Cecil Louisa Propst

MCDANIEL, FRAZIER, PATTERSON, PROPST

Posted By: Conni McDaniel Hall (email)
Date: 6/29/2011 at 17:17:04

The third of four children, Cecil Louisa McDaniel was born Octoer 13, 1916 to Jehu G. McDaniel and Bernetta McDaniel. Jehu was one of seven sons born to Scottish immigrants, Benjamin and Cynthia McDaniel, who started farming under the homestead law granting 160 acres to anyone that would move on the land and make improvements. The farm land located at the Southern edge of Decatur County, Iowa, was similar to the land in Scotland, and provided a familiar setting for the newly established Scottish immigrants.

Cecil's character was shaped by living on a farm during a period when the family's backs needed to be stronger than their character. There were no paved roads, no lakes or ponds and drudgery of dealing with Iowa's gumbo clay made life hard. When the "dust bowl" days cames, the farms looked like a desert. What didn't burn up, was eaten by locusts. It can truly be said that the times were so rough that when the Great Depression came, the local farmers hardly noticed.

Cecil married an Lamoni, Iowa man named Lester G. Propst and soon moved to Orofino, Idaho, where the family went into business running what was then called a "dime store". Yes, you could still buy lots of things for five cents or ten cents in those days. These were happy days for the family. They spent much of their time holding church at their home, picnicking in the Cascade Mountains and visiting with the traveling missionaries who came into town on the logging trains.

Having such a diverse background, it is not surprising that Cecil, a published poet and author of many books, used her background on the farm and in the mountains as source material for writing. A favorite poem of some in her family is the "Wake of a Fly".

He died, this littled bug.
And left no place to fill.
In fact, they never missed him
Where he sat upon my sill.
With one mighty swat
I laid him dead and cold,
And my conscience didn't burn,
Nor did I feel so bold.
The only thing that troubled me,
I'm sorry to confess;
He fell into my beer mug
and made a nasty mess.
I cried such bitter tears!
How tragic, this story goes.
For it was all we had at home
And all the bars were closed.

Cecil peacefully entered her new life with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on May 10, 2011. She is survived by her daughters, Lynda, married to Rob Rolfe of Lamoni, Iowa; and Diana, married to Gary Hughes of Blue Springs, Missouri; 10 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchild, and many many relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by her husband Lester G. Propst, her two sisters, Vida Buffalow and Florence Simpson, her brother J. Franklin McDaniel and her daughter, Sylvia Freers, married to Fred Freers, of Independence, MO.

Source: Lamoni Cronicle, Lamoni, Iowa, May 19, 2011

***Note from transcriber:
My father was a first double cousin to Cecil. Their fathers (Jehu and Roscoe) were brothers and mothers (Bernetta and Jennie Frazier) were sisters. Jehu's parents, Benjamin and Cynthia (Patterson) McDaniel were from Ohio. The McDaniels came from Ireland at least four generations prior to Jehu. The Fraziers came from Scotland between 1725 and 1790.