Michael Frantz and Barbara Brubaker
The Frantz family were members of a Brethren community in Illinois. Ethel Harshbarger Weddle, in an entry from Louisa Vainman's diary notes in her text Pleasant hill that the men of this community have:
The bearded jaw line and chin, but the upper line is usually clean shaven. Their hair is combed straight back and cut straight across the collar line. Some of the men are wearing home-tailored suits of homespun made with long tails, and they wear no cravats with their homemade shirts. The Brethren are democratic in policy...No instruments of music are needed. An instrument would be a luxury unheard of, and even unthought of, for the use of the German Baptist Brethren in America. Since immigrating from Europe, even more so since the American Revolution, the Brethren have been a pioneer people, and for many years were of very modest financial circumstances. From Pennsylvania they had migrated south into the Valley of Virginia. Some had followed Daniel Boone through the Cumberland Gap. Others had followed the Conestoga wagons on the overland trail into the Northwest Territory. A few had floated down the Ohio River. In such years the only musical strings needed by the Brethren were those strung by the hands of the Creator in their own throats. Now, the idea of a man-made instrument seems worldly, not needed or desired by the Brethren.1
Michael Frantz was born in 1834 in North Hampton, Ohio. He married Barbara Brubaker in 1859. They resided, by 1860 in Pike, Clark, Ohio. The family moved in 1870 to Township 12 Range 6, Macoupin, Illinois. They had six children: Jonathan (1860), Martha (1862), Susan (1864), Jacob (1866), Peter (1868), and Ezra (1875).
The security of each home in the community is visibly shaken when Michael Frantz dies. He has been a quiet Christian man, and has not aspired to positions of leadership. He has been the head of a happy home, the father, husband, and provider. Now he is dead. The women bow their heads in sorrow and sympathy for the widow, and as they weep they feel a leaden horror weighing their inmost hearts down into the depths of dread.
"What if it had been my husband?"
"Or mine?"
"Or mine?"
Susie Brubaker, Preacher Jonathan's wife, takes twenty-month-old Ezra Frantz into her arms and leads the child Peter by the hand, while Mother Barbara and young Jonathan and Martha and Susie and Jacob follow the bier to the church, and then walk across the road to the cemetery. So many trips must be made across this road to this cemetery, and now it is she, Barbara Frantz. and she is a widow. The dark uncovered heads of the men and the black-bonneted heads of the women crowd around the grave, and Barbara stands among them. Her face is drawn with grief and she seems not to hear or to see. But when the clods have fallen into their rightful place, and the dirge has been sung, Barbara suddenly notices Susan Gibson standing near by with her baby, Elmer, in her arms, and Barbara remembers that she took has a little one that needs her.She turns to Susie Brubaker and reaches to take little Ezra. "I'll tote the baby now," she says.
"I'll be right glad to keep him, " urges Susie, " and Peter too, until - " "Let her have them," advises Sister Catherine Harshbarger in quiet tones. "I reckon they'll do her good." Ah, Catherine! How long will you be here to give such wise advice? And do you know what the future holds for Barbara Frantz? Barbara herself knows that she must emerge at once from her blur of lost happiness and respond to the laughter of her children, who will return to their play in the sunshine. She goes home, pauses at her kitchen door, and looks across the prairie. She cannot penetrate the illimitable mystery of death, but she can cope with reality. It is spring. The plowing must be done. The seed must be sown. After that the harvest, not only this year, but the next. And the next. And the next. 2
Ezra Frantz and Mary Buckley
Although life without Michael was difficult, Barbara did continue to live and raise her children within the community. Barbara, built a new home. It was around the construction of this house, that a terrifying moment in the life of both Ezra and his mother occurred:
Many are erecting needed buildings on their farms, and even Widow Frantz is building a new two-story house. She incorporates the old wooden schoolhouse into the new kitchen ell, a little wooden frame that will be there when its years number at least one hundred ten. With a pride that is good, Barbara watches her new home take form and goes out on this Sunday evening to do the chores, four-year-old Ezra running beside her. They go into the pasture to call up the twelve head of horses and colts. The horses answer the call, their instincts aware that good oats await them in their stalls. But there is also harness there and one errant animal gives a snort that plainly says to its companions, "Freedom is best. Let's go." Breaking into a gallop, this animal lunges toward the pasture gate just as little Ezra, running ahead of his mother, reaches its open space. Barbara sees that she is helpless to stop the bolting horse, "Lay down, Ezra," she shouts. "Lay down." The child obeys and the band of horses come thundering over him, every fling hoof jumping over the little "log" lying there in the gate. Thoroughly shaken, the Widow Frantz snatches her child into her arms. He is frightened but he is not hurt. Truly the Lord has something for this child to do.3
Barbara remarried when her youngest child was eight years old. She married an Elder in the community, Joseph Harshbarger. She took her youngest children into her new home, with her new husband. Ezra, the youngest would remember "the firm, kind guidance and the cheerful encouragement of Father Harshbarger."4 Ezra had been born in 1875. He was the youngest of six children. From an early age, he and his brother Peter were interested in mechanical development and invention. The boys later made careers out of their mechanical inclinations. Early on, they used their tinkering skills, along with those of their step-father around their home:
Both Peter and Ezra Frantz are especially compatible with their new father, for they, as well as he, are mechanically inclined. These boys are fascinated by the well-dummy here at their new home. Over the well Brother Harshbarger has built a large enclosed windlass. This windlass lowers a set of shelves down into the cool watery depths by a heavy rope, and in this dummy are set the crocks of milk, cream, and butter. But it is the secret lock that appeals to Ezra most. Laying his hand on the top ledge of the enclosure with careless ease, he says to a visiting friend, "Open the door." His friend finds the door securely locked, yet with the pressure of one finger on the secret spring Ezra releases the door before the startled eyes of the visitor. The lock is seldom explained for it is the secret that makes the enclosure safe against the prying of inquisitive children, and the danger of their falling into the well.5
When he was fourteen years old, Ezra further committed himself to the religious community that he had been raised in. His maternal grandfather, Jonathan Brubaker, was a deacon in the community. His grandfather baptized him:
It is February when Ezra Frantz, now fourteen years old, wishes to be baptized. The congregation dismisses the service in the meetinghouse and walks across the road to the baptismal pool to observe the rite. Ezra takes off his coat and shoes and steps out onto the ice, but his weight will not break it. Preacher Jonathan Brubaker follows, stomping heavily on the inch-thick ice and kicking aside the broken pieces. They clear a spot large enough to permit the immersion of this boy who wishes to be "washed whiter than snow." The members who observe know that Ezra will not mind the icy water. But the outsiders shiver for him, mentally and physically, as he kneels and sinks waist deep into the chilly depths around him. How can the unsaved be expected to know that vibrating rings of light and lover are flowing around the applicant and warming the ice-bound pool? And as this cosmic transformation occurs and Ezra is immersed the three times which the German Baptist Brethren believe the only right method of baptism, Ezra feels a weight fall from him. Self has gone and Christ has moved in. He feels no declaration of theology. He feels only a simple consciousness of a joy that now he is saved, that he is now a child of God. He will give his testimony yet in far-off 1954: "Oh, I was so happy! It was truly the happiest day of my life."6
He married Mary Buckley. Their daughter wrote:
The first person whom I want you to meet today is a young girl from Texas who is in her latter teens. She is getting ready to catch a train for Illinois to visit her cousin.
She sent a recent picture of herself and her cousin showed it to a young man who was visiting in her home - He took a long look at the young girl in the picture - she was very petite - five feet tall - weighing about 90 pounds - with beautiful long, dark hair - The young man said, “That is the girl I am going to marry” - and a year later he married her. The girl later was to be my mother and the young man was to be my father.
For several years the lived in Illinois. Then they moved to Texas where they lived the remainder of their lives.
As a boy, my father’s favorite Winter sport was ice skating on the frozen rivers. And the most exciting thing he did in Summer was going to St. Louis to see the sights of a city and the barges and boats on the Mississippi -
My Mother was the eldest child in her family and the favorite of her Grandfather. He was a surveyor and helped to lay out the County that was to be known as Parker County where the town of Weatherford is located.
Uncle Ezra, with his bride, my new Aunt Mary, arrived at the Harshbarger home, on their "honeymoon," to I don't remember that term being used in those days. I was a part of that home then, age 7 that month and the next few days were to be a Gala Time, A Bright Spot in my young life, a time I was to treasure in memory for 76 years and, to quote author Weddle; "How much longer, only the Lord knows."
Two events in those few days "made" them very SPECIAL for me; #1) The day Aunt Mary took her gorgeous hair down, completely unbraiding it and let it fall down - down to the floor - in the "parlour", I was there, on hand and knees to hold it gently taught to the floor - to show there was five whole inches to spare! That was a THRILL!
Day #2 was on Saturday and Uncle decided to hitch Grandpa's good old horse to their nice buggy for a trip to Girard - and TOOK ME with him, a rare treat to me, and in the company of Uncle it was real SPECIAL! It was strange that I remembered almost nothing of that trip - except for ONE THING, which must have so far transcended all else that it was lost to memory. THAT was when Uncle took me into a men's clothing store and fitted me with a black felt Homburg HAT; Cost, ONE DOLLAR! Fabulous! Up to that time I would have pledged a fair share of my young life for a good, bouncy, solid rubber ball, like so many kids had at school, or home, except me; the cost 5 [cents]. Now this HAT! I think it was roughly equivalent to Cinderella's first golden carriage.
On Sunday we walked as usual, the short distance to church, and after services, especially for such a time as this, friends were invited home with us for one of those old-fashioned, farm-home, Sunday dinners, always a rare delight to ANY small boy. In that gathering I was the only child, so that after dinner I was content to sit with the grow-ups and listen, always liked that when there were no kids to romp with. Just where I found a niche to stow-away, I don't remember but I sat somewhere with, you might guess, my hat on my lap. Somehow the 'visiting' that day seemed to lack spice and interest for me, but perhaps the competition for my interest lay in that hat - anyway, the more they talked the less I heard, until it faded completely away - the guests and ALL had fled far away ( at least there wasn't a soul in the State I was), I sat there holding, caressing, worshiping - that precious HAT; then I said, strictly to myself in rapt, soft, soulful adoration; "A DOLLAR HAT!"
WELL! At that, things sure came to life around there, for all those folks had indeed ceased "visiting" and were engrossed in silently watching me - until I finally delivered that 3-word soulful soliloquy. Then there [Note: a penciled in "was" is included here] LIFE around there for a while. I doubt if Bob Hope often gets more immediate and bountiful response from a carefully planned and rehearsed performance than I got that day for a completely impromptu and unrehearsed performance. Anyway I've often thought that Uncle and I probably obtained about equal rewards from that Dollar purchase, for he was laughing over that for many years afterward. (In fact I never knew I had said a word until I was told). 7
Ezra and Mary Frantz were married in Weatherford, Texas and returned to Illinois for a short time. They returned to Texas to raise their children, of which they had four: Ray (1898-1976), Ruby (1903-), Nellie (1908-1998), and Josephine (1911-2003). In 1917, Joseph (1917-1993) was adopted from an orphanage in Dallas, Texas.
Ezra supported his family through his innovations and inventions. His children recalled:
r. Frantz was chiefly known for his invention of the first wire buckle for tying compressed cotton bales. This invention made possible high density compressing, a necessary development for efficient supplying of American cotton to overseas textile manufacturing companies during the twentieth century. Its influence on the cotton economy throughout the South, Southwest, and northern Mexico is incalculable. certainly the invention had a profound influence on the development of extensive cotton growing in the vast expanses from West Texas to California which have turned so heavily to cotton culture in the past three decades.
At various times Mr. Frantz was associated with the American Manufacturing Company at Fort Worth, assisting in draftsmanship, design, and production problems for this international oil field supply company. When in the early days of World War II American Manufacturing ran into a stiff production problem in fulfilling its contracts for shells for the United States Navy, Mr. Frantz was brought in as general superintendent for almost two years. For the first four months of his superintendency he doubled shell production for each month over the previous month until an operating plateau was reached that met naval specifications.
A constant tinkerer, Mr. Frantz held many patents. In the early days of the automotive industry he perfected a piston ring which met with some commercial success. It was used exclusively, for instance, by the various taxi fleets of Fort Worth prior to the 1920s.
Mr. Frantz was always extremely proud of the fact that he owned what was reputedly the first car in Texas, even though he bought it second-hand from the late Will K. Stripling of Fort Worth. Many of the early cars came to Texas knocked down, and Mr. Frantz, with a regional reputation as a master mechanic, assembled many of them. He was fond of recalling tales of adventure and misadventure with these cars, such as when the late Will Kuteman, Fort Worth and Weatherford banker and father-in-law of the artist Douglas Chandor, took a car on which Mr. Frantz had forgotten to connect the brakes.
In language unsuitable for a family newspaper Mr. Kuteman called Mr. Frantz some time later to tell him he had just finished dodging every tree in the hills south of Weatherford, only to halt the car permanently against a tree in his own front yard. Mr. Frantz, who was never known to use profanity, exploded,
"Oh pshaw! I'll bet I forgot the brakes!"
After two decades of service in and around Weatherford, where among other activities he was a charter member of the RotaryClub, and the Live Oak Country Club and president of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Frantz sold his buckle company to a Georgia corporation in 1923 and moved toFort Worth.
For some years before moving to Fort Worth, he had been utilizing his spare time re-organizing Fort Worth businesses at the request of various Fort Worth banks, especially the Fort Worth National Bank. The idea was that he would make re-organization a full-time occupation.
However, Mr. Frantz became caught up in the Florida real estate boom of the middle 1920s, and most of his first three years of Fort Worth residence were actually spent in Miami, where he concentrated on developing the Florida Keys. However, except for seven months in 1924-1925, his family remained in Fort Worth.
On his return as a full-time Fort Worth resident Mr. Frantz joined American Manufacturing Company. The pump jack which American supplied to the petroleum trade throughout the remainder of the 1920's and in the 1930's was designed by him. In the older fields some are still in use.
In many ways always a master mechanic at heart, a man who liked to work with his hands, he seemed to derive more pleasure from superintending installation of the jacks than from the creation of them. If he had a real weakness as an adm nistrator, it was the fact that he could never stand by when some less capable man was handling a tool. American and other companies with which he was associated are replete with tales of some man working quietly at the lathe, only to feel a bump as Mr. Frantz moved him aside to take over. A picture that occurred more than once concerns his wrestling 250-pound sacks of buckles onto freight cars while a group of less efficient day workers sat watching, partly in awe and partly with amusement as their per-hour wages mounted.
He often spoke of a not-so-secret desire to have been a teacher, but the consensus is that he would have made a miserable one. He would have wanted to answer all the questions and written all the term papers himself.
When Mr. Frantz sold out of the buckle business, he signed an agreement not to re-enter for ten years. Ten years later, almost to the day, the succeeding firm was nearly bankrupt like so many other firms in the depression, and so its owners approached him to re-purchase the firm at approximately one-tenth his selling price a decade earlier. The result was that Mr. Frantz became more sole owner of the Frantz Buckle Company, and returned to Weatherford to resume manufacturing. He remained in Weatherford for the remainder of his life, except for the last few months, when he removed to Abilene to be near a daughter.
While Mr. Frantz was manufacturing buckles in Weatherford and Memphis, Tennessee, and commuting daily to Fort Worth to be general superintendent of American Manufacturing Company, a veteran oil tool man, Jess E. Hall of Weatherford and California, approached Mr. Frantz with an idea for a scratcher that would remove mud from sides of casings before oil wells were cemented, eliminating the need for removing the casing for cleaning theretofore a time-consuming and expensive process before oil production could begin. In a few nights Mr. Frantz had made patterns - and shortly after, made machines - to produce the scratchers. He and Mr. Hall then formed a partnership known as the Weatherford Spring Company, with Mr. Frantz providing financial leadership and mechanical understanding and Mr. Hall providing knowledge of oil field needs and industry-wide contacts.
In addition to the scratchers, Weatherford Spring Company manufactured oil well contralisers and cement baskets, as well as providing Halliburton Oil Company with its springs. Its range soon became nationwide, and since has expanded to include plants in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. After four years Mr. Frantz, now in his 70s, retired from the partnership. The company has since been re-organized as the Weatherford Oil Tool Company.
Except for a year in the insurance business Mr. Frantz has since been officially retired, devoting his time to managing property and occasional consultanships. He remained in good health until about a year ago [the date for this document is unknown].
Religious and philanthropic work also occupied considerable of Mr. Frantz's time. A member for three quarters of a century of the CHurch of theBrethren, he lived most of his life in communities which had no church of that persuasion. Consequently he tended to be ecumenical in his religious concerns, and was particularly closely associated with Baptist and Presbyterian causes, even to teaching the men's Bible class at the Grace-First Presbyterian Church in Weatherford for a number of years. Meanwhile he remained in close touch with the Church of the Brethren, attended regional and national meetings with frequency, and for a period was a trustee of McPerson College in McPherson, Kansas. His charitable work tended to be private, and the number of your men whom he helped get through school or helped get started in business is indeterminable. About the only criteria he demanded of his beneficiaries was that they [page ten is lost]...investor had received his full return [this is a carry over from page ten, which is missing].
In 1924 in Fort Worth Mr. Frantz was the victim of a forger, who cashed two checks against him for $1,500. The man was apprehended, escaped from the Fort Worth jail, and was next heard of by Mr. Frantz when he read in the Miami Herald of the man's arrest on a similar charge. Since it was near Christmas, Mr. Frantz went to the Miami jail to give him Christmas greetings. "Why, Mr. Frantz, how nice of you to come," the forger told him. The two became friends of a sort, and for a number of years corresponded. When the forger escape from the Miami jail a few days later, Mr. Frantz's friends always suspected he was a little proud of the man for his artistry.
Characteristically Mr. Frantz remained on the trail of the financial leak for two decades until by 1945 he uncovered the embezzling employee. Equally characteristically having once satisfied himself as to the source of his leak, he declined to follow up his information, believing that by now the presumed thief had lived with his conscience for twenty years and would undoubtedly be embarrassed by such a late disclosure.
The list of survivors doesn't quite tell the story of the man. Having gone through only the eighth grade of the Pleasant Hill country school in central Illinois, he had an inordinate belief in the value of higher education. He himself did take correspondence courses as an adult in everything from phrenology to draftsmanship, and was an omnivorous and indiscriminate reader. But because of his belief in formal education he failed to turn out any business successors in his own family. One son had been the long-time chairman of the Department ofEnglish at the University of Nebraska, another is chairman of the Department of History at the University of Texas, a son-in-law is Dean of the Graduate Division at Hardin-Simmons University, and a grandson - the fourth Ph.D. in the family (in English) - is librarian at the University of Wyoming. Only one son-in-law, A.L. Spain, a Weatherford hardwareman, took the business route. 8
The first of the Frantz children, Ray William Frantz, was born in February 1898 in Weatherford, Texas. He spent his early years in Illinois before his family moved back to Weatherford in the early 1900s. Ray eventually became the Head of the English Department at the University of Nebraska. He was followed by the birth of a little sister, Ruby, in 1903. Ruby had also been born in Weatherford, Texas.
Josephine wrote in "This is My Life":
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Our older sister was dating when Nellie and I were riding Roller Coasters. She was vivacious, played the piano very well, and had a lot of beaus. Nellie and I wanted her to always date the boys who brought her candy, preferably Pangburn's Chocolates.
When our older brother and sister would invite their friends for dinner at our house, sometimes Nellie and I would sit on the stairway in the dark and look into the dining room. We would see them around the dining table, talking and eating, under a Tiffany light, with a beaded shade. 9
In 1908, the Frantz family experienced the birth of another daughter: Nellie. A few years later, she was joined by Josephine. The two youngest Frantz siblings were raised quite closely, so closely that they were often mistaken for twins! The girls adored each other:
My sister, Nellie, was three years old when I was born and immediately I was her baby sister whom she felt she must look after - And I think she still feels that way!
I have always adored her and I wanted so much to be her twin. When we were little girls we looked so much alike that we wanted to dress alike. In the late SummerMother would have our dress maker come to her house to stay several days and make our school clothes, made exactly alike. I can see us now, in our two favorite dresses. Navy blue with red and white braid on the collars. We wore them for the first time to a trip to the State Fair in Dallas. Dad took us on the Roller Coaster ride. And after that first terrifying dip, my sister scorned, "Daddy, I don't want to ride on this thing, I want to get off right now." But she didn't. And she rode the rest of the way with her head in Daddy's lap! 10
(fig 5.) Making Ice Cream
Josephine Bonnie Frantz was the youngest daughter of Ezra and Mary Frantz. She was born on March 12, 1911 in Weatherford, Texas; and died on February 15, 2002 in San Angelo, Texas. Josephine wrote:
And my life was exciting when I was growing up - for I had an older brother, two elder sisters and a younger brother.
My older brother left for the University of Texas before I had even started school. My sister, Nellie, was three years old when I was born and immediately I was her baby sister whom she felt she must look after - And I think she still feels that way!
I have always adored her and I wanted so much to be her twin. When we were little girls we looked so much alike that we wanted to dress alike. In the late Summer Mother would heave our dress maker to come to her house to stay several days and make our school clothes, made exactly alike.
I can see us now, in our two favorite dresses. Navy blue with red and white braid on the collars. We wore them for the first time to a trip to the State Fair in Dallas. Dad took us on the Roller Coaster ride. And after that first terrifying dip, my sister scorned, “Daddy, I don’t want to ride on this thing, I want to get off right now.” But she didn’t. And she rode the rest of the way with her head in Daddy’s lap!
Our older sister was dating when Nellie and I were riding Roller Coasters. She was vivacious, placed the piano very well, and had a lot of beaus. Nellie and I wanted her to always date the boys who brought her candy, preferably Pangburn’s Chocolates.
When our older brother and sister would invite their friends for dinner at our house, sometimes Nellie and I would sit on the stairway in the dark and look into the dining room. We would see them around the dining table, talking and eating, under a Tiffany light, with a beaded shade. Nellie would say as a little girl, “When I grow up and get married, I want to go to Fort Worth on my honeymoon and I want my husband to buy me a case of Strawberry Soda Pop.” I’m sure I said, “I’ll go with you.” 11
The Frantz family's youngest child, Joe, had been adopted. According to the family legend, Mary Frantz stated that she felt that there was a baby "out there" that needed her. Ezra took her to Dallas, where at an orphanage a small child was placed into her arms. As she held him, she knew that he was going to be her baby. Joe and Mary were very close. After spending some time in the military, he became a famous Texas historian.
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Josephine Frantz and her siblings loved music and entertaining. The Frantz family was very active in their community and their church. Josephine even played the organ and piano at church. Josephine recalled:
We were a musical, loving family and the children studied music and played this piano - Many happy notes came from the piano because of our family and our musical friends -
Later we moved to Fort Worth where we lived for some years - (I studied) with a music teacher there who taught me piano, organ & composition. This teacher also played the cello in the Ft. Worth Symphony - I also took music courses when I attended Texas Wesleyan -
Our house in Weatherford was two blocks from Mary Martin’s home. Mary sang from the time she was a little girl - after living in Fort Worth for those years, she returned to Weatherford to live and someone asked me, “Have you heard Mary Martin sing in recent years? She has a lovely voice.” So during the Christmas holidays when some friends from Dallas were visiting us, we called Mary and asked her to come and sing for us - and she did. She sand so beautifully in that high soprano voice - after that I did some of her accompanying at teas, at school and community affairs, and even some auditions in Fort Worth - what were some of the songs she did - Here is the - “Tea for Two” - and we loved Gershevin in [those days] and here is one of our Gershevin favorites, “Someone to Watch Over Me” - And we did some songs that I had written - Here is one, “I Found My Heaven in You.” - Mary and her mother gave my sister, Nellie, a crystal --- when she was married -
I had a musical friend [Dell] in Fort Worth who had a fine singing voice and speaking voice and speaking voice - He visited me in Weatherford and I told him about Mary Martin. We went to her studio, so that Dell could meet her and hear her sing. He loved her voice - she sand my song “I Found My Heaven in You” for him and he sang, “I Found My Heaven in You” for Mary - for knew my song too. In fact a friend of hers in Fort Wroth had an orchestra and he orchestrated my song and featured it at the Hotel Texas -
At that time (Dell Sharbutt) was an announcer at a radio station in Oklahoma City. He soon went to Chicago - and then to New York City to become an announcer for CBS for many years -
When Mary Martin’s career took her to new York City she sang at the well known “Rainbow Room.” CBS broad-cast her performance - and who was the announcer? My friend Dell Sharbutt, whom I had introduced to Mary Martin that day in Weatherford, Texas - 12
The Frantz children had married and had their own children, but Josephine remained with her parents. Her niece, Mary Ellen, identified a young man that Josephine had loved. The man had been the only groomsman of Escal Duke in his wedding to Josephine's sister, Nellie. Josephine had always been a little in love with the gentleman, but the potential romance ended when the man died rather tragically. He went to start his car, and the car exploded. The ladies always assumed that it was his line of work: he was a law enforcement officer, and they believed that the "bad guys" got him. 13
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Josephine Frantz and Samuel John Wylie, Jr.
When Josephine was 31 years old she met Samuel John Wylie, Jr - a young chaplain three years her junior. Josephine was immediately charmed by this young man from Pennsylvania who came to their church and home.
Josephine recalled:
Josephine recalled:
One day John Wylie came into my life, all six feet one and half of him - with that ready smile and lazy laughter - He was a chaplain in the military service. When the Base Chaplain asked Chaplain Wylie, who was from (New York and Pennsylvania) to hold a service for him that the base Chaplain was to hear, had but couldn’t - (Chaplain John Wylie came to my hometown). He came to the Presbyterian Church that my family attended and had the morning and evening services that Sunday. The ones who were to have the Chaplain for Sunday night supper had their plans changed unexpectedly, so the church called my mother that Sunday afternoon and asked if she could possibly have the Chaplain for Sunday night supper. She said, “Of course” -
So he came to her house that Sunday afternoon - I had said earlier, “The Chaplain will undoubtedly be reserved and hard to get aquatinted with, for Easterners are often like that” - But John walked in so friendly and enthusiastic as if life was a great adventure, and he blew my theory of Easterner’s reserve to the four Winds. We took him driving to see our little City and suddenly he turned to me and said, “do you by any change played the piano, and I said “yes, I do” Do you by any change sing?” and he said, “Yes, I do.” So we went back to the house - he sang and I played - and what did John sing that afternoon? I remember that he sang, “One Alone” and he had a lovely tenor voice - I had been practicing for a wedding I was soon to play for and the song, “Because” - So I asked John, “Do you sing “Because” and he said he did, so he sang, “Because” -
My sister said, “Chaplain, our mother and father want you to sing a hymn” - what did he sing? It might have been a hymn that was one of my favorites and one of his, “This is my Father’s World.”
After supper we went to the evening service at the Church - and I had been asked earlier to play for that service - I still remember the title of his sermon that night - (It was “A Rendezvous with Destiny”) - After the service and before he left that night, we talked and he asked, “Have you ever been to New York and Pennsylvania?” and I said, “yes, about two years ago I visited friends in Pennsylvania and New York City” - and he asked what weekend I was there in New York and what hotel I stayed in when I was in New York. And when I told him he said, “I was in New York that weekend, for during my last year in Princeton I was on the staff of the 5th Ave. Presbyterian Church as a teacher and I spent every weekend in New York that Summer - I told him that on the Saturday night I was there we walked down to Times Square - and he said, “I often walked down to Times Square on Saturday night first to watch the people” - and we wondered, Did we pass each other that night in Times Square?”
So later I married the chaplain and at our wedding a soloist sang, “Because” - After John spent time overseas we were stationed at several bases in the States - We spent several years in Upper New York State - And then we moved to Texas where we have been ever since-
After being married for 6 1/2 years, we had a (fine little son) whom we named, “Samuel John Wylie III” John is 37 years old, the same height as his father, and is a wonderful son, married to a sweet girl, “Kathleen” - John is part of the school system in San Angelo and is doing graduate work at Angelo State.
After all of the years John spent in the ministry, as an Air Force Chaplain, as a Chaplain in Veterans Administration Hospitals, and as a minister in the Presbyterian Churches he has served, John retired from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel, and six years ago he retired from the church and we moved to Wichita Falls - We have been very happy in our retirement, for we have been able to do the things we were unable to do when we were both more active in his work. We have traveled to far-away places that we hadn’t seen before. And with him - I have always had that little grain of excitement that I have loved! 14
Samuel John Wylie, III and Kathleen White
They had one child, Samuel John Wylie, III. Born in Denison, Texas, Samuel grew up in the Presbyterian Church. His mother, one of five, was close with her family as well, and the small Wylie family spent much time traveling due to his father’s career as a pastor and his mother’s family. John stated:
My father’s ministry allowed me numerous opportunities to come in contact with many exciting, challenging, and often rewarding experiences. When I made new friends, lived in new environments, and attended new schools. Those experiences prepared me for events in my life that were yet to come; such as my graduation from the Denison Senior High School in May, 1967, and my enlistment in the United States Navy, where I served as an aircraft structural mechanic for four years. While on active duty, I was stationed in Key West, Florida, until 1969, when I was transferred to Virginia Beach, Virginia, where I remained until 1971, the date of my discharge. After completing my service in the Navy, I returned to Denison, Texas, and worked as a brick layer’s assistant for a short time. It was a seasonal job which I quit after a long period of bad weather. After several weeks of forced vacation, I went to work for Johns-Manville, a company which fabricated plastic conduit pipe. I worked for this company for several months before I terminated my employment with it. My next job was with Geophysical Services, Incorporated, a company dealing with the location of oil on land and beneath water. After working for six months, I experienced problems with my back. Surgery was necessary to correct the problems. After a lengthy recuperative period, I moved to San Angelo, Texas, in August of 1975, where I worked as a motel clerk for a number of months. Felling the need of working in a more enlightened field, I applied for a position at the San Angelo Center, located in Carlsbad, Texas. I have worked at the Center for the past nine months as an aide and as a grooming trainer: teaching, sharing ideas, and observing the individuals on a day-to-day basis as they applied the information I had given them, which concerned their personal hygiene, appearance, and emotional control. I have enjoyed the different experiences and the different types of work [during] my life. 15
Samuel John Wylie, III came to San Angelo to attend school at Angelo State University. It was there that he met his wife Kathleen White. Kathleen, the youngest of four children, had spent the majority of her life in San Angelo, although her family had also lived in Florida, Georgia, and Berlin. They had two children: Heather (1988) and Caitlin (1992).
Mary Frantz died in 1951, and Ezra in 1964. Her granddaughter recalled this instance about her death:
Mary Frantz died when I was 12 years old. Mrs. Frantz had been best friends with her next door neighbor. The neighbor came into the kitchen of the Frantz home one week after the death of Mary Frantz (who had died from a sudden stroke). In the parlor she saw me with my hair piled on top of my head, much like my grandmother. The neighbor's hand flew to her chest and she exclaimed, "Mary!" - believing the woman in the parlor to be Mary Frantz instead of her granddaughter. In that moment I was so pleased to have been mistaken for Mary Frantz, that I wanted nothing more than to look just like her.16
Figures
Fig. 1 - "Michael Frantz's Headstone" - Photo taken by Ron Hallberg from findagrave.com
Fig. 2 - "Mary Frantz" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Fig. 3 - "Ezra and Mary Frantz" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Fig. 4 - "Frantz Family" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Fig. 5 - "Making Ice Cream" - contributed by Heather Wylie, taken from Wylie family video
Fig. 6 - "Joe and Mary Frantz" - contributed by Heather Wylie, who was given picture by M.E. Duke Astudillo
Fig. 7 - "Friend and Josephine Frantz" - contributed by Heather Wylie, who was given picture by M.E. Duke Astudillo
Fig. 8 - "John and Josephine Wylie" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Fig. 9 - "Josephine, John, and Little John Wylie" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Fig. 2 - "Mary Frantz" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Fig. 3 - "Ezra and Mary Frantz" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Fig. 4 - "Frantz Family" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Fig. 5 - "Making Ice Cream" - contributed by Heather Wylie, taken from Wylie family video
Fig. 6 - "Joe and Mary Frantz" - contributed by Heather Wylie, who was given picture by M.E. Duke Astudillo
Fig. 7 - "Friend and Josephine Frantz" - contributed by Heather Wylie, who was given picture by M.E. Duke Astudillo
Fig. 8 - "John and Josephine Wylie" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Fig. 9 - "Josephine, John, and Little John Wylie" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Sources
1. Weddle, Ethel Harshbarger. Pleasant Hill. Elgin: Brethren Publishing House, 30-32.
2. Ibid, 69-70.
3. Ibid, 74.
4. Ibid, 107.
5. Ibid, 107-108.
6. Ibid, 130-131.
7. Ibid, 188.
8. Family Recollections "The Life of E.A. Frantz." Personal Publication. Date unknown.
9. Wylie, Josephine Frantz. "This Is My Life." Personal Publication. Date unknown.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Interview with Mary Ellen Duke Astudillo. Date Unknown.
14. Wylie, Josephine Frantz. "This Is my Life." Personal Publication. Date unknown.
15. Wylie, Samuel John. "Meet the Wylies." Personal Publication. Date unknown.
16. Interview with Mary Ellen Duke Astudillo. Date unknown.
2. Ibid, 69-70.
3. Ibid, 74.
4. Ibid, 107.
5. Ibid, 107-108.
6. Ibid, 130-131.
7. Ibid, 188.
8. Family Recollections "The Life of E.A. Frantz." Personal Publication. Date unknown.
9. Wylie, Josephine Frantz. "This Is My Life." Personal Publication. Date unknown.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Interview with Mary Ellen Duke Astudillo. Date Unknown.
14. Wylie, Josephine Frantz. "This Is my Life." Personal Publication. Date unknown.
15. Wylie, Samuel John. "Meet the Wylies." Personal Publication. Date unknown.
16. Interview with Mary Ellen Duke Astudillo. Date unknown.