Ellis Arthur Renfrow

• General Notes
  • Posted 10/27/1997
    
    "Dusty" as he was known by most people in his adult years was born at the home of his parents in West Plains, Missouri. He grew up here and helped his father in the family grocery business known as "The Model Market" on the square in West Plains. In about 1907 the Marshall family moved to West Plaines from Monroe City when he was 19 years old. In short order he met and married Lillian Marshall in a year later. He continued to work in his fathers store
    for a time. He played the trombone in a band for a while and he built the first crystal radio in West Plains. He then bought a traveling skating rink and they started traveling the circuit up and down the Frisco R.R.. I was told these were very good years for them. They charged 10c to skate and 15c to rent skates. They lived in hotels all these years and lived quite well as my grandmother used to tell. When WW1 started business fell off due to all the young boys going off to war. Dusty was almost 40 before he finally settled down to a regular job. He became a salesman for the Arbuckle Coffee Co. (later became Yuban Coffee) in Joplin, Missouri. Then he went to work for the J.A. Folger Coffee Co. out of Kansas City, Mo. . He was given as much of the state of Missouri as he cared to bite off as his territory so he started working out of Sedalia first and then in 1925 moved to Columbia, Missouri where he lived the rest of his life.
    He was known as "Mr. Coffee" and was very highly respected by all who knew him. He had literally established Folger Coffee in the state of Missouri. I spent
    most of my growing up years with him rather than my father for various reasons, mostly WW2. I could write all day about my life with him...but won't.
    I will only say...I miss him dearly. I once read a piece someone had written about him where they described him as a "Courtly Gentelman". They were pretty accurate. The loss of both of his daughters in his lifetime was devastating to him.