Floyd (Frank) Rucker Ryland

This post goes from 1884 to 1962 for his life, but a lot longer for his descendants.

Here are the generational links in the Ryland family chain, at a glance:

Paul Ryland → John → William Sr. → William Jr. → FRANK RUCKER RYLAND

That closes out the Ryland family chain at this website, but their offspring live on.

Here are the Ewings:

James → John → Catherine m. William Ryland → William Jr. → Floyd (Frank) Rucker Ryland

You can claim Scottish heritage through the Ewings. The Ewing Family Association is active, and you can join, if you like.

THE BASICS

Floyd (Frank) Rucker Ryland Was born October 19, 1884 in S. Haven, Sumner County, KS. They divorced on March 23, 1928. He later married Odessa (Desi) Emmaline Peterson, on January 17, 1929 in McMinnville, Yamhill County, OR; no issue. He died November 26, 1962 in Corvallis, Benton County, OR; his body was cremated, and the ashes committed to Pacific Ocean off Fogarty Point.

He married Ella (Rae) Washington Wilbourn

She was born May 13, 1889, Santo, Palo Pinto County, TX. She and Frank married February 18, 1907, Salinas County, KS. Then they divorced on March 23, 1928. She later married Reese Clark, no children; he died September 29, 1971. She died January 26, 1982 in Medford, Jackson County, OR; she was buried January 30, 1982, in San Diego, CA.

Their Children

Floyd Malcolm was born on August 28, 1909 in Chattanooga, Oklahoma. He married (1) Dorothy May Small, May 17, 1929, in Yuma, Arizona, no issue; (2) Georgia Louise Heiler, September 13, 1942, Las Vegas, Nevada, no issue; (3) Jane Garratt Waldo. He was Vice President of Bayshore Motors, San Diego. He died on July 19, 1956. His body was cremated and placed in Cypress Mortuary in San Diego.

Max Sheldon was born May 21, 1911, in Lawton, OK. He married Marjorie Celestine Sanders October 23, 1933, in Vancouver, WA. He was self-employed. He died March 6, 1983 in San Diego, and his ashes were placed in Cypress View Mortuary, San Diego Marjorie died May 24, 2011, at 5:30 a.m. Her ashes were placed in the same mortuary, next to her husband’s.

Ella Leon (our direct line.

Ella Leone was born on October 30, 1917 in Baker, Baker County, Oregon. She was married October 24, 1940 to Asa. They divorced October 22, 1952, Linn County, Oregon. Then she married Robert Andrew Arlandson December 25, 1953, Albany, Linn County, Oregon. She died on September 21, 1994 in Medford, Jackson County, Oregon, and was buried on September 26, 1994, in Eagle Point National Cemetery, Eagle Point, Jackson County, Oregon.

FRANK’S CENSUS RECORDS

March 1, 1885

Sumner County, Kansas. Kansas State has a mid-decade Census, which was enumerated March 1, 1885. This is good fortune. Now we can find Floyd (Frank / Slim) R. in his first census, which is just about as good as a birth certificate, especially since it did not go back that far, in Kansas. Unfortunately, the census taker’s handwriting was sloppy, so Floyd’s age is difficult to decipher, but it appears to be 5 months; the census taker scribbles out an “m,” which stands for month.

1885 Kansas State Census Guelph Township, Sumner County, Kansas
Name	Age	Sex	Race	Married	Single	Widow	Occupation	POB	Where from to KS?
Wm Ryland	57	M	W	Yes			Farmer	OH	MO
Janie “	25	F	W	Yes				KY	KY
Floyd R “	5 m	M	W		Yes			KS
Census date is March 1, 1885. KS has a mid-decade census. All dwelling homes and families are marked with a 1 or / or I. Age is at last birthday; the top line on the page is filled in with farmer, and all other names have the ditto mark (“); that is, they’re all farmers. Floyd R’s age is illegible.

1900

This census shows that Eliza Ann is living with her daughter Hannah Jane and her children little Floyd (Frank) Rucker and Bessie May. So we have three generations: Grandmother Eliza Ann, mother Hannah Jane, and son and daughter Frank and Bessie. We also find Frank’s and Bessie’s half-brothers and half-sisters, Amy Elsie, Archie Andrew, and Ella Hazel, children of Carl Frederickson and Hannah Jane. It looks like Carl hired a farm laborer.

1900 Census of the United States Guelph township, Sumner Township, Kansas
Name	Relat-ion	Color or Race	Sex	Date of Birth Mo / Yr	Age at last birthday	Marital Status	No. of years married	Mother of how many children	No. of these children now living
Frederickson, Carl	Head	W	M	8/49	50	Married	10
— Hannah J	Wife	W	F	9/60	39	Married	10	5	5
— Amy E.	Dau	W	F	9/91	8	Single
— Archie A.	Son	W	M	9/93	6	Single
— Ella H	Dau	W	F	6/96	3	Single
Ryland Floyd R.	Step-son	W	M	10/84	15	Single
— Bessie M.	Step-dau	W	F	8/86	13	Single
Vickers, Eliza A.	Mother in law	W	F	4/28	72	Widow		9	5
Galbreath, George W.	Ser-vant	W	M	1/46	54	Married	34

Name (cont’d)	POB	Father POB	Mother POB	Can Speak English	Occupation	Education: Read, Write	Home owned or rented	Farm or House	N. of Farm Schedule
Frederickson, Carl	Den-mark	Den-mark	Den-mark	Eng	Farmer	Can read, write	O	F	88
— Hannah J	KY	KY	KY	Eng		Can read, write
— Amy E.	KS	Den.	KY	Eng	At school 7 mos.	Can read, write
— Archie A.	KS	Den.	KY	Eng	At school 6 mos.	Can read, write
— Ella H.	KS	Den.	KY
Ryland Floyd R.	KS	OH	KY	Eng	At school 6 mos.	Can read, write
— Bessie M.	KS	OH	KY	Eng	At school 7 mos.	Can read, write
Vickers, Eliza A.				Eng		Can read, not write
Galbreath, George W.	IL	KY	KY	Eng	Farm laborer, 4 mos. not employed	Can read, write
Dwelling no. in order of visitation: 92; family no. in order of visitation: 92. Enumerated on 8^th day of June 1900. The 1910 Census, not included in this file, (Sheet 6B, Guelph Township, Sumner Co., KS) shows Carl Frederickson by himself, at 60 years old, “single” (not “widowed”) a farmer, renting a farm, not naturalized. Other census data, not included in this Table, say that Carl Frederickson immigrated in 1866, and had lived in the US for 33 years. So if the data are accurate (and they are often not), he was 17 when he took the big step.

Photo of him learning to cut hair:

He’s at the back chair, cutting.

1910

In the 1910 Census, Frank Ryland and his wife Ella (Rae) Washington (Wilbourn) Ryland live with his sister Bessie May and her husband Leslie Trebbe, while owns his barber shop. It appears that he is settling down, but not entirely, as he will eventually move his family to Oregon.

1910 Census of the United States Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma
Name	Rela-tion	Sex	Color or Race	Date of Birth Mo / Yr	Age at last birthday	Marital Status	No. of years married	Mother of how many children	No. of these children now living
Trebbe, Leslie T	Head	M	W		32	M1	5
— Bessie M	Wife	F	W		23	M1	5	1	1
Harold T	Son	M	W		4	S
Ryland, Frank	Brother- in-law	M	W		25	M1	3
Ella W	Sister-in –law	F	F		20	M1	3	1	1
Malcolm	Nephew	M	W		7/12	S

Name (cont’d)	POB	POB of Father	POB of Mother	English or other lang-uage	Occupation	Empl’er Empl’ee working own account	Education: Read, Write	Home owned or rented	Farm or House
Trebbe, Leslie T	MO	MO	MO	English	Foreman, Gen works	W	Read, write	Only check-ed,
— Bessie M	KS	OH	KY	English	Seamstress At home	O[E?]	Read, write	Rent	House
Harold T	KS	MO	KS	English
Ryland, Frank	KS	OH	KY	English	Barber, owns shop	OA	Read, write
Ella W	TX	LA	GA	English	None		Read, write
Malcolm	OK	KS	TX	English
Page 11A; House no. 714; No. of dwelling house 418; Family no. 9197; Enumeration District, 2^nd Ward; enumerated 27^th April 1910. Lawton City (part of) The 1910 Census is filled with useful categories, but only the ones that were marked have been included in this table. For the category “Whether out of work on April 15, 1910” (not shown here), Leslie Trebbe is marked “no.” And for the category “No. of weeks out of work during year 1910” (not shown here), Leslie Trebbe is marked “0.” The other persons are unmarked for those two categories

Photo of Frank starting out in his business:

He’s in the front.

1920

This one is difficult to read because of the light ink in the original. But I hope I got things right.

1920 Census of the United States

Baker, Baker County, Oregon

4^th Precinct

Name

Relation

Sex

Race or Color

Age at Last Birth-day

Marital Status

Any school-ling since 9/1/19?

Able to read

Able to write

Ryland, Frank R

Head

Yes

— Ella W

Wife

Yes

— Floyd M

Son

Yes

— Max S

Son

Yes

— Ella L

Daughter

Name (Cont.)

POB

POB of Father

POB of Mother

Able to speak Eng

Trade

Industry Business

Employer Salary, Wages

Ryland, Frank R

Yes

Barber

Shop

— Ella W

Yes

None

— Floyd M

Yes

None

— Max S

Yes

None

— Ella L

Yes

None

Sheet 7B; house no. 2420; no. of house in order visited: 64; no. of family in order visited: 67. Enumerated Jun 9, 1920; Frank McDonald, enumerator. The 1920 Census is filled with useful categories, but only the ones that have been marked in the original are included in this table, or they are included in this final comment section. The census says, right after the list of names, Frank owned his home and was F (free), as opposed to M (mortgaged). The very last category says, “Employer, Salary, or wage worker, or working on own account.” It is marked “oa” for “own account.”

Photo in about 1928:

1930

1930 Census of the United States

Corvallis City, Benton County, Oregon

Precinct 7,

320 Van Buren

Name

Relation

Rent, Own?

Value,

Rent?

Radio Set?

Sex

Race

Age last B-D

Marital condition

Age at 1^st marriage

Robert A. Osborn

Head

Ilah F. Osborn

Wife

Frank Ryland

Lodger

Odessa P. Ryland

Lodger

Name (Cont.)

POB

POB of Father

POB of Mother

Able to speak English Read Write

Occupa-tion

Indus-try

Class of work-er

Vet

War or Expedi-tion

Robert A. Osborn

Yes

Prof. Chemistry

Col-lege

Ilah F. Osborn

Yes

None

Frank Ryland

Yes

Proprietor

Barber shop

Odessa P. Ryland

Canada Eng

Yes

Operator

Barber shop

Ancestry.com says Robert A. Osborne is the head, while Frank and Odessa are lodgers; however, their house numbers are different. Anyway, Robert and Frank pay the rent separately and monthly; they don’t live on a farm; no one attended school in last year. “Class of worker”: O = owner; E = Employee; but I’m not sure what W stands for unless it’s Worker. “War or Expedition”: WW stands for World War = WWI. WWII had not yet begun.

HIS EARLY LIFE IN KANSAS AND OKLAHOMA

May 21, 1888

Frank Ryland’s father, William Ryland, dies. He is 61 years old, and his son is less than 4 years old. Bessie May, Frank’s sister, is less than two years old. It seems that Hannah Jane became a single parent with two young children. Fortunately, it seems that she had her mother Eliza Ann to help out (her father James died in 1887).

According to William’s Will, dated April 23, 1888 (see the William and Hannah Jane Ryland post), Frank was to receive the following:

I give devise and bequeath to my son Floyd Rucker Ryland the East half (½) of the North East quarter (¼) of Section Thirty four (34) Township Thirty four (34) Range one (1) east, To Have and to Hold as his own his heirs and assigns forever Also Four Hundred Dollars in cash said Four Hundred Dollars shall be kept out on Compound interest secured by Mortgage on real estate untill [sic] he becomes twenty years of age

I wonder if he saw any of the property and money – with compound interest – when he reached twenty years old. .

Four hundred dollar by itself, not to mention compounded with interest, was a huge amount in 1888. By comparison, in Frank Ryland’s father’s Inventory and Appraisement (see William Ryland Jr’s post), two mules were valued at $150.00, a two-year-old colt at $50.00, three cows at $60.00, and an organ at $75.00.

Incidentally, Bessie May was to receive about the same as her brother. The Will states:

I give devise and bequeath to my Daughter Bessie May Ryland the North half (½) of the North West quarter (¼) of Section Thirty five (35) Township Thirty four (34) Range one (1) east the same to have and to Hold as her own her heirs and assigns forever and also Four Hundred Dollars in Cash the said Four Hundred Dollars to be kept out on Compound interest secured by Mortgage on Real estate untill [sic] she becomes twenty years of age

Did Bessie May receive the property and money – with compound interest – when she reached twenty years old?

A mere two years later . . .

April 3, 1890

Frank Ryland’s mother Hannah Jane Ryland was a single parent, though her mother Eliza Ann helped her. Then Hannah married Carl Frederickson, from Denmark on that date (see the Carl Frederickson and Hannah Jane post). Frank Ryland is about 6 years old, and Bessie May is about 4.

The 1910 Census in Carl Frederickson and Hannah Jane’s file shows that Carl eventually lived alone after Hannah died on December 2, 1902, and he was not naturalized (see the comments at the bottom of the 1900 Census in that post). When she died, Frank was 18 years old and Bessie May was 16.

How was Carl as a stepfather? Jean M. (Frederickson) Jackman is the daughter of Archie Andrew Frederickson, son of Carl. So Jean is Carl’s granddaughter. She writes in a letter to me, dated February 6, 1995, the following:

Based on our understanding that Carl Frederickson was maybe not a very great father, it is certainly reasonable that the step children would depart as quickly as possible.

Apparently, at the 1910 Census Frank and Bessie lived together with their young families in Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma.

February 18, 1907

Floyd (Frank) Rucker Ryland and Ella Washington Wilbourn get married. He was born on October 19, 1884, and he was married on February 18, 1907. Yet he told the judge who performed the ceremony that he was 21 years old – or perhaps the judge or registrar or copyist wrote down the wrong year (these documents are far from flawless, as seen by the different spellings of the County name). If his birth date is correct, he was actually 23 years old.

I leave in the inconsistencies, like the different spelling of Salinas County. It is a preprinted form with the blanks filled in by hand. Those are indicated by the italics font.

State of Kansas

Central Division of Vital Statistics

P. J. No. 3851

Marriage License

In the Probate Court of Salinas, County, February 18, 1907

To Any Person in the State of Kansas Authorized by Law to Perform the Marriage Ceremony, Greeting:

You Are Hereby Authorized to Join in Marriage

Frank Ryland of Geneseo, Kansas, Age 21

Ella W. Wilbourn of “ “ Age 18

With the consent of —-

And of this license, duly endorsed, you will make return to my office at Salina Kansas, within ten days after performing the ceremony.

(Seal) L. J. Supple,

Probate Judge

ENDORSEMENT

To whom it may concern:

I hereby certify that I performed the ceremony joining in marriage the above named couple, on the 18^th day of February, 1907, at Salina, [sic] Kansas

Signed: L. J. Supple

Title: Probate Judge

Address: Salina [sic], Kansas

CERTIFICATE OF COPY

State of Kansa, Salini [sic] County, ss.

I, Judge and Ex-Officio Clerk of the Probate Court of Salini [sic] County, State of Kansas, do hereby certify the above and foregoing to be a true, full and complete copy of the marriage license issued to Frank Ryland and Ella Wilbourn as the same remains of record in my office in Marriage License Record Vol. G Page 145

Witness My Hand and the seal of said Court, affixed at my office in Salina [sic] this 28^th day of November, A.D., 1942

Fred D. Joy, Probate Judge

Wedding Photo of Frank and Ella

FRANKS’S LIFE IN OREGON

He chose to leave Kansas and Oklahoma and carry on his career as a barber.

World War I Draft Registration Cards about Frank Rube Ryland

From his middle “name,” he was a prankster in his own small way. The original is too light to post here.

Name:	Frank Rube Ryland
City:	Not Stated
County:	Baker
State:	Oregon
Birth Date:	19 Oct 1884
Race:	White
Roll:	1851979

Source Information:

Ancestry.com. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005. Original data: United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls.

About late 1950’s

1953

Here follows a series of newspapers clippings. Unfortunately, the older generation did not write down the dates or the newspaper titles.

The headline reads:

Terminal Bob Beauty Shop

The subtitle reads:

Located in the Terminal Bldg. in Corvallis, Is One of the Foremost Bob Shop, Beauty Parlor and Manicuring Establishment in This Section of the State.

The article begins:

In a comprehensive review of this kind embracing as it does the most salient features of our onward progress, we shall not fail to devote space to this popular beauty parlor and barber shop. There is a saying that beauty is only skin deep, but we have found upon observation, and study that beauty is one-fourth natural and three-fourths care.

Science has made great advances in the last few years, and many of the old-fashioned ideas have been discarded for the new results ofe [sic] science.

Marcelling, shampooing, hair bobbing, scalp and facial treatment and permanent waving are done by the Terminal Bob Beauty Shop, in a most efficient satisfactory manner and young women are going to their shop from all parts of this and adjoining counties.

The management is in the hands of those who have been thoroughly trained in their profession and have knowledge of the hair and scalp which not only makes it your advantage to seek their professional advice but also their skillful treatments will add to your personal appearances and no doubt in many cases, preserve and beautify the scalp and hair. Their barber will cut your hair in the latest styles and will advise you as to the Bob best suited to your need. They carry a full line of the best toilet preparations and make it their policy to furion [sic] and make it their policy to furnish [sic] the best there is in this line, and will handle only such preparations as will give the best of satisfaction. Many skin troubles can be traced to the wrong kind of lotions and preparations.

We are pleased in this review to compliment them upon their well merited success and see their patronage increasing.

A photo shows a shop with three male barbers standing behind three chairs. The caption read:

This picture was taken about 1921 of the barber shop in the old terminal building. Many of you know, of course, John Allen and Slim Ryland, in fact you will find John now at the barber shop in the Benton hotel that is when he isn’t fishing. I guess when it comes to bass fishing he is the tops. Slim is now living here in Corvallis and was the one to start the first women’s beauty parlor, right next door to the barber shop. According to him it was quite a headache.

The headline and write up in another undated newspaper clipping reads:

Give Hundreds of Waves

At the Terminal Bob and Beauty Parlor shop, Terminal Building, in the little city of Corvallis, Oregon, Mr. Frank Ryland, the proprietor, has give almost two hundred permanent waves since installing the Eugene method in March of this year, and almost all of these waves have been done by Mr. Ryland, personally, after the closing hour in the evening, at his time during the day is given over to haircutting.

In his work as a hair-cutting artist, Mr. Ryland believes his success is amplified by his policy of first allowing a customer to tell him how she wishes her hair cut, then make suggestions, which ordinarily meet with approval.

May 31, 1953

Sunday Journal Magazine, pp. 8-9.

The headline reads, punning on the bob hairstyle:

He Went Bob, Bob, Bobbing Along

The subtitle says:

Slim Ryland Was Brave When He Dared to Start Bobbing Women’s Hair in Corvallis 30 Years Ago

By Jean Mater

Description of drawn image:

Holding scissors, with a comb on his ear and looking anxious, a Barber (Slim)

looks out of his door at a fleeing woman, still wearing her covering.

Caption reads:

Young woman became panicky as Slim began to trim off her long tresses. With a shriek, she bolted out of shop, but returned to have job finished.

The article begins:

In 1953, When Milady decides to have her hair cut, she casually makes and appointment at a beauty shop and has the job done with no fuss and little comment, except perhaps a pretty compliment from a tactful hubby or adoring beau.

But a bare 30 years ago when a lady had her hair bobbed she was carving out a red letter day, to rank in memory with her first dance, the day she became engaged and when baby cut his first tooth.

Thirty years ago to bob or not to bob was a momentous decision involving morals, a woman’s standing in polite society, and a place in history. Some us will never forget the day we made the great decision and timidly entered a man’s barber shop to whisper hoarsely, “I want a hair bob.”

Husbands recall with horror the evening they came home from work to face wives shorn like sheep of their beautiful tresses. Some of us remember the melodramatic scenes following Mother’s unheralded visit to the barber, how Father raged and Mother wept, and we cowered behind overstuffed chairs until the storm blew over.

Many of us don’t remember 1923 because we hadn’t been born then and that year is just another in an incredible yesterday.

To Frank Ryland, habitually referred to as “Slim” for obvious reasons, the feminine stampede to bobbed hair is the story of his life, or at least the past 30 years of it. Slim was one of the brave breed of barbers who first tackled the shearing of women’s crowning glory way back when.

Slim Came to Corvallis, where he still lives, in 1921 and opened up a barber shop. That was the year women’s skirts began to rise, but fashion experts were reading in their crystal balls that next hemlines and ankles would become close friends. Slim, who has literally barbered his all over the West – Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado – before lighting in Corvallis, did a thriving business keeping men’s hair slick and neat.

The barber shop was a man’s cozy world, vibrating with men’s lusty jokes and the heated talk of politics and prohibition. In the barber shop a man could loosen his collar and enjoy freedom from women’s whims.

Such paradise was doomed to be not long for this world. As into every Garden of Eden sooner or later women came. The diary keepers of those years say that Irene Castle started it all. Back during World War I the famous dancer had startled the world by snipping off her beautiful hair. The fashionable, the daring, the younger women followed her example.

But in 1921, at the grand opening of Slim’s barber shop, the average American housewife was still whirling masses of hair around her head. In the Ladies’ Home Journal, Harper’s Bazaar, and other arbiters of women’s behavior ladies in ads were to be seen dusting, baking cakes, and living under the weight of long tresses.

By 1924, the ads began to compromise with the inevitable and some ladies wore short hair, some long hair. By 1926, no fashionable model in an advertisement would have been seen in her kitchen with anything but short, short hair, fuzzed out all over, porcupine style, with a marcel.

It Was During these turbulent years, when women were hoisting their skirts, baring their knees, sheathing their legs in flesh-colored silk stockings, becoming acutely conscious of the lure of “natural” curves, discarding unmentionables, and, indeed, it seems to some, discarding everything which had been held sacred for generations, that the Garden of Eden suffered the first wave of the female invasion. Women appeared at the door of Slim’s barber shop.

They came diffidently at first, making quiet appointments for the evening when no men were in the barber shop. While the dark of night brewed a protective witchery of her own, Slim’s scissors went snip, snip, straight across the back and straight across the front, coming out with a Dutch look.

They came with their emotions tight as a sail under full wind. Slim recalls with sympathy the turmoil some of his customers went through those early days of the hair bob. One woman returned to Slim a few days after shearing, dripping tears. “My husband is so angry he hasn’t eaten for three days,” she sobbed. “What shall I do?”

In a comforting gesture Slim offered to find the price of a hair switch to cover the daring length of her hair. That process took so long whether by design or accident, Slim won’t say, that by the time he could supply the switch the husband had become reconciled to the short bob.

Another of Slim’s hair-bobbing trail blazers showed up for her appointment on schedule and settled herself in the chair with an appearance of outward calm. Until Slim started waving his scissors at her hair. Her eyes opened wide in terror, she jumped out of the chair and ran screaming from the shop. Several days later she appeared at the barber shop again and this time submitted to Slim’s scissors, though she bit her lips raw as he worked.

The barber shop was still a man’s world, though. Women were strangers in barberland.

Then Along About 1925, into Slim’s barber shop walked a young college girl. Slim and his partners, Jeff Davis and John Allan, were busy cutting their men customers’ hair. Lois Thurston, a member of Gamma Phi Beta sorority at Oregon Agricultural college, had in her hand a cover from the current Harper’s Bazaar, drawn by a French artist named Erte. On the cover was a lady’s head, adorned with a magnificently shaped bob – the Shingle Bob.

“Can you cut my hair like this?” Lois asked one barber.

“I wouldn’t touch it,” he replied.

“Can you cut my hair like this?” Lois asked a second barber.

He shook his head with a definite “No!”

“Can you cut my hair like this?” Lois asked Slim.

Slim studied the cover drawing in Lois’ hand and replied bravely, “I’ll try,”

And with these heroic words Slim shed the role of a man’s barber for the more exciting, and more demanding, role of a women’s beautician. The shingle haircut he gave Lois Thurston – who is now Lois Jenkins, the well-known bridge expert, became an instant sensation among the girls at the college. Her sorority sisters stormed Slim’s shop for a “Gamma Phi” cut. Boys brought their girl friends into Slim’s shop, forming a cheering squad as Slim snipped his way up the back of the girls’ hair.

The men’s jokes were packed away in mothballs. In deference to the girls occupying the seats in the barber shop, conversation was censored. Alas, for the Garden of Eden! Men peeked in the window at the women waiting for Slim to cut her hair, sighed and turned their steps towards barber shops where a man could still be a man.

Slim found that he was doing so much business he was putting himself out of business. Prosperity forced him and his partners into an important decision: They would divide the barber shop – one side into a beauty parlor for ladies only; the other into a barber shop for men only.

After Its Brief, unhappy excursion into the never-never land of mixing men’s and women’s haircuts, the barber shop regained its independence. On the barber shop side the jokes and stories came out of storage. In the privacy of the beauty shop side talk of babies, skirt lengths and women’s emancipation flitted gaily between women “having their hair done.”

Slim’s business boomed, almost too loudly. College authorities registered alarm at the tender young co-eds swarming at the door of the beauty parlor, right next door to a men’s barber shop. To keep the peace Slim moved the beauty shop away. Thus beauty and barber shop came to a final, reluctant parting of the ways, perhaps forever.

Slim recalls the first permanent waves with the newly developed permanent wave machines. In those days a permanent was a baptism by fire. If a woman didn’t get burned six or seven times during the half day she boiled under the machine, it wasn’t a good permanent. He confesses that he was so scared he’d electrocute one of his customers he didn’t dare use the permanent wave machine at first. It took a Canadian beautician to show him how, and only a waiting list of women clamoring for permanents forced him to tackle the job.

His beauty parlor then had only one hair dryer, a spout with a blower-fastened to a cap. Other customers sat around fanning their hair dry with palmleaf fans supplied by Slim.

Slim is partial to cutting children’s hair, and never a tear is shed as he chatters while he snips.

Now crowding 70, Slim has been through the Shingle, spit curls a la Clara Bow, the “It girl,” Page Boy, Feather Bob and has loved them all with the passion of an artist.

Slim retired from the beauty parlor several years ago, but scores of women in Corvallis and in near-by towns still come to Slim for the haircut he has been giving them since they were youngsters.

Watching Slim at work you know that if he had to do it all over again, he would choose 30 years of bobbed hair.

Transcription ends.

The headline and write up in another undated clipping reads:

Will Rogers, Jr., Visits Albany

A newspaper article reads:

Bearing the Democratic banner to this area in behalf of local as well as national candidates, Will S. Rogers, jr., son of world-famed late Claremore, Okla., humorist loved by and lover of mankind, came to Albany today.

The distinguished son of the distinguished father was here but briefly accompanied by Monroe Sweetland, Newport, Ore, publisher and democratic leader, by whom he was met at Klamath Falls, yesterday. It was Rogers’ first visit to Albany.

Rogers spoke last night at Klamath Falls at a Democratic rally where he took issue with the reputed statement of Congressman Lowell Stockton that “Indians aren’t worth educating.”

“I can testify otherwise,” Rogers said, “for I myself am a sixth-blood Cherokee and proud of it.”

The Beverly Hills publisher and prominent California politician figure spoke at a Democratic luncheon in Corvallis this noon and at an Oregon State college student body assembly this afternoon. He is scheduled to address a Democratic dinner at the Multnomah hotel in Portland tonight and a public meeting in the Benson hotel auditorium later, after which he will fly back to Los Angeles.

The genial 37-year-old campaigner is publisher of the Beverly Hills Citizen. While here he toured the Democratic-Herald plant and conferred with Orval Thompson, W. L. Jackson, Democrat-Herald co-publisher and other Democratic stalwarts.

Encountering Rogers here also was Frank “Slim” Ryland, veteran Corvallis Barber, who was born near Claremore and who personally knew Will Rogers, sr [sic].

The headline of the final undated clipping reads:

One Wild Monkey In Garage Is More Fun Than Barrelful

Flying saucers in the sky, talking rabbits on the bed, pink elephants on the wall. Any of those. But monkeys in the garage – never. Not in Corvallis.

Frank “Slim” Ryland, 726 North Fourth, said today he could believe almost anything after the experience he went through earlier this week.

It all started on a quiet afternoon when the neighborhood was virtually deserted, Ryland said. It was a perfectly normal afternoon, until he noticed some grapefruit and oranges in the garage had been disturbed. Even then, he wasn’t too disturbed. He thought some youngsters had been in the garage. He forgot about it and went down town.

When he got back, he said, he noticed a sack of orange peelings. And to his amazement there was a little monkey peering into the sack.

Couldn’t Believe It

“I thought I was nuts,” he laughed. “I hadn’t had a drop, and there was this monkey sitting looking at me. I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

The neighbors wouldn’t believe him, either. He finally persuaded them to come take a look. The monkey immediately retreated to the loft of the garage, Ryland said. From then on there was the “darndest chase you ever saw,” with the people in the neighborhood doing the running as much as the monk [sic]. When everyone, including the monkey, was too tired to do much running or chasing, it suddenly occurred to someone to question from whence the monkey could have come.

Someone remembered there had been a circus at the Modern Storage and Freeze market on North Ninth street, and it had included some monkeys. A telephone call confirmed that was where the monkey belonged.

Just On A Jaunt

“Don’t let him get away,” the voice on the other end of the phone said. “He’s a wild monkey from the jungles of the Amazon.” It turned out he had been missing for two days and two nights, Ryland said.

With assistance from the store, and all concerned having their breaths back, the chase was resumed. The garage doors, which hadn’t been closed in 20 years, Ryland said, were forced shut and the noisy ruckus reverberated through the neighborhood. Most of the time the monkey was doing the chasing.

Finally, though, someone tossed a sack at the money and it crawled under it to hide. A box was popped over it and that was that. The beast was soon back in its cage looking like any other quiet and peaceable little monkey, far less disturbed than the Second street neighborhood.

Transcription ends.

Odessa P. (Peterson) Ryland

March 2, 1996

Bayard, Morrill County, Nebraska. Desi writes a letter to Ella Leone’s family, sending back a Christmas card Leone had sent in December 1993, so her family could keep it as a memorial. Recall that Leone died in September 1994.

Fri Mar 2 – 96

Just a short note to you all. I am enclosing the last card I had from your mom. As I remember she liked to call rather than write. I remember – a few years ago after I had fell and was laid up – she suggested I move to a Medford Nursing home where she could come see me. She was eleven when Slimmie & I were married. Did I ever tell you about the time I took your grandma Ella and Leone to Portland. Slimmie had a new ford. He definitely said for me to bring the car back to him and not to let her drive it. Which I did. Leone & I went into Portland and shopped & had lunch. We had dropped Ella off at McMinnville (where she had voice classes) that day. Sure enuf [sic] she wanted to drop me off [crossed out:] /and/ at the farm home where I lived and worked. It was my day off work, so I delivered the car back to the beauty shop and Slimmie later took me back to the Farm Home. I remember Al told me “ [sic – the Farm Home] was still operating. One of my 20 boys still writes to me. Guess the others died or forgot me.

Well here is the nurse’s aide to make my bed, then I can stay up till midnight if I like and if my room mate doesn’t object. She has an idea to bring her “t.v.” in from her daughter’s home. If so – I will be seeking a new room mate. Such is life. There is nothing but a pull curtain between us and she is noisy and talkative. I need someone to be with me at home for a while – but that kind of help is hard to get a hold of. Some thing funny happened. A friend (by request) brought up a box from my house of old ear rings & stuff. I really shocked myself when I found my wedding ring in the box. I have lost so much weight it fits.

Well here is a nurse running me out for supper and my room mate for her bath and then supper.

Guess I better straighten up and mind or get kicked out. That I wouldn’t like. This is a really nice place to be. 25 hundred a month plus pills – Dr. calls and don’t forget the tips.

Good night to all.

Love

Grandma Dess

Soon to be 95!

Transcription ends.

FRANK AND DESI’S PASSING

November 26, 1962

Corvallis newspaper announcement

No date is noted on the clipping, but the proper sequence of events from Frank Ryland’s passing, to the newspaper announcement of his death, and then the newspaper announcement of the funeral yields that date. The Arlandson family moved from Albany, Oregon, to San Diego for one year only, the year that Mrs. Leone Arlandson’s father died, unfortunately. After that year, they moved back to Oregon. Mrs. Arlandson was unable to attend the funeral services in Corvallis, due to the long travel during late fall.

Retired Barber Dies in Hospital

Word was received here today telling of the death Sunday afternoon of F. R. (Slim) Ryland, 78, retired barber and hair dresser, at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis following a prolonged illness. The time of the funeral, at McHenry Mortuary in Corvallis, is pending.

Mr. Ryland had been a resident of Corvallis for the past 41 years, having come from there from Baker. He, with his widow, formerly operated the Terminal Beauty Parlor in Corvallis. He was born October 19, 1884 in Portland Kan.

Surviving besides his widow are a daughter, Mrs. Leone Arlandson, San Diego, Calif., formerly of Albany and a son, Max, also of San Diego and a sister, Mrs. Bess Trebbe, La Mesa Calif., and nine grandchildren.

In accordance with Mr. Ryland’s wish, it is asked that no flowers be sent to the funeral.

Transcription ends.

November 26, 1962

A few days before he died, he was reading the New Testament. In this photo his second wife Desi wrote on the bookmark on the passage where he had left off in the Gospel of Luke. He was getting his life right with God.

The handwriting is Desi’s.

Corvallis, Oregon, newspaper announcements

No date on the newspaper clipping is noted, but the proper sequence of events from his passing, to the newspaper announcement of his death, and then the newspaper funeral announcement, yields that date.

Frank Ryland Dies

Frank (Slim) Ryland, 77 [sic], a Corvallis resident for many years, died in a hospital here Sunday after an illness of several weeks. Funeral services will be announced by the McHenry Funeral Home.

November 27, 1962

No date is noted on the clipping, but the proper sequence of things yields that date. This is the Corvallis newspaper announcement of when and where the funeral service will take place.

Ryland Service 2 p.m. Wednesday

Funeral Services for Frank (Slim) R. Ryland, a resident of Corvallis since 1921 who died in a local hospital Sunday will be held in the McHenry Funeral Home Wednesday at 2 p.m. with Rev. John Houser of the First Baptist Church officiating.

The son of William and Jane Ryland, he was born October 19, 1884, at Portland, Kan. He came west as a young man and lived in Baker for several years prior to coming to Corvallis. He was married to Odessa Peterson in 1929 at McMinnville. Following their marriage the couple returned to Corvallis where they have since lived. Mr. and Mrs. Ryland for many years operated a barber shop and later owned a beauty shop in Corvallis until 1948 when Mr. Ryland retired. He was a member of the Baptist church and the Baker Elks Lodge.

Besides his wife, he is survived by one son, Max, and one daughter Mrs. Leone Arlandson, both of San Diego, one nephew and 9 grandchildren.

Private final rites will be held at the Mt. Crest Abbey in Salem. Friends who wish may make memorial contributions to the Oregon Heart Fund in his memory.

November 28, 1962

The Funeral Bulletin. The Scripture is Psalm 23.

His ashes were spread off Fogarty Point, on the Oregon coast.

Ryland, Odessa P.

Here is her obituary:

BAYARD — Odessa P. Ryland, 98, of Bayard, died Thursday, Jan. 6, 2000, at Chimney Rock Villa. A memorial service will be 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2000, at Bayard Memorial Chapel with Rev. Burl Richards officiating. Inurnment will be at the Bayard City Cemetery. Cremation was held at Sunset Memorial Park Crematory.

She was born May 21, 1901, to Arthur R. and Mary E. (Phillips) Peterson in Lyons, Neb. She received her education in the Bayard School System. She was united in marriage to Frank Ryland in Corvallis, Ore. They owned and operated a beauty salon in Corvallis for many years. She then moved back to the Bayard area in 1973 where she had resided since.

She was a member of the Presbyterian Church in Bayard and enjoyed reading and playing bridge.

She is survived by nieces, Betty Egoian, Mary Guiboa, Nancy Rothfork, Samona Ziegler, Sue Bennett, and Sandra Lawrence, all of California; nephews Gary R. Young of Gering and Kay Peterson of Cheyenne, Wyo.

She is preceded in death by her husband Frank, brothers Lloyd Peterson, Don Peterson, Sterling Peterson, Fred Peterson, Loren Peterson, L.M. Peterson, Arthur Peterson, and Maurice Peterson; and sister Marie Neighbors.