Georgia's Friends: EDNA HERTACH

The following stories were sent to us by Marcia Lyons and Kay Clark (Granddaughter and daughter of Edna respectively). There are stories collected and compiled for a family gathering on 2/24/01 in Wichita, Kansas celebrating Edna’s 85th birthday.

ABOUT EDNA HINTON HERTACH

Edna Hinton was born in Beaumont Mississippi on March 7, 1916. She was the only child of Edwina Pierce Hinton (fondly know as Mamma Hint) and Tim Hinton. Edna had 2 older half brothers and 2 half sisters (Edward, Gus, Evie & Verda).

Edna’s parents owned their own business. They had a large building that was partitioned off with his General Store in the front & her café in the back. The General Store contained groceries and dry goods items such at fabric, shoes, sugar etc. Edna spent a lot of time at the café. It was conveniently located about a block from their house. Their home did not contain a kitchen so they took all of their meals at the café.

She remembers that they added a side door to the building so you could enter directly into the café. This called for the addition of a sidewalk. She laughed that one-year she received shoe skates for Christmas. Everything in Beaumont was dirt – roads, parking lots and sidewalks except for this one strip of concrete. The kids would borrow her shoe skates & they would take turns skating up and down the little sidewalk.

Edna attended public schools in Beaumont for grade school and her first year of high school. She then went her 2nd year to Progress Boarding school, which was coed. Then her last 2 years were spent at Forrest Co Agriculture high school (also a boarding school) in Brooklin Mississippi. She then went 2 years to a Women's College in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. And finally she attended 1 year at Mobile Alabama Business College.

Edna always had fun regardless of where she was living or attending school. She was good swimmer and would swim in the river and creeks around Beaumont. While in high school she played some basketball. This usually consisted of the female students playing against the faculty women. And she always enjoyed putting together puzzles. She fondly remembers while at the Women’s College that she and her roommate worked lots of puzzles with one of their teachers.

Whenever she was in Beaumont she worked at the Café. As you might imagine during this time in Mississippi there was segregation. They were required to have a room for blacks and one for whites. Edna pointed out they served the same food and provided equitable service but there were two dining areas. The noon meal was served family style at the café. She said there was a train station near by and they would frequently get customers for breakfast and lunch. In addition to working at the café, Edna went to the local Paper Mill and did their payroll on Saturdays.

During World War II she worked at Camp Shelby. She was the Assistant Manager of the PX (Post Exchange). During the war there were ration coupon books for items such as gas, leather shoes, sugar, tires, brand name cigarettes etc. Edna drove several people that worked at Camp Shelby thus she was able to get gas coupons for her station wagon.

It was at Camp Shelby that she met her future husband, Earl Francis Hertach. He was from Claflin, Kansas and stationed at Camp Shelby. He was sent to New Orleans in anticipation of being shipped out to war. While in New Orleans, Edna & Earl were married by a Justice of the Peace in March of 1944. They thought he would be shipped out any day. Two weeks later a Catholic priest married them. Soon after he was shipped out and stationed on Ascension Island until the war ended.

While Earl was off at war, her in-laws (Leo and Frances Hertach) suggested she come to Kansas to meet her new family. She and her niece Jenny Elder traveled to Kansas by bus. During their stay in Claflin, people wondered which young lady was Earl's new wife. And it was during this visit that they received news the war was ending and Earl would be soon coming home.

Jenny returned to Mississippi and Edna waited for Earl’s arrival in Kansas. Eventually, Edna & Earl took a train to St. Louis, then a bus to Beaumont. Edna packed up her things (mostly just clothes because she had always lived at home with her parents) and they loaded them in her station wagon. They drove back to Kansas thus starting their married life together.

Life in Kansas represented a big change for Edna. In Beaumont,
she lived in town in a home that had electricity. The house at Claflin was wired for electricity but it would be 1 1/2 years before they had electricity. Water was by a pump and windmill. The bathroom was an outhouse. Cooking was by a wood stove. And she said she wasn’t much of a cook since all of her meals growing up were at the café. She said Earl really enjoyed “meat and potatoes” and would do some of the cooking himself. Once they did have electricity, she had a two burner electric hot plate, which she would use for cooking. We can all attest that she has developed into a fine cook. Her southern heritage came to Kansas through her ham, black-eyed peas, corn bread, pecan pie, rice and gravy, figs, boiled peanuts and of course grits.

Her in-laws – Leo and Frances Hertach, gave the newlyweds the “home place”. The elder Hertach’s moved to Larnerd where their other son (Earl’s older brother Leo Jr.) was living with his wife and son. Leo Jr. had more farmland and his father thought he could use some help with the land. At the home place Edna now learned to tend cows and chickens. She was so thankful for her new friend Georgia. Mamma Hint always said Georgia was like a sister to Edna. She helped her adjust to life in Kansas.

The next year, Earl & Edna became parents to Dixie Ann in June 1946. In May of 1948 Katharine Frances joined the family and in January 1952 they welcomed Timothy Leo. During most of the years, Edna was a full time wife and mother. She was very involved in the community and the activities of her 3 children.

When Edna moved to Kansas she took instructions and joined the Catholic Church. She was active in the Altar Society and served as President. She belonged to the HDU (Home Demonstration Unit) which was later called the Home Extension. At the school she was active in the Parent Teacher Organization. She was a homeroom mother. And she was always willing to drive on any of the kids’ school or activity outings. With the girls she served as a Girl Scout troop leader. And she helped out when Tim was involved in 4 H.

Edna enjoyed bowling. For many years Earl sponsored a team through Farm Bureau Insurance. She bowled for years at the Claflin bowling alley and when it closed the team went over to Ellinwood.

Edna also enjoys reading. She and Mamma Hint shared the love of reading. They belonged to a book club and they both had an extensive book collection. Reading is a past time that both Edna & Earl enjoyed. It was common for the kids to see their parents reading.

Because of the war, Earl and Edna did not go on a honeymoon. But on their 25th wedding anniversary they went on a wonderful trip to Hawaii. This was a gift from Mamma Hint. Edna said on the way to Hawaii they stopped for several days in Los Angeles and on the way home they spent several days in San Francisco. She was always ready to pack her bags and go on adventure.

The Hertach’s would annually attend the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson. When the kids were growing up they would generally go on a summer car trip. Sometimes heading back to Mississippi or on some other adventure. Some of the memorable trips were to the Seattle Worlds Fair, Disneyland in CA, Mount Rushmore in SD and Mexico with the ever-famous bullfights. The love of travel has definitely been passed on to her children and grandchildren.

In 1969 Edna went to work at ElKan, a business that did wiring for Ford cars. But she only worked at that job for a few months because Earl was diagnosed with lung cancer and started radiation treatments in Wichita for the next 6 weeks. He died in July 1970 at the age of 55 years.

Six months later, she decided to enter nursing school. She moved
to Wichita and lived with Kay and Marcia for the next 12 months while attending the Licensed Practical Nursing Program at the Vocational Center in Wichita. She graduated in January 1972 and passed her state nursing boards soon after. She did work briefly as a private duty nurse in Ellinwood but eventually decided to stop work and stay home.

Edna & Earl’s three children all found wonderful spouses. And her 3 children have blessed her with 9 grandchildren. Dixie married Gary DeLong and they’re the parents of Tara, Ross, Mike and Steve. Kay married Robert Lyons and had Marcia. And Kay was also blessed by the marriage to Courtney Clark. Tim married Joy Beran and the are parents to Timothy, Anthony, Taylor and Monica.

In more recent years basketball has resurged as an interest of Edna’s. Several years ago she received a new television and the NBA package for Christmas. Her favorite teams have coincided with coach Phil Jackson – one time being the Chicago Bulls and now the LA Lakers. The love of sports is also close to home watching the grandkids play sports in Claflin. And traveling to Iowa to watch the family players and coach. And one can’t mention Edna’s love of basketball without mentioning Jackie Stiles as a Claflin Wildcat and an SMSU Lady Bear.

And the love of travel has been on ongoing theme in Edna’s life. And she did all kinds of trips via cars, buses, planes, cruise ships and trains. She would go large events like the Rose Parade or the Indy 500 as well as trips right around the area. She went with family members such as an Alaska Cruise with Dixie and Kay. She went on a European vacation with her friends Georgia and Martha. And she would even set out on “Mystery” bus tours with Mildred Lyons not knowing the destination until departure. She has a true sense of adventure.

We have all know Edna in many different ways. The mother, grandmother, babysitter, travel companion, roommate, holiday host, cheerleader and mostly importantly a friend. She has shared sage advice through her words and actions. And she never falls short of making us laugh. We all want her to know she is a very special part of our lives. Let’s join together in wishing her a very Happy 85th Birthday.