective vaccine, Esther contracted polio and was placed in an iron lung. She had been well until on a Sunday morning, she had a headache and by Wednesday she was gone. The youngest child was just 10 months old, and next was a 6-year-old girl. Marret raised his four children by himself. After his youngest was through high school, in 1970, he married Pat, who had been widowed for some years. Marret and Pat lived in Osceola until he died in 2009. She is presently in a nursing home in Colorado.

Our family lived for 8 years at Earlham, where I went to high school for three years, then we moved to Murray. I spent my senior year there and graduated from Murray, My parents' next move was in December 1920, to a farmhouse southwest of Murray, where four of us children were born..That summer they tore down the old house and built the beautiful home that stands there today.

My story will be better understood if readers will consider the time in which all this happened. The Depression was in full swing, World War II was going on and our young men were enlisting or being drafted. It all contributed to a feeling of insecurity but there were exciting events happening in our lives. It was also the days when the 18th amendment was in force and alcoholic beverages could not legally be manufactured, transported, or sold in the United States. As always, there were people who refused to let that prevent them from gaining an illegal income from the transport and sale of liquor. A boot-legger, whom I will refer to as John to avoid any distant relative reading the story and being embarrassed..

Let's say "John"had been living in the neighborhood, making "moonshine" across the road in a building next to the timber. The sheriff been there several times, each time dumping his stills, but John would run off into the timber. When "the coast was clear," he would return and resume his operation. Finally, the sheriff told him to leave the county or he would have to arrest him. John and some of his gang moved to southern Missouri. A few years ago, when our sister in Springfield, Missouri read an article in her newspaper, she recongnized the gang as being some of John's friends.

There was an Indian lady (the cook), who lived with John. He referred to her as his sister. Recently Gary Dugger, Marret, and I refreshed our memories about all this. The Dugger boys walked past John's house as they went to the rural school west of their farmhouse. Sometimes the Indian lady, "John's sister," helped them cross a field where cattle were grazing, to protect them from the herd. Sometimes she would also have treats — nice apples and cookies for them.'

It was not unusual to find a nice fast, fancy car stuck on the mud road leading to the farm house. John's farm was considered a stop-over between Kansas City, Omaha, Minneapolis and Chicago. The neighbors knew there was lots of activity there.

Mr. Dugger and all who lived in that area said John was a very good neighbor. One day, John was helping Albert Dugger, Gary's grandfather, butcher a hog. A gang member, shall we say "Jerry," stopped to see John, and John asked him to show the Dugger boys how he could shoot. There was a single shot 22 rifle that had been used to kill the hog, and a tobacco can, which could usually be found lying around. Jerry asked one of the boys to toss the tobacco can in the air; he picked up the rifle and shot a hole through it. It was considered quite a feat, Jerry never having shot the gun before.

John offered the five Dugger boys jeweled watches, but told them to keep them hidden for a few years. Albert would not let the boys keep them.

Arlene Dugger's cousin lived north of the school house on a dead end road. One night they watched a wagon with lanterns go into the timber. This was an unusual sight. Were they burying someone or stolen goods? They never knew, but a deaf fellow, who had been living at John's farm house, was never seen again after that night.

John received a "tip off' that the sheriff was coming for him and was planning a raid. They took several pair of stolen overalls and other stolen goods and dumped them in the out house.

Things were happening pretty constantly to keep the neighborhood a-buzz. The Dugger boys found an acetolyne tank in a ditch. They managed to pull it to the barn not knowing what it was, but Mr. Dugger recognized it and thought it probably had been used to break open safes. Marret and I remembered a time when a fellow drove into our yard and asked our father if he could dig out an old well. Dad didn't permit it. He thought the stranger was probably looking for stolen loot. One time John asked Albert Dugger if he would like to see $45,000 upstairs in his house. Albert said "NO." Several years later, Albert was in St. Joseph, Missouri, selling cattle when a car pulled up beside him. It was Jerry and his gang. They asked him where he was going and offered him a ride. He turned them down.

As the story goes, Jerry was arrested for bank robbery. Hand cuffed between 2 police officers, he threw his feet into the air and rolled, planning to escape. He was shot and killed. We think this event happened in Minneapolis. We have reason to believe these stories are true because the generation just before us, told us parts of the story we hadn't known and corroborated ones we did.

After graduation from high school, every boy in our class was either drafted or enlisted in a branch of the service. One of my brothers was in the military. He was just older than me so he was in the war about the time it ended. At the time I graduated, the Korean War was going on. None of us girls went on to college, we all went to work. I worked in the County Treasurer's office for Lois Harlan, and then for Lela Barnard in the Assessors office, Both were very nice ladies. I went to work at Clarke County State Bank, then I retired from Postal Service after 20 years.

On April 1, 1949, Kenneth Winter and I were married. Kenneth was in WWII for 4 years — 2 years overseas in Europe, but never called to serve in any of the major battles. I didn't meet Kenneth until he was coming home from overseas, about the time I graduated from high school. Kenneth was a farmer and a very well-known mechanic. He worked for George Rilea, Walt Langfitt and Harold Moran, then decided to become self-employed. We had lots of tractors coming to his house.

Kenneth and I had two daughters, Dana (Hembry), who is probably best known for her years of owning and operating the Family Table restaurant, and is now very involved in and enthusiasic about Freedom for Youth. Our second daughter, Mary Larsen, is a teacher in Burlington, Wisconsin. Kenneth is deceased now. I am retired and living in town.

My daughters have given me 5 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. Dana has two daughters, Kelly Stelter and Steve at Maryville, MO, with two children; Darbi (Chris) DeVore at Osceola with one son.

Mary has three sons. Scott and wife, Diane, at Litchfield, MN, with 2 sons and a daughter; Eric and wife Nikki at Burlington, WI, with a son and one daughter. Alex is single and lives in Oregon.

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Last Revised February 3, 2015