| Name | Edgar Diffenbaugh Meyers  |
| Birth | 23 Jul 1874, Rhonoke, IN |
| Death | 5 Jan 1952, Cheyenne, WY |
| Burial | 1952, Kirkland, WA |
| Occupation | House painter and wallpaperer |
| Religion | Christian |
| Father | Isaac Meyers (1835-1893) |
| Mother | Francis Cordellia Diffenbaugh (1846-1930) |
Edgar was boyhood friends of the aircraft designing, Wright brothers and went to school with them. He kept in touch with Orville and was on visiting terms with him.12
A small trundle bed made by one of Edgar's cousins, Mr. Slaymaker, has been in the family since the late 1800's. It held, at one time or another, all of Edgar's children and Nieces and Nephews. The Wright brothers also slept in it in their early childhood. Patricia Meyers Vosler currently has the trundle bed.13
ON BRINGING THE CHILDREN HOME FROM SCHOOL DURING A BLIZZARD by Loren Hobbs
Some place in Wyoming, perhaps Keeline, about 1912 on a farm, a heavy blizzard blew up with intense cold. So Edgar took a long rope and trudged off through the storm to the schoolhouse, probably a mile from home. There he tied the rope around each child, Eunice (Gibbons), Ruth (Hobbs), and Naomi (Mayfield), in a line with him being at the head and started for home. This was an extremely serious matter as people have died in similar storms just a few feet from their homes. They were trudging through the heavy snow, primarily by Edgar's sense of direction because it was impossible to see. He was going in a direction where he knew he would eventually get to a barbed wire fence. Then he would need to follow the fence. He then would estimate how far he had followed the fence to then turn at a right angle to proceed about a 1000' to his house, which he would only be able to see when he was within a few feet from it because of the blinding storm. As they were proceeding toward the fence with their heads bent down, forcing their way through the snowdrifts, the last child in the line, dropped her syrup pail. This stopped the whole procession. By the time they recovered the pail (the lid was lost), Edgar lost his sense of direction. He did not know which way to go to find the fence. This was a serious life-threatening situation indeed. Needless to say, he did eventually find the fence and found his way home because most of us would not be here if he hadn't. This story by Loren Hobbs related to him by his mother, Ruth Meyers and her cousin Raymond Meyers in Pierson, Michigan in 1978.
Some remember Edgar fondly while others remember him as a stern, strict man. For example, if you (even grandchildren) placed your elbows on the table during dinner, you could expect a sharp rap on the elbow from the handle of Edgar's dinner knife. Also, children were not encouraged (allowed) to talk at the table, nor eat chicken with their hands or chew with their mouth open. When Edgar got up in the morning he expected everyone in the house to also arise. If anyone did not get up, Edgar would bang and clang pots and pans in the kitchen loudly till all were up.
ABOUT GRANDPA MEYERS' PASSING by Loren Hobbs 14
Uncle Charles and Aunt Pearl were going to Dallas, Texas to a Salad Master meeting. Esther and I were going with them. After dark one night when we were stopping for a motel room, Uncle Charles came back from the motel office, and said, “I have some bad news --Grandpa has died.”
We discussed what we should do: miss the meetings of several days? It would be difficult to even get there on time for the funeral. We were already in need of sleep. Could we even get back in time for the funeral and still get enough sleep to drive safely. We stayed for the meetings.
When we got back to Cheyenne, I was talking with Albert. He told me that at the last, Grandpa was very ill, and Albert was with him all the time, trying to make him comfortable. Mom was helping Albert and also on the phone getting medical assistance.
Albert said Grandpa wanted to get out of bed and sit in the easy chair. So after Albert helped him get into the easy chair, he said he was chilly. So Albert got a blanket and put it around him, and tucked it around his feet, sides, and shoulders.
Then Albert asked Grandpa if he was warm and comfortable. Grandpa softly said, “I'm just fine, thank you.”
Then Grand slumped slightly, lowered his head forward a bit, and was gone with a peaceful expression on his face.
Yes, Grandpa had been living in the large front room of the 1400 East 19th street home of my Mom and Dad Hobbs. Mom was caring for some other old people at the same time. To this home, Grandpa provided a bit of life that would not have been there if he were not around.
At this late point in his life, I'm sure he felt that the world was rushing past him, and leaving him out of the excitement of life. He was living in a home where his grand-children had either “flown the coop” or were in the attempt of doing so. Every day some of them were buzzing in and out of the house doing what kids who think they are young adults, do. They ranged in age from about 12 to 30 in those years. There were also 3 great-grandchildren: ages -“just born”- to maybe 11 years old, who sometimes came with their parents. Let's not forget the three foster children who lived there at least part of the time while Grandpa lived there. Grandpa never lacked for company, but when he wanted it, he also had seclusion in his large “living room/bedroom” combo which was never entered without an invitation or knocking first. He also enjoyed his walks to town and back alone, but sometimes with company. Grandpa did not own, or drive a car. He had always (to some extent) some control of his own little world -- if not control of parts of the world at large. He, to a large extent, was a salesman. As such, he controlled (or tried to) the coming and going of his own life and part of the lives of at least his customers.
If the world would upset your apple cart, then you got up, brushed yourself off. And then you would sell your bruised and damaged apples to another customer who needed them for hog food.
During the depression lots of people lost everything. - Land included. In the early 30's, Grandpa was in his own business of selling bankrupt land - new Tax Title land - to another customer for a very good profit at no initial cost to Grandpa, except for the boards and paint for a “For Sale” sign. Grandpa was controlling his world, his life, and part of the life of those who wanted the land he was selling. (Grandpa used the Down Payment of the Purchase Price of the land to pay the Tax Title Price of the land and get a Clear Title on the land from the Taxing Agency).
I'm proud of Grandpa. He did a great service to those who bought the land. They got what they wanted, at the price agreeable to them. Grandpa was helping the country recover from the Great Depression via enterprises.
At the 1400 East 19th street home of Mom and Dad Hobbs, Grandpa strove to control some of his world, but I'm sure it seemed to him at times that the world was a whirlwind. His Hobbs grandchildren were young adults, each with their own agendas. Off and on, we would each stop by to say “Hi”, or ask a question or favor from our parents. We'd greet or visit with Grandpa or just pass through the house on some various missions.
Grandpa did not always know which child we were, but did know we were his grandchildren. (He sometimes was confused by James and Loren).
For days he had been asking everyone that came to the house where his camera was. This time I was looking for some one and I did not find them in the house so I was headed for the back door when Grandpa stopped me. Then for the umpteenth time he asked me again where his camera was. I stopped and looked at him with amazement, and said, “I'm sorry Grandpa, I borrowed your Cadillac and drove it to town, then I forgot that I had borrowed it, and I walked back home. Now I have to walk back to town and get your Cadillac and drive it home for you again. But about your camera, I don't know anything about your camera.”
He looked at me intently for a moment, then, a slight smile started forming on his face as he turned slowly from me. He never asked me about the camera again, but he continued to ask everyone else about his camera.
After a few weeks of this, Mom decided to find his camera while Grandpa was on his walk to town and back.
In his room he had three large trunks which normally were all on the floor. Mom found them all three stacked on top of each other. With great difficulty, Mom got all three of them on the floor. Could Grandpa stack them?
In the bottom trunk under all the other stuff in the trunk, was the camera.
Grandpa must have been stronger than we thought he was, or else he asked for help from someone like the mail man. This mailman delivered mail on the porch by Grandpa's door every day, and sometimes visited with him. .
Yes, Grandpa never stopped controlling his own little world -- at least to some degree -- if he could.
I smile with all of me, not just my lips, when I think of Grandpa. I feel kind of warm inside. I don't want to stop thinking about him. Yes, my elbows on his table received his “thump”. His “bark” got me out of his trees. Still, the thoughts of him brighten my life, even now, today.
(Carl) Loren Hobbs
P.S. Grandpa remains --- never really helpless. Even in his dying --- his death, --he got to Albert - and to me, and, I was not even there when he died - Albert told me about what happened. Grandpa has been gone about 55 years now and even still today at 3:30 AM in the dark. I wake up, smiling all over, thinking of Grandpa. I am so moved by him that I steal out of bed and go to the office so I can write a thought or two about grandpa so I can share them with you -- because they are too good not to share.
I wish everyone could have REALLY known Grandpa.
| 1 | Emma Leora Kurtz |
| Birth | 20 Aug 1873 |
| Death | 24 Sep 1946 |
| Religion | Christian |
| Father | Danial Kurtz (1844-) |
| Mother | Mary Elizabeth Griffith (1845-) |
| Marriage | 10 Jan 1894 |
| Children | Frances Elizabeth (1894-1896) |
| Florence Eunice (1896-1967) | |
| Ruth Margaret (1898-1979) | |
| Emma Naomi (1901-1966) | |
| Faith Miriam (1904-1904) | |
| Edgar Daniel (1905-1970) | |
| Mary Ella (1907-1987) | |
| Joseph Merlin (1910-1911) | |
| Charles David (1912-1983) | |
| James Malcolm (1914-1984) |