USA > Ohio > Portage County > Portage heritage; a history of Portage County, Ohio; its towns and townships and the men and women who have developed them; its life, institutions and biographies, facts and lore > Part 75
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Ross B. Strimple
Ross B. Strimple was born at Greenwich, Ohio, December 5, 1893, the son of S. H. and Jennie O. Strimple.
He attended the public schools of his native town and later studied Business Adminis- tration at Oberlin Business College, at Oberlin.
In 1916 he entered the Payroll and Cost Accounting Department of the Miller Rubber Company in Akron and when that company was absorbed by the B. F. Goodrich Company he was employed by the B. F. Goodrich Company in the same capacity. Later he was employed by the Mason Tire & Rubber Company in Kent for whom he was Employment Manager and Manager of the Labor Cost Department. Still later he was Manager of In- dustrial Relations for the Erie Tire and Rubber Company at Sandusky.
In 1919 Mr. Strimple married Helen L. Reed, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Reed of Kent. To them were born two children, Reed B., now associated with his father in the insurance business in Kent; and Helen Jane, now Mrs. Don Wilson, Jr. of Ravenna, Ohio.
Mr. Strimple has always taken an active interest in civic affairs. He was a member of the Kent City Board of Education for twelve years and served in the capacity of president of that board on several occasions. He also is a
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charter member of the Kent Kiwanis Club and served as its president in 1928. He is a past president of the Kent Welfare and Community Chest. He has been a member of the Kent Chamber of Commerce for many years and is a past president. He served as president of the Kent City Council.
In 1920 Mr. Strimple entered the employ of the W. W. Reed & Son Insurance Agency and served in the capacity of assistant manager of the agency for many years and from 1942 to 1946 he served as manager of the agency. In 1946 he left the W. W. Reed & Son Agency and formed, along with his son, Reed B., the agency of R. B. Strimple & Son, Inc.
He resides at 606 N. Willow Street, Kent, Ohio.
Seymour Sussman
Seymour Sussman was born in Brooklyn, New York, June 15, 1920, being the son of Max and Elizabeth (Welt) Sussman. His education was obtained in the grade and high schools of Brooklyn. After graduation he went to work, be- ing a drug clerk, shoe clerk and inventory clerk in a coal company in New York City. On Nov. 15, 1942, he married Gussie Simon of Akron, Ohio, and they now have two chil- dren-Maxine Sandra and Robyn Beth.
Previously, on Feb. 2, 1942, he had entered the armed forces of his country. After training at Fort Knox, Ky., he went overseas with the Fourth Armored Division in May of 1944. He was with the 771st Tank Batallion. In this or- ganization, he participated in the Battle of Europe-Arden- nes, Battle of the Bulge and Rhine campaigns. From this he received four battle stars and was discharged as sergeant December 9, 1945. After the war he came to Akron, Ohio.
He has been associated with his father-in-law, Dave Simon, in Kent for the past ten years, being an executive in the company.
Mr. Sussman is a member of the Kent Chamber of Commerce, the Kent Lion's Club and the Fraternal Order of Police. He is a member of the Temple Israel in Akron and is a Thirty-second degree Mason and a Shriner.
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond H. Swartz
Raymond H. Swartz was born on a farm near New Philadelphia, Ohio, Nov. 9, 1905. He was the son of Joseph R. and Emma M. (Selzer) Swartz. His early education was received in the schools at Trail, Holmes County, Ohio, and afterward at East Liberty, Ohio. He attended high school for a time at Greensburg and after that finished a correspondence school course through evening study.
He came to Kent in the fall of 1925 and in 1926 entered the employe of the Williams Bros. Co. mill, remaining there for eight years except for a six months course at the Ohio State University Agricultural College. In 1934 he started a feed store on North Water St., Kent and in 1937 started a feed grinding and mixing plant in the old Erie R.R. shop building. In 1946 he sold his feed store to Roy Pierce as he had purchased a farm on Fairchild Ave. extension. He is now engaged there in general farming, though specializing in potatoes and sweet corn.
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In 1949 he received the franchise for irrigation equipment sales and has sold all over Ohio.
On August 10, 1930, he married Miss Hazel Corbett of Streetsboro and to them two children were born-Clyde H. and Carol A.
Mr. Swartz is a trustee of the Portage County Farm Club and is on the board of supervision of soil conservation of Portage County.
Henry G. Taylor
Henry Glenn Taylor was born on a farm in Edwards County, near West Salem, Illinois, on January 4, 1885. He was the oldest son of ten children born to Henry and Alice (Levering) Taylor.
His father was the son of George and Anne (Crackels) Taylor, who lived in Sheffield, England, before emigrating to America in 1847. They traveled the Mississippi, Ohio, and Wabash rivers from New Orleans and settled in central Illinois.
The mother, Alice Levering Taylor, was the daughter of Lewis and Sophia Houser Levering, a family that traced its ancestry to a family of Huge- nots named Clavel, later Americanized to Clewell. The family immigrated to America in 1737 landing near Philadelphia.
Mr. Taylor was educated in the Olney schools. He was employed as a teller and bookkeeper of the First National Bank of Olney. While thus employed, he pursued a course in banking and accounting. Later he entered the St. Louis staff of Ernst & Ernst, nationally known public accountants, specializing in bank examinations. In this connection he served as junior, senior and supervising accountant.
Leaving the public accountancy, Mr. Taylor became associated with Graham Bros. of Evansville, Ind., in an executive capacity. From this organization he accepted the treasurership of the Twin Coach Company in 1927, in which capacity he served until his death, January 9, 1938.
Mr. Taylor was married to Ora Poland on February 7, 1909. She was the daughter of William E. and Mary Isabel (Combs) Poland. They have twin sons, Robert H. Taylor and Edward P. Taylor.
Active in civic affairs, Mr. Taylor served as president of the Kent Chamber of Com- merce in 1935. He made one of the principal addresses when Kent's new post office was dedicated. In 1937 he was re-elected a director of the Chamber of Commerce and headed the New Industries Committee of the Chamber.
He was a member of several Masonic bodies including the Knights Templar and Shrine. In addition he was a member of the Elks, Akron City Club, Twin Lakes Country Club and the Wranglers Club. He was also a member of the United Brethren Church.
As treasurer of the Twin Coach Company since 1927, he played a prominent part in the growth of Kent's major industry.
Hale B. Thompson
Hale B. Thompson was born in Kent, Oct. 14, 1881, the son of Robert E. and Helen (Allen) Thompson. He attended Kent schools and graduated from Central High School in 1899. He then attended Ohio Northern pharmacy school at Ada, Ohio, graduating there
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in 1904. In 1906 he purchased the Thompson Drug store after working for his father there, and other places, and operated it without interruption until 1939.
He is one of the original directors of the First Federal Savings & Loan Association (1934) and has been managing director and president of the institution since 1942. He is a member of the Congregational Church, is Past Master of Rockton Lodge, F.&A.M., and was High Priest of Tyrian Chapter, R.A.M. He was a charter member of the Kent Rotary Club and was president of the club in 1931-32.
Mr. Thompson was married Sept. 26, 1905, to Olive Eckert of Kent, daughter of Herbert and Eliza Eckert. They have one daughter, Eloise, who is married to John T. Par- sons of Pittsburgh. To them were born two children, John and Timothy.
Merrill A. Thompson
Merrill Albert Thompson was born June 21, 1895, in Parma, Ohio, son of Arthur and Lottie (Tyron) Thompson. He was the youngest of four brothers. The family moved to Kent in 1896. Merrill was educated in the Kent public schools, graduating from the old Central High School in 1914.
He started to work in the Hale B. Thompson drug store when he entered high school in 1910, and with the exception of a part of one year at the B. F. Goodrich Co. in Akron, he has been with the store since that time. About 1925, when the store celebrated its 50th an- niversary, he was taken into partnership with Hale B. Thomp- son. He studied at home and in 1932 passed the State Board of Pharmacy examinations. In 1939, Charles Young took over the Hale Thompson interest and Merrill continued in the partnership.
Mr. Thompson was married in 1919 to Elnora E. Cook, daughter of Charles Eliot and Bertha (Reed) Cook of Kent. They have two daughters; Marjorie, now Mrs. Robert May of Lewisburg, Pa .; and Merrilyn E., medical technician at University Hospital in Cleveland. There are three grandsons.
Mr. Thompson served eight years on the Kent City Board of Education; is a member of the Masonic lodge; the Chamber of Commerce; a former member of the Kiwanis club and is associated with the First Congregational church of Kent.
Harold O. Tinker
Harold O. Tinker was born April 28, 1906 in Parkman, Ohio, the son of Rufus D. and Clara (Towne) Tinker. He attended Parkman School, graduating from the eleventh grade in 1923 and returning the next year to complete his twelfth year. In the next six years he worked for a road contractor, for the American Steel and Wire Company, and as a sales- man. During that time he also attended Hiram College for two years. On August 9, 1930
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he married Edna Weasner of Garrettsville, Ohio.
Harold worked for the Mallory Funeral Home in Gar- rettsville for four years, serving two years apprenticeship, attending the Cleveland College of Embalming 1933-34, and working part time. He received his funeral director's license in March, 1933, and his embalmers license October 18, 1934.
The years 1935 and 1936 were spent in Akron employed at the Adams Funeral Home, and most of 1937 was spent at the Johnson Funeral Home in Hudson. On November 22, 1937, he purchased the funeral business of the late E. O. Carlin in Kent and has been a resident of this town ever since.
He is a member of the Kent Methodist Church, Kiwanis Club, Chamber of Commerce, Men's Garden Club, Twin Lakes Country Club, and is active in many Masonic bodies and DeMolay.
Thomas Tipler, Sr.
Thomas Tipler, Sr., was born Feb. 18, 1893, in Benton County, Mississippi, son of Hendon and Ellen (McKinzie) Tipler.
His early education was received in the public schools of that locality. When he was 12 years old his mother died, and his father died two years later. Thereafter he lived with
the Hemers family near Ashland, Miss., for five years. He then went with the Blanton family at Holly Springs, Miss., where he learned to cook for 35 or 40 people employed on a cotton plantation. He left this place in 1913, going to Memphis, Tenn. where he worked as cook for George Hart, an attorney.
Mr. Tipler entered army service in 1918, serving as cook at Camp Taylor at Louisville, Ky. He was discharged from service in November, 1918, after which he came to Kent.
He was married in Memphis March 23, 1912, to Alice May Gimond. To them three children were born-Thomas, Jr .; A. G. Adam, deceased; and Alice May, now deceased.
In Kent he worked for the Erie Railroad Co. 11 years as machinists helper, as well as at the Kent Hotel for five years. Then he was employed by H. C. Longcoy, being head baker in the bakery department for seven years. He then built a store room and restaurant with ice cream parlor, at Walnut
and Dodge Sts.
Mr. Tipler is chairman of the board of trustees of the First Baptist Church on Dodge St., Kent.
Thomas Tipler, Jr.
Thomas Tipler, Jr., was born May 13, 1913, at Memphis, Tennessee, son of Thomas and Alice (Gimond) Tipler. When he was five years of age the family came to Kent where he attended grade and high school in Kent, graduating from high school in 1933.
He then attended Kent State University for two years, leaving there to go to work. In the meantime he married Miss Katie E. Mitchell of Huntsville, Alabama, June 15, 1939.
Mr. Tipler worked on several of the muck farms in the vicinity, at the Cottage Grill,
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Robin Hood restaurant, and during the war was at Goodyear Aircraft. At the close of the war he started work in the maintenance department of Kent State University, where he is located at present.
Several years ago Mr. and Mrs. Tipler started a catering service, going to homes, factories, etc., which they still con- tinue and enjoy very much. A home without a child is lone- some and in December, 1951, Mr. and Mrs. Tipler adopted a boy six years of age who is now attending Central School, being in the sixth grade.
Mr. Tipler feels fortunate in being able to live in the same town as his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Tipler, Sr. The Tiplers like Kent and love to compare it today with the Kent of the years when they first came here.
Both belong to the Union Baptist Church and Mr. Tipler is president of the local chapter of the N.A.A.C.P.
Mr. and Mrs. Lawrance Albert Trageser
Lawrance Albert Trageser was born in Kent January 15, 1899 in old Pioneer School- house ånd Church on Crain Avenue, which is still standing, now converted to a dwelling. He was the son of Albert J. and Marie (Luce) Trageser. He secured his education in Kent schools, graduating from Central school in 1917.
He then learned the barber trade in his father's shop and con- tinued in the trade for 13 years. He opened a billiard parlor on North Water St., present site of Yahner clinic, operating it for 12 years. In 1942 he moved to the present location where he has con- tinuously owned and operated a billiard parlor with six tables and an ice cream fountain.
On June 14, 1920 he was mar- ried to Thelma Gower of Akron. She died February 14, 1945. Then in June 1949 he was married to Margaret Lane of Akron.
Mr. and Mrs. Lawrance Albert Trageser
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur J. Trory
Arthur James Trory was born at Lyons, Ohio, May 4, 1879, son of Mr. and Mrs. Chas. E. Trory. After attending Wauseon High School he came to Kent and later attended Ohio Northern University at Ada, O., where he was graduated in 1899 with a degree in pharmacy.
He was then connected for 14 years with his brother Fred in a drug store at Kent, after which he opened a bakery in the present Trory Block. In 1902 he sold this to Tom Smith and returned to the drug business. In 1912 he opened an exclusive book store in the Allen
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Block, N. Water St., handling books and supplies for the new normal school. This he sold to Reed & Dunning in 1918 and became purchasing agent for the Mason Tire & Rubber Co., remaining two years. In partnership with O. H. Young he purchased the Sparrow market on North Mantua St., later buying Mr. Young's interest and after two years, sold out to Raymond Gooch.
Mr. Trory was then appointed manager of the Kent Auto Club, resigning after two years to return to the drug bus- iness, this time in Hudson, Ohio. Several years later he sold out there and in 1929 bought a drug store in Massillon which he oper- ated until he sold it in 1938. He then bought a drug store in El- let, which he operated from 1939 to 1949, when he retired at the age of 68.
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur J. Trory
He was secretary of the Kent Chamber of Commerce one year, president of the body one year and on its board of directors four years. While secretary he was in- strumental in bringing in the then Fageol Motor Co. of Cali- fornia and the Lamson & Ses- sions Co. of Cleveland.
On Aug. 24, 1905, Mr. Trory married Mabel Loretta Kelso, daughter of Elias and Margaret Kelso. In 1955 they observed their golden wedding anniversary. They have one daughter, now Mrs. Paul McCormick of Massillon. Their two grandchildren are Patricia, now 15, and Michael, now 13. The Trorys belong to the Universalist church.
Fred W. Trory
Fred William Trory was born March 11, 1873, at Lyons, Ohio. He was the son of Charles E. and Elizabeth (Trounce) Trory.
He was educated in the schools of Wauseon, both ele- mentary and high school, and then attended Wauseon Col- legiate College. Later he attended Ohio Northern University at Ada, Ohio, where he studied pharmacy.
After becoming a registered pharmacist Mr. Trory came to Kent, Ohio, and took over the Allen Drug Store which he operated for many years in connection with a music business. Later he sold the drug business but continued with the music business in the same block of which he had become owner. This he conducted until his death December 26, 1938.
Mr. Trory was married in May, 1894, to Miss Herma Wentz of Wauseon. There were no children.
He was one of a family of four children. His sister Mil- lie died in July, 1954, at the age of 84, and his brother Charles at 74. Arthur J. of Kent is the only surviving brother.
Mr. Trory was a member of the Kent Chamber of Commerce, Knights of Pythias and
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a charter member of the Kent Kiwanis club. In Masonry he belonged to Rockton Lodge 316, R.A.M. 192, and Akron Council 80, R.S.M. He took great interest in the Portage County Preventorium work both with time and effort and gifts.
Loris C. Troyer
Loris C. Troyer, Kent editor of the Record-Courier, was born Oct. 11, 1914 in Walnut Creek, Holmes County, Ohio. He is one of six children.
He is an alumnus of Walnut Creek High School and Kent State University. Before completing his education at KSU, he joined the Courier-Tribune in 1936 as a part-time reporter. Mr. Troyer in 1939 joined the editorial staff of the Record-Courier in Ravenna as a reporter-photographer, a position he held until 1948 when he assumed the Kent editorship of the newspaper.
Mr. Troyer has been active in many civic and service organizations. He is a past presi- dent of the Ravenna Junior Chamber of Commerce; former member of the Kent Junior Chamber of Commerce; past vice-president of the Ohio Junior Chamber of Commerce; past president of the Kent Kiwanis Club; past president of the Kent Chamber of Commerce.
For eight years he was chairman of the Portage County Chapter of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis and has served in board and committee capacities with the Portage County Chapter of the American Red Cross, Portage County Council of Health and Social Agencies, Portage Coun- ty Heart Committee and the Kent Community Chest. He is a member of the board of directors of the Kent Council of Camp Fire Girls and has been active in the Cub and Boy Scout organizations. Mr. Troyer is a past president of Buck- eye Chapter of Sigma Delta Chi, professional journalistic fraternity, whose membership includes newsmen in the Akron area.
He is a member of the First Congregational Church and Kent Elks lodge No. 1377.
Mr. Troyer was married in 1939 to Miss Lucile Gallaway, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Gallaway of Kent. They have two children, Sandra, 14, a freshman at Kent Roosevelt High School, and Robert, 11, a sixth grader at Central Elementary School. The Troyer family resides at 601 Fairchild Ave., Kent.
Isaac D. Tuttle
Isaac Dexter Tuttle was born on a farm in Palmyra township, Oct. 1, 1849, the son of Isaac and Martha (Glass) Tuttle. He was one of nine children. His grandfather, John Tut- tle, was a veteran of the Revolutionary War who settled in Palmyra in 1805, coming from Massachussetts.
Mr. Tuttle received his education in the Palmyra common schools and assisted his father on the farm and in carpentry and stone work. At the age of 21 he began his business career in contracting and masonry work. In 1880 he came to Kent where he supervised the masonry work in the Marvin Kent home on W. Main St. For the next several years he had contracts for many of the larger construction projects in Kent. Among these was the pas- sage under the stone bridge for the P.Y.C. railroad, now the B.&O. Later, he built the stone retaining wall along the tracks north of the bridge. In 1886 he built the water works
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pumping station and in 1889 the Kent Opera House. He also built the vault of the Standing Rock cemetery and the Rock- well building on East Main St. After that he maintained an office in Cleveland handling many construction projects for the Big Four railroad.
In 1873, Mr. Tuttle was married to Phoebe Olmstead. One child was born to them-Madge Phoebe (Mrs. Peter Boettler, deceased). Mrs. Tuttle died in 1876.
On Jan. 25, 1884, Mr. Tuttle married Frankie Newnham. To them two children were born-Isaac Leigh, deceased; and Harriet Ruth (Mrs. Glen Reed).
Mr. Tuttle was a member of the Masonic lodge and was chief stockholder in the Kent National Bank at the time of his death, March 5, 1909. He was a Knight Templar and a Shriner.
Donald Joseph Ulrich
Donald Joseph Ulrich, the only son of Dr. Nicholas A. and Laura Tredway Ulrich, was born January 11, 1914 in Kirksville, Missouri. At the age of two his family located in Kent where his father started his practice as an Osteopathic physician.
His primary education was obtained at Kent State Training School and he was graduated from Roosevelt High School in June, 1931. He spent one year at Wooster College, after which he transferred to Kent State where he was graduated with a B. S. degree in 1935. Four years later he graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathy. His internship and residency in surgery was com- pleted in five years at the Bashline-Rossman Hospital in Grove City, Pennsylvania.
In the fall of 1944 he started in practice in Kent as an associate with his father. He is a member of the staff of Green Cross General Hospital and a past Chief-of-staff of the in- stitution.
He is a member of the following organizations: American Osteopathic Association, American College of Osteopathic Sur- geons; Ohio Osteopathic Association, Kent Methodist Church, Kent Rotary Club, Rockton Lodge F. & A. M., Lake Erie Con- sistory 32nd degree, Tadmor Shrine, Sigma Nu Fraternity, Iota Tau Sigma Medical Fraternity, Twin Lakes Country Club.
On October 11, 1947 he married Shirley Jean Christy of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. They have two children, Christy Suzanne and Stephen Nicholas.
Nicholas A. Ulrich
Nicholas A. Ulrich was born in Wheeling, W. Va., November 16, 1881. He attended school in Barnesville, Ohio, and graduated from Wooster College in 1911. He taught school in Galion and Lorain, Ohio before going to professional school. In June, 1916, he graduated from the Kirksville College of Osteopathy.
In August, 1916, he started his professional career in Kent and remained here the rest of his life.
Throughout his entire life he was interested in athletics and because of his earlier
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experience became the first basketball coach at Kent State Normal School. His active participation in sports in Kent consisted of playing tennis in his younger years and later becoming a golf enthusiast. He was a charter member of the Twin Lakes Country Club and very active in the Akron Dis- trict Golf Association as a representative of the club. Along with his son, Don, he was a consistent winner of the Akron District Father-Son Tournament-having won it seven times.
He was a charter member of the Kent Rotary Club and President in 1927-28. He had a perfect attendance record for 27 years.
He was a member of the Kent Methodist Church; Rock- ton Lodge F. & A. M .; Kent Chapter, R. & A. M .; Akron Council No. 80, Royal and Select Masters; and Akron Com- mandery of Knights Templar No. 25; member of the Kent Chamber of Commerce; member of the Ohio Osteopathic Association and a Past President; member of the American Osteopathic Association and member of the staff of Green Cross General Hospital.
On April 4, 1913 he married Laura Tredway. They had one son, Dr. Donald J. Ulrich.
William W. Warner
William W. Warner was born at Crestline, Ohio, on August 30, 1880. He was the eldest son of Noah Miller and Elizabeth (Gerberich) Warner of Crawford County, Ohio. He attended school at Blooming Grove, Morrow County, and graduated from the high school there in 1898. He then worked several years on the farm and in 1902 started working for the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. at Crestline, Ohio, remaining through 1904. In 1905 he went to work for the Erie Railroad Co. at Marion, Ohio and was transferred to the shops in Kent in 1907. He was transferred to Cleveland in 1915, but was transferred back to Kent in 1918 as shop superintendent. He remained in that position until 1927 when he started in as chief engineer for the Davey Compressor Co. at Kent. He remained in this position until September, 1954, when he was promoted to vice president.
Mr. Warner was married December 7, 1902, to Miss Barbara Hoffman, daughter of George and Elizabeth Hoffman of Leesville, Crawford County, Ohio. To them four children were born-Jay, Pearl, Louis and William.
Mr. Warner was interested in local civic affairs and served as councilman for one term. He also served on the Boy Scout committee for several years.
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