Aubrey Lloyd Churchman, Sr.

Aubrey and Sons

Aubrey on Mule

Aubrey and Lona

• Sex: M
• Born: July 21, 1903 in Gillham, Arkansas
• Died: August 21, 1953 in Laramie, Wyoming
• Buried: Forest Hill Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri
• Notes:

  Aubrey Lloyd (also known as "Chuck") grew up living with his mother and stepfather after his father was killed in 1911 and his mother remarried in 1913. He lived near his grandparents, Henderson & Eugenia Churchman. His grandmother, Eugenia, died when he was 12 years old.

  He worked at many tasks in Hatfield including working in a drugstore. He went to Chillocothe, Missouri, to a business college to learn telegraphy. His intent was to be a telegrapher with the railroad, but his hands were so rough from working in sawmills and outdoors that he didn't do well and left. He went to the oil fields of Oklahoma and drove trucks moving large oil well machinery.

  While working in Seminole, he met Lona Ethel Dugger and they were married on November 9, 1928. Aubrey suffered a small stroke in 1930. The stroke as well as the depression caused him to move to Ionia, Kansas (Lona's hometown). There he opened a garage and gasoline station and began hauling fuel to farms in the nearby area.

  Aubrey & Lona had 3 children. The first, a daughter, was born prematurely in Seminole and died that same day. She is buried in Seminole, Oklahoma. The 2 boys were born in Ionia, Kansas.

  Aubrey eventually acquired 2 trucks and began hauling gasoline to various cities in the Midwest. At the beginning of World War II, Aubrey bought a Mack Diesel truck and refrigerator trailer and hauled meat for Cudahay Packing Company in Kansas City, Missouri. When gasoline and tires were scarce, he sold his trucks and bought the Lorraine Apt/Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. After World War II, he sold his hotel and went to Oregon in 1947 to buy a sawmill. He never found what he wanted and returned to Kansas City, Missouri in 1948. He purchased a 3 building, 12 unit apartment complex at 17th & Broadway in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1950 he bought a Mack Diesel truck and began hauling freight. He worked as an independent and would haul freight, typically long-haul from Kansas City to Los Angeles. He also worked on the railroad as a brakeman periodically between other jobs. He died of a heart attack at age 50 in Laramie, Wyoming while hauling a load of ammunition from McAlster, Oklahoma to Port Chicago, California.

Father: Everett L. Churchman, b. August 25, 1874 in Newbern, Tennessee

Mother: Alice Leona Andrews, b. September 23, 1878 in Hope, Arkansas -- d. June 21, 1958 in Hatfield, Arkansas -- daughter of Andrew Andrews and Martha Hamilton

Family 1: Lona Ethel Dugger, b. January 28, 1910 in Republic, Kansas -- d. December 21, 1997 in Kansas City, Missouri -- daughter of Ulysses Dugger and Stella McDonald

• Married: November 9, 1928 in Wewoka, Oklahoma

1. Infant Churchman, b. February 1, 1929 -- d. February 1, 1929 in Seminole, Oklahoma
2. Aubrey Lloyd Churchman, Jr., b. September 11, 1930 in Ionia, Kansas
3. Everett Linnington Churchman, b. November 30, 1932 in Ionia, Kansas

Sources:

1. Research by Everett L. Churchman
2. Pictures from Everett L. Churchman
3. Lona's death date by Aubrey Lloyd Churchman, Jr.