(SIMPSON) AND LEONARD

by Rosalie Bray Gailey

Entry F50 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Leah Simpson, 1916

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.