San
Joaquin County
Biographies
MRS. LAURA B. VAN LOON
A leader in social, religious and
civic circles, Mrs. Laura B. Van Loon has taken a prominent part in the life of
the community since taking up her residence at Ripon in 1906. She was born at Ceres, Stanislaus County, the
daughter of Mark and Mary (Horn) Williams; the father, who was of Welsh
descent, was born at Fayetteville, Arkansas, his parents being among the early
settlers of that region, while Mrs. Williams was born at Springfield, Missouri,
of English and Welsh ancestry.
Mrs. Van Loon was reared and
educated at Ceres and when twenty-four years was married to Francis E. McKee,
who was then in the general merchandise business at Lathrop, California. After a time he sold his store to Reynolds
Bros., Sydney W. Reynolds being one of the firm, and went to La Grande, Merced
County, where with Benjamin Eastman as a partner he built up a good merchandise
business. In 1902 he sold this business
and removed to Pacific Grove, where he resided for some time, and in 1906 came
to Ripon, where with Sydney W. Reynolds he established the firm of McKee &
Reynolds, buying out the store of E. C. Dickinson, who at that time was
conducting the business under the firm name of Yaple
& Company. It was the pioneer
establishment in its line in Ripon and through the well directed energy of Mr.
McKee and his partner, a splendid business was built up. Mr. McKee’s successful career was cut short,
however, as his death occurred on September 22, 1916, following an operation
for appendicitis, leaving his widow and one daughter, Neva Arline,
now the wife of H. J. Simmons of Pacific Grove and they are the parents of a
son, James Francis Simmons. Mr. McKee’s
half interest in the business was equally divided between wife and daughter,
and the former still retains an active interest in the management of the
business.
Her second marriage occurred on
February 12, 1919, and united her with L. L. Van Loon, the popular agent for
the Southern Pacific Railroad at Manteca, who formerly occupied this position
at Ripon. Mr. Van Loon was born and
reared at La Cross, Wisconsin, becoming a telegraph operator at the age of
nineteen. He has continued in this line
ever since, holding responsible positions on the Salt Lake and Southern Pacific
Railroads. Mrs. Van Loon is active in
the membership of the Congregational Church at Ripon, and was prominent in the
erection of the beautiful new edifice.
She is serving as deaconess and was formerly superintendent of the
Sunday school, from 1916 to 1920. She
usually serves on the election board, and has been president and vice-president
of the local W. C. T. U. Though now a
progressive Republican, she heretofore voted as a prohibitionist and is proud
to have worked for the successful adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
856. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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