Betty Ann Kerber Lovelady Commons

Aunt Betty was born August 26, 1931 in the house of her maternal Seifert Grandparents on Bode Street in the north-end of St. Joseph, MO.  .  I believe she, Herman, Helen and Clara were christened at Zion Evangelical    which later became St. Peter Lutheran Church in St. Joseph St. Joseph Avenue.  I'm in the process of trying to find records.  The Seifert and Knoth branches were long members of Zion.

Like Herman and Helen, Betty attended Sparta Elementary School   since the Kerber farm was located east of St. Joseph near Faucett.  Aunt Betty was a tomboy  and would much rather be outside tending the animals than doing household chores.

 She was absolutely at home with animals who loved her.    Aunt Clara (Cookie - to her nieces and nephews), Mother (Helen) and Aunt Betty on their horses.      Aunt Clara, Aunt Betty on her horse with Mother holding the bridle and I'm there too. Grandma and Grandpa moved into the city of St. Joseph to a two-story square German house with a porch running across the front that are so common in the Mid-West. Grandpa still went out to the farm in Faucet each day and Grandma rented the upstairs for extra income.    I'm not sure who the two boy is in this picture with Aunt Betty standing behind the snowman and Aunt Clara kneeling in front.  Mother had her own family by this time. 

Aunt Betty was finished with elementary school, the family moved again to a farm Grandpa bought near Horton, Kansas.  I don't believe she ever went to high school.  I believe all she ever wanted to do was be a farmer and would have had she been a man.  So instead, she contented herself with helping Grandpa with the chores.  I remember watching her milk the cows and hearing the sound of the spray in the bucket as she pulled the teats of the contented cow and the cats circling around to get a spray of milk as she laughed that deep-chested laugh of hers. 

I owe my love of horses to my Aunt Betty who,  (and later to my paternal Uncle Doyle Blanton)  as you see in this picture, had me (and Les) on the back of her horse when I was barely walking - I'm in front pulling its mane.    Here she is with Bobby.  She had a donkey named Ike who would only move for her. 

Kathleen Kerber Buis Memories 

Her first marriage was to a Calvin Eugene Lovelady.  I know that he was born in Whitecloud, KS April 30, 1925 and died in Hiawatha, KS March 6, 2000. 

Her health deterioration originated with a miscarriage of her baby from this time in her life.  She confided in me one night.  She was in a tremendous amount of pain.  My Aunt was a no-nonsense woman who did things for herself when she needed them done.  It was not in her nature to depend on anyone.  The wringer washing machine   sat on the back porch next to the kitchen and had to be moved so she could hook up the water hose and drain the dirty water into the sink through another hose.  She took it upon herself to move the heavy machine, pulled something and miscarried.  The house was out in the country and she didn't drive.  In those days, doctors visited the patient.  It was several days before she could be attended to and from then on she had to have one operation after another. 

After the break-up of this marriage, she, Clara and my mother, who had broken with my father as well moved to nearby Topeka, Kansas to find jobs.    

Memories by Lynn (Linda) Roberts Traylor

Thanks for inviting me to add my two cents about our Aunt Betty. I read what has already been written which sure brings back wonderful memories of my childhood. I would like to add that I remember her wearing painting clothes a lot of the time. She taught me how to refinished furniture, to paint walls, woodwork and cabinets. She helped Grandma and Grandpa redecorate their apartments when the people moved out so that everything had fresh paint and clean carpet before new people moved in.

She did Grandma’s Grocery shopping because grandma didn’t drive .  

She had a large model collection of miniature horses and ever so often would buy me one too. She also talked Mom into letting me keep Rusty ( Brownie), a little brown dog, that had been abandoned in her neighborhood.  She brought her little black dog, Ruby along with her and it was so much fun for the whole family to watch both the dogs play together.

I also saw her sitting at the sewing machine in Grandma’s living room a great deal of the time, she sewed all her own summer cotton dresses and blouses. After she went to heaven Grandma Kerber cut them into bow tie pattern pieces and made several quilts . Her hope was that we could remember Aunt Betty every time we looked at the quilts. 

Cindy writes:

I have one of the bowtie quilts grandma Kerber made. I thought it was scraps of the school dresses my mom and her made for me before we moved to Ca and on the Horton farm they made them for me I think I was in 3rd grade.  I loved all of them with rick rack and lace and ribbon. 

Mother met a policeman who had a brother Dee Commons who had two children -   Barry who was about my age and Cindy the age of Lynn my sister.   They were soon married.  

I loved Uncle Dee who was so fun and I have always felt like Barry and Cindy were blood kin although we've had so little time together.  Cindy physically looked like Aunt Betty.  I'm sure it was much harder for Barry to adapt to Aunt Betty because he was older.  She could be intimidating - somewhat like a drill-sergeant in her expectations.  It was the way she and her siblings were raised.  It would take time to learn that behind those orders and expectations, was a big-hearted, loving, bawdy-humored, no-nonsense German woman. 

Grandpa had some kind of accident and was advised by a doctor to retire from farming.  That was when they found the big old Victorian house on Mulvane Street in Topeka, fixed it up so that the upstairs could be rented out while they lived downstairs.  Aunt Betty loved the farm and so talked Uncle Dee into trying his hand at running the farm.  I know that must have been hard on Barry who was a pre-teen and used to the city. I was in the middle of changes myself so I've always understood although we've never spoken about those years.

 Grandpa had a lake dredged that was large enough for a ski boat and water skiing.    He and Grandma had a used trailer house placed near the water so the family used it for picnics and Summer fun.    They just couldn't make a go of the Horton farm so it was sold.

By the time I was in my middle teens, they divorced.  I never really found out the reason whether it was her health or maybe Uncle Dee needed to move to California to make a living and she wanted to stay with Grandma and Grandpa.  Whatever the reason, it was sad.  I know Aunt Betty always thought of Cindy as her daughter and stayed in touch. Since Aunt Clara lived in California as well, she visited Cindy or vise-vera  (in this picture Cindy is showing her daughter to Aung Clara) . 

Aunt Betty lived long enough for my husband, Jimmy, to get to know and love her.  He loved to tell a joke and she loved to laugh at them.  Our daughter Christine and Les's daughter Heather, inherited that loud laugh that comes from way down in the chest.  And they both inherited her no-nonsense, bawdy humor.   

Aunt Betty was in really bad shape by 1968 and in the hospital when Cindy came back to visit her.  Aunt Betty looked like a woman in her 50s when she passed away not very long after this visit December 25, 1968 but she was only in her early 30s. 

Over the years, my mother kept in touch with Cindy and we re-connected when Mother asked me to write her about Uncle Herman.  Now we stay in touch through this website, Facebook and email.  I was so happy to see this picture     of Uncle Dee with Barry and Cindy taken not long before Uncle Dee's death.  I still get a lump in my throat to see them with their families.

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