Marion Jesse “Jim” Laughlin (1916-2009)

Marion Jesse “Jim” Laughlin was born to Jesse W. Laughlin and Cora Belle Filtingberger on March 28, 1916, in Joplin, Jasper County, Missouri. He was the third of five children in the family.

Jim provided an autobiographical essay for “Descendants of John Laughlin and Tabitha Trimble”, a family history book he co-authored with his wife, Julia. Excerpts are included below.

Marion J. Laughlin was nicknamed “Jimmy” at an early age. Many friends never did know my true name.

I was born in Joplin, Missouri where my father was a hoisting engineer at a lead and zink mine in S.W. Missouri. The family lived in Stanley, Kansas but traveled to several areas in Kansas where Pop used steam engines in the harvest fields threshing wheat. The early 1920s in Ellis & Russel Counties, 1927 at Plainsville 1928 Parsons, Kansas where he helped clear the right-of-way for the highway between Parsons and Coffeyville. I attended schools in these towns for just part of some years.

Jim spent most of his childhood in Johnson County, Kansas, and graduated from Stanley High School in 1934, in what would become the Blue Valley School District.

Early memories especially around Stanley, included learning to swim in the shallow water of Niger Creek at the edge of Stanley, wading and catching crawdads then cooking them over coals which covered potatoes cooking. We went hiking out in the country and around the four square mile on country roads, sometimes to Kenneth. Winter time there were school activities, sledding with bon fires, and house parties. The two room grade school was ruled over by Mr. Vernon Myers who was tough on the older unruly boys but everyone received a good education. Recess was a time for games, usually baseball or basket ball, coached and refereed by Mr. Myers.

This same school was attended by more than one generation of Laughlins. Cora Belle (Filtingberger) Laughlin spent her years there before Irene, Herbert, Jim, and Bonnie. Then in 1950-52 my children Jerry & Judith had the same teacher, Mr. Myers.

In High School I enjoyed playing Basket Ball and taking part in school plays and debate along with the usual teenage parties and pranks. Except for one semester my sophomore year Stanley was my school, where I graduated in 1934. There were 20 in the graduating class. The school has an alumni reunion each year.

I remember most, summertime going with Pop when he threshed wheat for the farmers around Stanley. I would be water boy and run errands, fetch tools or whatever was needed. Pop would let me steer the big steam engine down the road when he was moving from farm to farm. One time he needed to go to town and said I could keep the machine going slowly down the country road but I went too far over the edge and got stuck. Another time I drove the car following him and got bored with the slow pace. I lagged behind about a half mile and then drove faster to catch up but hit a mud hole and got stuck again. Pop had to unhook the steam engine, back up and pull the car out. He wasn’t very happy but all I got was a lesson on doing what I was told. I was about 15 at that time.

I learned to drive at about 10 in an old Maxwell touring car that didn’t have any tires on the wheels. It wasn’t used anymore, just parked in front of the house. My friend Bud Lender and I would spend an hour cranking to get it started, then drive back and forth right there. Pop said ‘as long as you don’t go out on the street’. As boys will, we got tired of that and one day Bud talked me into going 1/2 mile east of Stanley and back. Naturally Pop found out, so that ended driving the old Maxwell.

While still in high school, I had a job at the Nafziger Farm taking care of Hunting and Jumping horses and Polo ponies. People of the Country Club area of Kansas City boarded their horses and rode them for pleasure and competition, at the American Royal and other major shows around the country. At one time I was considered for training as a jockey – I was very small for my age. After graduation I worked for my Uncle Elmer in the garage at Stanley. In 1938 I went to work for the Kansas City Star in Kansas City and for the Miles of View Farm on the State Line at 150 Highway, again taking care of and training horses for the William L. Huggins family. I raised, trained, and showed several in the Jumper Class at the American Royal. Most won ribbons, two blue.

In the middle of the Depression Years, any job was worth keeping. My two jobs for four years paid $100.00 a month and I drove about 40/50 miles a day. Down town K.C. then out to Miles of View, getting home after 6 P.M. Each year, the extra time spent at the American Royal didn’t mean extra pay, nor bonus either for blue ribbons. We were happy to have a job.

He married Julia Marie Edwards on June 19, 1938, in Johnson County, Kansas. The couple had two children, one living.

Jim held many different jobs through his lifetime, including horse trainer and jockey and airplane mechanic. He and his brother, Herb, owned and operated Laughlin Brothers Garage in Stanley, Kansas, for thirty years, before retiring to Wheatland, Missouri in 1996.

When WW II started I went to school under the Army Airforce Technical Training administered by T.W.A. in Kansas City and thru-out the war worked at the Kansas City Airport T.W.A. Overhaul base as an Aircraft Mechanical Engineer. I worked on DC-3, B-17, B-25, B-24, Boeing 303, Lockheed, Constellations, Cessna planes.

After the war was over in 1946, brother Herb and I wanted to go into business for ourselves. We both had a lot of experience working on cars, so we bought a small filling station near Stillwell. Not many people had new cars because of war and with service men returning home there was plenty of work keeping cars repaired. Small jobs were no problem but to overhaul an engine we rigged a hoist on a large tree and worked outside when the weather permitted.

Soon we needed better working conditions and bought the garage in Stanley where we both had worked while in school. We lived in Overland Park at that time and in 1950 we sold our home, moving to Stanley. Our children Jerry and Judy went to the two room Stanley school that I had attended. They enjoyed living in the small town and the same activities I had while growing up. Jerry learned to play basketball the way I had and also learned to swim in the rock hole that no one knew how deep it was.

At that time, Stanley didn’t have many of the modern conveniences. We carried water from a well in the yard and heated the house with an oil stove. After two years we bought another home in Overland Park where we lived for 26 years. Jerry and Judy finished school at Shawnee Mission just at the beginning of the rapid growth of suburban expansion and Baby Boom years. During their college years Julia worked as a saleslady for Sears Roebuck on the Plaza and then at home as a dressmaker, seamstress. A lifelong interest, she had made her own clothes and sewed for family and friends.

Retirement years came suddenly, Laughlin Brothers Garage was sold in 1976. We had vacationed at Pomme de Terre Lake for several years and with a recreational vehicle (R.V.) traveled around the country, so making the decision to sell our home and move to the lake was easy. We had a new house built and had two acres to enjoy. We made many new friends and learned to play golf. We still go back to enjoy the small course and many friends and Country Life at its best.

In 1989 after health problems multiplied we moved to Belton, Mo. just south of Kansas City to be near our children and grandchildren.

Jim and Julia returned to the Kansas City area in 1989, moving to Belton, Cass County, Missouri. Jim passed away at Beautiful Savior Home, Belton, on August 25, 2009, and was buried in Pleasant Valley Cemetery, Johnson County, Kansas.

Online Profiles

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Julia Laughlin, 1991, Descendants of John Laughlin and Tabitha Trimble, self-published, Personal collection.
Julia Laughlin, 1993, Ancestors and Descendants of James Brunk and Mary Wren Horsey, self-published, Personal collection.
Laughlin, Julia, 1991, Descendants of John Laughlin and Tabitha Trimble, self-published, Personal collection.
Laughlin, Julia, 1993, Ancestors and Descendants of James Brunk and Mary Wren Horsey, self-published, Personal collection.
Obituary in Kansas City Star, Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, August 27, 2009, Find A Grave.