ALLISON, William and Cora

POOLE, ALLISON, KEHOE

Posted By: Kermit Kittleson
Date: 1/4/2011 at 20:35:44

It was in March 1900 when William and Cora Poole Allison moved to their 160 acre farm in Burr Oak Township from Oregon, Wisconsin.

Clutching her basket filled with her treasured glass sherberts, Cora and the four children; Albert, Mable, Mearl and Ira arrived on the train.

Mearl and Ira attended Cedar Valley Seminary in Osage participating in football and other sports. It was there that Ira met Hazel Bryant, a student of piano. She gave piano lesions in the community driving a horse and buggy to the student's homes. Through out her life she accompanied musicians and played for church and community affairs. Hazel was the daughter of Cassius and Nellie Hoyt Bryant of West Lincoln Township. She had one brother Glenn.

On December 29, 1915, Hazel and Ira were married at the home of her parents, at 820 Mechanic Street, Osage. In 1916 they moved to their newly built home on the Allison farm where Mearl and Ira farmed together. After Mearl moved away Ira continued farming for many years. He was active in many community affairs; enjoying Singing School directed by Tura Lybarger, playing string bass in the Lybarger Comity Orchestra, acting in the home talent plays, Farm Bureau member and boys' 4-H leader. During harvest season, Ira operated the neighborhood threshing machine as well as many other farming activities. About 1942 Erwin Troge and Ira purchased the Buttolph Stockyards in Osage operating it until his retirement. For many years he enjoyed woodworking making many items for the First Baptist Church, one of which is a wooden cross which still hangs behind the altar.

Two children, Doris and Gordon, were born on the Allison farm attending country school at Burr Oak #5 and Osage High School. Taking normal training in high school, Doris taught rural school. She served in WWII in the WAVES of the U. S. Navy as an Occupational Therapist. Gordon attended ISU, Ames and was a draftsman at John Deere in Waterloo. He married Beverly Billings, Osage. Gordon served in the Air Force int he Pacific during WWII. They had two daughters, Debrah Sue and Daurine. Gordon was District Manager of State Farm Insurance for several years. They now reside in Mesa, Arizona.

Doris became the bride of Laverne Kehoe who served in WWII as First Sergeant in the Military Police. He graduated from Upper Iowa University, Fayette. They had five children; Greg, Carolyn, Kevin (deceased), Kathy, and Colleen.

For ten years Laverne was a mechanic at the John Deere Store in Osage. In 1957 Doris and Laverne began teaching in Green, Iowa. Previous to this time Doris attended State Teacher's College, Cedar Falls and later completed her education at Wartburg College, Waverly with a B.S. degree in 1965. Laverne taught high school mathematics and Doris taught at the elementary level. After 25 years of teaching in Greene they moved to Osage to retire in the home at 820 Mechanic Street, the third generation to live in the home

[By Doris A. Kehoe -- Mitchell County History, 1989]