Oscar Floyd Jaquess

Place: McDowell, Missouri

His father was William Jaquess who died when Oscar was 4 or 5 years old from an accident. He worked on the railroad. His mother was Lottie Jane Luney Sexton Jaquess, born January 10, 1890, in Cassville, Missouri. After the death of William Jaquess, Lottie married Claude Anderson in 1916.

Lottie's children are Paul Sexton, Arlie Jaquess, Oscar, Clint Anderson, Toot(Daniel) Anderson, George Anderson, Andy Anderson and Betty Lee Anderson. Toot died in WWII, Paul died of lung disease in Meade, Kansas while working as a grain elevator operator. Arlie, Betty and Clint have also passed. Claude Anderson (step-dad) worked as a foreman at Collingwood Cattle Ranch outside of Plains, Kansas. All the Anderson children were born at the cattle ranch.

Oscar went to school with hos siblings at a one room school house in Plains City Territory, Kansas. Eileen Fitzgibbon was his teacher. He remembered her. He married Jennie Mayers in 1930 in Syracuse, Kansas. Their daughter Delores was born there on March 15, 1931 and passed on July 29, 2011. They moved to Homestead, Kansas in a two room dugout next to the Nebraska state line.

Oscar worked for grandpa Meyers, Jennie's dad, when living in the dugout, a 'house' dug out of the side of a mountain with dirt floors and dirt walls! They did have an ice box to keep food cold. Delores lived there with Oscar and Jennie. He told a story of a snake peeking its head out one night while having supper. Oscar grabbed it by the head and killed it while Jennie and Delores ran screaming into the other room.

With money earned from various other jobs, he opened a restaurant in Wichita, Kansas and a second one in Syracuse, Kansas. He sold hamburgers for five cents, cola for a dime and roast pork for forty-five cents. Then he worked part time in a creamery there in Syracuse.

The family moved to California in 1936 when friends persuaded him to join them in the move. They packed up the Plymouth coupe and followed their friends out west, camping the entire way with little Delores. He lived in Bell and worked paving roads with a team of mules.

He changed jobs and went to work for Spring & Wire Company in Los Angeles making springs for car seats.

Oscar and Jennie divorced in 1941. He then worked at the shipyards in Long Beach and lived in Dominguez, California.

Arlie, Oscar's brother, introduced him to hes secretary, Betty Randall. Betty thought he was really good looking and very nice. They went on a first date playing miniature golf and Betty had never played that before. They went with Arlie and Opal, who were married until their deaths. Oscar would go to Betty's house and pick her up on the motorcycle on Friday nights and bring her back on Sunday... I'm sure they had separate rooms.

Well, they married in August of 1944. Went on their honeymoon with best man Neale Daniels and his wife Marge to Big Bear, California. They had to sleep in the car the first night because no rooms were available. Oscar never made reservations anywhere, EVER!

They lived in Reseda, California. Oscar worked for Betty's father at a cabinet shop. When Johnny was born, in February of 1946, dad just dropped Betty off at the hospital for a check up and when he came to pick her up after work, they told him he couldn't take her home because she had a baby! When little Lela decided to pop out, in November of 1947, Betty started labor at night and they didn't have time to get to the hospital, so they made a stop at Betty's parent's house in Hollywood and Oscar delivered baby Lela.

They moved to Fontana then back to Reseda then to Bloomington, California and built a house in 1951 on the corner of San Bernardino and Cedar Avenue in Bloomington where they lived until moving to Hesperia, California in 1985.

Oscar worked doing tractor work, excavation and horse breeding and training. The property in Bloomington became a farm with horses, cows, pigs and chickens along with many various other pets of the family. Oscar was also in the Sheriff's Posse for San Bernardino County going on several search and rescue missions. Betty worked for San Bernardino County and Colton Unified School District. Oscar and Betty together created the "B-Jolley Farms" with championship Tennessee Walker horses, and other beautiful show horses winning many awards.

In 1985 Oscar and Betty decided to downsize and move to Hesperia, California in the high desert. They bought a place on 3rd Avenue and moved again all by themselves with many trips up and down the hill with several horses, barns and all the equipment.

Oscar's motto was, "The way to live is to forget everything and don't depend on nobody for anything."

They again downsized even more and in the year 2000, somehow knowing that Oscar needed to be in a smaller house and settled in before she said, "Good Bye." Oscar lived there by himself cooking, cleaning, working in his little shop out back and keeping himself busy. Family was close by keeping watch and visiting. He then became ill with pneumonia and rushed to the hospital. Not as strong as he was before, he moved to Merrill Gardens of Apple Valley where he resided until September of 2011, when he was moved to Skyline Villa in Apple Valley due to needing more care.

Oscar lived a long and happy life. He was happy, smiling and friendly to all even when he wasn't sure who everyone was. He continued to have a sense of humor and still enjoyed a good joke up to the very last. He was able to be part of the Thanksgiving celebration at Skyline Villa this past month with family at his side. He passed away on Wednesday, December 12, 2012 in the early morning, very peaceful and content.

Oscar's children are Delores Immel (deceased), John Jaquess and Lela Tasker. His grandchildren are Charnel Mott, Erica Kelly, Jennifer Smith, Eric Jaquess, Kimberly Brown and Kyle Jaquess. His great-grandchildren are Rachelle Mott, Cory Mott, Hayley Jaquess, Tyler Jaquess, Ryan Smith, Connor Smith, Ethan Brown and Maxton Brown. All will greatly miss dad, grandpa, and great-grandpa very much.

God Bless