Thirty-Four

 

During the next several years between 1913 and 1918, Jennie often thought back on the pondside conversation with her grandfather. He gave additional advice with which she was in total agreement.

“Jennie,” he had said, “while others might tell you to follow your heart, I have seen how you have a practicality about you which is not given over to sentiment. You have gotten where you are through hard work, perseverance, clear-headedness, and most of all, you have followed your faith.”

“Thank you, Grandfather.” Jennie raised her head and turned toward her paternal figurehead. “I doubt others have this insight. Indeed, until this moment I had not summarized my efforts in such a manner. You know, now that I think of it, you once described qualities your German ancestors had who spent a century in Ireland before your father immigrated to the United states. Faith. Hard work. Perseverance.”

“Well, Jennie, sometimes those old Stark qualities we are talking about skip a generation.”

“You mean, your own father, right? And for that matter, my father, too. Goodness me, I hope that this does not hold true for my own children!”

“I am certain, dearest Jennie, you will instill in them nothing but favorable character traits. Besides, I think those lacking them are the minority in any given generation. Your uncle and aunts are living productive and admirable lives, for example. Your father, also, travelled a better avenue until your mother died. Perhaps he lost his way after that. And the possibility remains he will redeem himself fully. He got a head start with you children.”

Jennie grasped her grandfather’s arm.

“Oh, but I credit you and Grandmother for any success my brothers and I gain. I would say with respect to Father, we persevered despite him, not because of him.”

Jennie often reflected, years later, about that conversation with her grandfather. Her decision to
accomplish her goal of teaching solidified at that moment. She pursued her career by first teaching in the small community of Linneus, Missouri, close to her grandparents’ farm. During the next three summers of 1914 through 1916, she pursued additional coursework at the University of Missouri, the product being

her lifetime certification. This allowed her to teach anywhere in the state.

Rather than becoming an English teacher or one who instructed those of the lower grades, Jennie pursued a pathway few females chose: instructing high school students in mathematics and the sciences. By 1918, she moved from Linneus to Warsaw, Missouri, where she taught subjects including horticulture.

Mr. Victor Hornback moved, alone, to Chicago where he became an advertising executive with Swift & Co. He never married. He served in the Air Force Reserves during World War I and was hospitalized by 1930, dying at the age of 42 in 1934.

Jennie placed the postcard from Mr. Albert Heinz in her mother’s photo album, the only correspondence thus preserved. From its well-worn condition and the thumbtack holes, one can imagine it tacked to Jennie’s wall for years.

It is unknown if Mr. Heinz and Jennie corresponded after his marriage and departure for China. There, he taught in Mongolia and later Siberia. He came back to the United States on a couple of occasions. Like Victor Hornback, Albert died relatively young at age 39.

Wherever Jennie lived, she remained active in the Methodist church. It was probably unsurprising that it was through such affiliation she became acquainted with the Reverend Henry Harris Slaton DuBois. Being thirteen years her senior was not a fatal impediment to their relationship.

“Slaton” DuBois was a widower and the father of four-year-old Martha. Also living with him in 1918 was his eccentric older sister, Mattie. Upon the recommendation of his superior once the relationship with Miss Stark became serious, Mattie returned to her home state of Alabama. There, she became confined to an insane asylum for the remainder of her life.

Slaton and Jennie married on June 20, 1918 in Laclede, Missouri, where her grandparents helped to raise her. On November 26th of the same year, Jennie lost her grandfather James Knox Stark. One week later, her grandmother Sevilla Bittinger Stark joined her husband in immortality.

In Reverend DuBois, Jennie likely found a welcoming shelter. With him, she also rose to a higher purpose. Her son Hubert described his mother as “the intellect of the family.” This is no small praise, as Slaton had graduate credits from both the Vanderbilt divinity school and Washington University Medical School.

Being a circuit-riding minister in rural Missouri meant leading, in terms of financial wealth, an impoverished lifestyle. Sometimes, the minister was paid in eggs and chickens. Often, the parsonage in which they lived was a modest shack.

Renewal of Jennie's Certification
with her Married Name

Hugh described his upbringing as an adventure traveling to new places where he got to know fascinating people he would not have met otherwise. It is with fondness that Hugh remembered a Christmas where the sole present was a rubber ball which he shared with his older brother Bill. Such humility must have warmed his mother’s heart.

Jennie kept up a lifelong active correspondence with family and friends, her letters full of optimism. It is easy to imagine she found grace in a life where she strove to be as Christ instructed—simple, humble, always putting the needs of others first.

As a minister’s wife, Jennie undertook many unpaid but critical tasks, from teaching Sunday School and playing the piano to tending to those who needed a caring and helpful hand. Once her children were raised and gone and her husband retired from the ministry, Jennie returned to her teaching career. No doubt, she gained satisfaction from this, but given that Slaton did not receive any retirement or pension pay, she also provided the means by which the couple could live.

After the couple moved to a house next door to that of her son Hubert, Jennie became more involved with her grandchildren. She gave her son’s family a set of the World Book Encyclopedia and her granddaughter a set of the Reader’s Digest collection of books “for young readers.”

Always the teacher, the game Jennie played with her granddaughter was Scrabble, an often-consulted dictionary at hand. It was likely from her influence that her son read to his daughter every night until at least the age of five as she sat in her father’s lap.

Jennie also was instrumental in instilling a love of music. Many of her children and grandchildren played instruments and sang. Her granddaughter learned how to read music by singing from a church hymnal shared with her father at the age of four.

Three of Jennie’s grandchildren followed in her footsteps by attending the University of Missouri. In 1982, granddaughter Elizabeth posed with her diploma next to the column where Jennie once stood with that of her own.

Her son Hugh and her granddaughter Elizabeth credit Jennie for recognizing the gift of unshakeable faith which carried them through many difficulties in life. For many years, Elizabeth retained a bracelet on which a small round glass ball hung. Within it was a mustard seed. Jennie told her granddaughter that someday her faith would grow as big and as strong as a mustard tree, referring to a parable in the Bible.

She was not entirely wrong.

Jennie “went on to her reward” in 1965 at the age of 73. Her husband preceded her. But her warmth and encouragement continue to reach beyond.

Three days following Jennie’s death, Elizabeth awoke to a vision. Light filled the chair which had been her grandmother’s. The words “you will be fine” came to mind in a manner that Elizabeth clearly understood to come from Jennie. From that moment, Jennie became a guardian angel, forever comforting and inspiring.