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New Year Begins without the
oldest Morrisonite
There
wasn't an issue of the Morrison Chronicle since the Fall of 2000 and I could give a number of excuses but I won't. I must
report that one of the earliest resident of Morrison
died on October 19, 2000. Emil Koller, born
May 7, 1898, was my uncle and although he spent the last 60 years or so in
Pawnee, when his mother and family, which included my father, came to Oklahoma from Nebraska
they first settled in Morrison. Below is the eulogy I gave at Uncle
Emil's funeral.
EULOGY for EMIL
KOLLER
by Dr. Clarance Benes
Uncle Emil was a very special man. Will Rogers once said that he had "never met a man he didn't
like." With Emil it could be said that he was never met by anyone
who didn't like him. One of my first impressions of Emil when I was a
small boy was when he used to drive out to the farm every weekend. Now
it seemed we always had two or three
dogs back then and they would bark at every car that went by and really got
excited if someone drove in. But when Emil drove in the dogs were
silent, and their tails were wagging. This is how they greeted him. My
thoughts at the time we that he must be very special for the dogs to honor
him so. I imagined that he might be Santa Claus in off season clothing.
That Santa Claus was actually a farm worker in the off season. It was
my twin brother Charles that pointed out to me that thedogs
didn't bark because he was bringing them treats,
that is, scraps from his home in Pawnee.
That, of course, wasn't the only treats that he
bought. For he always would bring Kloches and
donuts that Aunt Libby had made and sometimes he would bring her as
well. So it wasn't just treats for the dogs but something for us as
well. Still, I knew that this man coming out to the farm was a very
special man.
He had no kids of his own but that is a little
misleading. We were all his kids and he would call us kids all his
life. We, in turn, as my brother Kelley pointed out the other day,
started calling him "kid" and that was a nickname we had for a man
who despite his many years still acted like a kid in many ways. He was
always teasing us about something, telling us jokes and, of course, his many many stories about
working in the oil fields, knowing all the families that lived on every
section of land between Pawnee and Morrison since the land runs of 1889 and
1893. We were all his kids and he cared for us more like he was our
father. Also he was a father figure for Mary Kay and Gary, the children
of Edna Karraker, who he had dated for over 40
years. I understand that Clifford and many other children looked up to
Emil as a grandpa.
He was also concern about his nephews and nieces welfare even to the
very end of his life. He helped his brother Ed Benes and his nephew
Edward with farming for many years and mowing grass, plowing, helping with
harvest, and putting up hay. I remember hauling hay with him 30 years
ago, he was in his 70s and he was strong and a hard worker then. He had
always worked very hard physically. I asked him once, what was the
proudest achievement of his life. Without hesitation he said,
"Handling a team of mules by myself when I was 12 years old".
He spent 50 years as a roughneck, followed by 15 more years driving a tractor
for
my uncles Floyd and Kenneth Kelley. After that he spent 5 years assisting the
elderly in the van pickups around Pawnee. These "elderly"
were many times 20 years younger than him. He was still driving and
mowing his own grass on that huge half a block lot of his at the age of 100
but gave it up about then and starting calling in some favors. He had
done so much for so many and never asked anything in return until then.
And then he didn't ask for much. Just stop by or call him. He
wanted to take care of himself but he loved company.
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Howard Karraker was a faithful friend who starting calling Emil
every night and would stop by often. One night Emil didn't get that
call from Howard. He had died that afternoon. Henry Martin began
stopping by and checking on him often. Henry had some health problems
recently and wasn't able to continue his frequent visits. Beverly
Swart, a neighbor and friend would do things for him like take out his trash
and other things. Doris Benes and Lorie Benes were always checking on him and
recently arrangements were made for home care visits. Over the years my
sister Bonnie and my mother Alice Benes would do some cleaning, mending and
washing of clothes. I moved in with Emil around the end of August
staying up to 5 nights a week. When I wasn't working with my son Pete
in Ada,
and with the Morrison school, I was there to
assist him if he needed me, not really to take care of him. He wanted
to do that
himself. If I fixed him something to eat he would act surprised and
say, "What? Is this for me? What are you going to eat?"
He appreciated every little thing you might do for him and would let you
know. He would take care of those who were there to care for him.
He took care of himself up to and including the day he
died. He put his pants on that morning and later that afternoon walk
outside when the temperature climbed to his favorite temperature of 80
degrees. It was there while sitting in his chair he apparently had a
cardiac arrest. Health care workers came by and he was rushed to the hospital
where he lived until surrounded by his nephews and their wives and nieces and
others. He waited for us to all gather around him and pray when he let
himself slowly slip away from our presence and into God's. He didn't
want to die alone and he didn't. It was a beautiful and fitting death
for a beautiful self sufficient man.
Emil had no church affiliation but I think there is something you should know
about that. You see, people go to church so they could develop the
traits and qualities that Emil already possessed. He was kind toward
everyone, extremely generous. He gave money to children causes and that is
why we established the memorial gift program to the Children's hospital in
OKC and the Make a Wish Foundation. Please honor them with a gift in
Emil Koller's name. He harbored no ill will
toward anyone, held no grudges, and was envious of no one. He was the
kindest, most gentle and sweetest man I ever knew. He owed no one
anything and in the last days of his life he asked me if there was any one he
owed for he wanted to pay all of his debts, and that is the way he
lived. Jesus paid his debt for his salvation and I am sure he was
received stamped,
"Debt paid in full" when he reached that big homestead in the sky.
He wanted to pay his debt to his country also and he reported to the draft
board for both WWI and WWII. Because the war ended in 1918 he wasn't
needed and for WWII being 45 years old disqualified him when they lowered the
maximum age to 39. But remember, "They also serve, they who stand
and wait." He served his country by being willing and available
for service.
Emil and I had plans for the future. He was planning on voting in
the upcoming Presidential election. I wanted to start recording his
life story. I convinced him to have cataract surgery a few weeks ago but it
was a hard sell. I reminded him he would be better able to see all
those women he loved. He didn't want to spend the money on himself, he would rather leave that much more to his
"kids". He had a special sense of care for my sisters Bonnie
and Barbara. Being a man of the old world values, he felt that for the
girls you had to do something special. They needed more because they were women
and men could always fend for themselves if they had to. The first time
he met my daughter Angela in 1994 he slipped her a twenty dollar bill.
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He took care of his sister Libby; she in turn kept their house in
order. Some say that is why he never married, because he felt duty to
his sister Libby who had polio was on crutches all of her life. When
his sister Emma outlived her husband in California,
she returned to Oklahoma
and moved in with Emil and Libby. Libby and Emma both passed away in
1982. Emil has lived alone since then. Emil's great nephew Kiley Benes would stop by after high school and spend
some afternoons and evenings with him. Many of us thought that now that
he was living alone he would marry the love of his life, Edna Karraker. She passed away a year ago having spent the
last few years in a nursing home in Edmond.
Edna managed to come up for Emil's 100th birthday party thanks to Fern and
Howard Karraker. Although he was faithful to Edna,
she wasn't the only woman he loved. He LOVED THEM ALL! Although he
never said this, I am convinced that he thought that women were God's
greatest creation. It was a man duty was to support the women in their
lives, be they sisters, daughters, nieces, sister-in-laws, and even girl
friends. He was especially fond of Rose Stengel,
and he loved all of "his girls" down at Citizen State Bank of
Morrison, especially Loretta Longan and Peggy Riemer, he loved them all, and knew all of their names. I
enjoyed taking him on those bank trips and his routine was always the
same. He loved the attention he got, and he got plenty when he went
there and he would always seek out the newest female employee of the bank and
lay his charm on her. It always worked. He was quite a sensation
everywhere he went. Although they had only two encounters with him, the
people at the Triad eye center in Tulsa
are mourning his loss. I asked him once why he never married. He
replied, "I can hardly take care of himself,
how could I take care of someone else?" In this, of course, he was
exaggerating. He took care of not only himself, but all of those around
him.
He is being mourned internationally by all the
international girls that lived or are still living with me and my wife in Murray, KY.
They were always thrilled to meet this gentle ancient man who was 30 years
older than any person they ever knew. When first told how old Emil was they
thought they had misunderstood the number in translation. They quickly
discovered he was still a kid at heart. Some of those moments are captured
on the photos you see here and at my website. (no longer available)
I never asked Emil why he was living so long. A man who lived to see
three centuries. I felt I knew why. He had no vices, not a mean
bone in his body. Wasn't angry or resentful toward anyone or about
anything. He lived a simple pure life dedicated to serving his extended
family. We were all very proud of him.
We have now come to lay to rest Emil Koller. 102 years young. He goes to join his
parents and his brothers and his sisters and all of those loved ones that
have gone on before. He will join them at that big farmhouse in the sky
and dogs will greet him, not barking, but with
their tails wagging.
If you have stories about Emil Koller
that you would like to add to the collection I am gathering and publishing on
the web, please contact me at
DrBenes@yahoo.com
or write me
Clarance Benes
38801 E. 47th Rd
Morrison, OK 73061
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