ERNY, ERNEST NORMAN (SPEED)

by Ernest Erny

Entry F131 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

I was born to Frank and Fern Erny on
1928, the youngest of four boys, (Harvey,
Charles, and Leroy) about fifteen miles
southwest of Mullen on what we refer to as
the school section. From what I have been
told, there was four feet of snow on the
ground and my grandmother Erny came and
helped deliver me.

We lived on the school section until 1936
where we attended the Van Deusen School,
either had to walk or ride horseback to get
there. When fire destroyed our house we
moved four miles east to the Mays place,
where we lived and attended the Maire
School until 1940.

My dad and brother Harvey went to an
Aeronautical School in Lincoln and were
guaranteed employment when they finished
school, which turned out to be in Buffalo,
N.Y. at the Curtis Wright Corp. My dad, and
mother and I came back to Buffalo in the fall
of 1940, and my brothers came back in time
for school and Harvey went to work for Curtis
Wright.

Due to family problems my mother and my
brothers Charles and Leroy and I returned to
Nebraska. My mother and I lived East of
Seneca with my Uncle Charlie Buce. My
mother did the house work and took care of
my uncle who was failing in health, and I went
to school in Seneca. We then moved to
Mullen and I went to Mullen High School and
worked for various ranches, Farrar Home
Ranch, Reimer Ranch, Jim Vinton and
Farrar River Ranch in the summer time.
Harvey and Leroy both entered the service
and returned to N.Y. I lived in the Mullen
area until 1946 and then came back to N.Y.
to stand up for Leroy's wedding and that is
when I decided to stay in N.Y.

I got employment in a factory that built
electric motors for fans and air conditioners
until January 1951. Then I got married and
went into the U.S. Army where I served in
Korea. Upon discharge I returned to the
factory where I worked until Aug. 1955 till the
company moved out of state, I then got
employment in another factory who made
commercial knives for the wood and steel
industry, for 13 years, and then got employ-
ment with U.S. Post Office, where I have been
for eighteen years.

I have been happily married now for 35
years to my lovely wife Eleanor and we were
blessed with 3 boys, David, Lawrence and
Gerry. Gerry is no longer with us, as he was
born with Cystic Fibrosis and passed away
the day before his tenth birthday, after being
in Childrens Hospital for 3 years.

David is married and has 2 boys Shaun and
Glenn. David is employed where they print
check books. Larry is married and also has 2
boys, Derek and Adam. He is employed by a
commercial roofing co.

In 1978 due to working a full time job and
building a new home I suffered a bad heart
condition which has slowed me down. I took
3 years of medication and taking it easy to
finally recuperate to where I can lead a fairly
normal life. I am an avid comemorative stamp
collector, and am setting up a complete set
for each generation.

My mother, father and brother Charles are
all deceased along with a lot of my other
relatives. Although I have lived most of my
life in N.Y. I still consider Nebraska my home
and try to visit as often as possible, I now find
when visiting Nebraska there is always less
relatives and people that I used to know.
Have 2 more years to work before I can retire,
and am looking forward to it, as we plan on
doing some traveling around the good old
U.S.A.