Recipes for Living Steve and Royanna Spencer

I must begin my story with my parents because they were so important to my life. They gave me the pattern for a loving, caring home, which Steve and I have continued for our family.

My father, Roy Hukill, was a barber in Osceola for 62 years. There were four Hukill boys who barbered together - Homer, Willard, King, and Roy. Their shop was located on North Main, where Larry Page's shop is now.

Daddy was in both World War II and the Korean conflict. They called him to serve before I was born and he didn't see me until I was a year and a half old. He knew I had arrived because he received a message from the Red Cross. It was, however, only an empty envelope indicating there must have been a telegram intended for him. He knew no details. I was born in October, 1944; he was discharged a year and a half later, in December 1945, and he hadn't seen me until then.

Likewise, we didn't know about him. To this day all that I have ever been told about his World War II experience was that he was in the South Pacific off the coast of Guam on the Henry T. Allen aircraft carrier. When they weren't in combat, he was their barber. When they were, he was strapped to the carrier and caught the hot gun shell casings after they were fired. But he chose not to talk about it.

My mother was Linna Hukill. She was Valedictorian when she graduated from Weldon in 1926. She attended college on what was the upper floor of the old high school building, and went to work at Armors in their building beside the railroad tracks on East Ayers. She worked hard all her life, raising chickens and having great big gardens. At one time she worked for Harold Eck in his furniture store, in what is now the location of Clarke County State Bank's new addition. She was an exceptional cook and began cooking at East Elementary when they started the lunch program. When the new high school was built, she helped design the kitchen and in the fall of 1961 became the head cook.

My parents were married 17 years before I was born. Mama was 36 years old, which may have contributed to the difficulty of the delivery. That combined with the fact that 55 years ago they didn't have the advantage of techniques developed later, made for such uncertainty that Mama signed papers to give me to Evelyn Hukill in case she didn't make it. Dr. Stroy delivered me, and Helen Stickler was one of nurses. There were three or four days involved in the birth. I was named after my father and a Catholic nun, Anna, who took care of Mama after I was born.

We lived on Pearl Street, next to the Catholic church, when I was born. When Daddy came home from the service, we moved to Creston and he barbered in the Hiawatha Hotel. We moved back to Osceola and lived at several different addresses - on North Jackson, in the country when I started to school, and we moved to 329 East McLane when I was in sixth grade.

Daddy was 36 years old the first time he was called into service. When he was 42 he was called back to serve off the coast of Korea on the aircraft carrier USS Corregidor At that time we lived on North Jackson, on the north side of the alley in the 100 block. That is near the railroad tracks and there was an interesting metal structure that we called a trestle, over the railroad. There were steps that went up, a platform across the tracks and steps down the other side. Daddy rode the Zephyr several times and Mama and I would climb the steps and wave to him as he flew by.

The second time he was called, he was gone 10 months. After he was discharged he worked for John DeVore for awhile, then, over the course of years, Daddy bought Ode Coyle's barber shop, and sold it to Ed Davis about 1978, intending to retire. He couldn't stand retirement, so he opened another shop in what was called the "Pink Store" on the comer of Main and Clay Streets. He barbered there until he died in November 1986.

I started to Barnard's country school when I was four years old. The teacher was Celeste Jackson's aunt, Mrs. McGahuey. I was there for the first grade and the first half of second grade. The next school was West Ward, where I had Miss Bonham and Willene Simpson. For second and third grades, I went to the Leslie school with all the Eddy kids, while Hattie Miller was the teacher. For sixth grade I went to South Ward, where the United Methodist Church now stands; to junior high which was in West Ward, where the Manor is; and to high school, North Ward on highway 69. However, while I was in high school, the new building was ready for occupancy and I was in the first class to graduate from that building in 1962.

I was in lots of activities in high school but nothing exceptional. However, the most important part was that when I was in ninth grade, I became friends with Steve Spencer. We began dating and were married in 1963. Sue Underwood was our organist.

Steve's parents were Herbert and Mary Anna Wickett Spencer. They were in the hardware business in New Virginia with Herbert's father, Leo. They also farmed. They moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas, in the spring of 1960, leaving Steve pretty much on his own. LeRoy Jackson and Joe Reynolds were two good friends who looked out for his welfare. Steve worked for Bell Brothers Plumbing and Heating, for Charlie Morgan, and when the pipeline came through in the 1960's, he worked on construction.

It was natural, I suppose, that I felt inclined toward beauty school, and when I graduated from high school, Mom and Dad sent me to Iowa Beauty School in Des Moines. I worked in Margaret Hart's Beauty Shop for about a year before I operated my own shop at 223 East Jefferson. Our close neighbors and friends were Don and Miriam Butterfield. Miriam helped me so much when MaryLinn was born in August 1966.

I had another beauty shop in our home when we moved to 116 East Grant. At that time Steve began working with mobile homes and is still doing that.

Monty Ray was born in July 1970, and in 1973 we moved out to the Truro pavement and really enjoyed living there. It was basically just a pasture when we went and we planted trees and landscaped it. We were there until 1994 when moved to the Vess Handley house on highway 152. It is a lovely home that we have enjoyed as well.

Mama was diagnosed with liver cancer when Monty was three years old and MaryLinn was seven. She lived for 17 months and it was such a battle! That was in the days before hospital stays were limited and they were very kind to us. I needed to be there 24 hours a day to take care of her. They knew I couldn't afford a baby sitter so they let Monty be with me. He had all his toys with him and played under the bed or he would sit on the bed and talk to Mama. Steve was driving a semi in his work with mobile homes. He would pick up MaryLinn after school, get Monty from the hospital, and take care of them until morning. Then he would bring Monty back and take MaryLinn to school on his way to work. Letha Nish also helped take care of Mama, who had helped raise her and they were very close. Helen Stickler helped me so much. She listened to me day after day. Mama died in March 1975. I am so glad that MaryLinn was old enough to have a clear memory of her.

Eleven years later, in 1986, Daddy died 26 days after they told him he had lymphoma. He had radiation to the brain area to prevent intense pain and was only in hospital 11 days before his death. At that time Monty was in a big track meet in Ames. We always attended our children's activities and are very grateful that Ralph and Marie Kimmell helped check on my father while we were gone.

We have had several experiences that confirm for us that there is more reality to angels and another realm of life than some people can accept. My collections of angels are more than figurines. I’ve come close to having car wrecks and I didn’t do anything but sit there and my guardian angels prevented them. When Mama was dying, she saw things we didn’t see. She told Letha not to cry. Ollie, Letha's father, was there, she said, and Mama added that he was the best friend she ever had. She saw a little boy over there and picked out pink colors. We didn’t ever know the significance of that. I was extremely close to Mama and I thought her death would give me nightmares but I didn’t ever have them.

Steve and I both saw Daddy after he died but we didn’t tell one another. It was a time when I was deeply concerned about something. I have a vivid picture of exactly where I was when I saw his face and hat and he told me everything was going to be okay. When I told Steve, he said he had seen him, too, that same morning, on the ceiling of the bedroom. When Monty was a child he thought he saw Grandma. Such experiences have helped me through difficult times and given me assurance when I needed it. One morning recently these words came to Steve and he wrote them down: "Remember Jesus today and tomorrow will come to pass as yesterday already has."

Monty was into sports - track, swimming, and basketball. He was crazy about the Dallas Cowboys from the time he was about eight years old. He and his dad like to talk about their trucks, wax and take care of their trucks. When Monty was about four years old, he was in preschool. We had an orange Volkswagen and his dad decorated it to look like a ladybug. He used it to pull a big float carrying all the kids from Kiddie Karousel in the 4th of July parade. Monty was about that age when Steve put blocks on the pedals so Monty could drive this Volkswagen with a floor shift up and down the drive to get the mail every day.

Steve had a toter to pull mobile homes and Monty learned to drive that as soon as he was big enough to reach the pedals and shift the gears. I remember sitting by myself one day and seeing the toter go up and down the driveway. It was Monty, of course, but he had never driven it when his dad wasn’t with him.

Monty and I gave MaryLinn driving lessons when he was 10 and she was 14. He had all the knowledge and I just went along to add an age factor. I used to be invited often to go cruising with the girls until they turned 16. Lori Burrell Helgevold and Ronda Mueller Wishon could tell stories about what happened after that time.

In order that MaryLinn would be safe on the roads when she drove to school, Steve bought her a red four-wheel-drive Dodge Duster with a removable top. He sold it as soon as Monty turned 16, because he knew he would be out mudding.

Through the years, Monty had close friends - Brent Kelso, Gary Short, Bert Keeler, Shawn Wade and others. But his best friend was Ginger, a dog he found down the road and talked me into keeping, even though we already had two dogs. People-friends can’t be there all the time, but friends like Ginger can go everywhere and be there anytime. That was how they were. Wherever Monty went, Ginger went. Ginger lived for 18 years.

All that was guy-stuff and MaryLinn was into girl-stuff. She could care less about sports. She was in band, took dance lessons, and was a cheerleader in junior high and high school. We are grateful for the good teachers both the kids had along the way. Those who made an impact on Monty were John Huenaman and Neil Goos; for MaryLinn they were David Twombley, Mike Boldon, Marty Brendan, and Lynn Kellogg. Important Sunday School teachers were Dottie Van Werden, Joyce Turner, and Edith Brown.

MaryLinn also had good friends-Mindy Ogan, Mary Beth Emary, and Lori Burrell Helgevold, and Rhonda Mueller Wishon particularly. She was influenced greatly by Virginia Ogan. She would like to have become a nurse, and after she graduated in 1984, she enrolled in a nursing program but discovered that it was impossible for her to be objective with patients. She became too involved in their lives. During her last year in high school, MaryLinn worked at the Little Duffer where Clarke County State Bank drive-in is now.

When the kids were growing up, their friends knew that we had open house every Sunday. They could come, ice skate on the pond in our front yard, snowmobile, make igloos, have bonfires, wiener roasts, and hayrides - and the biggest kid among them was Steve. Steve doesn't care about sports, except when Monty is in them. His job may have taken him miles from home but I've known him to drive all night to be there for Monty's track meet the next day. He's a good, good daddy and now a good grandpa.

Because I was an only child, I didn't want MaryLinn and Monty to fight. I thought I never allowed that but the stories they tell me now don't confirm it. I knew about one fight when they were out in the front yard. They were scuffling and that quiet, nice little MaryLinn knocked out two of Monty's front teeth.

When the kids were old enough for Sunday School I felt that they should be there. They have been surrounded by love all their lives, but I felt it was my responsibility to expose them to God's love. MaryLinn continued to be active in the church and for several years was the Education Director.

MaryLinn graduated from high school in 1984 and from Graceland college in 1988. Monty graduated from high school in 1988, and attended Graceland for one year. He began working at Miller Products and has been there ever since.

MaryLinn taught in the school system in Brownsville, Texas for a year and a half, before coming back to Iowa and teaching at Humeston for 10 years. She married Loren Olson in 1998, and they have Meredyth Linna who was born, appropriately, on Christmas Eve, 1999. Without stretching the truth she is the cutest, smartest, most wonderful babies that ever was, and if anyone needs convincing Grandpa and Grandma have pictures. Steve makes a trip every day to see Meredyth Linna, and I do mean every day. MaryLinn has resigned from teaching and will be a full-time Mom and babysitter for Mark and Christine Binning Baker's son, Kenny. Loren has his own floor covering business.

I have worked at Flowers 'N More for eight years. I love flowers and I have made some wonderful friends through that employment. Steve and I both have enjoyed our landscaping and in the past we have put up some elaborate Christmas decorations on our house and lawn, but we're past 29 now and we are doing it less. It's a lot of work.

In addition to Meredyth Linna, there are three darling little girls that are on my prayer list all the time. They are special children that I love and enjoy very much. I spend some time with them every week, taking them swimming and doing whatever else they might like to do. Gladys Fleming Grimes of Albia told of what Mother had done for her when she was a little girl. For one thing she taught her how to cook. I would love to leave that kind of legacy in someone else's life.

At the present time we are all happy and in good health, and hope to stay that way. If I had a wish for the world it would be that all families could love each other as much as we do. I've been so blessed all my life to have made so many wonderful friends. My being an only child may have had something to do with my feeling that childhood and adult friendships are so very important.