(Portion of a poem written in 1977 by Mrs. Dale Beck)
You, Raymond, were born early in May of eighteen hundred ninety-seven.
Parents, Anna (Lumadue) and John gladly welcomed their bundle from heaven.
One sister, Iva, with three brothers, Dave, Frank, and Walter, also greeted you.
Soon you had twin brother and sister, Lizzie and Leslie, and later Zoa, too.
Three youngest to join the family making eleven were Teddy, Albert, Ruth.
Off to Twenty-Five and Pleasant Hill Schools you went to learn of things the truth.
Church was held, and you attended with your family at the Pleasant Hill School also.
Then later Pierce Chapel became your church where you still have membership.
We know that to you Bill Bone as well as Joe Pesak is a familiar name,
Also Roy Miller and Sleeker, too, who in the ring could not put you to shame.
For as wrestler you really did quite well and your opponents would agree;
Crowds filled places such as Empress and Royal Theatres your matches for to see.
Fell in love and in nineteen twenty-one took Ruth Wolfe as your wife to be.
Then when your first born child, Doris, arrived, you became family.
In the twenties and thirties six bouncing boys appeared to call you dad.
Wesley, Dale, Roger, Philip, Deryel, Robert — sometimes good and sometimes bad.
Father of the bride you became in nineteen forty and gained another son.
Later when their baby boy arrived the title of first time proud grandpa you won.
Ruth’s death in nineteen forty-seven left you with five sons at home with you.
Duties were shared with Doris, Lizzie, and Ruth also helping things to do.
Four sons served in the army, but thankfully were returned safely to your door.
All six sons found the girl of their dreams, thus giving you daughters galore.
T’was on the eighth of February, nineteen fifty, Elsie Campbell became your wife.
Now we all know the years of happiness this has added to your life.
Grandchildren arrived for many years until thirty-three is the number at present —
Oh, how these little ones have added joy and helped make your life more pleasant.
Doris’s and Phil’s families are the only two who have lived out of the state.
In California and Arizona so when each returned it was a happy date.
Eighteen is the number who now happily can claim you as their great grandpa.
The oldest was born in sixty-seven and the youngest this March whom you just saw.
(1980 insert: great-grandchildren now number 23)
In different homes and on different farms you have lived but all in Merrick County —
Three farms in Clarks area, one farm and three homes at Central City, we see.
The people you’ve known, the family you’ve loved, the places you’ve lived and the things you’ve done —
They are all a part of this grand eighty years made up of love, joy, work, pain, and fun.
Submitted by Mrs. Dale Beck
Source: Merrick County Historical Society, History of Merrick County, Nebraska (1981), Volume I, Dallas, Texas : Taylor Publishing Company, 1981.