Where is Great Aunt Minnie buried?

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Larry Strobel with Jan Gammel in basket June 1949
Ralph Strobel and MaryLynn Gammel photobombing in window


If you have been around me at SKCGS for very long, you have probably heard me tell about a member of my family who asks those innocent questions I should be able to answer at a moment's notice--my Cousin Larry. You also have heard me suggest that every genealogist needs a "Cousin Larry" because his questions often lead to challenging research and opportunities to learn lots of new stuff.

The answer to Aunt Minnie's burial question took about three months with searches at the newly opened Washington State Digital Archives and assistance from a member of Eastern Washington Genealogical Society in Spokane and her persistent calls to the funeral home. 

Great Aunt Minnie's cremains were still in the vault, after 48 1/2 years! Final disposition of Great Aunt Minnie is a story for another day.

Larry's question about a newly married couples' "honeymoon trip to Minnesota" led me to extensive research of photographer F. Jay Haynes and opened my interest in photos in family history.



Valuable Research Partner

I have to say that most of the family knowledge and research experience I've gained in the past twenty years has been because of sharing it with Cousin Larry.

Larry passed away last Tuesday and needless to say, I miss him already. I found an 1897 newspaper article about our grandfather and my first thought was that I should share it with Larry.



Larry George Strobel 1937-2021


Larry Strobel, 1937 - 2021  Photo The Messiah Site



Larry George Strobel was born 31 March, 1937 in Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai, Idaho; son of Earl and Beulah Stowe Strobel. Larry lived his entire 84 years in Coeur d'Alene, graduating from school there and working as a mail carrier until his retirement. Years later he could tell you where someone lived on his mail route and many people remembered him as their carrier.

Larry had a lifelong interest in the history of northern Idaho and his family's involvement in local mining and lumbering industries. In 2009 Larry published When the Mill Whistle Blew, the Way it Was in Coeur d'Alene Country, 1888-1955. 


He collected stories from his mother and Stowe aunt and uncles which I have collected as an unpublished Stowe Memories of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. I have used stories from this collection in SoKing News, our previous newsletter, as examples of farming life. See "Winning the West--One Stump at a Time", by Gordon Stowe, 1968.



CdA Press March 2016 [1]

Larry was an avid musician having played French horn in numerous bands and orchestras throughout his lifetime. He was still playing and teaching private students until recently. For 12 years he played horn in the 560th Air Force Band (Washington Air National Guard) and he played drums with Coeur d’Alene Elks Dance Band for 14 years. He played principal French Horn in the Coeur d’Alene Symphony for 27 years.


The Perfection-Nots

In 1977, faced with a dearth of music in the Independence Day parade, Larry and wife Sharon gathered a group of musician friends for a bit of practice.  With borrowed instruments and funny costumes due to lack of uniforms, the group appeared in the parade as the Perfection-Nots.  It went over well and continues more than 40 years later.  In 2017 Larry and Sharon were honored as Grand Marshals of the parade.  For the first time in 40 years they didn't march with the band they created.



Sharon and Larry Strobel as Grand Marshals, July 4, 2017 Coeur d'Alene, Idaho[2]


Larry passed away 13 July, 2021 in Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai, Idaho.  He is survived by his wife Sharon, son Ron and daughter Shannon, and four grandchildren.  Also surviving are his brother Ralph and cousins MaryLynn Gammel Strickland and Jan Gammel Salome.

I owe it all to you, Cuz!  I hope that other researchers have a "Cousin Larry" as persistent as you!



  

MaryLynn Strickland  


[1]https://cdapress.com/news/2016/mar/13/larry-strobel-a-cornerstone-in-coeur-dalenes-5/

[2]cdapress.com July 4, 2017

Comments

  1. ValorieJuly 19, 2021 at 9:17 PM

    Be sure to read the article MaryLynn links to, above! For instance, "When I was a kid there were benches along Sherman, and these old men with long over coats used to sit on the benches and kibitz with anybody that would talk to them, and they were so funny. They baited the people. The tourists came along and they’d strike up a conversation and it’d go something like this: ‘What’s the population of this town?’ ‘9,422. Never changes.’ ‘Oh it doesn’t?’ ‘No, every time a baby’s born, somebody skips town.’ … My mother wouldn’t let me go near them."

    I love that sense of humor.

    ReplyDelete

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