The Steady Hand of the Jim Meredith Falters

The picture was taken in 1939 at Lake Geneva where the Merediths planned to retire...It reminded Jim of southwest Michigan where he grew up.  Diane (age 3), Grandpa Jim, Grandma Lottie and Ken (age 7) are on a bench near the lake.  Lottie is posing with Ken's bow and arrow, which is why Ken is downcast.

Grandpa Jim Meredith had a steady hand on the family, calm, kind and focused with a strong work ethic that sometimes had him at Western Electric 7 days a week. (That happened when the apartment above them was not rented or when someone skipped out without paying them the rent.)

In the summer of 1940, Jim's health faltered, a harbinger of what would come a later.  He was 59.  

These entries come from a tiny diary that I thought was a date or address book  I did not read it until after Pieces of a Life was published.

Thursday, Aug. 1-2, 1940   "Doctor told Papa he has an infected leg...Papa sits in chair with hot towels on leg."

Monday, Aug. 5, 1940   "Papa came home from Doctor's  and went to bed with case of pleurisy.  Very painful."  Two days later, Ruth said, "No relief for Papa yet."

Thursday, Aug. 8, 1940   "Had Doctor over for Papa today.  He bound him up some more and helped a lot."  The following day Papa was up for a few hours, so on the road to recovery."

The medical picture sketched in these lines seems murky.  Was the leg really infected?  How?  Was the pleurisy related to the leg infection?  Ruth skipped many days in the little 1940 diary, so the questions about her father's illness remain a mystery  Also, on Aug. 16 she, Ken and Diane (me) went to Ann Arbor by train to visit John's mother, Esther Wood, and his stepfather, Guy Wood Sr.  Others they saw were Guy Wood Jr., John's stepbrother, as well as Sara Jane Wood and her new husband, Ellis Tobey.  They were married a few weeks earlier.   John drove to Ann Arbor to join Ruth and the kids on Aug. 21.  


 

"My Horse Won - Gallant Fox!"

Ruth Kellogg, pictured in flapper garb, was not a gambler.  Neither was husband John, unless he was buying a business, a factory building or apartments to rent.  He always believed he could swing whatever it was by hard work.  He and Ruth had been married almost a year - June 1, 1929 - and were weathering the Great Depression..

However, 85 years ago Ruth did bet on the Kentucky Derby at work, which was the offices of retailer Montgomery Ward..  I wonder if it was her first bet ever.

Saturday, May 17, 1930
"Sixteen of office secretaries, (me too), bet a quarter a piece on Kentucky Derby horses ($4.00).  My horse won - Gallant Fox.  It's hard to believe.  Monday I'll get the money."

When I skimmed through this on the first reading, I thought she had bet $4.00!  Then I realized that it would have been a huge amount of money in 1930 with everyone losing jobs and cutting spending.  The 25 cents Ruth did bet made a lot more sense.

As kids in the 1940s, my brother and I had a horse race board game with a spinner that pointed to a number, determining  how many spaces your horse could travel on your turn.  There were 6 or 8 horses, all Kentucky Derby winners.  One of them was none other than Gallant Fox.

Ruth's First Granddaughter is Born in 1966

Lynn is in her crib at 4 months old in Mt. Prospect IL at the right.  In the picture below, she is just 4 days old, with new mom Diane in the living room of our apartment in NYC (Riverdale).  It was May 16, 1966, a sunny, cold day for late Spring and we had just driven home from Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan.

Ruth's diary on May 12 says, "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 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 (Central time).  I phoned Beth & Ken the news."

The following day Beth (brother Ken's wife) sent flowers from both families.  On the 16th Ruth flew in to help with the cooking, washing, baby care until May 25 when she flew home again.  During the time Ruth  was with us, Dan flew into Chicago Fri night through Sun night and bought a house in Mt. Prospect.  We had made a list of what we wanted and he followed it.  The house was 3 or 4 blocks east of the 4-year-old Randhurst mall.