The Dating Years


Over the last few weeks, I've tried to give the childhood account of both Mom and Dad. Both my parents were born in 1928 and both experienced tragic loss at an early age (Mom lost her father to pneumonia in 1936; Dad lost his mother to tuberculosis in 1940).

I refer to the years from 1938-1943 as their "lost years." 

I know Dad went to live with his father and stepmother shortly after his mother's death -- perhaps in early 1941. I have a newspaper article from 1942 that shows my father and his brother as part of the Victory Garden program in Houston. 

Mom's history requires a bit more imagination.

The 1937 Houston City Directory shows my recently widowed grandmother living there in an apartment -- I assume while attending secretarial school. This fact, coupled with oral history, indicates Mom must be living with her aunt (my grandmother's sister). The 1940 census confirms this living arrangement in the rural Texas town of Ellinger ("on the west side of the RR track to city limits"). Ellinger is about two hours away from Mom's childhood home.

The 1941 Houston City Directory shows my grandmother is now renting a home on Merrill Street and working as an Office Secretary for a postage meter company. She is gainfully employed and, according to Google Maps, living directly across the street from Hogg Middle School (established in the 1920s). 

Mom is now thirteen years old -- of middle school age. I hypothesize that Mom has reunited with her mother after three years apart. She is now living in Houston and can walk home after school. I suppose she was an original "latch key" kid.

I do think it's clear that both Mom and Dad were living in Houston in 1942. 

Mom's wedding book

Recently I shared tidbits from Mom's Baby Book which I found after her passing. Another treasure I inherited was her Wedding Book.

Mom was known for making detailed lists: grocery lists, gift lists, medication lists, etc. Now I am grateful for her meticulous notes -- especially as they relate to the courtship years. Here's a partial account in her own words:

While marking men's undershorts on June 17, 1943, I met Gleason at JC Penneys where we both were working. He asked for a date that day to go bowling the next week -- I stood him up though because Ruth Chapman was flirting with him and we didn't have our first date until October 1, 1943 (my mother's birthday). We went to a movie downtown. Soon we were going steady and had some classes together at Reagan High School.


Mom stood Dad up?! She didn't like his flirting?! I must admit, I never viewed my parents as typical teenagers. How fun to hear her honesty 😊


Thanks to Google Maps, I was able to plot their high school "hangouts".

At that time, Mom was living with her newly remarried mother and stepfather on Heights Avenue. My dad, according to the City Directory, was living on West 42nd Street. Reagan High School served as a proper middle ground.

According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, the downtown JC Penney's was located on the corner of Texas and Main -- a short bus ride from both their homes.

Mom's handwritten account goes on to say:

We had lots of fun at Reagan - going to all the various affairs when we were juniors and seniors, even though we seemed to be constantly breaking up and making up!

July 1945 Gleason went to A&M with the ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program) -- he came home weekends with Bob Ripley. I went to a formal dance (on campus) in October.

February 1946 he was put on active duty and sent to Fort Belvoir, VA for basic and OCS (Officer Candidate School). I spent this time waiting, writing letters, and embroidering for my hope chest. He came home as a new Second Lieutenant and left New Year's Day 1947 for Japan. I spent that year waiting, writing, and embroidering too.

Mom continues the story, but I will save that for another post.

In the meantime, I have a few topics to research: 

  • What is the origin of Hope Chests? 
  • What items did women collect for their chest? 
  • Why (and how) did they embroidery certain household linens?

I'm curious, dear reader if you have any knowledge of Hope Chests? I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences.


4 comments:

  1. I love this information that you have found. How wonderful that your mother kept such detailed information! Amazing! The Hope Chest was something most every young lady kept to store items in for her someday home. Embroidery was quite common back then...they embroidered the hems of pillow cases, table cloths, table scarves, dish towels, etc. I have a lot of embroidered items from my husband's grandmother. I don't know that they were every in a "hope chest", but they certainly seemed to be very special. The also probably collected some dishes or pots and pans, silverware, but mostly it seemed like it was linens and they spent time embroidering because that was a sign of a good prospective wife! Back then they didn't have the pretty printed designs on linens that we have today. The only way to make them pretty was to decorate them! I never had a hope chest, but I can remember the Lane Cedar Chest salesman came to our high school and gave us information about them, and each girl got a miniature cedar chest for jewelry, etc., at graduation as a gift from the company. Apparently they gave them to boys too because my husband had one from his graduation also. I still have them both.

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    1. I love this story about the Lane Cedar Chest salesman!
      I did research "flour sack towels" a while ago because I remember Mom using that term. The women of the 20s and 30s were SO creative - and they used those talents to bring joy to the everyday practical items: quilts from outgrown clothes - decorative towels from old sacks of flour. I love learning history from this ancestral perspective :)

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  2. I had a cedar hope chest and embroidered a tablecloth when I was engaged. My great-aunts and my grandmother also embroidered linens for me. Sadly, most of those items are now gone as well as the women who made them.

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    1. What lovely memories, Rebecca... and I can't imagine the time (and talent) required to make a tablecloth!!

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