Edna Iona Vilven Spears

• Individual
• Family
• Ancestors
• Descendants
• Relationship
• Timeline
• GEDCOM
• Suggest

«Prev 1 2 3 4     » Slide Show

Birthday- Spears, Edna 2

A Remarkable Lady Celebrates Her 90th Birthday

by Dorothy N. Hoobler
Remember the time when celebrating a 90th birthday was a rare and exceptional event? Well, it is still a very special occasion, but it’s no longer rare. Have you noticed how many 90th birthday observances have occurred in St. Marys and the surrounding communities recently? To each and every one of those celebrants, we say “Congratulations” and extend our very best wishes.

Many of our readers will already know Mrs. Edna Vilven Spears of Rossville. This remarkable, active, and very alert lady will observe her 90th birthday on August 11, 1998. The “Star,” on several occasions over the years, has published a journal of the fascinating trips she and her well-known husband, the late LaVerne H. Spears, made to all parts of the world. We followed his work during the ten years he served in the Kansas State House of Representatives. Thanks are due, too, for his 34 years as an active member of the Cross Creek Watershed District #42 Board. Because those dams were built for flood control, Cross Creek hasn’t flooded Rossville for a number of years.

But, this is Edna’s story. She will be honored with an open house on Sunday afternoon, August 16, from 3 until 5 p.m. at the Rossville United Methodist Church. You are all invited.

Edna is the daughter of the late Arthur and Gertrude Vilven, who had a truck garden near Wamego until the 1903 flood. Eventually, they bought 160 acres of land northeast of Rossville. For ten years they had a peach and apple orchard. There, at Harmony Gardens, customers bought delicious fresh fruits and cider until the year that a terrible hail storm destroyed the trees.

LaVerne had also grown up in the Wamego area. He and Edna were married on December 3, 1927, and their daughters were born in 1929 and 1931. The Spears family felt the Depression years like everyone else, so he went to Kansas State, where he earned his degree in Business Administration in 1936, taking some classes by correspondence course. He began to use what he had learned at K-State in a variety of enterprises — a Piggely Wiggely store in Abilene, an implement store in Valley Falls, a Gambles business in Wamego, a partnership in the Rossville Implement Agency, agency manager for the Shawnee County Farm Bureau, and the farm north of Rossville where they raised livestock and grain. In all of these ventures, Edna was his bookkeeper, his partner, and his support.

They moved to the city of Rossville in 1952, and built their present home on Parkway, across from the city park. Rossville, like so many other small, rural communities, was sadly run down, both in the business and residential areas. So, in 1954, camera in hand, La Verne traversed the town, photographing the piles of trash, the unkempt park, the unpainted business fronts, and the backyard outhouses. When Spears showed his home movies to the newly organized Rossville Community Improvement Association two weeks later, everyone realized the town needed a face lift.

The people all pitched in. One thousand dollars were raised through a street dance, Bingo games, a pancake feed, and a ball game. Editor Bill Murray of the “Rossville Reporter,” wrote, “Elbow grease was the main ingredient of our success.” The Lions Club led the town’s other organizations in an excellent example of teamwork and cooperation, and the town got is new look. The next year, Spears got out his camera again to show all the improvements; then he spliced them together for “before and after” pictures.

Edna remarked that this old film was shown recently at the Senior Center by their son-in-law, Bill Larson. Many remembered the old days, and certainly appreciated all the improvements that Rossville and its citizens have continued to make over the past 44 years. Incidentally, LaVerne was elected mayor in 1955, and served for ten years.

Because LaVerne loved to travel, and Edna does, too, they went on many fabulous trips through the Farmer-to-Farmer tours organized by the California Farm Bureau. Edna like the tour to New Zealand best; the country was so beautiful and, besides, she laughed, “Everyone spoke English!” She like China, too, and South America, and South Africa, and Europe, and Australia, and Russia, and also Alaska and Hawaii. “I like them all,” she admitted.

Another valued phase of her life was all the time LaVerne spent in the Kansas House of Representatives. She had so many interesting experiences, even working as a clerk preparing document booklets (with copies of bills, and other legal papers) for her husband and four other legislators. There were social events with other wives, too. She had a term as president of the Legislative Wives Association and the Kansas Native Sons and Daughters.

Mrs. Spears has been very active in the Rossville United Methodist Church, serving as treasurer for 19 years. She transferred to Rossville from the Wamego congregation 60 years ago, and is probably the oldest member of the church. The Spears were both active and long-time members of the Order of the Eastern Star. In 1970, they established the LaVerne and Edna Spears Scholarship at K.S.U. for students with an O.E.S. background. To date, 60 junior and senior students have benefited from the Spears’ generosity. In 1983, they established the Willowbrook Methodist Church Foundation in Sun City, Ariz., which awards scholarships to students attending seminary.

In 1977, they bought a home in Sun City and spent the winter months there until La Verne’s death on December 15, 1991, after 64 years of marriage. Edna still spends her winters there. Her daughter, Helen, and husband, Bob Miller, live just four blocks away. Their daughter, Ruth, and her husband, Bill Larson, live in Rossville. There are four grandsons, one granddaughter, eight great-grandchildren, two stepgreat-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. Most will be present for Edna’s birthday celebration on August 16.

As exciting as Edna’s life has been, I was most fascinated by her description of her weekly letter writing activities. Several years ago, she began writing diary-like letters to her grandchildren and old friends. Response was so positive, she expanded the mailing list to include 32 people — shut-ins, old classmates, and neighbors (in Sun City in the summer, and Rossville in the winter). She also includes a joke or two, usually ones she has shared at lunch time at the Rossville Senior Center.

She has been a member of the bridge club for 60 years, and still plays every two weeks. She loves to read. “If you are feeling low, you can always bury yourself in a book,” she advises.

Edna was careful to point out that the town of Rossville was originally named Edna, and the street in town by that designation is named for the original town, not for her. Considering all the contributions that Edna and LaVerne Spears have made to the Rossville community, perhaps it should have been named in her honor.

Happy Birthday, Edna, and many, many more!

«Prev 1 2 3 4     » Slide Show