SCHOCK FAMILY PART 2 - Donnellson Public Library

Brothers and Sisters Are We, The Schock Family Part II
May 1928: Siblings gathered in east yard. Standing (l-r): Eddie, Mary Oscar, Lizzie, Roy. On bench (l-r):
Hazel, Doe, Leona. On ground (l-r): Lucille, Ruthie. Right photo shows Schock House at 418 Oak Street
circa 1920s, later home of Red & Mary Clemons. House and barn (transformed residences) still exist on alley
east of Pilot Grove Savings Bank. Photo courtesy: Both photos, Myrna Hohl Folker
The March issue covered the first part of three of the 10 siblings of George and Katherine
Herstein Schock and how they contributed during the flourishing day of the mid-1900s in
Primrose and Donnellson, IA. The April issue will tell the story of four sisters: Doe, Mary, Ruth,
and Hazel. This segment will give insight into their interesting backgrounds and in some cases
contributions to the Donnellson area over the years. The third and finale of the Schock Family
history will tell of the interesting backgrounds and interests of Roy, Lucille and Leona in the May
issue.
Dorothy “Doe” N. Schock (b. Oct 28, 1897 in Franklin) and Albert Frueh were married Oct 21,
1919 in Donnellson, IA. This marriage ended in divorce July 20, 1926 in Los Angeles, CA. Doe
living in California worked in a large department store where she wore white gloves and a hat to
work every day. This worked very well since she was an apprentice during her high school years
at the Donnellson millinery store where she learned about the craft for making hats. She met
William Thielen (b. Jan 16, 1893, Tacoma, WA). They were married four years later on June 14,
1930 in Los Angeles, CA. They moved to San Jose and made a life together there and Doe
managed a ladies dress shop.
The left photo shows Doe as a
teenager in Donnellson and the right
photos shows Doe in California circa
1920s. Photo courtesy: Right photo,
Eileen Kudebeh Clemons; left photo,
Carrie Folker
1 In her younger years Doe attended Franklin School, first through fifth grade, then for three years
at Donnellson and the last years found recorded were at Primrose High School in 1912-14.
Franklin School circa 1905. 1st Row Standing (l-r): Little Mary, 4th from left. From
Right Ocsar is 3rd from right and Dora (Doe) 4th from right. Photo Courtesy:
Eileen Kudebeh Clemons
Doe, being one of the oldest siblings was like a “second mother” to the younger Schock children
and accepted that role of doing household work and child-rearing responsibilities while growing
up herself.
Wanting to be close to family, Doe returned to Donnellson every three years—each time another
sister had graduated from high school and was ready to move to California: Leona in 1923,
Hazel in 1928, and Lucille in 1935 went to join Doe on the West Coast. California was good to
all four sisters as they all found jobs and eventually met and married their husbands.
Doe was quite a classy lady and dressed in fashionia. She had no children of her own but “doeted” on her nieces and nephews with great affection. She was the adventurous aunt who would
even go on the big roller coaster with you!
On July 05, 1959 William died in the Veterans Hospital in San Francisco. Sometime in 1960
“Doe” or Dora, as she if fondly known by her family and close friends, returned to Donnellson.
She resided with her sister Hazel after her return since Nick died in 1959. Doe became very
active in the Donnellson community and was a member of St. Paul United Church of Christ, the
Friendship Circle, the Donnellson American Legion Auxiliary, and Green Acres Country Club.
“Doe” died June 01, 1985 in Keokuk Hospital and was interred in the Evangelical Cemetery
located in Donnellson, Franklin Township.
2 Mary M. Schock (b. May 02, 1899 in Franklin) and Clinton “Red” A. Clemons (b. June 20,
1890 in Rogersville, TN) were married Feb 26, 1920 in Donnellson.
During her younger years Mary attended Franklin School for 1st- 4th grade. The family moved to
Donnellson for three years then to Primrose where it is recorded she was in 7th and 8th grade,
1912-14. Back in Donnellson she continued high school through the 11th grade.
In 1913 C.A. “Red” Clemons moved from Tennessee and settled in Donnellson and was
employed in the tonsorial business in Walter Lee’s Barbershop and haircuts cost 25 cents and
shaves 15 cents. When war broke out, he enlisted in artillery and did his overseas duty until the
end of the war.
He returned to Donnellson and the barbering business. When he returned, he received an offer
he couldn’t refuse. Mary Schock proposed to him. After their honeymoon, they moved into the
parental home on Oak Street of George and Katherine and their six youngest children. By the
end of that year after Red and Mary’s son, Jack, was born, there were three generations of 11
people in that home: George and Katherine; children Eddie, Leona, Ruth, Hazel, Roy and
Lucille; Red and Mary and baby Jack. By 1922, George died. Eddie, Leona and Ruth graduated
high school and moved. Hazel graduated in 1928 almost the same time Katherine died leaving
Roy and Lucille with Mary, Red, Jack and Elizabeth (Bette). The youngest two Schock children
graduated and were gone by 1935. After 15 years of marriage, Red and Mary finally had the
Schock house for their family home.
Mary and Red’s home continued to be a gathering spot for the Schock Family get togethers, a
place for the women to play bridge on Wednesday or Saturday nights, the place to make the
family traditional Springerle Christmas cookies, the place for a farm niece to stay the week of the
Fair to care for a chicken project, generally the “go-to” place in town.
Red operated the town’s barbershop for 60 years. Customers would travel from Montrose and
Ft. Madison just to receive Red’s friendly service to catch the local news and visit while waiting
their turn for a haircut or shave. Red thought the best people in the world were farmers.
However, not all his customers were farmers. One afternoon in 1934, while Red was reading
The Des Moines Register, a stranger walked in for a shave. A V-shaped scar on the stranger’s
chin alarmed Red. He glanced at the picture on the Register’s front page and indeed his
suspicion was verified. He was shaving John Dillinger. Two days later, Dillinger was killed in
Chicago.
C.A. “Red” Clemons, barber at left chair puts
the tonsorial touches to Fred I. Williamson and
Walter Lee, barber at right chair working on
Jake Renz. Photo was taken in June 1913 at
Walter Lee’s Pool Hall and Barber Shop on
Main Street.
Photo courtesy: Both photos,
Eileen Kudebeh Clemons
3 Red had lots of memories over the years. He owned the first color-matched barber chair and sink
west of the Mississippi in the mid-1930s. His shop was open six days and five evenings. A long
work week but in his business, he claimed, volume is what you depend on. He enjoyed his trade
so much he didn’t retire until the age of 82. Richard Reu, who took his apprentice ship under
Red, now owns the business as Dick’s Barber Shop.
The left photo shows Red’s barber shop on the left side of the small building in front of the water tower.
The right photo shows the first color-matched sets (green barber chair and sink) to be purchased west of
the Mississippi and delivered to Red’s barber shop in the mid-1930s. Photo courtesy: Left photo, Eileen
Kudebeh Clemons; right photo taken from an undated Donnellson Review.
Mary and Red raised two children of their own (Jack and Elizabeth). Jack married Eileen
Kudebeh and Elizabeth (Bette) married William Phillips of Newport, AR.
Mary died May 18, 1983 at the Donnellson Manor Care Center and Red
died May 08, 1980 at the Donnellson Manor Care Center. Both are interred
in the Oakland Cemetery located in Ft. Madison, Jackson Township.
Mary & Red on their
58th Anniversary.
Ruth “Ruthie” A. Schock (b. Mar 30, 1907 in Donnellson) and Martin L. Hohl (b. June 02,
1904) were married Aug 14, 1930 in Donnellson.
The photo on the left shows a Schock Family gathering in Primrose circa 1912 in front of their home and the
homestead when the Wm. J. Williamson, Sr. Family lived there until 1911. It later became the home of the
George Schock family. Today this home does not exist. Photo courtesy: Left photo: Eileen Kudebeh
Clemons; right photo: “The History of Primrose, IA” by Carol Loges Sturdivant
4 Ruth attended Primrose School during the 1st and 2nd grade when the family lived east of the
George Schock Store in Primrose, 1911-14
After the family moved back to Donnellson, Ruth, attended 3rd grade through high school and
graduated in 1925. Ruth played on the high school basketball team and scored 75 points in a
basketball game once. After high school she was able to borrow money to enable her to attend
Normal Training at Iowa State Teacher's College in Cedar Falls, IA receiving her Uniform
County Teacher's Certificate dated November 1, 1926. This certificate, which was called a First
Grade Certificate, entitled Ruth to teach in any of the Public Schools of the State of Iowa for a
period of three years. She taught in the Rural School System of Lee County at Columbia for one
year; Warren for one year; and Charleston for three years.
The photo on the left shows the beginning
of the all-star basketball team (5th &6th,
(l-r) Ruth and Hazel. The photo on the
right shows Ruthie at one of her
rural schools.
Photo courtesy:
Both
photos, Myrna Hohl Folker
After five years of teaching, Ruth married Martin L. Hohl August 14, 1930 at a 6:00 A.M.
wedding ceremony at Donnellson’s St. Paul's Evangelical Church with Willis Hohl and sister
Hazel standing up with them. Breakfast at the Schock home followed, and they left from there
on a month long honeymoon in Martin's new car to California and visited with sisters Doe and
Leona. Returning to Primrose they made their home a half mile north of Primrose on a 160-acre
farm raising oats, wheat, corn, alfalfa/clover hay, (eventually soy beans by the mid-1900's)
chickens, pigs, sheep, milk cows, a garden, and four children. And Ruthie was gradually
changed from a town gal into a country girl!
The Hohl family’s life was centered around Primrose, going to church at the Zion Evangelical
Church, the kids going their elementary years to Primrose School and stopping in at the Primrose
Store operated by Uncle Leo Benjamin where Aunt Lizzie was the Postmistress. Many
Wednesday and Saturday nights were spent in Donnellson for week's shopping at Uncle Nick’s
Market; socializing with friends, enjoying summer band concerts and free movies in Railroad
Park; an ice cream treat at Uncle Oscar's Café; guys’ haircuts at Uncle Red's Barber Shop; Karl
Gebhardt's Drug Store; Martin in the Blue Room; Ruthie at Mary's playing Bridge; and,
books from the library located in the old Krebill-Miller Building. Yes, it was open Saturday
night. And there was also the possibility of Oscar's Café or Nick's Market needing some extra
eggs which Ruthie would supply from the farm. The Hohl Farm provided the Schock family
fishing in the pond (Mary and Red were the avid fishermen in the family), hickory nutting and
picnics in the timber.
5 Ruthie's teaching career resumed in 1950 when Primrose’s school board decided two teachers
were needed for that year's enrollment and Ruth Hohl was hired to teach the lower grades, 1st-4th
(Myrna in 4th grade) on the top floor and Melba Therme had the upper grades on the first floor.
She continued teaching at Fairview (Montrose area) and the Public School in the square at West
Point. She also continued her own education, receiving her B.A. Degree from Iowa Wesleyan
College in Mt. Pleasant, IA, and finished her career in 1st Grade at Denmark which became part
of Ft. Madison School District. Ruth was the only Schock sibling to seek a college education.
Upon retiring from farming, Martin and Ruth built a new home in Donnellson in the new
addition in the NW part of town in 1968 on Pine Street and Ruthie was once again a town girl!
Unfortunately, Martin died a year later. Ruth retired from teaching at Denmark in 1974 and then
started an exercise business in her basement for several years. She golfed and played and taught
bridge at Green Acres Country Club.
Martin and Ruth's family consisted of four children: Howard Eugene, who died of polio at the
age of 19 years in the epidemic in 1955, the year the Lee County Centennial Fair was cancelled;
Marlene Lucille and family live in California; Myrna Ruth and her husband David Folker raised
three daughters and reside on and farm the Primrose farm; and, Stephen and wife Jill had a
daughter and a son and reside in parents’ home built in town on Pine Street.
The gift for teaching continued down from Ruth to her three children. Marlene and Myrna were
both elementary school teachers and Steve was a flight instructor. Ruth, Myrna, and Karen
Schock were all teaching at Denmark School in the mid-1960s.
Ruth died May 29, 1992 at her home in Donnellson and Martin died at the Sacred Heart Hospital
in Ft. Madison December 11, 1969. Both are interred in the Primrose Cemetery located in the
village of Primrose, Harrison Township along with their son Howard Eugene.
Hazel E. Schock (b. June 05, 1909 in Donnellson) and Nicholas
“Nick” Sparsman (b. Dec 13, 1888 in Grand Rapids, MI) were
married July 21, 1934 in San Francisco, CA.
Hazel at graduation, 1928
Photo courtesy: Myrna Hohl
Folker
Hazel lived her infant years in Primrose and later the family moved
back to Donnellson before she started school. She graduated high
school in May 1928, a bitter-sweet time since her mother Katherine
had just died a few days before on May 18, 1928. She loved
basketball and was called “HAZ” by her teammates. Being the
shortest one of the team she was quite aggressive, even to the point
of “helping” the referees get their calls right.
After graduation she moved to California to live with sisters Doe and Leona where all three had
jobs working in a department store where they wore white gloves and hats to work every day.
For some reason, their manager/boss thought they were Jewish—so they enjoyed getting BOTH
Christmas and Hanukah off and NEVER SAID A WORD! All the sisters met and married their
husbands in California, but an interesting story follows on how Hazel met Nick.
6 Hazel did some amateur stage acting and in the lobby of the theater stood a cardboard cut-out of
a stunning Hazel Schock. When she was the star in the play “The Eldest Daughter”, Nick
Sparsman who ran with a Hollywood-like crowd, asked for her autograph after her performance.
They started dating, were married, and continued to live in California for 15 years.
Jack Sprat Grocery Store on Main Street, 1944
Photo courtesy: Eileen Kudebeh Clemons
In 1944 Oscar called with a business offer. The
family collected other people’s rations in order to
make the trip to Donnellson in Nick’s ’38 Chevy
with their possessions and on arrival moved in
with Mary and Red. Nick bought the Jack Sprat
grocery store from Oscar and moved into a house
two blocks south of downtown. Later a house
was moved from the country to Dewey and home
“was established”. The following article from
The Donnellson Review, March 20, 1947
announced its arrival.
Sparsman House Came to Town OK on Tuesday
“The house recently purchased from the Jacob Halfman estate by Nick Sparsman was moved from the
Halfman Farm northeast of town to the Will Land corner Monday, and on Tuesday was brought in to town
and spotted on the Sparsman lots in the W.J. Schmitt addition north of the Dr. Stafford Home. With a big
crawler type tractor for lugging power and A.W. Church’s house moving trucks, assistance of electrician and
linesmen, tree trimmers, traffic directors and other helpers, the house came to town in good time and in good
condition. House moving is no simple process. Ask the man who has moved one.”
The Donnellson Review March 20, 1947
Both Hazel and Nick worked in Nick’s Market Store—Nick as manager, bookkeeper, meat
cutter; Hazel as clerk, shelf stocker, janitor, writing weekly ads, doing the orders, keeping
everything running smoothly (the backbone of the store according to daughter JoAnn Dunmire
who lives in Cedar Rapids, IA). The store was sold before Nick passed away and a big family
train trip had been planned as a retirement trip to California at Christmas time.
This never
happened as Nick died December 09, 1959. His nephew Jack Clemons and wife Eileen
purchased the store and it became Jack’s Royal Blue which continued as a grocery store until
after the mid-1960s.
Now living alone and not ever owning a driver’s license, Hazel invited Doe, also widowed, to
come home and live with her. The two sisters lived on Dewey Street and Hazel worked in
Oscar’s Upton Café and later worked in Dr. Stafford’s dental office. After retiring, Hazel sold
the house they moved into the Millmeier Apartments. From there, she spent her last years in
assisted living facilities in Cedar Rapids and Solon, IA.
Hazel and Nick raised three children (Dorothy, Jo Ann, and Jacqueline) and had six
grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.
Hazel died Feb 17, 2002 in Solon and Nick died Dec 09, 1959 in Donnellson. Both are interred
in the Evangelical Cemetery located in Donnellson, Franklin Township.
7 Information for Part II of The Shock Family was provided by: Myrna Hohl Folker, Eileen
Kudebeh Clemons, Roberta Leisy Krehbiel’s book Donnellson School, 1918-1961, Carol Loges
Sturdivant’s book The History of Primrose, IA, Jo Ann Sparsman Dunmire, Carrie Folker’s
College Project, and the Donnellson Library Local & Family History Department. Diane Kruse
formatted and edited the article from the information and photos provided by all contributors.
The finale of the history of the Schock/Herstein Families will be forthcoming in the May issue of
the Donnellson Public Library newsletter
Diane P. Kruse, Newsletter Editor
Local & Family History Department
Donnellson Public Library
May 2015
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