George Junkin (1905-1998)

George Junkin (1905-1998)

Mary Louise Bucher (1908-1988)

F3 George Junkin, born April 11, 1905 in Austin, Texas, died June 4, 1998 in Ellicott City, Maryland; married June 24, 1942 Mary Louise Bucher in Dayton, Ohio, born March 24, 1907 in Dayton, Ohio, died August 9, 1988 Arlington, Virginia.

George Junkin was born and raised in Austin, Texas. When he was about 15 years old he developed a brain tumor. The doctor in Austin told his mom "take him home and let the boy die in peace". Well his mom had other ideas and took him on the train to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore Maryland where there was a young Dr. Dandy who had just developed a procedure for operating on brain tumors, remember this was 1920. Well suffice it to say that the operation was a success and George lived to be 93.

George attended the University of Texas and then transferred to Washington Lee University in Lexington, Virginia where his great grandfather George Junkin had been president. He graduated from Washington Lee with a BA in English in 1931. He moved back to Austin, Texas and then to Washington, DC where he worked for the US Department of Agriculture. The department of Agriculture sent him on a field trip to Ames, Iowa where they had also sent Mary Louise Bucher. They met in Ames and the rest was history. They married June 24, 1942 and raised their family in Arlington, Virginia.

George was one of the founders of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Arlington. He was very active in the church where he was a deacon and then an elder.

Mary Louise Bucher was born (March 3, 1907) and raised in Dayton, Ohio. Her parents were John Joseph Bucher (b. 1859) and Amelia E. Hampel (b. 1877).

In 1924, when she was 17, Mary Louise won a contest that the local newspaper was sponsoring. She had to pick an all American Baseball Team and come closest to what "Babe" Ruth picked. She won, tied with some other guy, but Mary Louise got most of the publicity because she was a member of the "fairer" sex. She had her picture in the newspaper where she was presented with a bat signed by the "Babe".

Mary Louise Graduated from Ohio State University in 1930 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. While at OSU she was a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. She later got a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from OSU.

Children of George Junkin and Mary Louise Bucher:

G1 George Junkin II, born March 15, 1943 in Washington, DC; married January 16, 1965 in Gaithersburg, Maryland Barbara Joan Smith, born June 30, 1944 Bethesda, Maryland.

G2 Barbara Louise Junkin, born September 23, 1945 in Washington, DC, married November 24, 1965 in Blacksburg, Virginia H. David Wenger, born August 4, 1939 in Edom, Virginia.