3 of Ruth's Diary Entries in October, 1965

The picture is of me, Diane, in 1964 after Dan Pellettiere and I had been married.  I was sitting on the bed in our apartment in Riverdale, which is part of NYC.  Dan worked for N.W. Ayer, a famous old advertising agency, and I worked for an insurance co. as a technical writer in the EDP department.

Ruth and John Kellogg. my parents, had sold their house in Oak Park.They were living in an apartment, so still involved with local friends, especially from their church, First Baptist.  That would all change when they
moved into the condo they had bought in Clearwater FL, but were renting to a tenant for a year.  Their house had sold faster than they had thought it would.

October 12. 1965 -  John got the CHECKER CAR today.  It looks like a station wagon!  Bulky!"  The huge Checker car (also used for taxicabs) was big enough for guests like my brother and his wife,  who had 2 little boys, plus Ruth and John.  Eventually it also served our family of 5 by 1970.

October 17, 1965  - "Diane phoned with big news (while she had Beth on the phone) that she's expecting first baby about June 1.  
   Beth was expecting luggage we gave her."  The luggage must have been Beth's birthday gift.  She was
Ken's wife at that time.   In a later diary entry I said I thought the doctor's due date was wrong - and he did change it to mid-May - a week after the baby actually arrived.

October 18, 1965 - "Dropped note of congratulations to Diane & Dan.  Went to bank for my household money.  My sewing machine returned at cost of $30.  I used it on towels - seems okay.  Phoned Kay and Roberta."   It was so typical of the times to send a note rather than picking up the phone to make a call, especially a long distance one.  I used to love to write notes and letters and enjoyed getting them from others.  At one time I kept a schedule of who I had written to, trying not to leave any one out inadvertently.  Between friends and relatiives, there were probably 30 people on it.
"Kay and Roberta" were two of Ruth's friends from church.  The Kelloggs joined First Baptist in Nov., 1941 when they moved to Oak Park.  Ruth was 35 and John 42 at that time.

Neither the diary entries nor the picture are in Pieces of a Life.

Ruth & John Celebrate Their 25th in 1954

In the photo Ruth and daughter Diane are about to enter the new 1953 Packard in front of the house,  Nov., 1953.

At age 18, I wrote the following article for the Oak Leaves, published early in June, 1954.  Sounds a bit stilted, but that was the way social items appeared.

Fete John W. Kelloggs' 25th Anniversary
   "The 25th anniversary of Mr. & Mrs. John W. Kellogg was recently celebrated with an open house at their 1210 North Euclid home.  More than 70 villagers and friends from neighboring suburbs conspired to make the occasion a memorable one.

    Of the Kelloggs' two children, their daughter Diane, a senior at high school, was present to take part in the celebration.  Kenneth, their son, a graduate of Northwestern University, is serving in the army, and is presently at Ft. Hood, Texas."

Earlier that day, May 31, I came back from a 3-day First Baptist Church teen outing at a cottage near Sheboygan WI.  Here's a little of the page in my diary from that day.  "Picked up hors d'oeuvres.  Di really beat.  There were about 70 at the Open-House for parents 25th wedding anniversary.  Was a mad house.  Received belle cadeaux.  Bonnie and Di helped me engineer food.  Morey too.  He came home at 7.  Big surprise!"

"Di" was Diane Karis, my best friend.  We met in our alphabetically-arranged home room as freshmen (Kellogg and Karis). "Belle cadeaux" means beautiful gifts for my parents.  "Bonnie" is the daughter of long-time friends, the Ballentines, who were guests.  Morey McDavid was my boyfriend toward the end of high school & had been out of town.  Ken was fulfilling his two-year military obligation after college.  He later went to Univ. of Illinois at Champaign for an MBA.  That's where I went for my Journalism degree.

This was not in Pieces of a Life  nor was the picture.