The following is an autobiography that Charlotte wrote for the Fernanda Maria Chapter newsletter in 2016. Fernanda Maria is a California chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Charlotte was our Regent twice and a beloved member of the chapter and a friend to all who knew her.
Charlotte will be buried in between her two husbands and overlooking the farm. She talked to me of this many times.
Charlotte was the wife of Missouri Trooper, Ross S Creach, who was killed in the line of duty in 1942 and William Bonner.
Her son, Bill Creach, gave me permission to include this autobiography on her findagrave memorial.
Charlotte's Autobiography:
Rise and shine give God glory. I woke up every morning at home with dad getting us up and saying, "Rise and Shine". I was born May 16, 1920 at the state farm which was a part of the North East Missouri State Teachers College in Kirksville, Missouri. My parents were working at the farm to pay for their college tuition. My father was 28 and my mother was 26. My father, Elmer Deloram Harpham, was born at Milan, Missouri and my mother, Geneva Lynn Miller, in Greenfield, Illinois.
I came from very hearty people, typical Missouri people, who strongly believed in public education and church. Where ever we lived we attended a church. Even though my father's side of the family contained a long line of Methodist preachers and my mother's side of the family were staunch Reorganized Church Latter Day Saints, we attended Baptist, Christian, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches if the preferred ones were not available.
I have three sisters Mary, Dorothy, and Neva D. We were all very close as a family. All of us graduated from college and became teachers. We were all first P. E. teachers and later moved on to other subjects, such as English, History and Counseling. All of us married teachers. We, with our families, always spent Christmas with my parents, often in a hotel. That was so that mom didn't have to work hard on the holiday.
I remember that Grandma and Grandpa Miller lived with us and Grandpa Miller would pull Mary and me around in a little red wagon.
The next memory I have is in living Granby, Missouri. When Mary and I would get in an argument mom would have us shine both sides of a glass door. Sure is hard to stay mad and watch your sister make faces at you. My dad was the superintendent of schools and I would run with him to school every day. We had a hallway in our house and dad would chase us until we couldn't go another step. I remember being chased home from school by a bunch of bullies. My mother finally said you whip them or I whip you. That's where I learned to stand and do what I thought was right.
Ours was a very democratic family. Every week we had a council meeting. The subject was how to spend what little money we had. We were really poor but everyone else was too. We had a structured life. Church on Sunday, work together, played together and prayed together and were not allowed to go to the show on Sunday.
I remember when Neva D was born in Verona, Missouri. She was always cute and petite. For the 1935-7 school years we moved to Macks Creek, Missouri where dad was the superintendent and mom was the principal. The first day I walked into the high school I was hit in the head with a baseball. The guy who hit me was Ross Seldon Creach. We smiled at each other. I fell madly in love with him. After we left Macks Creek I wasn't to see him for another three years when we were both in college at Warrensburg. When we moved to Macks Creek the US government was buying up cattle for five dollars a head. We were in a deep depression. Dad made $37.50 a month as school superintendent. Part of his pay was in warrants,
essentially an IOU, because the school district had no cash. The board promised dad more money. When he didn't receive the raise he sued the school board. On the school board was Lena Creach, my future mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
After Macks Creek we moved to Bear Creek, MO, where I graduated from High School. My dad, Elmer Deloram Harpham, was a people person all through his life. When he began teaching, in Lynn Creek, Missouri, the only requirement for a teacher was that they had completed the class that they were hired to teach. In order to continue in his career he attended summer school for 39 summers. He attended college at North East Missouri State in Kirksville, Mo and Central Missouri State in Warrensburg, MO where he eventually received a Bachelors Degree. He received his Masters Degree from the University of Missouri. As a Superintendent he moved from school district to school district leading the consolidation of one-room schools creating larger school districts. This usually took about three years after which we moved on to another school.
My mom, Geneva Lynn, was really fun to be with. Our home was always a gathering place of kids. She knew our boyfriends. Our home was always open to visitors, especially Reorganized Church Latter Day Saints missionaries. Mom received a Masters Degree in Home Economics, with an emphasis in nutrition, from George Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee. She did this during the summers while the rest of the family stated with Grandpa and Grandma Miller in Cross Timbers, MO attended summer school.
Mom and I took classes together at Warrensburg State University. Mom and I were very close. Mary was my buddy. We shared everything. She stayed on the farm in Macks Creek one summer helping with my family so I could finish my BS degree from Kirksville. 1 remember mom and dad's 50th anniversary in Camdenton, Missouri. Someone spiked the punch. I always saw thought it was Fred Miller, mom's brother. It was a lively party; over two hundred people present. People came at 10 o'clock in the morning and
stayed late in the evening.
Before launching 42 years in public school teaching with LA Unified School District I spent most of my time in college studying and working with church projects. I was very interested in church music and working with different age groups. I am a retired school teacher with a B.S. in Education and Masters in Counseling. I raised a family of five sons, a doctor, a foreign service officer, a Major in the Marine Corp, a Major in the Army and a computer analyst for Cosco.
Teaching was not my first career choice. I planned on being a housewife. My husband, Ross Seldon Creach, was a Missouri State Highway Officer killed in the line of duty in 1942. I had to earn a living for my family. I started in a one room school in Missouri and finished my career as a college scholarship counselor at San Fernando High in the second largest school system in the U.S. What an exciting position and career I have had. Freedom to be successful. All students just needed help in thinking they could go to college. It was my privilege to provide information they needed for college. What a happy experience.
I have spent my retirement taking care of business on a farm in Missouri. I helped to get Senate bill No 667 passed making 13 miles of Highway 24, between Macks Creek and Camdenton, Missouri, named Missouri Trooper Ross S Creach Memorial Highway, in honor of my husband. I am writing a book called “Rise and Shine”.
July 2016
Charlotte will be buried in between her two husbands and overlooking the farm. She talked to me of this many times.
Charlotte was the wife of Missouri Trooper, Ross S Creach, who was killed in the line of duty in 1942 and William Bonner.
Her son, Bill Creach, gave me permission to include this autobiography on her findagrave memorial.
Charlotte's Autobiography:
Rise and shine give God glory. I woke up every morning at home with dad getting us up and saying, "Rise and Shine". I was born May 16, 1920 at the state farm which was a part of the North East Missouri State Teachers College in Kirksville, Missouri. My parents were working at the farm to pay for their college tuition. My father was 28 and my mother was 26. My father, Elmer Deloram Harpham, was born at Milan, Missouri and my mother, Geneva Lynn Miller, in Greenfield, Illinois.
I came from very hearty people, typical Missouri people, who strongly believed in public education and church. Where ever we lived we attended a church. Even though my father's side of the family contained a long line of Methodist preachers and my mother's side of the family were staunch Reorganized Church Latter Day Saints, we attended Baptist, Christian, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches if the preferred ones were not available.
I have three sisters Mary, Dorothy, and Neva D. We were all very close as a family. All of us graduated from college and became teachers. We were all first P. E. teachers and later moved on to other subjects, such as English, History and Counseling. All of us married teachers. We, with our families, always spent Christmas with my parents, often in a hotel. That was so that mom didn't have to work hard on the holiday.
I remember that Grandma and Grandpa Miller lived with us and Grandpa Miller would pull Mary and me around in a little red wagon.
The next memory I have is in living Granby, Missouri. When Mary and I would get in an argument mom would have us shine both sides of a glass door. Sure is hard to stay mad and watch your sister make faces at you. My dad was the superintendent of schools and I would run with him to school every day. We had a hallway in our house and dad would chase us until we couldn't go another step. I remember being chased home from school by a bunch of bullies. My mother finally said you whip them or I whip you. That's where I learned to stand and do what I thought was right.
Ours was a very democratic family. Every week we had a council meeting. The subject was how to spend what little money we had. We were really poor but everyone else was too. We had a structured life. Church on Sunday, work together, played together and prayed together and were not allowed to go to the show on Sunday.
I remember when Neva D was born in Verona, Missouri. She was always cute and petite. For the 1935-7 school years we moved to Macks Creek, Missouri where dad was the superintendent and mom was the principal. The first day I walked into the high school I was hit in the head with a baseball. The guy who hit me was Ross Seldon Creach. We smiled at each other. I fell madly in love with him. After we left Macks Creek I wasn't to see him for another three years when we were both in college at Warrensburg. When we moved to Macks Creek the US government was buying up cattle for five dollars a head. We were in a deep depression. Dad made $37.50 a month as school superintendent. Part of his pay was in warrants,
essentially an IOU, because the school district had no cash. The board promised dad more money. When he didn't receive the raise he sued the school board. On the school board was Lena Creach, my future mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
After Macks Creek we moved to Bear Creek, MO, where I graduated from High School. My dad, Elmer Deloram Harpham, was a people person all through his life. When he began teaching, in Lynn Creek, Missouri, the only requirement for a teacher was that they had completed the class that they were hired to teach. In order to continue in his career he attended summer school for 39 summers. He attended college at North East Missouri State in Kirksville, Mo and Central Missouri State in Warrensburg, MO where he eventually received a Bachelors Degree. He received his Masters Degree from the University of Missouri. As a Superintendent he moved from school district to school district leading the consolidation of one-room schools creating larger school districts. This usually took about three years after which we moved on to another school.
My mom, Geneva Lynn, was really fun to be with. Our home was always a gathering place of kids. She knew our boyfriends. Our home was always open to visitors, especially Reorganized Church Latter Day Saints missionaries. Mom received a Masters Degree in Home Economics, with an emphasis in nutrition, from George Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee. She did this during the summers while the rest of the family stated with Grandpa and Grandma Miller in Cross Timbers, MO attended summer school.
Mom and I took classes together at Warrensburg State University. Mom and I were very close. Mary was my buddy. We shared everything. She stayed on the farm in Macks Creek one summer helping with my family so I could finish my BS degree from Kirksville. 1 remember mom and dad's 50th anniversary in Camdenton, Missouri. Someone spiked the punch. I always saw thought it was Fred Miller, mom's brother. It was a lively party; over two hundred people present. People came at 10 o'clock in the morning and
stayed late in the evening.
Before launching 42 years in public school teaching with LA Unified School District I spent most of my time in college studying and working with church projects. I was very interested in church music and working with different age groups. I am a retired school teacher with a B.S. in Education and Masters in Counseling. I raised a family of five sons, a doctor, a foreign service officer, a Major in the Marine Corp, a Major in the Army and a computer analyst for Cosco.
Teaching was not my first career choice. I planned on being a housewife. My husband, Ross Seldon Creach, was a Missouri State Highway Officer killed in the line of duty in 1942. I had to earn a living for my family. I started in a one room school in Missouri and finished my career as a college scholarship counselor at San Fernando High in the second largest school system in the U.S. What an exciting position and career I have had. Freedom to be successful. All students just needed help in thinking they could go to college. It was my privilege to provide information they needed for college. What a happy experience.
I have spent my retirement taking care of business on a farm in Missouri. I helped to get Senate bill No 667 passed making 13 miles of Highway 24, between Macks Creek and Camdenton, Missouri, named Missouri Trooper Ross S Creach Memorial Highway, in honor of my husband. I am writing a book called “Rise and Shine”.
July 2016
The following is an autobiography that Charlotte wrote for the Fernanda Maria Chapter newsletter in 2016. Fernanda Maria is a California chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Charlotte was our Regent twice and a beloved member of the chapter and a friend to all who knew her.
Charlotte will be buried in between her two husbands and overlooking the farm. She talked to me of this many times.
Charlotte was the wife of Missouri Trooper, Ross S Creach, who was killed in the line of duty in 1942 and William Bonner.
Her son, Bill Creach, gave me permission to include this autobiography on her findagrave memorial.
Charlotte's Autobiography:
Rise and shine give God glory. I woke up every morning at home with dad getting us up and saying, "Rise and Shine". I was born May 16, 1920 at the state farm which was a part of the North East Missouri State Teachers College in Kirksville, Missouri. My parents were working at the farm to pay for their college tuition. My father was 28 and my mother was 26. My father, Elmer Deloram Harpham, was born at Milan, Missouri and my mother, Geneva Lynn Miller, in Greenfield, Illinois.
I came from very hearty people, typical Missouri people, who strongly believed in public education and church. Where ever we lived we attended a church. Even though my father's side of the family contained a long line of Methodist preachers and my mother's side of the family were staunch Reorganized Church Latter Day Saints, we attended Baptist, Christian, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches if the preferred ones were not available.
I have three sisters Mary, Dorothy, and Neva D. We were all very close as a family. All of us graduated from college and became teachers. We were all first P. E. teachers and later moved on to other subjects, such as English, History and Counseling. All of us married teachers. We, with our families, always spent Christmas with my parents, often in a hotel. That was so that mom didn't have to work hard on the holiday.
I remember that Grandma and Grandpa Miller lived with us and Grandpa Miller would pull Mary and me around in a little red wagon.
The next memory I have is in living Granby, Missouri. When Mary and I would get in an argument mom would have us shine both sides of a glass door. Sure is hard to stay mad and watch your sister make faces at you. My dad was the superintendent of schools and I would run with him to school every day. We had a hallway in our house and dad would chase us until we couldn't go another step. I remember being chased home from school by a bunch of bullies. My mother finally said you whip them or I whip you. That's where I learned to stand and do what I thought was right.
Ours was a very democratic family. Every week we had a council meeting. The subject was how to spend what little money we had. We were really poor but everyone else was too. We had a structured life. Church on Sunday, work together, played together and prayed together and were not allowed to go to the show on Sunday.
I remember when Neva D was born in Verona, Missouri. She was always cute and petite. For the 1935-7 school years we moved to Macks Creek, Missouri where dad was the superintendent and mom was the principal. The first day I walked into the high school I was hit in the head with a baseball. The guy who hit me was Ross Seldon Creach. We smiled at each other. I fell madly in love with him. After we left Macks Creek I wasn't to see him for another three years when we were both in college at Warrensburg. When we moved to Macks Creek the US government was buying up cattle for five dollars a head. We were in a deep depression. Dad made $37.50 a month as school superintendent. Part of his pay was in warrants,
essentially an IOU, because the school district had no cash. The board promised dad more money. When he didn't receive the raise he sued the school board. On the school board was Lena Creach, my future mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
After Macks Creek we moved to Bear Creek, MO, where I graduated from High School. My dad, Elmer Deloram Harpham, was a people person all through his life. When he began teaching, in Lynn Creek, Missouri, the only requirement for a teacher was that they had completed the class that they were hired to teach. In order to continue in his career he attended summer school for 39 summers. He attended college at North East Missouri State in Kirksville, Mo and Central Missouri State in Warrensburg, MO where he eventually received a Bachelors Degree. He received his Masters Degree from the University of Missouri. As a Superintendent he moved from school district to school district leading the consolidation of one-room schools creating larger school districts. This usually took about three years after which we moved on to another school.
My mom, Geneva Lynn, was really fun to be with. Our home was always a gathering place of kids. She knew our boyfriends. Our home was always open to visitors, especially Reorganized Church Latter Day Saints missionaries. Mom received a Masters Degree in Home Economics, with an emphasis in nutrition, from George Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee. She did this during the summers while the rest of the family stated with Grandpa and Grandma Miller in Cross Timbers, MO attended summer school.
Mom and I took classes together at Warrensburg State University. Mom and I were very close. Mary was my buddy. We shared everything. She stayed on the farm in Macks Creek one summer helping with my family so I could finish my BS degree from Kirksville. 1 remember mom and dad's 50th anniversary in Camdenton, Missouri. Someone spiked the punch. I always saw thought it was Fred Miller, mom's brother. It was a lively party; over two hundred people present. People came at 10 o'clock in the morning and
stayed late in the evening.
Before launching 42 years in public school teaching with LA Unified School District I spent most of my time in college studying and working with church projects. I was very interested in church music and working with different age groups. I am a retired school teacher with a B.S. in Education and Masters in Counseling. I raised a family of five sons, a doctor, a foreign service officer, a Major in the Marine Corp, a Major in the Army and a computer analyst for Cosco.
Teaching was not my first career choice. I planned on being a housewife. My husband, Ross Seldon Creach, was a Missouri State Highway Officer killed in the line of duty in 1942. I had to earn a living for my family. I started in a one room school in Missouri and finished my career as a college scholarship counselor at San Fernando High in the second largest school system in the U.S. What an exciting position and career I have had. Freedom to be successful. All students just needed help in thinking they could go to college. It was my privilege to provide information they needed for college. What a happy experience.
I have spent my retirement taking care of business on a farm in Missouri. I helped to get Senate bill No 667 passed making 13 miles of Highway 24, between Macks Creek and Camdenton, Missouri, named Missouri Trooper Ross S Creach Memorial Highway, in honor of my husband. I am writing a book called “Rise and Shine”.
July 2016
Charlotte will be buried in between her two husbands and overlooking the farm. She talked to me of this many times.
Charlotte was the wife of Missouri Trooper, Ross S Creach, who was killed in the line of duty in 1942 and William Bonner.
Her son, Bill Creach, gave me permission to include this autobiography on her findagrave memorial.
Charlotte's Autobiography:
Rise and shine give God glory. I woke up every morning at home with dad getting us up and saying, "Rise and Shine". I was born May 16, 1920 at the state farm which was a part of the North East Missouri State Teachers College in Kirksville, Missouri. My parents were working at the farm to pay for their college tuition. My father was 28 and my mother was 26. My father, Elmer Deloram Harpham, was born at Milan, Missouri and my mother, Geneva Lynn Miller, in Greenfield, Illinois.
I came from very hearty people, typical Missouri people, who strongly believed in public education and church. Where ever we lived we attended a church. Even though my father's side of the family contained a long line of Methodist preachers and my mother's side of the family were staunch Reorganized Church Latter Day Saints, we attended Baptist, Christian, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches if the preferred ones were not available.
I have three sisters Mary, Dorothy, and Neva D. We were all very close as a family. All of us graduated from college and became teachers. We were all first P. E. teachers and later moved on to other subjects, such as English, History and Counseling. All of us married teachers. We, with our families, always spent Christmas with my parents, often in a hotel. That was so that mom didn't have to work hard on the holiday.
I remember that Grandma and Grandpa Miller lived with us and Grandpa Miller would pull Mary and me around in a little red wagon.
The next memory I have is in living Granby, Missouri. When Mary and I would get in an argument mom would have us shine both sides of a glass door. Sure is hard to stay mad and watch your sister make faces at you. My dad was the superintendent of schools and I would run with him to school every day. We had a hallway in our house and dad would chase us until we couldn't go another step. I remember being chased home from school by a bunch of bullies. My mother finally said you whip them or I whip you. That's where I learned to stand and do what I thought was right.
Ours was a very democratic family. Every week we had a council meeting. The subject was how to spend what little money we had. We were really poor but everyone else was too. We had a structured life. Church on Sunday, work together, played together and prayed together and were not allowed to go to the show on Sunday.
I remember when Neva D was born in Verona, Missouri. She was always cute and petite. For the 1935-7 school years we moved to Macks Creek, Missouri where dad was the superintendent and mom was the principal. The first day I walked into the high school I was hit in the head with a baseball. The guy who hit me was Ross Seldon Creach. We smiled at each other. I fell madly in love with him. After we left Macks Creek I wasn't to see him for another three years when we were both in college at Warrensburg. When we moved to Macks Creek the US government was buying up cattle for five dollars a head. We were in a deep depression. Dad made $37.50 a month as school superintendent. Part of his pay was in warrants,
essentially an IOU, because the school district had no cash. The board promised dad more money. When he didn't receive the raise he sued the school board. On the school board was Lena Creach, my future mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
After Macks Creek we moved to Bear Creek, MO, where I graduated from High School. My dad, Elmer Deloram Harpham, was a people person all through his life. When he began teaching, in Lynn Creek, Missouri, the only requirement for a teacher was that they had completed the class that they were hired to teach. In order to continue in his career he attended summer school for 39 summers. He attended college at North East Missouri State in Kirksville, Mo and Central Missouri State in Warrensburg, MO where he eventually received a Bachelors Degree. He received his Masters Degree from the University of Missouri. As a Superintendent he moved from school district to school district leading the consolidation of one-room schools creating larger school districts. This usually took about three years after which we moved on to another school.
My mom, Geneva Lynn, was really fun to be with. Our home was always a gathering place of kids. She knew our boyfriends. Our home was always open to visitors, especially Reorganized Church Latter Day Saints missionaries. Mom received a Masters Degree in Home Economics, with an emphasis in nutrition, from George Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee. She did this during the summers while the rest of the family stated with Grandpa and Grandma Miller in Cross Timbers, MO attended summer school.
Mom and I took classes together at Warrensburg State University. Mom and I were very close. Mary was my buddy. We shared everything. She stayed on the farm in Macks Creek one summer helping with my family so I could finish my BS degree from Kirksville. 1 remember mom and dad's 50th anniversary in Camdenton, Missouri. Someone spiked the punch. I always saw thought it was Fred Miller, mom's brother. It was a lively party; over two hundred people present. People came at 10 o'clock in the morning and
stayed late in the evening.
Before launching 42 years in public school teaching with LA Unified School District I spent most of my time in college studying and working with church projects. I was very interested in church music and working with different age groups. I am a retired school teacher with a B.S. in Education and Masters in Counseling. I raised a family of five sons, a doctor, a foreign service officer, a Major in the Marine Corp, a Major in the Army and a computer analyst for Cosco.
Teaching was not my first career choice. I planned on being a housewife. My husband, Ross Seldon Creach, was a Missouri State Highway Officer killed in the line of duty in 1942. I had to earn a living for my family. I started in a one room school in Missouri and finished my career as a college scholarship counselor at San Fernando High in the second largest school system in the U.S. What an exciting position and career I have had. Freedom to be successful. All students just needed help in thinking they could go to college. It was my privilege to provide information they needed for college. What a happy experience.
I have spent my retirement taking care of business on a farm in Missouri. I helped to get Senate bill No 667 passed making 13 miles of Highway 24, between Macks Creek and Camdenton, Missouri, named Missouri Trooper Ross S Creach Memorial Highway, in honor of my husband. I am writing a book called “Rise and Shine”.
July 2016
Family Members
See more Creach - Bonner or Harpham memorials in:
- Macks Creek Cemetery Creach - Bonner or Harpham
- Macks Creek Creach - Bonner or Harpham
- Camden County Creach - Bonner or Harpham
- Missouri Creach - Bonner or Harpham
- USA Creach - Bonner or Harpham
- Find a Grave Creach - Bonner or Harpham
