Bessie

Dad and Bessie, his first wife, rented their place out and moved to Idaho where dad’s oldest brother and family lived, in Fruitland. Dad and Bessie were thinking of moving there if they decided they liked it. Uncle Grant and Aunt Nellie owned an orchard and had hired workers, so John and Bessie and their three kids helped and worked. 

Bessie had to have her appendix out. While in the hospital she developed a high fever. The story goes that after a nurse bathed her in cold water, Bessie got pneumonia and died. Dad and his three kids traveled by train back to Missouri to Grandpa and Grandma News who lived in Gaynor. Bessie's body was put on the same train in the baggage car. My mom, Fern, Bessie’s sister and Dad’s second wife, once told me about an old song  "In The Baggage Car Ahead" that reminded her of John and the little ones.

Dad continued to live on the farm west of Sheridan with the help of grandparents and aunts and uncles to help take care of the kids.

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