'Marcy' Marcella Metz Kunkel
1900-1942


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"Marcella (Marcy) was born in 1900. She married in 1920. Most times we called him "Rube", but also was called "Kunk" and "Kunkel". He was born in 1897. Don't know where they met but always lived in Fairmont. Aunt Marcy was a wonderful person. We saw a lot of her when we were growing up.She and Real were very close and spent a lot of time together.She wore men's pants, which was unheard of, and hitchedthe mules or horses and plowed the fields. When we went to the farm on Thanksgiving, the ladies would be cooking, but Marcy was hunting rabits with the men. She would come in with her hunting pants and jacket, filled with rabits, and her shotgun over her shoulder. In the summer each of us would get a day to go downtown with her - such a treat. She was a lot like Ruth, in her car and on the go, full of energy.And she sure was fun. About 1924, when they lived at the foot of the hill, they had coal delivered. A black man came to the door and wanted to put it in the coal bin. She told him no, her husband was going to do it after work. He became very insistant, so she said O.K. He eventually came in the upstairs of the house, dragged her to the basement, beat her and abused her with his hand. She went to Dater's for help. She was in the hospital for 4 or 5 days, and when they would show her pictures to identify, she would become histerical. Real had mentioned this years ago, but Angela knew the details. She didn't know if he had ever been caught. She died after a heart attack in 1942. At that time they lived in Grandma Baldus' house, and Art use to go there for lunch. He found her dead on the couch. I remember the day. hen we came home from school, Real wasn't home. The disrag was on the table, just as she had left it, and you just knew something was wrong. She enjoyed all of her 42 years." by Vivian Reisstenberg

"Uncle Rube was a character. He was in charge of killing the chickens. Another facination for us kids. He had a tree stump with 2 nails hammered in and would pull the chicken's neck through the nails and chop. They really do hop around without their heads! Don't know why they did that, but it was a normal thing to do. He threw the King's English around, also, to the point that everyone wondered what Aunt Luella would think when she came back from South America. After he and Marcy were married, I don't know where they lived. In 1923, Muffy transfered 0.36 acre to Marcy for $1.00, at the foot of the hill, where they built a house. In 1936 they sold this and bought the saloon at Salem and Grand, which they lived above. Rube had been an ice man and also a guard for Dater. They ran the saloon until about 1940, at which time they moved into Grandma Baldus house and sold the saloon.Jack Baldus, Muffy's single brother, had lived there until his death, while on a trip in Florida, in 1940. Kunkel married Winnie, a ral nice lady, about 1949 or 1950. I don't know what kind of work he did after they sold the saloon, but he lived in Fairmont until his death in 1964, at age 66." by Vivian Reisenberg




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