ST. ONGE, C.J. AND MAYME

by Lou Long

Entry F401 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

St. Onge house after tornado May 6, 1940

C.J. (Stub) St. Onge was born in Canada.
He worked for a mining company in northern
Michigan until he was transferred to Wyo-
ming around 1900. Mayme was one of eight
children born to Christian and Sophia Larson
at Tampico, Illinois. Only two girls survived
infancy. Mr. Larson moved his family west to
Custer County, Nebraska, and then to Whit-
man, Nebraska where he worked for the
railroad. Christian also filed on a Homestead
in southwest Hooker County. Stub and
Mayme were married in Sunrise, Wyoming,
May 12, 1907. They had one daughter, Celina.
She was born in Sunrise on June 10, 1908.
They St. Onges moved to her Father's Ranch
about 1915. They enrolled Celina in St. Agnes
Academy at Alliance, Nebraska. Mayme and
Stub were residing on the ranch when the
tornado demolished their home, April 17,
1940. Jack Clardy was working for them and
the three went to the basement for protec-
tion. They were in the southwest corner and
the house fell to the east. The storm fright-
ened Mayme so badly that they built a
basement house to live in. Jim and Nellie
O'Brien bought the St. Onge Ranch in 1945.
Mayme and Stub moved to Mullen and Stub
worked as Nightman at the Mullen Light
Plant. Every time the St. Onges visited the
ranch Mayme would relive the day the
tornado hit. The O'Briens found many
articles of Mayme's while plowing the garden
or riding in the north hills. In 1952 the St.
Onges sold their home to Henry and Beulah
Erny. They moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Mayme and Stub celebrated their 50th
Wedding Anniversary in 1957. Celina passed
away in Kenosha on October 21, 1955 leaving
her husband, Walter Christensen and three
children. C.J. St. Onge died Tuesday, Oct. 13,
1959 and Mayme died at the home of her
granddaughter, JoAnne Ruffalo, December
12, 1968.