SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2021 - SATURDAY STORY
Last Saturday, I started a story about a young couple moving to a haunted house. Let’s finish that story today.
Jon, his wife Vickie, and their two children, Annie (age 5) and Oliver (age 3) were moving to a house in Georgetown Texas. Jon, with his doctorate in philosophy, religion, and history had a job at Southwestern University in Georgetown.
They bought a house at 302 E. 15th Street for $100,000 under its listing price. The house was sound so they wondered why it was so cheap. Their children soon had a playmate in their upstairs playroom. Annie and Oliver made a train out of moving boxes and this playmate took a bright orange box and put it at the end and called it a caboose. Vickie wondered where they had learned that strange (and old) word. Oliver said their friend in the playroom had used that word.
The children had other comments about their playmate, so one night Vickie just sat in the room waiting to meet this playmate that she thought might be a ghost.
Her waiting was rewarded as the ghost came quietly into the room.
“I am Frank Smith. The new library at Southwestern University was named after me.” The ghost said that he had been killed
The voice said, “Yes, and I am to remain here until I find who killed me”.
Oh my, a mystery thought Vickie to herself.
Vickie asked, “When did you die, like in what year?”.
The voice answered, “In 1935. The college was having a tough time financially during the depression. I was barely making enough to live. My wife had left me and taken the kids back to Nashville. I was poisoned by one of three people. I need to find out who killed me.”
Vickie did the math in her head. That was 86 years ago. It would be almost impossible to find who did it.
Vickie - always one to help the downtrodden - replied, “Mr. Smith, I would love to help you find your killer.”
*****
(New chapter starts here)
*****
Vickie tried to keep talking to the ghost, although the ghost wasn’t very talkative.
Vickie asked “So, who do you think poisoned you. You mentioned three possible suspects.”
The ghost who had said his name was Frank answered. “My wife could have poisoned me. I had an insurance policy that named her as the beneficiary. The associate dean could have poisoned me in order to get my position. And, the campus president could have killed me as I was a possible threat to replace him in the tough financial times.”
Vickie asked, “Can you give me the names of the people?”
Quietly Frank answered, “My wife was Stella Bauer. Together we had two children, Roger Smith, and Elizabeth Smith. She had left me and moved in with her family in Nashville Tennessee. The associate dean was Orville Quaas, originally from Waco Texas. The campus president was George Thomas from Rockdale, Texas. He was a Methodist Minister with a Doctor of Divinity degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.”
He continued, “Even though she was gone, my wife could have put some poison, maybe arsenic in my saltbox or some other poison in my other staples.”
(Vickie was trying to think how things would have been gotten in the 1930s with the depression. There wasn’t an HEB on the corner or an Amazon.com that delivered to the door.)
“Orville Quaas and I butted heads frequently. I also taught classic literature and Shakespeare and he thought he was a better scholar. I know he was barely making enough to live on and if I was dead, he would get promoted and make a little more. “
“George Thomas was a pompous person who thought the sun rose and set upon him. Although a minister and married, I knew he had an affair with a student. I was the only one who know and he wanted me gone.”
They talked more. Frank really liked Annie and Oliver. He admitted he had done his best to get rid of some of the pompous asses that had bought the house before the Reisingers moved in.
“It can be really easy to scare some people out. I would open windows in the middle of the cold nights or close windows. I slammed doors, made noises. I would move things around. The last guy was ready to move after a month. He kept misplacing his car keys, or rather, I kept moving his car keys. When he started coffee in the morning,, I would turn it off or unplug it. He was mystified and then annoyed.”
Vickie could imagine the smile that Frank Smith got when he talked about the pranks he pulled.
He continued, “I knew these people wouldn’t help me get free, and it can be really boring to be alone in a house all day, so my little pranks gave me something to do.”
“I even broke up a marriage,” he added. “I would put the wife’s lipstick on his collar and shirts and on his face. She accused him of being unfaithful, which he wasn’t, and she just couldn’t trust him anymore.”
Frank was almost laughing as he continued. ‘I’d call out to him in falsetto ‘David, I love you and miss you, ‘David, leave your wife and come away with me. It was a riot.”
But, he got serious. “Vickie, I’d like to move on - to get out of this house, to be at peace finally. But, I need your help to find out who killed me.”
Vickie pledged her help.
*****
Vickie talked it over with Jon (who hadn’t met Frank Smith, the ghost). She could follow most leads by internet searches and maybe a few phone calls.
Jon thought it was a bit stupid to be doing work for a ghost, but he knew his wife would enjoy the challenge.
*****
Emma-Lee brought over her sons, Devon and Asher for their playdate on Tuesday afternoon. Frank had agreed to be nice to the boys, but Vickie allowed him to have some fun.
Frank stayed invisible but moved toys around subtly. Oliver had fun asking “Friend can we have the green garbage truck”, or “Friend, we’d like to play with the airplane.”
Devon was amazed to see the garbage truck appear, and the airplane flying through the air - like magic. (And, of course, it was kind of magic).
And, even Asher enjoyed some of Frank’s antics as toys appeared (and disappeared) from in front of him.
*****
When Emma-Lee showed up to pick up the boys, Devon said “Mrs. Reisinger, it’s been fun playing with Oliver today. Can we come back again?”
Of course, Vickie said “Yes”. (and was imaging how the boy might talk to his mother on the way home).
*****
And, of course, Devon did tell his Mom about the flying airplane and how the other toys appeared and disappeared. And Asher shared too.
Emma-Lee thought, what imaginations my children have!!! The Reisinger’s are becoming great friends to us.
*****
Vickie was working on Google searches.
She found Stella Bauer Smith’s obituary in Nashville. Although she died in 1978 at the age of 86, the Nashville Tennessean newspaper had digitized its old editions. Most newspapers had put their editions out as microfiche and adapting them to the internet age was fairly straightforward (although it took a few years to get all the older papers online. At the time of her death, Roger Smith would have been fifty years old and Elizabeth Smith Watson would have been forty-seven.
On Genelogy.Com she found Frank and Stella, then Roger and Elizabeth. Roger had married Diana Schultz in 1940 in Nashville. Roger went into the Navy for World War II. In 1947, Edna was born, and in 1949, Michael was born. At this point (2021) Edna would be 74 and Michael would be 72. They might be alive. It was harder to follow Edna who had married Alex Forbes in 1969. Alex had been in Vietnam and was killed. Edna married Gary Dowling in 1975. There weren’t any additional records for Edna and Gary. Vickie thought there might be children but she didn’t know.
She went to work finding Michael Smith. She anticipated a lot of Michael (or Mike) Smiths in the United States but she was still surprised to find about 300 Michael Smiths in the name search. But when she searched for Michael Smith born in the Nashville Tennessee area, there were only twenty or so. But, while Stella had moved to Nashville, and Roger and Elizabeth (Frank and Stella’s children) were born in Georgetown Texas, it was possible that the son of Roger and Diana could have been born somewhere else. It took carefully reading and researching to narrow the list.
Vickie was glad she had her master’s degree in Library Science and still had friends in the Nashville area that she could call on for help.
From the 1980 Census, there was a Michael Smith at 32nd Avenue South who was 30 years old. That fit her analysis. Although Michael was born in 1949, the census is taken earlier in the year and thus he would be 30. Accessing real estate records, the house on 32nd Avenue South was sold in 1992 by Michael R. Smith and Rachel (Young) Smith. The ages were good. Fortunately, the search on real estate records found that the Smiths stayed in Nashville moving to Bowling avenue.
And, in 2012, the Smiths moved to an apartment building on Belle Meade Road, selling their property on Bowling avenue.
Taking a chance, Vickie called the phone number she found and reached Rachel Smith. She had decided to take a story that she was working with the Frank Smith library at Southwestern University to see if she could find any survivors of Frank Smith. She thought that if she said she was helping a ghost to find his killer might not get any information.
Vickie explained her mission to Rachel who listened carefully.
Rachel explained that Michael was volunteering at a local food bank and would be back about 5:00 Central Time. But, in the interaction, Rachel knew that Michael had been born in Georgetown Texas and that his father had been at a college there.
*****
Vickie called Michael Smith about 5:20 p.m.
Vickie greeted him, “Hi Michael. I’m Vickie Reisinger and I’m working at the Frank Smith library at Southwestern University, which I think was named after your late grandfather. Is this a good time to talk?”
Michael sounded excited. “Yes, my grandfather was Frank Smith. I didn’t know he had a library named after him. I didn’t even know him, as my Grandmother Stella Smith had separated from him in the depression and moved to Nashville. I retired from Lipscomb University five years ago as director of admissions. I know my grandfather has been in academia, but I didn’t know much about him. WOW - I’m glad to make the connection.”
He continued, “I think there were some money issues involved. Grandma Smith didn’t say much, but since it was the depression and colleges and people were really strapped for funds, I think my Grandma and Grandpa Smith split and she came back to Nashville to live with her parents, my great-grandparents. My parents grew up here as did my sister and myself.”
Vickie shared, “My husband became a professor at Southwestern University in Georgetown Texas but got his doctorate from Vanderbilt University and I got my masters in library science at Vanderbilt as well.”
Michael interrupted “It is a small world after all”.
Vickie continued, “From my research, and I’m just getting started on this, that your grandfather died in Georgetown of a sudden heart attack but part of his life insurance went into an endowment that was eventually used for the library.”
Michael said, “That seems about right. From something, Grandma said when he died he left some funds for her, my Dad, Roger, and my aunt Elizabeth.”
They talked for about 15 minutes more, with Vickie promising to send any additional information to Michael.
*****
Hanging up, Vickie went to the playroom and sat nursing a cup of coffee waiting for the ghost of Frank Smith to appear. She didn’t wait long. She shared with the ghost about her chat with his grandson, Michael Smith. Frank really enjoyed that information - and that his grandson was also involved in higher education.
She gave the information that his life insurance was used to pay for Roger and Elizabeth’s education. Frank was zooming in circles around the playroom.
Vickie said she would be checking the other two people out soon.
*****
Next, she started her research on Orville Quaas and George Thomas. At least those names were going to be fairly unique as compared to Frank Smith.
Vickie had met Nancy Frazer from Southwestern University’s Human Resources department and knew that Nancy wanted to hire her for a library position at Southwestern whenever a position opened up.
Again, she didn’t want to say she was researching the ghost of Frank Smith.
She called Nancy on the pretext of getting information about Frank Smith and the history of the library.
Vickie asked, “How long was Frank Smith with the university and in what capacity?”
Nancy said “Good Question! I’ll get some information get back to you.”
Vickie continued, “I don’t know what Southwestern’s building naming policy is. Some schools name buildings after long-term academics, others name buildings after successful graduates who live a big donation to the campus. Do we know if Frank Smith left a donation to the campus?”
Nancy answered, “I think we have both. The McCombs family gave us money for the student center. Red McCombs is the biggest car dealer in Central Texas. He also gave money for the School of Business and the Football Stadium at the University of Texas in Austin. The Bamberg Science Center was named after Dean Troy Bamberg. I’m guessing that the Bamberg estate also kicked in some money as well.”
Nancy continued, “Give me a few days and I’ll see what I can find.”
Vickie didn’t quite know how to address the next issue but went for the direct approach. “I read that Orville Quaas was the associate dean under Frank Smith. Did he become the dean after Frank Smith’s death? Did the campus mourn and celebrate the death of an active professor?”
She also asked “Who was President then? Was he a friend of Frank Smith?”
Nancy laughed, “Okay, so I’m giving up my HR job for the next month to do research for you. Yes, I’ll see what I can find.”
They talked a few minutes more before hanging up.
*****
With a lot of sleuthing, Vickie found George Thomas had become the President of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington Illinois.
Orville Quaas had moved to Corsicana Texas, about five years after Frank Smith died.
*****
Nancy Frazer was good at her research. Yes, Orville Quaas had been a professor of Chemistry and then associate dean under Frank Smith. And, yes, about five years after Frank Smith died, Orville Quaas moved to Corsicana and ran a Rexall Drug pharmacy there.
George Thomas stayed in academia and did go to Illinois Wesleyan University for the last years of his life as president and then president emeritus.
*****
Vickie worked up a theory. Either Orville or George had killed Frank Smith, and then left town. They had taken out life insurance on Frank Smith and lived high for a few years but at some point, God had worked on their hearts and they gave money for the Frank Smith library anonymous.
*****
That night she told the ghost of Frank Smith she was making progress. He wanted to know more, but she was reluctant to say more. She did say, “I think your wife was not the killer”.
He agreed with that, “I did love her”.
*****
Still working behind the scenes with Nancy Frazer, Vickie found that a large anonymous amount had been donated to the Frank Smith library. Taking the dates and the two people she was looking at, she found that George Thomas died and donated money to Illinois Wesleyan University and to other charitable causes. She also found that Orville Quaas sold his pharmacy for good money a year before the anonymous amount came into the Frank Smith library fund.
Adding the information that Orville had a chemistry background and could create poisons, and some unscrupulous information about Orville’s dealings, she concluded he was the killer.
On a whim, Vickie traced Orville Quaas’s family and found a grandson in Corsicana, and asked if his grandfather had left any notes or journals from his days at Southwestern University. The grandson remembered a box of journals in the attic and gladly donated them to Vickie thinking they were going to be used for some memorial. Instead, Vickie found some comments about being sorry for what had happened to him. Tracing the money very carefully, she found that the big anonymous contribution for the Frank Smith library came from Orville Quaas.
*****
She presented her information to Frank Smith, who was at peace. But, the ghost asked for permission to return and play with the children, and Vickie and Jon approved that condition.
********
Thus ends my Halloween ghost story about the haunted house in Georgetown Texas.
LOVE WINS!!!
Karen
