Gilbert Wessel -- Mom's Cousin -- Son Of Ruth's Aunt Edna and Uncle Roland

The Iowa Flessners must have been a tight-knit group of folks. Ruth mentioned by name, often, her aunts and uncles. On her mom's side, her mom Reka had two sisters and a brother:

• uncle Fred
• aunt Clara, died in the 1918 "Spanish" flu pandemic
  
• aunt Edna
  

Uncle Fred was married to aunt Laura, and they lived in Manson, IA.

Aunt Edna married Roland Wessel who was killed in a farm accident about 1936. Ruth would have been about nine years old. 

A "hired hand" rolled a tractor over Roland and he was dead on arrival at the hospital. They had a two-year-old son at the time: Gilbert, Gilbert Wessel. At about age two, Gilbert, came to live with Reka and Ekke, Don and Ruth. Ruth says she was nine years old at the time. Edna moved to Cedar Rapids to get her teaching degree.

I do not know if Edna moved back to the Manson/Pomeroy area after getting her teaching degree but subsequent information suggests she remained in Cedar Rapids where she raised her son Gilbert. See below.

Although I don't know where Roland and Edna had their farm, the fact that it was Reka and Ekke who took Gilbert in, it is likely that the Wessels lived nearby -- southwest of Palmer, north of Pomeroy. 

One of Ruth's daughters, Jan, says she remembers Ruth telling her that she (Ruth) moved in with Edna after graduation (probably high school) to help take care of the children. Edna's son Gilbert was two years old when his dad was killed in the farming accident; Edna was pregnant with Margaret Ann when Edna's husband was killed. At the time of Ruth’s graduation from high school, eight years later. Gilbert would have been about ten years old and Margaret Ann would have been about eight years old. For all intents and purposes, Ruth grew up with three siblings: brother Don and cousins Gilbert and Margaret Ann.

[earlier I wrote: if Ruth moved in with Edna after graduating from high school, about 1944, Gilbert would have been about eight years old and Margaret Ann about six years old.

Ruth talked often of Margaret Ann. I sometimes think Ruth's favorite "friend" was Margaret Ann, although I may be mixing her up with someone else. Ruth's cousin June was certainly another of her favorites. But it now makes sense. Mom would have had very fond memories of Margaret Ann. She would have been like a younger sister to Ruth, much like Yvonne and Jan, in terms of ages, and/or Arianna and Sophia.

But if so, it's an incredible heart-warming story. I can see a child's book in the offing if any of the great-grandchildren become authors looking for a story line.

Some data points:

• there is a Dr Gilbert Wessel, age 83 (downloaded September 21, 2020), link here;
  
• apparently still licensed to practice medicine in Cedar Rapids, IA. 
• if you recall, Ruth's aunt Edna had moved to Cedar Rapids to get her teaching degree;
  
• if 83 years of age in 2020 (?) he would have been born about 1937 which correlates well with the dates above
• he got his MD degree in 1963 (age 26 by my reckoning) from the University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA
  
• and so coincidentally, his cousin, Don, Ruth’s brother, with whom he went to live at age 2, also became an obstetrician

• a "Roland Wessel" died in Oelwein, IA, September 20, 2010, born in 1916; born in Colesburg;
• Colesburg is an hour east of Oelwein, IA
• Oelwein is about an hour east of Waverly, IA

From there, of course, one can explore the Wessel family in Iowa. It's quite interesting. But this could go on forever; I will quit for now.