This is one of the many segments of Ruth's diary that is in Pieces of a Life, which focuses on her life and her husband John's. They were married only about 7 months earlier.
Wed., Dec. 25, 1929 - Christmas Day
"Up at 6:45. We had a good time opening our gifts. We didn't get many, bu those we did receive are nice. Called up Florence to see if she got what she expected & she did!! She is satisfied with it.
We arrived at folks' at 10:00 - before breakfast even. Had a cup of coffee with them. Had fun exchanging gifts there. After big turkey dinner, we played rummy while Jimmie was at show. Fun. Home again at 8:25."
Ruth and her family enjoyed playing card games - a far cry from Ruth's Grandmother Meredith, who threw playing cards in the fireplace. She said, "They were the work of the devil." As I was growing up, we played cards or board games often on Sunday afternoons. I started playing at 5 years old and most likely my older brother, Ken, did too.
Ruth's friend, Florence Childers, received an engagement ring from Clyde Ballentine, her beau, for Christmas. They were married a year later. Ruth and Florence, who was from Iowa, met through their clerical jobs at Montgomery Ward in Chicago.
Ruth listed all of her gifts as she did every year and who the giver was. She had ten gifts with the black kid purse from John being the star of the group. Ruth also listed the seven gifts John was given with the standout being the fur-lined gloves she gave him. John's car was stolen and wrecked a year or two earlier, so they walked long distances and took public transportation as well. The gloves probably were warmly appreciated.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Thursday, December 12, 2013
An Awful Day for Jimmie, Ruth's Brother
In 1927, an event changed the Meredith family forever. They went to the Baptist Church, as usual, but during the service, Jimmie "stood up in church, ranting about religion. Jimmie was normally quiet with a sweet disposition, so this was like the blast of a siren in the night."
Jimmie Meredith was 16, five years younger than his sister, Ruth. Sadly, he went for a stay at Elgin, a state mental institution, to be evaluated. "He was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and given shock treatments among other things. He was in and out of mental health facilities, on prescribed drugs and in the care of psychiatrists for the rest of his life.'
This seemed like a bolt from the blue, but was it really such a shock? Jimmie's Uncle Arthur Meredith had some sort of mental issues, though the picture of what they were is shadowy. Jimmie's Grandmother Ruth Parks Olmstead Meredith was said to have been in a mental institution in Michigan in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Again, we are left wondering what happened and whether it was a harbinger of what was to befall James William Meredith, whom we know as "Jimmie."
The picture above shows Lottie Weekes Meredith, Jimmie's mother, and Jimmie in the fall of 1942. They were standing on the cement in front of Ruth and John Kellogg's home in Oak Park. That area was later to become a screened-in porch. Jimmie is 31 and Lottie is 55.
Jimmie Meredith was 16, five years younger than his sister, Ruth. Sadly, he went for a stay at Elgin, a state mental institution, to be evaluated. "He was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and given shock treatments among other things. He was in and out of mental health facilities, on prescribed drugs and in the care of psychiatrists for the rest of his life.'
This seemed like a bolt from the blue, but was it really such a shock? Jimmie's Uncle Arthur Meredith had some sort of mental issues, though the picture of what they were is shadowy. Jimmie's Grandmother Ruth Parks Olmstead Meredith was said to have been in a mental institution in Michigan in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Again, we are left wondering what happened and whether it was a harbinger of what was to befall James William Meredith, whom we know as "Jimmie."
The picture above shows Lottie Weekes Meredith, Jimmie's mother, and Jimmie in the fall of 1942. They were standing on the cement in front of Ruth and John Kellogg's home in Oak Park. That area was later to become a screened-in porch. Jimmie is 31 and Lottie is 55.
Missing Pictures Found!
These pictures somehow didn't print in the blogs on Nov. 5 and Nov. 30. These added a lot to the two blogs, which were titled "Ruth Meredith's World as a Teenager" and "Just Three Months from Graduation." On the right Ruth is 14 in the first picture, posed with a girlfriend. This was taken in 1920. It looks like a backyard in the Austin neighborhood.
The second one is Ruth's graduation picture, taken in March, 1926 when she was 19. It appeared in the Maroon and White, the Austin High School yearbook. I commented on her Marceled hair style, which was very popular. Her blonde hair was normally straight. Just 10 days after graduation on June 25, Ruth turned 20. You can't tell from the photo, but her eyes were hazel.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Mebbe So

This picture of my father was taken in about 1919 when he was 20 and living in Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was working multiple jobs because his life was on a financial roller coaster. Charles Henry Kellogg, his father, had died suddenly at about 59. Like his father, another Charles Henry, he was an engineer who built bridges all over the East Coast. Unfortunately, Charles, who had one of the first cars in Buffalo, left his second wife, Esther, a 16-room house, 2 servants and scarcely any money. I don't know if anything went to the three much older offspring from Charles' first marriage. They were all in their 30s and only one still lived in the Buffalo area.
By this time John's only full sister, Dorothy Helen, was 9, born in 1903. At age 13 John's life turned upside-down, dropping from a privileged status to being concerned about a roof over the head and food on the table. His mother sold the house, fired the servants and moved from outlying Lancaster to much larger Buffalo. There she rented and operated a boarding house, helped by one of her sisters from nearby Grand Island. Esther Clara Webb Kellogg was a grand-daughter of Irish Potato Famine immigrants, a confidant, resillient young woman who grew up on a farm. She was also the oldest of ten children, used to commanding the others.
Only in her 30s, Esther remarried in 1915, this time to an easy-going Bible salesman. The family moved to Detroit where there were supposed to be jobs to be had. According to John, in the early years the budget was tight for Esther and Guy Ashford Wood, her husband. They had two children, Guy Jr. in 1917 and Sara Jane in 1919.
By the time John entered college, he relished working. To put himself through the University of Michigan, he baked pies, became a sandwich man to fraternities, waited tables at a fraternity, worked at a "casino" (a resort cafeteria), bid on and won a contract for food concessions at sporting events. In the first summer after he started school, he was able to work 100 hours a week at the Belle Isle Casino near Detroit and had a place to sleep there. He saved a lot of money during college. That was a lesson - save, don't spend - he drilled into his children. You can find out more about him - and Ruth Meredith - in Pieces of a Life.
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