"The Life of Luke George and Susie Ochs"

Letter Written by Their Son 13 April 1999, Cimarron, Kansas

and Transcribed by Roberta Greenway, Cement, Oklahoma

Luke and Susie Ochs George struggled through life. My Dad first came to Gray county around 1921 - 1922 to help his brother John break sod for Mr. Brady fro Sheafer, Kansas.

My folks were married in Otis, Kansas, and then they moved north of Ingalls, Kansas approximately 11 miles north and 1 mile west on the Anderson place. They lived there until the late 1920's, then moved to a farm that Dad's brother's wife relatives owned.

Dad and Mom worked hard on this farm. They milked cows after the farming day came to a close. Dad must of had a good looking crop coming on, because he baught a Baldwin pull type combine, which was his downfall.

Prices for grain went down to nothing. He couldn't pay for the combine and had to take bankrupcy. We then moved to Ingalls. While on the Russell farm, they had dances in their house. The home brew would ruin the wallpaper on the walls. The dances were on Saturday night and lasted to daybreak.

The folks, when on the farm before we moved to Ingalls would milk the cows after they came home from the dance. After we moved to Ingalls, the dances still put on. On Sunday, they would sleep most of it. We moved to Ingalls in 1934. We lived in several homes, one was the Old Hotel, we lived in an apartment there. (Picture above is Susie Ochs George.)

Dad worked on railroad extra gangs. He also worked W.P.A. He finally got to drive a truck to haul workers to and from the job. That wasn't easy though. He had to crank the old truck and in the winter time it had to be drained so wouldn't freeze. So, Dad would get up early and get the truck started and filled with water for $15.00 a month wages. Wasn't very much, through the depression and the dust stroms nobody had any money.

Dad got a job on construction on Highway 50 being rebuilt east of Cimarron. He stayed till the job was done and 1938 he took a job on a farm north of Ingalls 3 miles. Joe Burns owned the farm and ran a grocery store in Ingalls.

After we moved to Ingalls the dust storms really started coming. We would go up to the Pawnee north of Ingalls to see Uncle John on a Sunday and get caught in a dust storm coming home. It was real bad, somebody would have to get out and help Dad keep the car in the road by walking in front of the car and tell him what part of the road he was on. After moving to Ingalls in 1938, we had one or two of them.

That was tough timed for the folks through the dust storms and depression. We ate a lot of bread and gravey.

After they moved to the farm, the family got bigger. My three sisters came in about 5 years. Dad left the farm in the year of 1950. We moved back to Ingalls. There he went to work for the County, where he retired. Mom worked in the school lunch program for 27 years after the last move to Ingalls.