Children of H. W. "Bill" and Vera Hargiss

     Mr. Hargiss' married Vera Agnes Strickler in Emporia, July 26, 1911.  Mrs. Hargiss, who was a teacher of music, was born in Solomon, Kansas, January 15, 1888. [Vera died in 1955 and is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, together with Bill Hargiss and son Woodson.]

     To them were born four children, one of whom survives:

     Genevieve Faye Hargiss was born July 1, 1912, in Emporia, KS.  Ms. Hargiss began school at KU after graduating from Lawrence High School.  She received a music education degree in 1933, and in 1934 became the first student to receive a degree in cello from KU. Her instructor was D.M. Swarthout, the widely known form dean of fine arts. In 1937, she received the 1st Master of Music degree ever given from the state of KS in music education from KU, and in 1960, she became the first woman to receive a doctorate degree in music education from the university.
     After leaving KU in 1935, she taught music in elementary schools in Kansas and Arizona until 1946. Before coming to KU as a faculty member in 1956, she also taught at Arizona State University at Tempe, and Montana State University in Missoula. She came to KU from Montana after the unexpected death of her mother in Topeka in 1955. She met E. Thayer Gaston, chairman of the music department at KU, who asked her to join his faculty to help ease a shortage.
    She published a music textbook and was in Who's Who of American Women and KS Hall of Fame.  She was a full Professor in two major universities:  Arizona State U. and University of Kansas with 4 degrees: BSM, BSME, MME, PhD Ed.  She was known as "GG" by her family. Genevieve Hargiss died January 16, 1995, in Lawrence, KS, and her ashes were scattered across a Kansas field per her wish.

     Woodson Strickler Hargiss was born June 30, 1916, and died Aug. 7, 1920.  He was a big boy and "going to be Pop's football player", according to his daughter.  He is interred in Emporia, together with his mother and father. 

     Willard Clarke Hargiss was born March 9, 1924 in Emporia, KS. He served in the U.S. Navy as an ensign and attended the University of Kansas, where he played the trombone in the university band and graduated with a bachelor's and master's degree in mechanical engineering. While attending the University of Kansas, he met his wife of 55 years, Helen Joan Harris.
    Clarke began work as an engineer with Westinghouse in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Pa., before moving his family to Kansas City, Kan., to work for North American Aviation. In 1960, the family moved to California, where Clarke became the director of quality control for Rocketdyne in Canoga Park until the mid 1970s, at which time he took a position at Rockwell's corporate office in Pittsburgh, Pa.  Upon retirement in the 1980's, Clarke and Joan moved to Santa Maria.
     Clarke was known for his sense of humor and love and dedication to this family. Clarke enjoyed music, repairing antique clocks, making model airplanes and tinkering with automobiles. He was a true "Mr. Fix-it!"
     Willard Clarke Hargiss died January 6, 2004, and is interred in the Conejo Mountain Memorial Cemetery in Camarillo, CA.  Surviving him are his wife, his daughter, Nancy Hargiss-Tatlock (Norm); his son, William Scott Hargiss (Melissa); and grandchildren, Aaron and Alexandra Hargiss.

     Shirley Nan (Hargiss) Oberheide was born August 9, 1926, in Emporia, grew up in Lawrence, and lived a short time in Topeka.  Four years of college were split between the University of Kansas and Northwestern University.  She returned to the Sunflower State and became Miss Kansas 1949.  This sent her to Atlantic City for the Miss America pageant and a top 10 finish there paid for some schooling in New York City.
     In the following two years, she became a successful Broadway starlet and worked six nights a week as a popular chanteuse in the Big Apple, according to reports and reviews in the day's New York newspapers and Kansas papers.  But she tired of the entertainment scene, and came to Topeka to be with her family and begin graduate work at the University of Kansas.
     After a short time in school, George Oberheide, an old friend from Northwestern, visited Topeka, and soon they were married in Topeka, KS, 1951.  A family followed and then a master's degree in music education. George died in 1976 and Shirley Oberheide moved her teaching career to San Diego after receiving a Special Ed and Resource Specialist degree, where she took up the job as special education teacher of high school students.
    Shirley is retired, currently living in Arizona.  She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, Pi Kappa Lambda, MENSA, Mu Phi Epsilon, and the Kansas City Music Club.  She has 4 children - Ken, Clarke, Heide Geary, and Marc - with 5 grandsons and 1 granddaughter.