A Hot July in 1934...and Even Hotter at the Biograph Theatre!

Ruth (28) and Kenny Kellogg (not quite 3 years old)  returned from Ann Arbor MI on July 16, catching a bus in Ypsilanti.  They had visited John's mother, Esther Wood, and his stepfather, Guy Wood as well as seeing Dorothy Hiltner, John's sister and Sara Jane, Guy Jr., his stepsister and stepbrother.  The picture of them was taken on the Wood's front steps in Ann Arbor. I've used it before and think it's also in Pieces of a Life .  Ruth had stopped there for 5 weeks on the way back from staying with John in NYC for  month.  He was working for Sealtex on the East Coast.

It was a hot summer,which Ruth mentions time and again as she does the housework, ironing, cooking in the flat above her parents' apartment on Iowa Street in Chicago. The washing was done in the stone basement, so would have seemed much cooler. Also, she was washing and ironing John's shirts and other clothes, which meant carrying heavy boxes to the post office to mail them to New York City.

On July 22, Ruth says, "Gangster  Dillinger shot to death tonite by police & gov. men as he came out of the Biograph Theatre. Another hot day!  We got ice cream bars every day.  Played Hearts in cool breeze of porch tonite."

Ruth mentions on the 24th that it was "Hot! 105 degrees in the shade."  I wonder if she had been aware of John Dillinger.  He became a famous figure because of all of the newspaper coverage of his shady career, not to mention the movies later made about him.

1966 - Ruth, Diane and Lottie with the Fourth Generation, Lynn Meredith

Ruth Kellogg's diary entry and the picture of her with daughter Diane Pellettiere and mother Lottie Meredith are not in Pieces of a Life. This picture was taken in Mount Prospect IL in Aug., 1966 after Diane and Dan, both 30, moved back from New York City.  One of Dan's clown paintings is on the wall above Lottie.

The scab on Diane's leg came from a fall she took running into Randhurst to buy more paint for the walls she was painting.  Though Diane was carrying Lynn in her arms at the time, the baby was unharmed.

Thursday, May 12, 1966
   "No word yet (3 PM) from N.Y.  Am taking pills to ward off a cold and not doing much -- just pot-roasting beef for supper and knitting & watching TV.  
    Dan phoned at about 10:20 PM.  Diane had a little girl, about 6 lbs. -- name Lynn Meredith.  All O.K.  She went in at 9 AM.  Up at 2 AM and birth about 9:45 PM.  I phoned Beth & Ken the news."

Ruth uses Central time rather than Eastern for each event.  For instance, Lynn (6 lbs. 7 oz.) was born at 10:38 PM at Beth Israel Hospital in New York...The Kelloggs had two other grandchildren by then, Philip Alan (5) and Roger Winslow (2), but this was the first girl.  There would be two more, Cynthia Jo and Katherine Diane.

Ruth (60) flew to NYC to help out from May 16-25.  During that time, Dan flew to Chicago and looked at houses over a weekend, driven round by Diane's brother, Ken.  Dan and Diane had discussed what they wanted in a house before he left, so Dan worked off of that list - and bought a house on May 22 at 1101 Greenfield Rd., Mount Prospect.  They occupied it in August and were happy there until they outgrew it and moved in 1971.

Ruth and John were packing to leave for Florida on any day when they weren't babysitting for us (or Ken). They were now able to occupy their condo with the renter having moved to NYC.  They left on Monday, August 29, started unpacking boxes in FL, but then flew back to Chicago on Sept. 4 to do more packing and also see the Ken's and Diane's families as well as Lottie and Jim, Ruth's brother.  The Greyhound Moving Van came on Sept. 9 and Ruth and John left on Sept. 12, spending the next few weeks unpacking, making small changes in their condo.

It was an enormous change for both Ruth and John.  They both cried on Sunday, Aug. 28 when their Gamma Nu Sunday School class gave them a parting Revere Bowl.  They had been at First Baptist since 1941 when they moved to Oak Park.  One blessing that made it easier was the many church friends who either moved to Clearwater or vacationed there.