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Mary Lena (Hall) Kepner (1906 - 1990)

Mary Lena Kepner formerly Hall
Born in Bogard Twp., Henry Co., MOmap
Ancestors ancestors
Wife of — married 15 Dec 1931 in Clinton, Henry, Missouri, United Statesmap
Descendants descendants
Mother of , [private daughter (1930s - unknown)], and
Died at age 84 in Bogard Twp., Henry Co., MOmap
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Profile last modified | Created 15 Jun 2014
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Biography

Mary (Hall) Kepner has Irish ancestors.

Mary Lena was born in Jan. 31, 1906. She was named for a doll called Lena her father gave her mother after several years with two sons and no daughter. Her grandmothers both were named Mary, so she became Mary Lena. Her Hall relatives called her Mary, while her Hendrick relatives called her Lena. When Mary was quite young, the family moved to Torrance County, New Mexico, where they lived a mile south of Cedarvale, hoping the drier climate would benefit her father, Ose Hall, who suffered from tuberculosis. Mary remenbered one day when her mother was working in her garden. Mary saw something, and said "Look, Mommie. Cow pie." It was actually a rattlesnake. In those days Torrance County was known as the pinto bean capital of the world. Several relatives of her parents also moved to the area, including her grandfather, James Madison Hendrick, where all owned land entered from the Government. The nearest water was in the mountains, and it was a full day's trip to load water in barrels and haul it home. Mary retained a lifelong fear of snakes, and was always conservative of water.[1]

Before Mary started school, the family moved back to Missouri. Her mother, Martha, missed the home folks. Mary completed her elementary education at Cornett school about a mile from her home. During this time, her father would spend time in Missouri, and when his illness worsened he would go back to New Mexico. He died in 1915, when Mary was 9 years old.[1]

Mary enrolled at Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri, but did not like it there, and ran away, ending her formal education. She worked for the Kansas City Gun Club hunting lodge southeast of Hartwell for a time. Blevind Davis was smitten by Mary, and they were engaged briefly. Mary didn't like being tied down, and was confined by her mother's long illness, and the engagement ended. Mary and her mother, Martha, raised Buff Orpington chickens, and sold eggs to pay the rent on the farm, which belonged to Mary's grandfather. As a girl, Mary learned to sew, cook, and crochet, which she enjoyed all her life. The death of her mother when Mary was 23 years old was a severe blow. Without parents or a sister, Mary became very close to her aunts, Alice Collins and Belle Hendrick, and her cousins, Eunice and Inez Hendrick. Mary's grandmother Hall died when Mary was 15, and she and her brothers inherited their father's part of the Hall estate. Since Mary was under age, a guardian (John W. Morgan, her aunt Belle's husband) was appointed for her estate. They continued to live at the home place after their mother's death. Mary's bachelor uncles continued to live at the Jesse Hall main house. In 1926 her Grandfather Hendrick died, leaving Mary without parents or grandparents.[1]

At age 18, as soon as she was eligible, Mary joined the Eastern Star. A highlight of her life was the receipt of her 50-year pen from the OES. She was very active in the Urich Chapter of OES, serving as Worthy Matron several times, and all offices available to her. She also served as District Deputy Grand Matron, which was thrill for her. Mary was very pleased when her husband, Glenn, joined the Masonic Order, and reached the 32nd degree of Scottish Rite. She and Glenn traveled extensively visiting OES Chapters in Missouri and several other states. After the Urich Eastern Star closed, Mary and Glenn transferred their membership to Garden City. They also joined the Order of White Shrine of Jerusalem in Harrisonville.[1]

Mary enjoyed attending dances with her brothers. All were good dancers. During this time she met Glenn Sterling Kepner, who could not dance at all. However, she had a car, and taught her to drive, which she really enjoyed. Glenn was a tall, strong, good-looking man, and the pretty young Mary fell in love with him, although she was two years older. They were married Dec. 15, 1931 at Clinton, Missouri. The courthouse records give the wrong year for the marriage, but it is obviously wrong. The license was returned in January, after the turn of the year, and is dated December 1932, which had not occurred yet. Mary's brothers announced the marriage, and the announcement gives the correct date. The young couple went to Oklahoma for their honeymoon, to visit Mary's cousins.[1]

Mary had purchased her brothers' interest in their home place, and added two rooms to the east side of the house. Mary and Glenn farmed the place for several years, through the terrible droughts of the 1930's. Glenn was able to get on with the Works Projects Administration (WPA) to help keep them going. Glenn's brother-in-law, Robert Dayton, helped Glenn get a job with Gleaner-Baldwin in Independence, MO. [2] During this time the couple's first two children were born. In spite of drought, with grasshoppers eating the fenceposts and harness on the horses and mules while they were working, and a flood when Mary said she was standing on the railroad levee and could feel it shaking, the family hung on to their farm. Not long before World War II swept up the United States, Mary suffered a miscarriage.[1]

The Kepner family, as did their neighbors, raised cattle, corn and oats. The horses and mules powered their machinery, and corn, oats and hay powered the livestock. Chickens provided much of the cash money to pay taxes and buy staples that weren't raised on the farm. A few hogs were raised each year to supply lard, meat for the table and drippings to make soap. Mary had a "sugar-cure" recipe which she used on hams that was delicious. Glenn's parents made it a point to come help with the butchering, as Mary's sugar-cured hams were better than the Kepners' were.[1]

During World War II, Glenn's brother, Lee, was in the Army in the Pacific. Mary's brothers were older, and farmers, as was Glenn, so they were exempt from military service as the food they raised was critical to the war effort. During this period another child was born. About 1945, Mary was saddled with an even larger burden. Glenn and the three girls had measles. Glenn developed pneumonia, and from complications of the diseases, he developed ulcerated varicose veins, which rendered him lame for many years. Mary's two bachelor uncles, who lived on the Hall place, died, and another inheritance was due to Mary. Using that money and a loan from Federal Land Bank, they purchased the 400-acre Hall farm from the Hall estate. The last child was born in 1947, after the purchase of the Hall land, but before the move. The farm was rented out at the time, and possession couldn't be taken until March. All the Ose Hall children and Mary Kepner children were born on the "little place" 120-acre farm, which now belongs to George and Margaret Kerns, one of the Kepner children.[3]

Glenn was adept at repairing things, and loved tools and machinery. At the time his children were growing up, neighbors shared work, and hired Glenn's threshing machine to process their wheat and oats. The wives and children gathered at the farm where the threshing was being done, and helped "get dinner" for all the "hands" working that day. In those days of no electricity, it was hot work, both outdoors and indoors. Most families had screens on the doors and windows to keep out flies. Usually the yards were shaded, which helped some. Few houses had pumps inside, so water was either pumped or drawn with buckets to be taken inside. Older children helped cook, and younger ones carried water and garbage, and swatted flies and shooed dogs and chickens away.[3]

Mary was active in PTA and also in Extension Club. She enjoyed playing pinochle and putting together crossword puzzles. She was raised to be a refined young lady, but hardships forced her into a tougher role. She helped dig coal and deliver it to cellars in Urich, and took a full part in the farming, running machinery, building fence, chopping brush milking, and raising chickens and hogs, gardening and canning. She enjoyed working in the early mornings in her sandy garden at the Hall "big" place, where you could easily grow just about anything.[3]

In 1952, Osage Valley Electric Cooperative installed electricity in the farm homes, which drastically changed life for the farmers. Right away, nights were brighter. Mary immediately bought an electric range, which was a huge relief for summer-time cooking. An electric refrigerator made life easier too. Mary also got an electric sewing machine, which speeded sewing over the old treadle machine. After a few more years, they got an electric chest freezer, and canning meat disappeared, as well as did canning corn, which never kept very well. Mary had a gasoline-powered washing machine, which, though much less work than a scrub board, was really loud. Eventually this was replaced with an electric washer, about 1955, which was much quieter. About this same time, Mary's first grandchild was born.[3]

In the early 1950's, Glenn's cousin's husband, Emmett Crouse, came to live with the family for a while. Emmett built stanchions in the barn, and Glenn purchased electric milkers and a milk cooler, which made sale of Grade C milk to the cheese factory viable. About 1957, Mary's son-in-law Fred Fountain dug a trench and laid a water pipe to the kitchen, which was a major relief from pumping water and carrying it in the house. Glenn's neice's husband worked for the gas company in Kansas City, and got him a used water heater, which lasted until the house burned after Glenn and Mary's deaths.[3]

About 1957 two married daughters, Sue and Jean, with their husbands, took over the farming operation. Mary and Glenn were relieved of much of the work, but still helped with the crops. In 1960, Mary and Jean took over operation of the Sinclair Cafe in Urich, where Margaret work as waitress when she wasn't in school. After a few years, the Overbey family moved to Harrisonville, Missouri, and the joint farming operation dissolved, as did the Sinclair Cafe. Margaret, the youngest daughter got married in 1961, and moved first to Harrisonville, then to Clinton. Mary got a job as a cook at Rock Village Cafe in Clinton. She and Glenn decided to sell the "little place", and Margaret and her husband George purchased it. Glenn and Mary were able to pay off all the debt on their "big place" and enjoy some time free of debt.[3]

After Rock Village Cafe closed, Mary worked part-time for Farr's Grocery in Urich. She then worked for Country Kitchen in Clinton, until she had a severe attack of gallstones. After surgery for the gallstone, she no longer worked for wages. Mary was well respected in the community. She was a Democrat, and worked as election clerk or judge, as needed. She loved to read, especially Grace Livingston Hill romance novels. Mary enjoyed all sorts of crafts projects. She taught herself to upholster furniture. Her sister-in-law, Ruth Hall, had a ceramics studio in Nevada, Missouri where she loved to visit and work on ceramics. She learned fabric painting as well. Throughout her life, she enjoyed crocheting.[3]

Mary became ill in 1988, about the time of the first death of a grandchild. She was in and out of hospitals, and couldn't understand why she was losing her strength, because, as she insisted, "I don't have a pain about me. I'm not sick." She developed geriatric onset diabetes, and lost weight until she only weighed 95 lbs. She passed away Aug. 11, 1990. Services were from the Urich Baptist Church, with burial beside her brother Paul and theirparents in Urich Cemetery.[3]

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Source: #S66 Mary Kepner personal knowledge
  2. Gleaner Baldwin Mfg.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Source: #S5 Margaret Kerns personal recollections
  • Source: S5 Title: Kerns, Margaret Ann (Kepner), Record Type: personal memories
  • Source: S66 Title: Mary Lena (Hall) Kepner personal knowledge
  • Source: G1 Gleaner Baldwin Manufacturing click here for [1]




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It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Mary by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA test-takers in the direct maternal line: It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Mary:

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