300 East 3rd Lomor, Missouri 64759
I was one of the fortunate people who knew Ben Markley of
Joplin, Missouri. I recently met his granddaughter, Linda Poe,
whose job it was to administer the estate of her parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Leonard White, which included much of her grandfather’s
collections.
I was asked to help with the auction. We sold treasures that had
been in the family for three generations a horse-drawn
‘steam’ fire engine, over 200 steam whistles, stationary,
traction, and portable steam engines just to mention a few.
I didn’t know what was going through Linda’s heart until
I saw the tears in her eyes. So I wrote her a poem and would like
to share it with the auction’s bidders and the readers of
IMA.