Howard Courant Citizen
August 31, 1944
Sunday, August 20th, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Lyster of northeast of Howard entertained with a family gathering in honor of Capt. Gale Lyster, who just returned home from overseas duty. A cafeteria dinner was served at the noon hour and a very happy day it was to have Gale back after 14 months of overseas combat duty. Also T/Sgt. Howard Dobson and family of Gruber, Oklahoma were able to get a 3-day pass and be here for the day. Capt. Lyster and T/Sgt. Dobson are cousins and this was the first time they had met in 2 1/2 years.
Those present to enjoy the day were: Capt. and Mrs. Gale Lyster, T/Sgt and Mrs. Howard Dobson and two sons of Gruber, Oklahoma; Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Lyster, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hilyard, Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Henry, daughter and grandson Johnna Lou and Clara Yetta Gragg, all of Severy; Mr. and Mrs. Dale Lyster of Emporia; Mr. and Mrs. Ollie Henry and family of Eureka, Mrs. Guy Lyster and daughter of wichita, Mr. and Mrs. Robt. Dobson, Mr. and Mrs. Norman May and sons, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Lyster.
Capt Lyster has seen lots of combat duty and had lots of interesting things to tell of his travels. He will be assigned somewhere in the States for farther duty. All departed rejoincing having spent a happy day and wishing both Capt. Lyster and T/Sgt. Dobson the best of luck in the future.
Look, Mother. Listed in this Lyster family gathering are the names of our old neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Hilyard. They were sure nice people and Mr. Hilyard kept a really nice yard. They had a fish pond in the back yard with goldfish in it. We loved playing in their yard.
I missed seeing the Hilyards. They were nice neighbors. Their lawn was Bermuda grass and when Mr. Hilyard mowed, he would rake and pile the cuttings. You kids played in the piles and sometimes carried some of them home. I developed a pretty good stand of Bermuda grass next to some flower beds and it almost took over the flowers. I don't like Bermuda grass.
Probably the only reason that we carried the grass home was because we didn't have any toys to play with. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha I'm so funny.
I think you probably carried the grass home so you could continue playing in it. Mr. Hilyard was probably tired of you. Five little girls in your yard when you are trying to work is a bit much.
Josiah U. and Jane LYSTER were my GGGGrandparents. I am trying to locate anyone who can tell me if headstones are in place and, if so, could digital photos be emailed to me?
Thank you for your interest.
Mel Anderson
disneydog24@cox.net
Josiah and Jane are listed as buried in the Elk Falls cemetery. Jane in 1910 and Josiah a year later in 1911. They had lived in Elk Falls for around 35 years and had celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary not long before Jane died. Can anyone help Mel by checking to see if their tombstones are still in place, what condition they are in, and possibly send him digital photos. Josiah's obit has already been posted on this forum by Janet H., and I forwarded it on to Mel earlier. I found Jane's death notice a couple of weeks ago while in Topeka and have sent that to him as well.
Dan,
I appreciate your help very much! Hopefully I will have photos in the very near future. I have had an offer from another generous individual who makes it to Howard from time-to-time. When I first began my search of our family history last summer I had no idea where to start or how to start. I can't thank all of the people who have come forward with information enough! All of youo out there are wonderful.
Mel Anderson :D
I had not seen the article on the Lyster reunion until today. Gale Lyster and my brother Neil were best friends and Gale stood up with my brother when he got married before leaving for the service in 1942. It is really neat to see these barticles of Howard and various family's history, what pleasant memories they bring. Lynn May was also a friend of mine, his mother was a Lyster, I haven't seen Lynn in 40+ years.
I also grew up catty-corner from the Hilyards. Caught many a gold fish out of their pond, but it was in the front yard, east side of the house. Many names in the article I know and am wondering how they were related to Lyster's. Wilma, wasn't there a Lyster that lived west of Severy where Leon Riggs owns now? Been many years ago. A classmate and I were looking at old ( :-[) pictures just a couple days ago and one was of the grade school band when I was probably 5th or 6th grade. She wanted to know who several of those pictured were. One was trumpet player Karlton Mac May. Small world. There is May in my family tree also.
There was a Lyster that lived either where Leon is or just around Dead Man's Curve on the east side of 99. I can't remember the name of the other family right now, but I think it was Barbara Jay's parents.
Wilma, Barbara Jay's parents name was Bergman.
I'm pretty sure that Barbara Jay said that her parents owned that farm where Leon and Darlene live now.
Janet, Barbara's parents, the Bergmans did own it. My brother-in-law, Gordon Buffalow rented it from the family and lived there several years.
You are all right. Their name was Bergman and they owned the farm where Leon is now and Gordon Buffalow did live there for awhile.
I can just remember Barbara Jay telling me about that being her family farm. That was cool. Barbara Jay was quite the lady. She always looked grumpy, but once you got to talking to her and joking around, she would be right in there with you.
When her husband, Virgil, died, they were out in the country where they had some land. Virgil was driving and died at the wheel of the red pickup. Barbara, a bus driver, grabbed the wheel and was able to guide the truck into the ditch without hitting anything, I think. I can't remember how she got the sheriff's office notified, but I was the first emergency person on the scene and she was so glad to see me. She stayed with Virgil until we got arrangements to get him to the funeral home. Bless her heart, she was a good person.
okay, Marcia, get your Severy History digging gloves on - where did the Lyster's live?????? Another place might be between Hilyards and Pikes, and could have been on the SE side of suicide curve as Wilma suggested. Course none of this has anything to do with Elk County, except the Lyster's
I have been lurking long enough! I do believe the Lyster's property was southeast of the old highway to Severy on 99 before the turn east. House burned, believe it was lightning. Now they could have lived somewhere else too. This was before they moved to Howard.