Note: This is a work in process. There are probably a few errors. Photos will be added!
On June 25, 1926, Robert Maurice Staub was born near Clarksville, Illinois. He was the fifth of nine children of Joe and Annette Staub. As a young child, he was struck with polio. He attended grade school in Clarksville, though the disease delayed his early education by a year. He attended Marshall High School where he was on the track and field team.
Maurice graduated from MHS in 1945 and enlisted in the Navy, but the effects of his childhood bout with polio resulted in a medical discharge and a very short military career.
After leaving the Navy, my understanding is that he worked for a short time at Velsicol Chemical Corporation in Marshall and perhaps for the interurban railroad, though I have no documentation of his work from 1945 to 1949.
In the fall of 1949, Maurice enrolled in a 36-week program DeForest Training School (DTS) in Chicago. Founded in downtown Chicago in 1931 by inventor Dr. Herman DeVry, DTS prepared students for technical jobs in electronics, motion pictures, radio, and television. (In 1953, DTS moved to a new campus on Belmont Avenue and changed its name to DeVry Technical Institute.)
Maurice graduated 3rd in his class from DTS on May 5, 1950. After a brief trip with classmates Don Carter and Bill Cavitt to Cavitt’s hometown of Texarkana, Texas, Maurice returned to Marshall and set up a radio and television in a building on 13th Street owned by his sister Agnes and her husband A.R. “Dutch” Miller. By June, however, he opened a shop in downtown Marshall, at 112 North 7th Street.
By August, 1951 he had teamed up with Bill Taylor (husband of Maurice’s cousin Josephine) to form Staub & Taylor Appliance, located first at 107 North 7th Street and, by August, 1952, at 611 Archer Avenue. Eventually, the business moved to its final home at 618 Archer (the only one I remember).
In 1952, Maurice married Phyllis Hammond at St. Mary’s Church in Marshall. After a honeymoon in California where his older brother Lawrence and his family lived, the couple returned to Marshall.
For a short period in 1953 and 1954, Maurice and Phyllis moved to Charleston, Illinois to open a second Staub & Taylor Appliance store, but by the summer of 1954 they were back in Marshall. In relatively short order, they had five sons by Maurice’s 33rd birthday.
On May 7, 1960, Maurice’s father, Joe Staub, retired from Moorman Manufacturing Company after 34 years and Maurice joined Moorman’s as his replacement. Maurice continued to work for Moorman’s until his death.
The 1960’s brought two daughters to the couple and brought their total brood to seven.
While Maurice continued to work at Moorman’s, he held other jobs to keep food on the table. At one point, he held at least two side jobs, as a meter reader for the City of Marshall and a bartender at American Legion Post 90.
For many years, as might be expected with 5 sons, Maurice coached Little League Baseball teams. He was an avid golfer.
Maurice and Phyllis divorced in the late 1970’s.
Maurice died on October 10, 1980 at Union Hospital in Terre Haute. He was 54 years old.
across Michigan Avenue from the Art Institute, shared in the celebrating the Cubs with a large banner covering the window directly above its main entrance. The banner features a depiction of a portion of the ivy covered outfield wall at Wrigley Field. As I reported in my last post, the 