Guy

Guy Dewey Love was raised on the Love farm in Bluff Creek Twp., Monroe County, Iowa. As his 1915 Iowa State Census registration form (below) shows, Guy's occupation was "farmer."

Guy's son, Delbert, said that after Guy returned from World War I he farmed the 240 acres located north of John Richard and Lucinda Love's farm, owned by his uncle James Henry Love, and aunts, Eliza Love McDonald and Sarah Love Arnold.

Soon after the beginning of World War I, he volunteered for active military duty and served in the U.S. Army in Europe where he received three battle stars for participating in three offensive operations on the western front. After the Armistice was signed November 11, 1918, Guy was assigned to the Army of Occupation stationed in Germany until he was discharged in 1919.

Guy and Grace were married June 2, 1925 at the parsonage of a minister in Knoxville, Iowa. They became the parents of Delbert Guy Love on May 2, 1926 and Gerald Dean Love on August 4, 1927. Both sons were born on the Love farm where Guy was born and raised.

Guy continued farming until the beginning of the Great Depression, following the stock market crash in 1929. The depression had a severely negative impact on farmers with the plummeting market value of grain and livestock.

Since he had an innate skill for fixing anything mechanical, Guy decided to try his luck as an automotive mechanic, and by April 1930, he had moved his family to Fairfield, Iowa where he went into partnership with another mechanic and opened an auto repair shop.

After living in Fairfield for approximately two years, the family returned to Monroe County in early 1931 where Guy accepted the position of Superintendent of the Monroe County Farm. The obvious reason he accepted this position was that it paid a monthly salary and all living expenses plus the fact that he was well qualified for the position. At that time, county farms were the last resort for people who may have lost their farm as a result of the depression, people that had no means of support because of the high unemployment rate, and elderly citizens without relatives to support them. The Superintendent's primary tasks were to manage the farm to economically produce the necessary food to support the county's indigent and to provide care for their well being.

As a result of the depression, Guy and his auto repair shop partner soon found it difficult to make a living since people didn't have the resources to pay for the maintenance of their automobiles.

He continued in this position for approximately twenty years until he accepted a similar position in another county in Iowa and later worked at the Mental Hospital in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.

Guy was a man with many varied talents. His skill as a mechanic is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that the neighboring farmers often called on him whenever their tractors needed to be repaired. He was also a skilled musician and could play any song on the piano without any music. As a young man he played on a regular basis with a group of musicians at local dances. He also enjoyed hunting small game and made it a point to take his two sons hunting with him. On one occasion he went on a weekend pheasant hunting trip with his two sons and three other hunters. At that time the daily bag limit was six birds and the possession limit was twelve. With a group possession limit of seventy two birds for the two days of hunting, the hunters came home with sixty-five pheasants.

Guy was active in various civic affairs as evidenced by his service as the School Board Director for the neighborhood country school. He was also active in local politics and always made it a point to vote in every election. He was a member of the Albia Masonic Lodge and the American Legion Post.

Guy and Grace retired in Albia, Iowa where they lived until their deaths. They are buried in the Union Chapel Cemetery located approximately five miles northwest of Albia near the Love farm where Guy was born.