All About Maisie Seimears Rodenbaugh
07-18-09
By Maisie Rodenbaugh
I was the second child born to Walter and Martha [James] Seimears on July 15, 1925 in Elk County, Kansas and was named LuCretia Mae. My parents were farmers and the land was mostly hay meadows and not very many row crops. We raised a lot of cattle, sheep and as the years went by, children. In March of 1929 my mother passed away at the age of 23. My younger sister Elouise and I went to live with our mother’s parents who lived a few miles from our home. We lived there until 1932 when Dad remarried. We now had a new Mom named Alpha and we became a family again with siblings arriving every year or so. I am the oldest of 14 children. There are 10 of us still living and we have 2 family reunions every year. We all meet at the park in Howard, Ks. on Memorial Day weekend and have been doing this since 1929. We have a picnic and visit and all go to the cemetery to decorate our loved ones graves. We have an auction to finance our celebrations of family. We are a very close family and everyone speaks to each other and we all have respect for the other 9 siblings. Our brother Allen is a Baptist minister and does missionary work in foreign countries. Being the oldest I feel I have the right to give advice once in awhile to him. Like stay home.
Our parents taught us that family is actually all that we have that is of value. We grew up in the depression years and didn’t realize how poor we were because everyone else was in the same situation.
We do not have many family members that have served in the military. Our father, his father and brother were all drafted in the fall of 1918. Before getting on the train to leave in November the Armistice was signed and they were sent home. We have 2 brothers, Leon was a helicopter medic who served in Vietnam in the Marines and Steve served in the Navy. Both have health issues from this and receive treatment at the V A hospital in Wichita quite often.
I graduated from a rural high school in 1943 and I was valedictorian of my class. My grade point average was 98.6. I immediately got a job and went for training to be an aircraft mechanic in Oklahoma City. This was a government program called civil service and paid $90.00 a month. We trained for 3 months and then we were allowed to transfer anywhere we chose as long as there was an Army Air Corps base nearby. I transferred to Herington, Kansas where I worked reconditioning spark plugs for the B-17s that came in from their bombing missions and I was nicknamed Maisie because of all the movies made by Ann Southern at that time about Swing Shift Maisie. We were assigned to other jobs on base when needed. Raytheon and the government were involved in a lawsuit recently over contaminated dirt where our hangar used to be and I was the only living witness left to testify. I did testify and it was very interesting.
After I married I became Lucretia Mae Rodenbaugh and we moved to Kansas City, Kansas in 1953. I have 4 children; 2 boys Ron and Don and 2 girls Earlene and Freda. They were involved in Boy Scouts and Blue Birds growing up and because I was a stay at home mom I was involved with them as well. My boys graduated from Washington High School in Basehor, Ks. Ron graduated in 1963 and joined the Air Force shortly after. Don graduated in 1964 and married a month later. In 1964 we moved to Lake Lotawana and because we still had the 2 girls at home softball and other various activities continued. Earlene graduated from Lee’s Summit High in 1966. Freda attended Mason school and Lee’s Summit High. When Freda married and left home I went to work for Beneficial Finance where I was an income tax preparer. I had been doing taxes at home since we moved to Kansas City and I am still doing taxes today. I have seen a lot of changes in the tax world in the last 55 years. The biggest one being the computer.
One day in late 1980 a couple of veterans were calling on veterans at Lake Lotawana to organize something called a VFW Post and they did just that in March of 1981. It was called VFW Post 6272. A meeting was called to add an auxiliary to this new Post and I was invited to attend and even though I didn’t go they elected me as their President and this was the beginning of a new venture. We were instituted in April, 1981. Ethel Hays was our installing officer and she has installed our Auxiliary every year since then. I am a charter member and a life member. I was President for the first 4 years and have been President several times since plus all the other offices that I have held. I can honestly say that I have enjoyed every minute of it. I also made a vow to attend all meetings so there would be no more surprises. Some of my other offices have been 5th District President and Jackson County Council VFW Auxiliary President several times. When I was President of Jackson Co. Council, I organized two yearly presentations from all the Auxiliaries in the 4th and 5th Districts to bring their donations to Children’s Mercy Hospital. We did one in the spring and one in the fall. We had a short program and everything was arranged on tables in the lobby. We had 10 to 12 tables full of useful things for the children. Also during this time I was honored as Person of the Year by the Jackson County Council VFW. In 1986 I was invited to attend a meeting of the Military Order of the Cooties Auxiliary or M.O.C.A. This time I went because I was very curious about the name. It was called Heart of America Pup Tent #1. The M.O.C.A is a by invitation only organization because this is an elite part of the VFW and we only do visits to V.A hospitals and Veterans Homes to make sure they are being well cared for. Our motto is “Keep ‘em smiling’ in beds of white.” I did join the Cooties and so began my journey through the chairs and in 1999-2000 I was elected Grand President of the state of Missouri. I was second runner up for President of the Year out of 5 States.
Over the years historians from various places have exhumed my great grandfather, Jeremiah James’s body in Neodesha Kansas. There have even been three DNA tests trying to prove that he was Jesse James, but so far there have been no conclusive evidence.
Recently during my spare time I wrote a history book about our ancestors for my siblings and all their families. There are about 200 of us now counting in-laws and adoptions and various others. I also write an Aunt Blabby’s Newsletter in April and October every year to keep the families informed about all the new babies, graduates and etc. Everyone was informed when I began this project that they shouldn’t tell me any secrets that you don’t want to see in print because after all, the name is "Aunt Blabby". This takes a little time as I send out 80 copies each time.
I really enjoy talking to our young people. They are so curious about how we lived back in the old days. If they are fortunate enough to have great grandparents I always suggest that they start asking questions. They may not get a quick answer but sooner or later they’ll hear,” Oh remember what you asked me a few days ago. I remembered something that you might like to hear.” It really opens a line of communication. I do seminars for home schooled children to tell them about WWII and how women worked to support the war effort and how everyone sacrificed due to rationing.
Now, I am still a mother of four, a grandmother of nine, a great grandmother of twenty two and a great-great grandmother of six. I am still volunteering for our veterans, and whenever something needs done I will hardly ever give you a negative answer.
My father was a huge inspiration to me and my entire family, and I have tried to live by a favorite saying of his during my 84 years. He used to say “When you decide to run the race, run to win; but if you lose, land on both feet and be ready to run again.
Maisie is the VFW New Assistant Editor for the Lee’s Summit Tribune.
You can contact her at vfwmaise7@aol.com.
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