(SIMPSON) AND LEONARD

Leah Edith Simpson was born March 19, 1889, near Ansley, the 11th child of Elizabeth and John D. Simpson who had come to America from Bermingham, England, in 1869 and eventually settled in Custer County. After completing her secondary education, she taught for nine years in various small country schools in Custer County. in 1915-16 she attended Peru State Normal School and received an Elementary State Certificate to teach in the public schools of Nebraska, In the fall of 1916 she moved to Mullen to begin teaching at the primary level for the next three years. Returning to Broken Bow, she married Leonard A. Bray at the home of her sister, Mrs. James VanSant, on October 24, 1920.

Leonard Allen Bray was born March 15, 1895, at Mason City. He was one of eight children of Malissa and William N. Bray who also had six children from a previous marriage. After leaving high school which he attended primarily to play football, “Shorty'', as he was known to his friends, tried a few adventurous jobs including the oil fields in Texas, and was working in Wyoming when he was inducted into the Army in 1918. He served as a Mechanic in the Transporta-tion Corps in France during World War I. After returning to civilian life, he began working for James VanSant in the shop of the Nebraska State Highway Department in Broken Bow. After his marriage to Leah Simpson in 1920, the couple spent the winter in Orange, California, on their honeymoon.

While still living in Broken Bow, their first daughter, Rosalie, was born 1924, in Omaha. Three years later the family transferred to Thedford. While residing there, Dixie was born in Broken Bow

1927. The following year the family moved to Mullen where Leonard was

Rosalie started Kindergaretn at age four in 1928 at the urging of her first teacher, Mrs. Marjorie McCully, who remained a lifetime friend of the family after she moved to Visalia, California, where she married Earl Moody, a prosperous rancher in the San Joaquin Valley.

Another lifetime friend, and a weekly visitor to our home in Mullen, was May Stoker. She had lived next door in Broken Bow and was a dental technician and nurse for Dr. Beck and his sons there. On Thurs-days, May and Dr. Loren Beck would drive to Mullen for a two-day dental practice. May had dinner with the family and stayed overnight and would usually walk with the girls on their way to school on Friday mornings back to the dental office. May later married Will Shaddin and moved to Califor-nia. She retired from working in a dental lab in Exeter when she was 83 years old and recently celebrated her 90th birthday in June 1986.

One harrowing experience occurred when Leonard and two of his men were stranded in their vehicle near the “four mile crossing'' durring a heavy winter blizzard. The three men stayed on the railroad tracks and headed west toward Mullen. One of the men, much heavier than “Shorty'', wanted to lie down and rest. When they spotted a light from a farm house one mile from town, the other man headed for it to get help, reporting that two men were still our there and one of them was down. Fortunately, Leonard had stayed with the man and kept him moving or he might have frozen to death.

Leonard worked for the State of Nebraska for over 20 years, but on July 31, 1941, he was informed that his work at Mullen was over. They wanted him to go to Broken Bow, but a half-sister lived in Long Beach, California, and he learned that there were jobs available in a much more pleasant climate. Since the two girls had just graduated from High School and the 8th grade, by August 15 it was decided to move west. Most of the household belongings were sold at auction on August 23. Leonard made a trailer and packed it and the car, and on August 28 the Bray family left for California, arriving at Aunt Clella's house in Long Beach on the morning of September 1, 1941. Soon afterward Leonard found work in the shipyards which were gearing up for the coming war.