Over the years, the old house has seen not only all the joys of family life but also the sad times. In 1916 Charles Rugel’s young wife, Sadie, died there in childbirth. Tragedy struck again in 1921 when Mr. Grosgebauer, who owned a San Antonio Street meat market and cold storage facility on the square, accidentally shot and killed himself while working in his slaughtering business. While visiting the house in 1983, Melanie Grosgebauer Titsworth, the middle Grosgebauer daughter, remembered the pain of her father’s death: “You know, then they still brought them home in the casket and they had him in the dining room and it almost killed me. I was a junior in high school.” Perhaps most tragic of all was the funeral of Melanie’s four-year-old daughter who had died in a fire in Dallas and was brought back to San Marcos for burial. Her tiny casket, too, was placed in the dining room for viewing by mourners.

Mrs. Rosa Grosgebauer lived in the house after her husband’s death, sharing it with other members of her family, until her death at age 94. Elva, the oldest Grosgebauer daughter, and her husband, Alfonso Coers, lived in the house with their children–Jerry, Thomas Addison, and Alberta.  Alfonso Coers worked for the San Marcos Record, and it was his occupation that was responsible for the frequent visits of Lyndon B. Johnson. In a letter to Betty Wolverton, Jerry Coers, who grew up in his grandmother’s house, wrote: “My dad, Alfonso Coers, was a linotype operator for the San Marcos Record. He became a friend to President Lyndon Johnson, who at the time was a student at Southwest Texas College, and editor of The College Star, the campus newspaper.  I can remember the many occasions that he would have Sunday dinner with us.” Johnson, who struggled in those days to make ends meet, apparently was frequently invited to the Coers-Grosgebauer home for meals because of his friendship with Alfonso Coers and their mutual interest in bringing out a newspaper.

The house remained in the Grosgebauer family for over half a century, and after short periods of ownership by two other parties in the 1970s, it was purchased by Byron and Betty Wolverton, who own it today. The Wolvertons love their home and the history it represents; and in their efforts to update and decorate it, they have tried to remain true to the character and the age of the house.  Although it is almost one hundred years old, today it is a comfortable family home with a modern kitchen, bathrooms, and air conditioning.