Ruth & John Help Ken & Family Move to Florida - 1971

The picture shows Lynn, Kate and Cindy Pellettiere at Kate's 2nd birthday in April, 1972.  They're in the balloon-clad dining room of the Palatine house with beach pails and shovels on the table in front of them, favors for the kids about to come to the party. The painting is one of Dan's.

Ruth's diary talks about how she and John stayed at Ken's home for a few weeks.  They helped show the house, clean the house, make meals, take care of the boys, do laundry etc. while the Des Plaines house was on the market.  Ken's family would move to one in Clearwater FL that summer, joining Ruth and John as well as Ruth's mother and brother in Largo FL.

June 1, 1971 - 42nd Anniversary!
"I made 2 phone calls to pick up furniture & clothing, etc. before Diane phoned for help.  Out I went to Palatine to stay with ailing Cindy and the baby so she could go register  L & C for summer school.  She or they returned about 11:10 and I had to hurry right back here for boys' lunch, then took them to school and went to beauty shop (Tiffany's - Joann) where had hair done.  

Back here to put roast in oven, clean up lunch dishes  & make a few more beds before Philip got here to go to the store with me.  Roger went right to a birthday party from school.

Anniversary card in the mail from D & D.  She & girls phoned & sang over wire the 'Birthday' song - and substituting Anniversary.  Had good meal for 5 of us at 6:10 - only I and boys didn't like the taste of the sweet potatoes."

The "summer school" was an arts/crafts class at the Palatine Park District facility over on the east side of town.  It was one or two hours each time, met twice a week and ran several weeks.  Lynn & Cindy seemed
enjoy it.  Ken's first wife is mentioned periodically in Ruth's diary.  She must have been living separately, perhaps in a hospital.   Neither the diary quote nor the picture are in Pieces of a Life.  The 5 people who ate Ruth's dinner would have been all Kelloggs - Ruth, John, Ken (39), Philip (10) and Roger (7).

John's Exciting Encounter with the Police, Guns Drawn!

This is not from a diary, but sketches an incident that turned up among the papers left by my parents, Ruth and John Kellogg.  It's in John's handwriting, hastily written on the "scrap paper" with an ad for his bandage business on the other side.  I know he wrote it at 6:15 AM, but don't know the day or the year.  My guess is in the late 1950s or 1960s. The neighbor he mentions is not familiar to me, so I was not living at home at that point.

"I went to the garage and found door jammed.  Would not open.  I raised it a foot & crawled under & was looking at it when 2 men with guns rushed up & said to come out.  They said they had said they were police officers, but if so I did not hear them.

Citro girl & boyfriend were held up as they came home about 4 AM from a dance.  The Citro garage door makes noise so the girl, not yet asleep, heard door being opened.  Citro put on garage light & burglar rushed away.  Police said they saw me crawl under the door & figured I was the burglar.  

Good thing I got a good heart!  

Never had anything like this before."

I've never heard this story before, nor did I know the Citro family, who must have lived nearby, either on Linden or Euclid in Oak Park.  Both streets shared our alley.  Evidentally the attempted burglary was after the boyfriend dropped off the Citro girl at her house.  John usually left for work by 5 AM, so the fact that he wrote this note at 6:15 is telling.  He was upset enough to get off schedule - and doubtless was interviewed by the police as well, though his driver's license would have quickly proven who he was.  I wonder if the burglar first tried the Kellogg door, accidentally jamming it.

So far I haven't found out anything else, but perhaps a newspaper or The Oak Leaves might have covered the story.  This is not part of Pieces of a Life.

Ruth Meredith at Austin High, Chicago in 1925

I love my mother's graduation picture, taken in the Spring of 1926.  Ruth Viola Meredith's marcelled dark blonde hair was very stylish.  Too bad the photo isn't in color.  Her "cat's eyes", as she called them, were greenish hazel.  My guess is that the blouse was either dark green or navy blue with a red bow.  Ruth was very aware of fashion and made most of her clothes.

Tuesday, Jan. 13, 1925 - "Today we had dandy exercises in Gym.  In Typing I have started on the first exercise in the 13th lesson, which isn't so bad, because Wanda is only on the 11th exercise.  I hope she gets through though.

Mr. Nichols showed us a Wild Western of the life on a ranch in the History class today.  Of course, it was a moving picture, supposed to fit in with the lesson, but it didn't this time."

Wednesday, Jan. 14, 1925 - "Nothing special occurred today, sorry to say.  Oh, but when I think of the many, many things that have to be done, both in and out of school hours, I just have to gasp.  The end of the term is only a few weeks away.  I didn't get any farther in Typing today.  In Industrial History class we were shown a moving picture concerning Westward movement in the early days."

Friday, Jan. 23, 1925 - "Today was better than yesterday although I had to go through three finals.  They were Shorthand, English and Industrial History."

Ruth mentions Wanda Thiele, her best friend, on Jan. 13.  She and Wanda both had to work hard to get through high school.  In Ruth's case, I suspect that being a preemie in 1906 was involved.  She was placed in a coal oven with the door ajar as an incubator for a week or more.  Her mother, Lottie Weekes Meredith, probably got that idea from a midwife or another mother.  Lottie was 19. Her mother, Viola Hawley Weekes, had died when she was 9.  Lottie left school in 7th or 8th grade to keep house for her father and little Lewis.  Ruth's father graduated from high school through Western Electric where he worked for many years.

Moving pictures were new when Ruth was in high school.  "Talkies" were about to come out.  She loved going to the moving picture theatres of the 1920s.

Ruth was disappointed with some of her grades, but happy to get an E in Gym, an 88 and an E minus on two English tests.  Mr. Nichols gave her S on a map and E on another History test.  Those were all better than her grades in Shorthand and European History on the preceding Monday.  The diary entries are not in Pieces of a Life, but the graduation picture is.  Sadly, few pictures of Ruth as a teen and around 20 have survived.

1971 - New House & Girls in Palatine and Palm Sunday in Florida

The picture was taken in 1971 in front of our new house at 1132 Skylark Drive, Palatine.  Our 3 girls, (left) Cindy (age 4), Lynn (age 5) and Kate (17 months), were enjoying a breezy, warm day.  This photo has been on at least one Christmas card.

Meanwhile, in Clearwater, FL grandparents Ruth (65) and John (72) Kellogg were leading a busy life.

Sunday, April 4, 1971 -
"An on-the-go day - Palm Sunday.  First,  to 9:30 service - where Claire & Merle sat with us.  Second,  home for a few hours to read & eat a bite of lunch.  Third,  To Morton Plant hospital to see Ethel Betts (broken hip case) and took her candy.  We stayed about 1/2 hour.  Fourth,  home for 3 1/2 hours and - Fifth,  to Concert (free one) where we arrived same time as Claire!  Sixth  To Fritche's for 7 P.M. snacks - the 4 of us.  Seventh  - home by 8 to see FBI on TV!   Whew!

Took a look at M.P. hosp. gift shop - small too, but has large stock room."

Ruth and John were feeling at home in Florida by 1971.  The Jennings (Claire and Merle) had been friends of theirs at First Baptist Church in Oak Park.  Other old friends also appeared from time to time.  Some moved to FL and others just rented condos for a few months.

However, Ruth and John were going to Palatine in mid-April after Easter to stay with us in our much-bigger house - over twice the size of the split-level we had had in Mt. Prospect.  They helped us with the process of getting things put away after having moved in on April 9-10-11 with the help of friends.  Most of this  information and the picture are not in Pieces of a Life.

Diane Meredith Makes an Appearance

On the back porch of our 2nd floor flat, Diane (me) at age 1 is shown in a wheeled contraption, longingly looking at her birthday cake. The arms holding me in place belonged to Grandma Lottie Meredith, Ruth's mother.  Ruth took the picture in May, 1937.  Going back one year...

...Ruth Kellogg was 29 in May, 1936 when she and John were about to have their second child.  Back then, of course, they did not know the sex, but I've been told that they wanted a girl after having had a boy, Ken, in 1931.  Ruth and John were living in the flat above Ruth's parents and brother Jimmie on Iowa Street in Chicago.  The Great Depression was gradually receding, somewhat like the Ice Age.  Most of this post is not in Pieces of a Life.

Wed., May 6, 1936
"Stuck to ironing until finished.  Wrote letter to Ida Beal who, Charlie told John over the phone, is expecting second arrival in August.  Mama visited at Decker's.  Went to Doctor tonight.  Gave me pills for a trace of albumin."
Ida and Charlie Beal were close friends of John and Ruth.  The Deckers were good friends of Lottie Meredith.  I don't know anything about the pills for albumin that Dr. Tucker gave to Ruth.

Fri., May 15, 1936
"Went downtown to Doctor tonight.  He hinted there might not be another trip down there.  On way home got ice cream cones."
Ruth was due on May 24, so would have had another appointment around May 22 - though it turned out that it was not needed.

Sun., May 17, 1936
"At 4 A.M. we arrived at hospital.  At 6:12 A.M. baby girl was born -- 6# 5 oz.  Left Kenny home asleep.   It happened just one week early."
On this page of Ruth's diary I added a note in cursive writing and some decoration when I was 8 years old.  It said "Birthday of Diane now 8" across the top and there was a circle around the date.  That was done in 1944, during World War II.

Tues., May 19, 1936
"Baby is getting cuter every day.  Named her Diane Meredith.  Letter from Alice tonight.  Jim  & John came tonight.  John brought fresh roses."
Women were in the hospital a week or 10 days back then.  Kenny was 3 1/2 and would have been in the care of Lottie mostly with John in charge when he came home from work.  Lottie probably made dinner for
Kenny and John too.

A Boy in Lancaster NY

John Webb Kellogg was born in Buffalo, NY in 1899 and grew up in the nearby village of Lancaster.  His parents were 18-yr-old Esther Clara Webb and 44-yr-old Charles Henry Kellogg Jr.

 John had a lifelong interest in history, but sadly, not in genealogy.  John was a high-detail, focused person as you will soon see in excerpts of his story, "75 Years -- Where Did They Go?"  His entire story, written in 1974, is part of Pieces of a Life.

There are those who would say he wore blinders like a horse, so preoccupied with whatever drew him at the time.  He could then race straight ahead to his goal.  Like so many things, being very focused is both a plus and a minus, but a strong Kellogg trait.

John describes the house pictured in detail, but not colors or decor or even how the rooms were laid out.
(The picture is from 1940 when the house would have been 60 or more years old and was no longer on
3 1/2 acres.)  "Our house had been built many years before we bought and had about 20 rooms.  It had two floors, plus a cement floor, full basement.  In the basement there was a furnace in which we burned hard coal and which gave hot air through ducts to the two living rooms and dining room on the first floor, also to both second floor front bedrooms.  The first floor also had a large kitchen and pantry, which were heated by a large range primarily used for cooking or baking. Water came from the kitchen sink pump or a large pump outside, sheltered from rain or snow."

As you can see, I wasn't kidding about John's delight in detail!  "In the back of our land was a high hill that no one seemed to own.  Lancaster, being at the east end of Lake Erie, gets a lot of snow. After each snowfall dozens of small boys and girls would take their Flexible Flyers to the hill for a long coast down.  

Sometimes we would make tracks; simply do not steer or guide the path it took.  Thereafter, it would follow those tracks each time it went down.  At times in the day the sun would melt the top layers of snow and at night it would turn cold so the crust would get hard.  Lads would then take out their sled on a moonlit night and push it along the top of the crusty snow with a stick that had a spike pounded in one end.  The head of the nail had been sharpened. This spike made fast travel under these special conditions.  

This idyllic childhood continued until I was about 13 when Father died, leaving a family in an expensive setup and no money to pay the bills.  But that comes later."



 

Retirement Life in Florida Not Always Serene - 1973

The picture shows Ruth Kellogg (72) and her mother, Lottie Meredith (91), in Clearwater FL in 1978.

Ruth and John had just returned from a "rugged" 6-day trip to the Yucatan in Mexico.  Ruth was usually calm, didn't seem to let much bother her, except for my father. So imagine my surprise when I read this diary...

Friday, March 1, 1973   -   "Glad to be home and not anxious to leave soon again but that will come all too soon in late May -- to Diane's.  My mother gives me a hard time - trying to make me feel guilty and pliable to her needs.  If I were a stronger personality, it might have helped but now?  Between the various family members and my own desires & pleasures there are so many conflicts.  Now Ken & Nellie and boys seem well-adjusted and not dependent on me.  But how to work out Mom's needs without conflict here is tough!"

Lottie and her son, Jimmie, had moved from Chicago to Mt. Prospect after Ruth & John moved to Florida. They were a mile from me and baby Cindy, toddler Lynn. (Kate was born in 1970.)  I kept an eye on them, taking them on errands, visiting their small apartment. I thought it odd that my parents had left Lottie & Jimmie behind, as though they were forgotten luggage. Jimmie was schizophrenic, having had his first public episode at church in high school, followed by time at Elgin (mental hospital) and treatment off and on from then on.

I knew that Lottie was demanding of my mother, but didn't realize how much Ruth wanted to escape that responsibility. She had helped guide Lottie and Jimmie since my grandfather died of heart problems in May, 1944 at 63.  In either 1969 or 1970, Lottie and Jimmie moved to Largo, Florida, a short car ride from Ruth and John's apartment.  Dan and I helped get them packed up.  

In March, 1973 Lynn was 6, Cindy 5 and Kate 2, so visiting me in 1973 would be much more physical for 66-year-old Ruth.  She had babysat with Ken's boys when they were younger, but by 1973 were 12 and 9 with Mario (Nellie's son) slightly older.  There was a lot of drama when Ken's first wife was in the picture, so Ruth was happy to see life settle down once Nellie and Ken were married in 1972.