I was born in a little two room house a few miles southwest of the Unity
     schoolhouse in Barber County. I can remember my grand-parents coming in a
     buggy from Isabel to help butcher hogs, usually two or three. They came 
     early in the morning, for it took a long time to heat enough water to
     scald the hogs and scrape off all the hair. They usually stayed all night
     to help render lard, make sausage, and cure the meat the next day. Of
     course, they were given a large mess of meat to take home.
       Lenora Coles (Mrs. Homer Hoagland) was my first teacher. She taught in
     the Unity School, which was also used for socials, plays, dances, Flower
     Club meetings, township meetings, school elections, church, and Sunday
     School. She lived in an upstairs apartment at my parents home. She cooked
     her own meals. I ate many delicious meals with her, when my parents weren't
     home. Most rural teachers stayed in the community for lack of transportation.
     I walked to grade school except on bad days. Then my father took me on a
     horse or in the wagon. I attended grade school at Unity School, Mumford,
     and Prairie View, which was five miles north of Sharon. Prairie View was
     moved to Medicine Lodge and made into a home by Mr. and Mrs. Herman Winter.
       In 1925 I started Sharon High School. My transportation for two years
     was by horse and buggy. My neighbors, Floyd and Maurine Conard rode with
     me. The last two years we had a car. I graduated in 1929 with a Normal
     Training Certificate.
       The next eight years I spent teaching school. I taught four years at
     Unity, one year at Blackmore, and for three years I taught third and
     fourth grades at Sharon. I spent three summers attending Emporia State
     Teacher's College. I am so proud of my former students.
       Clarence Rucker and I were married by Rev. Byerly at the Baptist Parsonage
     in Medicine Lodge on Christmas Day, 1936. We bought the Tom Kingsolver farm,
     which was known for orchards and a watering place for horses pulling buggies,
     wagons, and threshing machines. We have lived here 42 years and are retired
     now.
       Clarence was a farmer. We miled cows by hand and sold a lot of cream to
     Sowards Produce Company in Sharon. He has been a member of Ridge Township
     board, Prairie View School Board, Sharon School board, and County ASC
     committee. Clarence does a lot of water-witching. If a welldriller can't
     find water, they call on him to find it, and he very seldom fails.
       We have four children: LaVern and Carol (Hart) live on a farm near 
     Deepwater, Missouri; with Mark, Lisa, and Monte; Darryl and Roberta (Pyle)
     live on the Charles Inslee farm with Craig, Bryan, and Debbi Rucker, Ricky,
     Tami, Sheri Pyle and Dacia; Merle and Rayann (Bloomer) live on our farm with
     Angie and Eddie. (He is foreman on a bridge gang in Wichita.) Dianna and
     Robert Ricke live in Sharon with Christina, Melissa and Matt. (Robert farms
     and works at the Gyp Mill in Medicine Lodge.)
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas, pg. 394 
     Submitted by: Bertha Inslee Rucker