Duane Everett Walrath, 1893-1968 [RG3572.AM]

NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID

RG3572.AM:  Duane Everett Walrath, 1893-1968

Papers:  1849, 1917-1918

Gering, Nebraska:  Farmer

Size:  0.2 cu.ft., 1 box + oversize

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Duane E. Walrath was born the son of Guy O. Walrath and Myrtle Palmer Walrath, April 3, 1898 at Cedar Bluffs, Saunders County, Nebraska. The family moved to a farm near Albion, Nebraska where Duane later graduated from Albion High School. He entered the University of Nebraska, but his service in World War I interrupted his attendance. He was discharged as a 2nd Lieutenant, Col. L of the Aviation Section of the Signal Officerís Reserve Corps, National Army. Walrath returned to the University of Nebraska and graduated in 1920 with a bachelorís degree from the College of Agriculture. After graduation he taught school and farmed.

Duane Walrath married Lucile Tourtelot on June 6, 1923 in Adams, Nebraska. They farmed at Loretto, Nebraska for four years and then moved to North Platte Valley in 1927. He worked with a wholesale fruit and vegetable firm (Walrath-Ellis Co.) until 1933 and then went back to farming at Scottsbluff, Nebraska. The Walraths moved to a farm near Gering, Nebraska in 1937 where Duane continued to farm until his death on July 31, 1968. He was survived by his wife and three children.

Duane Walrath served as Director of the Federal Land Bank Association of Scottsbluff for fifteen years and as Director of Certified Potato Growers for twenty years. He was a member of the Gering City School Board for several years, a member of the First United Methodist Church at Gering, and a fifty-year member of the Albion Masonic Lodge.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection consists of one box of manuscript material including correspondence, flight plans and orders, and newspapers. The materials relate to Duane Walrathís military service in WWI. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence from Walrath to his parents. Also included are flight plans and orders and newspapers from Payne Field, Mississippi as well as a letter dating from 1849 from Isaac Walrath, Duane Walrathís great grandfather.

DESCRIPTION

Box 1

Folder

1. 1. Correspondence, Isaac Walrath, 1849

1. 1. Correspondence, Duane Walrath, 1917

1. 1. Correspondence, Duane Walrath, 1918

1. 1. Flight plans and orders

1. 1. Newspapers, Payne Field Zooms, Payne Field, West Point, Miss., 1918 (see oversize)

ADDED ENTRIES:

European War, 1918

European War, Personal narratives, 1918

Walrath, Duane Everett, 1893-1968

07-29-1971   JEP/DDS/pmc

03-21-2006   TMM/tmm