The Jim Campbell family first moved to Lebanon in July of 1964 in order to be near their home in Springfield, MO. Jim's parents are natives of Strafford, MO where he had his early schooling after which he served a two year hitch in the U.S. Marines. His folks still reside at Strafford.
Rita's folks are originally from Hartville in Wright Co. Missouri, where her father, the late Fritz Bear was with the newspaper for some time. Her father, a youth leader, directed a concert band that furnished music in Hartville and other Wright county towns. Rita's mother now resides in Springfield.
Jim Campbell and Rita Bear were married in September, 1951. For eight of their 21 years of married life the Campbells have lived in Lebanon. The family lived in San Diego California for two years, while Jim was in the Marine Corps, where their oldest son, Jim Jr., was born.
Shortly after his Marine service was completed Jim went to work in the Consumer Finance industry with which (he) first worked in Springfield, MO,for two years. He was transferred to Joplin, MO, where he worked for 16 months.
After this he was moved to Hutchinson, Kansas where he worked for two years before being transferred to Springfield, Illinois and a short time later to Decatur, Illinois. From this Decatur assignment he made the move to Lebanon in 1964 to continue working in the field of consumer finance. He had never been to Lebanon more than twice before moving here eight years ago. But he liked the town from the beginning. In fact the whole family likes to live here and finds the people most friendly. However they experienced their darkest hours here in Lebanon in 1967 when they lost their third son, Gary age 7 1/2 years, in an extremely unfortunate accident on North Highway 5 near their home on Keller Drive. At that time they had been here about three years and hadn't realized until then how sympathetic and helpful the people in Lebanon really were.
Jim, Jr. completed the upper elementary grades, the Jr. High and Senior High here graduating from (LHS ) in 1971. He is now a freshman at Southwest Baptist College at Bolivar where he is majoring in Music. He was quite active in Band while in LHS and plans a career in teaching Music. At LHS he was a member of the Key Club, National Honor Society and was elected to Who's Who in the graduating class of 1971.
Gregg, born in Joplin, is an 8th grader at Lebanon Jr. High, having attended all eight grades in the Lebanon School system. He is interested in each of the sports.
Scott, born in Hutchinson, Kansas is a 5th grader at Donnelly Elementary school. He is also interested in sports of all types and plays trumpet in the grade school band.
Mark, born in Springfield, (Illinois) is a 2nd grader at Donnelly. His interests are those of a typical eight year old boy. He is eagerly looking forward to his first season in Little League baseball.
The family attends the First Congregational Church where Rita is a Sunday School Teacher and Jim Jr. is active in Youth work. Jim Sr. has been a Cubmaster of Cub Pack #59 and Rita a den mother. Rita worked on several civic committees and is manager of the Shoe Department at Wal Mart Discount Store, having been employed (there) since October (1969).
Jim Sr, is a member of the Optomist Club having served the club recently as President. He firmly believes in the club motto, "Friend of the Boy". He has been active in Lebanon's Little League since 1967, having not only served as President and Player Agent but also as Manager and Coach of smaller boys teams. He enjoys working with the beginners and watching them in their progress toward success. Jim says, "nothing is more satisfying than to see a small boy, who can't throw or hit as well as some of the more mature ones, develop to where he can perform as well as the better ones."
Jim also points out that the change in the City of Lebanon in recent years has been tremendous. There seems to be, in his (estimation), "no end to the way the community can progress, many new industries having been started, shopping centers springing up, and it's hard to visualize what the town was like when I first saw it."
Quite recently Jim joined the staff at the Central Bank when he had the opportunity. He says that he felt that the opportunity was too great to pass up to join the staff of a bank where the growth in the last eight years had been as great as had Central's. On July 31, 1964 their total assets were $4,593,106.25 and on December 31, 1971 their total assets were $10,847,504.97, more than doubled in just eight years. Jim has found the staff most friendly and helpful in starting his new endeavor.
I hope you find the article interesting. In some ways it serves as a re-cap to some of the ground already covered in my blogs and fills in some gaps as well. I'm glad I could share it with you. We'll see what else the "BOX" turns up in coming blogs. -30-
