INEZ CHUMBLEY DAVENPORT

Except for a short period of time, I have lived all my life in Clarke County — in fact, we lived all over Clarke County because my father, Homer Chumbley, farmed for other people and we moved around a lot. That meant I went to a lot of different grade schools, which some people would think was a detriment. It didn't seem so to me. I thought it was interesting because I met a lot of people and made a lot of new friends that way. It didn't bother me.

My folks, Homer and Vina Lee Chumbley, lived at Medora in 1934, when I was born. In those days doctors made house calls, and I was told I came into the world during such a snow stone that Dr. Stroy and his nurse, Wickett (Moran) had to walk part of the way to deliver me. I don't know how long we lived there but we moved to Jamison where my brother Bill was born. He now lives at Weldon. We moved next to New Virginia and from there to other places. Dad worked for Dr. Harken for awhile.

Dad was a hard worker and Mom was a housewife all their mauled life. It kept them busy. They weren't very well-to-do. We never had much money, but it didn't seem to matter. We always had food. My mother was a good cook and our food was good because usually the farmers Dad worked for gave us meat and milk. Mom always raised big gardens and canned. I don't ever remember being hungry. I hear that other people talk about that, but I don't remember it ever happening to us.

I might not have had as many clothes as I thought I should, but we always had feed sacks. To the present generation that might seem to have no connection, but the companies that sold feed for livestock, designed pretty, colorful sacks from which our mothers made our skirts and dresses. It was fun when our girl friends came and picked out the material and patterns so we could have our skirts made. We all did this.

Everything was different then. There was always something to do. Nowadays kids have to have the Internet — and I do, too, but in those days we had games we played outside. We played house, hop scotch, jacks, and made mud pies. We made different colors of water with food coloring or stuff growing outside and made colored paper. We could write on it with wax which wouldn't show up until we put water over it and it would show what we'd written.

We moved to town when I was in fourth grade and were there from the time I was in fourth until I was in sixth grade. Dad worked at Hawkeye Lumber Yard during that time, but he just couldn't stay away from farming, so we went back to the country again. I went through the seventh grade and when there was nobody else in eighth grade, I rode to town with Harold and Marie Moran. They lived near us in the country and had the Ford Tractor dealership in town.

When I was a freshman my folks lived way out in the country. School buses didn't go to the outskirts of the district at that time, so I had to board and room in town. I stayed with Milo and Loah Crawford all four years until I graduated. The folks came to get me Friday nights and brought me back Sundays. That was the only way I could go to high school, and it wasn't unusual. Lots of kids did that. It wasn't any big deal.

I remember how free we were then compared to now. We walked all around town and I'd be scared to do it now. We only had one cop, Bill Sutton. He didn't have a vehicle. He walked and checked all the doors on all the buildings uptown. That was about all he did. There wasn't mischief or break-ins.

Bill Davenport was a senior when I was a freshman, but I didn't remember him. Bill had not grown up here. He was born August 21st, 1931, in Nebraska, and spent his early years in Nebraska and California. His dad left when he was a baby so he never knew him. He was raised by his mother, Myrtle Kimmel Reed, and step-father, Ray Reed. As far as Bill was concerned, Ray Reed was his dad. There was no communication with his biological dad, no attempts by his father to contact him, so he knew nothing about his family or whether or not he had half-brothers or -sisters.

A friend of mine knew Bill, and when we went roller skating one night, he picked us up and we started dating. We became engaged the year I was a junior. I graduated in 1952, and we were married that September 28.

Bill was a surveyor for Clarke County until he had an opportunity to be Wapello County's Engineer. We were there just a year and came back to Osceola. He went to work for the Iowa DOT (Department of Transportation), commuting back and forth to Des Moines until he was disabled in 1975.

I also worked. I had taken a secretarial course in high school and I always found employment, mainly doing bookkeeping, often for insurance companies. I started with Farm Bureau when we were first married. Andy Campbell resigned from his position as Osceola's band director to take the position with Farm Bureau. The office was where the old Hyde store had been in the 100 block of West Jefferson. There was a fire, and when the office burned down, they bought the building where the restaurant had been. There was Twombley's filling station, then the restaurant on the corner. The next building was Farm Bureau and Extension because they were together at that time. Gene Egley was the Extension Director. Lucille Fletcher was his secretary.

From there, I went to McPherson's and worked for Mac for years, until I was pregnant with our only child, John. John grew up here, of course, and he still lives in Osceola. He is single, and he and his dog live down the street from me. He mows my lawn and does lots of things for me that keeps me satisfied to stay in my home.

Mac closed the business while I was in the hospital, and I went to work for Rindy in his new store on the corner of Washington and Fillmore. Then came the year we lived in Ottumwa, but when we returned, I went back to work for Rindy, but took time off when Bill got sick. He had recovered to the point he didn't need constant care, when Fred Diehl came to ask if I would like to work for him After that I went to work for Don Butterfield, then I did the books for Rich and Lil Vets at their station. I worked for the Chaney boys and retired when I was 62. So I always worked and enjoyed it. I had wonderful bosses.

Bill's disease was pancreatitis, for which they gave him such massive doses of medicine for the infection that it affected his ears and he never could hear after that. It also damaged his equilibrium, so he was disabled from then on. He adjusted really well for someone who didn't hear. He always said he would rather lose his hearing than have it be his eyes. He could still drive, which helped.

During that time his kidneys began to fail, but they improved. About five years before he passed away, he had to go on dialyses. That required that we go back and forth to Des Moines three days a week. There were one or two years when we had to go only two times a week, but then we had to return to three. We had to be there at 4:30 in the morning and were there three hours. It finally got so bad he couldn't do it anymore. He just gave up.

But Bill was multi-talented and never without something to do. He did lots of woodworking. I always wanted a doll house and he built me a beautiful log doll house that I have in my living room. That led to our becoming interested in miniatures. He made some of those and for awhile I was in a miniature club with people all over the world. That was one of the benefits of the internet. We exchanged furnishings for our doll houses. For awhile Bill made lovely little tiny purses out of beads he strung on wire.

Our friends and I treasure the beautiful items he made from wood for our home or to give away. He made our headboard and a hutch that I have. For years I have collected Fenton glass slippers. I have 150 to 200, and Bill built me a beautiful display case with a mirror in the back to reflect the glass, and a glass front. I was surprised how many men commented about them — more than women, when they came to have gun work done. Bill was a self-taught gunsmith for over 50 years. The hunting seasons were always busy for him — everything from a quick gun repair to shell re-loads after a fresh snow. He enjoyed RVing especially at the Red Rock Camp Grounds. We went there often.

Bill did not allow his hearing loss to interfere with socializing. He enjoyed golf, playing cards, and visiting with family and friends. He was a 50-year member of the Osceola Lodge #77 A.F. &A.M., serving as Past Master in 1965. He was a member of the Osceola Volunteer Fire Department and the Osceola Lions Club.

I had a mastectomy in 2003. My mother had breast cancer and a mastectomy so I always made a point to have a mammogram every year, with a follow up visit to my doctor in Des Moines. On that occasion, he saw something that made him suspicious and he took a biopsy. Even though it didn't show on the mammogram, he told me it was malignant. I feel very fortunate. If he hadn't been so alert in catching this, we never would have found it. I was to have eight chemotherapy treatments, but I was so desperately sick on the fifth one that I was in the hospital for 10 days, after which the specialist, who discovered the cancer, took it away from me. I was on cancer medicine for about a year and a half. I have gotten along fine. It has been six years and everything looked good when I was checked this year (2009), but this affected Bill's health, also. It took him way down.

The Cancer Support group in town called me but it was after I had been through the chemo. It would have been helpful earlier so I would have known what to anticipate. It is scary, and helpful if others will tell what happened to them. Seeing they survived in itself would give hope. I did attend the meetings for awhile but I am not involved now.

Bill and I were more fortunate than many couples. We had more than 50 years together. I have tried to reconstruct my life after he passed away on May 2, 2008. I would never consider moving from Osceola. I didn't mind moving around when I was young, but my roots are in my home town. Friends have always been important to me. There was a time many of us bowled. That must have been over 50 years ago. Charlie Weatherford had the bowling alley, and I remember being on a team with Betty Lowe, Louise Scholl, Fern Underwood and Freda McPherson when the National Bowling Tournament was in Omaha. There was a near catastrophe when we arrived and discovered that while Clifford and Fern each thought the other had put the pants of her uniform in the trunk of the car, neither had. To the rescue — Mac had his own plane and Freda called to tell him to fly them over. Someone met the plane and the crisis passed.

There were quite a few of us who golfed locally. There were women on the course every day. Not as many of us worked as is the case now. We started when the course had sand greens, and then went to grass. For years before we had carts, we walked the course. We also had invitationals, for which we invited golfers from all the neighbor clubs and we would be invited there. Those took a whole day and we made lots of new acquaintances. I still play occasionally. For awhile I played bridge. Jessie Canavan and Marge Hutt gave lessons. I took from Marge and was in a bridge club that met every week.

I enjoy my computer a lot. I mentioned using it for our Miniature Club. I did that for 10 or 15 years. We connect through the internet. Groups form because we are interested in the same item. We pass ours on and get that many items back. I have things from all over — Australia and Canada — everywhere. I have signed up for newsletters, and find out about new things. I receive some free. "Dot," Dorothy Jones, was into genealogy and more or less got the rest of us started. I did quite a lot for my side of the family — for both of my parents and some for Bill. I have the family tree and all the information on my computer, too. That requires keeping updated because there are always changes.

I never have time to do everything I want to. I like to read. There is quite a group of us who coffee in the mornings, and I go a couple mornings a week. I correspond with several people. I do e-mail and our niece in Arkansas, Bill's step-sister's daughter, and I chat every Saturday night. We have it arranged so we can get on our computers and type back and forth to each other and chat. We began that when Bill was alive, and he loved it! Overall, life has been and remains good. I am very grateful.

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Last Revised November 25, 2014