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REYNOLDS IN SIOUX CITY
The Reynolds family was a tight group in Sioux City.
In 1920, William and his entire family were renting a house there (location?)(source: 1920 census). His son Harry was 28 years old and working as a farm laborer. His son Ted and daughter Stella were both working for the National Biscuit Company (later to become Nabisco). His daughter Helen was teaching school in the basement of the Seventh Day Adventist church, while the youngest daughter at age 11, Bea, was attending the same school.
Elizabeth Beaumont Reynolds died there in 1922 (location?). In 1925, Helen was living with her father, her brother Harry, and her two sisters, Bea and Stella, in a house owned by Stella. Harry's first child, Francis "Tex" Reynolds was born in 1926. When Helen married Harry "Hap" Joy in September 1926, her husband moved into Stella's house with the Reynolds family. Helen's father William died less than 5 months later, where he was living with his son Harry (source: Wm's obituary) in January 1927.
(When did Stella get her house?--Must've been between 1920 and 1922... Location?
Harry and Martha.... Harry was married (about 1923 in Minnesota) by 1925 Iowa census, where was Martha KOBOLD living? She had several children already.
Birth cert for Tex? Newspaper articles? )
(Where was Ted in 1925? In 1930?)
NEW ARRIVALS
Harry Reynold's first son with his wife Martha, Francis A. "Tex", was born (ABT?) 28 May 1926 in Sioux City. Martha was a widow(?) had 2 children from a previous marriage.
Vernon "Vern" was born on September 3, 1930 in Sioux City.(source: birth certi) His parents were still living with Helen's sisters Stella (always affectionately called "Sis") and Bea. His mother Helen was still working as a teacher for the Seventh Day Adventist church, and Stella was working for so Vern was cared for by his 21 year old Aunt Bea (source: Vern's report to daughter Jessica--- what his Aunt Bea had told him.)
Helen and Hap sent a "Joyous" telegraph to Hap's parents in Marshalltown, Iowa. (Image embedded)
According to Vern, his first food was a black jelly bean. His father Hap was working on a road crew and returned to the house with a black jelly bean, when he decided to see if his newborn son would like it!
VERNON'S CHILDHOOD
Vern's remembers when he was a very small child, he tripped over a chair and got hurt. In a fit of temper he smashed the chair to bits. His parents, who were good people but didn't understand the developmental phases of children, beat him for damaging their chair. The beating was so severe that he ended up in the hospital. Vern said that was very unusual in those days-- people didn't have a lot of money during the Depression, so they only went to the hospital when they were dying. No doubt the guilt that his parents suffered from this event ensured that nothing like it ever happened again.
(Image of Vern on tricycle)
The photographer brought this tricycle for a photo shoot. Vern enjoyed riding it around and was immensely disappointed when he couldn't keep the tricycle. His parents couldn't afford a tricycle for him, they were barely making ends meet.
The Joy family moved around, trying to eke out a living. At one point they moved to a farm outside Cedro Woolie, Washington. Later they moved to Laurel, Nebraska (year?). Vern's school, before high school, was a one-room schoolhouse. At one point he broke an (arm? leg?) and was stuck in bed for a period of time. He was extremely bored and frustrated, and decided at that point that he would always have books around so that he could read, no matter the situation.
HIGH SCHOOL
Vern was extremely active in his small high school (Magnet? Laurel?) He participated in basketball (image), baseball (image) and was an outstanding student.
It was an exciting time for the country, as well. In 1944 the U.S. went to War against .... (??) and Vern and his father both volunteered to help with the Civil Air Patrol (CAPS). (image) The CAPS were responsible for monitoring the skies for any enemy airplanes, so he became adept at identifying various planes in the sky.
At one point (year? date?) a military airplane crashed just outside of town and Vern and his father rushed to the scene. They were the first people there, and his dad helped the injured pilots while Vern discovered a huge strip of military ammunition. Vern wanted to take the ammo home with him. His mother absolutely refused, as she was worried what would happen if there were a fire in their house and the ammo strips were lit.
As it so happened, not more than a year later there was a fire in their house. Vern was in town that night, having just watched a movie at the theater, when a friend asked him "How's the fire?" It was then he learned that nearly the whole town of Laurel was at his place trying to get the fire under control.
They lost everything in the fire. Clothes, souvenirs, photographs, and heirlooms all went up in smoke. This occurred during the rationing years of World War II, so there was no lumber to rebuild their house. For about two years, Stella and Helen had to live in the one-room milkhouse, while Vern and his father were living in the farm's old chicken coop. (image) Vern wrote, ...Everything was fine....
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