Following is one of the Biographies and Stories which where gathered by Charles Sumner McKamy in the 1950s for publication in a Crawford County History Book. Unfortunately he passed away before the book was published.
Frank and Hazel Geffs and daughters Leah and Marjorie Ann arrived in Oblong in 1924 entering the Cut Rate Store business. This store was continued until 1929 when it was sold to Mr. Geffs' sister and husband, Mr. & Mrs. Gary Flick. At that time Mr. Geffs, having completed his course of Embalming at the Worsham College of Mortuary Science of Chicago in din June 1929 purchased the Ray E. Winter funeral establishment.
Mr. & Mrs. Geffs were very successful in the funeral profession, building the New Geffs Chapel in 1939. In 1945 they sold the chapel and moved to Indianapolis, Ind. where they, with their daughter and son-in-law, Mr. & Mrs. George E. Adams, started real estate development, known as Wanamaker Village. Their development is still in progress, having two miles of streets and over 100 beautiful homes. One street bears Mr. Geffs name.
Mr. & Mrs. Geffs live at 1656 Llewellyn Dr., Ft. Myers, Fla., commuting by plane to oversee the progress of the village. Their home in Ft. Myers is one block from the Edison Home, the lot at one time was a part of the Edison Estate.
Mrs. Geffs served as Worthy Matron of Mystic Star Chapter of Oblong during the year of 1941. Mr. Geffs served as Director of the Oil Belt Nat'l Bank also of the First National Bank after the merger of the two banks. Mr. Geffs served as Elder of the First Christian Church of Oblong for 20 years.
The two daughters are now married. Marjorie Ann, wife of Dr. Herbert P. Sloan, lives in New Albany, Ind. Where Dr. Sloan is in the medical profession. They have two sons, Mark Herbert, age 6, and Brian Frank, age 6 wks. Leah is the wife of Geo. E. Adams. They live in Fort Myers, Fla. They are engaged in the real estate development business. They have two children, Judith Ann, just graduated from the Ft. Myers High School, and Daniel Frank, a sophomore of the same school.
We thank Mr. C.S. McCamy for this part in the History of Crawford County.