Gerald Munns: My Beloved Grandpa

I’m publishing this article on 4 February 2021, to mark what would’ve been my grandpa’s 100th birthday. Love you forever, grandpa.

Name: Gerald Francis Munns
Relationship to Me: Maternal Grandfather
Parents: Thomas Jay Munns & Irene Leola Crelly
Birth Date/Location: 4 February 1921, Rock Rapids, Iowa
Death Date/Location: 20 September 2012, Rock Rapids, Iowa

Primary Residence: The Munns farm where he was born, grew up, raised a family and farmed
Education: Attended country school and then town high school in Rock Rapids. Graduated high school in 1938.
Occupation: Farmer

My grandpa, Gerald Munns, was born to parents of pretty much all Irish descent. If he could take a DNA test today, there may be a small bit of Scandinavian or Scottish DNA, thanks to those groups populating Ireland centuries ago. But by and large, he was all Irish. And he was darn proud of it!

Grandpa’s parents were both born in Iowa. In fact, his mother Irene was already the second generation in her family born in Iowa when the world welcomed her in 1895. (Her parents were Patrick Crelly and Mary Ann Kelly.) It was a little different for grandpa’s father, Jay (given name Thomas Jay). His mother Mary Collins was born in Iowa, but his dad William Munns emigrated from his birthplace in Co. Sligo, Ireland, around age 5. 

Grandpa lived his entire life on the northwest Iowa family farm that his grandfather William purchased around 1887. I’m proud to say that the farm is still in our family today. (Insert many heart emojis!)

Family and His First Love: Baseball

Grandpa was a kind, somewhat quiet, a little silly and fun guy. He believed firmly in his faith, cared deeply for his family and was one of the hardest workers I’ve known. He was also obsessed about baseball, especially the Chicago Cubs. 

Grandpa was the oldest of three kids. His brother Loren Thomas came in 1923, two years after grandpa — and their sister Coleen Bernice two years after Loren. A family of three children was quite small by Irish Catholic standards at the time. 

As a young kid, grandpa attended country school in a small town called Edna, located exactly one mile south of the farm. He went to school in town when he began high school. Grandpa once wrote down some fond memories of going to country school and playing baseball. 

When I was viewing this photo in the newspaper archives, directly below it was the “high school newspaper.” I found it really interesting to read, since I was the high school newspaper editor for the same town for two years when I was a teenager. There was a brief snippet in this 1937 edition amongst other snippets under the category “Lion Around.” (Our high school mascot was the Lions.)

“Boys too cute to be running around single: George B., Tubby, Gerald M., Paul B., and Earl R.”

Okay — that totally cracked me up. But he was a pretty handsome guy, as you can see below.

A Promising Young Farmer

Even though he never moved off the farm, he wasn’t afraid of travel. In fact, one of his first big trips came right around his senior year of high school (1937-38). Grandpa was awarded a trip to the International Livestock show in Chicago at the annual Lyon Co. 4-H club party. 

One of the front page articles in the Lyon County Reporter on November 18, 1937, discussed the trip and how the judges considered 4-H project results for the year, record books, meeting attendance, activities and a story. 

“Gerald Munns is a senior in the Rock Rapids high school and has been active in club work since 1931. He has been a consistent winner in his many projects attempted as attested by his prizes and records,” the article stated. 

And here’s my favorite part:

“His friends and fellow clubmen say he is a quiet, honest, capable, industrious and a conscientious young farmer. His teachers praise him for his dependability, willingness, and above all, his ability to co-operate in school activities.”

Just a few weeks later in early December, grandpa, his dad Jay and his first cousin Paul King, left by train for the livestock show in Chicago. A December 2, 1937, report in the same newspaper stated, “Gerald was a winner of the trip sponsored by the Rock Rapids State bank, and expected to get a real thrill out of the experience.”

I first came across those articles about the livestock show trip while searching the online archives of my hometown newspaper. I shared the information with my aunt — who had never heard of the story or her dad’s experience. We both thought it was quite fitting and the description of grandpa as a high school senior — and pretty much throughout this entire life. 

After his livestock show experience and graduation, grandpa continued to work on the farm with his dad. Their goal was to continue to build stability for the family after William’s parents struggled during mid-1800s potato famines in Ireland. (William had passed away in 1930 at age 69.)

Just a few years after high school, the second World War started and being a young man, grandpa had to register for the draft. His official date of registration was February 16, 1942 — 12 days after grandpa turned 21 and exactly 71 days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s declaration of war. 

Off to the Navy

Military: US Navy, World War II

• Service number: 620 88 55
• Date of Entry: 18 August 1942
• Date of Separation: 6 January 1946
• Active number of months: 44 (17 of those months in foreign service outside the U.S.)
• Served in the Southeast Pacific Theater
• Military organizations where he served (according to a post-war compensation record):
  • Naval Air Station (NAS), San Diego, CA
  • Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC), Memphis, TN
  • US Naval Air Station (NAS), Pensacola, FL
  • Receiving ship, San Diego, CA
  • 55 Bloom Fontain
  • Fleet Air Base Unit (FABU) 4
  • Carrier Aircraft service Unit (CASU) 10
  • Naval Air Station (NAS), Jacksonville, FL
  • Naval Air Station (NAS) Lambert Field, St. Louis, MO
  • Advanced Base Aviation Training Unit (ABATU): Naval Air Maintenance Training (Namtd) (Ord)

I’m still researching more details about his military record, but what’s above is what I have for the moment. 

Although grandpa served in the Pacific in World War II, he told his family he never really fought in a battle. (Honestly, I’m not sad about that.) He went to the New Hebrides, an island chain defended by American and Australian forces because of its strategic location between the two countries. Ultimately these islands would face no threat of Japanese invasion (thus, no fighting for grandpa). 

I remember sitting in the living room at the farm and listening to him tell me about being at the naval bases in Jacksonville, Pensacola and San Diego. I also distinctly remember him saying he experienced San Francisco, even if only for a few days (and though it doesn’t show on the record above) before heading to the New Hebrides in the South Pacific.

It’s quite likely that he traveled from San Diego to San Francisco to join a large fleet headed toward the South Pacific. Based on stories I’ve read from other servicemen who went to the New Hebrides, new troops typically came from San Francisco. (You see, the multiple conversations I had with grandpa about this were etched in my brain after my husband and I moved to the Bay Area for a couple years in 2005 — and after we moved back home and I visited him again.)

During WW II, the New Hebrides was a rare colonial territory split between two powers, Britain and France. This strange and inefficient arrangement lasted from 1906 through 1980, when the island natives regained their independence as the Republic of Vanuatu. 

Photos grandpa took of his time in the Pacific show that he bonded with some of his fellow sailors. “It looked like he had fun there. There are a lot of pictures of him goofing off,” my mom once told me when I asked her how her dad described his time in WWII. “I think he made a lot of good friends. Some he kept in touch with after.”

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Regarding his daily life in the Pacific, grandpa said all he ate was rice, which he got sick of pretty quickly. Rice was rarely on any menu at the farm for the rest of his life. He also was frustrated quite a lot by the Red Cross during the war. He didn’t feel it was right that the servicemen always had to pay for things from the Red Cross when they were stationed in the South Pacific. He was a generous man who supported many organizations with his time and treasure throughout his life, but after the war, he was intent on never donating to the Red Cross.

According to the compensation record notarized on 27 June 1949, he was due $482.50 for military service. I’m not sure if this accounted for all income he should’ve earned as part of the Navy during the way. Adjusted for inflation, that would be more than $5,200 in 2021. 

Making a Family of His Own

Marriage: Gerald married Isabelle Antoinette Kellihan (also of Rock Rapids) on May 24, 1948, at Holy Name Catholic Church in Rock Rapids. 
Children: Michael Joseph (1949), Patrick Francis (1950-2008), Margaret “Peggy” Ann (1952-2020) and Eileen Louise (1960). 

Gerald and Isabelle grew up going to the same church and graduated only a year apart at the same, small high school. Grandpa got home from the Navy in early 1946, around age 25. Two years later, they married. Grandma was a town girl, so moving out to the farm was a bit foreign to her, but she was a tough, smart woman who managed just fine. 

Grandma and grandpa had four kids, Mike, Pat, Peggy and Eileen. When I was a kid, Grandpa and Eileen also concocted a plan one Christmas to get grandma an indoor dog (translation: non-farm dog). She was in love. The first one was Muffin (aka “Muffy”) and later they had Charlie. She loved those little black dogs — and so did grandpa, too, even though he sometimes grumbled about them. 

My grandparents weren’t just farmers and parents. They were proud community members. They carried on a family tradition of being on the Lyon County Fair Board for decades. Working for them for the fair was my first job in third grade. Yep, that’s right, third grade. (And I didn’t realize until grandpa passed away how MANY other ways he volunteered. Wowza. He always impressed me.) 

Just a couple months before he passed — in late July 2012 — grandpa was awarded the Friend of the Fair Award. We all drove down to the fair on a hot, steamy weeknight to see him get the award. I was so proud of him. 

Unfortunately, this was the last time I saw him before he unexpectedly passed away in September. I had planned to visit him in the hospital for what appeared to be a small health issue, but he took a turn for the worse and I never got that chance. As much as I wanted to say goodbye, I’m pretty sure he would’ve wanted the fair to be my last memory of him. 

In total, Gerald and Isabelle had seven grandchildren, and if they were around today — they recently would’ve welcomed their 10th great-grandchild. They also have one great-great-grandchild as of this writing. All of us are blessed with their strength and good humor — and many of us fondly remember holidays filled with a buffet of food, jello salad, Squirt soda, peanut M&Ms and card and trivia games. And maybe some naps and football games, too. 

Slainte!
~EPJ