Olive Mae Inks

May 28, 1893—June 22, 1987

Olive Mae Inks was born May 28, 1893 in Wawaka, Noble County, Indiana, to Andrew and Rebecca Inks and died June 22, 1987 in Cashmere, Washington. She was married three times. This is her account of her first marriage, cut short by World War I:

"On November 12, 1917, I was married to Angus Guy John (always called Guy) at Cloyd and Nellie's home in Berthold, North Dakota. My brother Cloyd had married Nellie Gehres in the spring of 1917.

I had gone to school with Guy until sixth grade when we lived in Benson County N.D. We re-met years later, when both of our families were living farther west in North Dakota.

"Soon after we were married, we went to Salem, Oregon, to visit Guy's relatives. Guy had enlisted in the army before we re-met, and he expected to be called right away.

We lived in Salem until February 9, 1918, then went to Wenatchee, Washington, where my older brothers lived. We rented a room at 620 Orondo Street, and Guy went to work at the flour mill and worked there until his call came to report to the army.

Angus Guy John in 1918:
Portrait of an American "Doughboy"

"When the telegram came, I took it to the mill, and he quit work immediately. That night he took the train to Stanley, North Dakota, where he had signed up. He saw his family there for a short time...then left for DeMoines, Iowa, where he had to report.

"On March 26, 1918, he left Wenatchee, and May 26, 1918, he left Camp Dodge for overseas. He was killed in action [serving with Co. #. 139th Infantry] in the Battle of the Argonne Forest in France, Sept. 30, 1918. On September 29, the day before, our son Elvan Guy John was born. His father is buried in Flanders Field in France." (See poem below.)

The war ended less than two months after Guy's death, and not three months after Guy's brother, James, also was killed (August 9). James is buried in St. Thibout, France. Elvan, Guy's son, was born at Deaconness Hospital Sept. 29, 1918. He weighed 7 1/4 pounds at birth.

1918 wasn't just a deadly year in Europe. Death circled the world in the form on a particularly virulant form of the flu. One of the victims was Clara Ethyl Inks, the daughter of Olive's brother, Charles E. Inks, who also lived in Wenatchee.

Clara was a nursing student, working at Wenatchee's Deaconness Hospital. She would have graduated in the spring.

Olive Inks at a family reunion in Wenatchee

Almost four years after Guy's death, on March 16, 1922, Olive remarried, to Gilbert Andrew Graham (at right) in Wenatchee, Washington.

She married her third husband, John Elbert Baker, August 8, 1965.

This famous poem from the war is printed in memory of Guy.

In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Olive and Gilbert Graham

The negative for the photo of Olive is held by Robert Smith, whose email address is at the bottom of this page.