Kersey, Frank Earl
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LAST NAME: Kersey
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FIRST NAME: Frank
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MIDDLE NAME: Earl
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NICKNAME: Boots
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MAIDEN NAME:
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AKA 1:
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AKA 2:
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AKA 3:
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GENDER: M
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TITLE:
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BORN: 8 May 1881
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DIED: 3 Dec 1953
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BURIED: 7 Dec 1953 (William C. Brown Cemetery)
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OCCUPATION:
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BIRTH PLACE: Salem, Marion Co, Oregon
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DEATH PLACE: Dallas, Polk Co, Oregon
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NOTES: Wife Elva Sanders was daughter of William and Minnie Sanders. They were divorced and she remarried in 1944 to James E. Stocker. She died 18 Jan 1987 in Salem and was buried in Portland Memorial Mausoleum (obit Itemizer-Observer, 4 Feb 1987)
PHOTOGRAPHS - The picture of Boots Kersey is shown courtesy of David Kromer.
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DEATH CERTIFICATE: OSBH DC (Polk Co.) #14362 - Frank Earl Kersey, divorced, occupation clerk, b. 8 May 1881 in Salem, Oregon, d. 3 Dec 1953 in Dallas, Oregon at the age of 72 years, name of father William A. Kersey, name of mother Violet Ann [maiden name not given], interment Brown Cemetery, informant Reeta May Draper.
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OBITUARY: DEATH TAKES F. E. KERSEY, ONCE MAYOR
Frank Earl (Boots) Kersey, 72, died Thursday night at the Dallas hospital following about two weeks illness there. He had been in failing health for the past year and especially since last spring when recurrent spells of illness sent him to the hospital. Funeral services were held at 10 am Monday at the Bollman
Funeral Home with Orville Mick, pastor of the Christian church, officiating. Burial was in the Brown cemetery on the Polk Station road beside his infant son. Graveside services were in charge of Carl B. Fenton Post No 20, American Legion.
Boots was born in Salem May 8, 1881, son of William and Violet Ann Kersey. The father had come to Oregon by ox team and the mother was born near Dallas in early days, daughter of W.C. Brown, pioneer merchant and legendary character of the community.
Most of Boots’ life was spent in Dallas, where he grew up among the boys of his day. He was a schoolmate of Harry H. Belt, later Oregon supreme court judge and chief justice, and of C.L. Crider, among others. His nickname came from a pair of red-topped boots his parents bought him in early grade school days, of which he was very proud. After public school he entered LaCreole academy and college and by nature gravitated toward sports, although he was neer an athlete himself. He managed the Dallas college basketball team for the season of 1907-08 when it swept down all Oregon opposition.
Following college he entered the confectionery business in the present location of Goodfellows. His place of business was the sports headquarters of the community (in a community which at that time was rabid over basketball and baseball). He was particularly considerate of the children and as these boys grew older they responded by forming “watermelon” lines, which surreptiously rolled a melon from foot to foot until it reached the doorway and then the crowd melted away. (There was probably a grain of truth to the legend that quite often these melons appeared on the bill of one or another of the dads).
During this period he managed, promoted and frequently financed the Dallas baseball teams, importing high priced talent from college teams if the occasion demanded.
The First World War called Company L from Dallas in the early spring of 1917. Boots was tied down by his business and could not go, but as the months wore on and the company, first encamped at Clackamas and later at Vancouver Barracks began to prepare for overseas service, he could no longer stand the pressure. He sacrificed his business and hastened to Vancouver to join up. He made it, but outfitting him threw a terrific strain on Supply Sergeant Bill Himes, noted throughout the 162nd Infantry for his resourcefulness. The uniform in which Boots crossed the continent to Camp Mills, Long Island, in the early winter of 1917 was partly military and partly civilian, quite characteristic of the rugged individualist who wore it. Wrap leggings, which were issued for overseas service, always thereafter proved an enigma to Boots, or at least to the officers and non-coms of the company who were responsible for his appearance. Instead of the neat spiral which ended just below the knee, Boots ended always by wrapping them in a waddy band just above the shoetop. There is little doubt that of the four million men in uniform in 1918, Boots was one of the least inhibited.
As was his lot always, from boyhood to the last days of his career, Boots was the life of the party. The spark that always kept the boys laughing, even in situations which were otherwise unhappy. The company put in miserable weeks in the strange cold of Long Island, stowed away a Thanksgiving dinner there, and spent Christmas on the Atlantic. They passed through England, then crossed the channel for their station in the training area of France. Boots served at Bourge, Tours and Contres, and remained with the nucleus of the company always even though many others were transferred into other outfits and duty. His first duty in France was shoveling coal, but he soon found more enjoyable work.
Perhaps his chief accomplishment in France was the staging of a company party, financed from the company mess fund. Boots was deleated this responsibility and selected a date well in advance and reserved the dining room of a French hotel. When the day rolled around and the company assembled, they found he had chosen well, both as to the kind of party and the date – November 11, 1918, the first Armistice day.
Returning to Dallas he slipped back into civilian life within a few months, much as it had been when he left it. He re-entered the confectionery and restaurant business and prospered. Later he disposed of this and purchased Harts’ Cleaners which he ran for a few years. Tribulations had never given him a wide berth, even in his most prosperous days, but he usually took them in stride. But there were years and times that he could not overcome. The drink habit had all but conquered him.
Some 16 years ago, however, he turned his back upon it and with characteristic courage removed it from his life completely. He was no longer young and his physical well being was impaired but he set about on a comeback. He never re-entered business but he worked energetically and efficiently – as a clerk at Crider’s; manager of a PX in the formative days at Camp Adair, fire watcher and gatemen for Willamette Valley Lumber Co.
He became interested in politics and was elected mayor of Dallas. He ran for county office, first for assessor, where he lost a tight contest in the Republican primaries, and later, after becoming mayor, for sheriff against Tom Hooker, again losing in the primaries, but putting up a real battle.
He was first commander of Carl B. Fenton post, American Legion, when it was formed in 1919, and also was commander of the Dallas VFW post after it was organized here a numer of years later. These later years were perhaps the happiest of his life and he had the satisfaction of proving to those who had known him through life that he had possibilities and qualities which many had never suspected. He fished and hunted with keen enjoyment until the last couple of years. He visited far places in the state on these trips, made new friends and had new experiences. Even when his health forced him to enter a rest home, he brought a ray of sunlight and joy to lives of those there, just as he had enlivened the Company L bivouac in the war. He attended church regularly during his later years, until his health became increasingly worse a few months ago.
He was married in 1921 to Miss Elva Sanders of Dallas. A daughter, Mrs. James Draper, Albany, survives the marriage, and a son was also born, who died in infancy. He was one of ten children in the Kersey family, but only one sister, Mrs Pearl Shaw of Dallas, survives. There are two small grandchildren, James Kersey Draper and Jennifer Draper of Albany. Bill Brown of Dallas is an uncle and there are a number of cousins, nieces and nephews.
Itemizer Observer, Thursday, December 10, 1953, II:1:7, II:6:1-2
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INSCRIPTION: Frank E. Kersey
Oregon
Cpl, Co. L, 162 Infantry
World War I
May 8, 1881-Dec. 3, 1953
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SOURCES: Branigar Survey
Saucy Survey & Photographs
Kromer Collection
Itemizer Observer, 10 Dec 1953
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