Person:Eugene Schmillen (1)

He grew up in the Dana-Rutland-Toluca area of Illinois. He was a farmer's son. His father, William, taught him how to work hard. He liked watching the Acthison,Topeka & Santa Fe railroad trains which ran east and west through his boyhood farm home west of Toluca,IL. He attended a parochial school. He wanted to enlist in the armed forces at the beginning years of World War II, but he was designated 4F which meant he had to stay at home and help the war effort there. He learned how to fly in a small Cessna aircraft in Streator,IL. He married Della Irene Kinkade--he loved her smile. He married her at St.Anthony's Catholic church in Streator,IL, on 20Jan1951 by Rev.Philip Johnson.

They had 4 sons and 2 daughters: Edward, David, Gregg, Karen, Kevin and Christine. He was a farmer and later also became a steel mill worker at J&L Steel,Inc. in Hennepin,IL. He loved to laugh and was fascinated by his children's and grandchildren's young, intelligent minds. Della was a homemaker and volunteered time at St. Ann's Catholic Church in Toluca. Eugene's farm was 1 mile south and 1 mile east of Toluca. Della later worked at the Internal Revenue Service in Bloomington,IL.

Eugene and Della lived in Normal,IL in their retirement years.

1. ↑ LaVada Cook (Compiler). Schmillen Records. (unpublished : Washburn, IL).
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. (Ancestry.com. . Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2002. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls.)
   ED 32 sheet 3B line 77.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5} Karen Carroll. Schmillen-Kincade Database. (Provo: www.rootsweb.com last updated Thu Apr 8 12:47:12 2004).
4. ↑ Eugene Joseph "Gene" Schmillen, in Find A Grave.