Wanda Romaine (GEARHART) RICHARDS

Wanda was b1935 in Altoona, PA to Eldon and Marguerite (BROKAW) GEARHART. Eldon had been working since 3-1-1931 for the Standard Oil Co of NY (later 'Socony') as a travelling salesman for gas and oil products. Initially he was based in Philly, but later transferred to Altoona. The family lived at 2604 Pleasant Valley Blvd (Altoona) and moved there in late Dec 1933. They began 1935 on a low note, suffering from 'the grippe' (bad colds?) and using Vicks vapor rub and vapors with bed rest (p114 of Wanda's later bk JiF1). By March, Margie (Eldon's nickname for his wife) writes 'things were changing at work for Eldon [hmmm, likely meant Depression getting worse, more work for less $]. In March we ran out of coal and the house was getting chilly when Eldon pulled in at 4am with a 1.5 tons of coal in his trailer. What a relief!' (p118). 3rd child Wanda was b. Mo 8 Apr 1935 and (Margie's mom) Rosa arrived a few days before that (from Lansing, MI) to stay for 3 months to help Margie. On 1 May, Eldon 'had a disagreement with [maid] Madeleine about how to fry potatoes and [she] quit. We were fortunate to find a new girl, Elizabeth GROBOSKI, who [started] 2 May' (119) and stayed til 1936 (VERY helpful to Margie on many occasions, the last of many helpers they'd hired beginning in mid-1931 i.e. after Rosena was born). In Oct Eldon stopped at the car races in Tyrone, just N of Altoona on his way home from a business trip. Then on 22 Oct 1935 5yo Rosena and (nearly) 4yo Meg went to their 1rst day of kindergarten at the Altoona YMCA. In November Eldon went hunting at McVeytown (nearby? not on map) and brought home an 18# turkey for dinner. On 13 Nov Bill (Uncle Willy) and Lois had their 1rst child; Wm Ellsworth (Bill who later moved to Alaska). Again on Sa 21 Dec 1935 they ran out of coal, so Eldon went to get some more and on Su he stayed home to 'fire the furnace' (p126, like on 'A Christmas Story' :-) ).

Then on New Year's Day 1936 they had venison from a 4-point buck Eldon had earlier shot and had prepared in Sunbury, and the girls bundled up and played outside in the snow, as dog Fritz pulled them in the big sled Eldon had made for them. Little Wanda had a close call on Su 1 Mar 1936 with carbon monoxide poisoning; Elizabeth saved the day (Wanda was in the kitchen just above the garage where the car was running, and exhaust fumes managed to leak into the room, Eliz noticed the baby having trouble breathing and rushed her outside). Then on 17 Mar 1936 came the disastrous Johnstown (PA) Flood (25 killed, 1889 flood k. >2k, not far away, next town to SW, politically important as folks DEMANDED govt action). Many cottages at nearby Canoe Creek were washed away. In early May 1936 Margie and the girls drove back to MI to bring Rosa back to Lansing, and stayed with BOLLINGER relatives en route at Akron, OH (p133). Eldon arrived in MI 29 May. He along with Jim BOWDEN Sr (and ?yo Billy, 12yo Jim Jr), Uncle Willy and Dad GEARHART (Dervin) drove from Lansing to see the Indy 500. That's when (Jim Jr later said) a man cut off Eldon for a parking spot, so Eldon lifted him by the collars and 'told him to move, which the shaking man promptly did' (134). Margie later said 'that was a case when his red-haired temperament came through. Luckily no one was hurt'. The last week in June Eldon sold his motorcycle, since he was working on getting his pilot's license and didn't have time for it. They saw the movie 'Sins of Man' for their 7th anniversary (7-25-36). Their last movie together was 'China Clipper' in Aug 1936. Then she says 'Sunday, August 30, 1936, changed my life forever' (p139). They'd been married 7+ years and lived in Altoona for 2.7 years.

Eldon was nearly 32yo (33 if b1903 as I suspect) when he was killed in a plane crash. The crash occurred near Sunbury, PA. He had stopped for a pilot training lesson there en route from Altoona to Trenton, NJ where he was heading on yet another of his endless business trips worked as an 'automotive engineer' (gas/oil salesman) for Socony. The 'Great Lakes Trainer' (open, 4-cylinder biplane, pic) airplane was caught in a downdraft and crashed at around 3:30pm in a field near the airport (cf Eldon2). He was only 2.5 hours shy of getting his license when he died (out of ? hours total) and had gotten his student pilot's license on 8/15. He was well-known in the area as a salesman for Socony-Vacuum Oil Co, having visited often. Margie later narrated that 'Eldon was the type of person who put 100% of himself into everything he did. For that reason I always said when he went into flying that either he'd be an ace pilot or he'd kill himself trying' (139). Her baby (Willard) was due in 6 weeks, so she often felt sick during the hot summer days. On that last Sunday morning, he'd dropped R and M off at Sunday School on his way out of town heading for Trenton with a stop at Sunbury. Margie got a call from the Sunbury police saying Eldon had been in an accident, that it was bad, and that she should come there. Her friends Mr and Mrs McDOWELL agreed to drive her there (120 miles) in her car. Elizabeth stayed with the girls. Eldon's only word after the accident had been 'ouch' as they lifted him out of the plane and into an ambulence. His instructor Mr SPAID had a broken jaw and leg (2 places), but survived. Mr McDOWELL identified the body. The body was brought to Altoona (by a funeral home?) and on Monday evening (8/31) loaded onto an overnight train bound for Detriot, which Margie also boarded later after taking a sleeping pill (a person must accompany a body). Sis Leah would meet her in Detroit (and call funeral home there). The whole family went to the Grand Trunk Train Station at 4:30pm Tu afternoon to meet the body, and Margie said at the viewing later that evening all were 'surprised at how good he looked in spite of his fractured skull in the terrible accident' (143). The funeral was Th 3 Sep Gorsline Funeral Home and he was laid to rest at Deepdale Cemetary (pallbearers 4 bil's Jim BOWDEN, Roger HAMLIN, Wainerd GARDNER, Bill BROKAW and 2 friends). After talking with her family (esp. Rosa) it was decided Margie would wait til the baby was born, then move back to Lansing area. Rosa would accompany her back to Altoona to stay with her til she could move. Thank God Eldon had purchased a $5k insurance policy (p138) when he began flight training, so Margie had something to work with in making a new living e.g. buying/renting property. They arrived back in Altoona late Sunday night (6 Sep) and the 2 older girls started school the next morning. She says that Th would've been Eldon's 33rd bday (so b1903 ?). Some men from his company came to dismantle the car equipment and sort thru his tools, taking what belonged to the company. Many friends stopped to offer their condolences. Mr McDOWELL (Mac) later brought Eldon's last paycheck, which they needed. This is when Rosa worked on (finished) the quilt made of old ties. Willard was b. Tu 13 Oct 1936 at Altoona Hospital. Not long after the insurance check arrived, Margie bought a rental property (11/2 bank draft) in Lansing for 3200 and put the other 1800 in the bank. Also paid $800 for a small 2nd rental on Rosa's farm. Then on 11/6 FDR won a 2nd term, beating GOP Alf LANDON (and VP Frank KNOX). The next Sunday 11/8 they celebrated Meg's 5th bday. Soon after Margie (and Meg and Willard) took a train to Lansing to look at properties to buy, while Rosa (and Elizabeth) looked after Rosena (sick) and Wanda. p/u p152 ...

Family moved back to Lansing 12-17-36 (Margie had lived there ~3yrs, since 12-30-33, Wanda was ~20mos old) bk 2 p155 ... 2-15-37 Margie gets a 'haunting letter' from her mom (Rosa) telling how she went to a Psychic in N Philly ... ?! (p159) ... then in Mar Margie rcvs a nice condolence ltr from old beau Milton 39yo (b1898), he was attending seminary in Philly (he'd gone to see Margie's sis Rhena in the hospital there (had dau Annabelle Rosa [later m. Cope] on 2-14-37) and asked how Margie was doing i.e. he'd heard from a friend re Eldon ... celebrated Wanda's 2nd bday 4-8-37 by shopping and fixing up one of Margie's rental units (163) ... Milton made it obvious by visits and letters that he still loved Margie, so they were engaged later that year (10-13-37 p192 little Wanda VERY sick, infection -> ears, Dr came, fever broke after 6 days) ... tragedy strikes again as little 15mo old Willard d. 1-19-38 of very fast onset spinal meningitis (1st indication 1/11, Wanda 3mos shy of 3yo) ... for context, 2mos later 3/13 was the Anschluess as Nazi Germany invaded Austria ... Apr '38 Wanda has 2 bday parties; Leah hosted a dinner for the extended family and Peggy/Wainerd (Eldon's sis/hubby) had hosted that side of family (222 pic of Wanda in Eldon-made chair) ... Margie and Milton were m. Sa 5-28-38 by Rev GILLESPIE at Elkhart, IN (Milton was to t/o as pastor there) ... more context; 9-29-38 Munich Pact (Neville CHAMBERLAIN waves paper and claims 'Peace in our Time'), 3-10-39 Germany annexes Czechoslovakia, 9-1-39 Germany invades Poland (UK declares war, starting WWII), also in 1939 'Wizard of Oz' and 'Gone With the Wind' movies released ... Wanda was planning to write a 3rd bk but never finished it (rats) ...

Wanda would've grad'd from ? HS in Peru, IN, May 1953 (18yo) (the family moved there when Wanda was 14yo in '49 and stayed til at least '54 after she'd grad'd HS cf Milton link above) ... she then earned a BA in Elementary Education (4yrs to May 1957) from the University of Omaha and MA in Counseling and Guidance (2yrs to May 1959) from Ball State University. Wanda spent more than 35 years in the field of education (59-94), from elementary school teacher to various district-level administrative roles. She retired as the director of curriculum/instruction for the De Pere School District ...

Wanda Romaine G b. 4-8-1935 m. 8-31-1956 Nappanee, IN James 'Jim' RICHARDS b. 6/11/1933 (she 21yo he 23yo) Welsh ancestors, when Green BROKAW bk was pub'd c1965 they lived at Logansport, IN, Jim a mgr of Equitable Assurance Society [Life Ins], Wanda teaching, 2 kids, Jim had served several yrs in svc (USAF?) in Japan [incl. flying in cargo jets] and was attending college in Peru, IN when they met [Wanda's family lived there, 'daddy' Milton a pastor]. My earliest memory of visiting the family was in Logansport, a single-level home with an open carport. Later they moved to a 2-story 1940s era home in Ft Wayne, IN. I remember it had a basement half-below ground, since concrete steps in front led to the main level about 4-5' off the ground, with a nice covered porch where the front door was. I think Uncle Jim worked for Boy Scouts at that time, since he took us all out into a snowy area where the Boy Scout camp was and cooked us up some delicious chile. I remember driving as far as we could, then tromping through deep snow to get out there (I had small legs at the time!). Betsy had an 'Easy-bake Oven' and also a heater for making 'Creepy Crawlers' rubber bugs, which we had fun with. I can still picture the upstairs area where we stayed and spent the most time.

Later they moved to Shawano, WI, where they lived for ~20yrs. For most of those years our SAWYER family would drive over (sometimes took the Ludington, MI to Manitowock, WI ferry) to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. Usually it wasn't long after the '1st snow' of the season. Lots of nice memories of great food (including Aunt Wanda's cranberry ice), football games, card games (spades, pincochle) and talking/laughing. Aunt Wanda always had Better Homes and Gardens magazines which I sometimes looked through, and her home showed it! Wanda worked in education (incl. special issues related to the Menomenee Native population in that area) and Jim for a time ran a picture-framing business (at home but also recall visiting a rented office, hmmm). I remember one year the bestselling book was 'Looking Out for Number 1' (I guess we saw it at a bookstore near his shop) and there were big discussions about that. Jim smoked a pipe so their home was pleasantly aromatic. There were usually cats around but they didn't trust us visitors much. A river ran just behind their home so we'd take walks there and around the charming neighborhood.

A special memory my wife and I have is when Jim and Wanda came to visit us while we lived in Munich, Germany. We were there from June 1990 to Dec '91, they visited I think that fall. We showed them around Munich and also traveled to Kitzbuehel, Austria just S of Salzburg. The famous Berchtesgaden and Hitler's 'Eagle's Nest' is also in that area. We played pinochle, Uncle Jim's favorite game (which he'd taught our SAWYER family many years before and which we still love playing). For some reason we kept beating them, and he reminded me for years about that. We also visited many gift shops there, and I remember some of the storekeepers weren't very happy about us tourists handling and checking out their goods! Anyway a very nice time with them and glad they visited us there.

We've also seen the RICHARDS family at quite a few family reunions ... cf Rosena.html for dates/places ...

Places:
- earlier?
- Logansport, IN c1965 (single-level home w/carport, angled supts)
- Fort Wayne, IN late 60s (2-story 1940s home w/half bur. basement, concrete stairs walk up to nice front porch ... like Innes, Eldon's Altoona home ...
- 113 S Bartlett, Shawano, WI 54166
- 4401 Flagstone Ct, De Pere, WI 54115 (6/87)
- N 7365 Lost Nation Rd, Elkhorn, WI 53121 (4-29-02)
- 804 Burr Oak Trail, Whitewater, WI 53190 (9-25-09 summers)
- 806 Manchester Ct, Englewood, FL 34223 (11/12 winters)

Formidable Women: A Brief Tribute to Four Sisters and a Mother

My Aunt Wanda died yesterday! You can see her clockwise top left in this picture taken in 1995 shortly before my own mom (lower left) grew sick with a form of lewy-body dementia which would eventually take her life in 2014. I grew up surrounded by these women, these four sisters who, together with their mother (my grandmother) and their husbands helped shape me as a big part of my 'family' in the earliest years of my life.

A little background here. Grandpa Eldon, grandma’s first husband and my biological grandfather, died in a plane crash in 1936 long before I was born, leaving my grandmother to care for her then 3 small girls, the oldest being my mom at age 6 and the youngest Wanda at age 2 with my aunt Meg, age 4, in between (top right). Among other things, and long before it became acceptable as a woman, my grandmother cared for her small family of girls by becoming an iterant preacher back in the late 1930’s serving numerous country churches in remote rural locations in central Michigan. Eventually my grandmother remarried to my step-grandpa Milton, the only grandfather I ever knew. But let’s just say as a family of all women later joined my aunt Ginny by grandpa Milton (bottom right), the four sisters and their mother never suffered fools gladly, hahaha.

I have had a unique relationship with each of the 4 sisters, obviously including my mom but also with my aunts beginning with Wanda. Since Wanda and my uncle Jim and their family lived mostly in Wisconsin, I saw them often over the years including many summers, holidays (especially Thanksgivings), and later as adults any time we were in the area. The hospitality wagon was always out and I certainly enjoyed my fair share of time at their home!

Again long before it was in vogue, Wanda became a senior masters-level educator at a time when women were often coming up harshly against the 'glass ceiling'. But that never seemed to hold Wanda (or my Aunt Meg) back in the slightest. They plowed ahead in their lives both public and private and, as strongly determined women, they set a model for me with the result that I have always assumed that women belonged in the top level of leadership positions no matter what the business, organization, or church!

Thank you, Aunt Wanda, for your love, your care, your warmth & hospitality, and especially for showing me the way in terms of faith, family, and gender leadership & equality! You will be sorely missed!

Betsy's fb (linked to) obit and pic

Wanda G. Richards, 85, of Whitewater, WI, passed away on Fr 31 Jul 2020 at the Rainbow Hospice Center, Johnson Creek, WI. Wanda was born Mo 8 Apr 1935 in Altoona, PA, to Eldon and Marguerite (BROKAW) GEARHART. Wanda married James H. RICHARDS in Nappanee, IN, on 31 Aug 1956.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by 3 children, Elizabeth (Ernest) STETENFELD, Laura (John) VITALE, and David (Carrie) RICHARDS; 8 grandchildren, Daniel STETENFELD, Maria (Allen) VITALE-ECHON, Rebecca VITALE, Rachel STETENFELD, Helen RICHARDS, Grace RICHARDS, Amelia RICHARDS, and Charlotte RICHARDS; 1 great-grandchild, Oliver ECHON; and 2 sisters, Marguerite (Charles) KRAFT, and Virginia (Norman) YOST. Wanda was preceded in death by her parents and her adoptive father, John Milton BOWMAN; one sister, Rosena (James) SAWYER; and one brother, Willard GEARHART.

Wanda received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Omaha and her master’s in counseling and guidance from Ball State University. Wanda spent more than 35 years in the field of education, from elementary school teacher to various district-level administrative roles. She retired as the director of curriculum/instruction for the De Pere School District. Wanda enjoyed gardening, traveling, and painting. Most of all, she loved spending time with her family. She was a member of First United Methodist Church, Whitewater. A private burial will take place at the Roselawn Memory Gardens, Lake Geneva, WI.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the American Cancer Society and/or Rainbow Hospice Care, Jefferson, WI.

'And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
- Romans 8:28

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link to o/l obit

Meg, Wanda, baby Willard and Rosena late 1936

Mom holding baby Willard, Rosena on left, Meg on right,
Wanda sitting, soon after Willard was b. 10-13-36

The family in 1937

Wanda in 1952 (17yo)

Composite late 50s, early 60s

Aug 1983 in Grand Haven, MI

dev'd 3-29-04, Jim/W enjoying a boatride near Elkhorn, WI

... get wedding pic ...

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