Colin Frank Senior

SENIOR, JENNINGS, CAMPBELL, HEAD, HARRIS, KINGKADE, FEE, ROBERTSON

Posted By: Colin C. Senior (email)
Date: 1/18/2008 at 19:40:00

Colin Frank (Wilhoit) Senior
Colin Frank (Wilhoit) Senior was born to Franklin Lawrence Senior and Alta Bernice Campbell on July 25, 1908 in Knob Noster, Missouri. Colin was the second of two sons, the first John Campbell, was born September 19, 1905.
Colin spent his early childhood in his hometown of Knob Noster. When he was ten years old, his family moved to Centerville, Iowa where his father had taken a position with Jennings & Christopher, Wholesale Grocers as a salesman. Harry Jennings was Aunt Eula Maude Campbell’s husband (his mother Bernice’s sister). At this early time in his life, Colin had no idea that his life was about to be tragically affected by the untimely death of his mother, Bernice. Colin and his brother Campbell (as he was called by members of his family and later by all of his acquaintances) had led pampered lives, being somewhat spoiled by their parents and grandparents on both sides. At the time of his mother’s death, when he was only 12, all four of Colin’s grandparents were still living in Knob Noster. Frequent visits to Missouri were normal after the family moved to Centerville and they remained close to their relatives in the Knob Noster and Warrensburg area. In fact, up until the time of Colin’s death, he religiously made an annual trip to Missouri to place flowers on the graves of his parents and other close relatives. This, in addition to business trips that he made to check on farming interests he had in that area until the 1950’s when he sold the land. Colin loved his mother very much and to have lost her at such a very tender young age meant that he would carry that loss with him all of the remaining days of his life.
Colin had a quiet, unimposing personality, very much liked and admired by his friends. During high school years Colin was popular among his classmates. In his junior year, he met the girl of his dreams, Frances Louise Head. Frances was a shy, reserved teenager who had been born in Cincinnati, Iowa and spent her childhood years there and later in Ottumwa where her mother was a practical nurse. During her teens, her mother, Margaret Mae Harris, moved her family to Centerville and thus making it possible for Colin to meet and fall in love with her. Frances had had other boyfriends prior to Colin, but when they met, there were no two ways about the romance being permanent. There were some trying times, however, such as the time that Colin had the starring role in the Senior Class Play and “had” to kiss his co-star. Frances (Tillie to her friends and Colin) left after the play in a huff and Colin had to track her down for a very stubborn encounter. Tillie was just proving her love for him by expressing her jealousy, however, and thankfully the spat was only temporary.
After high school graduation, Colin enrolled in Stanford University, which became the second big test of their relationship. At that time, the Late Twenties, matriculating at Stanford was very prestigious and the opportunity to attend a privilege. The fact that Stanford was also the alma mater of the current U.S. President, Herbert Hoover, who was also from Iowa and a Democrat, may have had a lot to do with his decision as well. It was, however, a very long way from home. There were many, many letters exchanged between Colin and Frances during those many months apart.
During the year or so that he spent at Stanford, Colin had a great time, even if it was apart from Tillie. He participated in intramural sports and became an avid Stanford Football fan. In fact, he and a few friends decided to go down to UCLA for an intercollegiate football game. They booked a flight on a local airline (the plane was a Ford Tri-Motor which was one of the latest models being used by the new airline passenger business). Colin got so airsick that he returned to San Francisco via a tramp steamer plying the waters between Los Angeles and the “City by the Bay.” This may have been the time that Colin discovered that he was acrophobic (feared heights).
Another adventure away from the campus found Colin hitch-hiking back to Stanford at exactly the time that the Hoover Presidential Motorcade passed by. Of course he stuck out his thumb! And guess what, Herbert ordered the procession to stop and pick up this fine looking young man. They had a nice chat enroute back to the campus about Iowa and Stanford and Colin was subsequently delivered to the front steps of his college dormitory by the President.
Colin attended Stanford through the 1928-29 school year, and in the fall of 1929 returned to pursue his degree in Investment Banking, having decided that this was, indeed, the profession to be in with the economy on the huge roll that it was on. Colin’s career decision all literally came crashing down in October, however, when the Stock Market on Wall Street crashed. Colin changed his mind with that event, deciding that this career wasn’t going anywhere fast. He dropped out of Stanford and returned to Centerville to seek his fortune on the local economy and, probably more importantly, continue his romance. Colin didn’t even think twice about turning down his good friend John Dole’s offer of a job in the family pineapple business in Hawaii.
Colin had another very good friend at Stanford by the name of Jimmy Rogers. Colin lost track of Jimmy after college but often wondered if it was his son who became a famous country western singer. Seems his friend Jimmy wasn’t too bad himself at picking a guitar and singing and a chip of the old block would have fit the timing and similarity. Colin never confirmed this one way or another but used to talk about one day trying to find out.
After returning home, Colin sold used cars for awhile for Jack Morris who owned the Chrysler/Plymouth franchise in Centerville. Eventually, Colin became a teller for the First National Bank where he would spend the next 40 years before retiring in 1970 as a vice-president and director. I’m sure that his job offer with the bank was a result of his father and Uncle Harry owning stock in the Bradley banks which consisted of the Iowa Trust and Savings Bank and the First National Bank.
During his professional career with the bank, Colin would become a very influential and productive citizen of the city and the state. He served many years on the Industrial Commission, being a founding influence for that committee and serving as its chairman for a time. During his tenure as the Chairman the community was going through a very important transition from an agrarian based economy to a commercial and manufacturing center. It was during this period in Iowa history that the small county seats like Centerville either had to find other sources of income from their dwindling farm-based economy and or diminish. Centerville, however, had one other industry, coal, that played an important part in their local economy. The very small, rural towns like Cincinnati where Frances came from were practically disappearing from the landscape. In fact, many of the smaller towns did. There was a community five miles west of Centerville that had around 10,000 people in the 1920’s and 1930’s and today is merely an intersection with a gas station and a restaurant.
Colin also was instrumental in the beginning of the great annual celebration called Pancake Day and was the chairman of that affair during one of the years. This was a very tense time for him because he was extremely uncomfortable in speaking before large audiences because he had to stand on the stage and introduce dignitaries, like the governor, and the major performers that appeared during the event. It also required him to make his one and only television appearance on KTVO in Ottumwa. So, it was a tense time for him but he wasn’t a wall flower nail biter either. He attacked his “assignment” with the vigor and dedication that he did with all of his other lifetime endeavors.
Colin was a well-known and highly respected banker throughout the Midwest and became a top rate investment officer for the First National Bank, as an expert in the bond market. Colin’s investments were the major source of income for the First National and the success of the bank was a dependent upon his prowess in the bond market. Therefore, after many years of banking, Colin’s career led him back to the line of banking that he was pursuing in his degree from Stanford!
During their marriage, Colin and Tillie would be blessed with the birth of three boys and one girl. Franklin Colin was born on December 29, 1935, Nancy Louise on November 2, 1937, Colin Campbell on April 5, 1942 (Easter Sunday) and Thomas Lawrence on March 26, 1944. Little Frankie was the joy of the family when he was born and was a delight for his grandfather (and namesake) Franklin Lawrence Senior during the last year of his life. In fact, Franklin was the first grandchild born to Franklin Lawrence Senior.
Colin was fortunate, in a way, in that during his life, he was spared the agony of losing any of his children, a fate that his beloved, life long partner Frances would not escape. Nancy was the first of their children to lose her life in a tragic automobile collision on her brother Frank’s birthday in 1987. Frances would also suffer the loss of her second child, Franklin, who would fall from a heart attack on June 6, 1995. Frances was 87 when Franklin died and that was to be the last time that she would travel when she accompanied her son Colin and his wife Deborah to Frank’s funeral in California.
Colin’s hobby in the early years of their marriage was stamp collecting. He and Frances amassed a huge collection of stamps through the 1930’s and 1940’s. Eventually his other hobbies, raising children and farming began to take more time. During the early fifties, Colin and Campbell sold off the farm land that they had inherited in Knob Noster. This enabled Colin to concentrate on the land that he and Campbell had inherited from their father, Franklin. Colin later bought out Campbell’s portion of the land and ended up with a farm of 740 acres. His main products were corn and soybean crops as well as beef and pork. For a long time, Colin ran an extensive dairy operation. Colin retained Al and Eva Crestani to live on and work the farm on a full time basis.
During the early fifties, Colin was stricken by Malted Fever which was a disease contracted from milk cows. Because of this disease, he was forced to get out of the dairy business and switched over to cattle breeding. Colin had a large Angus breeding program by the time he was forced to sell his farm to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers for it to become part of the lake bed for Lake Rathbun which was created by the damming of the Chariton River several miles downstream near Rathbun, Iowa. While this became a great recreational area for the residents of Southern Iowa and Northern Missouri, it brought an end to Colin’s gentleman farmer years.
Colin retired from banking as a senior vice-president and member of the board of directors of the Iowa Trust and Savings Bank. This bank and the First National were merged in the 1970’s into one bank and built a new facility at 10th and State Streets, just across the street from Jack Morris Motors where Colin began his working career as well as the location where the Jennings & Christopher Wholesale Foods was located where Colin’s father Frank had been employed.
Colin served on the Board of Directors of the Iowa Trust until his death in 1980. He continued to provide guidance in business decisions affecting both the bank and the community during that time. Retirement gave Colin and Frances more time to travel and visit with the children. One of the last trips that Colin and Frances made together was to visit son Colin’s family in Schaumburg, Illinois. Colin made this trip in the spring, accompanied by his son Tom who lived in Bloomfield, Iowa at the time.
In the fall of 1980, on September 11th, Colin and Frances celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. In the early spring of 1980, Colin was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer. Immediately after the diagnosis, he underwent surgery to remove the cancerous portion of the colon. During that surgery, the doctors discovered that his cancer had metastasized to his liver.
The doctor in Ottumwa gave Colin up to six months to live and so he went home to wait it out. He resolved that he would fight the end at home and never return to a hospital bed, which he accomplished. His family is convinced that Colin also resolved to give his loving wife Tillie their 50th anniversary together, an achievement that they had both sought during their long and happy marriage. Colin made it, with 11 days to spare. On September 22, 1980, Colin succumbed. Both his loving wife and daughter were at his bedside when he left to be with our Lord.
During his lifetime, Colin can be credited with the continuation of the long and proud heritage in the Senior Family. Colin was an outstanding citizen of Centerville, Appanoose County, the State of Iowa and the United States. He will be remembered for his solid contribution to our nation through farming, banking and community building. Colin and his contemporaries in the business community can be credited with the transition of Centerville from an agriculture based economy to one strongly supported by industry. This may have been the saving grace for our community. Many others in the farm belt did not survive this transition and are mere shadows of the bustling communities they once were. Most of the folks in Centerville today are totally unaware of the contributions Colin and his contemporaries made. They are indeed the unsung heroes and Colin was in the front ranks. Colin was as much a pioneer of the 20th Century as his ancestors were of the 18th and 19th Centuries in Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Missouri. Without the leadership that he and his forebears demonstrated, our nation would not be great.
Colin left a fine family to continue the heritage that he had been endowed with and that he, in turn, passed to his children. At the time of his death, he had four children, eleven grandchildren and one great-grandson. He was preceded in death only by his parents, Franklin Lawrence Senior and Alta Bernice Campbell and by his more or less surrogate parents, Harry Jennings and his wife Eula Maude Campbell. He was also preceded in death by his daughter-in-law, Nancy Joan Kingkade, first wife of his son Franklin. Colin was survived by his wife Frances, all of his children and grandchildren, his brother, John Campbell Senior and his sister-in-law Margaret. Less than one month after his death, on October 17, 1980, his sister-in-law Margaret Elizabeth Fee, wife of John Campbell passed away. Less than a year later, on May 4, 1981, his brother John Campbell also died.
At birth, Colin was given the middle name of Wilhoit but he never used it, preferring to be known as Colin Frank Senior. Colin would never give a reason other than that he didn’t like it. When the Knob Noster, Missouri court house burned in the early part of the 20th Century, Colin’s birth record was lost. When he had his birth substantiated for Social Security reasons, it was recorded as Colin Frank (not Franklin). Except by these few words here, he will therefore be remembered in history as Colin Frank. Nothing is known about the derivation of the name Wilhoit, however, it is surmised that it was a family name, probably from the Campbell side of his family, as was the middle name of his brother John. Colin’s first name was the name of his great-grandfather Colin C. Campbell. Since there seemed to be a tradition of using surnames of family members or ancestors, it may be surmised that Wilhoit was therefore family somewhere. It has not surfaced in any other branch of the family and little is known about the Campbell’s or Robertson’s on his mother’s side of the family.
When remembered by Colin’s friends, associates and acquaintances, he will be thought of as a kind, unassuming, friendly and patient man. He will be regarded as the professional he was in the banking business and as the friend that citizens of the Appanoose County community needed when they encountered hardship and needed Colin’s advice on farming or backing on a loan. In his 50 years of banking, Colin only made one bad loan and he knew that it was going to be a bad one but he made it anyway. He always said that you could tell if a man was lying to you by his eyes.
Colin enjoyed a highly successful banking career in Centerville, Iowa for over 35 years. He was affiliated with the First National Bank for most of those years, and finished his career with the Iowa Trust and Savings Bank in Centerville after the First National was merged with it. Both of these banks were majority owned by the Bradley Family, the original founders of both banks. Colin also owned 740 acres of land 13 miles northwest of Centerville in Appanoose County. This farmland was inherited from his father and his aunt and uncle, Harry and Eula Jennings. He also later acquired the balance of his land from his brother John Campbell Senior. Colin initially engaged in dairy farming and later in breeding cattle and swine.
After graduating from high school in Centerville, Colin attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, California for two years. He was united in marriage to Miss Frances Louise Head, his high school sweetheart, on September 11, 1930. As mentioned previously, Colin and Frances Senior were the parents of four children, three sons and one daughter. Colin succumbed to cancer only eleven days after he and Frances celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. So, Colin was fortunate in that he was able to spend his entire life with his high school sweetheart, lifetime partner and closest friend, Frances, whom he lovingly called Tillie. Many believe that Colin clung to life during his final bout with cancer so that he could give his one and only true love her 50th anniversary.