Her nickname, Beautiful, was given to her by her grandson, Maurice Edward Nicklin Jr. when he was a child. Beautiful was the seventh child born to Martha Jane (Jennie) Sherwood Van Gorder, and more than possibly,  inherited her mother's reputed good looks. Her abilities went far beyond her very basic education. She was the Sunday School superintendent in the Carbondale United Methodist church for nearly 25 years. She had a personal magnetism as people enjoyed being in her presence. Her wedding to Claude was described this way: " The bride is a young woman of exceptionally pleasing personal appearance. Presents for the couple, given in substantial recognition of the very high regard in which both are held among their wide circle of friends. Both parties to this wedding are very popular among the social set. The bride is an an accomplished and charming young woman who is a firm favorite among her numerous acquaintances."
In addition to her church responsibilities, she was president of the Century Club of Carbondale, President of the Ladies Auxiliary to the Palestine Commandery Knights Templar. Beautiful and Claude were a team. Remember, she supported Claude in selling their home to repay those who had invested and lost money in Claude's failed bank.

Claude Earl Olver

Grandfather Crissman sang " Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"  every morning.

Listen to Benjamin Frank Crissman

Benjamin Frank Crissman’s father and mother came to Missouri in the 1850s. Before coming from Sinking Valley, Pennsylvania two of his sisters had been born. They rode in a wagon to Pittsburgh and there they got on the Ohio River and rode on the river to the Mississippi River and took that to St. Louis, Mo. There his father bought horses and a wagon and they rode from St. Louis to Tipton, Mo. There he contracted to help build the roadbed for the Missouri Pacific Railroad from Tipton to Sedalia and earned enough money to buy a farm. He then drove to Henry Co., Mo. and bought a farm there in the mid 1850s. Two of his brothers were born in Tipton while his father worked there. The rest of the children were born in Henry, Co. MO. They had a total of eleven children, one of whom died in Pennsylvania. Frank was the 10th of the 11 children. His father bought a farm of two hundred acres. His father built a house there in Tipton like the one his grandfather had in Pennsylvania. It was a large house with 7 rooms. They had very little heat in the house; a fireplace in the living room and stoves in the kitchen and one bedroom where wood was burned.
There was no heat in the upstairs area where most of the children slept. In the winter it was very cold there. Grandfather and other siblings slept in front of the fireplace until their father forced them to go upstairs which was very hard in the winter months. They joined the Methodist church there since there was no Lutheran church in that area and went to church each Sunday. They rode in the wagon on straw with their father to church. Grandfather hurried in to hear the opening hymn and prayer. Later a Sunday School was started in a close by public school so the children could go there in the afternoon. His mother taught them all to pray and all said their prayers before they went to bed.
In their home they had very little time for fun. They sang on Sundays of a religious type but that was about all the music. At about the age of six he would go up in the barn and read from the Bible and sing hymns. He always knew he wanted to become a preacher. On the farm they had many cows and other animals. They had an orchard with all kinds of fruits and vegetables. They took a prize in Clinton for the apples, pears etc. that they had grown. They had more fruit at the fair than anyone else. They made 55 barrels of apple cider vinegar one summer. The children had no times to play games. They did have a large pond close by the farm so they would go to swim there. They all worked out in the fields. He first worked uncovering the corn. The only thing the family bought at a store was sugar and flour. They did also buy some shoes at a store. They did go to Clinton, Mo. to buy some suits of clothes.
He attended a small college in Henry Co. Mo. for a year. He attended Park College in northwestern MO. and studied religion there. He worked as a preacher even before he graduated. He graduated on June 8th, preached a sermon and then married June 28th. He then went to his first church to preach as a minister. He first met Joanna Frances Smith in Holden, Mo. when he was teaching school there. They continued their dating when they both attended Park College and married shortly after graduation. They had dated five years before they married.
He was sent to Osceola as a preacher and then was sent to Pleasant Hill, MO. for $750, and then went to the theological seminary in Evanston, Ill. He was then sent to Warrensburg, Mo. for a $1,000 and house. He then was sent to Kansas City for $1,600 and house. He worked in St. Joseph for $1,800 and worked to close down houses of ill repute there and had many people very angry with him. The governor of the state called him down to Jefferson City and he told him the corruption of the police in

St. Joseph and the governor fired all of them. He then worked in Shenandoah, Iowa, for the same money and then Sedalia, Mo for $2,100 a year plus a parsonage. He was eventually sent to St. Louis as a district supervisor and paid $6,000 a year for six years. He then went to Carthage and then Sedalia and then Joplin. His health failed there and he retired and moved to Kansas City. His wife died there in June of 1934, before I was born. They had three children; Helen Jo, Willard Frank, and Maymie Rebecca Katherine (Sally) Crissman born in different cities because of all their moves.
He performed my mother’s marriage (his daughter to my father). He also married Nick and me at age eighty‐nine, at my mother’s home. He was always a very loving, kind grandfather. When the family told him that we had joined the LDS church he responded, “They are fine people”. Prior to telling him that, they had been very concerned about telling him and we were very pleased with his response.
I have sealed him and his wife and all their children in the Temple. I know they are so happy to be together forever in heaven. 

My father, Willard Elwin Shinkle, was born September 5, 1905 in Cadmus. Linn, Kansas. There were no hospitals in the area. He was the youngest of the children. He worked hard on their farm and in their local small grocery store. He was the only one of the children who went to college. He attended Baker University in Baldwin, Kansas where he met my mother Maymie R.K. (Sally) Crissman.
They were married during the great depression and bought a car with borrowed money. They didn’t like owing money so they ate beans, rice and no meat or extra foods so they could pay off the debt quickly. They started teaching school in a small town in Kansas and saved their money.
With the saved money he opened a grocery store in Wellsville, KS., and because it was still the depression many customers couldn’t always pay for what they bought but he allowed them to take what they needed. He also opened a small truck line and during the 2nd World War gas was rationed so he would take groceries out to the country for people who couldn’t drive into town. He hired a local man to be the driver and they bought a home across the street from us in Wellsville. Also with this truck line he hauled local cattle and pigs to Kansas City where they could be butchered and sold.

Elwin Shinkle is second from the left. He is pictured here with his brothers, brothers-in-law and grandfather John J. Shinkle.

When the 2nd World War started he soon volunteered to serve in the army, but he was discharged early because my mother couldn’t handle all the responsibilities and was about to have a breakdown. I have his Honorable Discharge paper showing he was 37 years old, had blue eyes, gray hair, and light complexion and was 5 ft. 11 and 1⁄2 inches. He returned to Wellsville to run the grocery store and the truck line until he bought a John Deere dealership in Liberty, MO.
We bought a home in Kansas City very close to where my Grandfather Crissman lived. He ran the John Deere dealership for many years and was very successful. He hired a black man as his head mechanic and locals were angry when my Dad wouldn’t fire him, so they broke the window of his large facility. He made many friends there as he had in Wellsvile because he was generous and kind. He was asked to run for mayor but he declined to be that involved in things outside his own business.

He had a very good singing voice and would sing when my mother played the piano. He was always a very loving and kind father. We didn’t get to see a lot of him with the business about 40 miles from our home. He would go to church on Sundays with the family when we were in town, but we often went down into Kansas to visit his family on that day since that was the only day his business was closed.

In the mid 1950’s he became very depressed and in that era there were no anti‐depressent meds and so he eventually committed suicide. I was in Europe at the time and when I learned about his tragic death I couldn’t eat for several days. The funeral service was beautiful. There were many people there from Wellsville, Fontana and all his siblings with their families. He was buried in a cemetery in Garnett, Kansas close to his parents and other family members. The graveside service was perfect.
I am so grateful he was/is my father and look forward to seeing him again in the next life.
Joanna Shinkle Nicklin 

Willard Elwin Shinkle with daughter, Joanna Claire Shinkle ( bride) Mary Rebecca Shinkle ( Becky) and Helen Virginia Shinkle and other bride's maid is sister in law to Joanna. This was Joanna's wedding to the infamous Mr. Brown.

Maurice Edward Nicklin, (Nick), a graduate of Penn State, was more than capable of accomplishing whatever he set out to do. He was multi-talented with a warm "demeanor" that was somewhat "magical" and that made others like him almost immediately. The impressions that he made on others were long-lasting.  He was "the real deal", with not an ounce of pretentiousness about him. "What you saw, you were glad you got". (Plus a great sense of humor.)  Smart mechanical engineer-sales talents led him to meet many foreign dignitaries and political leaders, especially during World War Two. In 1936, he was successful in completing an "industrial espionage" assignment in Italy for his company. An early "air traveler" he traveled through South and Central America and Europe. He was not a "prude", but people wanted to be on their best behavior when he was around.  Foul language and personal attacks were not part of Nick's personality.  He became an authority in the field of rail car refrigeration and was asked to write and speak about it quite often.  His final employer, Mercedes-Benz of North America, asked him to stay working five years beyond the company's normal retirement age. Nick was a man of deep faith. He was active in Norman Vincent Peale's Marble Collegiate Church in New York, even becoming personal friends with the Peales.  At Mercedes-Benz, prior to starting work , co-workers would come to visit him and ask his advice on their personal problems. They trusted him.  And Nick's "magic" stayed with him until he left this world.  There are a few with Nick's personality...but not many. (The rest of the story: To get through college, Nick would work a year for his father in the Pennsylvania oil fields, then go to college the next year.  He did this until he finished college.  At twenty-two, he fell from an oil tower, injuring his pancreas.  That resulted in his becoming a diabetic. That never held him back. He died at age eighty-two.)

WILLIAM MONTROSE NICKLIN ( ME Nicklin's father)

I saw my paternal grandfather about four times over the years. He was not a "family man" according to his son. William was an Official of the South Penn Oil Company. He was a former field production superintendent in the Bradford, PA District. He died alone int his hotel apartment, at the El Tovar Hotel in St. Petersburg. He is buried in the Grove Hill Cemetery in Oil City, PA. He once wrote his son, Maurice, apologizing for the fact that he was not a good father to him. Sad

Alice was mother to Maurice Edward Nicklin ( Pompa 1) and two other sons.  A daughter, Ethel Idelia, died in infancy. She never became a part of my life,  as I only met her twice. Growing up, Pompa 1 revered his grandmother, Ma Shiner, whom he gave credit for raising him and instilling excellent excellent values for life. 

Ralph Eusebius Nicklin with wife Sarah Furman Kelly were married October 2, 1867 and had eleven children ( six girls and five boys) The third oldest was William Montrose Nicklin ( father to Maurice Edward Nicklin) . Everyone called him Red because of the red hair that grew in his beard. 

Music was a big part of Marty's life, as she was a singer.  In high school she sang at a local Carbondale, PA radio station.  She worked as a clerk in a music store selling sheet music, records, and musical instruments.   It was her singing with a friend at a party, that first attracted her future husband, "Pompa I".  Growing up, as an only child, she had plenty attention from three aunts and three uncles.  Even though one of her aunts, Anna Berry, was a graduate of Penn State and became a respected teacher in the Carbondale, PA school system, Marty stopped her formal education at high school. She had definite opinions and prejudices about people, which she often shared.  As to family, she once told me, at about age ten, that she wished that she had never had any children. He marriage focused on her husband and that seemed to block a united family relationship.  As her son, we fought often...her discipline/rules were sometimes unreasonable.  At eighteen I left home to work on board a ship for the summer.  At nineteen, I joined the Marine Corps.  Joanna's love and the Marine Corps were beyond value to me.  I was never homesick. A week before marrying Joanna, she tried to talk Joanna out of marrying me.  Before she died, she did admit she was "wrong" about Joanna.  (And so much else.)

Grandma Marty kept journals for years of very detailed accounts of everyday life. She recorded things like what they ate, what time they woke and went to bed and the cost of items purchased.

Maymie Rebecca Katherine Crissman was born in St.Joseph, MO. April 10, 1907. Her father was a minster there but moved shortly after she was born to Iowa. One of the areas she lived was St. Louis, Mo. Someone who came to visit the family called her Sally and she really liked that and continued to be called by that name the rest of her life. She went to High School in the St. Louis area and then the family moved to Kansas City. That was where the family lived the rest of her life.
Her first year of college was at Smith College in Columbia, Missouri. After that she attended Baker University in Ballwin, Kansas. She studied to become a teacher and became one after her graduation. Baker University is where she met her future husband and my father, Elwin Shinkle. Both of them taught in a small town in Kansas until they had saved enough money to start a grocery business.

School where Elwin and Sally taught.

That is when they moved to Wellsville, Kansas and opened a grocery store. They lived in that area during the Great Depression and the Second World War. We never went out to eat. Mother always cooked our meals and because of sugar rationing we only had dessert once a week. In the evening she would read to us and we would sing as she played the piano. She continued to do this until all the girls were old enough to read on their own, but we still continued to sing.
They were very helpful to those in need and she allowed a young lady high school student to come live with us during the week since she lived out of town and gas was rationed then. The girl spent each night in my bedroom and later in life when she had a baby girl she named her Joanna. Mother took care of the financial business of the grocery store while Dad ran it in the other ways. Those who were too poor to pay for groceries were allowed to have some from the store. In the mid 1940s they sold their business and started the John Deere dealership in Liberty, Mo. Many in Wellsville were sad to see them leave and many paid what they had owed for years.
They bought a home in Kansas City, MO. very close to where her father lived. They paid cash for it. Bryant Grade School where I started had more students than the whole population of Wellsville. This was a great shock for me, because many of the students in my class came from very wealthy families. One of the girl’s father was head of the big airline, TWA. I did finally make a couple of friends there but most of them were very uppity.
We started attending the Country Club Methodist Church which was close by because her father was a retired Methodist minister. She sang in the church choir, taught Sunday school and also played the piano for the children and adults to sing.
She was friendly to our neighbors and took them goodies at Christmas time, even though one of them was Jewish. She joined PEO there and was very active and involved until she died. We continued to eat all our meals at home and on Sundays we ate in the formal dining room area. While in high school I took a class about good eating and shared some of these ideas with mom. She started to cook lots more vegetables and other healthy foods for our family and continued to do so.
After I graduated from Southwest High School in Kansas City the family moved to Liberty to be closer to where my Dad’s John Deere dealership was. Both of my sisters graduated from Liberty High School. It was not nearly as highly ranked as the one in K.C.
After their graduation and my father’s death she moved back to the Kansas City area on the Kansas side. She remarried two times. The first one lasted a very short time because he as a real jerk. She then married Don Day and they were married many years before he died. Don’s wife and mother of his children had died about a year earlier. 

After Don’s death mother sold their home in Prairie Village, KS. and moved to a retirement home where she lived until her death. Before the dinner hour she sat at the piano outside the dining room and played. People would come early to listen to her playing many old familiar songs.

Her sister, Helen Crissman, went to college in St. Louis and then got her master’s degree in journalism at Northwestern University. That was unusual for a woman born in 1900. She taught English in a local high school in K.C. and later taught at the local university. She regularly wrote for the Kansas City Star newspaper. She was also very talented at playing the piano and did so regularly. When the family lived in St. Louis she played the organ on Saturday night for the silent movies and then played the organ at church the next day. She lived with her father in Kansas City for many years and took care of him in his old age.
Her brother, Willard F. Crissman, also graduated from Baker University in Ballwin, Ks. He became an executive in the advertising field. He was head of advertising for Kresge before they went out of business. He lived in Michigan most of his adult life and had a small cottage on a lake there in addition to his home near Detroit. In the summer we visited there regularly and even after Nick and I were married we went there with our children. He had a boat and water skis for the children to enjoy.

Helen Jo and Willard Crissman

Nick and I had dated in high school and mom liked him. After a very mistaken marriage to a man at my college I filed for divorce. Mom was very pleased I was leaving him and immediately sought out Nick to tell him about the divorce. She was very hopeful that we would get back together and marry, and that is exactly what happened. We are both grateful that she got us back in touch with each other. Nick was in Kansas City working during her later years and spent lots of time with her. I would drive over there regularly on the weekends.

I’m grateful she was my mom. She was always kind to me though not outwardly affectionate. She gave me a good life growing up. She came to our home here in Creve Coeur to celebrate her 90th birthday. All our family came for the celebration which meant a lot to her.

I so look forward to seeing her and my Dad together on the other side. Years ago I had them sealed as a couple in the St. Louis Temple. 

The Shinkle Family- Willard Elwin, Maymie Rebecca with daughters Joanna, Becky and Helen

A page from the Perry Olver family Bible.