Ray and Vala 1916

Ray would have been 8 in 1905.

     Ray Morgan was the fourth child of Elias and Emma Morgan nee Ellingwood and grew up on a small farm in Jefferson County Kansas. His three older siblings had been born in Indiana before the family moved to Kansas. Ray was only six when his father died at the age of 57. Fortunately for Ray, he was able to finish 9 grades of school. At some point, he started working for the D.B.Grocery in Valley Falls as a delivery boy. He gets a mention in the December 16th, 1915 edition of the Valley Falls New Era: The D.-B.Grocery boys have a dandy new delivery wagon in which Ray Morgan is proud to call on their many customers.

WC and Mary McClenny nee Byram 1889
back row: Barney, Fred, Elias, John (Vala's father) & George
front row: Bess, W. C., Mary and Nelle

       On the other hand, Vala McClenny's grandfather, W. C. McClenny, came to Jefferson County in 1856 at the age of 19. W.C. was a free-soiler who homesteaded and served in the Kansas militia during the Civil War. Brief bio of WC written before 1874 - after clicking on the link, scroll down to the bios. Vala's father was the oldest child of his second wife, Mary Byram.

Helen and Vala circa 1907

Vala [her name originally had two l's, but at some point she dropped one] grew up on a small farm near Dunavent in Jefferson County and felt there was never enough money. She liked taking her father's lunch to him in the fields and the dances John and her mother Edith would take her and Helen to. Her father, John, worked as a barber to make ends meet, but then in 1913 when she was 16 he died from injuries from being kicked by a horse. Report of John's injury.

     In November 1915, at the age of 18, Vala began a job as the "Hello Girl," telephone operator in Meriden, Kansas, almost 20 miles from her home near Dunavant. It was while doing this job she first met the delivery boy for the Valley Falls grocery store. She said that she knew his voice before she actually met him. But when they did meet she found him to be a good looking and kind gentleman.

Vala McClenny starts her job as telephone operator - Nov 1915

It's not hard to imagine that their courtship would have included baseball.

Vala and Ray cutting up on the railroad tracks 1916

      By the summer of 1916 Vala would have been at the games to watch the catcher if nothing else. Perhaps this is when she learned her adage that if the home pitcher gets a strike on the first pitch, the home team wins.

The August 3, 1916 edition of The Valley Falls New Era wrote of a game between Valley Falls and Winchester:

On the home grounds last Friday Valley Falls defeated Winchester seven to one .. . .

The feature of the game was the 21 “strike outs” by Stewart. Ten of 21 outs were credited to him. He threw at “spit ball” – anyhow he “spit” on it – which the visitors could not find.

The Winchester boys, one of the best teams in the county when in practice, admitted they were not in form, as they had only played one real game in the season, and came directly out of the field or shop for this game. As one expressed it, “We can’t play ball and work all the time.” Well who can? 

  * * * * * * * * *

In the two hour game, both sides playing slowly in the hot sun, only five errors were made, Winchester 2 and Valley Falls 3. Stewart struck out ten men and Housh four. Bases on balls, Stewart 3, Housh 4. By pitched ball Stewart 3 and Housh none.

Valley Falls fell behind in the second inning giving up a run on a passed ball.  But then in the home half of the fourth: (once again according to the New Era:)

Delk walked on balls and was first to score on a pair of singles, Morgan singled to first and soon scored. Wettig struck out. Father Newman singled to first. Evans flied out to Goddard at 2^nd; Zeke McKinney walked, Newman and Newman scored and Lillie flied out to Stoeffler. Four scores.

The score stayed 4-1 until the bottom half of the sixth:

Evans out at first; Stewart knocked a two-bagger and the fun began again. The fans were roaring. Zeke hit a safe onto first and slipped to second. Stewart scored. Lillie singled to first and Zeke scored. Delk lost at first, Morgan and Abe Newman each singled to first and Lillie scored. But Wettig was out at first before Morgan and Abe could get home. Three scores.

 The game was called in the seventh inning when Winchester's latest catcher dislocated a finger.

Vala, Maxine and Edith - 1920 Topeka

It's hard to know if Vala would have been there or not, but she was a baseball fan.

Ray and Vala dated for two years and married in May of 1918 and moved to Topeka. Maxine Marie Morgan was born that Christmas Day.