The Ancestors and Cousins of Tracy Lynn DeVault
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Tracy Lynn DeVault
M, #1Parents
Father William Dallas "Bill" DeVault (b. 7 March 1918, d. 24 August 1982) Mother Marvel Kathryn Hillman (b. 29 January 1919, d. 16 June 2011) Pedigree Link Family: Judith Ione "Judy" Vergilio
Son Kevin Lynn DeVault+ Daughter Wendy Renee DeVault+ BASIC FACTS
Tracy Lynn DeVault and Judith Ione "Judy" Vergilio were married on 9 May 1964 in Van Nuys, Los Angeles Co., California.Judith Ione "Judy" Vergilio
F, #2Parents
Father Anthony Joseph "Tony" Vergilio (b. 8 May 1915, d. 22 January 2012) Mother Ione Catherine King (b. 8 April 1918, d. 30 August 1983) Pedigree Link Family: Tracy Lynn DeVault
Son Kevin Lynn DeVault+ Daughter Wendy Renee DeVault+ BASIC FACTS
Judith Ione "Judy" Vergilio and Tracy Lynn DeVault were married on 9 May 1964 in Van Nuys, Los Angeles Co., California.Kevin Lynn DeVault
M, #3Parents
Father Tracy Lynn DeVault Mother Judith Ione "Judy" Vergilio Pedigree Link Family: Laura Marie McCarty
Son Kyle Lynn DeVault Daughter Katie Marie DeVault BASIC FACTS
Kevin Lynn DeVault and Laura Marie McCarty were married on 10 June 1989 in Santa Ana, Orange Co., California. He and Julie Ellen Martineau were married on 9 May 2012 in Los Angeles Co., California.Wendy Renee DeVault
F, #4Parents
Father Tracy Lynn DeVault Mother Judith Ione "Judy" Vergilio Pedigree Link Family: Craig Phillip Harold
Daughter Kacey Ione Harold BASIC FACTS
Wendy Renee DeVault and Craig Phillip Harold were married on 2 October 1993 in Santa Ana, Orange Co., California. She and Craig Phillip Harold were divorced about 2003.Laura Marie McCarty
F, #5Parents
Father Hal McCarty Mother Gayle Jackson Pedigree Link Family: Kevin Lynn DeVault
Son Kyle Lynn DeVault Daughter Katie Marie DeVault BASIC FACTS
Laura Marie McCarty and Kevin Lynn DeVault were married on 10 June 1989 in Santa Ana, Orange Co., California. She and Donald Patterson were married in 2000.Craig Phillip Harold
M, #8Parents
Father Bill Harold Mother Rosemary Plano Pedigree Link Family: Wendy Renee DeVault
Daughter Kacey Ione Harold BASIC FACTS
Craig Phillip Harold and Wendy Renee DeVault were married on 2 October 1993 in Santa Ana, Orange Co., California. He and Wendy Renee DeVault were divorced about 2003.William Dallas "Bill" DeVault1,2,3,4
M, #10, b. 7 March 1918, d. 24 August 1982Parents
Father Henry Graydon DeVault (b. 21 October 1892, d. 6 November 1971) Mother Cecile Alta Howell (b. 16 January 1894, d. 14 November 1966) Pedigree Link Family: Marvel Kathryn Hillman (b. 29 January 1919, d. 16 June 2011)
Son Tracy Lynn DeVault+ Daughter Robin Anne DeVault+ Son Bradford Dean "Brad" DeVault+ (b. 10 May 1951, d. 16 February 1985) BASIC FACTS
William Dallas "Bill" DeVault was born on 7 March 1918 in Bayard, Morrill Co., Nebraska.5 He and Marvel Kathryn Hillman were married on 1 January 1939 in Alliance, Box Butte Co., Nebraska. He and Marvel Kathryn Hillman were divorced on 1 August 1973. He died on 24 August 1982, at age 64, in Mesa, Maricopa Co., Arizona. He was buried in Oakwood Memorial Park, Chatsworth, Los Angeles Co., California.William Dallas "Bill" DeVault had reference number 10. World War II, U.S. Army, Private, enlisted 7 May 1945, Ft. MacArthur, San Pedro, ASN 39747514.6 He resided in Los Angeles Co., California (1945.)6 He was enumerated on the census in Polk County, Iowa (1920); Morrill County, Nebraska (1930, 1940.) He was a Salesman - retail gasoline station (1940.) Cecile (Howell) DeVault reported to Marvel (Hillman) DeVault that her son William DeVault was born with small pox.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE - Bayard Transcript (Morrell Co., Nebraska), August 15, 1920
Mrs C. C. Howell and son, Sam of Scottsbluff, spent Sunday here the guests of their daughter and sister, Mrs. Cecil DeVault. They were accompanied home by Billy DeVault, who is spending a few days in Scottsbluff.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE - Bayard Transcript (Morrell Co., Nebraska, August 22, 1929
Sam Howell, of Scottsbluff, motored to this city Saturday evening for his sister, Mrs. Cecil DeVault, who accompanied him home for a week-end visit. Mrs. DeVault's son, Billy, who spent last week there with his grandmother and uncle, returned home with her Sunday.
LETTER FROM BILL DEVAULT TO MARVEL DEVAULT, MARCH 18, 1946
3-18-1946
Hello Honey,
I really hit the jackpot yesterday. I got three letters, two from you and one from Mom. One of your letters was mailed on the 21 of Feb. and so was the one I received from Mom. Your last letter was mailed on March 5th. evidently it came by air instead of by boat.
I will have to admit though that I am a little disappointed. In your first letter you are telling of going to the hospital sometime in the future just how long you don't bother to say. In the last letter you are making plans for going home from the hospital in the next day or so. If it were not for the fact that you mentioned something about time to feed the baby I wouldn't even know for sure that we even had one.
Here I am 3000 miles from home. I am a new father and no one, not even my own wife, will tell me whether it's a boy or girl, if it's healthy or not, how much it weighs, when it was born or a God Damn thing.
I'm afraid Honey that I shouldn't even be writing this letter because I'm so mad. Or perhaps you think my interest in my home has vanished. Did you bother to tell me whether or not you had a hard time? No!!! Perhaps you think I can just glance in my crystal ball and get my information that I might like to have. Well all I can say is that I would greatly appreciate it if you could possibly find the time to give me just a few of the higher points of interest concerning the matter. Nothing lengthy or anything that could take up too much time. I'm sure this wouldn't be asking too much, would it?
Well Sweetheart not that I have blown my top I feel a little better and I suppose I had better settle down to apologizing for the first part of this letter. I know that you will probably be angry and a little hurt, but what I want you to understand is that I'm very very much interested in what is going on back there. I've been practically holding my breath for the last two weeks waiting, till I would get another letter so I could learn all about the new baby. But all I find out is that you are going home from the hospital the next day or so and that you have to close because it is time to feed the baby.
You said something about your folks would come up after you if they could borrow a car. What is the matter with their car? Is it so worn out that it won't even go to Alliance and back? If so how does your Dad get to Mitchell to see his Doctor all the time.
There is one other item I'm interested in finding out about. I have sent home 4 $100 money orders, three to you and one to your Mother. Have you received them? If so I'll send more if not I'll have them made out to me and carry them home. Some of the fellows say they lose so much mail that they don't try to send money orders by mail but merely have them made out to themselves and carry them home.
Well Sweetheart I have to go down to early chow as I have to go on duty at noon so I better get this in the mail.
I'm sorry about having to bawl you out but I think you can see my side of it too, can't you? Anyway after all is said and done I love you more than anything in the world and always will.
xxxxxxxxxx You All my love
xxxxxxxxxx Tracy Bill
xxxxxxxxxx still ?
GRAVE STONE
WILLIAM D DeVAULT
SSGT US ARMY
WORLD WAR II
1918 1982. Bill and Marvel were married in Alliance, Nebraska. They drove to Alliance with her parents, her sister Erma and Bill's mom. They were married in the vestibule of the First Presbyterian Church. Marvel wore a wine-colored dress that she bought in Scottsbluff. They had saved some money and bought a console radio in Alliance. After the ceremony they all went to see a movie and then went back to her parents' farm for dinner. Marvel says that they still had the radio when they moved to Reseda, California in 1950.
After Bill and Marvel were married, they lived at the Anderson House apartments in Bridgeport, Nebraska. Bill worked at the gas station and Marvel was working at the Farm Bureau in Bridgeport. The depression was over, but jobs in rural Nebraska were still hard to come by. At one point, Cecile, Sam and Bill were all out of work, all living on Marvel's salary. Bill and his Uncle Sam drove to Denver for a week to look for a job. They did not find work. Eventually Bill and a friend traveled to Garden Grove, California. They stayed with his friend's aunt and uncle and went to Vultee aircraft assembly school. Not long after that Bill got a job working for Lockheed Aircraft assembling P-38 fighter aircraft. Shortly after Bill left for California, Marvel quit her job at the Farm Bureau and followed her sister Erma to Washington DC for a higher paying job at the Census Bureau. She arrived in Washington D.C. on September 12, 1940. She had borrowed the money for the trip from her boss at the Farm Bureau.
Once Bill got established with Lockheed, Marvel, reluctantly, because she was having such a good time in Washington, D.C., quit her job at the Census Bureau and moved to California. This would have been in late December 1940 or early January 1941. Bill and Marvel moved to a small guest house located at 418 1/2 Harvard Road, Burbank, California. Tracy was born there in September of 1942.
I need to inject a note here about the Dyers. When Marvel was in the hospital having Tracy, she met John and Sidney Dyer. Sidney was in the bed next to Marvel and had just had her first child, a daughter named Bitsy. (Bitsy's real name was Sidney, after her mother but, at least until she was married, she was called Bitsy.) The Dyers and the DeVaults became life-long friends, sharing many great times together.
Bill's mom, Cecile, came to California to stay a few weeks and ended up staying ten months. The small house that was crowded for two, now with four, was impossible to live in. The family moved up the street to 714 Harvard Road. Cecile returned to Nebraska when Tracy was about 10 months old. Bill's uncle Sam came out to California when Tracy was about 18 months old. Sam, Marvel and Tracy returned to Nebraska for a visit. Tracy got stuck under the train seat before the train left the station.
The family was living at 2100 Pass Ave., Burbank, California (a house they owned) when Bill was drafted. (Tracy was about two years old.) Bill was inducted at San Pedro, but was shortly assigned to a base near Paso Robles, California. Marvel got the house ready to sell and then left it with a real estate agent. Marvel, who was now very pregnant with their second child, and Tracy moved to an apartment near Bill.
Eventually Bill was transferred at Fort Ord. Marvel and Tracy moved to an apartment near Marvel's sister Doris and her family who lived in Mountain View, California. Bill was still undergoing basic training when World War II ended. He said that he thought they would all be released from the army, but it was not to be. Bill was sent to Japan to serve with the Army of Occupation. This was in December of 1945 and Marvel was having a hard time with her pregnancy. Marvel's mon came out from Nebraska to bring her and Tracy back to the family farm.
There is a great story about the train ride. The trains were occupied moving troupes around the country and Marvel's mother was told that she could get a seat on the train but would not be allowed in the dining car. She started out on the two-and-one-half day trip to California with only a piece of cheese and some crackers. However, the soldiers on the train soon learned of her situation and brought her food from the dining car. Marvel's mom said that she never missed a meal. Once in Nebraska, Tracy had his tonsils taken out. Robin was born in Alliance, Nebraska.
In 1946 Bill returned from Japan and was discharged from the service. Marvel traveled to California to meet him and they went back to Nebraska to join her family for Christmas, '46. The family moved back to California and stayed with Carl and Gerry Cutshaw and their family for a few weeks while Marvel looked for a place to live. She found an apartment made from converted army barracks on Amherst Drive, Burbank, California. (The barracks were located on grounds of McCambridge Park.) We lived in the barracks until 1950 when Marvel and Bill purchased the house at 7338 Garden Grove Ave., Reseda, California. Their third child, Bradford, was born there. Marvel was still living in this house in 2008.
When Bill returned to California after the war he went back to work for Lockheed for a short time, but he did not like the job that Lockheed had for him. Not long after returning to California, Bill and his brother-in-law, Vern Cartwright, leased a Shell gas station in Hollywood. The ran the station for a while but were not able to make a living for one family, let alone two. A year or so after returning to California, Bill got a job at Bendix Pacific, a company involved in the engineering and manufacturing of hydraulic systems. About 1956, Bill left Bendix and went to work for the Sun Electric Corporation. The division he was working for was in the business of building test stands for aircraft hydraulic systems. I think he really liked this job and had the use of a 1956 Ford station wagon. The job seemed to fizzle out and he left to work for Brock Engineering, a small start-up business in the hydraulic test stand business. They provided him with a 1957 Plymouth sedan for a company car. It was a stripped down car, equipped with the ancient flat head six cylinder engine, stick shift and no heater. This job did not last long and Bill decided to try his hand at selling cars. He went to work for a Pontiac dealer in North Hollywood. They provided him with a new 1958 Pontiac Chiefton sedan for a demonstrator car. This job did not work out and Bill bought a 1955 Pontiac Star Chief before returning to work at Bendix Pacific.
About ten years later the aerospace industry was going through a slump. Bill lost his job at Bendix and decided to try his hand at selling real estate. This lasted a year or so before he decided to give it up. He was out of work for about five years before going back to work as a draftsman. He worked for several companies as a contract employee before getting an assignment at Bendix. After a year or so, Bendix hired him back as an employee. He stayed with Bendix until he retired. I think he was about 62 years old at the time.
In 1956 Marvel went to work for the Los Angeles City School System and worked as an Office Manager for many years. She worked at a number of schools including Cantara Street School, and Wonderland School. She retired in 1992.Citations
- [S12379] Report on Henry Dewald and Family by Newland DeVault dated 1975, Source Medium: Book
- [S1221] 1920 Census, Iowa, Polk County
- [S1808] 1930 Census, Nebraska, Morrill County
- [S2226] 1940 Census, Nebraska, Morrill County
- [S3103] Certificate of Birth - William Dallas DeVault, Source Medium: Book
- [S12727] World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938 - 1946 (Ancestry.com)
Marvel Kathryn Hillman1,2,3
F, #11, b. 29 January 1919, d. 16 June 2011Parents
Father Robert Sherman "Rob" Hillman (b. 15 September 1881, d. 23 August 1979) Mother Anna Magdelene Diehm (b. 27 February 1888, d. 28 April 1983) Pedigree Link Family: William Dallas "Bill" DeVault (b. 7 March 1918, d. 24 August 1982)
Son Tracy Lynn DeVault+ Daughter Robin Anne DeVault+ Son Bradford Dean "Brad" DeVault+ (b. 10 May 1951, d. 16 February 1985) BASIC FACTS
Marvel Kathryn Hillman was born on 29 January 1919 in Crab Orchard, Johnson Co., Nebraska. She and William Dallas "Bill" DeVault were married on 1 January 1939 in Alliance, Box Butte Co., Nebraska. She and William Dallas "Bill" DeVault were divorced on 1 August 1973. She died on 16 June 2011, at age 92, in Northridge, Los Angeles Co., California.Marvel Kathryn Hillman had reference number 11. She was enumerated on the census in Johnson County, Nebraska (1920); Morrill County, Nebraska (1930, 1940.) She was a Stenographer - soil conservation office (1940.)3 LETTER TO SELMA AND JULIA DIEHM
November 26, 1985
Dear Aunts,
I'm working as a substitute Secretary at an elementary school today -- my second assignment since I signed up to work two weeks ago. The is a very pretty school in Woodland Hills (about a 10 mile drive on the freeway from home), but it is a very rainy day and there is not enough real work for me to do (just keep school) so I'm going to type you a note.
I returned from Honolulu two weeks ago and realized that it's very difficult to come back from Paradise to the mundane, and the dust, which my apartment was covered with -- We stayed in such a beautiful apartment in Hawaii. We watched the sun rise and set every day from very high up and we really explored that island from one end to the other in our cute little Mazda. My three friends that I was with have all been struck by tragedy in the last few years, so we really had a common bond -- but we were able to enjoy each other and have fun without discussing any problems.
So I have been washing windows & screens & curtains, trying to restore my little apartment to neatness. I planned to make new kitchen cutains but my kitchen looked so dreary that I called a painter and he's going to paint it a pale yellow, after Thanksgiving.
Robin is going to have Thansgiving dinner at her house this year. Everyone is coming including Clarice's grandson Jeff & his friend, Chris -- except Kim and Talia. Kim has only 2 free days so she will wait and hope for more free time at Christmas -- or else I will try to get a ride up to Auburn. I haven't seen Tracy since we were in Nebraska so I'm anxious to talk to him.
Today is Todd's 18th birthday. He made an appointment to take his driver's test & if he passes it Robin has promised that he can drive to the movies with his girlfriend. Letting a kid drive in this traffic is really frightening these days -- but Robin has held him off since he was 16 & he can't be put off any longer.
I expect you are very busy getting ready for the holidays. I'm sure you will be seeing all your lovely friends. Please tell them 'Hello' from me. I'll plan on talking to you before Christmas. I hope to be working quite a bit as a day-to-day sub. If I'm going to spend money paying a painter & travelling I need to earn some money. They will pay me $10 an hour, so if I get a couple of days a week that will help.
With Love, Marvel
"POEM" Written by Marvel DeVault 23 Sep 1992 (Tracy's 50th Birthday)
Note: Tracy's original birthday "Poem" Created by his own Mother (who is loaded with talent, as any fool can plainly see.) - But it needs an ending.
Dear Tracy,
This birthday looms large,
And I know how you feel --
like you really have lost all your macho appeal.
Your waistline!
Your Muscle tone!
Your eyesight and hair!
Sometimes you must wonder it they ever were there!
And a Grandfather! -- For God Sakes!
How did all this happen?
It appears that Tracy was really caught nappin!
(or maybe that was Kevin!)
But it's not in your genes to wail and to cry.
It's mainly insane to vainly ask why!
So get out your bike helmet,
And those cute little stretch shorts
And show all the neighbors --
you're still a good sport
In addition you know there's no cause for moaning
In no time at all you'll be Arizoaning.
Far from the Madding Croud, The Crime and the Stress --
High among the hemlocks
(needs an ending!)
LETTER TO SELMA AND JULIA DIEHM
Friday - June 8, 2001
Selma & Julia Diehm
Blue Hill Care Center
P.O. Box 156
Blue Hill, NE 68930
Dear Sallie and Julie,
Yesterday we arrived back at Tracy's and Judy's house in Arizona, after traveling 3000 miles and visiting our relatives in eight states. But, the best thing was seeing our two beloved aunts. We enjoyed spending a few hours with you so very much and hope to do it again next year.
I will fly back to California the day after tomorrow. I would like to stay a few more days, but I have a lot of responsibilities at home to take care of.
We went to see Harold twice in the hospital in Lincoln and he seems to be recovering very well from his hip replacement, and has his usual cheerful attitude. However, I'm pretty sure he won't be able to visit you for a month or so as it takes a hip a long time to heal. I will keep in touch with him and let you know what's happening.
Julia, I am typing this on your typewriter and not doing very well, but I hope to improve in time. Thank you for the typewriter. It gives me the opportunity to learn to type again.
Love to both of you, Marvel, Tracy & Judy
NOTE MARVEL WROTE ABOUT HER SON
Tracy - You offer him a vague perception of what you believe should be done, he cleans off the grunge and gives it back to you, having shown you whether or not it will work. He clarifies me to Myself.
REMEMBERING MY MOTHER
Marvel was born January 29, 1919, on a farm near Crab Orchard, Johnson County, Nebraska. She was the fourth of five girls and one boy born to Robert Sherman and Anna Magdalene (Diehm) Hillman.
I always thought the name “Crab Orchard” was really cool. I was born in Glendale, California. How fun it would have been to go through life saying I was born in Crab Orchard instead of Glendale. A few years ago, my wife Judy and I got a chance to visit Crab Orchard. Of course the town has grown and changed a lot in the ninety plus years since the Hillmans lived in Johnson County. Today, at the edge of town, there is a sign boasting that Crab Orchard has a population of twenty-one people.
Over the years Mom told us many stories about her life growing up on the farm. One of her stories was from the time before the family moved to Bayard, Nebraska.
“Shortly after Marvel was born, Rob and Anna took her to his parents, Edwin and Emily Hillman, to show her off. (At the time Rob and Anna were living on a rented farm in Johnson County next to Anna's parents. Rob's parents were still living on the family homestead in Gage County, a few miles away.) This was before Rob and Anna owned a car and so the trip was made in a buggy. Apparently they had not yet named this latest daughter. Rob opined that if they showed up at his parents' place, with an unnamed daughter, his mother would pick out a name for her. Rob and Anna already had three girls, and none were named after his mother, so it was decided that they would name Marvel after his mom. Apparently Rob's memory was not what it was in later years. When they arrived at his parents' house, he held Marvel high in the air and announced to his mom that here was her new granddaughter, and she was named Marvel Kathryn Hillman in her honor. His mom snapped back, "Why you fool, my name is Emily Cordelia!" Apparently the damage was not correctable because they never changed Marvel's name nor tried to name another child after his mother.
Shortly after Marvel’s first birthday, the family moved from eastern Nebraska to the city of Bayard in western Nebraska. Her dad rented a freight car to move the family's belongings. He rode in the train car with his stuff. It was in the middle of winter and very cold. There was a wood-burning stove in the corner of the car. At some point during the trip the train lurched. Her dad was thrown against the stove and burned very badly.
Marvel tells another story associated with the move. Apparently the train only went as far as Alliance, Nebraska. Her mom told the children that they were going to (see) Alliance. When they got there, Marvel was very disappointed because there weren't any "lions" to see.
For several months after moving to western Nebraska, the family lived in town. Within a year they rented what was later called the Dunder Farm . Over the next ten or so years they lived on the Dunder Farm, the Woodbine Farm, the Nine Mile Farm and, finally, settled on what would come to be known as the Hillman farm. All these farms were rented.
The schools Marvel attended were C-14, W-44 and Bayard High School. Before she was married Marvel worked at Emil and Axle Ericson's store in Bayard, Nebraska (1934).
Land records show that Rob and Anna purchased the Hillman farm in 1946. This was also the year that Rob purchased his first tractor. It was a well-used Allis Chalmers “WC”. When they purchased a smaller Allis Chalmers “B”, the first tractor became known as “Big Alice” and the second tractor, “Little Alice”. These were the only tractors they ever owned.
Life on the farm was difficult. Mom said she was the “tom boy” of the family, preferring to do farm choirs rather that cooking, sewing or other girl things. Marvel loved school. One of her saddest stories was about being held out of school one semester because she did not have any shoes to wear.
One of mom’s stories was from the time the family lived on the Woodbine Farm. (This farm is due east of the Hillman Farm.) Marvel was about twelve years old. Marvel and some friends were climbing in a tree and playing Tarzan. She jumped from one branch to another, caught the second branch but lost her grip. She fell to the ground, breaking both of her arms. She tried to hide it from her parents but when the swelling went down her arms were terribly crooked. They took her to the doctor. There, without anesthesia, the doctor re-broke and then set her arms.
Even though town was only four miles from the farm, it was too far to walk each day. One year Marvel and her older sister Clarice stayed with a family in town during the week and only came home on weekends.
Marvel first met her future husband, William Dallas, “Bill” DeVault, when they were still young children. They were sweethearts in high school and were married in Alliance, Nebraska on January 1, 1939. Marvel told us that they drove to Alliance with her parents, her sister Erma and Bill's mom. The marriage took place in the vestibule of the First Presbyterian Church. Marvel wore a wine-colored dress that she bought in Scottsbluff. They had saved some money and bought a console radio in Alliance. After the ceremony they all went to see a movie and then went back to her parents' farm for dinner. Marvel says that they still had the radio when they moved to Reseda, California in 1950.
Marvel and two of her older sisters were married on January 1. The three of them made a pact that they would celebrate each wedding anniversary together. World War II pretty much scattered the family and the planned annual get-togethers never happened.
After Bill and Marvel were married, they lived at the Anderson House apartments in Bridgeport, Nebraska. Bill worked at the gas station and Marvel worked for the Farm Bureau. The depression was over but jobs in rural Nebraska were still hard to come by. At one point, Bill, his mother and his uncle were all out of work, all four were living on Marvel's salary. Eventually Bill and a friend traveled to Garden Grove, California. They stayed with his friend's aunt and uncle and went to Vultee aircraft assembly school.
Marvel quit her job at the Farm Bureau and followed her sister Erma to Washington D.C. for a higher-paying job at the Census Bureau. She arrived in Washington D.C. on September 12, 1940. It was a great job and Marvel loved the big city.
One of Marvel’s stories involved a weekend trip with her sister and some friends to the country. She said that late in the evening on the way back to Washington D.C. they passed through Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Even though it was the dead of winter, they got out of the car and ran around the battlefield reenacting the famous battle.
After graduating from aircraft assembly school, Bill got a job working for Lockheed Aircraft assembling P-38 fighter aircraft. The country was gearing up for World War II. Once Bill got established with Lockheed, Marvel, reluctantly because she was having such a good time in Washington, D.C., quit her job at the Census Bureau and moved to California. This would have been in late December 1940 or early January 1941.
Bill and Marvel moved into a small guest house located at 418 1/2 Harvard Road, Burbank, California. They were living there when I was born in September of 1942.
Near the end of the war, Bill was drafted into the Army. The family was living on Pass Ave., a house they owned. I was about two years old. Bill, inducted at San Pedro, was soon assigned to a base near Paso Robles, California. Marvel got the house ready to sell and then left it with a real estate agent. Mom, now very pregnant with their second child, and I moved to an apartment near Bill.
Eventually Bill was transferred at Fort Ord. Mom and I moved to an apartment near Marvel's sister Doris and her family who lived in Mountain View, California. Bill was still in the service when World War II ended. He said that he thought they would all be released from the army, but it was not to be. He was sent to Japan to serve with the Army of Occupation. This was in December of 1945 and Marvel was having a hard time with her pregnancy. Anna Hillman, Marvel's mom, came out from Nebraska to bring her and me back to the family farm.
There is a great story about Anna’s train ride out to California. The trains were fully occupied moving troupes around the country. Marvel's mother was told that she could get a seat on the train but would not be allowed in the dining car. She started out on the two-and-one-half day trip to California with only a piece of cheese and some crackers. However, the soldiers on the train soon learned of her situation and brought her food from the dining car. Marvel's mom said that she never missed a meal. Robin was born in Alliance, Nebraska in February of 1946.
In December of 1946 Bill returned from Japan and was discharged from the service. Marvel traveled to California to meet him and they went back to Nebraska for Christmas. The family soon moved back to California where Marvel found an apartment made from converted army barracks. The barracks, on Amherst Drive, in Burbank, California, were located on grounds of McCambridge Park. My first real memories of life are all from the time we lived in the barracks.
When Bill returned to California he went back to work for Lockheed but did not like the job that they had for him. He soon quit the job at Lockheed and went into business with his brother-in-law, Vern Cartwright. They leased a Shell gas station in Hollywood. They ran the station for a while but were not able to make a living for one family, let alone two. A year or so after returning to California, Bill got a job at Bendix Pacific, a company involved in the engineering and manufacturing of aircraft hydraulic systems.
We lived in the barracks until 1950 when Marvel and Bill purchased a new house at 7338 Garden Grove Ave., Reseda, California. Their third and last child, Bradford Dean, was born in May of 1951. This is the house that I grew up in. I lived there until I was married in 1964.
The greatest gift my mom gave me was the freedom to grow up doing the things that interested me. My major interest was in gas engines and gas-powered vehicles. Years before I had a driver’s license, I made numerous lawn-mower-engine-powered bicycles. We rode these gas-powered bikes everywhere. I also acquired old motorcycles and scooters and got them running. I owned my first car when I was fourteen years old. For ten or so years grease was part of our family life. It was on everything I touched or walked on.
I also made guns from iron water pipe. I made the gun powder out of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulphur and charcoal. I used these homemade guns to shoot marbles at tin cans. Of course this was all highly illegal but times were different then.
I was also into adventure and exploring. From time to time we would go on "bike hikes." A friend and I would leave early in the morning and ride to "far off places" like Hansen Dam. We might not get home until after dark. On occasion my mother would drive us in the car to the west edge of the civilized San Fernando Valley. She would drop us off at the end of a dirt road. We would agree to be back at the drop-off point in, say, six hours. Then, with nothing more than a sack lunch and a canteen, we would hike and explore the hills. Somehow we always found our way back to the drop-off point where mom had returned to pick us up. Today, I can’t imagine how such a thing was possible. Social conditions in the valley were much different then. We often left the doors of our house unlocked and always left the keys in the cars that were parked in our driveway.
In 1956 Marvel went to work for the Los Angeles City School System. She worked as a secretary and, for many years, as an office manager. She worked at a number of schools including Parthenia Street School, Cantara Street School, and Wonderland School. Marvel really enjoyed working. She officially retired in 1981 but continued to work as a substitute office manager until 1992.
Marvel and Bill divorced in 1973. It was a surprise to us kids but my mom had been expecting it for many years. Dad had always been difficult to live with. In the end he was unhappy about how his life had turned out and needed someone to take it out on. I think Mom’s decision to go to work in 1956 was pretty much a recognition that she would eventually have to be able to support herself. As it turned out, my dad pretty much shut down while my mom’s life blossomed. She was now able to have friends, go to social events, travel and do many of the things that he had not been able to do with my dad. Marvel always wanted to travel and, after she retired, she got to do so.
After the divorce, my mom moved into an apartment. This was fine for she was so involved with catching up on life that she did not have time to care for a house. About 1979, Dad turned the house over to Robin so she could raise her two boys in a home with a back yard. Marvel moved back into the house in 1991 and lived there until August of 2009 when she moved to an assisted living apartment. The Reseda house has since been sold to Marvel’s grandson, Todd Lindsey.
In the fall of 1984 Marvel worked as one of the many volunteers that helped put on the Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad in Los Angeles. She got to see (and sometimes meet) many important people. Like many others that attended the event, she collected lots of buttons. It was one of the most enjoyable and most memorable times of her life.
Marvel began to travel by attending trips organized by elder hostels. She then became friends with Lou and Jeanne Eloe. The Eloes organized tours to many interesting places. Here is a partial list of the tours Marvel took with the Eloes.
France (August 1983)
Germany, Austria & Italy (August 1984)
Hawaii (October 1985)
Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan (March 1986)
Austraila & New Zealand (October 1986)
Alaska (1987)
Nova Scotia (1988)
The villages of England, Scotland and Wales (July-August 1989)
Kenya (September 1989)
Eastern and Central Europe (October 1990)
Marvel loved to read. She had a sixty-year-long relationship with the Reseda Public Library. She also loved to garden. Her yard was always filled with beautiful plants. In her later years she always had one or two cats and often fed many neighborhood strays.
Marvel made friends, good friends, as easily as most of us get up in the morning. She outlived most of them. She had travel friends, bridge friends and gardening friends. I recall the Dyers, the Cutshaws, the Reppes, the Ninegars, the Duggans, the VanEuens, the Eloes, the Hammerles, the Bogenschields, Helen Nall, Mary Beatty, Alice Lucas, Fran Quigley, Betty Hegeman, Doris Reynolds, Carol Lundgren, Jo Swanberg and Laura Gordon but there were many, many others. One very special friend was Stephanie Milka, who lives just up the street from Marvel.
Starting in the late 1970s, Marvel suffered a number of personal losses. Her father died in 1979. Her sister Erma died in 1981, her husband Bill in 1982, her mother Anna in 1983 and her son Brad died in 1985. Each one took a toll but Brad’s death was easily the biggest tragedy of Marvel’s life.
My dad died suddenly in 1982. After his death, I realized that I really did not know much about his life growing up. He rarely talked about his life before he was married. After my retirement I had the opportunity to spend many hours with my mom. She told many stories about her life before I was old enough to know what was happening. I will forever cherish getting to know this remarkable woman.
In 2009 it became clear that Marvel could no longer live on her own. It was really hard for her to leave her house but within a couple of months she told us that she was far happier in her assisted living apartment. We had noticed that she was not eating much when she was home alone but when we could come by she would eat like a horse. Even her doctor became concerned about her loosing weight. The problem was that there was no one to share her meals with. Once she was at the assisted living complex, she made new friends and meals became a social occasion again. She gained twenty pounds the first year.
Several years ago Marvel began to show signs of Alzheimer’s disease. She was able to cope for a while but it finally took her life on June 16, 2011. If it had not been for the Alzheimer’s, she probably would have lived another half-dozen years.
Everybody thinks their mother is special. I, however, truly believe that Marvel was a really remarkable woman. Much of what makes Tracy, Tracy came from my mother. My mother, the mother I knew before Alzheimer’s, will be really missed.
Tracy Lynn DeVault
OBITUARY
Marvel Kathryn Hillman, 92, died Thursday, June 16, 2011, at Pacifica Senior Living, Northridge, California.
She was the daughter of Robert Sterling Hillman and Anna Magdalene (Diehm) Hillman. Marvel was born January 29, 1919 on a farm near Crab Orchard, Nebraska. Shortly after she was born her family moved to a farm near Bayard, Nebraska where she was raised.
On January 1, 1939 she married her high school sweetheart, William Dallas DeVault. Marvel and Bill moved to Southern California in 1940. In 1949 they bought a home in Reseda. Marvel lived there until two years ago when she moved to assisted living.
For many years Marvel worked as an office manager for the Los Angeles Unified School System.
Marvel was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, a son, Bradford Dean DeVault and three sisters. She is survived by a son, Tracy Lynn DeVault (and wife Judy) of Prescott, AZ; a daughter, Robin Anne Lindsey, Encino; a sister, Wanda Cartwright, Vista, CA and a brother, Robert Hillman (and wife Pat), Gardnerville, NV. She is also survived by five grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, numerous nieces, nephews and many dear friends. Bill and Marvel were married in Alliance, Nebraska. They drove to Alliance with her parents, her sister Erma and Bill's mom. They were married in the vestibule of the First Presbyterian Church. Marvel wore a wine-colored dress that she bought in Scottsbluff. They had saved some money and bought a console radio in Alliance. After the ceremony they all went to see a movie and then went back to her parents' farm for dinner. Marvel says that they still had the radio when they moved to Reseda, California in 1950.
After Bill and Marvel were married, they lived at the Anderson House apartments in Bridgeport, Nebraska. Bill worked at the gas station and Marvel was working at the Farm Bureau in Bridgeport. The depression was over, but jobs in rural Nebraska were still hard to come by. At one point, Cecile, Sam and Bill were all out of work, all living on Marvel's salary. Bill and his Uncle Sam drove to Denver for a week to look for a job. They did not find work. Eventually Bill and a friend traveled to Garden Grove, California. They stayed with his friend's aunt and uncle and went to Vultee aircraft assembly school. Not long after that Bill got a job working for Lockheed Aircraft assembling P-38 fighter aircraft. Shortly after Bill left for California, Marvel quit her job at the Farm Bureau and followed her sister Erma to Washington DC for a higher paying job at the Census Bureau. She arrived in Washington D.C. on September 12, 1940. She had borrowed the money for the trip from her boss at the Farm Bureau.
Once Bill got established with Lockheed, Marvel, reluctantly, because she was having such a good time in Washington, D.C., quit her job at the Census Bureau and moved to California. This would have been in late December 1940 or early January 1941. Bill and Marvel moved to a small guest house located at 418 1/2 Harvard Road, Burbank, California. Tracy was born there in September of 1942.
I need to inject a note here about the Dyers. When Marvel was in the hospital having Tracy, she met John and Sidney Dyer. Sidney was in the bed next to Marvel and had just had her first child, a daughter named Bitsy. (Bitsy's real name was Sidney, after her mother but, at least until she was married, she was called Bitsy.) The Dyers and the DeVaults became life-long friends, sharing many great times together.
Bill's mom, Cecile, came to California to stay a few weeks and ended up staying ten months. The small house that was crowded for two, now with four, was impossible to live in. The family moved up the street to 714 Harvard Road. Cecile returned to Nebraska when Tracy was about 10 months old. Bill's uncle Sam came out to California when Tracy was about 18 months old. Sam, Marvel and Tracy returned to Nebraska for a visit. Tracy got stuck under the train seat before the train left the station.
The family was living at 2100 Pass Ave., Burbank, California (a house they owned) when Bill was drafted. (Tracy was about two years old.) Bill was inducted at San Pedro, but was shortly assigned to a base near Paso Robles, California. Marvel got the house ready to sell and then left it with a real estate agent. Marvel, who was now very pregnant with their second child, and Tracy moved to an apartment near Bill.
Eventually Bill was transferred at Fort Ord. Marvel and Tracy moved to an apartment near Marvel's sister Doris and her family who lived in Mountain View, California. Bill was still undergoing basic training when World War II ended. He said that he thought they would all be released from the army, but it was not to be. Bill was sent to Japan to serve with the Army of Occupation. This was in December of 1945 and Marvel was having a hard time with her pregnancy. Marvel's mon came out from Nebraska to bring her and Tracy back to the family farm.
There is a great story about the train ride. The trains were occupied moving troupes around the country and Marvel's mother was told that she could get a seat on the train but would not be allowed in the dining car. She started out on the two-and-one-half day trip to California with only a piece of cheese and some crackers. However, the soldiers on the train soon learned of her situation and brought her food from the dining car. Marvel's mom said that she never missed a meal. Once in Nebraska, Tracy had his tonsils taken out. Robin was born in Alliance, Nebraska.
In 1946 Bill returned from Japan and was discharged from the service. Marvel traveled to California to meet him and they went back to Nebraska to join her family for Christmas, '46. The family moved back to California and stayed with Carl and Gerry Cutshaw and their family for a few weeks while Marvel looked for a place to live. She found an apartment made from converted army barracks on Amherst Drive, Burbank, California. (The barracks were located on grounds of McCambridge Park.) We lived in the barracks until 1950 when Marvel and Bill purchased the house at 7338 Garden Grove Ave., Reseda, California. Their third child, Bradford, was born there. Marvel was still living in this house in 2008.
When Bill returned to California after the war he went back to work for Lockheed for a short time, but he did not like the job that Lockheed had for him. Not long after returning to California, Bill and his brother-in-law, Vern Cartwright, leased a Shell gas station in Hollywood. The ran the station for a while but were not able to make a living for one family, let alone two. A year or so after returning to California, Bill got a job at Bendix Pacific, a company involved in the engineering and manufacturing of hydraulic systems. About 1956, Bill left Bendix and went to work for the Sun Electric Corporation. The division he was working for was in the business of building test stands for aircraft hydraulic systems. I think he really liked this job and had the use of a 1956 Ford station wagon. The job seemed to fizzle out and he left to work for Brock Engineering, a small start-up business in the hydraulic test stand business. They provided him with a 1957 Plymouth sedan for a company car. It was a stripped down car, equipped with the ancient flat head six cylinder engine, stick shift and no heater. This job did not last long and Bill decided to try his hand at selling cars. He went to work for a Pontiac dealer in North Hollywood. They provided him with a new 1958 Pontiac Chiefton sedan for a demonstrator car. This job did not work out and Bill bought a 1955 Pontiac Star Chief before returning to work at Bendix Pacific.
About ten years later the aerospace industry was going through a slump. Bill lost his job at Bendix and decided to try his hand at selling real estate. This lasted a year or so before he decided to give it up. He was out of work for about five years before going back to work as a draftsman. He worked for several companies as a contract employee before getting an assignment at Bendix. After a year or so, Bendix hired him back as an employee. He stayed with Bendix until he retired. I think he was about 62 years old at the time.
In 1956 Marvel went to work for the Los Angeles City School System and worked as an Office Manager for many years. She worked at a number of schools including Cantara Street School, and Wonderland School. She retired in 1992.Citations
Robin Anne DeVault
F, #12Parents
Father William Dallas "Bill" DeVault (b. 7 March 1918, d. 24 August 1982) Mother Marvel Kathryn Hillman (b. 29 January 1919, d. 16 June 2011) Pedigree Link Family 1: Dennis Glen Attebery (b. 25 April 1944, d. 13 December 1970)
Son Todd Ryan Attebery-Lindsey Family 2: Donald Richard Lindsey (b. 24 August 1935, d. May 1986)
Son Bradford John "Brad" Lindsey BASIC FACTS
Robin Anne DeVault and Dennis Glen Attebery were married in March 1967 in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.1 She and Dennis Glen Attebery were divorced in November 1969 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California. She and Donald Richard Lindsey were married on 5 June 1971 in Las Vegas, Clark Co., Nevada.2Citations
Bradford Dean "Brad" DeVault1
M, #13, b. 10 May 1951, d. 16 February 1985Parents
Father William Dallas "Bill" DeVault (b. 7 March 1918, d. 24 August 1982) Mother Marvel Kathryn Hillman (b. 29 January 1919, d. 16 June 2011) Pedigree Link Family: Kim Ann Gilbert
Daughter Talia Renee DeVault BASIC FACTS
Bradford Dean "Brad" DeVault was born on 10 May 1951 in Burbank, Los Angeles Co., California.1,2 He and Kim Ann Gilbert were married in February 1983. He died on 16 February 1985, at age 33, in Lake Tahoe, Eldorado Co., California.1,2 He was buried in Oakwood Memorial Park, Chatsworth, Los Angeles Co., California.3Bradford Dean "Brad" DeVault had reference number 13. His Social Security Number was 546-86-7446, issued: California.4 GRAVE STONE
BRADFORD DeVAULT
SON-HUSBAND-FATHER
1951 -- 1985.Citations
Todd Ryan Attebery-Lindsey
M, #14Parents
Step-father Dennis Glen Attebery (b. 25 April 1944, d. 13 December 1970) Mother Robin Anne DeVault Pedigree Link BASIC FACTS
Todd Ryan Attebery-Lindsey and Mariane Cristina Kanegae were married on 18 December 2003 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles Co., California.1Citations
- [S3180] Conversation with Mariane Kanegae on September 18, 2005
Bradford John "Brad" Lindsey
M, #15Parents
Father Donald Richard Lindsey (b. 24 August 1935, d. May 1986) Mother Robin Anne DeVault Pedigree Link Robert Sherman "Rob" Hillman1,2,3,4
M, #16, b. 15 September 1881, d. 23 August 1979Parents
Father Edwin Rathburn Hillman (b. 15 May 1840, d. 29 September 1922) Mother Emily Cordelia Rogers (b. 13 December 1846, d. 26 March 1935) 
Pedigree Link Family: Anna Magdelene Diehm (b. 27 February 1888, d. 28 April 1983)
Daughter Erma Olive Hillman+ (b. 23 February 1910, d. 17 May 1981) Daughter Doris Madeline Hillman+ (b. 31 January 1912, d. 6 August 2007) Daughter Clarice June Hillman+ (b. 26 June 1916, d. 11 March 2006) Daughter Marvel Kathryn Hillman+ (b. 29 January 1919, d. 16 June 2011) Daughter Wanda Lorraine Hillman+ (b. 11 September 1922, d. 4 May 2012) Son Robert Sterling "Bob" Hillman+ (b. 11 October 1926, d. 18 July 2011) BASIC FACTS
Robert Sherman "Rob" Hillman was born on 5 September 1881 in Gage Co., Nebraska.5 He was born on 15 September 1881 in Gage Co., Nebraska.6,2 He was born on 15 September 1882 in Gage Co., Nebraska.7,8 He and Anna Magdelene Diehm were married on 13 December 1908 in Johnson Co, Nebraska. He died on 23 August 1979, at age 97, in Ontario, Malheur Co., Oregon.6 He was buried on 25 August 1979 in Parkview Cemetery, New Plymouth, Payette Co., Idaho.6Robert Sherman "Rob" Hillman had reference number 16. His Social Security Number was 507-44-5981, issued Nebraska.7 He was a Farmer - farm (1918, 1920, 1930.)3,4 He was enumerated on the census in Johnson County, Nebraska (1920); Morrill County, Nebraska (1930.) On November 6, 1956, Robert was elected Justice of the Peace in and for Yocky Precinct in Morrill Co., Nebraska by four (4) "write-in" votes.
OBITUARY
ROBERT S. HILLMAN
New Plymouth -- Robert S. Hillman, 97, of New Plymouth, died Thursday at an Ontario hospital. Services will be conducted Saturday at 3:30 p.m., at the Shaffer-Jensen Chapel in New Plymouth, by Rev. Earl Traughber of the New Plymouth Congregational Church. Interment will be in the Parkview Cemetery.
He was born Sept. 15, 1881, at Adams, Neb. He was reared and educated in Nebraska. He married Anna Diehm on Dec. 13, 1908, at Crab Orchard, Neb. They lived in Nebraska until moving to Middleton in 1959. They moved to New Plymouth in 1972.
Surviving are his wife of New Plymouth; a son, Robert of Sedalia, Colo.; five daughters, Erma Evans of Glendale, Calif., Doris Humpal of Mountain View, Calif., Clarice Pullen of New Plymouth, Marvel DeVault of Van Nuys, Calif., and Wanda Cartwright of Vista, Calif.; 16 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a grandchild.
GRAVE STONE
ROBERT S. HILLMAN
Sept. 15 AUG. 23
1881 1979. Anna and Rob both grew up in Hooker Township, Gage County, Nebraska. Although Rob was six years older than Anna, it is most likely that they knew each other quite well. Anna's parents moved to Johnson County in 1905. In December of 1908 Anna and Rob were married at her parents' home. Years later they told their children that they had been planning to get married in the summer, but in December a farm became available to rent across the road from Anna's parents' farm. They decided to get married quickly and move onto the farm. They lived there until 1920. Their first four children were born on this farm.
Their daughter, Marvel (Hillman) DeVault recalled the following bits of family history:
Shortly after Marvel was born, Rob and Anna took her to his parents, Edwin and Emily, to show her off. (At the time Rob and Anna were living on a farm in Johnson County next to Anna's parents. Rob's parents were still living on the family farm in Gage County, a few miles away.) This is before they owned a car and the trip was made in a buggy. Apparently Rob and Anna had not yet named this latest daughter, and Rob opined that if they showed up at his parents' place, with an unnamed daughter, his mother would pick out a name for her. Rob and Anna already had three girls, and none were named after his mother, so it was decided that they would name Marvel after his mom. Apparently Rob's memory was not what it was in later years. When they arrived at his parents' house, he held Marvel high in the air and announced to his mom that here was her new granddaughter, and she was named Marvel Kathryn Hillman in her honor. His mom snapped back, "Why you fool, my name is Emily Cordelia!" Apparently the damage was not correctable because they never changed Marvel's name nor tried to name another child after his mother. (Marvel's birth certificate, filled out on the day of her birth, and with her name on it, casts some doubt on this story, but it's still a good story.)
In 1920 the family moved from eastern Nebraska to the city of Bayard in western Nebraska. Her dad rented a freight car to move the family's belongings. He rode in the train car with his stuff. It was in the middle of winter and very cold. There was a stove in the corner of the car. At some point during the trip the train lurched and her dad was thrown against the stove and burned very badly.
Marvel tells another story associated with the move. Apparently the train only went as far as Alliance, Nebraska. In any case her mom told the children that they were going to (see) Alliance. When they got there, Marvel was very unhappy because there weren't any "lions" to see.
After moving to western Nebraska, the family lived in town (Bayard) then moved to the Dunder Farm. (I have several photos of the first four Hillman girls sitting on the front porch railing of the house. Actually, I don't think it was owned by the Dunder family at the time. The Dunders must have acquired the farm after the Hillmans moved on.) Later the Hillmans moved to Woodbine Farm, then to the Nine Mile Farm a finally to what became known as the Hillman farm. All these farms were rented. Anna inherited some money when her father died and they used it to purchase the farm now known as the Hillman Farm. Land records show that this purchase was about 1946. They had lived on the Hillman Farm for quite some time before that. In 1959 Rob and Anna retired from farming and moved to Middleton, Idaho. Later they moved to New Plymouth, Idaho.
(What I called the Dunder Farm was later owned by Ted and Lydia Dunder. It is across the road and up the hill from the Hillman Farm. In 1956, I, then 13 years old, spent a summer on Rob's and Anna's farm and shared many adventures with Ted's and Lydia's son Jim. [2013 update: When Robin and I visited the area in 1993, Lydia Dunder was still living on the farm. We had a great visit. Lydia has since passed away and the farm sold. The new owners dismantled the Dunder Store and had a new house built on the property. When my family and I visited there in 2011, the new owners said they were planing to raze the old Dunder home. We took some photos and they gave us a window as a souvenir.] The Woodbine Farm, named for Woodbine Ivy that grows there, is now owned by the Kizire family. The Woodbine Farm is just east of the Hillman Farm. These three farms are located about four miles east of Bayard.)
When my sister and I visited our grandparents' farm nearly 40 years after Rob and Anna had moved to Idaho, the Kizires and several other neighbors still refered to our grandparents' farm as the "Hillman Farm." [2013 update: When Robin and I visited the farm in 1993, it was just as I had remembered it, except the house was gone. The garage, the barns and most everything else was still in place. (A neighbor told us that the house was removed for tax purposes.) Over the years I made a number of trips back to Nebraska and always visited the farm. I could sit there under the trees that used to surround the house and let the memories of my childhood visits to the farm wash over me. In 2011, we had my mom's ashes buried in the Bayard Cemetery next to her grandparents. My family, my sister's family and our niece, Talia, went back to visit the grave. When we stopped at the Hillman farm, it was all gone. The buildings, trees, fences, etc. had all been removed and the ground plowed over. Really sad but nothing is forever.].Citations
- [S8714] Letter from Wanda (Hillman) Cartwright dated January 31, 2000, Source Medium: Book
- [S8596] Letter from Carrie (Sivits) Turpen dated April 5, 2000
- [S1318] 1920 Census, Nebraska, Johnson County, Source Medium: Book
- [S1808] 1930 Census, Nebraska, Morrill County
- [S12721] World War I Draft Registration Cards (1917 - 1918)
- [S8520] Holy Card - Robert S. Hillman, Source Medium: Book
- [S12398] Social Security Death Index, Source Medium: Book
- [S583] 1900 Census, Nebraska, Gage County, Source Medium: Book
Anna Magdelene Diehm1,2,3
F, #17, b. 27 February 1888, d. 28 April 1983Parents
Father Ferdinand Wilhelm "Ferd" Diehm (b. 2 August 1858, d. 9 October 1939) Mother Eva Anna "Anna" Flegler (b. 26 September 1861, d. 27 March 1922) Pedigree Link Family: Robert Sherman "Rob" Hillman (b. 15 September 1881, d. 23 August 1979)
Daughter Erma Olive Hillman+ (b. 23 February 1910, d. 17 May 1981) Daughter Doris Madeline Hillman+ (b. 31 January 1912, d. 6 August 2007) Daughter Clarice June Hillman+ (b. 26 June 1916, d. 11 March 2006) Daughter Marvel Kathryn Hillman+ (b. 29 January 1919, d. 16 June 2011) Daughter Wanda Lorraine Hillman+ (b. 11 September 1922, d. 4 May 2012) Son Robert Sterling "Bob" Hillman+ (b. 11 October 1926, d. 18 July 2011) BASIC FACTS
Anna Magdelene Diehm was born on 26 February 1888 in Adams, Gage Co., Nebraska.1 She was born on 27 February 1888 in Gage Co., Nebraska.4,5,6 She and Robert Sherman "Rob" Hillman were married on 13 December 1908 in Johnson Co, Nebraska. She died on 28 April 1983, at age 95, in Emmett, Gem Co., Idaho.5 She was buried on 3 May 1983 in Parkview Cemetery, New Plymouth, Payette Co., Idaho.5Anna Magdelene Diehm was also known as Anna Magdaline Diehm.4 She had reference number 17. She was affiliated with Lutheran. Her Social Security Number was 518-82-4582, issued Idaho.6 She was enumerated on the census in Johnson County, Nebraska (1920); Morrill County, Nebraska (1930.) A Tribute to Grandma Hillman who passed away April 28, 1983
FOR GRANDMA
Everything about her was regal . . . her intelligence, her strength, her bearing and her pride. Her stubborn pride was unsurpassable, but there was much reason for pride.
Anna . . . Mother . . . Grandma . . . all those people rolled into one lovely person who meant so much to so many. Anna . . . a friend and neighbor; loving and jealous wife - doting on all Grandpa's whims, even in their last years together, perservering the trials of raising six youngsters amidst the hardships and unforgiving uncertainties of farm life; having the knack for making silk purses from sow's ears - nevertheless, instilling all the values and virtues in her children to make them loving and caring parents and partners.
And most of all . . . Grandma. So very special to such a burgeoning clan. So sharp and "with-it", even through the upheaval of the impossible-to-comprehend 60's. From covered wagons to space age and video games - even when the eyesight failed so badly and "keeping-with-it" had to be learned from records and tapes!
The joy expressed from having her clan around her. Memories of the pink bathtub for babies, the irrigation ditch, homemade rolls, the "cracks" and the taste of juicy homegrown tomatoes. A perennial contest between Grandma and Grandpa for quality and quantity. No matter how good Grandpa's were, she always say hers were better. Always opening her home to all the family and tag-a-longs she could accommodate . . and even those she couldn't.
Then Grandpa was gone and her purpose to be, left with him. She always knew the way things would be - resenting the inevitable, as we all do, but in her keen way, knowing what had to be. Not particularly gracious about accepting her new life style, her broken hip, and finally the Care Center her family had tried so desperately to keep her from. Her pride kept her with us until the physical strength gave out. Oh, how she'll be missed -- but more than being missed, she will be remembered as such a very special, wonderful person -- Grandma.
Written by Nancy (Tobin) Humpal
OBITUARY
Anna Magdelene Hillman
Services for Anna M. Hillman, 95 year old resident of New Plymouth, who died Thursday, April 28, 1983, in an Emmett nursing home, were conducted Thursday, May 3, in the Shaffer-Jensen Chapel, New Plymouth, with the Rev. Earl Traughber, of the New Plymouth Congregational Church, officiating. Interment was in Parkview Cemetery, New Plymouth.
She was born Feb. 26, 1888, in Adams, Nebraska, daughter of Ferdinand and Anna Diehm. She was reared and educated in Nebraska. She married Robert Hillman on Dec. 13, 1908 at Crab Orchard, Nebraska. They lived in Nebraska until moving to Middleton, Idaho in 1959. They moved to New Plymouth in 1972. He died in 1979.
She is survived by a son, Robert of Sedalia, Colo.; four daughters, Doris Humpal of Mountain View, Calif., Clarice Pullen of New Plymouth, Marvel DeVault of Sherman Oaks, Calif., and Wanda Cartwright of Vista, Calif.; two sisters, Selma and Julia Diehm of Hastings, Nebraska; 16 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by a daughter, Erma and one grandchild.
From her Holy Card:
When God couldn't protect us
each hour of the day,
God gave us Mother
to show us our way.
Her love and her guidance
has been ours to keep;
Now she's gone to Jesus
for earned rest and long sleep.
GRAVE STONE
ANNA M. HILLMAN
Feb. 27 Apr. 28
1888 1983. Anna and Rob both grew up in Hooker Township, Gage County, Nebraska. Although Rob was six years older than Anna, it is most likely that they knew each other quite well. Anna's parents moved to Johnson County in 1905. In December of 1908 Anna and Rob were married at her parents' home. Years later they told their children that they had been planning to get married in the summer, but in December a farm became available to rent across the road from Anna's parents' farm. They decided to get married quickly and move onto the farm. They lived there until 1920. Their first four children were born on this farm.
Their daughter, Marvel (Hillman) DeVault recalled the following bits of family history:
Shortly after Marvel was born, Rob and Anna took her to his parents, Edwin and Emily, to show her off. (At the time Rob and Anna were living on a farm in Johnson County next to Anna's parents. Rob's parents were still living on the family farm in Gage County, a few miles away.) This is before they owned a car and the trip was made in a buggy. Apparently Rob and Anna had not yet named this latest daughter, and Rob opined that if they showed up at his parents' place, with an unnamed daughter, his mother would pick out a name for her. Rob and Anna already had three girls, and none were named after his mother, so it was decided that they would name Marvel after his mom. Apparently Rob's memory was not what it was in later years. When they arrived at his parents' house, he held Marvel high in the air and announced to his mom that here was her new granddaughter, and she was named Marvel Kathryn Hillman in her honor. His mom snapped back, "Why you fool, my name is Emily Cordelia!" Apparently the damage was not correctable because they never changed Marvel's name nor tried to name another child after his mother. (Marvel's birth certificate, filled out on the day of her birth, and with her name on it, casts some doubt on this story, but it's still a good story.)
In 1920 the family moved from eastern Nebraska to the city of Bayard in western Nebraska. Her dad rented a freight car to move the family's belongings. He rode in the train car with his stuff. It was in the middle of winter and very cold. There was a stove in the corner of the car. At some point during the trip the train lurched and her dad was thrown against the stove and burned very badly.
Marvel tells another story associated with the move. Apparently the train only went as far as Alliance, Nebraska. In any case her mom told the children that they were going to (see) Alliance. When they got there, Marvel was very unhappy because there weren't any "lions" to see.
After moving to western Nebraska, the family lived in town (Bayard) then moved to the Dunder Farm. (I have several photos of the first four Hillman girls sitting on the front porch railing of the house. Actually, I don't think it was owned by the Dunder family at the time. The Dunders must have acquired the farm after the Hillmans moved on.) Later the Hillmans moved to Woodbine Farm, then to the Nine Mile Farm a finally to what became known as the Hillman farm. All these farms were rented. Anna inherited some money when her father died and they used it to purchase the farm now known as the Hillman Farm. Land records show that this purchase was about 1946. They had lived on the Hillman Farm for quite some time before that. In 1959 Rob and Anna retired from farming and moved to Middleton, Idaho. Later they moved to New Plymouth, Idaho.
(What I called the Dunder Farm was later owned by Ted and Lydia Dunder. It is across the road and up the hill from the Hillman Farm. In 1956, I, then 13 years old, spent a summer on Rob's and Anna's farm and shared many adventures with Ted's and Lydia's son Jim. [2013 update: When Robin and I visited the area in 1993, Lydia Dunder was still living on the farm. We had a great visit. Lydia has since passed away and the farm sold. The new owners dismantled the Dunder Store and had a new house built on the property. When my family and I visited there in 2011, the new owners said they were planing to raze the old Dunder home. We took some photos and they gave us a window as a souvenir.] The Woodbine Farm, named for Woodbine Ivy that grows there, is now owned by the Kizire family. The Woodbine Farm is just east of the Hillman Farm. These three farms are located about four miles east of Bayard.)
When my sister and I visited our grandparents' farm nearly 40 years after Rob and Anna had moved to Idaho, the Kizires and several other neighbors still refered to our grandparents' farm as the "Hillman Farm." [2013 update: When Robin and I visited the farm in 1993, it was just as I had remembered it, except the house was gone. The garage, the barns and most everything else was still in place. (A neighbor told us that the house was removed for tax purposes.) Over the years I made a number of trips back to Nebraska and always visited the farm. I could sit there under the trees that used to surround the house and let the memories of my childhood visits to the farm wash over me. In 2011, we had my mom's ashes buried in the Bayard Cemetery next to her grandparents. My family, my sister's family and our niece, Talia, went back to visit the grave. When we stopped at the Hillman farm, it was all gone. The buildings, trees, fences, etc. had all been removed and the ground plowed over. Really sad but nothing is forever.]. She was baptized on 19 May 1901 in Sterling, Johnson Co., Nebraska.Citations
- [S9408] Obituary - Anna Magdelene (Diehm) Hillman
- [S1318] 1920 Census, Nebraska, Johnson County, Source Medium: Book
- [S1808] 1930 Census, Nebraska, Morrill County
- [S4949] Family Group Sheet for Ferdinand Diehm prepared by Clarice Joan (Pullen) Webster, Source Medium: Book
- [S8506] Holy Card - Anna Magdelene Hillman, Source Medium: Book
- [S12398] Social Security Death Index, Source Medium: Book
Robert Sterling "Bob" Hillman1,2
M, #18, b. 11 October 1926, d. 18 July 2011Parents
Father Robert Sherman "Rob" Hillman (b. 15 September 1881, d. 23 August 1979) Mother Anna Magdelene Diehm (b. 27 February 1888, d. 28 April 1983) Pedigree Link Family: Patricia May "Pat" Anderson
Daughter Peggy Dianne Hillman+ Daughter Virginia Ann "Ginger" Hillman+ Son Jack Richard Hillman+ Daughter Janet Lynn "Jan" Hillman+ BASIC FACTS
Robert Sterling "Bob" Hillman was born on 11 October 1926 in Bayard, Morrill Co, Nebraska.1 He and Patricia May "Pat" Anderson were married on 12 June 1948 in Harrisburg, Banner Co., Nebraska.1 He died on 18 July 2011, at age 84, in Gardnerville, Nevada.Robert Sterling "Bob" Hillman had reference number 18. He was enumerated on the census in Morrill County, Nebraska (1930.) DIAMOND - A Story by Robert Hillman
My dad loved good horses. I remember some pictures we used to have of him posing with some of his teams. They were always perfectly matched, well built, beautiful animals, and his pride was obvious. But due to some poor years, crop failures, bad business decisions, and the depression, he was forced into bankruptcy in the earl 1930's. In those days in the Nebraska farm country, the bank took possession of everything the bankrupt farmer had left and had a farm sale and collected all the proceeds. If the proceeds didn't fulfill the debt, the farmer still owed the balance.
Just prior to the sale , my father took some of the basic farm implements to a cousin's farm so that they wouldn't be included in the sale. He took things that wouldn't be missed, and it wasn't much. Technically, it was probably theft, but he had to have tools to start over.
After the sale, he rented an old, farmed-out forty acres with a house and outbuildings as a sharecropper, and started over. He was fortunate enough to get a job later as a ditch-rider, so he had a little cash money income, I think about twenty dollars a month during the spring and summer, and started accumulating animals and subsistence farming the forty.
But to get back to my story. The good horses were all gone, and he never had another matched, showy team. Instead, he collected a batch of the cheapest, poorest horses to be had anywhere. I don't know how he got them, probably form his cousin*, who was a horse-trader. Anyhow, among this collection of misfits was a horse named Diamond. He was kind of pretty, a deep sorrel with a white diamond on his forehead and stocking feet. He wasn't blocky like a draft horse should be, but kind of slim and rangy. He had been severly cut by barbwire on his right rear leg sometime in the past, and had a mental condition my dad called "stringfoot". When he became excited, his damaged leg would step extremely high, as if he were trying to avoid being cut by wire again, and he would stumble along, three legs working normally and the fourth hitting his belly with every step.
I hated Diamond and avoided using him whenever I could. I would do about anything I could to make his life miserable, short of actual abuse. I would have abused him, but my dad never condoned animal cruelty. My methods were subtle, ignoring him, making him wait until I had fed all the others, and various other nasty little slights. I'm sure he got the message and knew how I felt about him and his ridiculous mental quirk.
In those days, grain harvest started in the south in late June and proceeded north through September. Professional harvest crews would contract to do the threshing, and would follow the ripening wheat north. At times they could run short on men and animals during their journey, and when they did, men were hired and horses were bought, leased or borrowed along the way. On such an occasion, my dad loaned Diamond and another horse to a crew as they came through our area. We always had more horses than we needed, so it was no big deal to loan a team out. During summer we seldom used more than four at any one time and the work was much lighter than spring or fall.
About the end of August I was outside the house one evening and I heard a sound and saw a shape in the darkness. I proceeded toward the barn to investigate and discovered Diamond standing with his head over the gate looking into the barnyard! He greated me and I opened th gate and let him in and fed him.
After that, my attitude toward Diamond changed a great deal. I still disliked him, but I treated him just as well as the rest of the bunch. I often visualized what he went through to get back home after he left the threshing crew. Imagine what he must gone through after traveling several weeks north to find his way home and not be captured and added to someone else's herd. I think his return was one of the more amazing things I ever experienced. It taught me a great lesson, one of tolerance for creatures that may be more unfortunate than we were, and one that I was not to learn for a great many years concerning humans.
* Here Bob is refering to Robert McCracken, Jr.
ORIGINAL POEM BY BOB "OCTOBER" HILLMAN
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
My parents have left me a great legacy
A gift more precious than gold
An inheritance becoming more priceless to me
More apparent as I'm growing old.
They gave me five sisters to brighten my life
To cherish and hold in esteem
To nurture and tease me and always to please me
Better sisters would be only a dream.
But my parends did more to give me delight
Unintended, I'm sure you might find
But a gift so simple and yet so complete
It has brought me great peace of mind.
They named one sister Clarice June
And June is the month of her birth
With a memory like mine, it's easy to see
What a gift like that would be worth.
I never forget her birthday
Though sometimes I forget the date
The months always there, so I look in my book
To make sure I'm not early or late.
Olive, Madeline, Kathryn, Lorraine
Pretty names, but never a clue
To the month of their birth (get hold of your mirth)
But I think you'll agree that it's true.
I always forget their birthdays
I'm sure they'll confirm if you ask
With a mind as muddled and jumbled as mine
To remember is really a task.
Just imagine the agony, anger and pain
Not to mention discomfort and fear
When I wake up in March and think to myself
"I forgot them again - LAST YEAR"
I've pondered this problem and think that I've found
A solution so simple it's funny
It's easy and quick, and should do the trick
And probably won't cost much money.
I will legally change those unused middle names
Of all my family and friends
To a name of great worth, the month of their birth
Who knows? It may start a big trend.
Picked up by the bulk of the breeding-age crowd
It could start a nation-wide movement
Carried on for awhile, it would make me so proud
As the Author of "BIRTHDAY IMPROVEMENT."
No more hurt feeling, self-damning or doubt
A boon to the memory-impaired
No more missed birthdays, greetings on time
Conveying a message to be shared.
I pondered calling the Washington folks
To see if they wanted the task
But I nixed that idea, I don't trust those blokes
And decided I'd better not ask.
They've turned Ten Commandments into ten million laws
That only a lawyer can read
It's painful to think that with my simple idea
Who knows where the actions would lead.
I'll look around for a judge who agrees
And it would really be great
If he would follow the spirit of my goal
By granting a generous bulk rate.
Until I learn all these middle names
Or at least till I can remember
I'll send birthday greetings with my Christmas cards
Neatly stamped "DO NOT OPEN TILL SEPTEMBER."Citations
Clarice June Hillman1,2
F, #19, b. 26 June 1916, d. 11 March 2006Parents
Father Robert Sherman "Rob" Hillman (b. 15 September 1881, d. 23 August 1979) Mother Anna Magdelene Diehm (b. 27 February 1888, d. 28 April 1983) Pedigree Link Family: Francis LaVern "Vern" Pullen (b. 12 September 1916, d. 12 December 1977)
Daughter Clarice Joan "Joan" Pullen+ Daughter Jill Jerene Pullen+ Son Michael Vern "Mike" Pullen+ Son Joe Monroe Pullen+ (b. 30 January 1947, d. 4 March 2010) Daughter Bonnie Kay Pullen+ BASIC FACTS
Clarice June Hillman was born on 26 June 1916 in Crab Orchard, Johnson Co., Nebraska. She and Francis LaVern "Vern" Pullen were married on 1 January 1937. She died on 11 March 2006, at age 89.3Clarice June Hillman had reference number 19. She was enumerated on the census in Johnson County, Nebraska (1920); Morrill County, Nebraska (1930.) Her Social Security Number was 519-60-0206, issued: Idaho, last residence: New Plymouth, Payette Co., Idaho.3 OBITUARY - Argus Observer; March 16, 2006
June 26, 1916 - March 11, 2006
New Plymouth
Clarice June Pullen, 89, New Plymouth, passed away Saturday, March 11, 2006, at Ashley Manor in Middleton. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m., Friday, March 17, 2006, at Plymouth Congregational Church, New Plymouth. Interment will follow at Park View Cemetery, New Plymouth. A visitation for family and friends will be from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday, March 16, 2006, at Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel, New Plymouth.
Clarice was born June 26, 1916, in Crab Orchard, Neb., to Robert and Anna Hillman. The family moved to Bayard, Neb., in 1920, where Clarice graduated from Bayard High School in 1933. She married Vern Pullen on Jan. 1, 1937, in Bayard. They had five children. They moved to Idaho in 1947 where they farmed for many years. In 1965 they moved to New Plymouth.
Clarice worked at Bradley's Department Store and the New Plymouth Drug Store until she retired at age 70. She was an accomplished seamstress, passionate gardener and enjoyed creating crafts and gifts for her children and grandchildren. She was an active member of the Plymouth Congregational Church UCC where she enjoyed helping with the flower show and working in the house of bargains.
She is survived by her children, Joan and Jr Webster, New Plymouth, Mike and Donna Pullen, Bruneau, Joe and Rosie Pullen, Emmett, Jill Pullen, Payette, and Bonnie and Steve Reukauf, Payette; 10 grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; and five great-great grandchildren.
She is preceded in death by her parents; her sister, Erma Evans; her husband, Vern; and a grandson, Tim Webster.
Memorials may be made to The Mayo Foundation Fund for Alzheimer's Disease Research, c/o Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel, P.O. Box 730, Payette, ID 83661.Citations
Erma Olive Hillman1,2
F, #20, b. 23 February 1910, d. 17 May 1981Parents
Father Robert Sherman "Rob" Hillman (b. 15 September 1881, d. 23 August 1979) Mother Anna Magdelene Diehm (b. 27 February 1888, d. 28 April 1983) Pedigree Link Family: James Edward Evans (b. 18 June 1922, d. 7 August 1973)
Step-son Robert William Evans BASIC FACTS
Erma Olive Hillman was born on 23 February 1910 in Crab Orchard, Johnson Co., Nebraska.3,4 She and James Edward Evans were married on 22 February 1945 in Washington, District of Columbia.5 She died on 17 May 1981, at age 71, in Glendale, Los Angeles Co., California.3,6 She was buried on 22 May 1981 in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles Co., California.6Erma Olive Hillman had reference number 20. Her Social Security Number was 548-38-7693, issued California.3 She was enumerated on the census in Johnson County, Nebraska (1920); Morrill County, Nebraska (1930.) Erma contracted polio when she was about three years old. Her parents gave her a great deal of care and I think she fully recovered.
Erma was born on her parents' farm that was located across the road from the farm belonging to her grandparents, Ferdinand and Anna Diehm. A railroad track crossed the corner of the Diehm farm. Erma said that sometimes she used to hitch a ride on a railroad hand-car in order to get to school. She also used to stop by Grandma Diehm's house to get something for her lunch box, such as a piece of chocolate cake. (The railroad is long gone, but you can still make out the railroad grade. Going to the southwest, the railroad ran straight for the town of Crab Orchard. I suspect this is where Erma went to school.)
LETTER TO SELMA DIEHM:
Bayard, Nebr.
Aug 20, 1920
Dear aunt Sally -
Well I will answer your letter and let you know I haven't forgot you.
We have the whooping-cough and hope you are the same. Mamma
canned 14 quart of beets the other day (garden beats + sugar beets
mixed) They are awful good. We eat a dish full every meal. She has
a 5 gallon jar of dill pickels she is putting up. She is also putting up
a lot of many other kinds of pickles. We haven't got any new dresses
for school yet. I am afraid we will miss out on the first part of school
on account of the whooping-cough. I am sure glad Paul & Grandma
is coming out. Why don't you come to? You could go back before
school started. I sure wish I could see granny's flowers. We have
a porch-box and we have our flowers in that. Say who did Irene Derr
marry? You should hear Marvel talk. She is just like a parrot. She
says dwess for dress & she says no when she gets mad and she can
say allright & don't & Doris & Erma and she says Gosh for Gus and it
will take up nearly all the room I've got to tell the rest of the words she
says.
August 22. Well Gus was over here yesterday. He came Friday night
and went back Saturday night. He intended to stay till this afternoon
but he got word about a half hour before he left. Guy and him and Jim
Kennedy and his brother-in-law and John Austin all went in Guy's car.
We never got to Sunday school this morning on account of the
whooping-cough. I will sure be glad when we get over it we can't go
any place with it. Say tell grandpa to come along when Paul comes.
We want to see him as bad as any of the rest of them. They had a
funeral here today. A soldier boy from over sea was buried. There
was sure a lot of people there. So I will close for once wishing a
early answer.
With love to all,
Erma
P.S. Tell Julia I will write to her next time. My sunday school had a
party. I will tell you about it next time.
LOVE
Erma's first love was Paul R. Anderson, son of Carl H. Anderson and Hulda Sophia Storm. He, instead, married Euena Thostesen, daughter of Ova N Thoesten.Citations
- [S1318] 1920 Census, Nebraska, Johnson County, Source Medium: Book
- [S1808] 1930 Census, Nebraska, Morrill County
- [S12398] Social Security Death Index, Source Medium: Book
- [S3100] Certificate of Birth - Erma Olive Hillman, Source Medium: Book
- [S3136] Certificate of Marriage - James Edward Evans & Erma Olive Hillman
- [S8510] Holy Card - Erma O. Evans
Wanda Lorraine Hillman1
F, #21, b. 11 September 1922, d. 4 May 2012Parents
Father Robert Sherman "Rob" Hillman (b. 15 September 1881, d. 23 August 1979) Mother Anna Magdelene Diehm (b. 27 February 1888, d. 28 April 1983) Pedigree Link Family: Vernon Victor Aaron Jenkins-Cartwright (b. 7 December 1915, d. February 2008)
Son Robert Vernon Cartwright+ BASIC FACTS
Wanda Lorraine Hillman was born on 11 September 1922 in Morrill Co., Nebraska. She and Vernon Victor Aaron Jenkins-Cartwright were married on 25 January 1947.2 She died on 4 May 2012, at age 89, in Northern California.Wanda Lorraine Hillman had reference number 21. She was enumerated on the census in Morrill County, Nebraska (1930.)Citations
Doris Madeline Hillman1,2,3
F, #22, b. 31 January 1912, d. 6 August 2007Parents
Father Robert Sherman "Rob" Hillman (b. 15 September 1881, d. 23 August 1979) Mother Anna Magdelene Diehm (b. 27 February 1888, d. 28 April 1983) Pedigree Link Family: Clair Tibbetts Humpal (b. 16 April 1911, d. 14 June 1973)
Son Jerry Clair Humpal+ (b. 20 October 1935, d. 30 December 2012) Son Max Kent Humpal Daughter Leanne Doris Humpal+ BASIC FACTS
Doris Madeline Hillman was born on 31 January 1912 in Crab Orchard, Johnson Co., Nebraska.1 She and Clair Tibbetts Humpal were married on 1 January 1933 in Bridgeport, Morrill Co., Nebraska.1 She died on 6 August 2007, at age 95.4Doris Madeline Hillman had reference number 22. She was enumerated on the census in Johnson County, Nebraska (1920); Morrill County, Nebraska (1930.) Her Social Security Number was 562-30-4660, issued: California, last residence: Mountain View, Santa Clara Co., California.4 LETTER FROM DORIS TO SELMA DIEHM.
Bayard Nebr
Tue Feb 10 - 1919*
Dear Selma
How are you we received your card yesterday so I thought I would
write a line to answer it we was sure glad to get your card. here I am
sending you a picture of some little japs I like it out here pretty well
and I like the weather too we didn't go to school Monday because we
was afraid of the flu. I guess we won't go this week Oh yes I nearly
forgot to tell you that we got that big box too when we got your card and
got a letter from Julia How is your school? have they got the flu
Mamma painted some chairs today and we had to keep Marvel out of
the kitchen so she wouldn't get in the paint and get against the chairs
I sure wish you was here well I guess I must close so good by
from
Doris
* This letter is dated 1919, but Marvel says it was written in 1920. This must be true as they did not move to Bayard until 1920.
LETTER TO MARVEL DEVAULT
Tuesday A.M.
Dear Sis -- Clarice called last night. Mom was feeling horrible again & she had written & torn up a letter to me. She is afraid I'm going to be so shocked when I see mom, but having seen Erma taking a bath I'm sure the shock isn't going to be worse that that!
I told her your tentative plans, hope I didn't do wrong, actually she seemed glad we were both coming. She said she'd try to hold herself & everything else together until we could both get a decent fare (I will call for mine this A.M.). She really wants me to stay for the wedding & I really wanted to come home but I didn't want to tell her that I wanted to come home for my play (Porgy & Bess) & a chance to go to the National African Violet Convention in S.F. I'm sure it would sound very trivial. Anyway I will take a dress & shoes and play it by ear.
I am going to see if I can take my walker for mom. It folds & I think I can check it thru. Clarice said they'd been trying to find one, she didn't know I'd kept mine. They are really expensive and I decided to hang on to it in case anyone needed it. It's a Jr. size & should be right for mom. I was just getting ready to cut out a mu-mu for mom and Clarice said not to. She'd found another one. I asked her about the shawl & she said no to that too. She says mom doesn't need & can't really appreciate very much right now. I'll come up with something for Mother's Day though. Bob still hasn't called & Clarice said it would really thrill mom if he did. Clarice said mom really wants to go to the wedding. She bought her a dress (she refused to wear the one she wore to Dad's funeral). She said it's sort of lavendar & goes with the shawl Selma knitted so she has it whether she gets to go or not.
I've really been gimpy the last 3 days. Yesterday I forced myself to walk over to Julie's & get a haircut & set. I was almost home when I got a ride. It isn't any worse today but I really expected it to be better. Probably tension affects me also. Well anyway Kliban is doing fine if he had a bigger allowance I'd have him send flowers to "Good Kitty." Of course he'd have been more interested in "G. K." a week ago.
Looks like I cut a violet label out of this paper. Oh well, I gotta cut it short anyway. I really should write Erma a note but it's so hard. I want to pour my heart out to her and if I did it would be so tear-soaked she couldn't read it. I couldn't stand get-well cards when Clair was sick -- they seemed such a mockery and I can't see any that I could send Erma, except religious ones. I'll leave that to Wanda who means it so sincerely.
Here is a check for part of the phone bill. Whoever said "talk is cheap," evidently said it before Alexander Graham B. came up with his little bomb shell. I heard on T.V. they are raising it again. Do you realize if you'd dumped everyone else on this phone bill you could've come to visit me. Course getting back might've been a problem anyway.
I'll call you soon
Love, Doris
P.S. -- just called T. agency: They priced the ticket on Republic at just under $200 (Regular fare $300). I protested because that's what they quoted you from L.A. So she looked up United & found that I could go for $149 so I took it. The earliest I can go is Apr. 21st & return May 20. (I can change that if it seems necessary)
POETRY
When the doctor said, "Where do you hurt?"
I answered him quite pathetically.
Shall I start at the head, shall I start at the toe,
or would you like it told alphabetically.
Let's take "A" for ankle, the one on the right,
yes that is the one with the plate.
If you took out the hardware it wouldn't hurt much,
and then it would look like it's mate.
"B" is for brain which is functioning fine,
except for the memory lapse.
Is there some magic potion that you could prescribe
that would help me fill in the gaps.
Oh dear, I must finish this some other time
I don't have an ailment for "C".
You either have cured it, or I have endured it!
I'll come back next Tuesday at three.
Christmas Poem
Long years ago one winter day there lay a baby dear.
Within a manger on the hay with oxen standing near.
His mother smiled, the oxen lowed and loud the bells did ring.
The people came to welcome him and hear the angels sing.
The wise men came on camels three across the desert far.
They brought with them great gifts of gold and followed one bright star.
Because there lay a baby dear within a manger on the hay.
That's why we have once every year our happy Christmas Day.Citations
Francis LaVern "Vern" Pullen1
M, #23, b. 12 September 1916, d. 12 December 1977Parents
Father William Francis Pullen (b. 25 June 1896, d. 23 February 1970) Mother Pauline Henrietta Warrick (b. 1899, d. 15 February 1977) Pedigree Link Family: Clarice June Hillman (b. 26 June 1916, d. 11 March 2006)
Daughter Clarice Joan "Joan" Pullen+ Daughter Jill Jerene Pullen+ Son Michael Vern "Mike" Pullen+ Son Joe Monroe Pullen+ (b. 30 January 1947, d. 4 March 2010) Daughter Bonnie Kay Pullen+ BASIC FACTS
Francis LaVern "Vern" Pullen was born on 12 September 1916 in Bayard, Morrill Co., Nebraska.1 He and Clarice June Hillman were married on 1 January 1937. He died on 12 December 1977, at age 61, in New Plymouth, Payette Co., Idaho.Francis LaVern "Vern" Pullen had reference number 23.Citations
- [S12355] Pullen Family History prepared by Clarice Joan (Pullen) Webster in 1988, Source Medium: Book
Clarice Joan "Joan" Pullen1
F, #24Parents
Father Francis LaVern "Vern" Pullen (b. 12 September 1916, d. 12 December 1977) Mother Clarice June Hillman (b. 26 June 1916, d. 11 March 2006) Pedigree Link Family: Walter "Junior" Webster, Jr., (b. 6 September 1934, d. 7 December 2018)
Daughter Ellen Marie Webster+ Son Timothy Wayne Webster (b. 4 December 1960, d. 9 July 1976) Son Clay Alan Webster+ BASIC FACTS
Clarice Joan "Joan" Pullen and Walter "Junior" Webster, Jr., were married on 26 June 1954 in Notus, Canyon Co., Idaho.1,2Citations
Michael Vern "Mike" Pullen1
M, #25Parents
Father Francis LaVern "Vern" Pullen (b. 12 September 1916, d. 12 December 1977) Mother Clarice June Hillman (b. 26 June 1916, d. 11 March 2006) Pedigree Link Family: Donna Lee Spafford
Son Robert William Pullen+ Daughter Lisa Ann Pullen BASIC FACTS
Michael Vern "Mike" Pullen and Donna Lee Spafford were married on 3 July 1968.1Citations
- [S12370] Records of Clarice Joan (Pullen) Webster received 7/16/99, Source Medium: Book