Love - The Odessa Record "By Your Relative"

Hi, here I am again.

Last week it was about the Finks, this week we continue on.

In 1930, Reuben married Elizabeth Homberg. Four children were born during their married life –Alvin D. in 1931, Marvin in 1932 and the twins Marciel & Maurice in 1933.

The Frederick school was closed prior to 1931, therefore from 1931 to 1951, the children of Reuben & Elizabeth – Alvin D., Marvin, Marciel and Maurice attended the schools in Odessa while living with their parents on the Lincoln Co. L-B-D Conrad Fink farm. Most of the time they rode the school bus. Alvin D. graduated from Odessa High School in 1949, Marvin in 1950, Marciel in 1951.

In 1991, an article written by Linda Gustafson, published in TOR, mentioned the following:

(1.) That upon marriage, Reuben & Elizabeth lived the first year of married life on the Conrad Fink farm then they rented the Sol Doering farm at Batum which was located about 1 mile south of the Jacob Raugust farm which is where the barn exists today on Batum Road.

(2.) That Reuben & Elizabeth lived on the Sol Doering farm for four years (1931-1935).

(3.) While living on the Doering place, in addition to farming, Reuben drove school bus. He had eight children that he would picked up, take to Odessa and after school bring them back to the L-B-D. Two of the students he picked up were Don Walter and Ed Smith. For his efforts, he was paid $27 a month.

(Note: After talking with Virgil Kiesz who started riding the bus in the fall of 1934 which was just after Reuben Fink stopped driving the bus in the spring of 1934, it appears that sometime during the 1931-1934 period at least one and in some cases two children from the following families rode the bus – John C. Kissler, Jacob Wacker, Basil Oliver, Peter Schwartz, Carl Smith/Schmidt, Jacob Walter. When Virgil Kiesz started riding the bus, John Speck was the driver. Also, Alvin Fink remembers riding with his father a few times. The bus had side seats and the exhaust pipe up thru the center for heat. I believe Leroy Kuest called this type of bus a “cream puff.”)

(4.) That in 1936, the Reuben/Elizabeth family moved back to the Conrad Fink Farm until 1955 when they moved to town and let their son Alvin & Janet take over the farm.

Until next time.

Your Relative,

Spokane