MySource:Kcshrader/Laughlin/Trimble Book page 39

_SRCT:

_FIELD: TX-AUTHOR Text: Marion J. "Jim" Laughlin and Julia Laughlin

_FIELD: DT-PUBLICATION_DATE Date: 1992

_FIELD: TX-TITLE Text: Descendants of John Laughlin and Tabitha Trimble

_FIELD: TX-PUBLISHER Text: self-published

_FIELD: TX-REFERENCE Text: 39

_FIELD: RP-REPOSITORY Repository:

_AUTO: 0

_SEQ: 1

[S1278] Laughlin Book page 39 39

ended driving the old Maxwell.

While still in high school, I had a job at the Nafziger Farm taking care of Hunting and Jumping horses and Polo ponies. People of the Country Club area of Kansas City boarded their horses and rode them for pleasure and competition, at the American Royal and other major shows around the country. At one time I was considered for training as a jockey - I was very small for my age. After graduation I worked for my Uncle Elmer in the garage at Stanley. In 1938 I went to work for the Kansas City Star in Kansas City and for the Miles of View Farm on the State Line at 150 Highway, again taking care of and training horses for the William L. Huggins family. I raised, trained, and showed several in the Jumper Class at the American Royal. Most won ribbons, two blue.

In the middle of the Depression Years, any job was worth keeping. My two jobs for four years paid $100.00 a month and I drove about 40/50 miles a day. Down town K.C. then out to Miles of View, getting home after 6 P.M. Each year, the extra time spent at the American Royal didn't mean extra pay, nor bonus either for blue ribbons. We were happy to have a job.

When WW II started I went to school under the Army Airforce Technical Training administered by T.W.A. in Kansas City and thru-out the war worked at the Kansas City Airport T.W.A. Overhaul base as an Aircraft Mechanical Engineer. I worked on DC-3, B-17, B-25, B-24, Boeing 303, Lockheed, Constellations, Cessna planes.

After the war was over in 1946, brother Herb and I wanted to go into business for ourselves. We both had a lot of experience working on cars, so we bought a small filling station near Stillwell. Not many people had new cars because of war and with service men returning home there was plenty of work keeping cars repaired. Small jobs were no problem but to overhaul an engine we rigged a hoist on a large tree and worked outside when the weather permitted.

Soon we needed better working conditions and bought the garage in Stanley where we both had worked while in school. We lived in Overland Park at that time and in 1950 we sold our home, moving to Stanley. Our children Jerry and Judy went to the two room Stanley school that I had attended. They enjoyed living in the small town and the same activities I had while growing up. Jerry learned to play basketball the way I had and also learned to swim in the rock hole that no one knew how deep it was.

At that time, Stanley didn't have many of the modern conveniences. We carried water from a well in the yard and heated the house with an oil stove. After two years we bought another home in Overland Park where we lived for 26 years. Jerry and Judy finished school at Shawnee Mission just at the beginning of the rapid growth of suburban expansion and Baby Boom years. During their college years Julia worked as a saleslady for Sears Roebuck on the Plaza and then at home as a dressmaker, seamstress. A lifelong interest, she had made her own clothes and sewed for family and friends.

Retirement years came suddenly, Laughlin Brothers Garage was sold in 1976. We had vacationed at Pomme de Terre Lake for several years and with a recreational vehicle (R.V.) traveled around the country, so making the decision to sell our home and move to the lake was easy. We had a new house built and had two acres to enjoy. We made many new friends and learned to play golf. We still go back to enjoy the small course and many friends and Country Life at its best.

In 1989 after health problems multiplied we moved to Belton, Mo. just south of Kansas City to be near our children and grandchildren.