Zach's Composition on His Great Grandpa

For Zach's writing this year he is composing stories about several of his relatives. Here is his latest about his Great Grandpa Humphrey.

My Great Grandpa Humphrey was born May 21st 1922. His name was Clarence E. Humphrey. He was born in Owanka, SD and died on Aug.12th 1998. When he was about ten, he experienced the dirty thirties. On his farm they used a horse and a plow instead of a tractor, because they didn’t have one. Although I do not remember him, we have a video of him and he resembles my Grandpa Humphrey, his son.

One time on the ranch the family had caught a “gobbler” (turkey) and was bringing it home in their brand new shining Model T. Clarence’s mom looked at the gobbler to see if it was okay. When she took her eyes off the road, the truck hit a pothole and the cage went flying. It broke. Needless to say, the turkey escaped. It took them and some neighbors to catch him.

Clarence Humphrey was a person that liked to talk. He had what he called a gift to gab. He always would tell the same stories over and over again like his story about how he would swim like a rock and about stealing some watermelons and riding away on horseback. One time he was out at the “crick” and he had a cowbell. The dinger part was in his pocket, and the bell part was on his saddle. There were Sioux Indians at the creek and they kept requesting, “Me bell! Me bell!” He gave them the bell part but forgot the dinger part. The Indians received a silent bell! He enjoyed interacting with other people through stories and conversation.

Great Grandpa at age 3.

Great Grandpa on "Black Mountain", the pony he bought for his grandkids to ride.