Margaret Jean Stalnaker was born to Ernest Lee and Alta L. Kelley Stalnaker in Tanner, Gilmer County, West Virginia. As she told it, her mother gave birth to her at home while her dad was in the hospital with a broken leg.
She joined three older siblings; Ernestine (b.1923), Robert (b.1925) and Bertha "Mae" (b.1927) .
As a toddler, Margie, with her family relocated to Springfield, Ohio, where they lived with Margie's paternal grandmother, Artie Stalnaker in a house that was rented for $25 per month . Four of her dad's siblings, Hanning "Pat", Raymond , Walter and Oval lived there also. Artie, Ernest and Raymond worked at a glass factory while Pat worked at a foundry.
Seven more children were added to the family; Richard, Roy, Ralph, Barbara Ann, Ray Thomas, Randolph and Edwin. The family eventually moved to a farm in Adamsville, Muskingum, Ohio.
In February 1947, Margie was living in Zanesville and working at the Mosaic tile factory. At the end of an evening out, her date summoned a cab. Unfortunately for the young man, he summoned the wrong cab. A 24 year old driver, Jim, listened in on their conversation and decided that he liked what he was learning about Margie. After dropping the young man off, Jim returned to the house where Margie had been taken. He asked her out and just three weeks later on March 10, 1947 James Ernest Gebhart married Margie.
Jim and Margie moved around the Zanesville/Adamsville/Columbus area over the next 15 years while having a family that included 3 boys and 3 girls from August 1948 through June 1960. She also gave birth to premature twins in October of 1953 but Thomas Patrick and Nancy Louise did not survive their first day of life.
In February 1963, following a four year stay in Columbus, Jim decided to go west where the streets were "paved with gold". One very wintry morning he set out in a 1953 Chevy with the two older boys, for California. Just days later, at six months pregnant, Margie boarded a Greyhound bus with the four younger children ranging in age from 2 to 11 years. Her feet remained swollen and her 9 year old (me) vomited from motion sickness, the entire 2,500 mile, three day trip. After initially staying with Jim's brother, and his family in Norwalk, the family moved to Colton to be close to Jim's job. Margie gave birth to her ninth and final child in June 1963.
Over the next several years, the family lived in Colton, San Bernardino and Highland. During this time, Margie worked as a nurse's aide on the midnight shift at San Bernardino Community Hospital while obtaining her GED and going on to get her Licensed Vocational Nurse degree. In the early 1970s, she went to work for San Bernardino County in a family practice clinic, followed in the 1980s working for Kaiser Hospital and finishing her career in a Kaiser clinic in Highland, California. She retired at 65 years of age in 1994.
(More to come....)
She joined three older siblings; Ernestine (b.1923), Robert (b.1925) and Bertha "Mae" (b.1927) .
As a toddler, Margie, with her family relocated to Springfield, Ohio, where they lived with Margie's paternal grandmother, Artie Stalnaker in a house that was rented for $25 per month . Four of her dad's siblings, Hanning "Pat", Raymond , Walter and Oval lived there also. Artie, Ernest and Raymond worked at a glass factory while Pat worked at a foundry.
Seven more children were added to the family; Richard, Roy, Ralph, Barbara Ann, Ray Thomas, Randolph and Edwin. The family eventually moved to a farm in Adamsville, Muskingum, Ohio.
In February 1947, Margie was living in Zanesville and working at the Mosaic tile factory. At the end of an evening out, her date summoned a cab. Unfortunately for the young man, he summoned the wrong cab. A 24 year old driver, Jim, listened in on their conversation and decided that he liked what he was learning about Margie. After dropping the young man off, Jim returned to the house where Margie had been taken. He asked her out and just three weeks later on March 10, 1947 James Ernest Gebhart married Margie.
Jim and Margie moved around the Zanesville/Adamsville/Columbus area over the next 15 years while having a family that included 3 boys and 3 girls from August 1948 through June 1960. She also gave birth to premature twins in October of 1953 but Thomas Patrick and Nancy Louise did not survive their first day of life.
In February 1963, following a four year stay in Columbus, Jim decided to go west where the streets were "paved with gold". One very wintry morning he set out in a 1953 Chevy with the two older boys, for California. Just days later, at six months pregnant, Margie boarded a Greyhound bus with the four younger children ranging in age from 2 to 11 years. Her feet remained swollen and her 9 year old (me) vomited from motion sickness, the entire 2,500 mile, three day trip. After initially staying with Jim's brother, and his family in Norwalk, the family moved to Colton to be close to Jim's job. Margie gave birth to her ninth and final child in June 1963.
Over the next several years, the family lived in Colton, San Bernardino and Highland. During this time, Margie worked as a nurse's aide on the midnight shift at San Bernardino Community Hospital while obtaining her GED and going on to get her Licensed Vocational Nurse degree. In the early 1970s, she went to work for San Bernardino County in a family practice clinic, followed in the 1980s working for Kaiser Hospital and finishing her career in a Kaiser clinic in Highland, California. She retired at 65 years of age in 1994.
(More to come....)
Margaret Jean Stalnaker was born to Ernest Lee and Alta L. Kelley Stalnaker in Tanner, Gilmer County, West Virginia. As she told it, her mother gave birth to her at home while her dad was in the hospital with a broken leg.
She joined three older siblings; Ernestine (b.1923), Robert (b.1925) and Bertha "Mae" (b.1927) .
As a toddler, Margie, with her family relocated to Springfield, Ohio, where they lived with Margie's paternal grandmother, Artie Stalnaker in a house that was rented for $25 per month . Four of her dad's siblings, Hanning "Pat", Raymond , Walter and Oval lived there also. Artie, Ernest and Raymond worked at a glass factory while Pat worked at a foundry.
Seven more children were added to the family; Richard, Roy, Ralph, Barbara Ann, Ray Thomas, Randolph and Edwin. The family eventually moved to a farm in Adamsville, Muskingum, Ohio.
In February 1947, Margie was living in Zanesville and working at the Mosaic tile factory. At the end of an evening out, her date summoned a cab. Unfortunately for the young man, he summoned the wrong cab. A 24 year old driver, Jim, listened in on their conversation and decided that he liked what he was learning about Margie. After dropping the young man off, Jim returned to the house where Margie had been taken. He asked her out and just three weeks later on March 10, 1947 James Ernest Gebhart married Margie.
Jim and Margie moved around the Zanesville/Adamsville/Columbus area over the next 15 years while having a family that included 3 boys and 3 girls from August 1948 through June 1960. She also gave birth to premature twins in October of 1953 but Thomas Patrick and Nancy Louise did not survive their first day of life.
In February 1963, following a four year stay in Columbus, Jim decided to go west where the streets were "paved with gold". One very wintry morning he set out in a 1953 Chevy with the two older boys, for California. Just days later, at six months pregnant, Margie boarded a Greyhound bus with the four younger children ranging in age from 2 to 11 years. Her feet remained swollen and her 9 year old (me) vomited from motion sickness, the entire 2,500 mile, three day trip. After initially staying with Jim's brother, and his family in Norwalk, the family moved to Colton to be close to Jim's job. Margie gave birth to her ninth and final child in June 1963.
Over the next several years, the family lived in Colton, San Bernardino and Highland. During this time, Margie worked as a nurse's aide on the midnight shift at San Bernardino Community Hospital while obtaining her GED and going on to get her Licensed Vocational Nurse degree. In the early 1970s, she went to work for San Bernardino County in a family practice clinic, followed in the 1980s working for Kaiser Hospital and finishing her career in a Kaiser clinic in Highland, California. She retired at 65 years of age in 1994.
(More to come....)
She joined three older siblings; Ernestine (b.1923), Robert (b.1925) and Bertha "Mae" (b.1927) .
As a toddler, Margie, with her family relocated to Springfield, Ohio, where they lived with Margie's paternal grandmother, Artie Stalnaker in a house that was rented for $25 per month . Four of her dad's siblings, Hanning "Pat", Raymond , Walter and Oval lived there also. Artie, Ernest and Raymond worked at a glass factory while Pat worked at a foundry.
Seven more children were added to the family; Richard, Roy, Ralph, Barbara Ann, Ray Thomas, Randolph and Edwin. The family eventually moved to a farm in Adamsville, Muskingum, Ohio.
In February 1947, Margie was living in Zanesville and working at the Mosaic tile factory. At the end of an evening out, her date summoned a cab. Unfortunately for the young man, he summoned the wrong cab. A 24 year old driver, Jim, listened in on their conversation and decided that he liked what he was learning about Margie. After dropping the young man off, Jim returned to the house where Margie had been taken. He asked her out and just three weeks later on March 10, 1947 James Ernest Gebhart married Margie.
Jim and Margie moved around the Zanesville/Adamsville/Columbus area over the next 15 years while having a family that included 3 boys and 3 girls from August 1948 through June 1960. She also gave birth to premature twins in October of 1953 but Thomas Patrick and Nancy Louise did not survive their first day of life.
In February 1963, following a four year stay in Columbus, Jim decided to go west where the streets were "paved with gold". One very wintry morning he set out in a 1953 Chevy with the two older boys, for California. Just days later, at six months pregnant, Margie boarded a Greyhound bus with the four younger children ranging in age from 2 to 11 years. Her feet remained swollen and her 9 year old (me) vomited from motion sickness, the entire 2,500 mile, three day trip. After initially staying with Jim's brother, and his family in Norwalk, the family moved to Colton to be close to Jim's job. Margie gave birth to her ninth and final child in June 1963.
Over the next several years, the family lived in Colton, San Bernardino and Highland. During this time, Margie worked as a nurse's aide on the midnight shift at San Bernardino Community Hospital while obtaining her GED and going on to get her Licensed Vocational Nurse degree. In the early 1970s, she went to work for San Bernardino County in a family practice clinic, followed in the 1980s working for Kaiser Hospital and finishing her career in a Kaiser clinic in Highland, California. She retired at 65 years of age in 1994.
(More to come....)
Family Members
Siblings
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Ernestine "Ernie" Stalnaker Bingman
1923–2013
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Robert Lee "Bud" Stalnaker
1925–1993
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Bertha Mae Stalnaker Frakes
1927–1996
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Richard Edward "Dick" Stalnaker
1931–2007
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Ralph Larry Stalnaker
1933–1972
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Roy Bradford Stalnaker
1935–1995
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Randolph Eugene Stalnaker Sr
1941–2017
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Ray Thomas "Tom" Stalnaker
1943–1991
