BioA: Short, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph (Golden - 1969)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Short, Kegley, Roberts, Krutsch, Winters, Stevens, Olson, Lodge

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 4/10/1969

Short, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph (Golden - 26 March 1969)

Approximately 135 friends and well-wishers Saturday afternoon attended an open house in the United Church of Christ in Neillsville held in honor of the Golden wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Short of the Town of Washburn.

The Shorts, widely known in Clark County, were married March 26, 1919, in the home of Mrs. Short’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Kegley. The home is the one in which the David Krutsch family now lives. Presiding was the late Rev. Harold M. Roberts, a Presbyterian minister from Neillsville, who also conducted services in a Presbyterian Church which then existed in Shortville.

One of the couple’s attendants was present for the open house. She is Mrs. Irving (Gladys Winters) Stevens, who still lives in the Shortville area. The other, was the late Rev. Verne Kegley, a brother of Mrs. Short. Also present was one of Mrs. Short’s sisters, Mrs. Louis Olson of Hillsboro. Another sister, Mrs. William Lodge of Madison, was unable to attend.

Mrs. Short, was born March 9, 1896, in Hillsboro, and moved with her parents, two sisters and three brothers, to Shortville in 1917. A correspondent for The Clark County Press and its predecessors for the last 52 years Mrs. Short has faithfully chronicled the news of people and events of that area over the years. She had started as a correspondent for the Hillsboro newspaper when she lived there, adding another four years to the service she has rendered to the communities in which she has lived.

She is a member of the Ladies Aid of the United Church and of the Washburn Homemakers club, and has held offices in both.

Mr. Short was born July 5, 1888, in the house in which the couple has spent its married life. He is the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Short, one of five Short brothers who came into this area together and who were influential pioneers of Clark County. Mr. Short’s father was the first postmaster at Shortville, and conducted the postoffice in his home, a log house which since has disappeared from the scene. The Shortville postoffice was discontinued from 60 to 65 years ago, according to Mr. Short’s recollection.

Mr. Short, also, has been active in civic affairs though out his life. He served as secretary of the Mystic Workers Lodge, now the Fidelity Life Association. At one time the Shortville lodge had 165 members. He also served four years as chairman of the Town of Washburn; last week concluded 26 years of service as clerk of the township; served for 27 years as secretary of the old Shortville Cheese Factory, which was owned by farmers of the area; was vice chairman of the Clark County (the balance of this man’s history is missing here.)