Hilary and Violet Simons Kunz

Special thanks to Evelyn Kunz Gaffney, who wrote the largest portion of this section.

On August 26, 1926, Hilary Michael Kunz and Violet Hazel Simons were joined in holy matrimony at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Cathedral in Spokane, WA. They chose to be married at 7 o'clock in the morning. Was it because it was harvest season? Was their concern for all the farmhands, friends and relatives who would be attending the wedding, needing to get back to the fields? Was it because the rule of fasting from midnight before the Eucharistic Celebration strongly encouraged early celebrations? Or was it just because Violet thought all services were this early because of the early hospital regime to which she was accustom?

After their marriage, Violet worked in the case room [delivery room] at Sacred Heart Hospital, and Hilary taught English at Gonzaga Preparatory. In 1928, Hilary was offered to farm the piece of property in the Sherman area that his brother Leo was farming. Leo and his family were moving to Mondovi where they had recently purchased property. Hilary and Violet moved into the building that had housed the old post office and general store. This was located directly across the Sherman road from Michael and Amelia’s lovely house. The former general store was a large house and had a huge shade tree in the back yard.

The old Sherman school house that had stood on the top of the hill, just west of the post office, was moved down the hill and placed 100 yards behind the house, to be used as a garage. This garage held many treasures: harnesses, oil lamps, a steamer trunk, and blacksmith tools. The walls in the front of the room were covered with slate blackboards on which several of Hilary's children drew pictures and scribbled as they played in there.

The stock market took its terrible plunge in October of 1929. But Hilary and Violet, as well as other farmers, were fortunate to have had their own livestock to butcher, chickens for producing eggs and meat, and garden produce to eat and preserve. Even though there was strict rationing of petroleum products, farmers were allowed to have gasoline and diesel for their farm equipment. The family was not wanting for food, therefore. However, they did not have other items of wealth. Cash was short and the grain companies bought the crops at greatly reduced prices.

Despite their frugality, in early December 1929, Hilary’s pockets were empty. On Sunday, December 8th the young couple went to church, Violet nine months pregnant with their first child. At the Offertory of the Mass, Hilary reached into his pocket and found his last dime. He dropped it into the basket, despite that fact that that week, Hilary was to take his beloved wife to the hospital and he wasn't sure how he would be able to pay the hospital bills. Before they headed back out to Sherman after Mass, a gentleman approached Hilary and said, “I hear you have some hogs to sell.” Hilary replied that indeed he did have two hogs ready for the market. This was the opportunity that paid for the birth of Katherine Amelia Kunz, who was born on December 13, 1929.

Hilary and Violet with their first child, Kate

Grandma Amelia lived in the house across the road with its stately poplar trees and an apple tree in the back yard. Grandma loved “Atty,” her namesake, and she came across that road to her son's house so often to watch the baby and hold her while Violet was busy preparing harvest meals for the big crew.

It wasn’t long before there was another little one on the way. On March 16, 1931, Elizabeth Marie was born. She was different from Kate, with her white blond, oh so curly hair. Her mamma first called her Beth, but she soon became Booty, thanks to the baby-talk of her big sister. The cousins, Mike and Billy (Tootsy and Will’s children), definitely still call her Booty even until this present day. To her own family, she was ultimately called Bess.

No time was lost before March 2, 1932 when a manchild was born. Hilary Michael Kunz, Jr. made his appearance and was christened "the new manager of the farm" in the birth announcements. For this reason he was called “Manny" as a child.

Times were still very hard. The country was in the midst of the Depression. On Christmas Day 1933, there was little money. The girls, Katherine and Elizabeth, each received a doll that their mom had made, and Lary received a little rubber ball. That was the extent of their Christmas gifts.

Another boy, George Dennis, was born on July 3, 1934. George was named after his grandfather George Simons and for Uncle George, Violet’s brother. Den, as he is called, was a sickly child and his mother had set up his crib in the living room. There is a great picture of Den at about 6 years old. It was summer but Den was dressed in a heavy sweater because his mother was worried that he needed protection after sunset or in cloudy weather. He grew out of his sickliness, however, and became a boxer in high school. Tough kid!

L>R, back row on wagon: Evelyn, Den, 2 neighbourhood friends

L>R, front row on wagon: Kate, Lary

L>R, on horse: Bess, Patty

Again a pregnancy, and this time a girl. Violet Patricia was born on March 18, 1936. Patty was small but strong, and has always been a tomboy. She did everything the boys did. She was told by her brothers that she would turn into a boy if she could kiss her elbow. She never broke her arm, but it’s a wonder the way she tried to kiss that elbow!

On June 23, 1938, Evelyn Agnes was born. Violets's good friend and inspiration was Sister Agnes in the obstetric department at Sacred Heart Hospital. Baby Evelyn was named for Sister Agnes, though she was usually called Ebbie.

L>R: Kate with Ebbie, Bess with Mary Ann,

Lary with Patty, Den

It was a long stretch this time, but on December 11, 1943, Mary Ann was born. She was a precious baby. All the children thought that she was their baby and dressed her up like a doll. Kate and Bessie, in particular, thought she was theirs and took special care of her. Surely the big girls were a very big help to their mother. They learned to cook and sew and in general be good farm girls.

On November 23, 1943, just one month prior to Mary Ann's birth, Hilary's mother Amelia died. Ebbie remembered seeing her Grandma lying in state in the parlour of her own house across the road. Perhaps the close proximity of death and birth made a strong impression on the young child.

In 1945, the family purchased the Copenhaver place and moved up the flat to this American Foursquare house on the hill. Violet loved her garden. Her children grew up learning the names by heart: snapdragon, hollyhock, daffodil, bleedingheart and peony. Hilary's sleight of hand transformed blossoms into ballet dancers or ladies in tubs. The children's small fingers made snapdragons open and close.

Conservation Farmers of the Year

Hilary worked at being a good steward of the earth. He always alternated his crops with summer fallow to allow the soil to absorb moisture and nutrients. He tried planting clover and alfalfa amongst the wheat in order to replenish the nitrogen in the soil more naturally than with chemical fertilisers alone. Violet and Hilary received the honour of Conservation Farmers of the Year for Lincoln County in 1957.¹

Hilary was solid and a rock in the community. He was on the school board for years, negotiating for curriculum improvements, managing the budget, working with the superintendent on the vision of the school district, trying to get the best for the students. He was well-respected and elected Master of the Sherman Grange time and again. Hilary produced and directed plays with the local farmers, their wives and children as actors and stagehands. These projects "were inspired by his concern for the fact that rural students were unable to partake in [after]school affairs."²

One in particular was "The Arizona Cowboy" which starred Hilary’s first cousin Tommy Kunz. Tommy was in reality a cowboy all outfitted with hat, boots, chaps and rope. Tommy was a trick roper and performed in the local rodeo, so he was a natural in the leading role. Hilary's daughter Kate was also part of the cast and wore a plaid dress. Was it as intermission for this particular play that Patty and Ebbie sang “Coo-koo and the Lamb”?

Hilary and Violet take a rest from croquet, c.1956

Violet was a member of the Sherman Cemetery Association (which had been named the Swastika Club prior to the Second World War). The women of this organisation raised funds for the upkeep of the cemetery and provided food and entertainment activities for the yearly Memorial Day celebration. She was part of the Sacred Heart Parish Altar Society and also taught catechesis in the parish to the children. Although Violet did not practice her nursing formally in the Wilbur area she was often called on by relatives and local residents to help in time of illness. There was one instance when a neighbour was not well and called for some help. It was winter and the roads were impassable by car. Hilary saddled up one of the horses and Violet rode by saddle horse to give comfort and care to her neighbour.

Dad liked to have the children around when he was working. Elizabeth remembered riding in the wagon pulled by horses, while her father and the hired man fixed fences, sitting on the fence of the corral watching them brand calves, or the shearing of the sheep. The family had a cellar full of home-grown and home-canned vegetables and fruit. Violet also make quilts from the wool from those sheep, as well as sewed most of the girls’ clothes.

In their early years, the children, dressed in their best clothes, sat in rows at the back of the church. When Mass was over, and the children were taught religion by Hilary and his sister Gertrude (in the early years) or by Violet (in the later years). Hilary told stories from the Bible in his own inimitable way. Father Arthur Joda instructed those children preparing for Confirmation.

Violet and Hilary's

25th wedding anniversary

Both Hilary and Violet attended retreats: Hilary went on retreat every year at Mount St. Michael’s Seminary in Spokane and Violet attended a retreat at the Dominican convent in Kettle Falls. The family said the Rosary every night before bedtime and the Morning Offering before the children went to school, kneeling in the living room around the couch or chairs. Slouching against the cushions was frowned upon but not punished.

            Kate went to Holy Names Academy as a boarding student for her freshman and sophomore years. When she decided to transfer back to Wilbur High School, Hilary took her into Wilbur to register for her junior year. The principal explained that the girls took bookkeeping and the boys took physics. Hilary's response was clear: “No, she will take physics.” And she did.

            The Kunz kids often performed at various community functions in the Grange Hall. Elizabeth was a particularly gifted pianist. Elizabeth, known as Bessie, studied piano lessons with a renowned teacher from Spokane. Mrs. Josephine Clark drove to Wilbur once a week to give lessons. It was on one of these occasions that she got a traffic violation ticket and had to stop coming to Wilbur. But the students and parents were so insistent on continuing with this wonderful instructor that the parents set up a schedule to share driving to Spokane with their students.

            Lary was a strong boy and was interested in sports. He played football. He also had a very distinctive baritone voice. At that time, Wilbur High School had a band and a chorus teacher who was very encouraging of Lary. He sang at a concert the deep voice of “Sixteen Tons” like Tennessee Ernie Ford.

            When Lary was about 7 or 8 years old, Uncle Chet, Mom’s brother, brought a horse for Lary that he had acquired from his friends on the Indian Reservation. The horse was a light roan color and in the winter grew more white hair than dark which made him look even lighter.   Uncle Chet brought the horse to the house and rode that pony right into the kitchen. What did Mom say? “Chet, get that horse out of the house!”

            Den also loved that pony and practiced riding. On one occasion, Den called, “Mom, watch me!” He had gathered a little pile of wood over which he had practiced jumping Little Joe. But Little Joe had plans of his own. He ran down the fence line of the pasture and jumped the fence. Deny stayed on but was white as a ghost. Hilary came out of the barn and, seeing that Den was frightened, helped him off the pony and put the pony in the barn.

Harvest with the tractor-pulled (left) and self-propelled (right) harvesters

            The boys worked hard and diligently on the farm chores and learned from Dad the routine of planting, weeding, fertilizing, harvesting. The various crops became a study for Lary and true to his baby announcement, he did continue to farm. The boys learned to milk the cows, muck out the barn, build and fix fences, feed the chickens and gather the eggs, although the girls also helped with some of these chores. Bessie told her father that she wanted to drive the wheat truck for harvest. There were people who said a girl shouldn’t drive truck, but Hilary hired her nonetheless. Subsequently, other girls followed Bessie's lead, including Ebbie, Patty and Mary Ann. (As the saga unfolds, Lary later had three daughters who ran the self-propelled combines in his farming days.)

            It was at her big sister Bessie's piano lessons that Evelyn first showed interest in music. The young girl bothered her sister so much, interrupting the lessons, that Mrs.Clark, the piano teacher, asked Violet to arrange for Ebbie's own lesson time. Thus Ebbie started piano lessons at the tender age of five. With her older sister's figural presence ahead of her, Ebbie claims that she simply had to love music.

            Holy Names Academy was great for Patty who was a star on the high school Mariners basketball team. Patty was little, but treacherous on the basketball court. She played on a winning team and in the all-star game. She was such a hustler, moving up and down that half court, a great ball handler. Patty has never stopped playing and was still playing pickleball and soft ball even into her sixties.

On the night Patty was scheduled to play in the all-star game, Evelyn was to perform a solo Hayden piano concerto in a concert with the school orchestra. There is a letter from Violet to her sister-in-law Gertrude, telling of her dilemma as to which she should attend. Finally, Bessie was assigned to Patty’s game and Violet went to Ebbie's recital. Hard decision, but evident of the fact that Hilary and Violet were always so supportive of whatever activities their children chose.

L>R, back: Kate, Lary, Den, Bess, Patty

Front: Mary Ann, Violet, Ebbie, Hilary Kunz

Hilary and Violet never asked their children if they wanted to go to college, but they respected the choice of where. And so every child at least began higher education when they finished high school. Kate went to Sacred Heart Nursing School, Bess, Lary, Den and Patty went to Gonzaga University, Evelyn went to Maryhurst College in Oregon, and Mary Ann went to Seattle University. Little by little the horizon opened and the children went this way and that in a distance of imagined mornings. At home, Violet walked the echoing house and the garden of the country the family all loved, likely turning each child in her thoughts and prayers like a treasure in her hand, like rain or like breath.

Violet Simons Kunz died on August 19, 1958, a few days after a massive stroke. The children thought Dad would perish from the blow. The cemetery gate latch clicked shut like a chord containing a wrong note. It was so devastating for the entire family. Patty was home for her father, but Mary Ann was scheduled to go to boarding school at Holy Names Academy just a few weeks after Mom’s death. What deprivation the baby, Mary Ann, experienced, without her mama, going away all alone to school. And how amazing Kate and their Aunt Gertchie were in those days, taking Mary Ann under their wing and serving as substitute mothers.

The Sacred Heart parish house was being built in 1958 with Father Verdorn. Hilary, being the generous volunteer, was at that building site daily, working alongside the carpenters and plumbers and electricians. When Father Tully came to town in 1959, he brought with him his own housekeeper, Hilda O’Connor. Hilda soon was cooking for Hilary, watching his diet and paying attention to his needs. Soon they were married. Hilary continued to farm for a number of years with his son Lary (Pete) and Lary's wife May working alongside him.

In 1965, Hilary retired from farming and left the farm work for Pete. Two years later, Hilary and Hilda went to volunteer at the Copper Valley School in Alaska as part of the newly established Jesuit Volunteer Corps. Evelyn, who had since joined the community of the Adorers of the Precious Blood, was assigned that same year to co-found Holy Spirit Retreat house in Eagle River. The community enjoyed a visit from Hilary at Eagle River, and later made a trip to the Copper Valley School to visit Hilary and Hilda.

After their year volunteering at Copper Valley, Hilary and Hilda bought a house in Spokane, within the territory of St. Aloysius Parish since Gonzaga had always meant so much to him. Hilary took a part-time job in maintenance at St. Aloysius. It was here, on a ladder on November 11, 1971, that Larry Harmon found him and shot him in the heart. Harmon suffered from paranoia with religious delusions which led him to seek out sacred sites to destroy.

Mr. Harmon then proceeded to smash and shatter the altars, statues and communion rail with a sledge hammer and an axe. He went out the side door and began shooting at anyone else he saw, including Mr. Bob Fees and various students around the campus. The police were called and the young man was shot by police at the corner of Boone Avenue. The first person to the scene inside the church after coming across campus was Father Armand Nigro, S.J. Hilary was anointed by Father Nigro on the floor while he was lying in his own blood.

Hilary was buried from Sacred Heart Church in Wilbur and was laid to rest next to his beloved first wife Violet in the Sherman Cemetery, alongside his parents Michael and Amelia.

Mother

Violet

1901 - 1958

Father

Hilary M.

1903 - 1971