LaVern Eckles was born May 4, 1910 in rural Pratt County to Ralph and
     Maude Eckles. He came from a family of ten children and was known by many
     as "Red" because of the color of his hair. On November 4, 1935 he married
     Louise Merriman at the Cunningham parsonage. She was the daughter of Porter
     and Lena Marriman of rural Sawyer, and was born November 11, 1912. She had
     three brothers and one sister. LaVern and Louise lived in Isabel for ten
     years where he was employed at the Isabel hardware.
          In 1940 they bought a lot from Ray Bell, dug a basement and moved a
     house they had purchased from Irl Hamm to that site. On November 20 of that
     year their daughter, Phyllis Jean, was born. They lived at this location until 
     August 4, 1945 when they rented the farm belonging to Earl Blackwelder one
     mile north and one-half mile east of Isabel. They farmed the 640 acres on
     this place, raised purebred Shorthorn cattle and Yorkshire hogs. They had
     no machinery when they rented this farm and bought it gradually as they
     could and rented more ground over the years. On July 1, 1946 their son La
     Vern Michael was born. 
          In the fall of 1978 they bought 480 acres of the Keyes ranch in Barber
     County southwest of Sawyer which was the birthplace of Louise's mother. They
     lived at the farm north of Isabel until they bought a home in Pratt and
     moved May 4, 1979.
          Phyllis married Dick Wehling, son of Fritz and Hazel Wehling, and they
     had three children: Tim of Pratt, Randy of Boston, Massachusetts, and Rhonda
     of Hutchinson. Mike married Judy Cline, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Dale Cline
     of Mr. Pleasant, Iowa and they have three children: Andrea, Tim and Mitch.
     They live at Diamond Bar, California.
          LaVern and Louise are lifetime members of the United Methodist Church.
               
     Source: Isabel, Kansas - The First 100 Years, 1887 - 1987,  pg. 72