John and Dora were born in Dunlap, Illinois. They had one son, Elliott, who was born in Edelstein, Illinois, in 1901. They moved to Clinton, Henry County, Missouri in the early 1900's. In Clinton, they took in a young girl, Virginia Opalmae, born 1913, whose mother had died and whose father was unable to care for her. They had wanted to adopt her, but her father would not give permission, so she lived with them and was considered a daughter by the family.

John had been a farmer in Illinois, but did not appear to be very successful at this endeavor. They opened the Snappy Cleaners in Clinton and ran it for a number of years. John was not much of a farmer, or businessman. Dora seems to have done a lot of the work in the dry cleaning shop while he "presided." Knowing his personality, he was probably good at keeping customers happy, bringing in business, etc.

John had a good style as a story-teller, a droll delivery, good timing, a winning smile with the punch line. But some of his punch lines were simply expressions he and Dora thought funny -- "going some", meaning going fast, was one I remember. Another was a blooper in the paper about a dinner that was "replete" with appetizers and salad. They treasured those stories and chuckled every time one of them used one of those expressions.

He was witty. When a newspaper reporter asked what it was like to be married to the same woman for fifty years, he said he thought it was easier than being married to fifty women for one year.

They loved to play pinochle. They gave one grandson a violin and were disappointed that he did not take to it.

Dora played the piano and encouraged John to sing, something he never was heard him do otherwise.

Dora seemed to her grandchildren to be rather severe. She "suffered in silence" which made everyone else suffer more. It was not surprising that she died of high blood pressure.

When their son, Elliott moved to Boulder, Colo., to attend college, John and Dora moved there and bought and operated a store while he went to college. (Imagine going off hundreds of miles to attend college and your mother follows you!)

They moved to St. Louis, Missouri, late in life to be with their son and his family and that is where they died.