Vincent Traffas was born on a farm near Sharon in 1914, the seventh son in a
  family of fifteen children born to Michael and Mary Traffas. Mike Traffas, as he
  was known, came from the old country with his folks when he was a small boy.
     After marriage to Mary (Traffas) Bolz in 1901, Mike moved to the small farm
  south of Sharon where all the children grew to adulthood.
     Vincent, one of 15 children, where disadvantages were many and advantages few,
  attended the parochial school in Sharon through the eighth grade and later Sharon
  High School, where he excelled both scholastically and in athletics. His father
  died in 1933, just after Vincent's high school graduation, this prevented futher
  schooling because of help needed on the farm. He with two brothers still at home
  with Mother did many kinds of custom work along with their farm work during the
  trying thirties and dust storms.
     He worked for a defense plant in St. Louis for a time prior to the war. In 1942
  he came home and volunteered for military service ahead of two older brothers still
  at home. He spent 46 months in the service, some of which were in the islands of
  the Pacific.
     In 1945, while stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland, he met and married Mary Gulli
  of Washington, D.C. After service, it became his lot to live on the farm where he
  grew up. It was a very trying experience for his wife, Mary, to leave the vastness
  of a city and live in the smallness of the great outdoors, but somehow it worked
  out well.
     To this union were born five children: Elaine, now married and living in Norton,
  Kansas: Joan, teaching in Memphis, Tennessee; Vincent, married and practicing
  veterinary medicine in Smith Center, Kansas; Brian, married and living on a farm,
  helping with the present enterprise; Shawn, finishing his collegiate work. All five 
  were provided the opportunity of a four year college course of their choosing.
     Presently Vincent is engaged in a farming operation including mostly wheat and
  cattle. Being a breeder of registered Herefords is probably his most rewarding
  experience because of the many friends and contacts he has made. It has been both
  an opportunity and a challenge.
     He has served as Grand Knight of the local K. of C. Coucil and was the first
  district deputy of this area. He served on the Barber County Extension Council 3
  years; was on the Farm Bureau Board of Directors at two different periods; served 
  on the board of the County ASCS Committee; is presently trustee of the Sharon
  Township, having been a board member the past 27 years; and is secretary of the
  Barber - Comanche Hereford Association the past six years.
     In 1948 their home site was completely destroyed by a tornado; they rebuilt
  where the present home is located. In 1976 a tornado again destroyed all outbuildings
  and most of the brick home. Mary and her daughter-in-law were sleeping in their
  bedrooms and the two boys, Brian and Shawn, were sleeping in basement rooms. Vincent
  was in Memphis with daughter JOan. Luckily all escapted injury except Mary, who 
  sustained cuts and bruises about her face and body when thrown from her bed against
  the wall and door. The house has been restored to its original form and a new steel
  building replaced the barn and other buildings.
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 458