• General Notes

  REFN: 510202940
  JAMES WILLIS WHEAT WAS BORN ON SEPTEMBER  16, 1928 , TO ORVILLE D WHEAT AND EVA
  JEWEL"JUDY" JOHNSON WHEAT. JAMES WAS BORN ON THE OLD ATKINSON FARM 4 MILES
  SOUTH  ON SOUTH 21ST STREET IN RURAL PARSONS KANSAS .LABETTE COUNTY.
  EARLY MEMORIES WERE ON THE FARM OF UNCLE WILLIS,WHERE MY PARENTS WORKED AND
  FARMED FOR,  AND TOOK CARE OF HIM. A FIRE DESTROYED THE WILLIS FARM HOUSE
  ABOUT 1932. LEAVING OD AND JUDY AND 4 YEAR OLD JIM TO LIVE IN A VERY SMALL 1
  ROOM SMOKE HOUSE ADJACENT TO THE HOUSE,
  THE SMOKE HOUSE WAS JUST BIG ENOUGH TO ACCOMODATE AN IRON KITHEEN STOVE AND A
  BED.   BROTHER BRUCE WENT TO LIVE WITH GRANDPARENTS, ARTHUR NEWMAN AND HALLIE
  PERAL JOHNSON IN TOWN.
  WILLIS STAYED WITH AUNT MAY WHEAT  UNTILL A NEW HOME WAS BUILT.
  THE HOUSE WAS REBUILT BY, LOUIS AND DEN , BROTHERS OF ORVILLE, AND NEPHEWS OF
  WILLIS
  JIM FIRST ATTENDED SCHOOL AT THE SPRINGHILL COUNTRY  SCHOOL, ABOUT A MILE FROM
  HOME. SPRING HILL HAD ALL 8 GRADES IN ONE BUILDING AND ONE TEACHER
  THE SCHOOL WAS ALSO ATTENDED BY BROTHER BRUCE, COUSINS , WANDA AND  BOB WHEAT,
  HARVEY AND CONNIE MYERS
  AND HIS FUTURE WIFE, EVE NANNETTE POTTORFF..
  AT THE TIME OF WILLIS'S DEATH, IT WAS NECESSARY TO SELL THE FARM TO PAY OFF
  WILLIS'S DEBTS. AND THE FAMILY OF OD, JUDY, BRUCE AND JIM MOVED TO A FARM 12
  MILES NORTH-EAST OF PARSONS NEAR LAKE MCKINLEY, WHERE  OD FARMED, AND TRIED TO
  MAKE A LIVING. JIM ATTENDED THE COUNTRY SCHOOL OF OAK GROVE, WHICH WAS 2 1/2
  MILES FROM HOME. WE FISHED , SWAM AND ENJOYED THE LAKE'S NEARNESS.
  FINALLY GIVING UP FARM  WE ALL MOVED INTO TOWN,TO THE LAST EAST HOUSE ON DIRR
  STREET WHERE JIM ATTENDED LINCOLN SCHOOL.
  LATER MOVING TO A PLACE ON NORTH 32ND ST. WHERE JIM WENT TO THE VINCENT COUNTRY
  SCHOOL NORTHWEST OF PARSONS KS..
  EVENTUALLY MOVING INTO TOWN AND RESIDED AT 2517 STEVENS,IN PARSONS.
  JIM ATTENDED WEST JR HIGH SCHOOL AND THEN SR HIGH ( WHERE  THE FIRST 2 YEARS OF
  JR COLLEGE AND THE 11TH AND 12 TH GRADES WERE IN THE SAME BUILDING) AND THEN JR
  COLLEGE.. JIM GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL IN1946, AND JR COLLEGE IN 1948.
  WHERE EVE HIS FUTURE WIFE ALSO ATTENDED
  JIM AND HIS CHILDHOOD SWEETHEART , EVE NANNETTE POTTORFF, WERE MARRIED 19 JUNE
  1949.AFTER HIS FIRST YEAR AT KU.
  WHERE  HIS WIFE WORKED TO  SUPPORT HIM TILL HE FINISHED HIS DEGREE IN ART
  EDUCATION.
  THEY MOVED TO MISSION KANSAS AND JIM BEGAN HIS CAREER TEACHING AT THE OLD
  SHAWNEE MISSION HIGH SCHOOL IN 1951
  IN 19 58   THEY ADOPTED 2 CHILDREN AND HAD 3 MORE OF THEIR OWN. MAKING A TOTAL
  OF 5. JEFFREY LYNN, 1957, KIMBERLY NANNETTE 1960, ERICKE JAMES 1962, RACHINDA
  MARTHA JEWEL 1964, HALLIE DOMINICA 1967.
  JIM ATTENDED KANSAS UNIVERSITY IN 1948 AND GRADUATED WITH A BACHELORS OF ART
  EDUCATION IN 1951. AND A MASTERS DEGREE IN 1959.
  JIM WORKED AT VARIOUS JOBS DURING HIS HIGHSCHOOL YEARS. A FILLING STATION
  ATTENDANT, A BELL BOY AT THE FAYE HOTEL, SWEEPING BOX CARS FOR THE KATY RR.
  WORKING IN THE BAGGAGE AREA WITH FATHER FOR THE KATY RR. AND THEN FINALLY AT
  THE DAVIS PAINT STORE ON MAIN STREET IN PARSONS.HIS GIRLFRIEND EVE WORKED
  ACROSS THE STREET AT A BAKERY.
  GRADUATING FROM KU IN MID-TERM OF 1951 JIM BEGAN WORK AT THE RURAL HIGH SCHOOL
  OF  SHAWNEE MISSION. FOR 1 1/2 YEAR AS AN ART TEACHER UNTIL BEING DRAFTED
  DURING THE KOREAN WAR. INTO THE US ARMY
  BASIC TRAINING AT FORT BLISS TEXAS AND THEN SENT OVER SEAS TO BRIGSTOCK ENGLAND
  .ASSIGNED TO THE 32 AAA BRIGADE UNIT FOR 18 MONTHS AS A GRAPHIC ARTIST, (ALL
  THE REST OF MY BASIC TRAINING UNIT WENT TO KOREA, EXCEPT ME AND ONE OTHER
  FELLOW.)
  RELEASED  FROM THE US ARMY WITH A HONARY DISCHARGE IN 1954.
  RETURNING TO OLD JOB AT SHAWNEE MISSION HIGH SCHOOL. JIM WORKED AT SHAWNEE
  MISSION NORTH FROM 1951 TO 1962. THEN TRANSFERRED TO SHAWNEE MISSION WEST.
  ONE YEAR 1968/69 JIM AND EVE MOVED TO GROVE OKLAHOMA  AND JIM WORKED AT THE
  GROVE HIGH SCHOOL. EVE OPERATED THE ANTIQUE SHOP "THE CARPET BAG".
  RETURNING TO SHAWNEE MISSION WEST HIGH SCHOOL IN 1970.
  RETIREING FROM THERE IN JUNE OF 1991. AFTER 40 YEARS 

Details of JAMES WILLIS' family with EVE OR EVA NANNETTE POTTORFF