18041. Michael Eugene Winters
Michael Eugene WintersRESEARCHER: Michael Eugene Winters was interested in genealogy. As of Aug 1999 he had a Family Tree Maker Website.
RESIDENCES: As of Aug 1999, 4730 Marconi Avenue, Apt. 11; Carmichael, CA 95608
13967. Jacqueline Revina Vaught
Jacqueline Revina VaughtAKA: Jacqueline Rewina Vaught by Michael Winters.
Paul BurtonSPOUSE: Paul Burton was the 2nd spouse of Jacqueline Revina Vaught.
13968. Sally Ellen Vaught
Sally Ellen VaughtSSN: Is this the SSDI record for Sally (Vaught) Conger? If so, there is a
conflict on the date of death.
Individual: Conger, Sally
Social Security #: 568-38-1506
Issued in: California
Birth date: Jan 7, 1932
Death date: May 1969
[Broderbund Family Archive #110, Vol. 1 A-K, Ed. 7, Social Security Death
Index: U.S., Date of Import: Nov 12, 2000, Internal Ref. #1.111.7.54153.158]
Kent Lewis CongerRELATIONSHIP: Kent Lewis Conger and his wife, Sally Ellen Vaught, were 7th cousins, 1 generation removed. Their common ancestor was John Belconger.
DEATH-CONFLICT: Was the death in Sep 1958 as listed in the SSDI or 18 Sep 1959 as listed elsewhere?
SSN:
Individual: Conger, Kent
Social Security #: 545-38-2188
Issued in: California
Birth date: Nov 7, 1927
Death date: Sep 1958
[Broderbund Family Archive #110, Vol. 1 A-K, Ed. 7, Social Security Death
Index: U.S., Date of Import: Nov 12, 2000, Internal Ref. #1.111.7.54150.164]
18045. Duane Robert Stevens
Duane Robert StevensRESEARCHER: Duane Robert Stevens was interested in genealogy. He shared information about his family on a Family Tree Maker website.
RESIDENCES: As of Mar 1998, 4804 Rue Loiret; San Jose, CA 95136-3116
13976. Walter Benjamin Lemon
Walter Benjamin Lemon Jr.OCCUPATION: Cattle Rancher/Veterinarian
ORGANIZATIONS: 32nd Degree Mason; Cattlemens Association; Garfield County, CO Historical Society
APPEARANCE-TRAITS: Quick on the uptake; Social in nature; Gentle in temperament; 6'2"; 140 lbs.; brown hair; hazel eyes
EDUCATION: Ross Business School, Grand Junction, CO (General Business); Colorado A&M, Fort Collins, CO (Veterinary Science)
RESIDENCES: Fourteen miles west of Rifle, CO, south side of the Colorado River, directly opposite the famed original oil shale site known as Anvil Points.
MARRIAGE-HONORS:
Mr. and Mrs. Walter B. Lemon, Jr. returned home Thursday from a short trip to Ouray. (Colo.) Friday evening about seventy-five guests from Rifle, Grand Valley and the neighborhood gathered at the Ben Lemon home for a reception and dance. Dainty refreshments were served and at a late hour the guests departed wishing them a happy wedded life. Saturday morning they departed with a shipment of cattle for Denver. After tending to business in Denver, the newlyweds will spend another week before returning to the Ranch.
(Source: Rifle Telegram, Rifle, Colorado, Oct. 19, 1938, Holmes Mesa Community Notes - P. 5)
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
BIOGRAPHY:
Who's Who Encyclopedia for the State of Colorado. About 1970, P. 1099WALTER BENJAMIN LEMON, JR., is co-owner with his father, Walter Benjamin, Sr., of a ranching and farming property near Rifle, Garfield County, Colorado, doing business as W.B. Lemon and Son. To the original purchase of eighty acres, made by Walter, Sr. in 1912, many additions have been made, including several old homesteads, among them the Holmes homestead for which Holmes Mesa was named. At present W.B. Lemon and Son has 9760 acres of deeded land, mostly irrigated; 1900 acres of leased land; 3300 acres leased in partnership; with combined permit under Taylor Grazing and Forest Act for cows. The Lemons raise Hereford cattle, registered and commercial, and at present have about two thousand head. Brands include Quarter Circle L X and Quarter Circle L, the subject's brand; Walter B. III's brand, which is Slash H T; and Three Quarter Box 7, James Robert Lemon's brand.
Walter Benjamin Lemon, Jr., was born on Sept. 20, 1911, in Eagle, Colo., to Walter Benjamin and Mary Conger Lemon. Walter Lemon, Sr. was born in Pueblo Co., Colorado, on Apr. 24, 1884. The subject's Mother was born in Grand Lake, Colorado, on June 10, 1884; and was married to Mr. Lemon in Glenwood Springs in 1908. She passed away on Oct. 5, 1959. Walter Benjamin Lemon, Jr. attended schools in Garfield County and Intermountain Academy, an Adventist School, which was operated from 1920 to 1932 in the Rulison area.
Walter Lemon, Sr. decided against work in the steel mills of Pueblo and came west with two brothers, Robert Letcher and Frederick. The latter worked on the railroad at Eagle, Colo., and was killed in a railroad accident. Letcher became a cattle drover to Montana from Texas and was cook at the age of 70 for the last big trail drive to Montana. He was selected for the Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1957 on the basis of his general all around cowboy talent. He'd been General Trail Boss for the Goodnight Ranch in Texas. Walter, Sr., got a taste of the Old West during the two years that he operated a saloon at Eagle and during his days as owner and operator of the Pastime Recreation Hall in Rifle, which was located where the City Market is today. It was often necessary for him to disarm cowboys, who became too free with guns. Walter Lemon, Sr. was instrumental in building the first grandstand at the Rifle Fairgrounds, and he coached the first ball team in Rifle. He was also instrumental in starting the first Garfield County Fair and was one of the first directors of it. When he first came to Holmes Mesa to herd cattle for his father- in-law, John L. Conger, there were fourteen families on the Mesa. Today there are only four. The Mesa was named for the three Holmes brothers, who came here from Chicago. They came to a disagreement among themselves, and one brother was shot to death, with the other two spending the rest of their lives in the state penitentiary for murder.
In 1955 Lemon Vs Long was the first lawsuit in the State of Colorado over domestic water rights, with Attorneys Pettry, Delaney, and Darrow engaged for the trial. The case was decided in Lemon's favor by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The subject's mother's family, the Congers, Youngs and Bakers were very prominent in early Colorado history. The subject's grandmother, Mrs. Jennie Young Conger, came from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Denver, with her parents in 1871, via immigrant railroad car. Her father soon established the first hack in the City of Denver, and in April of 1871 added dray service. At one time he could have traded a fine pacing pony for forty acres of land on which the Brown Palace Hotel now stands. The Young family bought a wheat ranch twenty-five miles east of Denver, later moving to Grand Lake where they built the Fairview Hotel in 1879. Mrs. Lemon's great-great grandfather, John R. Baker, came to Colo. from Ind. with the first gold boom about 1860. He filed Claim Number 52 which became the notorious Baker Mine in Clear Creek County. Mr. Baker had both gold and silver mines in Summit, Clear Creek and Grand County. John L. Conger, grandfather of the subject, was a charter member of the Masonic Blue Lodge of Rifle. The subject's father was a second cousin to Robert W. Steele, Colorado's first territorial governor, and has been president or secretary of the Battlement Mesa Cattlemen's Association since its inception.
Walter Benjamin Lemon, Jr., married the former Roberta Ann Morgan, daughter of George Frank and Grace Truman O'Quinn Morgan, in Rifle on Oct. 10, 1938. Mrs. Lemon was born in Hornbeck, Louisiana, and is a graduate of Northwestern State College of Louisiana and Western State College, Gunnison, Colo. She now teaches school in Silt, Colo. Her father was born in Abbeyville, Louisiana; her mother, in Boyce, Louisiana. Mrs. Lemon's parents were married in Hornbeck, Louisiana, on Jan. 13, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Lemon are the parents of three living children: Mary Jo Ann, Walter Benjamin, III, and James Robert. Wm. Lamar died as a child. Mary Jo is an accomplished musician, Walter III is a student at Northwestern State College of Louisiana. James Robert was named State Farmer by the FFA and is state parliamentarian for the Junior Cattlemen's Association. Both boys have been and are very active in FFA and DeMolay.
Mr. Lemon, Jr. is president of the Battlement Mesa Cattlemen's Association, vice-president of the Holy Cross Electric Board, a director of the Colorado Ute Power Association, vice-president of the Holy Cross Electric Board, a director of the Colorado Ute Power Association, and president of the Soil Conservation Board. He is a member of the Farm Bureau, the Colorado Cattlemen's Association, the Holy Cross Cattlemen's Association. Mrs. Lemon is Noble Grand of the Rebekah Lodge and a past DeMolay Mother's Club member, past secretary-treasurer of the CEA, and radio chairman of the Colorado Cowbells. She is also a member of the CEA and the Order of the Eastern Star. Each member of the Lemon family has gained prominence, mainly in the fields of ranching and farming. This fine family has taken a leading role in the growth of the Rifle area, and each member has been concerned that the community become a better place in which to live because he or she contributed something to its betterment.
Errors in the above account:
1)Mrs. Young went to Grand Lake, August 1879 and homesteaded. She bought 115 acres on the west side of Grand Lake. The main hotel was built early summer of 1880 and was the second large structure in Grand Lake. Out Buildings (Barn, Storage, etc.) were built in 1881.2)Fred Lemon did not work on the railroad. He was killed crossing the tracks.
3)1912 is more probably the correct date for the move from Rifle to Holmes Mesa, as it was shortly after Walter's birth. He was born in Sept. 1911. In 1910 Ben was still in Rifle per the Census.
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
DEATH-HEALTH_HISTORY: Walter Benjamin Lemon, Jr. died on 16 Apr 1994 at his home on Holmes Mesa, near Rifle, Garfield Co., CO of Al;zheimer's Disease
OBITUARY: Glenwood Post - Glenwood Spgs., Colo. April 19, 1994.
Rifle Telegram - Rifle, Colo. and Daily Sentinel - Grand Jct., Colo.Walter Lemon, Jr. aka "Walter" Walter Benjamin Lemon, Jr., a native son and life-long resident of Rifle, died of pneumonia, Sat. Apr. 16, 1994, in the original log home to which he came with his parents when less than a year old. He was 82. Funeral services will be Wednesday, Apr. 20, at 11 a.m. at the Grace Bible Baptist Church in Parachute with Pastor Mark Henry officiating. Burial will be at Rose Hill Cemetery in Rifle.
He was born Sept. 20, 1911, to Walter Benjamin, Sr. and Mary Conger Lemon in Eagle, Colo., at the home of his great-grandmother, Mary Jane Hanscome, a well-known Colorado pioneer. He attended Garfield County schools, and the Intermountain Academy, an Adventist School that operated 1910 to 1932 in the Rulison area. He graduated from Ross Business School in Grand Jct. in 1934, and Colorado A and M in Ft. Collins in 1938. After graduation he opened a veterinary practice in Rifle for a short while. In late 1938 Mr. Lemon joined his father in a cattle ranching and farming operation on Holmes Mesa near Rifle doing business under the name of W. B. Lemon and Son on land which had been acquired in 1911 by his maternal grandfather, John Lincoln Conger, a well-known stockman. After his father's death in 1970, his younger son, James Robert, joined the family operation and the firm name was changed to Lemon Cattle Company. He married Roberta Ann Morgan on Oct. 10, 1938, in Rifle. Mrs. Lemon is a well-known primary school teacher who taught in Clifton, Silt and Rifle. She survives.
Mr. Lemon was Past-President of the Battlement Mesa Cattlemen's Association and Vice-President of the Holy Cross Electric Board. He was a director of the Colorado-Ute Power Association, and President of the Bookcliff Soil Conservation Board. He was also a member of the Farm Bureau, Garfield County Historical Society, the Colorado Cattlemen's Association, the Holy Cross Cattlemen's Association, and Past Worthy Patron of the Rifle Masonic Blue Lodge.
Other survivors include a daughter, Mary Jo Khan of Stockton, Calif.; two sons and daughters-in-law, Walter III "Bennie" and Nancy Lemon of Palisade and James and Judy Lemon of Parachute; five grandchildren, Walter Lemon IV of Evergreen, Davina Brower of Northglenn, Matthew Lemon of Palisade and Nadene Lemon and Danielle Lemon, both of Parachute; and three great-grandchildren, Zachary, Amanda and Seandra Brower, all of Northglenn. Mr. Lemon was preceded in death by son Wm. Lamar. Sowder Funeral Home in Rifle is in charge of arrangements.
[Notes: The city name Parachute was changed from Grand Valley in l978 during the height of the Oil Shale Boom. Walter's Secondary Malady was Alzheimer's Disease.]
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
CEMETERY: Rose Hill Cemetery, Rifle, Garfield Co., CO; next to John Conger
Roberta Ann MorganAPPEARANCE-TRAITS: 5'2"; 105 lbs.; dark brown hiar; well kept; fashionable; social, high energy, leadership, well organized
EDUCATION: Northwestern State Collegee of Louisiana, Natchitoches, LA (Undergraduate); Western State College, Gunnison, CO, Bachelors and Masters
OCCUPATION: Elementary School Teacher
ORGANIZATIONS: Eastern Star, 53 years; Rebekahs, 50 years; Garfield County Colorado Historical Society; DAR; Colonial Dames; Daughters of the Confederacy
HEALTH_HISTORY: Breast cancer, strokes
RESIDENCES: Jun 1996, Rifle, Garfield Co., CO
MARRIAGE:
Morgan-Lemon Nuptials Will Take Place Soon.
Announcement was made this week by Mr. and Mrs. George Ferguson, Jr. of South Rifle of the engagement and approaching marriage of their niece, Miss Roberta Ann Morgan, to Walter Lemon, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Lemon of Holmes Mesa. The wedding will take place at an early date.
(Source: Rifle Telegram, Rifle, Colo., Oct. 5, 1938, Society Column - P. 4 (Engagement))
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
MARRIAGE:
Morgan-Lemon. A lovely informal wedding occurred Monday evening at the home of Mr. and Mrs. George Ferguson, Jr., when their niece, Miss Roberta Ann Morgan, became the bride of Walter Lemon of Holmes Mesa. Otto B. Duckworth of the Christian Church performed the single ring ceremony in the presence of members of the families and a few intimate friends. Mr. Ferguson gave the bride in marriage. Miss Eileen King was maid of honor and Frank Bernklau was best man. Mrs. Ferguson sang "Because" and "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life." Miss Wanda Goodrich played the bridal chorus from Lohengrin.The bride was dressed in a dainty street-length dress of ice blue and rose and wore a corsage of gardenias. Her maid of honor wore a black dress trimmed with gold and a corsage of Talisman rosebuds.
After the ceremony a three-tier wedding cake decorated with hearts, roses and a miniature bride and groom was cut by the bride. Twenty guests, including relatives and friends, were served cake and coffee, and the bridal couple opened their wedding gifts which were many and beautiful.
Mr. and Mrs. Lemon then left on a short trip to an unannounced destination, planning to return to Rifle in a few days. They will make a trip to Denver next week, and after that will be at home to their friends at a small house on the Lemon ranch on Holmes Mesa until spring when they will build a new home.
Mrs. Lemon is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George F. Morgan of Colfax, La. She came to Rifle about two years ago to make her home with her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson. She has taken an active part in the social life of Rifle during her residence here and has made many warm friends in the community. The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Lemon of Holmes Mesa, and is engaged in ranching.
(Source: Rifle Telegram, Rifle, Colorado, Oct. 12, 1938, Society Column, P. 4 (Marriage) ("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
BIOGRAPHY:
Roberta was a sickly child and came to Colorado at age 7 with Mrs. Ferguson for the benefits offered by the Colorado weather. For three years she flitted between Louisiana and Colorado and when Mrs. Ferguson (her aunt) and George Ferguson got married she went back to Louisiana permanently. After graduation from high school, Roberta went to Natchitoches to college. Roberta and her father could not agree about her boyfriends at Northwestern. One's father had a mistress and the other didn't come from the sort of family that he wanted his daughter associating with. One man became U.S. Senator from Louisiana and the other just left the Louisiana Supreme Court. The argument between Father and daughter went on for a while and finally her Aunt sent her a ticket to come to Colorado to cool off during the summer.Roberta never went back to Louisiana except to visit. When it came time to marry Walter Lemon, she sent her parents a note saying that she planned to get married Oct. 9, 1938, and hoped that her father would give her away. Her father was annoyed and refused to come. The wedding went on without him. Her Mother did come. After a few years, her father cooled off after he decided that his son-in-law came from a satisfactory family.
Roberta didn't return to Louisiana until her twins were three years old. Her parents had employed the same negro woman for the house throughout Roberta's years at home. There had been a mix-up about the arrival date and nobody was at the train station to meet Roberta and her children. Roberta got a ride on home and as she and the children came walking down the road to the house, Mandy was heard to shout "Miss Grace, Miss Grace. Come quick! Becky's here with her little kumquats." Later during the same visit, Mandy remarked to Roberta "Becky. Those sure are pretty babies, but Honey, I'd rather see you with illegitimate babies than to have their father be a Yankee. It just breaks my old heart. They'll always be branded little half breeds and will never be accepted here." Until her death Mandy prayed daily for errant Roberta and those little half breeds.
Mrs. Ferguson had been teaching school in Silt and New Castle when Roberta as a child was living with her. Roberta's teacher was a Mrs. Nordstrom. In Geography Class the book stated that the ships all stopped at New Orleans and didn't go farther up the Mississippi River. Roberta advised the teacher that she'd seen them from her back yard in Baton Rouge and a lot of them came up the River from New Orleans. Neither the teacher nor the kid would compromise the issue. Roberta got a spanking for insubordination. When Roberta started teaching at New Castle many years later, that same teacher was now the Principal of the elementary school. Roberta walked in the door for the first day of school and was advised by Mrs. Nordstrom that she sincerely hoped that she was not going to be as much trouble as she'd been in the second grade. Mrs. Nordstrom in the meantime had gone to Baton Rouge and had seen for herself the ships that came up to Baton Rouge's Deep Water Port for docking, a procedure that had been going on since 1900 just as the little brat had said. Roberta didn't know whether to transfer immediately or continue at New Castle.
Roberta was President of about every organization that she ever joined and she joined all of them. She started teaching fifth grade in 1955 in Clifton, Colo. She started teaching a little earlier than she had planned due to necessity after her husband and father-in-law became victims of what the press dubbed "The Morman Swindle." They were taken, along with several others for a few million dollars. She took Mary Jo with her to attend Grand Junction High School and left the boys at the ranch where they continued school at Rifle. That way they would only have to pay out-of-district tuition for two kids. She went to the ranch on weekends.
She taught in Clifton for six years and was selected Teacher of the Year once as a result of her remedial dedication to troubled students. She was unconventional and was quite annoyed that so much stock is placed in "Cumulative Records." (The student's history which is passed on from teacher to teacher on a confidential basis). She felt that this method branded a kid for his entire academic career and that many teachers when they saw "don't bother trying to teach Little Johnny math because it's impossible" did just that without further investigation. Her feeling on the subject was that most of the time Little Johnny didn't learn math because the teacher failed to connect somewhere with Little Johnny, and apparently that was the case most of the time. When these kids landed in her classroom, she took the time to figure out the kid's learning problem. Usually after three months, little Johnny was brought up to speed and was a changed kid because he felt good about himself. He was succeeding and now knew that he wasn't a "Dummy" after all. Parents were standing in line to get their kid transferred into her classroom. She taught phonics and multiplication tables the first six weeks of school on general principles. Usually only about half of the kids really knew either.
The schools that she taught in didn't have "aids." Her classroom usually had 32 to 35 students and she taught the full curriculum. About half of the kids would show up with no breakfast, and then, of course, they were disruptive, unable to learn and their attention span was zero because they were plain hungry. Granola with lots of oatmeal, raisins, dates and nuts was handed out daily in her classroom in the morning at her own expense. She bought oatmeal in 50 pound bags, maintained bee hives in the fields at home for honey, and annually used 300 to 400 pounds of date chips from Palm Springs. She finally got the parents in the habit of sending an apple to school daily with the kid for snack time which helped out quite a bit, but it took a while to get the parents in the proper grove. She felt that the parents were remiss in their duties but considered it a small price to pay for the problems the granola solved for her in the areas of discipline and whining kids.
She provided in her classroom at her own expense, three sets of encyclopedias and two dictionaries. She gave each student a Leslie 20,000 Words Quick Spelling Dictionary at Christmas. When she had taught long enough at Silt and New Castle, these wonderful little 3 x 5 spelling reference books began reappearing with the next generation of students. Every student had to research and orally present three research papers a month and then submit the written text to her for evaluation on format, spelling, and grammar application. If everybody made 95 or above on their weekly 200 word spelling test on Friday, ice cream was served. One year it was served every Friday. Three times a year a spelling bee was held within the school including 5-6-7-8 grade students. Several times her 5 and 6 grade students won the championship.
In 1994 Roberta had a serious stroke which apparently destroyed the segment of the brain which controls balance and the eyes. She was rendered legally blind and has no balance left so she can no longer walk alone. She spends six months in Colorado and six months in California. When the time comes, she will be layed to rest beside Walter at the Rose Hill Cemetery, Rifle, Colorado.
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
18046. William Lamar Lemon
William Lamar LemonRELATIONSHIP: William Walter Lemon and Mary Jo Ann Lemon were twins.
APPEARANCE-TRAITS: dark brown hair and eyes; medium build
DEATH: Died at Rifle, Garfield Co., CO, of head injuries received in an auto accident.
18047. Mary Jo Ann Lemon
Mary Jo Ann LemonBIRTH: 18 May 1940, Rifle, Garfield Co., CO
RELATIONSHIP: William Walter Lemon and Mary Jo Ann Lemon were twins.
AKA: Tiger; Hot Rod Annie
APPEARANCE-TRAITS: 5'8"; dark brown hair and eyes; medium build; flair for clothes; High energy; well organized; strong personality; patient
OCCUPATION: Musician; Attorney; Musical Arranger; Draftsman; Secretary
EDUCATION: University of Colorado, Business; University of Denver, Music; Juilliard School of Music, Music; Aspen Institute, Music; Stanford University, Law and Braille; San Joaquin Delta College, Fashion Merchandising; Mesa Junior College, Undergraduate; University of the Seven Seas, Undergraduate
HOBBIES: Customized European Tours; Quilt Design
ORGANIZATIONS: Order of the Eastern Star; United Daughters of the Confederacy; Colonial Dames; Friendship Force; Centurion Club; Mensa; Business and Professional Women; California Bar; American Guild of Musical Artists; Federation of Television and Radio Artists; Symphony League; Assistance League; Blind Center; San Joaquin County Historical Society; California Genealogical Society; Sweet Adeline's
RESIDENCES: Rifle, Grand Junction, Denver, Boulder, Colorado; New York City, N.Y.; San Francisco, Stockton, California; Amsterdam, Holland; London, England; Paris, France; Meerut, India.
RESIDENCES: Dec 1995, P.O. Box 8520, Stockton, CA 95208
RESEARCHER: Mary Jo Ann (Lemon) Khan was very interested in family history and genealogy. In September 1996 she completed a document on the John Lincoln Conger family. She shared her information with the Henthorn / Bolerjack project.
MARRIAGE: Engagement:
Mr. and Mrs. Walter B. Lemon, Jr. of Rifle announce the engagement and approaching marriage of their daughter, Mary Jo Ann, to Zia ur Rehman Khan of Meerut, India. The wedding will be an event of Oct. 28, [1967]. A native of Rifle, she attended school here and was graduated from Grand Junction High School. She attended Mesa College, The University of the Seven Seas and is a graduate of the University of Denver, the University of Colorado, and Juilliard School of Music. She is a violinist with the Denver Symphony and currently on leave preparing to appear as Roberta Peter's understudy in the Role of Carmen in the Opera of the same name being presented by the Central City Opera Company this summer. Mr. Khan has received degrees from Meerut College, Meerut, India, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, and the University of Denver, Denver, Colo. He is currently working toward his doctorate in engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. He is an employee of Kaiser Industries of San Francisco as an engineer.
(Source: Rifle Telegram, Rifle, Colorado, April 1967 and Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, Colorado, April 1967)
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)MARRIAGE:
Liberal Reverend Duckworth had for 40 years been the minister at the Christian Church in Rifle. He was scheduled to retire, but at the request of the church board was staying on to complete the wedding commitments he'd made and would split the fees with the new preacher. All new wedding bookings and funerals would go the new preacher. When the new preacher found out that Zia Khan was a Moslem, all hell broke loose. The fellow was adamantly against interdenominational marriages and would under no circumstances allow this wedding to be held in the Christian Church. He proceeded to deliver a thirty minute lecture about the proverbial sin of my intentions. Rev. Duckworth didn't quite agree with him, but kept his mouth shut waiting to see what I did. I listened to the rigid man of god and told him I wasn't convinced. Rev. Duckworth walked me to the car and told me to stop by his home before I left town. He walked on down to the other end of the block to the Presbyterian Church and prevailed upon the Minister there to allow the wedding to go forth in his facility. The new Christian Church Minister after a few more extemporaneous occasions was run out of town. Where did he eventually land? Stockton, California. At a local fund-raiser of which my husband was General Chairman he delivered the invocation. I couldn't resist bugging him by bringing to his attention, that we ill-matched souls were still happy about being married after twenty-seven years.
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)MARRIAGE:
Mary Jo Ann Lemon, the daughter of a pioneer Rifle, Colorado, family and Dr. Zia ur Rehman Khan of Meerut, India, were married in an evening ceremony, Saturday, October 28, 1967, at the Presbyterian Church in Rifle, Colorado. The Reverend Otto B. Duckworth who had married the bride's parents, Oct. 10, 1938, officiated at the double-ring, candlelight ceremony which was witnessed by two hundred friends and relatives from Colorado, Louisiana, Florida, Finland and India. The church pews were awash in a kaleidoscope of fall colors. Baskets and cascades of yellow, ivory and bronze chrysanthemums along with pastel yellow candles provided a colorful setting for the ceremony. The candlelighters were James Robert Lemon, brother of the bride, and Art Styles. The responsibilities of ring bearer were carried out by Stephen Schorer of Denver, Colo., while his sister Rhonda Schorer served as flower girl. The bride chose her sister-in-law Nancy Ruth Lemon as Matron of Honor and long-time friends Mary Jane Kelly, Wilemina Karels and Becky Dawson all of Denver, Colorado, as bridesmaids. The ladies' floor- length gowns carried out the fall color theme with light olive green lace bodices which flowed into empire- line skirts of pastel yellow crepe. A crown of green tulle completed their outfits. The bridegroom selected his college friend Nehil Rezvi of Denver, Colorado, as his best man and Aslam R. Khan and W. B. Lemon, III, as groomsmen.The bride walked into the church to Amazing Grace played on the organ by Leta Duckworth. Vocal selections were presented by Phil Eisler. At the sound of the Wedding March, the bride came down the aisle on the arm of her father and was given in marriage by her parents, Roberta and Walter B. Lemon, Jr.
Her classic, A-line, floor-length bridal gown was designed of white chantilly lace and peau de sois, which had been reembroidered with seed pearls and sequins and terminated in a short train. A double court length, tulle mantilla secured by a cornet of pearls and sequins completed the bridal dress. Her necklace was a gift from her maternal grandmother, Grace Morgan of Natchitoches, Louisiana. The bit of old came in many forms. The Bible on the Altar was published in 1832 and was first given to the bride's great-great maternal grandparents, Wm. Araster and Harriett Thompson O'Quinn at their marriage January 25, 1833, in Natchitoches, Louisiana. All of the family births, deaths, and marriages since that date have been recorded in beautiful script by Mr. and Mr. O'Quinn, their son James W. and his wife Kate Killingsworth O'Quinn and by the bride's Grandmother, Mrs. Grace O'Quinn Morgan and her husband Geo. F. Morgan. The bridal bouquet of gladiola, lilies and stephanotis was fashioned around an antique handkerchief that bears the date "1834 - Lucinda Flynn." According to family diaries and newspaper clippings, this handkerchief was made by Mrs. Flynn for her daughter Lucinda's marriage to Mr. John R. Baker. It was again used by her granddaughter Mary Jane Baker when she married Henry Jacob Young, Jr., Feb. 9, 1854, at the William Penn Inn in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and then by her great granddaughter, Mary Lucinda Jane Young, on Aug. 15, 1883, for her marriage to John Lincoln Conger at the Fairview Hotel in Grand Lake, Colorado. It was last used by the bride's grandmother, Mary Ethlyn Conger when she and W. B. Lemon, Sr. were married in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, November l, 1908.
The bride was presented a hand transcribed copy of the Koran by the bridegroom. This hand transcribed copy had been made by the groom's great-grandfather and presented to the groom by his grandfather as a going away gift and remembrance of home when he left India in 1958 to come to the United States for higher education. The Koran represented the groom's most highly prized possession. His giving it to the bride represented his willingness to share his most prized possession with his new bride. The bride's engagement and wedding rings were designed by the groom's mother Zafar Zamani Bagum Khan, utilizing diamonds and emeralds which had been part of her marriage jewelry. Diamond earrings and a matching nose stud were also part of her jewelry wedding gift to the new bride. In keeping with Moslem tradition the bride received the one dozen glass bangles as a reminder of life's fragile nature and a matching dozen of pure gold ones symbolizing her pledge of security and agreement as mother of the groom. A short sermon from the Koran about the respect demanded from and the responsibilities of those that enter into matrimony was read from the Koran by Sayah Kizvi from Finland. An interdenominational prayer was offered by Reverend Brown.
A reception followed the ceremony at the Methodist Church Social Room. Guest Book duties were handled by Josephine Ferguson, Great-Aunt and namesake of the bride from Grand Junction, and Virginia Moore, Godmother of the bride from Rifle poured punch. Helen Gonzales, family friend from Rifle was in charge of the four-tiered wedding cake which she'd decorated with hanging clusters of sweetpeas and wisteria.
Sunday afternoon, Oct. 29, Mrs. Adolph Coors and her daughter Cecily hosted a reception for the couple at their Polo Circle Drive home in the Cherry Hills District of South Denver.
After a wedding trip to New Orleans, the newlyweds will return to Denver and drive cross country to San Francisco where another reception will be hosted by B. G. Lal and Mrs. Zamini Khan at the Fairmont Hotel on November 18.
The groom is the son of Fazl and Zamani Khan of Meerut, India, and recently received his doctorate degree in Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He is currently employed by Bechtel Corporation of San Francisco as an electrical engineer. The couple will make their new home at 701 Pine Street, San Francisco, California.
(Source: Rifle Telegram, Rifle, Colorado, Nov. 4, 1967 and Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, Colorado, Oct. 29, 1967)
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
BIOGRAPHY:
World War II changed the role for women permanently in the United States. Mary Lemon could see that Mary Jo was going to be living in a very different world than she had seen and was quite outspoken to her son that he should educate his daughter into the world of business. Basket weaving, tea pouring and a pretty face were no longer enough for a woman to get on in the world with. Apparently Walter took her lectures to heart, because all of his children had a business of some type which they had to run. Bennie and Jim had registered cattle operations. Mary Jo had a Christmas tree growing business and took over her twin brother's angle worm business at his demise. Both businesses were mechanized enough that they were not labor intensive. Therefore, Mary Jo mainly had to handle the sales aspect of both businesses and do the soil testing required to keep the worms in heavy production. Tree cutting had to be organized but men were hired by "the firm" to get that hard job done. Mary Jo spent a lot of hours in early spring trans- planting into the ground the seedlings that she had started in the hot house for replacement trees. Half of the profits had to be saved and the other half was working capital. Mary Jo had accumulated enough savings that it paid for nearly all of her college expenses, bought her first car, and an airline ticket to Europe. The Stocks and Bonds she still has and they will become retirement income.In the early years Mary Jo studied piano which was a good base for all musical activities. Violin, clarinet and voice lessons were added later. She studied with the best teachers in the area and took private lessons during the summer at the Aspen Institute. She went to Interlocken Michigan's World Renown Music Camp for three summers. She wanted to go to Juilliard School of Music straight out of high school, but her father wasn't about to let a country seventeen year old go to New York straight from the nest. Some compromises were made. His strong suggestion about "something solid that you can support yourself with anywhere like "BUSINESS" got its due to subdue father and the passage of time achieved some "City Seasoning."
Musically Denver was a good place to be for young musicians. Both Denver University and the University of Colorado music majors acquired substantial professional experience as support vocalists with the Central City Opera Co. during the summer where the leading opera singers from Europe and New York appear annually. Her private musical training had been thorough enough that 118 credit hours were eliminated at Denver University through comprehensive tests. She went straight through with an overload and finished the degree in record time.
While at Grand Junction High School, Mary Jo had taken the Evelyn Woods Speed Reading Course in early high school and had developed a very fast reading speed with good comprehension by graduation. This accelerated reading ability plus her requirement for very little sleep put academic achievement in the fast lane and developed a lot of free time. She registered at the University of Colorado Denver Extension and simultaneously worked toward a business administration degree there while attending the University of Denver though at a little slower pace than at D.U.
With father's "business demands" stationed in "silent mode" she went to New York to Juilliard School of Music with his blessing and financial support. After graduation, she was tired of the school scene and wanted a change. She went to Europe (Spain) with the International Historical Preservation Corp. This international organization organizes student work groups who donate 75% of their time abroad to the restoration of the world's historical landmarks in exchange for free accommodations for 100% of the time abroad. Work consisted mainly of gofer and light manual type work under the direction of a well- qualified supervisor. Painting, furniture refinishing, wall paper hanging, pattern matching, mortar mixing, rug repair, needle work repair, washing, ironing, etc. You did work 12 to 14 hours a day and were too tired for much night frolic although Sat. and Sun. were free for day trips during the work segment of the assignment.
Since her Grandmother Lemon had given her a good textile and embroidery orientation as a child, her assignment was the Prado in Madrid where she did repair on lace with human hair, rewove weak spots in 20 x 40 feet Belgian and Spanish Linen Tapestries, hand dyed wool to match damaged gobelins and antique rugs. She also replaced a lot of beads on ecclesiastical robes dating back to the thirteenth century. When museums sell swatches or remnants of old textiles, the edge threads are tied off to thwart further thread movement. This is done with extremely fine thread and if done properly, can't be seen with the naked eye. The threads are so fine that the work is executed under a large magnifying glass to speed up the process. She probably did a couple of miles of this fine and exacting needlework.
Joining the Peace Corps seemed to be the fashionable and interesting thing to do, so when she returned from Spain she joined and was assigned to India for two years. While there she pursued Indian Music and Art in detail while she carried out her assigned duties of birth control and nutritional education. In the process she received a liberal education herself about the glass strings attached to U.S. Aid abroad and the inefficient manner in which these programs are administered. She'd get the village ladies interested in taking birth control pills which were provided by the U.S. Government. One time she received 1000 day old chicks in lieu of birth control pills which caused quite and uproar for miles around.
Upon return after the Peace Corp, she worked in New York as a musical arranger and wrote or arranged music for thirty second television commercials. She shared an apartment with six women. An interior decorator/artist, a stock broker, documentary/fashion photographer and sometime catalog model, a travel agent and a fashion journalist. We all shared the rent, a fur stole, a full-length fur coat and a cleaning lady. From each I learned a great deal and have enjoyed their friendship through the years.
I was registered with the Community Concert Assoc. in two categories - piano and violin. They kept me pretty busy with solo concerts. There were also guest soloist appearances with the Chicago, Denver, Dallas, and New York Symphony Orchestras. New York was where the action was, but being located there and with the Community Concert Assoc. wasted a lot of time and money in airfare as they sent you all over the country. The winter ski season was coming up and Colorado has the best ski slopes in the U.S., so I decided to shift back to Denver which placed me in the center of the country. I could go on an early flight and most of the time return on a night flight the same day. I was also a violinist with the regular Denver Symphony during this period.
For a while Zia worked on as a field engineer on jobs in Alaska and Sand Diego after he got home full time, he volunteered my services at Bechtel Engineering where I learned electrical drafting. They had gotten a new computer and were doing a pilot for a company that was designing a drafting program. Most of the engineers could not type, but knew what they wanted on the drawing. I could type, so I was their minion. Little did I know how much I would use that knowledge after my husband started a business. I once went with him to Saudi Arabia on a consulting assignment to do his drafting work. The Saudis don't want anything to do with women. If they could figure out how to have babies without them they'd do it and eliminate the women. Anyway, I got locked in a lst class hotel room for six weeks. (It was like jail). The food was passed through the opening in the door and the drawings were sent down a dumb waiter. If I had a question to clarify with the Lord and Master, I had to call on a special telephone and quickly hang up. He'd call me back since it would not be acceptable for me to be talking to any male except my husband. To put it mildly, I earned my $50,000 while there and ain't been back.
When auditions became available for the San Francisco Light Lyric Opera Company, and the San Francisco Opera Company, I auditioned for both and was hired for role and support choral work. I have continued with this part-time work now for twenty-eight years. It has worked out well for me because it is seasonal and not very demanding unless you have a role. Even then, if you're a quick study and can remember the director's blocking decisions, three major rehearsals a week usually gets the job done especially for the SF Opera Co., as they do only classical opera and there are only so many of those in existence.
This part-time schedule left enough time for me to pursue the more lucrative commercial ditty, ad writing and arranging again. My best known and longest running ad is the little dough boy for the Pillsbury Co. One of the more recent and on-going ones is the middle-aged romance couple for Taster's Choice Coffee. If the actors don't age too much to preclude nice photography, that one can go on for quite a while. Who knows. The dancing raisins also happened at my house. The Pillsbury ad was done with old-fashioned animation art work and still photography. The dancing raisins, however, fully happened on my computer and took me about thirty minutes to do.
My husband being a foreigner was monetarily exploited. He'd decided that a job change was the fastest way to get his salary up to the going rate. His first interview was in Stockton. He took one look at the place and decided that it wasn't for him. However, when they offered him four times what his current salary was, they sparked his interest. His thought was that he could stand most anywhere for a little while if it achieved his goal.
California was growing quickly and Stockton was getting it's share of new growth. Stockton is located half way between Sacramento and San Francisco in the heartland of the agricultural section of California. Stockton is well known from World War II as a rough and tumble, boozing, red-light town. The U.S. Navy had a ship yard here which was the point from which a lot of World War II soldiers departed. There was no housing available and what there was was miserable. They did have a two-bit symphony that was more off than on, a little theatre group, a small junior college, a dying private university, was close to the mountains and had good boating in the delta.
There actually was a lot of old agricultural money in Stockton among the second and third generation Italians, Portuguese and Greeks. They, however, made it here and spent it elsewhere. The new growth population was also making good money, but they had children to rear and wondered why the place couldn't be improved to support their taste. Fritz Grupe, the son of a pioneer Stockton Italian family was just out of college and ready to try his wings. He took over his father's construction business and started building gated, nice track housing in the $40,000 to $300,000 range for the new population and accompanied his building with a publicity blitz about Stockton's affordable housing. He couldn't build fast enough to accommodate demand.
An attorney's wife had appointed herself the City Hostess partly for something to do and partly because she suffered from manic depression. Once a week she hosted a brown bag luncheon discussion group for city newcomers. She'd round up a speaker from the community and served coffee and dessert for a twenty- five cent donation. She got her names from the telephone and gas company New Connections Manager so she was pretty thorough with her invitation coverage. It suggested that a Community Betterment Group should be formed from this group of ladies for the purpose of Symphony Fund Raising, Hospital Auxiliaries, an Arts Commission and to generally coagulate the ragtag women's groups that were in the city. The theme was "Stockton - Someplace Special." The seventy-five present that day became Chairmen and the mainstay of the various groups. Every newcomer that had come to Stockton in the last two years was contacted about the project. The mood of these ladies was constructively change it or bust it. The improvement in the city was spectacular. Mary Jo was on the Arts Committee and Chairman of the Symphony Fund Raising Project. We pumped new life into the Symphony League and within the year had raised ten million dollars - 50% of which were perpetual funds. Companies like Heintz Pickle and Catsup, Hunt Wesson, Herhsey Chocolate, The Grupe Company, Alex Spanos, General Mills and Getty Oil have been loyal and appreciated contributors for many years now.
My husband had started a small business and it was becoming more and more apparent that some legal education would be beneficial to the situation. He had landed a contract in Palo Alto that was going to take about three years to finish so the time was right to go to Stanford Law School. The General Contractor on the site lived in Modesto which is not far from Stockton and commuted daily by air. Zia and I hitched a ride. All I had to pay was tuition and keep myself organized. There was space for an extra desk in the back of the Manager's jobsite trailer, so I put together an old-fashioned decorators screen and hid behind it. The job site was only six blocks from the University, so a bicycle worked for local transportation.
I never really used the degree very much except for our business contract work mainly due to the times and our location. I did interview a few times and was hired by an old firm here in Stockton. However, when I arrived, the old goat heading the firm was quite taken aback that a woman was I. "We really don't hire women here, and I further don't think that women should be in this profession. This profession takes dedication and you women fly in and out as the babies come." I told him that "I was certainly glad that I wasn't his client since he obviously had not done his homework or he'd have known that I was a woman as it was clearly indicated that I was a woman and also a married woman." His attitude was not in the minority at that time out in the provinces. A few years later when the law began to force the hiring of women and minorities, he came hunting for me. By then I was no longer interested in regular work as my husband is a man that likes to go "now" and you'd better be in go mode quickly or the boat leaves. Not that he is impatient or inconsiderate, but because that is the nature of his business. Therefore, I did accept an agreement to do specialized research for his law firm which gave me my required flexibility and he complied with the law as he was required to do. I was the only professional woman on his staff for eighteen years.
One case I did take because nobody else in the firm would and because Beardslee felt obliged to help out his regular client if he could. All of his "dedicated men" didn't want to take the razing that went with taking this case as it would get a lot of publicity and a lot of laughs. It did result in one of the few arguments I've had with my husband The details of the case are pretty well presented by The Oakland Tribune which carried the following story. "Hawaiian Mortuary Sued. - Pig Shipped With Body. A jury is being asked to decide whether a mortuary should be held liable for placing a dead pig in a shipping container with the body of a Jewish woman who was to be buried in Stockton. In her opening statement yesterday, attorney Mary Jo Khan, representing the family of Mimi Goldberg, told the state circuit jury that the act was "horrifying and despicable" and a "defilement of everything that had been important to Mimi and her family." To religious Jews, the pig is the "worst taboo, a symbol of hatred and contempt throughout history, perhaps only rivaled today by the swastika, " Khan said. But an attorney for Nuuanu Mortuary, William MacCortin said that it was an accident, a "bizarre unfortunate series of events" that led to a plastic bag containing the fetal pig being placed in the shipping container. A part-time employee brought the dead pig, which had been dissected by his wife at home for a college project, to the mortuary in a plastic bag for disposal, and it was mistakenly placed in the casket by an embalmer who thought the bag held personal effects. Khan did not disclose how much money the Goldberg family is asking in its lawsuit, but said that she will introduce evidence to support punitive damages. Mimi Goldberg died in April l985 at the age of 89. The contents of the casket were discovered in a Stockton synagogue, where the body had been shipped for an Orthodox Jewish burial."
The amount sought in damages was $5,000,000. The jury awarded $500,000 to the Goldberg family who refused to accept the money after the award. They gave it to me with instructions to do whatever I wanted to with the money since it was connected with a vile pig. The Muslim belief about the pig is the same as the Jews so Zia Khan would not have anything to do with the money either. We finally solved that dilemma with separate tax returns and my investing the money as my personal property. My husband would go on the welfare before he'd accept a cent of that money or the interest earned on it.
The Stockton Chorale and Sweet Adeline Vocal Groups that I belong to wanted to do a bit of traveling, so I wound up handling travel and booking arrangements. The one hundred member Chorale has made four trips to Europe and performed in most of the main cathedrals of Western Europe.
Shortly after arriving in Stockton, the University of the Pacific (a private university) was looking for a trip escort for their summer tour study groups over and above the usual professors. My job was on- the-spot problem solving while the professors attempted to pour some knowledge into the student's head. That was the beginning of lots of trips for me. I started designing and arranging specialty tours to Europe and the Orient after that. Subjects pursued: Couture Houses of Europe, architecture, horse racing, gardening, castles, classical embroidery, lace making, weaving, ecclesiastical robes, alternative medicine, surgery under hypnosis, trains, golf, specialized genealogy, china making, glass blowing, tin smiting, garbage handling, red light districts, sewer treatment plants, Chinese cooking, French and Italian cooking, ready-to-wear clothing factories, shoe and glove makers, building construction and irrigation in Israel, court system management procedures, jails, flower marketing, medieval cities, fabric dying, batik, beer making, wine making, hard liquor and liqueur making, to name a few.
I got myself registered as a bonded courier and have gone a lot of places through that medium. Attorneys and companies who want documents signed and don't want a slip-up, utilize courier services. Jewelers also use couriers since they are less conspicuous than the traditional fellow with the brief case pad-locked around his waist for security. Companies doing business abroad use couriers to deliver bribe money. While it is classified as an illegal practice, it goes on big time all over the world. U.S. account- ants call the expenditure of funds - attorney's fees, research fees, finders fees, etc.
One assignment was to hand carry Itzhak Perlman's repaired Stradivarius violin to him in London and then return the borrowed Stradivarius he was temporarily using to his friend in New Orleans. I jokingly told him that if he ever needed a tax write off, I could help him out. The Stockton Symphony would love to have him appear as a guest soloist but unfortunately was too poor to afford him as they were only a struggling community orchestra. In about three months I got a note that he was willing to appear and would be back in San Francisco the next week and to call so the details could be settled. He has called twice now when he needed that write-off. The Stockton musical community has been most grateful as he is not only a good violinist, but also has a lot of personality.
I was being asked to solve so many problems for people from Pakistan and India that it was becoming a bit onerous. The girls from there would be married to some fellow here and be miserable because they were inept in the art of western housewifery and had just moved in with a stranger. I jokingly told my husband that I should start Housewife School. His family was all present when I made the statement and thought that it was a great idea. They all went home and promoted my school amongst their friends. I began getting requests for help for whatever my fee would be. Therefore, I opened "Housewife School" as a three month course that acquainted young East Indian and Pakistani women of marriageable age with how to become a U.S. Housewife in ten easy lessons. I put together a notebook of information in Urdu, Hindi, and English. Spices, cooking terms, vegetables, etc. were in all three languages. Emergency Numbers like 9ll were explained and recourses open to them if the new groom resorted to battery, etc. Bank Statement reconciliation, money management and grocery coupons were a part of the course. Field trips were arranged to hospitals, grocery stores, appliance stores, public laundries. The basics of cooking and cooking safety were explained. They had to prepare all of the food consumed while they were here. A starter collection of native recipes and a list of Hallal (kosher) butcher shops etc. The science of house cleaning was taught and they had to keep up the apartments they were living in. They were not told about "cleaning ladies" until the last day of school. These gals would arrive with their father who was also shopping for a proper groom with a green card for his daughter. Papa would keep things interesting because he approached the subject of marriage for his daughter just like a job search. Each papa would arrive with $20,000 to $50,000 waded up in his pocket and had a unique set of requests which resulted in a wide variety of investing problems and quite varied groom interviewing. We set up an 800 number so that the brides could follow up if they had a question. I finally sold that business off to a Bay Area Indian Couple who expanded it, bought a building, and made it into a full-time business complete with beauty salon specializing in wedding makeup and video, and a house full of tailors that could put together the wedding finery in a matter of days.
After the Vietnam War, President Jimmy Carter opened our shores to thousands of Vietnamese and Cambodian Refugees who were given "Legal Refugee Status." They, as refugees, received money for eighteen months from the U.S. Government tax free. After that period, they had to be self-supporting. They were scattered all over the United States in an effort to defuse their economic impact on local economies and later the welfare rolls when the eighteen months were up. San Joaquin County started out with 800 of them. The word quickly traveled that Stockton was a lot like the homeland. The weather was nice, and a lot of life is spent outdoors. The mass migration was on. At that time, a P.O. Box would do as a mailing address and was considered to be more secure than a physical address for mailing welfare and refugee checks. Therefore, all of the checks would be forwarded to one P.O. Box and then reenveloped and mailed to the recipients in California by the one designated to stay behind. Stockton in a three month period of time wound up with 40,000 of these folks. They were all having a new baby every nine months.
The school system couldn't handle these students because many of the older kids had never seen the inside of a classroom and were totally illiterate as were most of the adults. Some of the men could speak a little english and the pretty women could speak english as a result of their prostitute days back in the homeland. The old men and women were another story. They were educated but had been ravaged by age and hard times back home. They, however, were the key to the success of the Stockton Program.
San Joaquin County was ignoring this social problem and kicking it to the State of California for solution. Nothing was being done about the mess at any level. The churches were doing their bit, but they had limited resources. The local citizenry was kept in an uproar as a result of the theft of their flowers, pet dogs and cats by these foreigners for dining purposes. These folks couldn't speak english, couldn't get a job because of it and the situation was in limbo with the authorities. Something had to be done. The church ministers had a meeting and decided that they could help to solve the problem by teaching these folks English. They mobilized and called on the public for volunteers for the project and from every organization in town. I represented the Haute Couture Societe (a sewing club). The idea was a noble one, but there was noting in the form of administration being put in place to structure the plan for success. I stated my view and was ask to manage Operation English for one year. My one year commitment grew to five years. I feel that it was time well invested. If we were going to have them on our shores, they'd better function so they could pay their own way and not be on welfare. Those who were involved in the Stockton program have succeeded, entering the college system, becoming homeowners and small business owners.
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
Zia Ur Rehman KhanAPPEARANCE-TRAITS: 6'2"; Medium build; black curly hair; Affable; decisive; excellent people and management skills
MILITARY: None
OCCUPATION: Licensed Professional Electrical Engineer
PUBLIC_SERVICE: Past President of California Society of Professional Engineers - San Joaquin Chapter; Member of Institute of Electrical Engineers; Democratic Central Committee of San Joaquin County; National Society of Professional Engineers
EDUCATION: Meerut College, India Bachelors of Science, Physics, Math. & Statistics; Cambridge University, Masters, Physics; University of Denver, Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering; MIT, Masters, Electrical Engineering; University of California, PHD, Electrical Engineering
HOBBIES: Golf, Chess, Vintage Auto Restoration, Solar Technology
ORGANIZATIONS: Professional Engineering Society, IEEE, American Muslin Alliance
RESIDENCES: Meerut, India; Cambridge and London, England; Grand Junction, Denver, Ft. Collins, Colorado; Salt Lake City, Utah; New York City; Cambridge, Mass.; Oakland, Daly City, San Francisco, Stockton, California; Amsterdam, Holland; Paris, France
SIBLINGS:
Zia's siblings all used Stockton, California as their starting point in the U.S. so for that reason I have put a small summary on them here. Zia Siblings Aslam R. Khan, (Seema Khan) Durdana Khan (Mrs. Osman M. Khan) and their six children have both migrated to the U.S. and have obtained U.S. Citizenship. Brothers Anwar and Afzal remained in Pakistan where they had migrated in 1947 at the time of partition when the area known as Pakistan was cut away from British India and named Pakistan. Aslam's sons Waji graduated from Purdue Univ. and Cornell, Sabi graduated from Cornell twice, Omar graduated from Univ. of Houston, Saima (Sajid Siddique) graduated from Univ. of Pittsburgh, Daneez (Rezwan Ali) graduated from Ca. State Univ. - San Francisco and is doing graduate work at Columbia Univ., and Haroon ("Chico") graduated from Univ. of Ca. at Berkeley. Bro. Anwar (Rukhsana) children Maliha is a Bank Mgr., and Meher is also in Banking in Pakistan. Neither married and both are getting Canadian immigration. Anjum -Commercial Pilot living San Francisco, Ca.. Bro. Afzal (Razia) are still in Pakistan. His children: Akbar (Ayasha) has an air cargo company in Amsterdam, Holland and is a Dutch citizen, Kalsoom (Mrs. Asad Ali) has just finished BS statistics in Dublin, Ireland, married to a surgeon, and Kaukab (Mrs. Hafeez R. Khan) is a Montessori Teacher married to a Banker planning to migrate to Houston, Texas or LA, Ca. where he has family.
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
MARRIAGE:
Moslem Wedding: A Moslem Marriage is a business arrangement in which a contract is drawn up. The following is the contract as recorded by the Islamic Center of San Francisco. "This is to certify that Zia ur Rehman Khan son of Fazl ur Rehman Khan and Mary Jo Ann Lemon daughter of Walter Benjamin Lemon, Jr. having agreed upon a "Meher" consideration of: ON DEMAND by Mary Jo Lemon. A copy of the Holy Koran, $200,000.00 U.S. Dollars, retention of all funds and property held prior to marriage in Colo., Texas, Australia, Louisiana and California. A fully-paid for house (minimum 5,000 sq. ft.), a new full-sized automobile, full support of all minor children including complete college education (any demented - maintenance for life) spousal maintenance in style accustomed to at time of divorce (average last 5 years), 1/2 of property and funds acquired between marriage and divorce and the retention of all of her personally-earned funds earned between marriage and divorce. Any children's marriage contracts will be borne 50-50 by each marriage partner. ZIA ACKNOWLEDGES at the time of marriage the receipt of $200,000.00 U.S. dollars, 500 shares of stock in the Denver U.S. National Bank, a line of credit in the amount of $500,000.00 with the Kingsville National Bank to be used for starting a business, and a new full-sized oldsmobile. Zia agrees that any sons or daughters born of this marriage will inherit equally regardless of the land in which they are residents at the time of the divorce or partner's demise. Zia agrees to have only one wife and is agreeable to the remarriage of the bride in the event of his untimely demise. Agreed upon in the presence of the undersigned witnesses, by the officiating Imam, under the authority of license issued by the Islamic Center of San Francisco, California, on _________ Anno Hijri, corresponding to November 18, 1967, Anno Domini. Bride: Mary Jo Ann Lemon, Bridegroom: Zia ur Rehman Khan. Witnesses: Salah Uddin and Ali A. Hennat. Muhammad Abdullah, Officiating Iman.
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
MARRIAGE:
Zia Ur Rehman Khan and Mary Jo Ann Lemon were married three times.
7 Jun 1965 at San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA
28 Oct 1967 at Rifle, Garfield Co., CO (Lic. Out - Mesa County)
18 Nov 1967 at San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA (Lic. Out - Contra
Costa Co.)Zia's student visa status was in the 18 month segment allowed after graduation that all foreign students are legally allowed under the terms of their U.S. student visa. If they leave the U.S. during this period of time, the student visa is immediately terminated. To re-enter on any visa except a tourist visa or another student visa, one must apply for a green card. The procedure takes several years to obtain the card as you have country preference and number rotation to proceed through. By marrying a U.S. citizen, this red tape is cut. A green card is generally achieved in a matter of months. So that Zia could re-enter, we went to San Francisco and got married. He went directly to the airport and off to India to settle his father's estate.
However, there was one problem that he hadn't mentioned to Mary Jo. Mr. Zia's marriage had been informally arranged by his mother at age 7. Therefore, Zia had to soften up his mama and find a proper groom for his intended bride who was a first cousin. He conducted a groom search and after 15 months found a satisfactory candidate. The bride was a psychologist so when a medical doctor came calling that was tall and had a satisfactory demeanor, Zia pursued him further. I call this "The Bug Under Glass Stage of the Marriage Negotiation." Financial Statements are reviewed, families are medically researched, and candidates call socially for a lot of tea parties while everyone gets better acquainted with the candidates. The prospective groom finally fully passed muster and the formal business arrangements were finalized. The dowry decided, terms of divorce set up etc. This little procedure took another six months to finalize. Then came the wedding which took about two months to complete. During this period there is a party about every night, with traditional dancing and feasts for the poor and ancestors and on and on. Finally the knot is tied and another two months is allowed. During this period if either party wants out of the marriage for whatever reason, an exit can be negotiated without penalty to either party. After that period is quite another story. They didn't want out, so Zia had completed his obligation after 23 months.
There were still details to be taken care of for his father's estate and his mother's future living arrange- ments had to be determined so all that took another few months. My patience was wearing out on this man since he hadn't told me anything about "the problem" and I advised the gentleman of my annoyance with the situation. He got himself on this side of the globe post haste and brought mama with him. I'm an only daughter and my parents had proper wedding ideas so I didn't rain on their wedding parade. Therefore, we had Ma and Pa Lemon's idea of a "proper formal wedding." Moslem rights of inheritance are very intertwined with a proper Moslem marriage so his mother was bent out of shape that her son's children would not be properly recognized under Moslem law. O.K. so we had a "Proper Moslem Ceremony" in San Francisco where the "proper facilities" were available for the occasion. Mosque, priest, etc. Now both sets of parents had been satisfied and we were free to lead our life.
WRONG. The green card application entails an FBI investigation. The green card application carried #1 marriage. However, the FBI investigation picked up #2 and #3. The typist in the Marriage Bureau of the State Archives had made some typographical errors so the FBI was firmly convinced that I was a bigamist and a bride for hire. The marriage was a sham in pursuit of U.S. Dollars. I think everybody I've known since the age of l was interviewed relative to the sincerity of our marriage intentions. I'd hear about these interviews from time to time, but that was it. One day in San Francisco, three FBI Agents and three S.F. Cops came swarming to our apartment. The lead agent was a fat fellow that looked like Mickey Mouse, chewed on a cigar and generally conducted himself like "Boss Hog" on the Dukes of Hazard. He handcuffed me to the chair and read me my Miranda Rights. Zia came home at this point and was escorted into another room, handcuffed and advised of his rights. This herd of bums went through the clothes closets, drawers, rattled the landlord's cage for rent ledgers and my bank account for payoff deposits, confiscated what cash we had and generally had a fine time while they were there.
Mickey Mouse blew smelly cigar smoke, chewed on the tobacco tars and spit them on the rug, grabbed my bouffant hairdo and wanted to know how much Zia had paid me to marry him? Zero. Are you sure? Yes. This went on for two hours. I was getting madder by the minute. I finally told the fat slob that I'd live with Mr. Khan in a tent in some desert in Tim Buck Too if that's what it took and they could keep their green card. However, while I was parked there I'd nail his ass to the wall like they put Jesus on the cross and in my opinion he should be well sprayed with battery acid starting with his eyes and family crown jewels. They finally allowed me my one phone call and that was to the Immigration Attorney that we'd used. By the time he presented himself, they had finally decided that we were for real. They unlocked the handcuffs, made no apologies for their conduct or any attempt to straighten up the mess they'd created in the middle of the floor where they'd dumped everything we owned in their search for documentation.
The green card came very shortly and was delivered by none other than Mickey Mouse along with a notarized letter stating the disposition of their investigation with eight different investigation case numbers and his business card for future reference if we ever had a problem getting a security clearance or bonding for jobs. The next week the California Pakistani Marriage Mill Story broke. Some 5,000 poor U.S. women had married Pakistani and eastern men for a $10,000 fee. They'd live together a little while and quick as the green card arrived file for divorce. Then the whole procedure would start over again. I guess I was lucky that I was neither poor, uneducated, unemployed, had a police record, and was convincing that I intended to live with the man. Five years later while in India, we discovered that they had afterwards had the Embassy in New Delhi check in Meerut if there really was an estate and if Zia Khan really was the executor. They also hunted up the lst cousin in Canada and verified the above story with her.
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
BIOGRAPHY:
Zia ur Rehman Khan was a child in trouble from the day that he was born but he just would not accommodate the grim reaper. He was allergic to milk. They finally determined that he'd tolerate Horlicks Malted Milk mixed with water instead of milk. However, he soon feel victim to dysentery and it was thought that he'd not survive. He did but thought that it was normal to have a twisting feeling in the tummy after eating until he came to this country for a college education. At three he got an eye infection. The consulted doctor prescribed medication. When the eye didn't improve, his parents took him to another doctor who determined that the wrong medication had been prescribed by doctor no. l. It was his thought that the kid was probably blinded by the error in medication as the surface of the eye was burned. The eye was bandaged and the right medication used for two weeks. After uncovering the eye, it was determined that he'd not completely been blinded by the burns, but had permanently lost some sight and the eye was permanently scarred.At fourteen began both a medical horror story and an intelligently aided natural healing success story that causes quite a stir amongst the medical professionals when they review the x-rays of his back which show a beautiful vertebra fusion engineered by nature. Whether the direct cause of his back problem was malnutrition which resulted in insufficient calcium for proper adolescent bone development, bone T.B. or exactly what is unknown since there were many diagnoses. Zia and a bunch of kids were pushing a disabled automobile. Afterwards he developed a severe back pain which x-rays showed to be a crushed disk. He was placed on a flat surface with the legs pulled up so that there was no tension on the back and given pain medication while the doctors decided what to do with him. One doctor would not listen to the parents that the kid was eating well and dictated what Zia was to have daily and in what proportion if the kid would take that much. The diet was calcium and vitamin rich and was accompanied with three tablespoons of fish oil daily. Mega doses of oral vitamins and calcium were also administered. In a month they again x-rayed the back and could see slight calcification lines beginning to form. Abscesses were also forming on each side of the spine that would have to be drained. A plaster cast duplicating the proper spinal curve was developed and changed frequently as the kid grew. Zia had the privilege of laying on the cast for three years. He grew two feet to 6'2" in height and his weight dropped to 90 pounds. His leg muscles shriveled up. He graduated from high school with the aid of tutors and his back developed a beautiful fusion of two vertebra just above the waist line to the delight of the doctors. It only happened because childhood bone closure had not been completed when the problem happened, he was given an excess of calcium which needed a place to go, and he was born into a family that could handle the financial burden and the new drug streptomycin was available to control infection. As an adult he painfully started to play golf and can now do anything he wants to and is pain free.
The abscess pockets were drained daily by a doctor who came to the house. However, in the end, the outer skin area would not heal. The medical doctors' opinion was that they never would so just cover up the surface so that it didn't become infected. An herbalist was consulted who prescribed quite a collection of herbs to be administered orally. After a month of taking the herbs, the herbalist showed up with a heavy salve of herbs much to the annoyance of the MD. The MD, however, had to agree that the oral herbs had maybe improved the three-inch wounds as they appeared better. After six months, the back surface sores were healed and the MD and the herbalist set up practice.
A masseuse had been showing up 3 times a day to massage the muscles so that they didn't completely atrophy while he was laying in the cast. At least the massages kept crystals from forming in the muscles even though they did shrink up seriously. When the fusion was formed properly, the masseuse started stretching the legs out straight and after three months, got them to where he might be able to stand up. For a year Zia could stand or lay, but did not sit so as not to put stress on the new fusion. He went to some college classes at Meerut College. When he could no longer stand, he went home and the balance of the professors conducted his class at home for a fee. It got to where there were as many students in Zia's room at home as there were at the college classroom. He finally got into sitting and was quite careful about what and how he did. He achieved a college degree at Meerut College in Economics and Statistics and life was about normal again after five years. A doctor in Denver, Colo., put him through strengthening exercises and regularly playing golf finally made him normal as an adult.
He spent all of his illness at home. His mother told me that they had three qualified nurses for round- the-clock care, three servants - l for cleaning his room, l to run any errands his nurse might need, and one to cover absences of the other two. She built a special bathroom and made them all bath before she'd turn them into his room. She personally boiled in the three foot iron wash pot their clothing and handed it out to them. A doctor came daily to oversee the case, a second doctor came daily to drain and dress the abscesses and six tutors flew in and out daily. Six strong men were hired as porters for carrying Zia's stretcher. A servant was hired for running errands to the library for books, a masseuse came three times a day for muscle therapy. A driver was hired for driving his grandfather about to get what he needed to keep the kid entertained. All told she had a staff of 22 just for him and about the same for running the rest of the house and the other four children.
Her father-in-law, who was a retired criminal lawyer, was in charge of keeping Zia's academic endeavors on track. Regular school was held from 7 am until l pm which coincided with Zia's peers. Mr. Khan arranged for rickshaws to fetch a group of ten kids daily from school to the Khan home where they'd all have lunch with Zia on the veranda and then discuss and debate a different subject every day. Religion (Islam) and then comparative religion, world geography, poetry and art. Outside lecturers were engaged. The other kids left 5:30 to 6:00 pm just in time for evening prayers.
Mr. Khan got the cast supported by a board and had poles extended so that four matched height men could safely move the stretcher around to the hospital for x-rays and out to the veranda for a change of scene. Pegs were installed under the arms so there was no possibility of Zia sliding down when the top was elevated a bit. A good tight blanket wrapped around the body helped to minimize any downward slide when his head was elevated about l8 inches. Mr. Khan rigged up a series of wide mirrors so that Zia could observe the horse races going on at the race track at the bottom of the hill while the other kids stood at the edge of the balcony. He arranged for the horse exercise and walking trail to come to the edge of the Khan landscaped grounds so that the kids could be educated into the markings of good race horses, but he never allowed betting. All of the jockeys were served tea and I'm sure that Mr. Khan handed out rupees as they left. Classical musical groups, gypsy dancers, snake charmers and belly dancers all performed on the Khan lawn and veranda. When the circus came to town, some of it came to perform on the Khan lawn. Zia Khan didn't have an opportunity for depression because he had a full life going on around him in which he was actively participating even though he was laying in a cast 24 hours a day.
Despite a difficult beginning, Zia did get on with a normal and productive life. After finishing at Meerut College in India, Zia went to Cambridge in England to school. His father wanted him to stay in Europe for graduate work, but he wanted to come to the U.S. His father advised him that he was in a position to pay "X" dollars a year which was enough for the tuition. Zia had a variety of part-time jobs. Accounting assistant with a power company and automobile dealership, hospital orderly, math tutor, limousine driver and taxi driver.
He was pretty thrifty with his money, but when Yellow Cab decided to raise money for the payment of their back income tax bill by franchising a few of their Taxi Cab Permits to independent drivers, Zia threw caution to the wind. A New York City Banker advanced him $20,000.00 and held the twenty permits until repayment had been effected. His Uncle, Gilbert A. Kay, had been living in New York City for a long time and was acquainted with where and how to get things done there. He arranged with a small, family-owned garage for the mechanical repair on this fleet. Parking is very expensive in the inner city anywhere, so Zia decided to keep these taxi cabs busy on a 24 hour basis and would then not require any parking facilities. There were a lot of students that needed part-time work so he rented out the cab on four hour shifts and used the street as his parking lot by double parking long enough to trade drivers. Table four at the Columbia University Library became his office. Zia was paid a set fee for the use of the equipment and anything above that the driver kept. There was some type of coded locking device on the equipment that precluded the engine starting without the proper key and code so theft and deceit were both thwarted. When he was ready to leave New York City, he leased out on long-term leases the permits. Seventeen of those original leases are still in place and they keep the units going round the clock. He's had those permits so long now that I guess they will best be used as retirement income.
Another of his early college money makers was the purchasing and leasing of overhead signboard locations. He'd find a spot that had good visual access, sign a lease with the owner of the building or lot, put up the board structure and then lease the blank space out. Sometimes he'd buy only a few feet of land in some parking lot. During school breaks he'd go all over the country looking for these type spots. By the time he got married he had 600 sign board locations. These were easy to administer because he used metal in structuring and whoever leased the spot had to repaint the whole surface to spec. Occasionally you'd have to sand blast the paint down to metal again, but most of the time the lease was a long-term lease so there wasn't a lot of paint build-up that would eventually start peeling. It was about like the paint on a car. The biggest pain with sign locations is keeping the property tax bills straight. Again we might just as well keep them now until retirement.
Zia started Power-X, a small business in Stockton that specialized in custom built engine-generator sets. These small units provided back-up power when the conventional power supply failed. Every building built after l950 in the State of California requires a generator set to power their elevators, all hospitals, and many banks that have large computer operations require back-up power. In the Middle East where there is no conventional power supply system in place, they are used to power whole cities and Sheikdoms. These units were larger and many times installed in tandem to elevate the KW total output from the power station. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Turkey were primary markets abroad. Domestically covered California and Nevada.
When Zia started going to the Middle East, the only equipment these clients wanted was U.S. made Caterpillar. However, when the U.S. Government put into place a temporary trade embargo about 1980 they inflicted more damage to their own citizenry than they did their targets. Granted the U.S. Government showed the world that they could flex their business muscle. However, they nearly bankrupted the Caterpillar large engine division and did bankrupt the Cummins large engine division. Both of these companies had several million dollar contracts ready for shipment. The equipment wasn't on board an ocean going vessel the day the embargo fell out of the sky and went into effect so they were unable to collect on the Irrevocable Letter of Credit put up by the client. U.S. technical exports permanently suffered because the embargo forced the reeducation of a very dedicated, single minded Middle Eastern client who never again would rely on U.S. technology alone. It gave the Japanese exports quite a boost because all of the voids that the U.S. embargo created were happily filled by the Japanese. The Japanese Government offered their homeland companies all kinds of support in the form of 90 day financing free of interest, no domestic taxes on export contracts over five million dollars, and reduced freight costs if they used the Japanese shipping companies. With that kind of support how can you fail.
This two paragraph ad which appeared in a Department of Commerce publication further defines Zia's endeavors. "Engineering, Financing and Marketing of various type of Electrical Power Generating Systems. Feasibility Study for a cogeneration system consisting of a 34 Megawatt Power Plant and an eleven million gallon per day Desalination Plant. Feasibility Study and Preliminary Design for various well-head power generating projects. Engineering and design of cogeneration plants using methane (digester gas) gas recovered from municipal sewer treatment plant digesters. Domestic and international marketing of Power Generating and Desalination Plants.
Technical and economic analysis of desalination technologies with emphasis on the usage of low temperature waste heat captured from fossil fueled power plants, oil refineries and other industrial units. In depth study of desalination processes including: Multiple Effect (MV), Multistage Flash (MSF), Mechanical Vapor Compression (MVC), Thermo-compression (TC), and Reverse Osmosis (RO). Development of Mini-refinery, Combustion Turbine, Diesel Engine and Desalination compound cycle technology. Detailed study and investigation of State-of-the-art emerging desalination technologies. Technology selection based on efficiency, operation/maintenance and economic advantage with special emphasis given to the usage of low-temperature heat recovered from the industrial processes.
The 1995 restructuring of the National Power Grids and the Clean Air and Ecology Acts passed by the Clinton Administration have necessitated the closing of many large electric power plants in the United States. These plants cost millions of dollars to build and have a projected fifty year operational life span. Under these ax closure acts, there were many plants that had only been in operation a few years. There were at least twenty that were two years old and were standby plants so had only a few months of actual running time on their meters. A million dollars got the plant and the disassembly accomplished and included freight to the port. Many third World countries could use this junked equipment and be happy to have it. Zia has been busy placing these plants in new settings in Bangladesh, India, Mexico and South America. Columbia just recently privatized their power plants under a U.S. Aid program in an effort to provide their farmer population in the hills with something besides cocaine for cash income. It will be interesting to see if it stems cocaine exports or not.
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
18048. Walter Benjamin Lemon
Walter Benjamin Lemon, IIIAKA: Bennie; Ben as an adult
APPEARANCE-TRAITS: 6'2"; 150 lbs.; dark brown hair and eyes; high energy, good manager
EDUCATION: Undergraduate - Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO; Accounting Degree - Northwestern State College of Louisiana, Natchitoches, LA; Business Administration - Northwestern State College of Louisiana, Natchitoches, LA
MILITARY: ROTC
ORGANIZATIONS: Lyons Club; Air Force Ground Observer Corp.
HOBBIES: Woodworking; 4-H programs with children; Trumpet
RESIDENCES: Fort Collins, CO; Denver, CO; Arvada, CO; Palisade, CO; Natchitoches, LA; Minden, LA
RESIDENCES: As of Jun 1996, Orchard Mesa, Palisade, Mesa Co., CO
MARRIAGE: Lemon- Lawson Wedding Is Told.
Rifle, [CO] -- Miss Nancy Ruth Lawson and Walter Benjamin Lemon III exchanged marriage vows in a double-ring ceremony at the First Christian Church in Rifle, Sunday afternoon, December 27. The new Mrs. Lemon is the daughter of Mr. and Mr. W. D. Lawson, of Rifle. She is a graduate of Rifle High School, and attended Mesa College for two years. The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter B. Lemon, Jr., also of Rifle. He graduated from Rifle High School, attended Colorado State University at Fort Collins, and is presently enrolled in Northwestern State College of Louisiana in Natchitoches, La. Both of the newlyweds plan to continue their schooling in the Louisiana College. Mrs. O. B. Duckworth at the organ played wedding music and accompanied Byron M. Leach of Sanford, Florida, uncle of the groom, who sang. The bride chose a floor-length gown with a Chantilly lace bodice and a full skirt of bombazine with a square-cornered watteau train edged in lace. Her veil of white silk net was loaned by her aunt, Mrs. M.J. Mullenax, and was held by a tiara trimmed with pearls and sequins. She carried white orchids and lilies of the valley arranged around a handkerchief carried by her mother and three of her aunts at their weddings. Maid of honor, Miss Mary Jo Lemon of Denver, sister of the groom, wore a floor-length dress of red chiffon over taffeta. A headdress of red net and ribbon completed her costume. She carried an old-fashioned bouquet of white carnations and green ribbon. Bridesmaids, Miss Rebecca Dawson and Miss Carol Davis of New Castle, wore dresses of green chiffon over taffeta fashioned like that of the maid of honor. Their head dresses were fashioned of green net and ribbon, and carried old-fashioned bouquets of white carnations and red ribbon. Candlelighters were Elizabeth Mullenax of Denver, and Marla Dawson of New Castle. James Robert Lemon, brother of the groom, was best man and Steven and Kenneth Leach of Sanford, Florida, were ringbearers. Ushers were David Lawson, brother of the bride, Paul Davis of New Castle, and Arthur Stiles of Natchitoches, La. A reception was held in the church dining room.
(Source: Rifle Telegram, Rifle, Colorado - Jan. 7, 1965)
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
BIOGRAPHY:
"Bennie" Lemon was Master Councilor of the Order of DeMolay, Rifle Chapter and President of the Future Farmers of America while at Rifle Union High School, Rifle, Colorado. He played trumpet in the school band and was a popular student as he was lively, liked to dance and was an affable natured man.Bennie held a part-time job throughout most of his college years. Mostly he was a fry cook in short order joints where one full meal a day was thrown in as part of the salary package. Pancakes, hamburgers and chili were his specialty. He still does a lot of the cooking at home since Nancy doesn't like to cook.
After college graduation, the thrust of his early career was personnel, occupational safety and contract negotiations. Remmington Rand was an ammunition company with a branch factory in Minden, Louisiana. Having been reared on a farm, mechanical safety and safety procedures in general were a high priority with him. The company was running three full shifts to accommodate the ammunition demand of the Vietnam War, and didn't see employee work place safety as a priority. Bennie had found other employment, but the last week of his tenure with them was his worst nightmare come true. He was the company messenger to the family when a fatal explosion occurred that could have been avoided.
He went through K-Mart's Senior Management In-Store Training which would have eventually led to a Store Manager Position and was assigned as Assistant Manager of a store in Denver. However, K-Mart shortly at the Corporate Level had a change in policy that all top management would be moved quite frequently (at least once a year). His children were becoming school aged and he didn't want to move them that frequently so he changed jobs.
Affirmative Action was legislated and was a demanding issue with large companies. They had to comply and do so quickly. Managers for the purpose of overseeing their transition and compliance with the new law were being hired. He spent some five years with Abex and Sparton implementing these programs.
The job was done and he was bored so he tried accounting for a while with a large firm in Denver. He achieved a CPA qualification. College accounting classes and the real application of that knowledge are two different things. He didn't like the long hours, being cooped up and having to stay in one spot for long periods of time since he is a high-strung type with lots of nervous energy. His wife was missing mama so they moved to Grand Junction. Mesa College was growing rapidly and was established by the state as a four-year school instead of a large Jr. College. He spent a couple of years at the college reorganizing the Personnel Office to comply with Civil Service Requirements, and developed OSHA and COSH compliance programs.
He accepted interim employment with the Mesa County School District Maintenance Department and found that they had a good retirement package and working hours that would allow him to pursue other things. He got a General Contractors License and opened Lemon Construction, a small construction company that specializes in small home remodeling jobs. He is a State of Colorado Licensed Asbestos Inspector and his company is a certified Asbestos Removal Company. He holds a patent on an arms-length removal procedure that minimizes workers' exposure while removing asbestos from buildings. All forms of asbestos are now classified as carcinogen and are being removed from every building built between 1940 and 1985. There is plenty of work available. His children are about on their own. He plans to buy out his Public Employees Retirement Package now and proceed to other things until retirement, the details of which I've not been given. He spends a lot of time with the Lyons Club and has been the City-wide Treasurer for several years.
The Lemon family home was two story. There was no such thing as central heat and air in 1940. When you built a house, you figured out the local wind patterns and placed your house so that you got the wind benefit in the summer at which time you simply opened the windows for ventilation. Walter had put screens on the windows and had a workman making a better fit on one. At age two when Bennie didn't want to do what Mama wanted, he just went in the other direction at top speed. On one of these occasions he did just that and fell out the second story window where the workman had the screen off for repair. There was a big silver lace vine beneath the window. The workman came back around the house just in time to see the kid fall head first out the window, hit the spongy vine entanglement, slide down the vine like a slide and land in the rocky driveway where he was rendered unconscious. The Dr. was called and the kid was left as is until the Dr. arrived in about twenty minutes. Upon examination it appeared that he was OK except for being unconscious. In about two hours he came around and apparently had no ill effects.
Another occasion put him in the Medical Guinness Book of Records. The lord truly does take care of babes and fools. Bennie at about age four got into a kid argument with MJ at the Lemon Grandparents' home over water coloring. After the battle, the water coloring equipment was put up for the day. Bennie's "scratches" were disinfected and he was assumed to be none the worse for wear except for his scratch which was located close to the eye. The "scratch" healed and time passed. Bennie was about thirty when he began to require glasses. An irritating bump began to appear where the support knobs on the glasses rested on the nose. The bump got worse and was assumed to be a cyst or boil of some type. The doctor lanced it and sent him home. The spot healed and on went the glasses only to have the problem reappear several times. The last time the doctor used a different instrument to lance the spot and thought he felt something strange and probed the wound a bit. What he pulled out was an inch and a half length of wood. Bennie was sure that his eyeball was coming out also. Watercolor brushes back then had wooden handles and the tip of one of these in the fury of argument had gotten broken off and was fortunately lodged in the right spot to preserve sight. No ill effects have been apparent. The doctor entered his find in the Medical Guinness Book of Records. The wood had been there for 26 years.
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
Nancy Ruth LawsonAKA: Sissy
APPEARANCE-TRAITS: 5'7"; medium brown naturally curly hair; blue eyes; medium build
EDUCATION: Bachelor of Science - Northwestern State College, Natachitoches, LA; Master of Arts - University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO
HOBBIES: Sewing; Makes stuffed animals and novelty type crafts
PUBLIC_SERVICE: Volunteer Mesa Co., CO Fair Board; 4-H with children
OCCUPATION: Teacher - Mentally Handicapped
1985-1991 Substitute Teacher - Mesa County Dist. 51
1982-1990 Secretary Mesa County Fair Board, Grand Junction, Colorado
1990-1993 Intermountain Veterans Memorial Park. (appointed by Board of
Supervisors - Volunteer )
1977-1993 Adult Leader 4H Clubs, Cub and Girl Scouts
1989 Youth Advocate - Tri-County Board
1972-1993 Usual Parent activities. 4H Booster Club, Scouts etc. Palisade,
Colo.
1981-1985 Review Committee for Counseling Dept. Mesa Co. Valley School
Dist. 51, Grand Jct., Colo.
1993-1996 Choice Hotel Reservations Clerk at their National Telephone Center.
Would stop if she could get a full-time teaching position.
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
18049. James Robert Lemon
James Robert LemonAKA: Jim
RESIDENCES: Durango, CO
RESIDENCES: Jun 1996, Holmes Mesa, Rifle, Garfield Co., COAPPEARANCE-TRAITS: 6'; dark brown hair and eyes; stocky build
OCCUPATION: cattle rancher; water commissioner
EDUCATION: Undergraduate - Western State College, Gunnison, CO
Biological Science Degree - Ft. Lewis College, Durango, CO
Reisch Amer. School of Auctioneering, Mason City, IAHOBBIES: Church choir; barrel racing
PUBLIC_SERVICE: Church Board of Deacons
ORGANIZATIONS: Cattlemens Association
CHURCH_AFFILIATION: Baptist Church
BIOGRAPHY:
The winter of l946-l947 was an unusually heavy snow year. Many cattle were lost simply because they got snowed under or couldn't navigate to the feed point. The state supplied helicopters to make hay drops, but wouldn't pick up sick kids. Schools were out for long periods of time. The snow in the low country was still around by mid June it was so deep. You could just barely see the yellow top of the 48 passenger school bus over the road banks. That is about 22 feet.In March 1947 during one of these blizzard periods, James Robert got the flu bug. He needed medical attention, but it took a week using heavy earth moving equipment to get the road dug out enough for one lane traffic. During this period, Jim's cold was fast becoming a severe ear infection. The ear nose and throat specialist consulted decided that there was only one option that would save the kid. That was to remove the mastoid bone behind the ear for access to the ear mechanism and provide proper drainage of the entire ear. The hearing would be lost in the process. Today, 1996, they give antibiotics which usually clears up the situation. Penicillin had just come onto the market, but was still classified as an experimental drug by the FDA. It was approved for public use the day Jim had this surgery. Had it not been available for him, he probably would have died.
New Years is an evening of noise and noise maker toys in this country. There was one noise maker which was quite popular with the kids. It was a 14 inch rolled up tube of colored paper on which there was a wooden whistle attached at the end of the tube. Blow on the whistle and the gaily colored paper unrolled and the whistle made racket. Jim drew air backwards on the thing and dislodged the whistle mechanism which, of course, went down his gullet. They could not get the whistle dislodged, but by using the Heimlech Maneuver did get it to move enough to allow a little passage of air which was apparent by the whistling sound as he breathed. It was decided to take him to Grand Junction to the hospital. About five miles into the trip the whistling stopped and the kid was literally going limp and getting no oxygen. The good lord took a turn at stirring the pot.
The road out from Holmes Mesa to Interstate 70 is a bit of a serpent's trail. It had not had any sand spread out for traction yet and was slick as glass. Walter went around a turn, the car skidded and landed off the road in a rock pile with a big thud. The force of the impact caused Jim to gasp and momentarily relax just enough to dislodge the whistle and allow it to slide further down the tube past the lung air intake area.
Walter had had to get the car key from his mother. Ben and Mary knew how slick those roads could get, so they hitched up the trusty old haysled and a double team of horses and followed along behind just in case some such mishaps occurred. They'd been quick about their getaway so were not far behind. Chains were hooked to and around the old Buick and the tin lissy was pulled off the high center rock pile and back onto the road. The car was still functioning so on they went. They had been delayed only about ten minutes. The doctor was at the Grand Valley Bridge. Dean Mahaffey had a lantern already lighted and there for light. When Dr. Moore found the kid getting air and determined that his mechanical equipment wasn't going to be necessary, all transferred to the Mahaffey car and made the 45 minute trip to Grand Junction. X-rays at the hospital indicated that the whistle was in the tummy by now so a laxative was administered and the wait began. The diminished oxygen supply apparently wasn't long enough in duration to do any brain damage.
Despite his hearing disability, Jim was a good student. In the fourth grade he had a teacher of marginal talent and when he was assigned to the same quality teacher in the fifth grade a change was in order. Roberta's Mother, Grace Morgan, was also a teacher. She retired from the Louisiana Public School System and promptly went to Texas and taught for another five years retiring at age 71. Jim went to Deweyville, Texas, and spent the fifth grade there. By the time he got back to Colorado he was a good strong student again and was spared a lot of academic pain thanks to his Grandmother, the Deweyville School System and his great aunt, Mrs. Ferguson who was his sixth grade teacher upon return to Colorado. The first day of school he raised his hand and inquired what he should call her. "Mrs. Ferguson" young man. Nobody knew until the end of school that she was his great aunt. She said she pushed that young man "harder than anybody had before or since and he always rose to the "A" standard.
James Robert Lemon of Rifle/Grand Valley/Parachute should not be confused with James Robert Lemon of Vernal/Moab, Utah. James Robert of Moab married a Carma Lovell Smith of Moab, Feb. 1961, in Grand Junction, Colo. He is a few years older than our James Robert. (Vernal and Moab are just over the Colorado border and people from that area of Utah usually conduct much of their business in Grand Junction, Colo. since it is the biggest place in the area.)
Utah James wrote bad checks all over Western Colorado for which he did a little prison time, and created quite a problem for our James Robert. Our James finally gave up having a checking account in his name because he was always having to go to court to prove to Utah James's bill collectors that they'd attached the wrong man's account. He woke up one morning to tow trucks hauling away a new pickup, a flat bed truck and two nearly new automobiles from his yard. The writ of attachment was for a $38,000 debt that Utah James had defaulted on. Our Jim's conveyances were clear titled. The lawyer collecting on Utah James's debt had not done his homework and just honed in for judgment on "James Robert Lemon" since these type of folks changes addresses frequently. Our Jim sued them and collected $20,000.00 in damages from the lawyer for his negligent behavior.
As far as I can determine, there is no family relationship between the two Lemon families.
Some Lemon property is adjacent to the Colorado River in the Rulison area. Since 1931 a Lemon has been paying property taxes on the land as theirs. The property has been surveyed twice and property lines established as correct. About ten years ago, Jim decided to harvest the abundance of gravel that is on one of the islands (called so only because at certain periods of the year the Colorado River backs up into the low lying areas of the lower part of the property). When he applied for permits etc., he really opened a can of worms.
There was one eagle that had nested for years on that island. There were other folks farther down the River that had the same situation so they joined in and a legal suit was filed against the U.S. Government. The Government determined that the Lemon's did not own the land after all and that they had made an error in 1870 when they had originally given title to the wetlands to Mr. Graves who sold it to Mr. Lemon. The Lemons would have to prove their ownership. . The Government was not counting on the record keeping of either Mr. Graves or Mr. Lemon, Sr. Graves had saved the public offering as published in the Denver Post and Grand Junction Sentinel. He had saved all of his correspondence relative to the purchase and had all of the stamped tax receipts from the Garfield County Tax Office. When Lemon bought the property, he handed it over to Lemon, Sr. and he continued the practice.
The ownership was determined to be Lemon by the Supreme Court last year partially on the strength of that original documentation. The Eagle can continue to nest there and the gravel on the other end of the island can be used for a comfortable income for several years to come.
Jim has quite a temper. He was riding a half-broken horse. He got cocky with the horse when it didn't obey his command immediately and abused the horse. The horse broke into a fast gallop when he got kicked in the ribs and again didn't obey when the reins were pulled. The barbed wire fence came up and the horse ran into it at full speed. The fence was new and tight so it acted as a spring board for the horse. However, Jim went right on over the fence and landed in a rock pile. His full face hit the horse's head which was coming up as he was going over its head. His entire face was shattered and his jaws broken. They x-rayed him and wired him back together to heal. They used plastic surgery techniques and loosened the flesh from the bones through the mouth. To look at him he has no scars, but I believe his back does still bother him. Fortunately, with age his hot temper has mellowed.
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
Judy Ann HensonAPPEARANCE-TRAITS: 5'3"; ash blond hair; extremely thin; extremely exacting; bright
EDUCATION: Biological Science degree
OCCUPATION: High school math and science teacher
MARRIAGE:
Lemon-Henson Engagement Told -- Mr. and Mrs. Albert G. Henson of Santa Fe, New Mexico, have announced the engagement of their daughter, Miss Judy Ann Henson to James Robert Lemon. Mr. Lemon is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter B. Lemon of Grand Valley. Miss Henson graduated from Novato High School in Novato, California. Mr. Lemon is a 1963 graduate of Rifle Union High School in Rifle. Both are presently attending Fort Lewis College in Durango. They are planning an August wedding which will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
(Source: Rifle Telegram, Rifle, Colo. Jan. 29, 1970)
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
MARRIAGE:
Lemon-Henson - Grand Valley - Miss Judy Ann Henson and James Robert Lemon exchanged wedding promises in a double-ring ceremony at Durango. The couple will be at home on a ranch near Grand Valley, following a wedding trip to Mexico. Marriage rites were at 5 p.m. April 25 in Christ The King Lutheran Church with the Rev. Don Simonton of Vail officiating. The bride was given in marriage by her father. She is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Albert G. Henson of Santa Fe, N.M. The grooms' parents are Mr. and Mrs. Walter B. Lemon, Jr. of Grand Valley. The new Mrs. Lemon is a graduate of Novato High School, Novato, California. She attended Eastern Oregon College, LaGrande, Ore., and now is attending Fort Lewis College, Durango. Lemon was graduated from Rifle Union High School, attended Western State College in Gunnison and now attends Fort Lewis College. Both are biological science majors. Satin peau de sois formed the bride's floor-length A-line gown, styled with long sleeves, a scooped neckline and empire waistline. Pearled alencon lace medallions were scattered over the gown. A watteau train was attached. Her three-tier chapel veil of illusion was held by a flower and petal headpiece trimmed with pearls. She carried white and blue roses. Mrs. Gary L. Powell of Pagosa Springs served as her sister's matron of honor. Another sister, Miss Laurie Ann Henson of Santa Fe, N.M., and Mrs. Zia R. Khan of Stockton, Ca., sister of the groom, served as bridesmaids. All had identical gowns of peacock blue chiffon over taffeta and carried daisies. Walter B. Lemon III of Denver was his brother's best man, with Zia R. Khan and Samuel B. Potter of Rifle as ushers. The church was decorated with baskets of gladioli and daisies at the altar and tiers of blue candles. A reception in the Silver Spur followed the ceremony. Assisting were Mrs. Bert J. Harrison, Mrs. Marianne Windsor, and Mrs. Edwin R. Henson, grandmother of the bride.
(Source: Rifle Telegram, Rifle, Colo. May 7, 1970)
("John Lincoln Conger," 1 Oct 1996, by Mary Jo Khan)
13987. George Ringland Conger
George Ringland CongerHOBBIES: Flying (pilot) and golf
RESIDENCES: 6501 Harding Road, Apt. K-50; Nashville, TN 37205
BIOGRAPHY: On 6 Feb 1969 the "Nashville Banner" ran a story about the appointment of George Ringland Conger as Administrative Vice-President of George Peabody College for Teachers.
"Dr. Conger will be responsible for developing and maintaining an efficient system of personnel administration, involving all employees of the college. He will also serve as a member of the budget committee, ultimately assuming primary responsibility for the preparation and administration of the budget. In addition, he will be on the administrative cabinet, which meets bi-weekly to review and consider policy matters.
From November 1967, until recently, Dr. Conger directed the activities of a legislatively created group charged with drafting a master plan for Florida higher education through 1980. Previously he was administrative assistant (1964-66_ and a member of the marketing faculty (1963-64) at Miami-Dade Junior College in Florida.
Dr. Conger, 33, holds the B.B.A. in management from the University of Miami, in Florida, the M.B.A. in marketing from the same institution, and the Ed.D. in higher education from Florida State University, having received the doctorate last August."
(Source: The Conger Family of America, Vol. I, p. 201 - Maxine Crowell Leonard)
Barbara Ann EvansEDUCATION: Graduate of Mississippit College, Clinton, MS
OCCUPATION: Elementary teacher
HOBBIES: Sewing and golf
13988. Judith Elizabeth Conger
Judith Elizabeth CongerOCCUPATION: Purchasing assistant
HOBBIES: Reading and traveling
Richard Edward IntervalMILITARY: Served in the U.S. Army
OCCUPATION: Sales manager
13989. David Omar Conger
David Omar Conger, IIIMILITARY: Served in the Army
HOBBIES: Golf
OCCUPATION: Systems engineer
Janet Darlene McMullenHOBBIES: Count cross stitching
RESEARCHER: Genealogy is a hobby.
13991. Kenneth Dean Larrick
Kenneth Dean LarrickSPOUSE: Kenneth Dean Larrick was probably the 2nd spouse of Evelyn Duval Chapman.
Evelyn DuvalAKA: Evelyn Duval Chapman, in CFA II, p. 358
QUESTION: What was the maiden name of this person?
CHILDREN: Christian Blake Chapman, b. 13 Jun 1968; Sarah Lynn Chapman, b. 20 Apr 1971.
13999. William A. Conger
William A. CongerSS Death Index: William Conger; b. 3 Dec 1915; issued: PA; d. 12 May 1995;
last place of residence: Phoenix, AZ; zipcode: 85008; SSN: 178-09-0122RESIDENCES: 1038 N 48th; Phoenix, AZ 85008