Children of Lewis and Bertha Rasmusson, far left,: Left to Right: Lillian (Prescott), Ray- mond, Erma (Halverson), Myrtle (Sampson), Burdella (Bennett), Jeffery, Frances (Vasey), Grace (Jacobson), and Donald. Date of Photo, early Sixties.
Jeff served on both the Milford and Nevada School Boards. Also see page 274, 334.
The Rasmusson and Sampson families both began school in the rural one room school system. When Milford Twp Consolidated School reorganized after 1919 both families sent their children to the new reorganized school in Sec 15 at the center of Milford Township.
There were 11 children in the Rasmusson family. In 1932 (Milford Twps largest class at 17 in number), Jeff, as the eighth child, was the first in his family to graduate from high school. Jeff became known for his ability to speak and once entertained 450 men at an annual meeting for the Story County Beef producers with a two hour notice. The following three siblings, Frances'34, Grace'36 and Donald '40 also graduated from Milford Twp. The older siblings: Lillian, Raymond, Erma, Myrtle and Burdella entered the world of hard rural labor before finishing high school. Two other children; one, Fern, at the age of two when Jeff was five; had drowned in a livestock tank on their rural farm.
The Edward and Gustie (Thompson) Sampson family of 9 children followed the consolidation into the new large two- story brick school building (1924). Five: Evelyne, Clarence, Grace, Arnold and Donald entered the world of work before finishing high school. Three: Inez '39, Ione '41 and Edward "Glen/Sammy" '43 graduated at Milford Twp before the family moved to Roland. Loren graduated there in 1946. Glen Sampson was active in Milford Twp, Story County Farm Bureau, and the development of Nevada Historical Society's 8.5 acre Evergreen Lane.
Notes on page 200, 265, 283, & 335.
As a footnote to many of the Milford Romance Stories; Clarence Sampson and Myrtle Rasmusson married. They were one of the elite marriages that occurred between Milford folks. Within this group of over 50 marriages; there was only one divorce! Like a "Ripley's, Believe it or not" event. See page 190.
Jeffery and Edith Rasmusson had four children. The oldest daughter, Janet Carol, was born May 20,1940 at the Nevada Hospital. Following graduation from Milford Twp Consolidated School in 1958 she attended Iowa Lutheran Hospital School of Nursing in Des Moines, Iowa, graduating with her RN in 1961. That same year she married Dennis E. Larson of Laurens, Iowa, and they live on a Laurens farm.
Jeffery and Edith's only son, Ronald Lewis , was born January 20, 1943, at the Nevada, Iowa. It was in January, 1943, that the Nevada Hospital burned and Ronald and Edith were patients when the fire started. Edith smelled smoke, ran to the nursery to get baby Ronald, and then climbed down numerous flight of stairs to safety. Ronald graduated from Milford Twp School in 1960 and attended Drake University. He currently resides in Glendale, Arizona.
Marcia Frances was born on 26 Oct 1946 at Mary Greeley Hospital, Ames, Iowa. After graduating from Nevada High School in 1964, Marcia attended Simpson College at Indianola, Iowa, graduating with a BA in elementary education. She and Walt Neighbour from Chariton, Iowa, were united in marriage on 13 March 1971 and have lived in the Ankeny area since their marriage.
The youngest Rasmusson daughter, Beth Elaine, was born on 31 August 1957 at the Nevada Hospital in Nevada. After graduating from Nevada High School in 1975 she attended University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa for a short time and then transferred to Des Moines DMAC where she graduated in accounting. She married Curtis McKim on 16 April 1978 at the Salem Church in Roland.
Jeffery and Edith lived on the farm in Milford Twp until 1979 and on their 40th wedding anniversary they moved to Nevada and in July of 2005 to Story City where Jeffery died on 14 Sept 2005. (Edith has lived in the Story County Hospital Care Facility since she broke a hip in 2009.)