Thursday, April 21, 2011

Sula (Wallen) Splitek - Our Family History Trailblazer


Sula (Wallen) Splitek
1903-1994
Sula was born July 7, 1903 in Wabd, Rockcastle Co., Kentucky. She was the daughter of Oliver Morton and Sarah Frances (Davis) Wallen, the wife of Frank Fulton Splitek, the mother of Blossom Joanne, the twin to Thomas Miller Wallen and sister to three other brothers: my grandfather William and the twins, Homer and Hobart. She was an Educator at Elsinore Navy and Military School in Elsinore, California, a member of the Order of The Eastern Star for 50 years and a member of Faith Baptist Church in Wildomar

Sula was the first that I know of in our family to become interested in genealogy. She was the first to reproduce her father's diary although she took many liberties with it by leaving out parts and making minor changes. She made many copies of her typewritten work and sent them around to various family members and it was my father's copy that sparked my interest in genealogy. My father's first cousin Charles was also inspired by the copy he received from his Aunt Sula and he and I would later team up and become inseparable cohorts in the Wallen family quest for nearly a dozen years.

Sula's family group sheets were, and still are, priceless. She wrote letters and traveled all over the country to get information from family members about their spouses and children, information that paved the way into some of the family that I would never have known existed otherwise.

Sula died October 7, 1994 at the age of 91 and is buried in Elsinor Valley Cemetery in Lake Elsinor, Riverside Co., California alongside her husband Frank who preceded her in death in 1977.

Frank Fulton and Sula Susan (Wallen) Splitek

SHARE

6 comments:

  1. CLAP CLAP CLAP

    Every family needs one! Or more!

    ReplyDelete
  2. 'tis TRUE Carol! Pity the poor dead who have no living to tell their tale!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sadly I do not know of another soul in my direct line who is or ever was the least bit interested in family history. Wish I had just one!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well then, YOU are the trailblazer that someday, someone will write about you, LOL! I am blessed to have had Sula and Charlie both. 3 generations of genealogists. I lost Charlie less than 2 years ago and I sure miss his companionship!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mrs. Splitek was my 6th grade teacher at Elsinore Naval & Military School, in 1965/66. She was a great teacher; the school, not so much!

    ReplyDelete
  6. K. Allison, thank you so much for your comment! It is wonderful to hear from a student of hers and that you liked having her for your teacher. If you can think of any stories you would like to tell me about her, I'm ALL ears! Thanks again for stopping by!

    ReplyDelete