Charles Otto Crumley and Edythe Kathryn Lundberg were married June 24, 1908.  Edythe met Charles in St. Paul Minnesota where he was stationed at Fort Snelling, and she was working for a newspaper.  They were married in Iola, Kansas on the day of their arrival from St. Paul.  He had previously gone back to Iola and had a home on Kentucky Street all furnished and waiting when they arrived.

Charles Otto Crumley

Charles Otto Crumley was born 7 Oct. 1879 in Kokomo, Howard, Indiana to Samuel J. Crumley and Sarah Elizabeth Brunk.  He was the fourth son in the family.  The third son died at birth and the oldest, Edgar, died at age 16.  William, the second son, was five years older than Charles and his only sister Bertha was three years younger.  At some point after 1886 the family moved to Iola, Kansas.  Charles was a soldier in the U.S. army and followed the profession of carpentry as his father had done.  He also loved baseball and his son Harold told my mother Virginia that Charles was associated in some way with some type of professional baseball team in Denver, Colorado.  Harold remembered that the family would move to Denver for spring practice.  Ross indicated in his personal history that the family also moved to Denver for Edythe's health as she had contracted tuberculosis. 

Edythe Kathryn Lundberg

"She, Edythe Kathryn Lundberg, was a very pretty woman, tall, blond hair and was so good....You asked me if I knew anything about your mother's folks,  All I know is she had a brother and they lived in St. Paul, where your father met her--she was working for some paper there.  She was a teacher before going to work there.  She was a wonderful person."

(From letters written to Ross Denham by Bertha Crumley, Charles' sister.)

Edythe's life had been one of difficulty.  She was the second of six children  and had lost her father at the age of nine in a tragic suicide death.  By the time she married Charles her three sisters and her mother had died of tuberculosis.   Her remaining family consisted of a younger brother, Peter and older sister, Mathilda.   (There is evidence a seventh child in the family had possibly died at childbirth.)  Edythe was refined and well-educated for her time and place.

Edythe was the first teacher hired by the Clay Corner School.

The family grows...

During their 12 year marriage Charles and Edythe lived in Iola Kansas, Denver, Colorado and Holbrook, Arizona. Five children where born to them - Charles Daniel (Dan) - b.18 April 1909 , Harold Samuel - b.17 Aug 1911, Margaret Marion (Marjorie) - b. 22 Sep 1913, Virginia Sarah - b. 12 Feb.1916, and Roscoe Beverly (Ross) - b.18 Sep. 1918. 

Dan was born in Iola. Harold and Marjorie were born in Denver (Arvada), Colorado.  

Virginia and Ross were born back in Iola.  

A few years later the family moved to Holbrook, Arizona in hopes the climate would be good for Edythe's health.  This photo was taken about 12 years after the Crumley's moved to Holbrook but is representative of the dusty, little Arizona town that became their home.  Charles stayed in Holbrook for some time after Edythe's death and Dan and Harold went to high school here.

Ross's birth certificate

Edythe with Dan, Harold and Virginia or Marjorie...

Virginia wrote on this picture that it was taken in Holbrook about 1920.  I think it must have been a few years earlier, as Dan and Harold look too young to be 11 and 9.  Dan was born in 1909 and Harold in 1911.  I'm not sure whether the girl is Marjorie (1913) or Virginia (1916).   My guess is this is Marjorie.  This is the only picture we have of Edythe after her wedding pictures.  She is very thin, a result of her tuberculosis.  From all reports she was friendly and gregarious and apparently kept her children very clean as Dan and Harold won an award for being the cleanest boys in the scout troop when they were older.

Ross's early memories of Holbrook

"The earliest experience that I can recall occurred when we were living in Holbrook, Arizona.  Because of the alkali soil along the banks of the Little Colorado River in this section of Arizona, very little grows.  Our small frame house faced south and was without the benefit of lawn or shade trees.  The wooden steps at the front door provided a place for me to play.  I recall playing on the steps in the warm Arizona sunshine with a large collie dog and her fat, yellow puppies.  They fascinated me as they ran over my legs and tumbled down the steps.  Our house was directly across the street from the Santa Fe railroad tracks and two or three blocks from the Little Colorado river.  When the noisy freight trains or passenger trains would lumber through town and past our house, the frightened little puppies would frantically climb the steps and tumble down again."

(The photo of Holbrook was taken about 12 years later than Ross's memories  but serves to give an idea of the hot, dusty little town by the railroad and river.)

Leaving a young family behind....

Edythe's death certificate.  Name is incorrect probably because a Mabel Richards, probably an acquaintance or public official  gave the coroner the information.  The certificate states she had had tuberculosis for 2 years.

Edythe died November 8, 1920.  As much as she must have struggled to live, she succumbed to tuberculosis as a young mother of five children ages 2-11.

The following letter was written by Nina Callester to Ross B. Denham, Edythe's youngest son.  Nina was a granddaughter of Sheriff Newman.  

 "Grandpa Newman was a sheriff of Navajo  county in Arizona long before I was born.  He had sold his cattle ranch to move to town so the children could be in school. There he was elected.  Grandmother wanted him out of the atmosphere of the political arena, so she talked him into going to a small town in Utah so they could have more of the Mormon atmosphere.  They bought a large two story home and the people in Holbrook again voted Grandpa back in office even without him being there, so they again moved back to Holbrook.  Their home was gone, so they lived in the court house in an apartment there.


One day, a man came rushing into the court house and said, "Mr. Newman, can you help me?  My wife is dying."  Grandpa went with him, I thought to a hotel, but you said it was a home.  There he said he found a mother who had lain so long in the bed she had worn the bedding down into the mattress.  The children were 'mewing' and hungry.  The woman died, and the man asked grandpa if he could find homes for his children, which they did.  The Denhams were friends of Grandpa's and good members of the church, so they were childless, and took the baby, which was you.  They had to be fine people for the way you turned out."


Harold related the following to Ross in July of 1981.


"One evening, my mother gathered all her children around her and told us she was going away.   She told us how much she loved us and how she wanted us to be good.  She wanted us to be good to our father, to help him and each other.   She must have felt she would not live very long, and she was trying to prepare us for the probability."

Obituary 

Holbrook, Arizona Tribune - Friday, November 12, 1920 - Page 8

Mrs. Crumley Passes Away Monday Night - (Edythe Kathryne Lundberg Crumley)

     

      Mrs. Edith Crumley died at her home in Holbrook Monday night at 11:00 o'clock being afflicted with tuberculosis for the past two years.  She was the wife of Charles Crumley, a carpenter, aged 43 years, and was born in Ellsworth, Wisconsin.  Mrs. Crumley leaves aside from her husband five small children, the eldest being 11 years old and the youngest two years which makes her death a sad one.  The remains were buried in the Holbrook cemetery Tuesday at 4:30 o'clock.  Rev. Frank R. Speck, of the Methodist Episcopal church officiating with a short ritual service and a prayer.

The above photo was given to Virginia on Nov. 8, 1922, on the two-year anniversary of Edythe's death.   Charles perhaps brought it by or sent it as a gift of remembrance.  He obviously wanted his children to remember their mother.  Marjorie died in April of that year so Virginia was his only daughter left.  Virginia and Ross must have felt the weight of sadness in the loss of their mother and then their sister in death and the company of their father and brothers all within a year and a half.  

Mrs. Lloyd Henning remembers Edythe Crumley...

 

The following letter written to Ross Nov. 15, 1939 is from Mrs. Lloyd Henning, a Holbrook Arizona resident.

 

 

Ross arranged for a headstone to be placed on Edythe's and Marjorie's (Margaret) grave.  Photo taken July 24, 1981. 

Remebrances of the Crumley family in Holbrook...

(Double click on the following article to enlarge it for easier reading.)

Mrs. Will Cross remembers Edythe....

Mrs. Will Cross, a neighbor and friend of the Crumley family, said the following about Edythe Kathryne Lundberg Crumley:

"Mrs. Crumley was full of vim and vitality.  Very thin and quite tall.  She was very interested in her children and their school work.  She attended school functions and was talkative.  She had lots of dark hair, parted in the center with a great big bob in the back.  Dan, their oldest son, was very popular with the boys and was a natural leader.  He was exceptionally intelligent and always neat and clean.  Dan and Harold were members of the Boy Scout troop and at one of their inspections they were given an award for being the cleanest boys in the troop.  Harold, their second son, was a little more quiet than Dan."

Rememberances of Florence and Virgil Denham on the adoption of Ross

Virginia's Adoption...

Charles tried to keep the family together for about 10 months before he consented to adopt out the three younger children in September of 1921.  He chose to place them with families in Snowflake and Shumway, about 30-45 miles south of Holbrook.  Willard and Vina Denham adopted Ross and Marjorie was taken by Willard's parents, Franklin and Dicie Denham.  Ross was almost three years old and Marjorie almost eight at the time.  For some reason Virginia, five, was not adopted by the Denham's although sources indicate that might have been the plan originally.  Virginia related to her children that she remembered being brought alone to a family in Snowflake.  Whoever brought her there left her, slipping out without telling her when she was busy playing.  When she found they were gone she started to cry and cried all night.  The next morning the family she had been left with brought her back to the person who was trying to place her and told her they did not see it working out. Nettie and Joseph Rencher were approached about adopting the little girl without a home.  Nettie wrote the following: 

"In the fall of 1921 a friend came to our home with two beautiful little girls. She said their mother had died and the father had been determined to keep his five children together, but after doing this for more than two years and making a living for them also he had found it a difficult task. Their nearest relatives were in Kansas. Then the child welfare of the county persuaded him to place the three smallest children out for adoption. The friend said that she and her husband were adopting the oldest little girl and the welfare board and judge of the county, who was chairman of the board as well was an old friend of ours,  wished us to take the youngest one.
 
It was a staggering proposition. I had wished so much for another daughter and Beth had hoped for a sister, but this was different - assuming the great responsibility of bringing up the child of someone else. After serious thought and earnest prayer we took the dear child with grateful hearts, and from that day to this no parents ever had a child that brought them more comfort and  joy than our dear Virginia has brought to us."

Virginia later related that when she walked through Nettie's gate into the Rencher front yard she felt a complete peace and calm come over her.  She felt at home.  She didn't cry one tear and loved her adopted parents her entire life.  They were very good to her.

Virginia's Adoption Papers

Note Charles' signature on the above papers.  It must have been heart-wrenching for him to sign the legal papers giving away his three youngest children to strangers, and yet at the same time I imagine he felt relief knowing that they were going to be taken care of by good families.  

Virginia's birth certificate

Marjorie's Adoption Papers

Charles keeps in touch....

Charles tried to have occasional contact with the children after the adoption.  Ross writes:

"My father, Charles Crumley, kept in touch with us.  He would bring us presents.  He remembered us at Christmas and other special occasions.  I recall one time he brought me some dominos, another time a small pen knife, and still another time a small inexpensive watch.  The Denham's my foster parents, always told me about my adoption and what they knew about my parents.  They always made my father feel welcome when he came to visit."  

Virginia remembers her father visiting them for a year or so and then he disappeared out of their lives, probably to make it easier on them.   The following photo was given or sent to Virginia along with one of Edythe on the two-year anniversary of Edythe's death.

The following letter was written by Marjorie to Virginia the Christmas after the adoption.  She tells of the gifts Charles sent to the children.

Margaret Marion (Marjorie) Crumley Denham

The boy in the upper left is Chester Shumway, the girl in the center in Marjorie Crumley and the girl on the right, Garnette Meadows.  This is a 2nd grade picture in front of the old school building now razed.  1921, Holbrook Arizona. The picture would have been taken after Edythe's death but before the adoption. 

Marjorie had lived with the Denham family for about seven months when she died as the result of an accident on 7 April, 1922.  According to Virginia, a large rock rolled onto Marjorie's foot as she was playing on a hillside, injuring her and she died of blood poisoning.

Virginia is raised by the Renchers

Virginia found a welcoming home with Joseph and Nettie Rencher.  Her adopted family were very dear to her.  This is Nettie and Joseph in their younger years.  They were much older when they adopted Virginia.  Nettie was in her later fifties.  Joseph died in a wagon accident when Virginia was 13.  She mourned his death greatly as she was "the apple of his eye." 

 The Rencher home with Nettie on the front porch.

Nettie and Virginia spent many years alone together.  They were a blessing for each other. 

I think this photo is of Virginia on the day of her adoption, taken in front of Nettie Rencher's home.

I think Virginia is on the left and maybe Eula Rencher on the right.  Virginia looks much like her mother Edythe in this photo.

Virginia is the girl on the front row to the right.

Virginia with her kitty Puss.

Growing up.  Moe perms must have come in vogue.

  Virginia's high school graduation.

 Virginia and Ross when she worked and lived in Holbrook after graduation.

Single years.

Virginia worked in Holbrook for a number of years after she graduated from high school.  She bought a small house there.  She later moved to Salt Lake City and worked at the LDS Business college where she met Lloyd G. Frey whom she later married.  She lived and worked in Denver before her marriage on July 28, 1949.  Lloyd and Virginia had four children, Sandra, Lloya, Marjorie and George. 

Virginia and Lloyd's engagement photo taken Mar. 20, 1949 in Denver, Colorado.

Reception held June 30, 1949 in the Snowflake, Arizona.