Honoring A True American Hero

When I drove over to the Miami County Veterans Memorial site to cover the dedication of the new Miami Combat Veterans monument on Memorial Day, I kept wondering if I would find anyone representing Osawatomie’s home-grown heroes.

As it was, three men who grew up in Osawatomie and had gone off to war – Ray Conklin, OHS ‘33; Ernest L. Jones, OHS ‘33; Cecil L. Prentice, OHS ‘37 – have been memorialized, along with others from Miami County for their selfless deeds.

We had tried getting hold of Ernest Jones’ son, LeRoy, with no luck, but had no leads on anyone for Prentice or Conklin. Little had we suspected in our busy schedule that Conklin’s daughter, Judy, lived a mile west of Osawatomie.

If not for a hunch and a phone call made by Pete Bell, commander of Paola’s VFW Post, I would never have met Judy Conklin or learned so much about the actions, life of her father, and that of his family. Judy didn’t know about the dedication ceremony until four days before the event when Bell called her.

Within moments of my side-stepping the large number of people there for the dedication ceremony, Pete introduced me to Judy Conklin. “This is Ray Conklin’s daughter!” Pete said, when making the introductions.

I could tell Judy recognized me, and she asked, “Didn’t you take our picture Friday evening,” as I replied back with, “OHS Class of ‘61? You were on the front row!”

And without missing a beat to Judy, I said, “I want to talk to you about your father, when we can get a chance.” She looked surprised, so we set time and place: the VFW soon after conclusion of the events.

Later that afternoon and seated in the shade on the wooden deck behind the VFW, Judy talked. She apologized for being able to talk so much and for so long, but I didn’t mind. Not one bit.

Her story drew me in, alright! I took my notes the best I could, while attempting to keep up with her ricochet memory – a baby in a box, her dad’s war adventures in the South Pacific, his being an OHS graduate, Navy stories and protocol in those days, his death in 1952 on a Nevada mountaintop, and a funeral in Osawatomie – and my head spinning from the details.

A few days later, I called her back with more questions and a request for pictures. She had been thrilled by this request but little did I suspect the depth of her appreciation.

Judy had talked to her sisters, Nicki Bonner and Connie Conklin, soon after the Memorial Day events. They live in and around Indianapolis, Indiana. “I told them this man with a ponytail approached me at the monument dedication, and he wanted to talk about our dad. We got a bit teary-eyed,” Judy said.

Judy explained in a more direct fashion than in the previous interview how after Ray Conklin’s death nobody had wanted to talk about their father. “When we came back to Paola, I was 8, Nicki 6, and Connie 18-months-old. Nobody wanted to talk about daddy. But I did. I wanted to talk about him, but it was like he ceased to exist. That is until you came along and started asking questions,” Judy said.

Soon after,  I soon stopped by her place to pick up pictures. She told me how feelings of their father “ceasing to exist,” had really hurt, and this had been something she and her sisters, even the baby Connie, have dealt with for their lifetimes. “But, now, it’s like something has lifted. Our father did live, he did exist, and somebody wanted to know about him,” she said.

What could I say to this heartfelt revelation? I thanked her and took notes. Because, I guess, it’s what I do.

Judy and her sisters understood how people didn’t want to hurt the feelings of little girls and talk about their father’s death. As Judy reminded me several times, she still wanted to talk about her dad’s life, even at 8-years-old,  and the things he did, whether it was his love of softball, flying and the Navy, his hometown, or his family, and to hear stories about him in Osawatomie or elsewhere.

So, yes, Judy, there were times when my notes didn’t appear to make sense from information overload, but think about it…you’ve had 59 years’ worth of pent up anger, confusion anyway, weighing you down from when you overheard somebody say, “He was blown to bits!” and then nothing more about your daddy.

Thank you so much for allowing me to get to know Ray Conklin and his family.

Short URL: http://osawatominews.com/?p=1299

Posted by admin on Jun 8 2011. Filed under Kevin Gray. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry