This week we continue with the memories of Maude Lillian (Wickerham) Kays who was born on “The Ridge” but later moved to Logan County, Ohio. After marrying Fred Kays, they went to housekeeping in Kansas. Fred had completed three years of college and was three years younger than Maude. After they married, they lived on a farm in Greenwood, Kansas where Fred farmed for a living. Maude gave birth to her first child, Laura in August 1916, Lois in June 1917, Fred Jr., in Nov 1919, Patricia in 1922, Jean in 1924, Robert in 1926 and David Dean in 1930. They kept busy working on the farm and raising their seven children. In 1929, the depression hit and they were thankful they owned their farm, but it still meant that everyone had to work hard to keep food on the table. Maude Lillian and Fred had both been raised with a great work ethic and a deep belief in God in which they were thankful.
In 1930, they continue to live in Greenwood where Fred is listed as a dairyman running a family dairy. In 1940, they are living in Eureka, Kansas where Fred is working as a bookkeeper for a Filling Station. They have three children remaining at home. Later Fred worked for the postal service. In January 1945, Fred died leaving Maude Lillian alone and heart broken.
After Fred’s death, Maude Lillian had to look for some means of making a living for herself. She was not the kind of woman that would tie down any of her children. So, at age 56, she finished out the year of 1945 doing whatever work she could find in Eureka. The next year she took a position keeping house and caring for an old friend of the Kays family who had suffered a stroke. Next, she took a position as supervisor of girls at the Methodist Children’s Home in Newton, Kansas. A year later she resigned from that position and went to work in the infirmary of the Sunset Home in Concordia, Kansas where she worked for the next couple of years. In the fall of 1949, she had an opportunity for a better job at St. Catherine Hospital, McCook, Nebraska and worked there until June 16, 1952. Maude Lillian left that position to go live with her daughter Patricia (Kays) and her husband, LaVerne Ludlam in Grand Junction, Colorado.
In Grand Junction, she went to work for St. Mary’s Hospital. A couple of years later, a Practical Nurse Association was formed in the State of Colorado and a Licensure Bureau. Those who had over two years’ experience working as nurses were approved to become Licensed Practical Nurses by the State. So, in 1954, she became a Practical Nurse and could wear a P.N.A.C. cap. Later, a course for Practical Nurses who had no formal schooling was offered by Mesa College of Grand Junction. She quickly enrolled and passed the tests for a Licensure by the State of Colorado in 1958. She worked as a Practical Nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction until she was 72. Maude Lillian then worked part-time three nights a week at a nursing home in Grand Junction until 1965. After retirement, she spent time traveling to visit her children and their families. Maude Lillian enjoyed reading and telling stories to her great-grandchildren. Her greatest enjoyment was reading. She also enjoyed walking and walked every day until
her health failed. Maude Lillian enjoyed good health throughout her life until two years before her death. She passed away on April 20, 1975, at the age of 86 from respiratory failure and renal insufficiency. She is buried with her husband in the Greenwood cemetery, Eureka, Kansas. Pictured is Maude Lillian and her husband Fred Kays in later years.