117. Charles Herman7 Rulifson (
He married Florence Pearl Huls 18 November 1906 in Fayette, Fayette Co, IA. (Florence Pearl Huls #8.) Florence was born 2 October 1889 in Fayette, Fayette Co, IA. She was the daughter of Edward Eugene Huls and Mary Idah Van Sickle. When Florence was age 20 and Charles Herman Rulifson was age 24 they became the parents of Ralph Eugene Rulifson 23 April 1910 in West Union, Fayette Co, IA. When Florence was age 22 and Charles Herman Rulifson was age 26 they became the parents of Agnes Lucille Rulifson 9 September 1912 in West Union, Fayette Co, IA. When Florence was age 26 and Charles Herman Rulifson was age 30 they became the parents of Veda Ursulla Rulifson 17 August 1916 in West Union, Fayette Co, IA. When Florence was age 28 and Charles Herman Rulifson was age 31 they became the parents of Erwin Charles Rulifson 15 October 1917 in West Union, Fayette Co, IA. Florence died 26 August 1968 in West Union, Fayette Co, IA, at age 78.
Charles was employed date unknown. When Charles was age 24 and Florence Pearl Huls was age 20 they became the parents of Ralph Eugene Rulifson 23 April 1910 in West Union, Fayette Co, IA. When Charles was age 26 and Florence Pearl Huls was age 22 they became the parents of Agnes Lucille Rulifson 9 September 1912 in West Union, Fayette Co, IA. When Charles was age 30 and Florence Pearl Huls was age 26 they became the parents of Veda Ursulla Rulifson 17 August 1916 in West Union, Fayette Co, IA. When Charles was age 31 and Florence Pearl Huls was age 28 they became the parents of Erwin Charles Rulifson 15 October 1917 in West Union, Fayette Co, IA. 704 Sec. Ave, Joliet Ills. Address hand written by Chas. H. Rulifson in Commercial Arithmetic , Oscar F. Williams, New York 1888. Book held by Johns F Rulifson Lived R. F. D. Maple Crest, West Union, Iowa, in 1918. RulisonHF, p 133. Moved 1946 to 361 South Vine Street, West Union, IA Moved 1948 to 239 South Walnut Street, West Union, IA THE STORY OF THE SILVER DOLLAR Before he was married, Charlie was sent by his father to Joliet, IL to make his living. He was given a train ticket and a silver dollar. He went to Joliet and found a job delivering groceries to the state prison. He kept the silver dollar his whole life and had it when he died. [Reported by Leona Spiller to Johns F Rulifson on 22 September 1991.] WAS CHARLIE A METHODIST? Late in life Charlie asked Leona Spiller if he should be baptized. So while he was affiliated with the Methodist Church, he was not a strong church member. He was, however, a very active Mason. Reported to Johns F Rulifson 22 September 1991. From an untitled and undated newspaper clipping, probable West Union, IA late November, 1966. Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Rulifson will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary on Sunday, Nov. 20, in First Methodist Church parlors, beginning at 2 p.m. Miss Pearl F. Huls and Charles H. Rulifson were married Nov. 18, 1906, at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Huls, south of Fayette, by Rev. Weatherwax, the Methodist minister of Fayette at that time. They started farming on a 200-acre farm southwest of West Union where they lived until 1947, when they moved to their home in West Union. Four children were born to them, Ralph, Agnes, Veda, and Charles. Ralph died July 16, 1962, and Agnes on Oct. 1 1963. Veda, Mrs. Carlton Kelsey, Sarasota Fla., and Charles and family, Omaha, Neb., are expected Saturday, Nov. 19, to help make this day a memorable one. The Rulifsons also have eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren. A special invitation is extended to all their friends and relatives to attend, and they ask that there be no gifts. A history of West Union reports "Chas. Rulifson, the oldest member of the Lodge at 88 years, is a very active member." DoscherHJ, p 62. "At 85, Charlie Still Enjoys High Places" West Union - Charlie Rulifson has been working in high places most of his life, 85 years so far. He climbs to the top of a 40-foot extension ladder on top of his pickup truck to paint the gables of a church or a house, puts up scores of storm windows, and has been known to shingle a barn roof on Christmas day. He did at least a dozen storm window jobs last fall and painted a half dozen or so houses during the summer. Charlie is no steeplejack, he says, but climbing came naturally to him -- not because he likes it especially, but out of necessity. He was a farmer 4 1/2 miles southeast of West Union until 1947. At the age of 62, he and his wife came to West Union and retired, supposedly. Rulifson had been born on that farm. He farmed the 200 acres he owned and another 120 he leased. In West Union, Charlie had ideas far beyond the rocking chair. He bought a rundown property and fixed it up. It was their home for three years. They built a new brick house on Walnut street in 1950, Charlie doing a lot of the work himself. Over the years Charlie has bought several properties, restoring them for rental. Charlie, in his work, climbs to high places a good many younger men refuse to. Started on Farm It all started on the farm, he guesses. "Any high climbing at the farm, I had to do it," he recalls. "Very few of the hired men were able to." He climbed on barns and windmills, fixed hay track troubles. "I was the lad that always did it." Charlie is a wiry man, slight of build and slightly bent over from years of toil. He says he once weighed as much as 150 pounds, but his weight now is only 130, although he sets his height at 5 feet 8 inches. In November, 1919, a barn on the farm burned to the ground, just ahead of winter's arrival. They got the frame of the new 36 by 60-foot barn up before snowfall, but on Christmas day, there was Charlie -- up on the roof shingling alone all day. The Rulifsons had four children, a son Ralph, who died of a heart attack in 1961 [Leona Spiller Rulifson correction: 1962]; a daughter, Mrs. Robert Lohr, who died of multiple sclerosis in 1963; another daughter, Mrs. Carleton Kelsey of Sarasota, Fla., and another son, E. Charles, of Iowa City, who is a traveling salesman. Mrs. Rulifson died in 1968, but not before the couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. She had suffered a stroke in 1966. Charlie has eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Ralph, who had served as a naval officer, returned to the farm after World War II, and was successful in its operation, but eventually bought a feed business in Manchester. His widow lives there now. Charlie sold the farm in 1950. In High Places Among the high places Charlie worked on in West Union are the Methodist church and the Lutheran church. "The Lutheran church is 50 feet into the south gable," says Rulifson. "I had to put my 40-foot ladder on top of a triple box on my pickup." He also had 117 windows and the cornice to paint. The Methodist church as another challenge. He again needed the 40-foot ladder atop his pickup and when it came to the trim on the stained glass windows he set up a ladder at each end with a 2 by 6 across and a ladder up to that. How old was he then? "Well," Charlie chuckled, "I think that was two years ago." Charlie is amused that he does things that men much younger can't do because of their inherent hear of heights. "I've done much painting here in town," he said. "Just this year there was a big house. This man wanted to burn the paint off. He could burn the paint off from the lower part of it, but when he got up about eight feet he was done. "I burned the paint off the upper part of the house and painted it. He did the lower part. "He was a very fine fellow, but I suppose he was 30 years old. "I guess it's kind of a joke around town that I do high climbing." A good man like that is hard to find. "I had a house here a couple of years ago, a young fellow, 25, I guess, would put on the lower storm windows, but he wouldn't put on the upper ones. "I worked on the top of his house, two full stories with a big garret above, repairing his chimney a couple of years ago. He can't do it." A Lot of Work Charlie still does a lot of roof, shingling, and plastering. "Two years ago we had trouble with the Methodist church roof leaking. I got up on top of that to shovel snow and ice off so it wouldn't leak." Charlie's 40-foot ladder got him up part way. He set up another 14-footer to go to the top. Just last winter, Charlie says, "I bet I shoveled a carload of snow off the top of the Masonic temple." A few weeks ago, before driving to Manchester for a picnic with relatives, he dug a ditch for the neighbors who were having trouble with their drain "and saved them $45," as he put it. Charlie seldom uses any help on his jobs, "because the majority of fellows you get to help you want to talk. And I want to work and pay attention to what I'm doing." Asked what the secret of his getting to such a ripe old age, and in such good condition, is, Charlie replied: "I really think if I'd retired to West Union and sat down and not done anything ... I don't think I could have done it. Bounce Like Rubber Ball "I think being active all the time kept me strong and able bodied." Charlie has never tasted liquor or tobacco in any form. "I think it's a proven fact today," he said, "that although individuals go along through the years saying 'Smoking don't hurt me', I think that on the other hand it takes something off the end of their lives. "I'd call it just good common sense." Charlie has had four or five operations in his 85 years, but he's never had any serious illness. Ever been hurt? "No, not very badly. One time we were moving a house at the farm ... we had the building loaded on a truck. I don't remember why I was up on top of that house, but I was, and I came down all in one piece. "I was kinda bruise up. "I've always told people that if I fall I just bounce like a rubber ball." Charlie lives alone now, and does his own housework, as well as keeping the house in trim inside and out. But he says: "I dread the fact that I'm getting old and I just wonder how long I'll be able to take care of myself." He believes that one thing very beneficial has been his activity in Masonry. He took all of the degrees in 1928. "I was so taken up with the work that I was determined I'd learn the work. I learned the entire Masonic ritual and passed the examination on it in 1932. Ready for Exam "I still am authorized to teach the ritual in any lodge in Iowa." Still remember all of those thousands of words? "I'm ready to take an examination on it any day." He is a four-time past master of the lodge in West Union. He will put on two Masonic schools this winter. "It keeps the cobwebs off you brain," he says. Farming has changed, of course, since Charlie was a youth on the farm. "We put in long hours. You can go out today and do in a day what we used to take a week to do. "We kept eight horses, did most of the farming with horses. "I never had a tractor until 1937." "Rulifson believes that the best farming conditions were in the early 40s, during World War II. The 30s were the worst. "In the 30s I had an encumbrance on the farm and I didn't sell enough that year to pay the interest." Charlie has some definite opinions about the government's farm program. "I think the farm program they have now is the silliest thing that I can imagine. "For instance, you go down the road here and you'll find the government tiling land, improving land, so they can raise more. "And then you go a little farther down and you find they're paying a big price to let the land stand idle. "I can't see any sense in it. "You see it on every hand, paying these fellows so much in subsidies for crops they don't raise." Much To Do With There's a real good reason Charlie doesn't want to retire. "I don't want to retire as long as I'm able to work," he says. "I have so much to do with. I've probably got a dozen ladders and more, besides step ladders and scaffolds, to work with. "I'm like David Harum told about the dog. He said: "'A certain amount of fleas is good for a dog. It keeps him broodin' over bein' a dog.' "I've kept busy and I think it has been perhaps good for me." He does a lot of reading and watches Lawrence Welk on TV, but of television in general, he added: "I don't care for so much of this razzle-dazzle, what you call it." The interview drew to a close and Charlie got ready to go out and put up a dozen more storm windows. "I marvel at it myself," he concluded. "I used to think that when a man got [to] be 50 or 60 he was real old." [CRG12/13/1970, p 8B] FROM The Hilltop Review, Good Samaritan Nursing Center and Palmer Memorial Hospital, West Union, IA 52175. Vol. 4, No. 10, March 1975 Charles Rulifson returns from G.S.N.C. Charlie was born on a farm S.W. of West Union, Iowa on December 18, 1885. He attended country school with his 3 brothers and 4 sisters. At the age of 15 Charlie moved to Juliette, Illinois, where he finished grade school. He attended high school in Juliette, during which time he worked in a paper mill. He returned home to help his father build a new barn, during which time he got a piece of steel in his eye and lost the sight of one eye. Charlie decided to remain on the farm and in 1906 he married Pearl Hulo [sic]. They were blessed with 4 children. After their oldest son returned from the navy, Charlie and Pearl moved to town, and their son took over the farm. Charlie then began his career as a painter and carpenter. Pearl passed away in 1968. Charlie continued in his new career until September of 1974 at which time he fell and fractured his hip. Charlie made his home with us until February 19th, when he was able to return to his own home. What a great day for Charlie. We will miss seeing him, but we feel proud when one of our residents return to this home. From the Funeral Notes In Remembrance Charles Herman Rulifson December 18, 1885______February 16, 1977 The Organ Prelude/Mrs. Doran Meyer/"Old Rugged Cross" The Scripture Sentences/Rev. B. W. Ayers "Jesus said: I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die." "The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms." "For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." The Prayers The Obituary The Holy Scriptures The Words of Assurance The Closing Prayers The Benediction The Organ Postulate/"Crossing the Bar" Pall Bearers/Cornel Anfinson, Cecil Snively. M. W. Broughton, Lavern Alcorn, Harold Conner, Ralph Whitcher Burnhsam and Wood Funeral Home Charles H. Rulifson was born December 18, 1885 in Windsor Township, one of the eight children of Herman M. and Carrie (Hammond) Rulifson. He attended the Windsor Township School as well as Grammar School in Joliet, Illinois. His youthful ambition had been to work on the railroad, but a farm accident cost him the sight of one eye, so he remained on the farm until moving to West Union in 1948. He was married to Miss Pearl Huls of Fayette, Iowa, on September 18, 1906. They were the parents of four children, Ralph, Agnes, Veda, and E. Charles. He was an active member of the Masonic Order, having been initiated in 1928. He had held all the offices, some of the [sic] several times. He was a District Lecturer. He was also a member of Order of Eastern Star, and had been Grand Patron. He was devoted to the philosophy and practice of Masonry. He was on the United Methodist faith. He had served his community in numerous ways over the years, and had served several terms as president of the Windsor No. 6 School Board. Survivors included one daughter, Mrs. Veda Kelsey of Sarasota, Florida, and one son, E. Charles Rulifson, of Iowa City. There are eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, plus numerous nieces, nephews and other relatives. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Pearl in 1968; one son, Ralph E. Rulifson of Manchester; and one daughter, Mrs. Agnes Lohr of Bettendorf, Iowa. His four sisters and three brothers are also deceased. Funeral services were held February 19, 1977 with the Rev. Byron W. Ayers, minister of the United Methodist Church officiating. Burial is in the West Union cemetery. Obituary from West Union Newspaper 1977 Funeral services for Charles Rulifson, 91, of West Union, who died at his home February 16, were held Saturday, February 19, at Burnham Wood Funeral Home in West Union. Charles Herman Rulifson was born December 18, 1885 in Windsor Township, one of the eight children of Herman and Carrie Hammond Rulifson. He attended the Windsor Township School and Grammar School in Joliet, Illinois. He was married to Pearl Huls, Fayette, on September 18, 1906 and they became the parents of four children. He farmed until 1946 when the couple moved to West Union. He served several terms as president of the Windsor No. 6 school board. Mr. Rulifson an active member of the Masonic Order, having been initiated in 1928 and was a District Lecturer. He was also a member of Order of Eastern Star, and had been Grand Patron. Survivors included one daughter, Mrs. Veda Kelsey of Sarasota, Florida, and one son, E. Charles Rulifson, of Iowa City; eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Pearl in 1968; one son, Ralph; and one daughter, Mrs. Agnes Lohr; four sisters and three brothers.
Charles Herman Rulifson and Florence Pearl Huls had the following children:
When Agnes was age 26 and Robert Edward Lohr was age 29 they became the parents of Joann Alice Lohr 9 May 1939 in Waterloo, Black Hawk Co, IA.
Veda graduated from institution unknown August 1936. When Veda was age 30 and Carleton Kelsey was age 57 they became the parents of Sally Claire Kelsey 9 April 1947 in Richmond, Henrico Co, VA. Letter to Veda Rulifson from Charles Herman Rulifson dated Sunday, 25 March 1974. My Dear Veda: Your letter received and happy to hear from you. It is nice that Sally can be home for a short vacation. As regards your birth recalls some memories to me. We were threshing oats at the farm Aug 17 - 1916. We were nearly through by noon time. I believe Ida Wendland & Pauline Diebl were helping Pearl prepare & serve the dinner for about seventeen men. After dinner we were finishing threshing. I was stacking straw and was called down from the straw pile. I said "I climbed down our of the straw pile to entertain the stork." I presume it was about 2:30 pm. Happy day (Huh?) ... SCHOOLS Graduated Gates Business College, Senior Secretarial Course, Aug 1936. WESTERN UNION: WEST UNION, IOWA MAY 18 1946 DL PD DELRAYBEACH FLO 1106AM MAY 18 MR AND MRS C H RULIFSON 361 SOUTH VINE ST. WESTUNION, IOWA. YOUR DAUGHTER VEDA WAS FINALLY MADE TO STAND STILL LONG ENOUGH TO MARRY ME THIS MORNING. I HOPE THE RULIFSON FAMILY IS AS PROUD AS THE KELSEY FAMILY OF THE UNION MAY GOD AND YOU BLESS US. CARLETON KELSEY. 130PM.
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