Edna Thimes

Edna Florence Thimes (1914-1995). Missionary Nurse. Evangelist. Edna was born to Henry J. and Martha (Son) Thimes on September 26, 1914, fourth child of five, in a loving, but unchurched family. They lived on a farm near Emporia, Kansas. Henry and Martha taught the children high moral standards and a reverence for God. Edna was fourteen when she first attended a Church of God congregation and was saved within two months.

After graduating from high school, she attended Anderson College, Anderson, Indiana, graduating in 1940 with a Bachelor of Theology. She trained to be a registered home nurse at the St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing at Anderson and at the former Bethany Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas.

She served as a Sunday School teacher and Superintendent in her home church and spent her vacations as a resident nurse at the Anderson Church of God campmeeting.

Edna served in the mission field in Kenya, East Africa for 22 years at the Mwihila Hospital at Kisumu and in Kima. She once said that half the babies born in Kenya were named “Edna” in her honor. Her special interest were babies whose mothers had died in childbirth. She often kept them until they were two, sharing the love of Jesus with them and returning them to their fathers when they could eat regular table food.

When Edna retired from the mission field, she returned to her home in the United States, next moving for a time to California to live near a niece, and finally returning to Kansas City.

Edna’s big heart gave out on June 22, 1995. Her “heavenly graduation ceremony” was conducted at the former First Church of God and her body is buried in Emporia.

* Near the time of my birth, the ladies at church, including Edna, had a baby shower for my mother, presenting her with a hooded baby towel embroidered with their signatures. We considered her family, as she shared an Uncle William and Aunt Lillian with my mother's maternal Aunt Nadine. Furloughs from the mission field were five years apart and she stayed with us or my grandparents during her deputation visits to churches nearby. I corresponded with her during my teen years and once sent her $5.00 out of my allowance. She wrote a thank you note, stating she had purchased an apple as a treat in the local market. Apples didn’t grow in the climate there and she had been hankering for a taste of home. My mother played the organ for Edna’s funeral service. She’s rejoicing in heaven!

More to Read:

1. Anderson University Alumni, alumni@anderson.edu

2. Church of God Missions Magazines, various issues from 1961-1978.

3. US Federal Census

4. Ancestry.com
5. "Bethany Hospital." History of Wyandotte County, Kansas: and its people. Edited by Perl Wilbur Morgan, p. 413-415.  Vol. 1
6. Edna's Embroidered Signature
7. Findagrave #116965706

Places to visit in KS.

1. New Life Family (formerly First Church of God), 4835 Shawnee Drive, Kansas City, KS. 913-262-8048
2. Bethany Methodist Hospital  (org. 1892) stood at the corner of 12th & Reynolds, Kansas City, KS until July 2001 when it closed. Stand at that corner and imagine all the babies born there! 
3. Providence Hospital's Medical Museum in the Main Entrance Lobby. (Contains two cabinets of Bethany Hospital & Nursing School memorabilia.), 8929 Parallel, Kansas City, KS.

4. Maple Woods Memorial Lawn Cemetery, Emporia, KS


Biography written by Dolores J. Rush, updated: 10/25/2019

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder

LAURA ELIZABETH "Bess" INGALLS WILDER (1867 – 1957) = Pioneer, Schoolteacher, Columnist, Author. Best known for her book called "Little House on the Prairie." The semi-fictional television series starring Michael Landon as Pa and Melissa Gilbert as Laura was based on her autobiographical books written for children. Born on February 7, 1867, in Wisconsin, she was the second child of Charles and Caroline Quiner Ingalls.

When Laura was three, the Ingalls moved to Kansas, traveling through Missouri, to the Verdigris River, ten miles from the present-day town of Independence. Pa built a log home there, near an Indian trail. The following year they moved back to Wisconsin. She didn't come back to Kansas until 1894 when she passed through the state on her way south to Mansfield, Missouri. At that time, Mansfield boasted a Methodist and a Presbyterian church, but not a Congregational one like Laura's Pa had helped organize in DeSmet, SD.

Laura married Almonzo James Wilder (1857-1949) or "Manly" as she called him, in 1885 and homesteaded near De Smet, Dakota Territory. They had two children, a daughter named Rose Wilder Lane (1886-1968), who became a famous journalist after she grew up and a boy who lived only a few weeks. Mama Bess and Manly were married 64 years. Manly passed away at the age of 92 and Laura, three days after she turned 90.

Sunday was a day not only to worship God in church, but also a day to visit with friends pioneer farmers might not see all week. Laura's Pa once gave three dollars to a church bell fund and the Wilders were active in the building of a Methodist Church in Spring Valley, MN in 1876. After coming to Missouri, Laura and Almanzo attended Methodist camp meetings.

A Quote by Laura Ingalls Wilder:

"Our ideal home should be made by a man and woman together."

Manly built this first home for Laura in Mansfield, Missouri. Our Tour Guide is standing on the front porch. 

Interesting Genealogical Fact: Laura was a Mayflower descendant on her paternal (father's) side. 

More to Read: (This is a short list of the books written about Laura Ingalls Wilder.)

1. Laura Ingalls Wilder: Little House in the Ozarks. Ed. By Stephen W. Hines.

Thomas Nelson, 1991.

2.100 Authors Who Shaped World History. By Christine N. Perkins. 1996.

3. Laura Ingalls Wilder's Fairy Poems. Compiled by: Stephen W. Hines.1998.

4. Who Were They Really? The True Stories Behind Famous Characters. By

Susan Beth Pfeffer. 1999.

5. Visiting the Homesites of Laura Ingalls Wilder with Barb Hawkins VHS.

Camelot Studios, 2000.

6. Laura Ingalls Wilder, Storyteller of the Prairie. by Ginger Wadsworth

7. Little House Traveler: Writings from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Journeys

Across America. By Laura Ingalls Wilder. Harper-Collins; 2006.

8. Laura Ingalls Wilder: Farm Journalist. Ed. By Stephen W Hines. 2007.

Missouri Legends: Famous People from the Show-Me State. By John W.

Brown., 2008.

9. The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Author of The Little House on the Prairie. Donald Zochert. 1976.

10. The Ghost in the Little Hill: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane. William Holtz. 1993.

11. Pamela Smith Hill's website on Laura

12. Pepin, Wisconsin website 

13. Walnut Grove, Minnesota website 

14. Burr Oak, Iowa website

15. DeSmet, South Dakota website

16. Missouri Death Certificate: #11919
17. Findagrave # 1625

Writings by Laura Ingalls Wilder: Little House in the Big Woods (1932);

Farmer Boy (1933); Little House on the Prairie (1935);On the Banks of Plum Creek (1937); By the Shores of the Silver Lake (1939); The Long Winter (1940);Little Town on the Prairie (1941); These Happy Golden Years (1943); and The First Four Years (1971);

poetry such as  "The Sunshine Fairy"

Book by Rose Wilder Lane: Woman’s Day Book of American Needlework. By Rose Wilder Lane. Simon & Schuster, New York, 1963. 

Listen to: 

49th Annual Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant: The Hard Winter Radio Play  

For more PBS specials, see this list. 

Remember the little girl who played Laura on TV? Her name was Melissa Gilbert. Check this out: www.modernprairie.com

Places to Visit in MO. & KS:

1. Kansas Travel Guide

2. Missouri Travel Guide

3. Rocky Ridge Farm, 3068 Highway A, Mansfield, MO. 65704

4. Laura Ingalls Wilder Library. Mansfield, MO

5. Mansfield, Mo. Cemetery

6. Little House On the Prairie log house replica, US Hwy 75, Independence, Ks. (13 miles SW of Independence).

Our Field Trip:
I finally found the photo I snapped of the replica of the Ingalls cabin the first weekend of October, 1992. My husband, son, and I were on a weekend holiday to Coffeyville, KS. for the 100th Anniversary of the Dalton Raid on the Banks and we veered over to Independence, KS. to see it on the way down.
My great-grandparents owned a café on Main Street and the Farmers Motel in Coffeyville, in 1892 and were "front row" witnesses to the original bank robberies.

Extras For the (Home) Educator:

1. The History Chicks featured article

2. Laura Ingalls Wilder Frontier Girl website

3. Garden of Praise website on Wilder

4. Here is a Sunbonnet Card inspired by Laura.
5. Homeschooling Unit Study and Lapbook Ideas 
6. A printable Laura Ingalls Wilder quote
7. Kansas Trading Card! 
8. Actress YouTube Interviews - 
Laura Ingalls Wilder (Melissa Gilbert)
Nellie Olson (Alison Amgrim) 
9. Vintage Photographs of the Ingalls family & tombstone photograph of Rose Wilder Lane 

10. Coloring Sheets by Cheryl Harness

This biography has been written by Dolores J. Rush and has been updated on: 25 November 2023.

Mrs. Clara Stover

Clara Mae (Lewis) Stover (1882-1975) = Candy Queen. Entrepreneur. She was born to Lorenzo and Mary Ann (Jenkins) Lewis in Iowa on September 25.

She first met her future husband as a young lady in her early twenties, but did not marry Russell (1888-1954), son of John and Emma Stover until her late twenties (1911). Their first home was a farm in Canada, but they soon decided farming wasn't for them. They eventually returned to the United States and Russell found work in the food industry. As an industrious wife, Clara made homemade candies in her kitchen that he sold locally.

In 1921, before they moved to Denver, Colorado, Russell partnered with Christian Nelson (1893-1992) to sell Nelson's Eskimo Pie invention. Meanwhile, Clara continued making candy in the kitchen of their bungalow home. She mixed up candy in small batches in pots and hand-dipped cordial cherries into chocolate. She named her business "Mrs. Stover's Bungalow Candies" and she became known for them. Her business expanded from their home to several stores and a factory in Kansas City during the Great Depression and war years. 

The couple took on the care of a distant relative's five children for several years and four years after adopting their daughter, Gloria (1928-1985), they relocated their headquarters to Kansas City, MO. In 1943, the company name was changed to Russell Stover Candies. 

Clara carried on the candy business after Russell's death in 1954 until she retired and sold the business in 1960. She passed away at the age of 93 in 1975 and was buried next to Mr. Stover in the Mount Moriah Cemetery Mausoleum in Kansas City.

Mrs. Stover's Bungalow Candy Delivery Truck. c. 1927

More to Read:
1. Clara Stover of Russell Stover Candies. By Jane F. Flynn.
2. Dictionary of Missouri Biography. By Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, & Gary Kremer. p. 728. Retrieved from Google Books.
3. Russell Stover Chocolate History
4. Social Security Death Index: U.S., 1937-1998. Surnames from L through Z. Family Tree Maker CD by Broderbund.
5. Smithsonian
6. Russell Stover, Robinson Library
7. The Eskimo Pie Corporation Records, National Museum of American History
8. Kansas State Historical Society Trading Card
9. Missouri Women, Clara Stover
10. Candy Hall of Fame
11. "Dad-ventures: Historic Names and Cemeteries in Kansas City. By Shannon Carpenter. October 22, 2015. Visit KC
12. Russell Stover's Kansas Trading Card! 

13. Johnson County, KS History
14. Findagrave #22317 and  #21858

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Eskimo Pie Commercial  

Russell Stover Commercial

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Places to Visit:

1. Sweet Tooth Marker, Kansas City International Airport, 601 Brasilia Ave, Parking Lot C, Kansas City
2. Russell Stover Headquarters, 1206 Main St, Kansas City,
3. Russell Stover Candy Stores

4. Former Residences: (1935) 803 West 54th Terr., Kansas City and 5805 Mission Drive, Mission Hills, KS. (please respect the privacy of the homeowners)
5. Mount Moriah's Mausoleum, Holmes Road (south of 435 Hwy), Kansas City