Louis Friederich Funk, great-grandfather of Clay, purchased on November 1, 1911, from the Valley Fruit Farm & Garden Company of Lincoln, Nebraska, 15 farm acres (lot tracts 1149, 1150 and 1151), and town lots totaling 0.77 acres.  The town lots were on Block 19, lots 1 - 4.

Louis, his wife, Clara Augusta Merrill, his son, Bryard Merrill Funk, and Bryard's wife, Alma Marie Alseth, and their daughters, Marjorie and Mary Lou, lived in Francitas from 1912 until 1917. 

Maria Louisa Sampson Merrill, Clara's widowed mother, also lived with them. She died in Francitas on April 15, 1913 and is buried in the Francitas area but her gravesite is not known.

Sometime after Maria Louisa's death, Louis and Clara moved to San Antonio. Bryard and Alma stayed on in Francitas for a while.

Mary Louise Funk, Clay's mother, was born to Bryard & Alma on March 28, 1914 in Francitas.  Bryard & Alma and their family returned north in 1917, first briefly to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, and then to Menomonie, Wisconsin. Bryard & Alma lived out their lives in Menomonie, although after Bryard retired in 1949, they visited the Edna-Blessing-Francitas area often for several years during winter months.
 

Francitas loses estimable family.  Mr. Bryard M. Funk and family [wife Alma and daughters Marjorie Emme and Mary Louise] departed Thursday, going first to San Antonio for a brief visit with Mr. Funk's parents [Louis Friederich & Clara Augusta Funk] and from there they will go to Minneapolis where the family will make their future home. [The  family was apparently only in Minneapolis a short time as Mary Louise had childhood memories of growing up in Menomonie, Wisconsin.]

Mr. and Mrs. Funk have been residents of Francitas almost since the opening of the town and have been prominently connected with every movement for the advancement of this community, where they have made many friends.

Mrs. Funk has always taken a special interest in church work, being for several years, president of the Ladies Aid society where her excellent service helping paying off the church debt and securing the new pastor for the church long be remembered.

Mr. Funk has been connected to the First State Bank, being for three years its cashier, which position he filled with credit.  The experience he gained here will be of great value to him in the wider field of opportunity offered in a city like Minneapolis.  The best wishes of a large circle of friends accompany them to their new home.

[Comments in brackets added by Clay Stubbins for clarification.]

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Communities - like individuals, frequently receive a serious bat in the eye.  Francitas has suffered not a few abrasions of this nature, wherein force of the circumstances have taken from our midst some particular person or family who have been long identified as a vital force in the sum of our total activities and whom we have felt could be illy spared yet the gap closes in time and the world continues to revolve although the scar of severance continues to flow in the hearts of those who remember and regret.  It is in this way and with such feelings that we must bid adieu to our Mr. & Mrs. Bryard Funk, Marjorie and little Mary Lou who are among our first and best families; and their going from our midst, even though perhaps temporarily, must be regarded as a positive loss to this community and a matter of deep regret to the heart of each loyal friend.  Mr. Bryard Funk has for the past three years creditably and efficiently held the position of cashier of the First State Bank and is well known, not only here, but in northern cities, to be a remarkably able bookkeeper and expert accountant, to which has now been added a most valuable banking experience.  Therefore Mr. Funk may be safely regarded as being well qualified to handle any business proposition to which he may aspire.  As to Mrs. Funk, we can heartily commend her to the live people of the fortunate city of their choice, as a woman of many sided and admirable capabilities, an enthusiastic worker in any laudable scheme of community betterment; and if you perchance need a live wire at the helm of your Aider's Society, one who gets results by keeping the ball continually rolling straight up the hill; why, she's there with the sublime punch.  Our best wishes go with this family.

The Francitas Bee?, Francitas, Jackson County, Texas  -  August 16, 1917
 

 

Alma Marie Alseth Funk standing in from of the Funk home sometime in the 1950s.