Notes from Conversations with Mom: 1 June 2011

1 June 2011 

It was on this day that I started keeping dated notes when I talked to Mom on the phone. We talked almost every day for a while there. Wish I’d dated all the notes prior to that but am happy to have what I do.  

On this day Mom wanted to talk about WWII and the boys who served. There were a lot of them too, and ours wasn’t the only family who sent their boys off. Mom’s brother Camey Williams joined the Army and went to California for training. His best friend was Lonnie Kyle and he’s related by marriage on Mom’s side, somehow. Have just spent the better part of an hour trying to figure it out and can’t work it out. Ever get a stray person such as Lonnie Kyle? You know that there’s a connection but you just can’t make the pieces fit. 

 

Mom’s maternal grandmother Mam Whetstone is pictured with Nan Kyle in this photo above. Just don’t know who Nan is to Mam. This picture is dated 1939 and Nan appears to be pregnant. With Lonnie’s younger brother? Finding out who the Kyles were to our family is going to drive me crazy. 

While Camey was in California, so far away from little Frostburg, their hometown, he sees Lonnie! Lonnie yelled out, “Last time I saw you, you had pneumonia!” Which is strange thing to say, I first thought. 

But it was the truth! Camey and Lonnie and a bunch of the boys were playing down by the creek in January. It was frozen over, solid. Except for that spot Camey found when he cracked the ice and fell in. And he got pneumonia. He did however get an ambulance ride to the hospital. His first one. He was excited, very ill but excited. 

Lonnie also said that the last time he saw Camey he was a skinny little kid. Now, he said that Camey had turned into a man.  

 

 

That’s Uncle Camey on the right. I think this photo might have been taken in Frostburg at some point.  And I have no idea where that top one was taken, but it's not Frostburg.

 
The notation on this picture says that he was in Switzerland.  

Mom’s sister Dot had a childhood sweetheart named Harold. They grew up, fell or stayed in love and married. Uncle Harold Conrad also served but in the Navy. Cousin Steve knows his Naval history and stories of his service and someday I’ll have to get more information from him. Meanwhile, here he is in uniform. 

With his new bride, Aunt Dot.

 

 

Here he's on board a ship in the Pacific. Cousin Steve will know all of the details.

Thank goodness for cousins!

On Dad’s side of the family, his brother Bernie Kelly, was off to the European Theatre of war. When he got there, he spotted his brother-in-law Pete Fraley, his sister Christiana’s husband. Once they met again, Pete and Bernie started kidding around and Pete told him he was not regulation anything and was one of those “undesirables” they talk about. They had a good laugh! 

Kidding around was a brother thing in our family and it pops up in many family stories. Bernie was, I thought, the funniest of the uncles. Dad was funniest when he was with Bernie and they got into some close scrapes too, but all in fun. I don’t think anyone got arrested for any of their pranks, but I’m not totally certain.  

It’s said that Bernie stole watches from POWs, but maybe that’s just a made-up story told by the two other brothers. One day Bernie was walking around camp and saw this officer looking particularly pompous and thought, “Who does he think he is.” Then he realized that it was his brother Delbert!  

As I heard the story, the day the war was over in Europe Bernie grabbed a jeep and drove off to find Delbert to celebrate. Against odds, they found each other! 

 

Delbert John Kelly on the top and on the bottom, Bernie Kelly.  

 

Wisdom Wednesday: My kind of day

Some weeks have gone by and I really have nothing to post on the GeneaBlogger's blogging prompt called Wisdom Wednesdays. There's just no "wisdom" to be had here under the nut tree. But today, just as time was running out and I had decided to skip the whole thing, I realized that this was my kind of day. This is the sort of day for which I "do" genealogy. What in particular made it good for me today? Just three things, but that's all it took. So let me share them with you very briefly.

Just about an hour ago I got an email from a person who stumbled into this blog and she said: How totally bizarre that you are a distant cousin of mine! To be honest, the number one reason I blog is to attract cousins, both close and distant. I figure that if there are cousins out there doing genealogy, sooner or later, they'll go to Google and plug in our shared ancestor's name. She did just that and found a blog post about Honora O'Flynn and William Logston. Mention of this notorious couple was in a post that also contained a reference to GEDmatch. Short story even shorter, she and I have exchanged GEDmatch kit numbers and are now off looking to see if we share any DNA from this couple. This morning I didn't even know her and this afternoon, we're comparing chromosomes!

Then a lovely email greeted me this morning from Cousin Rich, who I must say is a very good researcher! Mom and I were just wondering last week how he was doing. He's doing great! He still hasn't found the official documentation of a particular law suit we were all looking for, but never mind. What he has done is document the Revolutionary War contribution made by a shared ancestor... and now he's off to fill out DAR forms. He said, and we all support this, that these Patriots should be listed and honored. Go Rich!

I'm sitting here this afternoon listening to Big Band Era music on Jazz 88.3 radio station out of San Diego, working on my uncles on Mom's Ancestry.com Big Tree, adding photos of them during the war years. Perfect accompaniment:) I've decided to add more informal and candid photos there. I like the formal, "official" portraits well enough but the candids taken with those Brownie cameras are closer to my heart.

My kind of day!

Uncle Harold Conrad with his new bride, Mom's sister Dorothy Williams Conrad.

Dad in the middle with his two brothers, left is John Delbert Kelly, and right is Bernard Michael Kelly. Delbert, Pat and Bernie, about 1942.

All of the Kelly women, 1942.

Here and below, Bernard Michael Kelly.

Cambria Williams Jr., "Camey", Mom's brother.

 

Here and below, John Delbert Kelly. That's Mom looking sassy!

 

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/08/wisdom-wednesday-my-kind-of-day.html

Amanuensis Monday: Uncle Camey Writes Home

Amanuensis Monday

What's an Amanuensis, you say? It's a copyist: someone who sits like a crazy person squinting their eyes and probably ruining eyesight to read that old document hand-written so very long ago and type it out. We do because we love:)

It's World War II and Grandma Kelly's boys are ready to go do their duty. They gather with the family before everyone goes off, and take photos so that they can all remember the last time they were together. Everyone puts on brave faces but you can tell, the women in the family look worried but mostly smile hard. So do the Old Folks.

On the Williams side, Mom's family, was doing much the same thing. Once the boys were off for training camps the letters started coming back home. Dad had some medical issues that kept him out of the draft. Later he had a war job in a munitions plant so he was really out of the action. But the brothers and brothers-in-law didn't yet know that so they wrote to the only man their age back home. Mom has a treasure trove of letters from this time.

Here's a letter from Mom's brother Camey who was training in Riverside County, California, at Camp Haan, and not too far from where I now live.

Camp Haan CA

SAND HOG

Desert RAT (ME)

Friday Sept 3

Hi Folks,

Well I received your letter today and was glad to hear from you. Glad Ginny is getting along good. Not much news here. I leave for Camp again tomorrow for a period of two weeks and then come back out here again for anywhere from 8 weeks on up. This time has only been for 3 weeks, boy the next time it will drive me nuts I guess. I like it here though its hot. I want to hear about Pat soon as he gets examined and when he leaves for the Army.

If I was to have it over again I would take the Navy. I could make something. Lot more chances than the Army. I know you would make good anywhere though. I may as well have two Lieut.’s as brother in laws than only one. Petie’s Cousin is out here, he’s (???)in an office also and she wrote for me to come see thou I know him well. Well I must close now. I’m busy packing, I write late.

Lots of luck,

Camey

Uncle Camey in Uniform, location unknown.

A souvenir scarf sent to Mom by her brother, Camey Williams from Camp Haan, CA.

He made it home! 

 

 

Here's a video of a Jack Benny broadcast from Camp Haan in 1942! How cool is this?

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqUjciB0Q80 

 



Ananuesis Monday is a weekly blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers. You can find the whole week's list of prompts here. Thanks, GeneaBloggers for being you!!

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/02/amanuensis-monday.html

Sentimental Sunday: My Two Grandmothers, Part I

When I was a kid and walked into either grandmother’s kitchen there was always a deep feeling of home and comfort to be found there. The kitchen was the center of each family’s existence. There was of course a best room or front parlor, what we’d today call a living room. But the kitchen was where everyone went right away and where you’d find all the family. That’s where family stories got told over and over again. Maybe your grandmother’s home was like that?

As an adult I can now see that Grandma Kelly and Grandma Williams had very different kitchens, and that’s really an extension of the differences in the families as well as the differences in Mom and Dad. Without being too psychological about it I bet that you can easily describe the differences in your grandmothers and their kitchens, if you were lucky enough to get to know them.

Grandma Williams, Emma Susan Whetstone Williams (1897 - 1956), Mom's mother, ran a relatively quiet home on Bowery Street in the small town of Frostburg, Allegany County, Maryland. Bowery was lined with other homes and a smattering of tiny neighborhood stores. Do you remember those stores, the ones that might pop up on every couple of blocks turning the front room into the store?  

Grandma’s big kitchen occupied the width of the back of the house and was entered through a porch with a swing. The odd thing and what I could never figure out, is that the swing faced the house and not the yard. I always preferred the big expanse of the yard with its vegetable garden and flowers. The milk man left his wares there on the porch, so early in the morning the first thing you did when you got up was run out to get the goods. Whole milk in glass jars with cream on the top all yellow and rich, butter so creamy, and delicious and fresh cottage cheese too.

Grandma and Grandpa Williams,

snow on the roof and ground, in back of the house.

Through the back door and into the kitchen to the right on the outside wall abutting the porch was a tall hutch of dark oak with shelves lined with plates and glasses. Below were cabinets full of kitchen staples. The top had glass doors on both sides and open shelves in the middle.

When I sat at the table in front of the hutch inspecting  pies that occupied the big shelf, I liked to maneuver myself to the side so that I could view the tall hutch as well as look out the window on that side of the room. Sitting at Grandmother’s table and eating a piece of her delicious fruit pie was all I needed in the world.

On the left of the back door as you entered was the working part of the kitchen with stove, refrigerator and sink. On the far left wall was a door to the store room, which was up a couple of steps and into the most fascinating part of the house, at least for me.

The store room held a range of items that practically defined my Williams grandparents. For him, stacks of tobacco supplies in neat boxes that included cigarettes, cigars, and his personal favorite, chewing tobacco because he was a tobacco wholesale route man. You would also find all of his hunting and fishing gear there too. As he made his rounds to the retail stores that were his customers he’d sometimes stop and fish a stream bringing home trout for diner. I loved climbing those little stairs into the cool darkness of the store room and watching him as he sorted through his hand-tied flies for trout fishing. There was one fly for fish that hid in the shallow water under the shade of a tree and another type of fly for the fish that played in the deep water. How did he know all of the mysteries of the fish? Creels, rods, and waders of all kinds were joined by his hunting gear. That lot held no interest for me.

Grandpa Williams in his delivery truck.

The other side of the store room was the domain of the domestic queen that ran the home: Grandma. Long shelves lined the two inside walls and were heaped with all manner of preserved goods. From cabbage to jams and jellies, in colors that danced in the tiny sliver of sunlight that made its way in the window and past the curtain.

Adjacent to the kitchen was the dining room. There was always a beautiful hand crocheted table cloth made by Grandma on the big oak table. I have strong memories of sitting quietly watching Grandma crochet, marveling at the magic of simple thread being teased and tugged into such ornate beauty as was the doilies, runners, and table dressing she made.

A couple of parakeets lived next to the window over the telephone table with the party line phone. No dial or buttons: you just picked up the handset and told the operator who you wanted to talk to. On the other side of the room was a day bed where Grandma liked to take a nap or read. She loved to read, Mom loves to read, and I love to read.

Quiet was her home. Voices in conversation never rose too far and the radio softly played in the kitchen. The only disturbance was possibly Grandpa’s radio playing in the front room where his mounted trophy deer head hung or in the summer time out on the front porch when the baseball game was on. You see, his brother played pro ball so he was keen to listen to and enjoy games.

Sometimes, especially when the fruit is ripest and would make the best pies, I really miss that kitchen.

Yours truly and cousin JC with Grandma Williams.

 

Uncle Camey Williams as a young gentleman in his suit, 

at the side of the house leaning against the outer wall of the kitchen.

Cousin Steve plays in the yard in back of the kitchen whils Grandpa looks on. About 1949.

 

Grandpa's brother the baseball player, in uniform.

 

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/02/sentimental-sunday-my-two-grandmothers.html

 

Sentimental Sunday: When We Moved To Ohio

In the early months of 1952 Mom and Dad were living in their hometown of Frostburg, Maryland. They were both born and raised there, all their family was there, and all of their friends were there. When Mom didn't know why she felt so icky, she talked to her sister, Dot, who guessed correctly that she was pregnant, with me.

Frostburg was the kind of place the boys gladly returned to after World War II, married their high school sweetheart, bought a house, and started a family. Mom often talks of the decline of the Road Houses where the Big Bands of the war years and before played because people just wanted nothing more than to be home with family and friends. It was, after all, what the boys had fought for.

Their Friends

Mom and Dad at a gathering of friends during the War years.
Mom is seated and leaning in on the right and 

Dad is the guy with the big smile and striped tie.

Looks like fun!

 

Their Families

The Kelly side.

That's Dad on the very left, about 1942

A Kelly back yard picnic in the 1950s.

Mom's side with Mom left,

her Mother next and then her sister and brother.

Circa late 1930s.

 

Dad had a nice job as a boss at a munitions factory during the war. While he was there and nearing the end or after the close of fighting, a man from a plastics plant in Ohio came to visit and he and Dad hit it off. They stayed in touch and eventually Dad was offered a really excellent job in Ohio. Dad took it in October of 1952.

Mom wasn't thrilled. I know she wasn't thrilled because I found these photos of them having dinner with the next door neighbors, the Mendelsons, the evening before they left. That's the top photo. She's the only one not smiling. Then look at the one below that. It's Mom, Dad and me leaving the next morning to drive all the way to the village of Chagrin Falls, Ohio and start our new life. I'm oblivious but Mom is still not working up a smile... and she always smiles for the camera.

There's another photo of Mom and me in Chagrin Falls just after we moved. Darn it, I can't find it right now when I want it and that tells me I need to go back to my photo file and do more organization! It's always something.

Mom and Dad and the Mendelsons the evening before the trip to Ohio.

Mom is in the light color dress and Dad is to her left.

Here we are leaving little Frostburg for the mysteries of

Ohio and Chagrin Falls in October of 1952.

Sentimental Sunday is a blogging prompt of Geneabloggers:)