Edith May Bunger was born in 1884 in Ohio, the youngest child of William A. Bunger and Lydia A. (Michael) Bunger. She always went by “May”. In 1900, May was living with her parents and two of her older brothers, Theodore and Omar, in Butler Township, Darke County, Ohio. She was attending school; her father was a farmer. Her three elder siblings, David, Ozora and Flora, were already married with families of their own. May’s oldest sister, Ozora Ann (Bunger) Clay, was my great-great-grandmother; Ozora’s daughter Alta Gladys Clay, born in 1896, was my great-grandmother. “Aunt May” was a fixture in Gladys’ life from the very beginning. In 1953, Gladys wrote her “Life’s Story,” telling with detail about her grandparents’ home, where her Aunt May was still living. It will serve to show what May’s childhood and young womanhood was like.
…My grandparents lived about 1 mile from our little village in the country. I spent much time especially during the summer out there. I was so happy through the day, but nights were long and full of fear. I would sleep in the spare room or on the floor in Grandmother's room. One night I had a dream while in my little bunk on the floor. There were so many tigers in the room they could hardly move about, and their eyes were so bright they seemed to have lights behind them. My grandparents had been talking about weasels catching the chickens and were setting traps and doing many things to kill them. It seemed to horrify me so and was on my mind when I went to bed. I liked the spare room for my daytime naps though as my aunt May left me play with her large wax doll with red flaxen hair with large blue eyes. If the weather was too warm, I couldn't play with her as wax dolls would sort of melt or become quite limber. My aunt used to comedown the little old narrow stairway with her doll and hand her to me or tell me it was too warm to play with her that day. The house was an old log house which had a couple of rooms built on. A few years later it was torn down and rebuilt into a nice country home, but the old rain barrel and cellar door remained outside. The cellar doors were wonderful and not at all hard to open as there were weights on them which helped so much to open and close them. It was worth all the effort for at the bottom of the steps and a few feet inside was a large stone jar with a lid on and inside that jar was brown sugar cookies. They always looked the same, tasted the same and one could always depend on them being there and no one watched to see how often the doors opened and closed. Old Bossy the cow stood by the garden gate chewing her cud looking so contented like. Once in a while a new little calf or little pigs came on the scene and little baby birds would be in the nests in the old apple trees. Bees would swarm someplace and Grandfather would fret until he would have them safely in a hive. Aunt May married and was gone now but in the dresser drawer which I was forbidden to open, she had left the most beautiful toy alligator. It was bright red China silk. Al stuffed, with its mouth open and the most beautiful white teeth and large poppy eyes. I loved that thing. Sometimes I think Grandmother told me I couldn't have it so I would go in there to sleep and it worked. I had heard of rattlesnakes and as I grew a little older I would walkdown the old country to Grandfather's farm. It seemed so lonesome and quiet except for crickets and katydids. I used to walk backwards sometimes thinking there were snakes coming after me but how secure I would feel as I opened the orchard gate and walked thru the orchard which was between the road and house and see Grandmother sitting on the porch in her old rocking chair with her old sun bonnet laying on the floor beside her singing When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. Grandfather’s chair was there too and when we saw him coming, we never waited but very gently arose. That was his and we knew it. I always knew when it was fall for in the corner of that old orchard was a Maiden Blush apple tree and I knew when they were ripe for that smell never told a lie and those rosy cheeks were a beauty to behold. In another corner was a tree that had my favorite place to sit. It was an easy tree to climb, and I spent hours sitting up there imagining and dreaming what a great person I might be some time and how I might help someone. I always wanted to do something for someone and to make them happy. One Easter time I was at Grandfather’s, and I was almost to believe this Easter Bunny business wasn't quite what I had been thinking, but I took a little basket and opened the orchard gate. After gathering a few beautiful eggs, I looked up and a real live rabbit went thru the fence and hopped off thru the pasture field. My question was settled. It was so real there could be no doubt now. The rhubarb in the garden was so good with salt on it and the green apples in season, many times Grandfather would hitch the horse up to the old spring wagon and take me home sooner that I had planned. Grandmother didn't wish to be kept awake by a little girl with a tummy ache. Mother always knew the symptoms and if I took a nice dose of castor oil, I could hold my sleeping doll. Sometimes I wonder, was it worth it! There wasn't much candy in those days except at Christmas time, but my how wonderful those brown sugar lumps were and how happy we would be. My grandparents' health began to fail and soon they moved to our little village of Savona. Grandfather passed away in a short while and Grandmother followed just six months later. I felt very sad. I felt my world had suddenly dropped beneath me, but Aunt May's babies kept me quite busy for there was always one to think about. I quit school and went to work in the grocery store when I was sixteen and could not assist her after the sixth one came. After I was married and had two children of my own Aunt May had her 11th child and passed away leaving her family that needed her so badly, including the tiny baby. Again, I felt I had lost a good old pal for it was thru her I learned many things. She didn't have much of worldly goods but had a heart of gold. She taught me patience, sacrifice and endurance.
May was married in 1903 to Omer Guy Ary, also an Ohio native. As Gladys told in her story, May and Omer had eleven children. May’s father William Bunger died at the age of seventy-three years in August 1909; her mother Lydia (Michael) Bunger passed away just five months later in January 1910. In 1910, Omer, May and their four sons Ralph, Harold, Raymond and Leonard were living in Butler Township, Darke County, Ohio. Omer was a farmer. The 1920 census located Omer, May, Ralph, Harold, Raymond, Leonard, George, Elizabeth and Robert residing in Liberty Township, Darke County, Ohio. Omer was still farming. Omer and May had four more children after the 1920 census was taken – Charles, Wilbur, Donald and Edith Mae. Edith Mae was born 8 May 1929, and May died the same day.
The Daily Advocate, 9 May 1929.
Mother of Local Resident dies in childbirth. Forty-four-year-old Ithaca woman dies Wednesday from effects of childbirth. Son and brother reside in Greenville - Funeral services Saturday. Mrs. [Omer] Guy Ary, 44, mother of Harold Ary, Greenville, died at her home near the village of Ithaca in southern Darke county early yesterday morning from the effects of childbirth. Mrs. Ary was widely known throughout the southern section of the county, and the news of her untimely death was a great shock to her many friends. Besides the son living in this city, surviving members of the family are her husband, nine sons, two daughters, two brothers and two sisters. One of the brothers, Willis [David Wilson] Bunger, resides in Greenville. One granddaughter also survives. Funeral services will be held Saturday afternoon at the Ithaca United Brethren church, with burial in the Ithaca cemetery.
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