Hilary Michael Kunz
Special thanks to Evelyn Kunz Gaffney, who wrote the largest portion of this section.
Hilary Michael Kunz, son of Amelia and Michael Kunz, was born on July 17, 1903 in the family home in Sherman, WA. He had five older half-brothers and an older half-sister to dote over him, as well as his sister Gertrude, just four years older than him. Gertrude told the story that when she was four her mamma wanted her to occupy the baby by rocking him in the rocking chair so Amelia could get some things done. Hilary, though, wanted to get down to play, so he would kick his legs and poor Gertrude's knees and shins would be hurting, but she knew she must babysit her little brother and so she persisted.
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| Young Hilary Kunz
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Gertrude and Hilary, like some of their older siblings, went to the
Sherman school house on the hill with the neighbouring
children.
By the time Gertrude and Hilary were ready for high school, around 1916, Michael had retired
from farming. The family moved to Spokane to the house at 1011 East Boone
in order to be close to the children's respective schools. Gertrude attended and graduated from
Holy Names Normal School in 1923, while Hilary entered Gonzaga Preparatory and
graduated in
1921. That year, Hilary's father suffered from stomach cancer. By
January 1922, Michael Kunz died. Amelia and her two children
Gertrude and Hilary continued to live in Spokane.
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Hilary in roadster attire
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After high school
Hilary entered Gonzaga University. One of Hilary's classmates was Harry Lillis
"Bing" Crosby. Hilary graduated in 1925
with a degree in Education. He then went on to teach
English at Gonzaga Preparatory for a year or so. He had a knack for teaching but
he found discipline to be a problem and was not completely happy with his chosen
career.
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Gonzaga College, 1889 |
During school breaks such as summer and
holidays, Hilary sold shoes in a store in Spokane. Hilary would see his old neighbours
as well as his brothers and their growing children. Some of the shoe salesmen found
it distasteful to wait on the farm children, but Hilary said “they were just fine,
their feet don’t smell to me, I’d be happy to serve them.”
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L>R: Gertrude Kunz, Anne Menehan [?], Violet Simons and Hilary Kunz |
Sometime during his university days, Hilary was admitted to Sacred Heart Hospital to have his appendix removed. Violet Simons was his nurse. This is the momentous occasion when the two met for the first time and began a long relationship that was and is still enviable by all who knew them. Despite the fact that they were both raised only about five miles apart, Hilary and Violet hadn't grown up with the same friends. The Kunz family was more involved in the Sherman and Wilbur communities, while the Simons family participated more in Creston community events. Violet did say, however, that she remembered riding in the wagon with her father from Creston to Sherman and he would tell her about the families on the way. At the home across from the Sherman Store and post office, George Simons would tell his daughter that there lived the Kunz family, and that the mother of this family had taken on the care of a big family when Michael Kunz's first wife had died. This would have been something to which little Violet could relate because her own mother had died shortly after her birth and left behind an even larger family to be cared for. Little did Violet know that one day she would fall in love and build a life with one of the Kunz boys right in this same Sherman community.
To continue reading about the life of Violet Simons and Hilary Kunz, go here.
To read about the lives of Hilary's siblings, visit:
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