DENSON, RICHARD B. AND LUCILLE (MILES)

by Richard B. Denson

Entry F108 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society


Richard Denson, the son of Ben and Maude
(Howe) Denson, was born in 1914 in Cherry
County, Nebraska. He and his sister, Alida,
attended Wells School. Some of their class-
mates were Vedor, Arnold, Glen, Mildred and
Fred Palmgren, Laverne, Elwin, Lucille and
Evelyn Johnson, LeRoy, June and Eileen
Anders, the Carter children and the younger
one of the Charlie Long family. Two of their
teachers were Helen Long and Mildred
(Roth) McDuffee.

In 1926 the Densons went to Pierce, Nebr.
to be near Ben's aging mother and the two
children attended school there. In 1927, after
school was out, they moved to Hooker
County, Nebr. and lived on the Fred Zempke
place on the river, just north of Mullen,
Nebr., for five years. Besides having range
cattle, they had a dairy and truck garden,
delivering milk and vegetables in town.
Richard and sister, Alida, graduated from
high school in Mullen.

Richard and his parents lived on the Louis
Palmgren place north of their old homestead
for five years. He worked for his dad and
helped Dr. Roth on his ranch until he joined
the Army in 1941. He was stationed at a small
out-post at Presidio, Texas for eight months
with headquarters in El Paso. While at the
out-post he met and married Lucille Miles in
1942.

After Richard's long term with the 1st
Cavalry Division in the Pacific, he and Lucille
moved to Cherry County, north of Whitman,
Nebr. He worked on the Elmus Henderson
ranch for 12 1/2 years before moving his family
and cattle to his newly purchased farm-ranch
in Custer County near Broken Bow, Nebr. the
Densons are the parents of 4 children: David
of Berwyn, Nebr., Rosamay Wheeler of
Grand Island, Nebr., Laura Sheanshang of
Alexandria, Ky., and Alma Beland of Broken
Bow. They have 8 grandchildren.

In 1980 the Densons sold their farm and
bought an acreage just west of Broken Bow
where they now reside.