Progress Notes

William Patrick Lupardus and his friend, Whitney Kroenke, of the state of California, recently dropped in the other day to see our museum (photo 01).

01 Will Lupardus and Whitney Kroenke

William was born and raised in Oklahoma and Whitney originally is from Columbia, Missouri. They were on a trip back to Missouri and other areas to see friends and relatives. On the way, William (known by his friends as Will) happened to mention to Whitney that his Lupardus ancestors were from near Tuscumbia, although he had never been here nor knew much about his ancestry. So, the couple made a quick detour and came on down to Tuscumbia where they found our museum. Will told us that his father also is named William Patrick Lupardus, and his grandfather was named Oren Luke Lupardus. We searched together the Lupardus Family History written by board member and vice president of our society Carl McDonald, himself a Lupardus descendent, and found that Oren was a son of John William Lupardus who was the son of Peter Lupardus, the man who built the large cabin now placed on our museum grounds (photo 02).

02 Peter and Joanne Lupardus

Will said that Oren, his grandfather, left home in 1898 after finishing school here and later obtained his law degree from Washington University in St. Louis. Later, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to live. According to Will, Oren was quite an athlete and had pitched at one time for the St. Louis Browns. He also was one of the early pilots in the Army Air Corps.

Nancy Thompson, our museum director, did some research and found this photo of John William Lupardus and his family (photo 03).

03 John William Lupardus and Family

We aren’t certain which one of the children in the photo is Oren Lupardus, grandfather of Will.

Will was very excited to see the photo of the Lupardus family we have on display in the cabin and even was able to pick out his grandfather Oren, who he believes is the middle one of the three boys on the far right side of the photo (photo 04).

04 Lupardus Family Photo - 1903

Here is a list of the names of those who could be identified in the photo taken from the book, Peter Burton Lupardus written by Carl McDonald (photo 05):

05 Names in Lupardus Family Photo
Click image for larger view

Nancy also found this obituary of Will’s great grandfather, John William Lupardus:

Obituary:

John William Lupardus, prominent Ulman citizen and farmer and stockman of the Brumley community for many years and a dearly beloved father of four sons and a daughter, passed from this life October 10, 1940, at the Wallace Memorial Hospital at Lebanon. Mr. Lupardus was born December 3, 1860, at Sharon, Noble County, Ohio, of parents Peter Burton Lupardus and Mary E. Keyser Lupardus. He lived in Ohio until he was eight years old. In Ohio his older sister, Nancy, and his younger sister, Mary Elizabeth, were born. When he was five years old his mother died. Three years later his father brought his children and their new mother to Missouri, which became the lifetime home of John Will.

At the age of twenty-eight he married Sarah Catherine Cooper and they made their home at Tuscumbia where Otto and Opal were born. They moved then to near the Brockman Ford where Bay and Orin were born. From there they moved to the farm he bought in August 1900, five miles from Brumley. On this farm Lynn and Everett were born.

He became a sincere worker in the community, becoming a member of the Christian Church at Brumley and often serving on the school board of the rural school near his home. For the past three years, after turning the management of his farm over to his son, Lynn, he and his wife, Sarah, until her death in March 1940 made their home in Ulman. On February 17, 1929, they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary among their children and friends at the farm.

John William Lupardus, dearly revered and respected, was a man who had been strong and faithful in his work and his obligations to his family and community. His family could depend upon his integrity and his encouragement to his children in the desire for more education than the rural school offered. It was remarkable in that the distance was far and careful planning a necessity.

He is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Opal Carnes, of the home; four sons, Otto, of Drumright, Oklahoma, Orin of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Lynn of Brumley and Everett of St. Louis. Two grandchildren survive him; Bill, son of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Lupardus, and Charldine, daughter of Mrs. Opal Carnes. He is also survived by one sister, Mrs. H.M. Suillivan; by six half-sisters, Mrs. A.W. Gover, Mrs. Chesley Wyrick, Mrs. B.B. McDonald, Mrs. Scott Helton, Mrs. W.H. Brown and Mrs. Fred Patterson; and by three half-brothers, J.E. Lupardus, H.B. Lupardus and T.C. Lupardus.

Funeral services were conducted by Rev. J.C. Thompson from the Brumley Christian Church Saturday morning at 10:30 o'clock, Oct. 12, 1940. Burial was in Gott Cemetery near Ulman with Adams & Casey Funeral Home in charge.

Nancy Thompson then put together from her research a complete genealogical descendency of the Peter Lupardus family which you can read here (photo 06).

06 Peter Lupardus Descendency
Click image to view complete document in PDF format

Will told us that he is a professional actor and entertainer and has had both movie as well as television roles in the last few years since he moved to California. Indeed, if you Google him more than three thousand hits for Will already are on the internet. The best summary I found for him was at the Internet Movie Database website.

I told Will to be sure and let us know the next time he is appearing on TV or the big screen. So, the next time you see a performer with the name of Lupardus on TV or the movies I just imagine it will be Will since the Lupardus name is not that common!

But it was great fun to learn that a historical Miller County family name now is being taken to Hollywood by Will, a genuine descendent of Peter Lupardus. And it was even more fun that all this occurred just because Will heard the name Tuscumbia as he and Whitney were traveling in this direction and on a whim they decided to visit our little town!

More information about Peter Lupardus can be found at this previous Progress Notes.

You will need to scroll half way down the page to get to the section about Peter Lupardus.

Dwight Weaver (photo 07), who is a noted local author of Lake Ozark, has written another historical book about the Lake of the Ozarks, this time featuring the area just west of the Bagnell Dam sometimes referred to as “The Strip.” Dwight refers to it as Bagnell Dam Boulevard and that is the name he has given to his new book (photo 08).

07 Dwight Weaver

08 Bagnell Dam Boulevard
Click image for larger view

This part of the Lake was one of the first to attract businesses oriented toward visiting tourists. I referred to this area last week when I told the story of my Uncle Ansel Pryor who at the time was a sanitation officer for the Missouri State Department of Health. Almost all the “Strip” is in western Miller County. This is the fifth book Dwight has written about the Lake of the Ozarks and probably is the one with the most photographs. It is a wonderful compilation of old original photos which never would have been preserved if Dwight had not started his life long career of researching and writing about the Lake area forty or more years ago. Many of the businesses on the Boulevard were started by people who moved into the area recognizing the great potential Bagnell Dam and the Lake had for attracting tourists. Of all the commercial developments which have been developed in the Lake area the “Strip” has been the most vibrant and interesting in my opinion. More businesses have come and gone here than any where else around the Lake and it is difficult to keep in mind where many of them were located because of the constant revision of facades as well as building removals and replacements. That is why this book of Dwight’s is so valuable; otherwise, I don’t think anyone could keep up with how the “Strip” has changed so often and so much.

The Boulevard businesses offered many summer jobs to local residents providing a great boon to the local economy. One of the businesses featured by Dwight was started by an uncle of mine, Bob Craven, who had married my aunt Alma Abbett, sister to my grandmother, Sadie Abbett Bear. Bob and Alma’s business was known as the “Chicken Kitchen” and it featured one of the first “Dairy Queen’s” in the area (photo 09).

09 Chicken Kitchen

Here is a photo of Bob working in the Dairy Queen being helped by Pauline Jenkins (photo 10):

10 Bob Craven and Pauline Jenkins

Pauline was the wife of Clyde Lee Jenkins, our noted Miller County historian.

Bob was from Granite City, Illinois and was one of many entrepreneurs from outside our area who recognized the business opportunity offered by the many vacationing tourists who were coming in ever-greater numbers to the Lake back in the late thirties and early forties. Ironically, my aunt Alma had left Miller County to go to Granite City in the late 1920’s during the depression to find work there. That is where she met and married Bob Craven (photo 11).

11 Alma Abbett Craven and Bob Craven (Top)

On one of their visits home to Miller County Bob had the vision to recognize the potential of the Lake area to establish a successful business catering to the tourist industry. So Alma and Bob moved here and stayed for many years. Later Bob owned a motel on the west side of the Glaize Bridge. He also invested in real estate on Highway 54 south of the “Strip” some of which was bought by Lee Mace for his Ozark Opry show.

Here is a description of Dwight’s new book and a biography of Dwight (photos 12 and 13):

12 Book Description
Click image for larger view

13 Dwight Weaver Biography
Click image for larger view

One of the better vantage points for taking photos of the bridge across the Osage River in Tuscumbia is from the top of the hill northwest of the bridge. Here is an old photo of the recently imploded 1933 bridge taken from the hill top more than fifty years ago (photo 14):

14 1933 Bridge at Tuscumbia taken from North

For comparison I took a couple of photos the other day from the same vantage point as was taken for the old photo (photos 15 and 16).

15 New Osage River Bridge

16 New Osage River Bridge

This location is in the back yard of a home first built by my Uncle Ansel Pryor now owned by Monty and Brenda Laffoon.

A month or so ago Tom and Raymond Graves showed me a photo of an old log store where now is located the Red Oak Inn just south of the Osage River bridge (photo 17).

17 Nova Humphrey, Oma Graves and Harry Lee Graves at Station - 1940/41

The Graves brothers pointed out to me the roof line of a building just behind the log structure which they said was the last toll building used for the old swinging bridge. Their father, Walter Graves, had bought the building and moved it to the rear of the log structure located just a short distance south of the river. Tom said the Graves family lived there for a while although the land was owned by his grandfather David Helton. The log structure at the time was a small store and gas station. However, the toll building removed from the bridge was a frame structure. Later, Walter sold the building and it was moved to a location south of the Miller Pulaski County line. I drove over to the Miller Pulaski County line to a location about a half mile south and took a photo of the building which presently is unoccupied (photo 18).

18 Old Bridge Toll Building

Tom said the land on which the house is located now is owned by Don Whittle.

The history of the log building gas station and store to which the toll building had been attached was compiled by Jack Lupardus several years ago:

In 1939, this log building (grocery store and gas station) used to stand on the very same location where Red Oak Inn is built today (photo 19).

19 Red Oak Inn

The building was built prior to the 1930’s. During this time, it is believed this business location was owned by David Helton (Bennett Helton’s Grandfather), who also owned a river bottom farm right above the river bridge. The building also contained living quarters, which was occupied by Mrs. Ella Beard and two of her young children. It is believed Mrs. Beard operated this business for their room and board. Mrs. Beard was also the mother of Jean Lupardus, wife of Harley Lupardus of Ulman. It is believed the old building was torn down between 1948 and 1952. During this time Garland Adcock built a new cobblestone building containing a gas and service station, grocery and liquor store, and living quarters for his family. There have been several businesses at this location prior to Wes Horton, making it the beautiful Red Oak Inn, as we know it today.

Thanks Jack.

Sadly, our friend Jack Lupardus passed away two years ago. He was a great help to our museum, especially in organizing our annual car show. All of us miss him a lot. Here are some photos of Jack I took during the last few years (photos 20 - 23):

20 Jack and Richard Lupardus with Guest

21 Jack Lupardus with "New" Old Corvair

22 Jack Lupardus with Classic Cadillac

23 Jack and Barbara Lupardus

Again this week I will present another chapter from Vance Randolph's book, Ozark Superstitions (photo 24).

24 Vance Randolph

Refer back to the Progress Notes of August 30 to read Vance’s biography. This week Vance writes about “Household Superstitions” (photo 25):

25 Ozark Superstitions - Household Superstitions
Click image to read entire chapter in the PDF format

Judy and I took a short trip to Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago to visit our daughter and her family. While there we went to a local county fair where I saw the biggest pumpkin I think I have ever seen before (photo 26).

26 Big Pumpkin

The sign indicated it weighed 816 pounds! However, Brice Kallenbach told me that he had seen a 1,300 pound pumpkin once so I guess this one in Wisconsin isn’t a record pumpkin. However, it is the largest one I ever saw.

At the airport on the way back home we had just finished going through the detailed inspection and security process at the airport in Madison, Wisconsin when I looked up and saw this sign (photo 27):

27 Air Travel in 2010

The folks in Wisconsin certainly have pegged what it is like these days going through airport security procedures. The word discombobulation may be a neologism but it sure describes what you feel like after being probed and partially disrobed at today’s airports!

That’s all for this week.

Joe Pryor

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