Kiwanis Spring Conference circa 1940s-1950s
Kiwanis Club members from the late 1940s or early 1950s, as identified by Courier-Post readers, front row, from left, Fred Klieber, Lloyd Estes, unknown, John Q. Morris. Back row, Francis Burns, Earl Davis, Harold Schnitzlein, unidentified, and Don Wagner. William B. Spaun photo collection
In 2010 I asked Hannibal Courier-Post readers to help me identify the men in this photo. I compiled the responses into the following story.
Readers share memories, help to identify Kiwanis members
Hannibal Courier-Post (MO) - Thursday, December 30, 2010
Author: MARY LOU MONTGOMERY, Hannibal Courier-Post
This photo was among the images in a box of negatives recently discovered tucked away in my brother's basement. On Thanksgiving Day, upon the urging of her siblings, Sarah Fletcher crawled under Becker's train table to see what was stored under there. Readers have answered my request to help us identify these photos take by our father, Bill Spaun, in the late 1940s and early 1950s. • Hilda Wilson called to say that the man on the back row, far left, is Dr. Francis R. Burns, who came to Hannibal on Jan. 1, 1948, and who would go on to deliver all five of her sons. Mrs. Wilson's late husband, Gentry, is a distant cousin of mine, and she said she has some of my articles in her family history books. She is now living at Monroe City Manor. • Mike Sohn recognized Fred Klieber, elementary school principal, as the man on the far left on the front row. Next to him is LloydEstes , also with the school district. • Bob Yount also recognized Lloyd Estes . • Ruth Wagner knew several in the group, including her husband, Don Wagner, who is back row, far right.Third from the left, back row, is Harold Schnitzlein, she said. Front row, far right, is J.Q. Morris. Don Wagner and Ruth Sauer met when they attended Chillicothe Business College together. They were married in 1943, and Don went into business with Ruth's brother, Martin, and Percy Haydon to operate Haydon's Hardware in the 200 block of North Main Street. • Jack Kretzer from Yuma, Ariz., said his father used to be a member of the Hannibal Kiwanis Club. Jack identified the man standing second to the left on the back row as Earl Davis, who sold insurance. "He sold me a life insurance policy 50 years ago. I'm still paying on that policy." Sharon Yohn identified Dr. Burns, as did George Gundling, who is 89 years old. Gundling also remembers "Earl Davis, insurance man, who lived on the left going up, half way up Union Street. He married a Dexhiemer girl - David Dexheimer's sister." After checking with David Dexheimer's nephew, George was able to confirm that Earl Davis sold Equitable Insurance, and had an office in the 600 or 700 block of Broadway. John Q. Morris has been identified as the man seated front row, far left. George Gundling told a story about Morris. "He was a paper hanger who lived on Fulton Avenue on the South Side. My wife and I tried to wallpaper a ceiling in a room we remodeled for our young son, and it never did come out right, so we called him and he did the rest of the house." George Gundling married Katherine Penfield in 1945, right after he got out of the service. Their "young son" will be 62 on Dec. 27. "All the arguments" over the wallpaper, "we decided that was enough for us. That was the last time we tried to wallpaper." • Paula Clayton recognized George Schnitzlein on the back row. "He lived in a two-story house on St. Mary's Avenue with a wrap-around porch," and had a daughter, Betty, and a son. • Raymond Witt remembers John Q. Morris as a nice, nice, nice man. "I didn't have any money. He got me a summer membership to the YMCA. I could swim all summer and use the facilities."
