"Resident of the Month"
Interviews featuring residents at the Postville Good Samaritan home.

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Transcribed by S. Ferrall for Clayton co. IAGenWeb
Any notes following the biographies were added by S. Ferrall.

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John C. Schutta

The June spotlight focuses on John C. Schutta as the resident of the month at the Good Samaritan Center.

He was born May 1, 1887 near Gunder, the son of Fred and Marie Schutta. He had two brothers, a half brother and a half sister.

In the spring of 1892 the family moved to Frankville. Here he attended school, and lived in or near Frankville until moving to the Good Samaritan Center.

On October 7, 1915 he was married to Ellen Ewing. They had one son Robert Calvin who died in infancy.

He farmed the home place near Frankville until 1933. At that time he moved to Frankville and remained there till the fall of 1970 when he moved to the Good Samaritan Center. After his wife died in 1963 he lived alone in Frankville. He has been a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church since 1902.

Going to the South Dakota Fair in 1905 was a memorable trip for John and his wife. [date typed as in article]

John is active in all the activities at the Center.

~Postville Herald, Wednesday, June 19, 1974 (column: Resident of the Month, Good Samaritan Center, Postville, Iowa)

~John C. Schutta's obituary
~Ellen (Ewing) Schutta's obituary

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Elizabeth (Davis) Smith

Enjoying the atmosphere of the Good Samaritan Center in Postville is peppy little Elizabeth E. Smith. She has been a resident three years.

Born April 15, 1880 on the family farm halfway between Monona and Luana, she was the youngest daughter of Esther Olmsted and Melvin Davis. Her grandfather was Phineas Page Olmsted, a native of Vermont, and the first settler in Monona. His friends were a band of two hundred Indians, their leader, Whirling Thunder.

Elizabeth received her education in Monona, Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota and Simmons College, Boston. In 1904 she entered the Masachusetts General Hospital at Boston and the New York lying-in-hospital, graduating as a trained nurse in 1907. Her work continued in Boston, Supt. of the Home Hospital, Lafayette, Indiana and later in Monona.

In 1917 she married Horace H. Smith. He died in 1948. For the next few years Elizabeth became a world traveler, attending the Women's Club World Convention at Geneva, Switzerland, sightseeing in Austria, Italy, France, Belgium, Germany and England, then an extended trip to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland and back to the states.

A few years later, Elizabeth with nine others, flew 27,000 miles around the world visiting many countries of interest. When Alaska became the 50th state she joined a party of 22 and presented the flag of Iowa to Governor Egan at the governor's mansion in Juneau, Alaska. At Kotzebue she said they became acquainted with the Eskimoes, panned for gold, had a dog sled ride and even ate blubber.

She walks a mile daily and she calls it her walk to health.

Mrs. Smith was a member of the Congregational Church, Monona and later became affiliated with the Pilgrim Evangelical. She is very thankful to have been brought up in a Christian home.

~Postville Herald, Wednesday, November 7, 1973 (column: Resident of the Month, Good Samaritan Center, Postville, Iowa)

~Elizabeth (Davis) Smith's obituary
~Horace H. Smith's obituary

 

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'Resident of the Month' index