Edna "Killie" Killian

Birth: Born around 1884 in Texas.  

Family Information: Wife of William F. Killian.

Mother of Dub, Cletus and Marguerite Killian.

Description: In a 1935 clipping from the "Llano Colonist" she was described: "her energy and care-taking cheerfulness seemed unbounded, and in all Colony activities she was a most heartily welcomed participant."  

Pre-Colony History:  

Home in Colony: In March 1929 the Jernberg family moved out to the old Phillips place (at the Anacoco sawmill) and the Killian family took the house they'd been living in.  

Job in Colony: In March 1929 she was doing the cooking and housekeeping at the Kid Kolony.

In June 1930 Ed Coen was making a lot of covers for large jars to be filled with "plum butter, 'serves, etc." in response to an S.O.S. from Mrs. Killian in the cannery, she having "made a pronouncement to the effect that there aint going to be no jam if I don't get some covers for my jars." Also that year she helped set out about 5,000 plants in the gardens.

In July 1931 the "Busy Beavers" consisting of Vivian Busick, Irene Hewitt, Jeannette Wooley, Jane Lentz, Wanda Self, Iris Busick, Norman Bays, Phillip Lentz, Kenneth Dean, Archie Ogden, Ernest Ogden, Byron Busick, Jimmie Dix, George Maki and Lyle Layer, under the leadership of Mrs. Killian, gathered Himalayan berries at the orchard in the morning and in the afternoon picked blackberries out of the woods.

At the veneer plant in September 1931 John Allred, Ike Jensen, Carl Nelson and Ben Hewett were fishing the blocks out of the cooking vat and sending them up to George Collins for Ernest Kimball and Fred Busick to peel, after which they were fed to the big veneer machine; while Roede's and Mrs. Killian's crews took care of the cutting and stacking.

In November 1931 she was in charge of a six-man crew who turned out about 3,000 potato crate sides, fully nailed. Normally it required nine to run the plant, but the six of them managed it that day. Besides herself, the crew included: Iris Busick, Irene Wilkerson and Comrades Banta, Bickle and Dean.

In June of 1932 she and her "busy beavers" made peanut butter. The helpers were Vivian Busick, Myrtle Maki, Irene Maki, Doris Layer and Marguerite Killian.  

Other Info: In April 1929 she attended a birthday party held for Billie Busick (five years old) and Charlotte Hewitt (turning four) at the home of Mrs. Minnie Hewitt.

In October 1931 she and Mrs. Raicoff sang the Llano carole accompanied by Mrs. Jangfroid on the piano and were applauded so that they had to repeat it.  

Post-Colony History:  

Death:  

Sources: Llano Colonist: March 2, 1929, March 16, 1929, April 27, 1929, May 3, 1930, June 7, 1930, July 11, 1931, September 5, 1931, October 10, 1931, November 7, 1931, June 16, 1932, November 9, 1935; US Census: 1930