Ole's Blog

In an earlier post, I mentioned the only child of my great-uncle Frank Colby Myers. After discovering that the son was still alive, in an assisted living facility in northern California, I managed to speak with his friend and business partner, Margie Kovarik-Maxhimer. Margie gave me an extensive life-history of cousin Steve, and assured me that he would approve of my posting it here, where I am adding details from other sources.

Stephen Dyer Myers was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on 07 July, 1921, to Frank Colby Myers and Mildred Dyer [Myers]. Soon thereafter, the family settled in Oakland, California, where Frank worked for many years as a city engineer, in addition to his career as a high-ranking officer in the U.S. Marines and Marine Reserves.

Stephen completed undergraduate studies at U.C. Berkeley, hurrying to finish in three years as World War 2 approached. He was not admitted to Naval ROTC, so could not follow in his father’s footsteps in the U.S. Marine Corps. Instead, he joined the Army, and served as a paratrooper in the European theater. I guess that must be pretty much the equivalent of the Marines when it comes to toughness. Margie attributed Steve’s later success in civilian life partly to the attitude he acquired as a paratrooper.

After “The War,” Steve went into business in South Lake Tahoe, California, where he achieved immediate and lasting success. His first venture consisted of two drive-in theaters, which were immensely popular in the post-war years, especially at a tourist destination in “car-happy” California. He soon sensed that the exploding popularity of television was a threat to this enterprise, and sold the drive-ins while they still would fetch a good price.

The chronological order of the next several ventures may not be quite correct, and some of them overlapped with others. Steve completed an M.B.A. at Stanford. It took him three years, because he did not attend fall term. He married Jean Thayer in 1953 (they never had children). He owned a ski shop, and for a time, a resort. Margie said it was named Echo Mountain, but there is currently no resort by that name, except a rather new one in Colorado.

Stephen’s most successful and long-lived business began as a hamburger cafe in downtown South Tahoe. Although it was only open summers, it was a great money-maker. After a few years, he expanded at the same location and added a souvenir shop. By a combination of luck and good timing, the shop acquired a large quantity of “smiley-face” buttons at the exact time they became wildly popular. Another timely move was into souvenir and custom-printed t-shirts. Even while setting up with them, Steve scoffed at the idea as a short-lived fad. “Who would want a t-shirt printed with advertising or a slogan?” he said, just before sales took off, and the t-shirts remain popular even today. Indeed, here is Google’s street view of the shop, still partly owned by Stephen and managed by his partner Margie.

In its heyday, the business was so successful that during the winter closure, Steve and Jean spent their time skiing in Europe. However, in the 1980′s, Jean developed Parkinson’s Disease, and could no longer tolerate a winter climate. The couple moved to Fairfield, California, while still holding the business and a residence in Tahoe. Jean passed away in 2008; later, Steve moved into assisted living on the same retirement campus.

I encouraged my daughter, Diana Hotelling Lana and her husband, who live near Fairfield, to pay Stephen a visit at Christmastime. They did so, showed him some photos old and new, and had a brief but very cordial chat. Steve has some challenges, but retains that “can-do” paratrooper attitude. Kudos, cousin Steve!

Before getting into the family issue, I want to finish up on the civilian component of Frank Colby Myers’ career. After joining the City of Oakland, California in 1924 as a junior engineer and draftsman, he steadily advanced through the ranks. He completed exams and received an California engineer’s license in 1930. He was a traffic engineer and “senior” engineer until called up for active duty in WW2. After the war, he served as Supervising Engineer until his retirement in 1953. He then retired and moved to the San Diego area, where he grew avocados, and remained active in public affairs, serving on the boards of a Public Utility District and the California Department of Forestry. He died in October 1973.

But what about his family? Of all the Myers family members I have talked with, only cousin Gail ever met “Uncle Frank.” This is what Gail wrote about their one and only encounter:

 … In the late 1960′s somebody knocked on the door of the Pres[ident's] manse at Monticello College in Godfrey IL where I was reigning monarch. When I opened the door I saw almost a ghost of my father. The man introduced himself as my Uncle Frank, whom I knew about because he had achieved some prominence in his lifetime my dad and then my mother talked about. He had decided to look up Larry’s kids and found my name listed somewhere and could track me down easiest he explained. He stayed overnight and another day with me. He explained he had a terminal illness (un-identified) and owned some family items he would like to get into hands of some members of the family who cared about the Myers line. Very openly and casually he told me that his own children wanted nothing to do with him or keepsakes and other artifacts he owned — how did I feel about it? He seemed quite rational and although thin (partly why he so closely resembled my dad who was sick much of my growing up) and good sense of humor and a delight to talk with. I knew enough about his city engineer in Oakland and as a Marine to probe more on those items.

Never said anything further about the estrangement from kids, and I did not even know who they were since I had no contact with him before that. Not long after he’d gone home a big box arrived and inside was a child’s rocking chair which was made by hand for him by his [maternal] grandfather, a box of a few other artifacts including a 20-dollar gold coin given to him by his older brother and a handmade sheath knife (like a Bowie) and leather scabbard with his initials burned on it which had been made for him out of a steel file and ringed heft by some of his Marines when he retired from his command — he was a Brigadier General in the Marines at one time. We hadn’t talked about what he was sending but he explained all the contents in a letter which I’ve subsequently lost but the items are in good hands. …

Many thanks to cousin Gail for that poignant anecdote. As best I have been able to determine, Frank had only one child, Stephen D Myers, pictured as a baby in the previous post. He was born 07 July 1921. Due to sloppy reading of some small print in Jody Boyd’s report, I first thought that Stephen has died in 2008. Upon more careful inspection, it turned out to be his wife who died then. I finally located Stephen at an assisted living facility in northern California, where I have tried unsuccessfully to contact him by telephone. Based on what I have uncovered so far, I suspect that he had no children, but I would like to ask him about that myself. Stay tuned.

Next: Dan Myers’ only sister, “Aunt Nora,” who has several living descendants, previously unknown to me. I made contact with one of them yesterday, and will have some info for you soon.

Frank Colby Myers (1892-1973) was the youngest brother of Dan Myers; other siblings were Harry E, Lawrence, Lenora B, and Henry B. Henry B was covered in an earlier post; the others will be featured later.

The only two photos I have found of Frank are from the collection of Stephen F. Myers of Boise, Idaho, whom I visited last month. There is still some uncertainty which of the men in the picture below is Frank and which is Henry. Based on comparisons with other pictures of Henry, I think Frank is the one on the right, next to their mother, Helen Colby Myers.Left to right:  Avis Vale Myers (1922-1992) Genevieve Dodds Myers (1894-1955), Henry Borbidge Myers, Frank Elmer Myers  (1920-2007), “Uncle Frank C” (Frank Colby Myers 1892-1973), Stephen D Myers (b. 1921 – Uncle Frank’s son), “Grandma Myers” (Helen Colby Myers 1850-1923).

If I am correct, then the next photo must be Frank with his parents, shortly before his father’s death in 1917.

In Jody Boyd‘s exhaustive study of the Harry Colby family, I found a six-page typewritten “life story” by Frank himself. I don’t know yet how Jody acquired it. The first page is a list of Frank’s family members. No details, just names and dates, most of which I already had. But the rest of the pages give a very detailed account of his dual careers, military and civilian. It seems he accomplished a great deal in both spheres.

Frank entered the US Marines as a private in 1916. By the time the US entered World War I in 1918 (near the war’s end), he had been promoted to first sergeant. After the war, he attended officers’ training. By the time he was released from active duty to the reserves in 1919, he was a first lieutenant.

In the entire narrative, there are only two brief phrases on Frank’s family life: “Married to Mildred Dyer at Des Moines, Iowa March 6, 1920,” and “Son born July 7, 1921 at Minneapolis.” Not even the son’s name (Stephen D)! More on that situation later.

Through the 1920′s, Frank studied civil engineering, while continuing his officer duties in the Marine reserves. By 1924, he was also working as a draftsman and junior engineer for the city of Oakland, California, along with continued studies and military activity. He would remain with the city government for the rest of his civilian career.

Back to the military for now: Frank was promoted to Captain in 1932, then Major and commander of the 12th Reserve Battalion, San Francisco,  in 1939. The battalion entered active duty in 1940, under his command. After US entry into WW2, and several more promotions and transfers, Frank found himself in the South Pacific. As a full Colonel, he commanded the Marine Corps shore party for the landing on Okinawa, April 1945. In 1946, after the war’s end, and a 7-month hospitalization (the cause of which was not specified), he was released from active duty. Continuing in the reserves, Frank was promoted to Brigadier General prior to his retirement.

In the next post, we will backtrack a few decades to recount Frank’s civilian career as a Civil Engineer in Oakland, and the near-absence of any information on his family life.

In an earlier post, we showed some photos of Henry, a younger brother of Dan Myers. The information I gathered from his descendants in Boise, Idaho now provides at least a skeleton of his life story. He was born in Onawa, Iowa on 09 Dec. 1888, to Stephen and Helen Myers.

In 1908, he enrolled in the University of Utah’s School of Mining. Note the assurances in this letter that Henry’s mother will be kept informed of his progress. “In parenta absentis” After graduating, he worked for many years at the coal mines near Kenilworth, Utah, where he specialized in safety engineering. Here is a card he wrote to his mother in 1921, apparently after some kind of mining safety competition in St. Louis.Henry, who was known by his nickname, “Pete,” was married 09 Mar. 1912 to Genevieve Leona Dodds of Boise, daughter of Charles Elmer Grant Dodds and Hannah Hagler.

The Dodds were a Catholic family, so the children were raised Roman Catholic. There were three Myers children: Helen Hannah (1918-1918), Frank Elmer (1920-2007 – Steve’s father), and Avis Vale Myers (Married name Pintus; 1922-1992). Both Frank and Avis had children, grandchildren, etc. I don’t have all the names of Avis’ branch yet.

Here is an extended family group shot dated 1922, with names on reverse, but not in order. Left to right:  Avis Vale Myers (1922-1992) Genevieve Dodds Myers (1894-1955), Henry Borbidge Myers, Frank Elmer Myers  (1920-2007), “Uncle Frank C” (Frank Colby Myers 1892-1973), Stephen D Myers (b. 1921 – Uncle Frank’s son) “Grandma Myers” (Helen Colby Myers 1850-1923).

This snapshot is of Henry, Avis, and Frank a few years later.

This undated, unidentified portrait is problematic. It certainly seems to be Henry and Genevieve at a considerably later date. But who is the boy? Frank would be much older, and  their grandsons were not born until after Henry’s death in 1944. They had nieces but no nephews, not that one would likely be in a portrait like this anyway. If this were Frank, aged about five, then Henry would be only about 37 years old, and Genevieve about 31. The date would be earlier than the previous snapshot. Possible, I guess. The boy does look like Frank …

Anyway, Henry Myers died 19 Nov 1944 in Boise, Idaho, survived by his wife, and Frank and Avis, who both went on to have families of their own.

stones

Next: Dan’s little-known brother, Frank Colby Myers.

I just made my planned trip to Boise, where I met several newly-discovered relatives.

On the left is Stephen Frank Myers, my second cousin. In the center is his mother, Mary Joyce Hyatt Myers, widow of Frank Elmer Myers (1920-2007), and on the right is Steve’s daughter, Vickie Myers Barnhart. We were all delighted to make this new connection and exchange stories, pictures, and information.

Before discussing Steve’s branch of the family, I will begin with a little added information about our common ancestors, whom I have written about before.

Stephen Bennett Myers and Helen Colby were great-grandparents to both Steve and myself. After Stephen died in 1917, Helen lived with Steve’s grandfather, Henry Borbidge Myers, nicknamed “Pete,” until her own death in 1923. That is how Helen’s memorabilia ended up in Steve’s branch of the family. Lots more on Henry in the next post.

I had seen Stephen and Helen’s wedding date mentioned elsewhere (15 Sept. 1875), but had neglected to enter it in my database. I have done so now, after seeing their official wedding certificate.

Here is a fact I was not aware of at all: before marriage, Helen was a schoolteacher. There were a number of her annual certificates among the documents. They ranged from this rather official one in 1866 (Helen was 16 years of age then)To this one, scribbled on a grocer’s letterhead (the grocer was also the county superintendent of schools, and publisher of a newspaper).

Also among the documents were sympathy letters from several of Helen’s children following the death of Stephen B Myers in 1917. The one from Grandpa Dan was typed on his grocery-store letterhead.Finally, a selection from the earliest photos in this family’s collection. They are in a small box of tintypes. I couldn’t scan most of them, as they were mounted behind glass and not readily taken apart. But this one was not in a frame, consequently quite damaged but also easily scanned. It is of Helen Colby, dated 1874, before she and Stephen Myers were married. A bit of retouching got it to this point.

This is just the beginning. Next: Henry B “Pete” Myers, from Iowa to Utah to Idaho.

Last weekend, a visitor posted a comment at one of my old blog posts on the Myers family. She had bought some old photos at an estate sale in Boise, and went searching the Web for an interested relative of the people identified in the pictures. That lucky relative happened to be me.

Laurie (the visitor) mailed me the photos, and they are a veritable treasure-trove! To begin with, I have looked high and low for any photos of 2nd great-grandpa Harry Eugene Colby (1822-1903). You may recall that Jody Boyd compiled a very thorough “cold-case” study of him last year. I was a bit surprised that Jody did not find any pictures, as Colby was a prominent businessman in the town of Onawa, Iowa. Now, out of the blue, the problem is resolved.

Quite a handsome gentleman, at that. Below, he is pictured with some of his sons and grandsons.

But wait, there’s more! The estate was that of Frank Elmer Myers (1920-2007). Frank was the son of Henry B. Myers (b. 1888), who was my grandfather Dan Myers’ brother. I never knew anything about Frank, other than his name and birth date from the Lawrence Myers Bible. There is another “Uncle Frank” that my mother knew well: Frank Sparks, husband of Mom’s sister Helen. There was also a Frank Colby Myers (1892-1973), another brother of my grandfather, with whom cousin Gail tells of a single, touching encounter.

There are no pictures of the late Frank E Myers in the batch that Laurie sent me, but I’m sure to find some when I visit his widow and their two sons in Boise (my previously unknown second cousins), which I hope to do soon. But here is one of Frank’s dad, Henry B, who was named after his grandfather, the Civil War vet.

His appearance is a clue to a “mystery companion” known only as “Henry” in a 1915 photo of Dan Myers I posted some time ago. Pretty good resemblance, I’d say.

But here is the greatest surprise of all, one that Laurie had not mentioned in her emails. Up to now, my earliest image of Grandpa Myers was his wedding in 1909, at age 23. Now here he is with brother Henry, when Grandpa was only about 5.

In the packet from Laurie were several more photos, of people I am pretty sure are Frank’s mother’s and/or wife’s relatives. I will scan those for my archives, and try to learn more about them later.

To sum up, in addition to making the acquaintance of at least two biological second cousins, I hereby nominate Laurie Young of Boise, my new friend and genealogy sleuth, as another Honorary Cousin. Thanks, Laurie!

A while back, I heard of an archive of photographs at the Military History Institute in Carlisle, PA. The article said they had photos of a great many Union army officers of the Civil War. So I wrote to them, and sure enough, I was able to order a portrait of great-great Grandpa Henry B. Myers.

I added the text myself. This makes six (out of sixteen) great-great grandparents that I have pictures of. With great-grandparents I am doing better, six for eight.

As you may recall from my posts on his son Stephen,  the 33rd Iowa saw combat action in Arkansas and Mississippi, in particular a long bivouac and eventually a major battle at Helena, Ark. Living conditions there were primitive and unsanitary, as documented in this history. Like many of the men stationed at Helena, Henry developed chronic dissentery. He received a medical discharge in March of 1864, while the 33rd was still in the thick of action, and died three months later. Although these old photos can be deceiving, in this one I would say Henry looks a bit hollowed-out.

As for Stephen, no further progress to report. My current thinking is that he was most probably not wounded and left for dead, as his obituary stated, but I am still entertaining the idea that he may have accompanied his father on the military expedition. Stay tuned.