Recipes for Living Robert (Bob) Byers

I came for this appointment from Joe Reynold's open house celebrating his 80th birthday. He told me he was glad I had come or he'd have been the oldest person there. When I think about it, it is not hard to remember that I'm aging. Some of my cronies through the years were Hershel Oehlert, Ralph McGee, Ray Overholtzer, Verne Hochstein, Frank Gibson, James Wade, Howard Ruble, Milt Hand, Henry Mycue, and Larry Hagie. Only two of the list are still living. I may be living on borrowed time, having survived two heart attacks, an angioplasty, six surgery by-passes, and am kept alive by a pacemaker. (Within the week of this story being written, Howard died.)

I was born on June 16, 1918 at Fort Pierre, South Dakota. My father was Paul Anthony Nelson, and my mother's maiden name was McMaster. My daughters, Connie and JoAnn, gave me a book in which to record various facts about my life. In the appropriate spots I noted that my favorite hymn was "When the Saints Go Marching In," my favorite dessert was tapioca pudding, and my favorite sport was hunting. I started hunting rabbits and pheasants when I was about 10 years old. That was one of the enjoyments while I was growing up, along with ice skating on the town's rink in the winter, and traveling about 10 miles east to the "hills" for sledding. I was on our high school's first team in basketball.

When I was quite young, the family moved from South Dakota to Washington State. There were seven in the family, my mother was in poor health, and my grandmother decided that my sister, Mary Alice, and I should live with my aunt and uncle, James and Maude Byers of Sloan, Iowa. He was a small town banker in Sloan, and the couple had no children. My sister and I were put on a train and traveled with Mother's cousin, who was enrolled in medical school in Chicago. He brought us to Sioux City. Later I had my name legally changed to Robert Nelson Byers.

There was no inside plumbing in those days. We had an outdoor toilet. I was 16 years old before we had inside plumbing. The city did not have a water supply so we had a well. There was a wood stove for cooking and we burned corn cobs from my grandfather's farm. We had a coal heating stove. With each of those situations, chores were involved.

The Depression came on as I was growing up and I learned early in life how to work. My first job was mowing lawns-with a push mower, of course-and worked in a general grocery store for 25¢ an hour. I graduated from Sloan high school in 1936, at the height of the Depression. My uncle was making $150 a month as head of the bank. During the Depression one could buy a Ford tractor for $700. Our first automobile, a Hupmobile, was purchased in 1926. That company went bankrupt later in the Depression.

At that time, milk was 10¢ a quart. Corn was selling for 15¢ a bushel, hogs 3¢ a pound. I hand picked corn with horses and wagon for 5¢ a bushel. A good crop of corn yielded 40 bushels to the acre, so a good day's work of hand husking would amount to 60 bushel. We purchased a farm in 1935-40 for between $90 and $150 per acre. It now has a valuation of between $1500 and $2000 per acre. We purchased 100 head of 700 pound steers for 7¢ a pound and fed them 15¢ corn. When they reached the weight of 1100 pounds, we sold them for 11¢ a pound, making $28 per head on the original weight. We bought the farm in increments, and it now totals about 300 acres. I still own the family farm at Sloan, and this year corn averaged 170 bushels to the acre.

After I graduated from high school, I saved money by hitchhiking to Iowa City to enroll in the University of Iowa in 1936. Tuition at that time was $60 a semester. For my board, I worked at the University Hospital, two miles from my residence, and lived in a private home for $7.50 a week. I could buy a meal downtown for 35¢.

My first year's total expenses, including room, board, tuition, and entertainment was $500. I enrolled in the College of Commerce, now known as Business Administration, and received a BA degree in 1940. I attended one year of law school and lived in a dormitory called the Law Commons. My next door neighbor was Nile Kinnick, who won the Heisman Trophy and for whom the stadium is named. Nile was killed during WW II. I always thought that if he had lived he’d have gone into politics. His middle name was Clark, for his grandfather, a former governor of Iowa.

The war caused changes in plans for many people. I dropped out of law school because of it and enlisted in the Navy. While waiting to be called, I took a position in the payroll department of the Burlington Iowa Ordnance Plant. During this time, on a blind date in 1939, I met my wife, Carmen Waller Byers.

Carmen was well known throughout the Osceola area and beyond. She was born in Clarinda and was about four years old when they came to Osceola. Carmen was an accomplished organist. After graduating from Osceola high school, she furthered her education at the Osceola Junior College, and did graduate work in music at Drake University and the University of Iowa. She played in symphonies of Drake and the University of Iowa. She taught instrumental band in the Osceola schools during WW II, and through the years played the organ at hundreds of funerals at the Wesbster, later Webster-Kale, Funeral Home. She was organist and choir director at the Christian Church for a number of years, very active in the Osceola City Band, which gave a concert in the courtyard bandstand every Wednesday night during the summers. There is a plaque in her memory on the corner of the present band stand.

Our favorite vacation spot during Carmen's lifetime was Las Vegas. We used to go at least twice a year. I suppose Carmen would have been known as a "high roller," and we often received invitations to special events. Once we had a little time while waiting in line for a show, Carmen sat down to play, and won $1400. She and I had separate bank accounts and there was a time when we had a notice that her account was $9,000 overdrawn. I don't gamble much myself. The odds are not in my favor.

Carmen and I had two daughters-Constance, born March 31, 1950, and JoAnn born August 12, 1947. Constance (Connie) lives in Ft. Worth, Texas. She has a doctorate degree in clinical psychology and has a private practice. She received her BA at Texas Christian College, her Master's degree at the Univerity of Texas in Arlington, and her doctorate from the University of Texas at Houston. The girls come home to Osceola about twice a year. Connie and Lorraine Gracey get together when she comes home for Christmas, and when Connie goes for conferences in New York.

Jo Ann lives in Glenview, Illinois. She is head of a hospital pharmacy. She graduated with a degree in pharmacy from Drake University and received her Masters' in Business Administration at Roosevelt University in Chicago. JoAnn is married to Stephen Dundis, a college professor in the Chicago area.

In the early 1980's Carmen developed lung problems. She was on oxygen four years and died from emphesema in 1986.

Carmen and I were married in Kahoka, Missouri, and six weeks later I was called to active duty in the Navy. I served in the Navy for 38 months, and when I was discharged in Long Beach California, I came to Osceola, Carmen's home town. My father-in-law, John Waller, was a pioneer theater exhibitor starting with silent pictures in 1920 in Clarinda, Iowa. He became the owner and operator of theaters in several different towns including Glenwood, Clearfield, and Boone. He came to Osceola in 1923.

In 1928 John Waller showed his first talking motion picture in a theater on the north side of the square. In 1935 he built the Lyric Theater on the west side of the square. It was at that time that the Osceola banks had all gone broke. Three banks had failed, one banker committed suicide in the courthouse park. Out of the ashes of all that tragedy, the Clarke County State Bank was created. John Waller was named the first president and continued in that position for 20 years. Controlling interest was held by Garden Grove people named Lovett, who owned a bank. Ralph McGee, who had been the superintendent of schools in Leon, joined the Clarke County State Bank, and eventually bought Lovett's interest.

My great-uncle William McMasters was governor of South Dakota and later a U.S. Senator. He previously had been in the banking business in Geddes, South Dakota, before entering politics. He was defeated for re-election in the 1932 Roosevelt landslide and was recommended to the Lovetts for the position of Chairman of the Board of the National Bank in Dixon, Illinois, a position he held until his 90th birthday.

When I returned from service and came to Osceola in 1946, John Waller and I became partners in the Lyric Theater, and in 1947, I built Elms Plaza, the first motel in Osceola. The motel industry started in California and was new to this area. We didn't know whether it would succeed in Osceola, so we built it as duplexes. That way, if it wasn't a success as a motel, it could be converted into apartments. Building expenses were relatively cheap at that time. I paid carpenters $1.20 an hour. I hired two GI trainees for 60¢ cents an hour, and was able to build a 1 1/2story home and four duplexes for $35,000.

In 1957, I purchased a farm in Ward township and to this date I have had a cow-calf operation. I like this as a hobby, but since old age is creeping up on me, I think I will have to discontinue the operation.

In 1965, I purchased land which is now along Jeffreys Drive and built the Family Table restaurant and Texaco Service Station. Later I built the Best Western Motel, and I am still active in its operation. I sold the restaurant and service station in 2000.

I joined the Masonic Lodge in Osceola in 1947, and Rotary Club the same year. At that time I was the youngest member. I became the president of Rotary in 1955, and still carry a membership. I am a member of the First Christian Church, Eagles Lodge, and American Legion.

I have had my share of enjoyment. I have had a dog companion most of my lifepresently a Welsh Corgi, the breed the Queen of England made famous. Its history goes back to 1300, the time of the Nordic invasion of England.

I have traveled to Europe, the British Isles and London. I have taken several Caribbean cruises with JoAnn and her husband. That is a good way to relax and I enjoy the entertainment. I have also visited Hawaii, Alaska, and Canada.

I used to golf, particularly with my good friend, John Voss. He managed the J.C. Penney store here before he bought a store in Leon. He came for Rotary every week, and he and I golfed afterward. I still correspond with his two daughters, one of whom is married to a Penney's store manager in Alabama and Connecticut. The other daughter lives in Michigan.

A great fall activity was during the Hayden Fry hey-days. A large number of us used to drive to Des Moines and board a special train to attend football games in Iowa City. Tickets to the game were $5. There was a lot of revelry! They didn't serve meals on the train, so people packed lunches, and on one occasion Frank Gibson had quite a large amount of fried chicken. Jim Wade appropriated it and traded it with other passengers for liquor. After the games, the railroad arranged to pick us up at the track near the stadium and bring us back to Des Moines.

I belonged to a Friday night Poker Club that met on the second floor of Robinson's store across the hall from Dr. Paul's dental office. The room had a special poker table and refrigerator, which are still there. Some of the members had to carry fuel oil up the stairs to the heating stove. We called the club the Liar's Club because no one would tell the truth of how much they won or lost. Ralph McGee kept the money in the Liar's Club account in the bank. Some of the members would start playing at 5:00 in the afternoon and everyone got together to go out for the evening meal at 7:00 at the Club Cafe on the north side of the square. It was operated by Maxine Botorff. Some of the members were mentioned in my opening list: Hershel Oehlert, Ralph McGee, Ray Overholtzer, Verne Hochstein, Frank Gibson, James Wade, Henry Mycue, and Howard Ruble and Milt Hand from Woodburn. Milt Hand ran the lumber yard there.

There was another group of us that went fishing together in Lake Capitogima near International Falls. Larry Hagie had a friend who owned some cottages on the lake and people from Osceola drove there, staying on an island in some of the cottages for a week at a time. Don and Frank Gibson, Fr. Deere, Ralph McGee, and Larry Hagie were part of the group.

I have had a good family, many good friends, lots of laughs, interesting, successful business ventures, and believe my life has been good. I am thankful!