Autobiography Leroy
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Autobiography of LEROY NEFF 1 To the Family Published by the author Copyright © 1987, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2007 by Leroy Neff 2 Comment [1]: Be sure to repaginate before printing again. CONTENTS Introduction i Chapter 1 Where Did We Come From? 1 Chapter 2 The War Years 15 Chapter 3 The Post War Years 28 Chapter 4 A New Church, A New Beginning! 35 Chapter 5 The Ambassador College Years 44 Chapter 6 Maxine's Illness, We Move to Texas 55 Chapter 7 The Family Grows 66 Chapter 8 More Travels - More Moves 77 Chapter 9 Church Leadership Changes 91 Chapter 10 More Royalty, More Travels 100 Chapter 11 Our Golden Wedding Anniversary 113 Chapter 12 Larry's Accident - Church Turmoil 128 Chapter 13 Is This a New Beginning? 137 Chapter 14 New Home, New Eyes, New Marriages 149 Chapter 15 Two Great-Grandsons and More 161 Chapter 16 The Octogenarians 173 Epilogue 178 Appendix 181 3 Preface to the First Edition Recently, I was a little astonished when one of my grandchildren expressed surprise and ignorance that I had been a teacher at Ambassador College. It was only a few short years ago that my duties as a College instructor took several hours of my life each day. This was long enough in the past, that some of my grandchildren have no knowledge about it. Grandma said I ought to write an autobiography so our children and grandchildren would know more about us. Our children have inherited, for better or worse, many of our physical characteristics. Our grandchildren have received one-half of these characteristics from us. In addition, we have been an influence in the lives of all of you in many ways. What has made me and Grandma like we are? What experiences have molded and shaped us into what we are? None of our grandchildren know very much about those experiences that now encompass more than six decades. Even our children only know what has happened since they were young, and not very much before that. Who were our ancestors before us? They have had an effect directly or indirectly on all of us too. At first I thought that if I took all the trouble to write an autobiography, some of you would not have enough interest to read it. You would probably be more interested in what was on television. I decided to write an autobiography for your sakes. Now it is finished, except for this preface. In reviewing what was written, I already see that some important, some unimportant points have been left out. Possibly some day I will add additional details that were left out. It has taken several weeks work to write and prepare this book. Now I am ready to stop, and to "put it in concrete." Grandma and I hope that you, our family, will learn some of the lessons we learned the easy way - from us. Other lessons you may have to learn the hard way - the way we learned them. That is; to learn by personal and sometimes painful experience. Whether you ever read it or not, here is my story - as I recall it. It is also yours too, as each of you are included! It is also the story of my faithful and beloved wife of more than 45 years. I hope that it is enjoyable and profitable to all of you. 1987 4 Preface to the Second Edition It is now the summer of 1994. It has been seven years since I wrote the original autobiography. Now I want to bring it up to date, and add details that were not included in the original book. Now Maxine and I are over seventy years old. We have been married over fifty years. At our age, life is less certain than it was when we were young. We do not know how many years of life God will give us. We do not know the problems and challenges that lie ahead. But, the past is over and this book tells a little about it. We hope that it will be a help and inspiration to all of you. It is written, revised, and brought up to date in the hope that in the future that all of you, especially the grandchildren, will have a greater interest in learning more about your family background. P.S. Since 1994 I have continued to add new material as the months and years have gone by. It is now the summer of 1997. I intend to continue adding material as time passes and as I have the time or inclination to write. P.P.S. We are in a new century, and a new millennium. I have again added more material to the early chapters and have brought the book up to November 2000 in Chapter XV. P.P.P.S. This edition includes information to our sixty-fifth wedding anniversary, August 2007, with a small amount of additional information and minor changes to the earlier text. 5 CHAPTER I Where Did We Come From? Here is what I have learned about the origin of our name and family. The name Neff is generally believed to have come from the word nephew. The Dutch name is Naef, which literally means hub, such as the hub of a wheel. The word Nave has the same origin as Neff, and in archaic language had the same meaning, hub. This word also refers to the central part of a church, and in Medieval Latin is navis. The later word also related to a ship, and from this we have our modern English word navy. The name Neff, also Naaff, Naef, Näf, Naf, Neif, Nave, were first known by the name Näf in Switzerland. The first man by this name, as far as I can determine, was Hans Näf who was born about 1358. His son Heinrich was born about 1388, and his grandson also Hans, or Hansle, was born about 1430. They lived near Zurich, Switzerland. There were several families of Neff's who in due time lived at Kappel (or Cappel) and Hausen, on a nearby mountain south of Zurich. One of these was Adam Näf. He was born about 1494. He lived in the community of Hausen. He became famous for his heroism at the battle of Kappel (October 11, 1538), in which the Protestant reformer and politician Zwingli was killed. As a result of his heroism the state granted him property and a house in Kappel. His home is still there. In an adjoining house there is a one room Adam Näf Museum. Maxine, granddaughter Debbie and I, visited there on September 9, 1988. Apparently most of the family were members of the Mennonite religion. Many people of this religion were severely persecuted and driven out of Switzerland. Marx Näf, who was a brother of Adam is believed to be our ancestor. His great grandson Hans Rudolph moved to Michelfeld, Germany about 1665. His family was Lutheran. In 1728 one of his descendants, Johann Michael, Sr. emigrated to America. He took with him a wife and five children. They settled in Lancaster Co. Pennsylvania. In later years that part of the county was split off and became Lebanon County. More details are included in the Appendices about our ancestry. Michael's grandson, also named Michael, fought in the Revolutionary war. After the war, he moved to Wythe County, Virginia, (pronounced With). His grave was marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution with a bronze marker, and is located in a family cemetery at Rural Retreat Virginia. Maxine and I have visited this cemetery twice. The last time Carol and Stephanie were with us. My great grandfather, James Anderson Neff, was born in Rural Retreat, on November 15, 1839, and was the second Michael’s great grandson. A short time before 1850, when he must have been about 10 or 11 years old, he moved to Shawnetown, Kansas, more than likely with his parents. I presume this is the same place as the present Shawnee, a town west of Kansas City. In 1861, when he was about 22 years old, he enlisted in the army on the Union side as a private. He fought against his Virginia cousins, directly or indirectly, in that bloody and terrible war. In 1865 he was discharged at San Antonio, Texas, as a First Lieutenant. When we visited the St. Paul's Lutheran Church and cemetery near Rural Retreat, Virginia several years ago, I noticed from the grave markers that some of the Virginia Neff's died in the battle of Manassas, which was the name the South used, also known as Bull Run by the North. 6 After the war, James Anderson Neff moved to Fountain, Colorado. He and his wife Malinda Ellen were parents of my grandfather Bert Francis who was born September 3, 1875. Malinda Ellen died in March, 1878, and was buried in the local cemetery. Buried next to her is her mother, Martha Ann Davis, who died two months earlier on January 4, 1878 at age 58. Several of our family have visited their graves. My great-grandfather then married Margaret Warren, a widow. They later moved to Florida for awhile and then to St. Paul, Minnesota. My grandfather married Gertrude Hurlburt, from Le Sueur, Minnesota on June 11, 1900 at nearby Minneapolis. Great grandfather James was hit by a trolley car in St. Paul and died a couple hours later in June of 1904. My grandfather Bert started to work for the U.S. Postal Service in Reno, Nevada in 1906.