“We need to get together more often and not at a
funeral.” How many times have you and a cousin said that? Funerals are much
like a family reunion. You can learn a lot about a family just by looking at
who showed up. Using my grandparents’ guest books and sympathy cards, I’ll be
exploring “Who came to the funeral?”
is for Jack E. Van Hyning. Jack and his wife Maxine
attended the funerals of both my maternal grandfather Orvin Davis in 1963 and
my grandmother Lucille Rucker Davis in 1990. Perhaps they remembered my
grandparents when they lived in Shenandoah, but the Van Hynings were of the
same generation as my uncle, so it’s possible they were friends with him more
so than with my grandparents. Maybe they knew each other through their
membership at Fields United Methodist Church.
Jack was the only child of Arthur and Evelyn Van Hyning
of Akron, Ohio. In the 1920, 1930, and 1940 censuses, he was right there at
home. In 1940 he was a salesman for a paper manufacturer just like his father. However,
that same year, just a couple months after the census was taken, he married
Maxine Hatfield of Shenandoah, Virginia.
So how did a Buckeye boy find a Southern gal in Virginia?
Certainly his time as a student at Massanutten Military Academy must have
provided an opportunity. The school is located in Woodstock, Virginia, about
thirty-six miles from Maxine’s home.
 |
| from the Massanutten Military Academy yearbook 1936 |
Jack’s obituary on Ancestry.com must have been written by a family member who knew him well as the details are so personal: his three children and numerous grandchildren, his love of sausage gravy, his enjoyment in feeding the birds, his career as a salesman of both insurance and dog food, his support of sports at James Madison University (Go Dukes!), and his service on the Town Council in Shenandoah.
But here are two more interesting bits of information
found through GenealogyBank:
 |
| from GenealogyBank Richmond Times Dispatch March 14, 1937 |
In 1948, Jack was elected treasurer of the Barrie Flying
Club in nearby Elkton, Virginia. The organization is dedicated to providing
quality flight training for those wanting to fly light sport aircraft. (What?
Elkton had a flight club?? Who knew?)
 |
| from GenealogyBank Richmond Times Dispatch January 21, 1948 |
 |
| Van Hyning tombstone from Findagrave photo courtesy JAC |
Juggle your time and Jump, Jog, or Jaunt on over to the A to Z April Challenge for some Jovial Jottings of Journalists and Jokesters.
© 2015, Wendy Mathias.
All rights reserved.
