Love - The Odessa Record "By Your Relative"

Odessa Record subscriber Larry Fisher of Spokane continues his series of articles on the history of the Batum/Lauer area (where his wife, the former Joyce Kiesz, grew up).

Hi, here I am again.

The next articles presented about relatives from the L-B-D are because if I don’t, I will be asked to leave my Spokane home permanently. I will find all my possessions out in the street. Clothes cut in pieces, computer destroyed, truck tires slashed, money source gone. I guess, I would be “homeless,” “penniless.” Therefore the next relatives are …….. (drum row please) ……. the “Kiesz Children” – complements of Edward & Bertha Raugust Kiesz.

1920 --- Edward Kiesz/Bertha Raugust met at a dance in Ruff, Grant Co., Washington; eventually married 10/6/1920, in Ritzville, Washington. The wedding was a double wedding with Bertha’s brother, Rudolph “Rudy” Raugust and Margaret Reimann.

Ed and Bertha started their married life out living on the “Wilhelm Kiesz Lauer Farm” located about 3-1/2 miles south of Lauer adjacent to what is now called the Lauer Road. In 1927, they moved on to the “Jacob Raugust farm,” ¼ mile south of Batum in the L-B-D.

The Kiesz children – two boys, two girls are really two groups separated by eleven plus years. The boys, Virgil Elsworth - b.1922, and Gordon Orlin - b.1925 were born at the “Wilhelm Kiesz Lauer Farm.” The girls, Marian June – b.1936, and Joyce Elaine – b.1937 were born at the Raugust/Goede/Gail-Mike “Gus” Kiesz farm at Batum where the barn exists today.

When you listen to Virgil (group #1.), and Marian/Joyce (group #2.) talk about their lifestyles growing up in the L-B-D, it’s like black vs. white. The only things common with the brothers/sisters are Bertha’s cooking and her work from dawn to dusk, and Ed’s no nonsense approach to work from dawn to dusk while at the same time, being a very kind hearted person. Also, both groups remembered the dirt, dust and being “dirt” poor (no money period).

Until next time.

Your Relative,

Spokane