A Bombardier From Oil Creek

Denver Barnett: American Hero

by David Parmer

Thoughts on a Long Flight

It was October 17th, 1944. The Spirit of Plainfield rumbled down the runway of the air strip of the 449th Bomb Group of the 15th USAAF in Grottaglie, Italy. Straining with the weight of the full load of bombs and nearing the end of the runway, the wheels of the B-24 Liberator finally lifted off the ground and the Spirit of Plainfield was airborne. It would be a long flight to Vienna, Austria and the railway targets were waiting. Bombardier 2nd Lt. Denver Barnett suppressed his uneasiness in this replacement plane for his Virginia Rose which was undergoing repairs. Airmen are superstitious. Although all B-24s were virtually identical, the Virginia Rose was “their plane” and a replacement was only second best. Furthermore, this was their second replacement plane since the Virginia Rose. Denver’s crew had been assigned to the B-24 Fascinating Bitch for fourteen previous missions. Denver hoped the new plane would work out, but his mind was mainly on the targets of the day.

As the Spirit of Plainfield carved a northerly course at 20,000 feet above the Adriatic Sea toward the railway targets of Vienna, Denver Barnett had several hours to ponder the past.

Right, above: Air Cadet Denver Barnett

A Look Backward

Denver had enlisted in the Army Air Corps at Charleston, West Virginia in September 1942 and was called to active duty in January 1943. He was subsequently sent for flight training at Shepherd Field in Wichita Falls, Texas, and later to Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Big Springs, Texas. After he had completed Navigator School at Big Springs, his mother, Gay Barnett, made a train trip cross country from Orlando to San Antonio over the 4th of July 1944 to visit him.

In August 1944, Denver received orders to depart for England and the European theater. His crew shuttled a B-24 from Topeka to England by way of Goose Bay, Labrador, Iceland, Belfast and then to London. His stay in England was brief. After a short sight-seeing trip in London during an air raid by German bombers, Denver received orders to depart for Italy by way of North Africa. Denver and his crewmates arrived in Grottaglie, Italy on August 25, 1944.

Denver had been in Italy almost two months as the Spirit of Plainfield made its way north to the railway targets in Vienna. Flak would be heavy over Vienna and maybe there also would be Messerschmidts. But bombardiers had no responsibility to be on the look-out for Messerschmidts or to worry about flak. He had plenty of time to think of his wife of four years, the former Rose Amos of Burnsville who was mothering their first child, Denver Junior, in Fairmont at the home of her parents, Frank and Eula (Bush) Amos. Rose was also spending some time with Denver’s parents, Alva and Gay Barnett who had moved recently from Orlando to Weston. His plane Virginia Rose was named after the girl friend of the pilot, Lt. Nelson, and Denver’s wife Rose, which explains why the plane was so special to him.

As the Liberator formation grew nearer to Vienna, Denver studied the target charts and put memories of home in the background. This was the crew’s nineteenth mission and their first in the Spirit of Plainfield.

The B-24 Liberator

The B-24 Liberator was the most produced of any aircraft designed for heavy bombing during World War II. The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation at plants in San Diego, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Tulsa, and Willow Run, Michigan, built over 18,000 of the planes during the war. The plane usually carried a crew of ten, which included seven machine gunners, two pilots, a navigator and bombardier. Its machine guns were located on the tail, belly, on both sides, top, and nose. Although the B-17 Flying Fortress was better known and better liked by airmen, the B-24 was the true workhorse of the air service during the war. However, to its detriment, it was not as rugged as the B-17 and was prone to catch fire and break apart when hit by flak or machine gun fire. Of course, these faults resulted in the loss of many planes and their crews. Lt. Denver Barnett had much time to ponder the merits and disadvantages of the B-24 on his mission from Grottaglie, Italy to Vienna and hoped that he would make it back.

The Norden Bombsight

In war, the objective of using bombers is to destroy the enemy’s means of continuing the war. The Allied powers, particularly the United States Army Air Force, invested heavily in the manufacture of bombers which utilized the highly secret Norden bombsight. Prior to the invention of the bombsight, airplanes dropped bombs on the enemy by dead reckoning and little guessed where the bombs might land. Needless to say, in the early days of the use of bombers, ground targets generally had little to fear from the bombs which might land hundreds of yards away from the target. Most of this waste of munitions ended with the Norden bombsight.
Upon reaching the target area, the bombardier becomes the most important crew member on the aircraft. Obviously, the bombs must reach the intended target if the mission is to become a success. One peculiar aspect of the Norden bombsight is that it takes over the flying of the aircraft over the target area in order that the bombsight can effectively do its job. Lt. Barnett received highly classified and complex training on the use of the Norden bombsight and he was very good at his job. However, as with any weapon of war, the Norden bombsight was not totally accurate and it had another important drawback—while the bombsight was in operation, the aircraft was highly susceptible to groundfire or flak.

Right: the bombadier's view of Dallas over the Norden bombsight in a B-17, "flying fortress". Click on th image to see more of this flight.

Left: a Messerschmitt

The Spirit of Plainfield Goes Down

Flak was thick over the target area and the sound of “thunk” as the rounds exploded created great anxiety in the thin-hulled Liberators. The German 88’s were accurate and were painting a pattern into which the bombers were forced to fly as the Norden bombsights put the bombers on auto-pilot. Thousands of American airmen had already paid with their lives because of the accuracy of the 88’s. Messerschmidts which usually were darting in and out of the Liberator formations had not been seen on this run but the plane was taking hits from the heavy flak.

Lt. Barnett had already loosed the bomb payload on the Vienna rail yards and the B-24 had crossed into Hungarian airspace when the plane shuddered. It had been hit by a German shell and lost part of the left wing, a horizontal stabilizer and the function of the flight controls. The hit to the bomber was fatal. The pilot, Captain Nelson gave the “bail-out” order and the gunners began hitting the silks. Denver helped the injured and semi-conscious Lt. Clark to bail out of the dying plane. As bombardier, he could not do his job wearing his parachute and harness; consequently his life-saving parachute gear was stashed in the bombardier compartment of the plane.

Desperately controlling his balance as he made his way in the stricken plane, Denver found his parachute gear and hurriedly strapped it on. The altitude of the plane was only 1000 feet and he knew he would have to jump right away. There was no time to go forward to jump. His nearest exit was the open bomb bay doors which was not a desirable way to go. With no choice, out he went, head first. Lt. Barnett, in his first parachute jump, met the air of the Hungarian sky which had a peculiar sulphury smell of ordnance.

Missing in Action

Nervously, Rose Amos Barnett opened the telegram left by the Western Union boy. Dread is a word which doesn’t do justice to the feeling a telegram from the War Department brings to a new mother and young wife of an airman serving in the dangerous, flak-riddled skies of Europe. “Missing in action” were the words which told Rose that her husband was unaccounted for. It was not the worst news she could have received from the War Department and gave her hope that her husband was still alive somewhere in Europe.

Captured

As Lt. Barnett was descending in his parachute, the Spirit of Plainfield was crashing a few miles away and bullets were whizzing by him. Fortunately, he was unhit by the marksmen on the ground but he was immediately taken into custody by a crowd of farmers when he landed. The civilians marched him into a small Hungarian village where he was turned over to German soldiers. After a brief interrogation by an officer, he was walked and then transported by train to Budapest where he was lodged in the City Prison and further interrogated by German officers. He was imprisoned there in solitary confinement for nearly two months.

Right: Letter informing Rose that Denver was MIA.

Left: Denver's POW identification card

Stalag Luft 3

Denver’s imprisonment in the Budapest City Prison was cut short because the Russian Army was closing in on Budapest and prisoners were moved to a small prisoner of war camp at Zagan, Poland known as Stalag Luft III. While at Stalag Luft III, a very ill American prisoner, Lt. Wayne Dougherty, was repatriated in late December 1944 to American Forces because of his serious health problems.

A Message to Rose

Once back in American hands, Lt. Dougherty contacted Denver’s wife, Rose, who was in Orlando, and advised her that her husband was a prisoner of war. This message was confirmed a short time later by the War Department and the anxiety of not knowing whether her husband was dead or alive was over.

A Forced March

In late January 1945, the German authorities at Stalag Luft III decided to move all the prisoners of war because the Russian Army was again closing in. The ill-clad American prisoners were marched in sub-zero weather for four days. Denver had only a khaki uniform and a blanket and suffered badly from the effects of the cold and biting wind. At Spremberg, the prisoners were put on small railway cars and two- and–a-half days later, on February 3, 1945, arrived in Nuremberg.

Above right: Stalag Luft 3, Zagan

Left: The forced march

Below right: Stalag 13D, Nuremburg

Farther below, right: Stalag 7A

These sketches were made by Robert Neary and were taken from http://www.b24.net/pow/stalag3.htm

Stalag 13 D
Stalag XIII D was Denver’s next prisoner of war camp. The camp had recently been vacated by Italian prisoners and was in a deplorable state. It was infested with vermin of all kinds. A shortage of fuel and food made life very difficult for the prisoners. In late March 1945, the Allied Forces were closing in on Nuremberg and the prisoners of war again were to be moved. By this stage of the war, even the Germans knew the end was near and vigilance over the prisoners of war had little priority.

Another March

The Germans began evacuating Stalag XIII D on April 4, 1945 and the prisoners were once again forced to march to a new prison. The German guards escorting the prisoners were mostly old men who were tired of the war and had no provisions for the prisoners except for Red Cross parcels. The guards paid little attention to security and many prisoners took the opportunity to escape. Denver and Vernon Ligon, a P-47 pilot from North Carolina were among the prisoners of war who simply walked away from the line of prisoners in hope of freedom.

An Aborted Escape

The lax security by the German guards and friendly German civilians gave great hope to Denver that he would be successful in his escape attempt. This optimism, however, was dashed when Denver and his companion walked headlong into a German SS officer and an enlisted man. The German SS had the reputation of shooting first and asking questions later and Denver and his friend wanted to take no chances of being listed as casualties rather than prisoners of war. The German SS officer also perhaps knew that, with the end of the war in sight, execution of escaped prisoners of war would not be a smart thing to do. The SS officer told Denver if he and Ligon would re-join the march of the prisoners, he would take no further action against them. Denver knew a bargain when he saw one, and he and his fellow escapee rejoined the march of the prisoners.

Stalag 7 A

On April 13th, 1945, Denver arrived at his final prisoner of war camp at Moosburg, Germany. A camp of Russian and American prisoners, the Moosburg facility was a tent camp. Here, Denver learned from a Russian prisoner of war that Lt. Clark, a friend and fellow crewman on the Spirit of Plainfield, had died. The Russian prisoner of war was an orthopedic doctor who had treated Lt. Clark for his injuries. Clark had asked the Russian doctor to try to locate Lt. Barnett and ask him to deliver his personal belongings to his family. The Russian doctor gave Denver a few meager personal belongings of Lt. Clark. Upon his return to the States, Denver complied with his friend’s final request.

The War is Over

After much evidence that the end of the war was coming to an end, units of the American 14th Armored Division liberated the Moosburg prison camp on April 29th. General George Patton gave a celebratory speech to the prisoners from atop a tank and told them they were free and that organized assistance for them was right behind him. Food and freedom was a healing balm to the war-weary prisoners.

Left: Denver Barnett home with Rose and son Denver.

Lt. Denver Barnett returned to the United States aboard the SS Marine Angel. Docking in Boston on May 31, Denver telephoned his wife Rose and told her he was boarding a train for Fort Meade, Maryland and then on to Clarksburg. On June 2nd, Denver arrived to a jubilant welcome at the Clarksburg train station from his wife, son Denver Jr., and his parents, Alva and Gay Barnett. He spent many days thereafter with friends in Orlando, Burnsville, Weston and Fairmont.

Peacetime

Denver remained in the Army Reserves until 1984, reaching the rank of Lt. Colonel. He returned to the classroom and taught at Jane Lew High School and at Weston Junior High until his retirement in 1968. In that year, he transferred as an Army Reserve officer to the 475th Quartermaster Group in Sharon, Pennsylvania. He lived in West Middlesex, Pennsylvania until his death on March 24, 2008.

Left: Memorabilia

Right: Rose and Denver

The Greatest Generation

Tom Brokaw referred to World War II veterans as the “greatest generation.” The War Department acknowledges that 88,000 airmen gave their lives for their country during World War II. Denver was one of the lucky airmen who came home to his family, which was to increase by two more children over the next few years. He was forever humble about his contribution, and like his brother Herald who served in the infantry during the European campaign, wanted no roll of drums or sounding of trumpets for his sacrifices. However, the Army Air Force gratefully acknowledged his heroism and service by awarding him an Air Medal with oak leaf cluster and the Purple Heart.

Denver died on March 24, 2008 and was laid to rest in the Knights of Pythias Cemetery in Burnsville.

comment:

Mabel (Henline) Eagle recalls that in the 1930s her stepson Jimmy Henline and his buddy Denver Barnett rigged up a telegraph system between their respective homes in Burnsville and “dotted and dashed” each other to stay in touch.

From Knawl to Orlando

The Barnetts

by David Parmer
　
The brothers Alva and Bill Barnett were prominent members of Orlando’s community in the first half of the 20th century. Both marketed livestock and both delivered mail. Both were also active in Orlando’s United Brethren Church. They grew up in Knawl, a community just outside the Oil Creek watershed, to the south.　

Right: Alva & Bill carried mail on horseback
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First, Some History of
Knawl and the Southern Ridge

The ridge between the Oil Creek/Clover Fork valley on the north and the Little Kanawha valley on the south is typical of the hills in central West Virginia: it is quite flat and relatively easy to travel. In the 1800s, communities developed along this ridge where some of the creeks draining south into the Little Kanawha began. Heaters, Riffle Run and Dutch are the names of some of the communities which formed on the Little Kanawha River side of the flat-topped divide. 　

Further east along this ridge the town of Knawl formed on Knawl’s Creek. This community at one time boasted three stores, one hotel, a post office, blacksmith shop and gristmill. The original　poplar log St Michael’s Roman Catholic Church was located in this area also: just over the hill from Clover Fork. There was, of course, a Methodist Church, too. 　

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Left: map shows Knawl, southeast of Orlando, and four or five miles from Orlando, Burnsville and Bulltown. There were many small communities that are not noted on this map including Heaters, Riffle to the west, also high up on the south side of the ridge separating the Oil Creek/Cover Fork watershed from the watershed of the headwaters of the Little Kanawha River.

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Right: Thaddeus Pritt of the left and James Alexander Barnett on the right, both of Knawl

In the area where the little town of Knawl developed, on both slopes of the ridge families settled who would become part of the fabric of people of the Oil Creek watershed and Orlando. The first known settlers in on the south slope in the Knawls Creek area were Benjamin, Daniel and John Conrad, sons of the immigrant son Jacob Conrad, Jr. and his Dutch-heritage wife Hannah (Bogard). The Conrad brothers came with their wives from Pendleton County in the early 1800s. Their children married Skinners, Blakes and Riffles, among others, and so became part of the fabric of the Oil Creek pioneer community. Other settlers who would become part of Orlando’s community were the Irish immigrants Michael and Margaret Griffin and Patrick and Ellen Carney who settled on the north slope of the ridge just before the Civil War. Another family that would be part of Orlando came after the Civil War: Thaddeus and Laura (Bennett) Pritt came from the Walkersville area in Lewis County. James Barnett would also come from the Walkerville.

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The grandchildren of Clover Fork pioneers Andrew and Margaret (Williams) Blake spread into this area from their original settlement closer to the confluence of Oil Creek and Clover Fork.

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James Alexander Barnett
& Mary Jane Townsend

of Knawl

The Blakes, pioneers Andrew and Margaret (Williams) Blake, settled on Clover Fork, on the north side of the ridge. Their great-granddaughter Mary Jane Townsend was born and raised in this area. In 1889 she married James Barnett from Walkerville. They settled near Knawl and had six children, including Willie "Bill" and Alva, the brothers who would move to Orlando. Their other children were Ella, Charles, Allie Belle and Lura Gay.

Upper Right: James and Mary Jane (Townsend) Barnett on their 50th wedding anniversary

Left: James with Allie and Lura

Right: Bill, Charles, Alva, Lura and Belle with their parents Mary Jane and James

The oldest child, Ellie, married Tony Mick. She died young as the result of standing too close to a fire which set her clothing afire and caused her a painful and early death.

Charles, the oldest son, served in the First World War. He married Gae Myers of the Knawl area. Charles operated a grocery store in Weston and later was a mail carrier.

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Belle, the second daughter of James and Mary Jane Barnett, never married and lived her entire life at Knawl.

The youngest Barnett child, Lura, married Arthur Williams, a railroader. Lura and Arthur lived in the Weston area. Arthur loved to fish and was mentioned as an Oil Creek fisherman.

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Left: Lura (Barnett) and Arthur Williams

The Barnetts

of Orlando

Alva Barnett, the second son, born 1896, married Gay Marple. Gay Marple’s family were merchants throughout the upper Little Kanawha River valley.

Alva and Gay were the parents of Herald Barnett and Denver Barnett. Alva was an early rural mail carrier out of Orlando on Route 1. At the time Alva carried the mail, the roads could only be navigated by horse. After many years riding horseback on his mail route, Alva developed a terrible case of hemorrhoids which prompted his retirement from carrying the mail. Alva and Gay moved to Weston where Alva was a cattle marketer, a salesman, and later a night dispatcher for the Weston City Police Department.

Left: Alva and Gay (Marple) Barnett

Right: Bill and Marie (Parmer) Barnett

Willie Lee "Bill" Barnett was a farmer, stockman, and shipper of agricultural and poultry products. He also helped with the mail on Orlando Route 1. Bill’s contributions to Orlando were great. He helped the economy of the community by facilitating the processing and selling of farmers’ cash crops such as ducks and turkeys and skins. He also gave to the community in his exceptional leadership and guidance with the youth at the United Brethren Church. Bill married an Orlando girl, Marie Parmer, whose roots go back to Orlando pioneers. Bill and Marie were the parents of Dale Barnett and Betty (Barnett) Mick.

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Left: Betty and Dale Barnett

Herald Barnett

by David Parmer

Herald Alva Barnett was the youngest son of Alva and Gay (Marple) Barnett. Born in 1923, he was the younger brother of Denver Barnett.

Herald was a quiet boy, always respectful of his teachers, other adults, and the other students, even though some of his classmates were not so respectful of him. It sometimes is difficult and problematic to be the most intelligent student in class. Teachers are thrilled to have such a student, a bright star, who is eager to learn and ready with the answer to questions posed to the class. But on the playground, he was sometimes derisively greeted by a dullard with the chant "Har, Har, the little bright star." There are always some who resent the student with his hand up with the answer. But mediocrity is the way of the world, and always will be.

Right above: a school picture of Herald Barnett
Left: Herald and Denver's parents Gay (Marple) and Alva Barnett

The Student

Herald was graduating as valedictorian from Burnsville High School in May 1940 as German JU-88 bombers were covering English airfields with five hundred pound bombs and the German High Command was planning its blitz of London. America’s entrance into the war was a year and a half away but as each graduate received his or her handshake and diploma they knew the future held great changes in their lives. The parents seated in the high school auditorium watching their sons and daughters graduate remembered the war of the previous generation and the boys who never came home and hoped for something different for their sons.

With the "Pomp and Circumstance" processional still a familiar tune in his mind, Herald enrolled at Salem College in 1940 to major in Chemistry. Embarking in a field of study deemed "critical" to the war effort, Herald was deferred from the war-time draft until he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1944. After his return from military service during World War II, Harold graduated from West Virginia University in 1950 with a Master of Science degree in Chemistry. His Master’s thesis was titled "The Solubility of Orthochlorobenzoic Acid."

Right: a diagram of a molecule of C7H5CIO2: ortho chloro benzoic acid. It is a white powder.

The Soldier

Waiting for Herald at the end of the Salem College diploma line was Uncle Sam with his congratulations and a draft notice. At this stage of World War II, the critical operations of the Army required expedited training of new inductees and their quick shipment to the European front. The North African and Italian campaigns involving American foot soldiers were underway, and the crucial Normandy landing was yet to come.

Right: Herald Barnett in Lausane, Switerland
Left: Herald Barnett and Bob Giese in Marburg, Germany

Rank came quickly for Herald. When the Panzers led the German advances in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, scattering American front-line troops, Herald was an infantry sergeant. Within four months of the desperate German offensive in the Ardennes, a German surrender brought an end to the hostilities in Europe. As Herald’s infantry unit was being prepared for transfer to participate in the invasion of Japan at the 3rd Replacement Depot in Marburg, Germany, the nuclear bombs "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" brought an atomic end to the war in the Pacific. In a short time thereafter, Herald joined the ranks of demobilized soldiers and returned to the classrooms of beakers and Bunsen burners and a civilian career as a chemist.

Marriage to "Barney"

While attending Salem College, Herald had met Eleanor Louise Whiteman of Clarksburg who was also a student there. After the end of World War II and his return from Europe, Herald entered the graduate school at West Virginia University and renewed his friendship with Eleanor who was also attending graduate school at the state university and working on a Master’s Degree in Romance Languages (French and Spanish.) On June 1, 1947 in Clarksburg, Herald and Eleanor were married by Reverend Albert E. Johnson. Eleanor never became accustomed to her husband’s given name of "Herald;" instead "Barney" became the name of her husband for all of their married life. Eleanor and Barney became the parents of two children, Brenda and Bruce.

Left: Salem College in Harrison County, WV

Right: Eleanor and Herald "Barney" Barnett

U. S. Steel Corporation

During his graduate years at West Virginia University, Herald interned during the summer months at the Research Lab of United States Steel Corporation in Pittsburgh. U. S. Steel, the world’s largest steel manufacturer at the time, was so impressed with his work that he was offered full-time employment, which he accepted. While working full-time at U. S. Steel doing chemical research, Herald attended Carnegie Tech and the University of Pittsburgh and worked on a doctorate in Chemistry. However, the theft of his dissertation research papers from his automobile, the loss of his advisor who left Carnegie Tech for Europe, and the demands of his employment derailed Herald’s plans for completion of his doctorate.

Pittsburgh Conference
on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy

The Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy is a leader in marketing the use of science in the steel industry. This scientific organization is recognized world-wide as the founder of the premier exposition of the use of applied science in the steel industry. Scientists from the entire world visit the annual exposition to learn of the latest scientific discoveries and uses of chemistry and applied spectroscopy in the steel industry.
Herald Barnett was elected as vice president and later as president of this organization by its member chemists from all over the world, indeed a great honor and recognition of his role in the advancement of science in the steel industry.

Occupational Risks

Herald enjoyed his career with United States Steel. However, years of working in confined spaces with chemicals which were later determined to be carcinogenic, exacted a toll on Herald’s health. First it was throat cancer, from which he recovered. However, a later fast-spreading lung cancer proved fatal to Herald and death came in 1999.

Right: the warning label from a bottle of othochlorobenzoic acid

Vacation Bible School

Anna Faber was a girl from Fairmont, WV who grew up during the depression. Anna visited Orlando twice and never forgot it. Her daughter Jill Landis shares her her mother's experience and her own experience of Orlando.

by Jill Landis

My dad, Rev. Harold Sturm, (age 84) asked that I write to ask if anyone recalls the following -

Major and Sylvia Knight arranged for my teenaged mother, Anna Faber and friend, Wilma Kennedy, to lead Vacation Bible School in Orlando. They did so in 1948.

The following year, my mother returned as a new bride, Mrs. Anna Sturm. Along with my dad, the team led Bible School in a school building, with the program held on a Friday night at the EUB Church.

My parents traveled in music and church work for a few years in West Virginia before my dad entered college and seminary in Ohio in the early 1950's.

Left: Anna Faber on Oil Creek Road on a rainy day in 1948.
Right: Anna and Harold on their first wedding anniversary

With my mom's passing last summer, I have endeavored to write a "story a day" about her on the "annalog" wordpress website. The following were recent entries:

March 19
Orlando, WV
In summer of 1996, while my husband’s employer demanded nonstop work, my boys and I enjoyed some back road West Virginia trips with my parents. They took us on a “pilgrimage,” telling stories of the churches where they ministered and places they stayed shortly after they were married.

The most intriguing was Orlando, WV. Since the boys had recently enjoyed a trip to Disneyworld (courtesy grandma and grandpa), they were “all about” a trip to Orlando, West Virginia.

Several miles down a rugged gravel road, safety conscious Nathan suggested that Grandpa turn his Buick around and head back to the main road. Seven-year-old Kevin found the jerking and jarring to be just as great as an Disney ride, while my mom voiced great concern about the “Buick’s bottom” falling out.
All passengers then focused on Anna’s concern about the Buick’s bottom falling out, which, by the way, never did.

We finally arrived at a rural Bed and Breakfast, once the home of Major and Sylvia Knight, who housed my parents when they led Vacation Bible School in Orlando in 1949.

[The Bed & Breakfast would have been the Kilmarnock Farm, which Bob and Ann Craven of New England purchased from Major and Sylvia Knight. -ed]
Above left is a recent photo of that home where the author Jill Landis and her family stayed, and where her parents had stayed in the 1940s.
Left: Anna and Harold on the 50th wedding anniversary.

March 20
Orlando Prequel
Known for chronicling corresponding stories on the backs of her photographs, my mom wrote the following information (picture was of my nineteen year old mom carrying her shoes and wearing a wet dress).

“In Orlando, W.Va. - A Sunday Morning and I waded a flooded creek bed and walked four miles to church (not the building where Harold and I later conducted Bible School which was a seven mile walk).

On my return home I not only waded in deep water but got caught in a rainstorm. The sky looks stormy. I look wet.

I think I am standing in the road of ruts where Harold and I tried to ride bicycles the next year, but didn’t succeed. Wilma (friend) said she would walk with me. She also waded and got wet.”

Right: Mt Zion Methodist Church, the church which was about seven miles from the Knights' home on Clover Fork. where Harold and Anna conducted Bible School in 1949.

Readers: Please post your comments by clicking on "comments" below left,

or e-mail them to orlandowestvirginia@yahoo.com . Thanks!

an e-mail from Pat Reckart:

"I do remember someone staying at Mage Knight's and teaching Bible school. I remember going to one at the school and the teacher asked us what we had for breakfast and most of the kids said eggs, toast and juice, and I was too embarrassed to say biscuits and applesauce so I said I had the same as the other kids."

Left and Right: Pat (Morrison) Reckart

Note 1: From her daughter Jill, more about the life of Anna Sturm, a girl from Fairmont, WV whose vocation brought her to Orlando two ordinary but unforgetable summers in the 1940s.

"... My mother’s life began in the hills of West Virginia. Her family was poor; however, my mother was unaware of this. In fact she thought she they were rich because home was so much fun.

"Her family lived near a river and the railroad tracks. She loved swimming in the river.

"When the train whistle blew, my mom and her siblings (her sister Martha is here today) ran to the tracks and yelled their requests for CARBON PAPER to the conductor. My mom loved it whenever he threw it to them from the back of the caboose.

"One day when she invited a friend to her house, the friend told her that she was not permitted to visit because Anna lived in the bad section of town. That was my mother’s first realization that she was poor.

"My mother was a model student and loved school, She was voted most outstanding student.

"As she entered adolescence, she developed a passion to learn to play the piano, so she started praying. When Anna told her godly Baptist mother of her prayer request, she was cautioned not to build up her hopes.

"When Christmas arrived someone left toys on the porch for the family. In that stack of toys was a miniature piano. My mother quickly mastered the three octave keyboard and could only imagine how full the music would sound if she had more octaves on either side of middle C.

"The old table on which her little piano sat is down front here today.

"My mom continued to secretly pray to learn to play, but had no money for lessons. In her prayer she always added, “Lord if I learn to play, I’ll play for you.”

"When she entered West VA Bible College, one of the directors was a concert pianist. Unaware of my mother’s request, she asked my mother if she would lead back yard Bible clubs. Unable to reimburse my mother monetarily, the instructor said that she would give her piano lessons instead. Well, she learned, and stayed true to her pact with God.

"My parents were married in 1949 and began their adventure in the music ministry, traveling on the road serving the Lord through song, piano, trumpet and also accordion, which my mother played when a church had no piano.

"Danny came along, and the three continued traveling, with a little trailer in tow. As Danny got a little older, my mother desired to establish a home where he could feel secure, but she didn’t want to tell my dad, because he loved their traveling adventures.

"While serving in a revival, here at Mills Memorial, they stayed in the master bedroom of the parsonage (my former home just up the street). After an evening service, in the master bedroom, my mother told my dad that she needed to talk with him; surprisingly, he said the same.

"My dad began by telling my mother that he realized she loved the work they were in, but he was heavily sensing the call of God to be a pastor. Imagine their delight when each discovered how God had perfectly timed this meeting.

"When I was eight, we traveled to Washington D.C. where I visited the Smithsonian American History Museum. I thought that was where my mother belonged because she was so special, one of a kind.

"There was no limit to my mother’s creativity, quick wit, music ability, and love for everyone, most of all, my dad. She was something like Martha Stuart, before it was in vogue to be a homemaking titan. My mom made home such a warm, wonderful and fun place to be.

"She liked to get creative in the kitchen and once announced that each evening she would prepare a new recipe. Her enthusiasm was squelched one Saturday night, when we refused to eat her Sauerkraut Cake, which fell in the middle.

"I once won first place in the town’s Halloween costume contest when I wore a long pleated evening gown, sewn by my mom, from the local newspaper. She was amazing.

"For one Christmas she cleverly disguised our gifts, keeping us from correctly guessing what was in any package. One week before Christmas, she placed a Christmas pig under the tree – its body wrapped in red paper, with stubby legs and snout covered with foil. Danny and I looked for hours at the Christmas pig trying to guess what was inside. On Christmas day the pig was presented to Danny. Inside of an old Lincoln Log canister was a new pair of pajamas.

"When my mother tried to teach us table manners, she decided to let each of us take turns being the guest at our own home. For four consecutive Tuesdays, each of us took turns being “the guest.” Not only did we learn how to treat a guest, we got to be treated like a guest. I’ll never forget standing at my front door, ringing the bell and being welcomed inside by my family.

"As an only daughter, I spent a lot of time with my mom doing the dishes. We always began our conversation by laughing and sharing witticisms; however it always seemed that she seized these teachable moments by concluding with a life lesson.

"At her knee, I learned to value integrity. She spoke to me constantly about it, and about doing the right thing, and that whenever possible, not to permit wrong to prevail and to stick up for the little guy.

"As all of you know, my mother loved to write. She wrote all the time, journaling even the smallest events of the day

"She was organized and meticulous. She read the Bible through several times, one time she did it in nine days."

- from the Memorial Service program as "reflections."

by Anna's daughter Jill (Sturm) Landis

Note 2: Taken from "Annalog"

taken from Annalog, Jill Landis' tribute to her mom
posted July 28, 2008
My House by Anna Sturm
I love my house, it’s good to me
It plays its band when I am blue
The bathtub is ringleader
The alarm clock gives the starting cue
The cookbook gives right timing
The front door gives the key
The yardstick gives a measure
And the teakettle sings for me
The water pipes add some drumming
The doorbell adds the chime
The mailbox furnishes all the notes
For this household band of mine.