CRAIN – HENRY FAMILY
Walter S. Crain, oldest son of Squire and Martha (Duke) Crain was the sedond child to be born Hooker County. He was born in a dugout July 14, 1888. His folks came here from Crawfordville, Indiana and lived in a dugout until they were able to build a sod house. They had to go to Anselmo for their mail and supplies. Later they moved to the place where Mick Harding now lives.
Walter always told that he went to school for eight years – but just went when all the work was done in the fall and had to quit in the early spring to help. He was the only boy in the family and had three younger sisters: Clara (Crain) Adams, Lillie (Crain) Lowe, and Pearl (Crain) Harding. When he was eleven or twelve years old, he helped trail sheep from Elsie, NE, to the home place southwest of Mullen. His dad told that their first shipment of cattle to the Omaha market brought a return of three cents a pound.
Walter was on the place with his father until he and his brother-in-law Berlin Adams, bought a ranch on the Dismal River where Charles Munn now lives. A few months before he was married, he sold his share of the ranch to Berlin.
On April 12, 1917, he married Mable Henry, daughter of Joseph and Emma (Rus-sell) Henry of Omaha, Nebraska. They were married in her parents home. Mable had two older sisters, Maude and Blanche and two brothers, Frank and Ralph, younger. She received her education in Omaha and was an employee of the Omaha Daily News and the Cleveland Drug House as a stenographer and bookkeeper.
In 1915 she came to Mullen as a bookkeep-er for the J.H. Morrison General Store and was married to Walter. After a wedding trip to Montana, they stayed at his parents ranch while his mother went to Omaha to have a leg amputated. A milk cow had kicked her and caused the leg injury.
Later they moved to the place ten miles southwest of Mullen which Fred Kraye now owns. Here four children were born, Ralph Walter in 1919 who only lived six weeks. In 1921 twins (Claude and Ruby) were born and in 1926 Gay Donald was born and died at birth.
While on the ranch every summer many of the nieces and nephews from Omaha and Sioux City came to spend their vacations. At one time they took a little neighbor boy, whose folks were having a rough time, and sent him to school for a couple of years. All neighbors, friends, and travelers were always welcome at the Crain ranch. There was always a big garden and plenty to eat.
They continued ranching until 1942 when they moved to the place east of town where Sam Simonson now lives. They ran a dairy for several years before retirement in 1953.
Their daughter, Ruby, married Jim Simon-son in 1942. She and Alan stayed with her folks while Jim was in World War II. Their son Claude married Kathryn Kostos in 1945. Claude and Kathryn had no children and Ruby and Jim had five. The grandchildren Alan, Sam, Linda, James, and Tim became a very important part of Walter and Mabel's later life.
Mable was an active member of the Order of the Eastern Star, United Methodist Church, and the Women's Society of Chris-tian Service. Walter was a 59-year member of the Mullen Lodge #282 AF and AM.
Mable died at the age of 72 on June 9, 1960. Claude died March, 1961 at the age of 40.
After Mable died Walter kept active and enjoyed going to the bowling alley to visit and drink coffee. He also went to most of the school functions, as long as he was able. He spent his last five year in a trailer home in Ruby and Jim's yard.
Walter died November 29, 1975, at the age of 87. He and Mable are buried in Cedarview Cemetery in Mullen.