​Looking Back: The Class of 1924

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society


Irene Costigan Snow
Roy Gosney
Herman Stokes
Pearl Johnson Kaufman
Jewell Johnson Graham
Lorena Ketterman
Ina Harris Mitchell
Rosalie Phillips Hostetter
Lawrence Cannon
May Bailey
Sallie Beggs Williams
 
Housewives, teacher, technician, cashier, farmer, and barber.
 
The students in the Class of 1924 pursued a variety of vocations after graduation from Grain Valley High School.  Five classmates stayed in Grain Valley while four headed off to Kansas City. One became a farmer’s wife near Odessa, Missouri, and Rosalie Hostetter traveled all the way to Joplin, Missouri, where she became a technician; what type of technician, I do not know!

If you are very new to our town, Lawrence Cannon may be the only surname you recognize. In the late 1880s the Cannon family owned a tract of land south of the railroad track that runs through our town. Thus, Cannon was one of the early additions to Grain Valley and Cannon Street runs through the addition. J. W. Cannon, Lawrence’s father,  was the notary public that signed the document making Grain Valley a town in 1878. (Valley News, August 6, 2020) Lawrence went on to become a teacher in Kansas City.

If you live North of town, you may recognize the Ketterman name, as well. The road was probably named for her parents who came to the area from West Virginia in the early 1900s.  Zachariah David and Florence Elvessa owned a farmed on Ketterman Road where they raised their 11 children.

Three other names may be recognizable to long-time Grain Valley residents. Irene Costigan was part of the Dennis & Martha (O’Connell) Costigan family that still have relatives in this area. Her father was Joseph Patrick Costigan and one of her brothers was Harold Costigan, the WW II veteran that survived the Bataan Death March  in 1942. Irene married Ralph Snow and raised three children Leanna (Cogan), Leon Snow, and Alice Snow.

Another long-time resident Jewell Johnson. She married Edgar Graham (Class of 1922) and they owned an apple orchard on Buckner Tarsney Road (between Duncan and Pink Hill) for several years during the 1950s and early 1960s.

Finally, Ina Harris Mitchell lived with her family on Harris Street, just south of the railroad tracks.  She married Bill Mitchell, a Scotsman, who was employed by Sni-A-Bar Farms. In addition to raising their three daughters, Ina was a clerk at more than one grocery store in Grain Valley.  Her friendly face and warm smile welcomed many of us to Minter’s and later Frantz’s Grocery Store when we were growing up in Grain Valley. There are still many Harris offspring in Grain Valley, including my neighbor and her grandson, Richard Danner.

As for the other members of the Class of 1924, I’m not sure.

​If my Class of 1962 Algebra II class hasn’t failed me, the class size has increased about 3200% in the past 100 years. I hope some of the 2024 graduates will stick around our town and become a part of our past as a legacy for our future.