Joe and Laura STEPHENS LINK moved to Benton Township in 1915. Laura was a daughter of John Lindsey STEPHENS, pioneer settler in the township.

The Links farmed in the same area in Section 13 until Joe's death in 1957. They celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary there.

They were the parents of two children, Opal (Mrs. Cecil BAILEY) and Floyd. Opal and Floyd attended Dryden School until the schools were consolidated in 1917. They then attended school in Maloy until they graduated, Opal in 1925 and Floyd in 1928.

Both were valued members of the basketball teams in the 1920's, and Floyd was also a driver of the "school wagon."

Floyd passed away in 1982. At that time he was an employee of the AAA Motor Club at Davenport, but was living at Bella Vista, Arkansas. He had one son who is a minister and lives in Michigan.

Opal has six children: Evelyn (Mrs. Don DOWELL) of Waukee; Bernardine (Mrs. Joe SOBOTKA) of Diagonal; Gene, who is the school principal in Sioux City; Charlene (Mrs. Charles BROTT) of Clearfield; Robert, an employee of McDonald Douglas in Los Angeles; and Joe, an industrial management engineer with Western Electric in Omaha.

Opal was a beautician and operated her own shop in Clearfield where she has lived for 37 years. She is now retired.

NOTES: Joseph Mateer LINK was born March 20, 1885, Redding, Iowa, and died May 18, 1958 at Creston. He married in Ringgold County Laura Belle STEPHENS on February 6, 1907. Laura Belle (STEPHENS) LINK, daughter of John Lindsey and Catherine J. STEPHENS, was born in Ringgold County on August 19, 1881, and died in May of 1974, Clearfield, Iowa. They were interred at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr.

Opal Maude (LINK) LINKVIS BAILEY ws born August 30, 1907, and died at the age of 98 years on November 7, 2005, Clearfield. She married first Charles C. LINKVIS in 1928; married second Cecil E. BAILEY in 1941. Cecil E. BAILEY was born August 27, 1906, and died October 3, 1995. They were interred at Clearfield Cemetery.

Charlie Wesley BROTT, son of Grant Bernard and Alma Lea BROTT, was born in Redding, Iowa on January 29, 1955, and died in October of 1999. He married Charlene Marie LINKVIS at Clearfield on June 8, 1952. He served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1955. Charlie was interred at Clearfield Cemetery.

Charles Wesley BROTT, Jr. died in May of 1953. He was interred at Clearfield Cemetery.

SOURCE: Maloy, Iowa Centennial History: 1887 - 1987 p. 191.

Courtesy of Mount Ayr Public Library

Transcription and Notes by Sharon R. Becker, August of 2011