In June 2010, Mary Walby and Terry Dudley were connected by www.ancestry.com . Both had been independently working on family genealogy — only to find each other were distant cousins through the Niesets. Terry related the following story about Clemens Walby:
“Oddly, many years ago, I believe that it was in the spring of 1958, I was an 8th grader at St. Ann’s Catholic School in Fremont, Ohio. We went on a class outing to Findlay, Ohio just before we graduated. On the way home we had a terrible accident on the bypass at the intersection of State Route 12, near the airport.
The driver of the other vehicle was Clem Walby. I remember trying to pull him from his pickup truck which was smoking and on fire. I remember telling my father and grandfather about this, and they said that he was a distant relative. I believe that he sustained quite a few injuries but I never saw or heard of him again. Most of us in the car were banged up with some broken bones. Did you know about this story? Anyways, whenever I hear of the Walby name I always think of this unfortunate accident.”
It appears “Clem” is Clemens G. Walby (1914-2004). He is the youngest son of Andrew Jacob Walby and Catherine Nieset — Sebastian Walby’s grandson. That would certainly make him cousin to Terry Dudley, too. Clem would have been approximately age 44 when this accident occurred. Since Clem lived to age 90, apparently he recovered fairly well from the 1958 traffic accident.
Many thanks to Terry Dudley for this interesting story. If you, too, have a family story to share, send me an email at marywalby@yahoo.com.
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