USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 65
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On the 10th of April, 1896, Judge Garesche was married at Waterloo, Illinois, to Miss Katherine Lee Rowe, a consin of Ex-Governor Taylor of Tennessee. Her father was an officer of the Civil war. Judge and Mrs. Garesche have two children, Rowe Alexander and Rebecca Morrison. The latter was married December 27, 1917, in St. Louis, to Henry Farnsworth Bisbee, ensign in the navy, who was afterward promoted to junior lientenant and served through the period of the World war, mak- ing a splendid record. He is now at El Paso, Texas, in the Farmers & Merchants National Bank.
Judge and Mrs. Garesche are communicants of St. Roch's Catholic church and he belongs to the Knights of Pythias. Of him a contemporary writer has said: "His independent spirit is indicated in the fact that he is the only one of his family who supports the republican party, but his study of the issues and questions of the day
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led him to the belief that the interests of good government were best conserved thereby and he therefore joined its ranks. He has been active in its work, has formerly served as precinct committeeman in the twenty-seventh ward, a member of the executive committee of the same ward, is now a member of the finance committee of the Twenty- eighth Ward Republican Club and has also served as president and as a member of the Mullanphy board. One of his attractive qualities is his fearlessness in support of what he believes to be right and yet he is never aggressive in his partisanship of any measure. He is broad-minded, public spirited and progressive, decidedly a man of the times." One who has long known Judge Garesche speaks of him as "a genial, sprightly and interesting companion, a gentleman by birth and nature and one who has improved upon his natural endowments."
VALENTINE GEPHART.
Valentine Gephart, an aeroplane manufacturer of Kansas City, was born in Denver, Colorado, March 8, 1896, and is a son of Georges and Edna (Valentine) Gephart. The mother was thrown upon her own resources to provide for the family when her son Valentine was but three years of age. The latter attended the public schools, becom- ing a pupil in the East high school of Denver and while thus pursuing his studies he showed remarkable ability along aeronautical lines but says that he spent too much time in that way rather than upon his regular course of study. However, he devoted much time to study in the evening and thus pursued a course in mechanical engineer- ing. In his boyhood days he was likewise active as a member of the Boy Scouts, becoming connected with the movement at the time of its organization in 1908 by F. John Romanes and in 1910 he was on the committee which entertained Sir Baden Powell. He was given the eagle decoration-the first one ever bestowed west of the Missouri river. After his high school days were over he was employed by Harry Simpson of the A. W. Harris Oil Company, a manufacturer of special oil for special motors, young Gephart occupying a position as salesman. In 1916 he became a quartermaster of the American Red Cross and was associated with Colonel George P. Lingenfelter, M. D., who was surgeon general of the Colorado National Guard. They organized the Sixth Sanitary Detachment, in which connection the ambulances were donated by the Masonic bodies of Denver. This organization merged and went to France as the Thirtieth Red Cross Ambulance Company. Mr. Gephart saw service in the Hagenbach raid near Belfort and on the St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Metz sectors. He was transferred to the air service as a private and sent to Tours, France, where he entered the Second Aviation Instruction Camp. Later he was transferred to the French aviation school at Besancourt and was attached to the Thirty-seventh Esquadrille de Chasse, which was a pursuit squadron. He went under Lieutenant Pierre Pronzi into Jugo-Slavia and was also at Fiume, where he was wounded in an aeroplane crash. The Thirty-seventh Esquadrille was cited and all members given the Croix de Guerre. Mr. Gephart afterward returned to the American Expeditionary Force and was sent as a cadet to Langley Field but had to be transferred back to the ambulance section for discharge in June, 1919.
In July of the same year Mr. Gephart arrived in Kansas City and became engaged in the aeronautical equipment business, selling planes. Commissions were sent to him and he established a factory for the repair and sale of spare parts. This has developed into his present business of aircraft engineering, designing and rebuilding of aeroplanes. The plant is equipped to repair and make parts for all machines and at the same time Mr. Gephart manufactures his own planes, having patents and build- ing planes along original lines. He likewise makes his own motors and at the same time is distributor for the Curtis equipment and has the United States mail contracts. The business is now carried on under the name of Valentine Gephart, Incorporated, of which he is the president, with E. V. Gephart as vice president, J. B. Conley as secretary and treasurer and Thomas V. Till as field manager. The company has its own flying field and is now building an extensive factory preparatory to the steady growth which the business is showing.
Mr. Gephart is a member of Temple Lodge, No. 299, A. F. & A. M., and belongs to Elysian Grotto, No. 52. He is adjutant of Fred J. Shackelton Post, No. 146, of the American Legion, belongs to the Kansas City Motor Club and is a member of the
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aero committee of the Chamber of Commerce. His religious faith is indicated in his connection with St. Paul's Episcopal church. In politics he maintains an independ- ent course, supporting men and measures rather than party. Like the majority of the World war veterans he stands for that which is most progressive in public affairs and for all that is most truly American. In business he has become a pioneer in a new field in the west but is rapidly winning a patronage of substantial proportions and Kansas City is proud to number him among her representative young business men.
WALTER MORRIS HEZEL.
Walter Morris Hezel, attorney for the Terminal Railroad Association with offices in St. Louis, was born in Belleville, Illinois, August 29, 1866. His father, Morris Hezel, a native of Germany, was born in 1836 but became a resident of St. Louis in 1846 when but ten years of age, making the trip to the new world with an older brother and sister. As the years passed he became prominent in connection with flour milling and was one of the originators of the Hezel Milling Company of East St. Louis, develop- ing a very substantial business in that connection. He died in St. Louis in 1903. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Baur, was born in Belleville, Illinois, in 1844 and they were married in New Athens, Illinois, in 1863. They became the parents of a son and five daughters.
Walter M. Hezel was educated in the public schools and was graduated from the Christian Brothers College in 1884 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, while the Master of Arts degree was later conferred upon him. He then prepared for the bar and com- pleted a course' in the St. Louis Law school as a member of the class of 1886. He at once entered upon the practice of his chosen profession in connection with the firm of Broadhead and Haeussler, and later formed a partnership with C. S. Broadhead under the firm style of Broadhead & Hezel. In 1898, however, Mr. Hezel left St. Louis for Mexico where he resided until 1903, engaging in mining. On the expiration of that period he returned to St. Louis for a short time and then went to Nevada where he again engaged in mining. For a brief period he likewise carried on coal mining in Alabama. When he once more came to St. Louis in 1912 he connected himself with the law department of the Terminal Railroad Association and is now attorney therefor.
In October, 1892, in St. Louis Mr. Hezel was married to Miss Ida L. Gempp who passed away in 1903, leaving a daughter Doris, who is now the wife of Paul E. Con- rades, president of the Merchants Ice & Coal Company of St. Louis. Mr. Hezel was again married in Memphis, Tennessee, in January, 1911, this time to Miss Mary Lou Baker, a daughter of Henry C. Baker and there are two children by this marriage, Henry Morris, who is eight years of age, and Anne Elizabeth, who is a year old.
Mr. Hezel belongs to the St. Louis Bar Association. His religious faith is that of the Catholic church and in political belief he is a democrat. During the World war he served as a member of the legal advisory board. The experiences and activities of his life have been broad and varied and while at different times he has been con- nected with a number of interests in widely separated sections of the country he is now concentrating his efforts and attention upon legal interests as the attorney for the Terminal Railroad Association.
CLIFFORD E. FRENCH.
Starting out in his business career in the humble capacity of bookkeeper Clifford E. French is today the vice president of the First National Bank of St. Louis. His life story is a record of orderly progression, made by one who is sure of himself, stable in his purposes and actuated at all times by laudable ambition without which there would be no advancement in the business world. Mr. French was born in Rolla, Missouri, April 26, 1869. His father, J. Schuyler French, was a native of Hoffman Ferry, New York, and in 1863 came to Missouri. He devoted his early life to business as a druggist and chemist but later turned his attentions to politics and became county clerk of Phelps county, Missouri, which position he occupied for five terms or twenty
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years. No higher testimonial of capable and faithful service could be given than the fact that he was again and again re-elected to the office. A few months after completing his fifth term he passed away in Rolla, Missouri, on the 2nd of February, 1887. In early manhood he married Sarah D. Swits, who was born in Schenectady, New York, January 21, 1839, and who came to Missouri immediately after her marriage which was celebrated in the Empire state.
Clifford E. French was educated in the public schools of Rolla, Missouri, and in the Missouri State School of Mines. Starting out in the business world he obtained a position as bookkeeper with the Springfield Mercantile Company of Springfield, Missouri, and occupied that position for three years. He next became connected with the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company in the car accountant's office at Springfield and from there he returned to Rolla, Missouri, where he acted as deputy county clerk under his father for two years. On the 15th of July, 1887, he secured the position of clerk in the National Bank of Rolla and thus gained his first experience in connection with the banking business. In January, 1890, he was promoted to the position of cashier and served in that capacity until January 15, 1906, or for a period of sixteen years, on the expiration of which time he received an appointment as national bank examiner of Missouri occupying the office for two years. He then resigned to become examiner of the St. Louis Clearing House Association. He inaugurated the system of examination in the St. Louis Clearing House, at which time there was only one other city in the United States having a similar system, that being Chicago. He continued to act in that capacity until October 8, 1914, when he resigned to accept the position of cashier in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, becoming the first incumbent in that office. Here he organized the banking system and placed the bank in operation. He severed his connection with the Federal Reserve Bank, however, in August, 1915, when he was appointed chief National Bank examiner of the eighth federal reserve district and so served until January 8, 1916, when he resigned to accept the vice presi- dency of the St. Louis Union Bank. When the Third National, the Mechanics American and the Union Bank were consolidated under the name of the First National Bank he was elected vice president of the newly organized institution and remains in this posi- tion to the present time. He is a man of splendid executive ability and there is no feature of the banking business with which he is not entirely familiar.
On the 24th of December, 1900, in Rolla, Mr. French was married to Miss Eda Strobach, a daughter of Charles Strobach, and they are parents, of a son, Schuyler S., twenty-six years of age; and a daughter, Mrs. Mildred E. Shipley, of Kansas City, Missouri. The son was a member of Troop B of the Missouri Volunteers and saw service on the Mexican border. After his return from the border he re-enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Field Artillery and went to France in May, 1918. He participated in engagements on seven different battle fronts, yet received no injuries save on one occasion when he was slightly gassed. He returned to the United States and was discharged in May, 1919.
Through the World war period Mr. French took active part in promoting the Lib- erty loan and Red Cross drives. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and fraternally he is a Mason connected with the Knights Templar Commandery, with the Scottish Rite body and the Mystic Shrine. He belongs also to the Missouri Athletic Association and to the Bankers Club of St. Louis and the rules that govern his conduct are further indicated in the fact of his membership in the Kings Highway Presbyterian church in which he is serving as an elder. Though making rapid ad- vancement in business his progress and development have continued along other lines and he is today an honored citizen of St. Louis.
LYNNE BIRDSALL GREENE, M. D.
Dr. Lynne Birdsall Greene, an expert dermatologist of Kansas City, was born in Reinbeck, Grundy county, Iowa, November 28, 1881, a son of Edmund K. and Ella (Underhill) Greene, who were natives of New York and Illinois respectively. In 1871 they removed to Iowa where Mr. Greene engaged in merchandising and in bank- ing at Reinbeck. He also became a large landowner there and conducted business interests of importance, contributing to the growth and prosperity of the district as well as to individual success. In politics he was a republican and his prominence in
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political circles is indicated in the fact that he was elected to represent his district in the state legislature. In 1914 he retired from active business life, establishing his home at Clear Lake, Iowa.
Dr. Greene acquired a high school education in his native city and afterward attended the Colorado State University, while subsequently he won his M. D. degree by graduation from the medical department of the University of Iowa with the class of 1904. During his attendance there he was for two years artist in chief of the university. After leaving school he located for general practice in Reinbeck but later went to New York where he took post-graduate work in the Metropolitan and other hospitals, making a specialty of skin diseases. He came to Kansas City in 1909 as teacher and lecturer on dermatology in the Medical College of the Kansas City Uni- versity, thus continuing until it was closed. He is engaged in private practice, has a splendidly appointed and equipped office and is extremely ethical in his professional work. He is most widely and favorably known to the profession throughout the coun- try as a consultant and diagnostician. He is a member of and also delivers lectures before many professional organizations and is a well known contributor to the leading medical journals.
Dr. Greene has found the keenest pleasure in music and is highly trained in the art, having studied the pipe organ and piano and he has given concerts but does not allow this to interfere with his professional duties.
In 1919 Dr. Greene was married to Miss Susan Wilson, a native of Belton, Mis- souri, where the marriage was celebrated. She is a daughter of R. C. Wilson, a prom- inent resident of Belton extensively engaged in the breeding of Hereford cattle.
Dr. Greene is a Mason, loyal to the teachings and purposes of the craft and in politics maintains an independent course, exercising his right of franchise accord- ing to the dictates of his judgment. In 1918 he was commissioned a captain of the Medical Corps of the United States army and sent to Camp Greenleaf, being made a commanding instructor of the Seventh Battalion, composed entirely of physicians. Thus he served until honorably discharged on the 1st of January, 1919. He is at present a captain in the Medical Officers Reserve Corps of the United States army. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and is interested in all that has to do with the progress and welfare of Kansas City. When leisure permits he turns to hunting and fishing for recreation but his professional duties make heavy demands upon his time and energies for he today enjoys a national reputation as an expert adviser to other physicians concerning skin diseases, ranking as one of the foremost derma- tologists of the country.
CARL HENRY WACHENFELD, M. D.
Dr. Carl Henry Wachenfeld, devoting his attention to surgical practice in St. Louis, was born in Iowa City, lowa, November 5, 1887. His father, Henry Phillip Wachenfeld, was a native of Germany and came to America in 1863, first settling in Chicago, whence he removed in 1865 to Iowa, there residing until his death on the 28th of September, 1901, when he was fifty-nine years of age, his birth having occurred on the 7th of September, 1842. He was a very successful contractor and builder and never had occasion to regret his determination to come to the new world. In politics he was a stanch republican. He wedded Mary Michael, a native of Iowa City and a daughter of the late William Michael, a pioneer settler of that state who removed to Iowa from Cincinnati, Ohio, journeying across the country with ox team and wagon before Iowa's admission to the Union. He was also a contractor and aided in the erection of the first state capitol at Iowa City. His daughter, Mrs. Wachenfeld, was the mother of two children, Carl H. and Lillian, the latter the wife of Dr. J. W. Bailey, of Des Moines, Iowa. Having lost her first husband Mrs. Wachenfeld was married March 12, 1905, in Iowa City, Iowa, to William H. Bailey, a very prominent lawyer and at one time mayor of that town. He also served for eighteen years as treasurer of the Iowa Lutheran Synod and was a dominant figure in republican politics. He took the place of a father to the Wachenfeld son and daughter who had been left fatherless and Dr. Wachenfeld of this review has ever entertained the greatest love and esteem for his stepfather. The mother passed away in Iowa City, July 4, 1920, at the age of fifty-
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seven years. She was a prominent figure in social circles in her community and took a very active and helpful part in civic work and social betterment service.
Dr. Wachenfeld was educated in the public schools of Iowa City and in the Iowa State University. He pursued a medical course in the latter institution, winning his M. D. degree in 1909 and after further study in Washington University he again re- ceived the M. D. degree in 1910. He next entered upon an internship at the Alexian Brothers Hospital and in the St. Louis City Hospital, his work of this character continu- ing from 1910 until 1912, after which he entered upon private practice and was so engaged until 1917.
Prior to America's entrance into the World war Dr. Wachenfeld had become iden- tified with the military interests of the country. He was commissioned a medical officer of the First Missouri Infantry, May 17, 1916, and saw service on the Mexican border later in the same year with that command. He was called to active service with the United States army on the 26th of March, 1917, as a member of the same regi- ment and later by consolidation of the First and Fifth Missouri Regiments was formed the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Infantry of the Thirty-fifth Division. In this com- mand Dr. Wachenfeld was on active duty with the American Expeditionary Force until discharged on the 8th of December, 1919, with the rank of first lieutenant. Returning to St. Louis he resumed the practice of medicine and has won for himself a creditable position through his careful diagnosis of cases and the ability which he has displayed in checking the ravages of disease. He belongs to the St. Louis Medical Society and the Missouri State Medical Association and broad reading and study keep him informed concerning the latest scientific researches and discoveries.
On the 13th of January, 1914, Dr. Wachenfeld was married at Maplewood, St. Louis county, to Miss Lillian M. Sauers, a native of St. Louis and a daughter of Joseph Sauers. Dr. Wachenfeld belongs to the Lutheran church of Iowa City. His political belief is that of the republican party and he finds diversion in baseball and athletic and aquatic sports. He stands as a high type of American citizenship and of the progressive young men in scientific circles.
EDWARD J. MONTI.
Edward J. Monti is a man of forceful purpose whose elemental strength of char- acter was shown in the methods of thoroughness with which he secured his education and prepared for the bar where he is now winning a creditable place as a general attorney. He was born in St. Louis, October 28, 1884, and has always been a resident of this city. His. parents were Martin and Ernesta (Merlone) Monti. The father who was of Swiss birth came to this country in 1872 and went into the wholesale clothing business. In 1895 he returned to the old country where he remained for a year and when he again came to St. Louis he established a shoe store. His wife was born in Italy and came to the new world in 1882. They became acquainted and were married in St. Louis and to them have been born eight children, three sons and five daughters all of whom are residents of this city.
Edward J. Monti was educated in the public and high schools of St. Louis and the St. Louis University academy from which he was graduated in 1902. While pursuing his law study he worked in his father's shoe store in the daytime and thus met his expenses until he had qualified for practice. He was admitted to the bar in 1912 fol- lowing his graduation with the LL. B. degree from the law department of the St. Louis University. He began practice at his present location and today has an exten- sive clientele among the Italian residents of St. Louis. This has brought him into close touch with them and made his work very useful during the war period, enabling him to render valuable service to the United States. He was secretary of the Roman Legions of America, an organization under the direction of the Bureau of Public Infor- mation, working during the war among the Italian people of St. Louis and accomplish- ing excellent results. Mr. Monti was also a member of the legal advisory board of the Twenty-second ward. He is now cencentrating his efforts and attentions upon his law practice and since his admission to the bar has been associated with Judge Robert W. Hall, covering a period of more than five years.
On the 10th of January, 1910, Mr Monti was married in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Miss Cathryn O'Shea, whose parents were natives of England. They are the parents
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of one daughter, Mary Ann. Mrs. Monti's eldest brother, William O'Shea, was the only thirty-third degree Mason in Nebraska at the time of his death. Her father was well known as a writer of short stories.
Mr. Monti is a member of the Catholic church and his political faith is that of the republican party. He is a member of Sigma Omega Phi, a college fraternity and is the president of the St. Louis Law Alumni Association and a member of the St. Louis, Missouri State and American Bar Associations. He is also a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, No. 9 and the Knights of Columbus. Appreciative of the social amenities of life he has taken his place in the club circles of St. Louis, belonging to the Missouri Athletic Association and the Riverview Country Club. He enjoys a game of tennis and during his college days played football and baseball. He is a lover of music and was instrumental in securing Mme. Louisa Tetrazzini, famous prima donna, to hold a concert in St. Louis, Mr. Monti acting as chairman of the committee having the concert in charge. He is also one of the guarantors of the St. Louis Symphony Society and a director in the following: The Inter-State Tool Manufacturing Company; the Italian Fraternal Building Company; and the United Bakeries Corporation. He is spoken of by his friends-and they are legion-as a clean cut young man of sound judgment with a high sense of personal honor and integrity, an attractive personality and pleasing address.
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