JEFFORDS, JACQUE W. AND JO ANN (MASSINGHAM)

by Jacque Teffords

Entry F223 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Jacque and JoAnn Jeffords

Jacque M. Jeffords was born 1929
at Sutherland, NE, the only child of John M.
and Grace V. Jeffords. John M. was born in
1890 at Alliance and died in 1972 at Kingman,
AZ. where he is buried. Grace V. was born at
Sutherland in 1896, and died of double
pneumonia in 1933 at Brule and was buried
at Sutherland.

John's father, Charles H. Jeffords, was
born in 1838 in Washington County, OH. and
died in 1934 at Broken Bow. His mother,
Mary E. Price, was born in 1859 in Carroll
County, OH, and died in 1943 at Mullen.
Charles H. arrived in Custer County with J.D.
Ream 1880, having driven a wagon with a
team of oxen. Mary E. arrived with her sister,
Agnes, in 1882, driving a team and wagon
from Seward, a distance of 150 miles. They
were married at Broken Bow in 1883, and
from this union Clara (Humphrey) , Carl,
John, and Lucy (Gibson) were born. Their
first home was a sod house located eight miles
southwest of Broken Bow. Charles H. also
homesteaded at the head of the Dismal River
on Cody Lake in Hooker .County. This ranch
has been in the family to the present day.
Jacque's father and mother made it their
home from 1921 until 1929. Charles H. and
Mary E. are buried at Broken Bow, along with
his father, John.

Grace's father, William S. Coker, was born
at Montfort, WI and died at Sutherland in
1932. Her mother, Cecelia Mae Fye, was born
in 1876 at Orangeville, IL and died in 1965.
They had five children: Grace, Irene (Stew-
art) , Adelaide (Kramer), Wylma (Snyder),
and Wm. Stewart. Both Grace's parents are
buried at Sutherland.

Jacque's mother died before he was four
years old, so he lived with his Grandmother
Coker until he completed one year of school-
ing. At the age of eight years he went to live
with his Aunt Clara in Mullen. He entered the
second grade and completed all his schooling
at Mullen, except for his sophomore year,
when he attended Missouri Military Acad-
emy, Mexico, MO.

For a time Jacque's father operated the
movie theatre in Mullen, then located above
the Johnson Grocery Store. Since Jacque
helped take tickets he watched "Gone With
the Wind" eight times (a four-hour movie).
On Saturday nights, after the movie was over,
most of the seats would be moved against the
walls and everyone would dance to the music
of Macke's Band.

Upon graduation Jacque worked a short
time for R.C. Franke Construction Co. of
Mullen, Wayne Marshall, Whitman, and
Oscar Curtis, Alliance. After the blizzard of
1949 he decided to seek a warmer climate and
enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, at which time
he was sent to Texas for Basic Training.
During the UN confiict in Korea Jacque was
shot down over North Korea and was detain-
ed as a Prisoner of War from November 1,
1950 to August 30, 1953. He returned to the
United States and entered the Aviation
Cadet Program and was commissioned a
Second Lieutenant in December 1955.

Jacque married Jo Ann Massingham of
Poplar Bluff' MO, daughter of Lester and
Fannie (Deem) Massingham, and has one
brother, Wallace. Her father was Sheriff of
Butler County and Chief of Police of Poplar
Bluff for many years. Her Grandfather Deem
held the position of Probate Judge for 41
years, the longest of any in Missouri.

Jacque and Jo Ann have two children, John
M., born in 1956, and Judith G., born in 1958,
both in Abilene, TX. John, a Journeyman
Glazier, lives in Denver, CO, and Judy will
earn her Master's Degree in Business Admin-
istration at the Wharton School of Business
and Finance, University of Pennsylvania, in
May 1987. Earlier she earned a Master's
Degree in Community Health at the Univer-
sity of Missouri, Columbia, having graduated
magma cum laude.

The most memorable thing Jacque remem-
bers about living in Mullen was the welcom-
ing he received when he returned from Korea.
The whole town turned out with a parade and
he was presented with a new 1954 Oldsmobile
and the Key to the City of Mullen. It made
the 33 months spent as a P.O.W. a lot easier
to look back on. Another exciting event was
when the fireworks caught on fire in Bill
Wright's bowling alley and the main street
looked like Normandy Beach on D-Day.
Jacquue also remembers when the Co-Op gas
storage tank on the southeast corner of town
caught on fire and the old fire truck with
volunteers put it out, thus saving a possible
disaster. And, last but not least, he remem-
bers the dances at Ashby, Thedford, and
Seneca (where everyone ate at the Beanery
by the railroad tracks).

Jacque and Jo Ann have lived in Texas,
Florida, Delaware, California, and Nebraska,
and have visited all fifty states. Jacque
retired from the Air Force as a Lieutenant
Colonel in 1976, and he and JoAnn moved to
Lake Ozark, MO. where he built their home
on the beautiful Lake of the Ozarks. They are
residing there at the present time.