Memories

For some unknown reason while thinking about a memory article, the McCord family kept coming to mind.

Their family lived close to our family on the south side of Ekalaka during my grade and high school years. I would like to go back many years and share some memories of some of that family.

To do this, I am going to take the article written by their daughter, Ruth, in “Shifting Scenes Vol. III,” pages 136-137.

I have some memories of my connection with two or three family members and will share later as the “Shifting Scenes” article is fairly long. Enjoy the “old days” as you read the article.

“Edward F. and Mabel M. McCord

by Ruth McCord Loehding

Edward F. McCord was born August 30, 1876 at West Lima, Wisconsin. He was the youngest of ten children of Mr. and Mrs. Frank McCord. He grew up in Wisconsin.

Mabel M. McCord was born April 19, 1889 at Richland Center, Wisconsin. Her parents were John Logan and Edith Redfield Logan.

Ed and Mabel were married on December 8, 1904 in Carrington, North Dakota, where her parents had moved. There they made their home and the oldest son Clifford was born in 1906. They moved back to Wisconsin and then to Angleton, Texas where Ed worked on the railroad. They returned to Barnum, Wisconsin in 1911. Bessie and Kenneth were born in Wisconsin. Later they moved to Plevna, Montana. On the trip to Plevna they stopped to see Gramma Logan and Evelyn was born there in North Dakota. Ed worked on a ranch out of Plevna. Ed decided to go to Ridgway, Montana to homestead. Mabel and the children stayed in Plevna until after Roy was born and Ed could build them a house. The family then moved down to Ridgway in the spring of 1920 but that fall they moved back to Plevna to send the kids to school and Ed again worked on the railroad. The next spring, before the snow was off the ground, they moved back to the homestead. Ed worked for McVicker’s herding sheep for a while. After a couple of years the family moved to the Box Elder area. Ed carried the mail from Ridgeway, Montana to Piniele, Montana for several years. Some of the older children still remember going with their dad on the mail route, what fun! The family continued to grow, Dorothy, LaVerne, Ruth, Dale and Lance were born during these years on the ranch. The Depression then hit the McCord family. Things were very bad everywhere. In 1935 the family moved to Ekalaka, Montana to send the children to school for the winter. It was to be just for the school terms but we never went back to Ridgway to live. Ed held many different jobs in the following years. Two of which were at the Lantis Sawmill and he read the water meters in Ekalaka for many years.

In July, 1954, the family had a reunion at Ekalaka. It was the first time all the immediate family had ever been home at the same time. The family now included in-laws and many grandchildren. Clifford had moved to Spokane, Washington and had married Agnes Wilson. Bessie married Bill Karinen and made her home at Newell, South Dakota. Kenneth married Aloah Stiles and lived in Sutherlin, Oregon. Evelyn married Loyd Dodd. LaVerne and his wife Dorothy, and Dale all live in Dillon, Montana. Roy married Pearl Cline and lives in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Dorothy is married to Raymond Bernard and they make their home in Denver, Colorado. Ruth married Dan Loehding and lives in Spokane, Washington. They were all at the reunion along with sixteen grandchildren.

On December 8, 1954, Ed and Mabel celebrated their Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary with an open house at their home in Ekalaka. Bessie, Evelyn and LaVerne were the only ones of the children that could get home for that date.

Another family reunion was held in Ekalaka in 1959 and the whole family came home. Everyone enjoyed seeing each other again and meeting all the new grandchildren.

Mabel McCord sat as election clerk or judge for a number of years at Precinct #13 Ekalaka, and was known for following the election laws in that she would go out into the street and call out, “Hear Ye, Hear Ye, the Polls are now open,” (or closed) at the opening and closing of the Polls.

Mrs. McCord was a very active worker in the Congregational Church and the Ladies Aid during her years in Ekalaka.

Ed died December 21, 1966, in Ekalaka and Mabel died March 1, 1968, in Ekalaka. The oldest son, Clifford, died in Spokane, Washington, February 1969.

The children have had a family reunion every two years since 1969. The last one being held August 1, 1981, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Dan (Ruth) Loehding at Spokane, Washington. There were nine children, twenty-one first cousins, and eight second cousins. They came from Anchorage, Alaska, Minneapolis, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.”