Alice Hascall (183686354)

Alice was born and raised in Banner County, Nebraska. Her siblings told this story about Alice when they were growing up on the family farm.

It seemed that Alice had a reputation of working things out so that she got her way among her brothers and sisters. The Brown children, upon meeting a boy with a deformed foot, decided that it would be a good thing for one of them to be crippled too, and Alice wanted and was appointed, to acquire this attention-getting distinction. As Alice waited with her foot on the chopping block, her brother, Hap, swung the ax back and hit another of the observing siblings with it. This caused enough confusion and required medical attention so that the original plan was not carried through.

Alice and Fred married, lived, and farmed in Banner County, Nebraska while raising two sons, and for a time operated a small cafe in Minatare, Nebraska, and a small trucking business out of Harrisburg, Nebraska.

Later they moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming and Fred worked as a machinist helper for the Union Pacific Railroad until his death. After Fred's death, Alice moved into a tiny house in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, which she was very proud of since she had never owned a home before. She was only 53 years old, so she did light domestic work for several families with whom she maintained lifetime friendships.

One of her clients, Benjamin Franklin Symmonds, of Scottsbluff, became Alice's second husband. Alice was a devoted mother and grandmother. Her grandchildren were always welcome to drop in unannounced to look for the cookies and candy she kept for them. She was a good listener to her teenage granddaughters and a ready babysitter for her younger grandsons. Alice died at age 87, after residing in a Gering, Nebraska rest home for several years.
Contributor: Nebord (4886444) •