Ruth Kellogg's Last Diary, 1990

It's hard to find pictures of Ruth late in her life.  This one was in 1979 when she was only 73.  She is surrounded by husband John (80), Lynn, Cindy, Kate and, behind the girls, their father, Dan Pellettiere.

I found a diary covered in a pattern of blue, peach and white.  This was Ruth's final journal and in it was a card that said, "Dear Ruth - Happy Birthday - Love, Amparo."

Ruth had  turned 84 on her birthday, July 5.  However, her slow-moving Alzheimer's had reached a point where she wouldn't have known the date or the year, so maybe Amparo had given it to her later...Ruth's first entry was on Sept. 8.  She said that was "the date of receiving."  There were only
perhaps a dozen entries scattered through the next 2 or 3 months.

Ruth also mentions that Amparo Lancaster, daughter-in-law Nellie's mother, "here to keep me company from time to time."  She didn't realize that Amparo was functioning as her caregiver and was with her about half of every week.  Amparo drove Ruth to the store, hairdresser, restaurants, and on any other appointments or errands.  Amparo was 7 years younger and doing well for her age.  In fact, she is still alive at 103.

November 4, 1990  -  "Early A.M. Diane phoned & we had about 10 or 12 minutes.  She's a busy gal!  I was glad to hear from her & she is a busy girl!  It's a shame we are so far from each other, but they are a busy family so I was surprised to hear her voice on phone & glad!

Outside there are 2 ends of a rainbow.  The rain must be far out - no see at all!  It is 6:30.  

A big crowd watching golfers (on TV).  It is raining here!  6:40 PM"

Ruth had never played golf, but enjoyed watching it because of the pretty scenery and activity.  At that point Ruth was still at Horizon House in Clearwater, FL where she and John had bought a large condo over 20 years earlier.  She was soon to go to a retirement home and then on to a facility for dementia patients where she spent the last few years of her life.

The picture and diary entries were not in Pieces of a Life.

Ruth and Baby #2

The picture shows Ruth, Diane (7 weeks) and Kenny (4 1/2) in 1936 in the backyard at Iowa St. where the Kelloggs lived upstairs above Ruth's parents, the Merediths, for a few years.

Ruth's diary entries are months earlier when she had just begun to tell people about her pregnancy.

Friday, October 11, 1935  -  "This was club meeting night at Jeanette's.   Had to take Kenny as he was too wide awake.  John went to show and came for us afterward, in time for eats.  

I told my news during course of evening.  Surprised them."

Sunday, Oct. 13, 1935 - "Wonderful weather.  Went to S.S. & was asked to take charge of nursery as a pair of twins were there.  I asked Martha to help me.  After S.S., as Herb Allen had to work, John asked Martha to ride with us to Lake Geneva.  

Before dinner we drove down to Jefferson Park hospital to look around.  I didn't like it, but he did.  Had malted milk, etc. in Lake Geneva & back home at 8.  Some ride - 4 of us in front seat."

 I think that Ruth and John went to Jefferson Park Hospital right after church.  Then they ate dinner in the early afternoon and later drove up to Lake Geneva WI to take advantage of a beautiful autumn day.

Ruth and John Say Happy 92nd Birthday to Lottie Weekes Meredith!

Oct. 1, 1978 - Sunday
"Mom's birthday (Meredith) - 1886
Mom 92!  We got there about 1 P.M. & put candles & 'Happy Birthday' sign on the small Lemon Coconut loaf cake.  We 4 sang the song & I cut the cake & we had ice cream with it.  She rec'd 9 cards.  Ken & Nellie gave her (on Thurs) small chain & imitation diamond in silver setting.  We played some Silly Solitaire.  Left about 3:30."

By 1978 the Kelloggs were well into their retirement years in Clearwater FL.  Ruth's mother, Lottie, and her son, Jimmie, were living together in nearby Largo FL.  Jimmie, a schizophrenic since his teen years, was 67.   Ruth and John were 72 and 79, still fairly healthy, able to see friends, play cards, enjoy tennis, take vacations in the US and other countries.

John loved to take walks. One of his favorite walks was to the library once a week, taking a book bag.  He would return books and pick up another 6 or so.  At one point his goal was to read all of the books in the Clearwater

Library, in alphabetical order.  When he ran into the new-to-him "Avon Romances", he decided that he could skip any books that didn't appeal to him - like those.

In the picture are Ruth and John with Dan after playing tennis. (I was the photographer,)  Ruth's diary entry and the picture aren't in Pieces of a Life, my book.

Two Diaries Speak on Aug. 9, 1965

I had had surgery in July, 1965 at Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan, so was not yet back to work at U.S. Life on Maiden Lane in NYC when I wrote this diary entry. Our apartment was in Riverdale.  Calling long distance is still considered very pricey in 1965, as you can guess by my noting the time we talked.  The home office of the ad agency Dan worked for, N.W. Ayer, was in Philadelphia, though the office he went to most of the time was in the Time-Life Building at 50th and 6th.

Monday, August 9, 1965
"I got up at 9 and vacuumed the whole apartment. Then at 11 while I was writing to Dan's parents, the phone rang.  Surprise - my mother called to find out how I am.  We talked for 12 minutes....
The sky was overcast and it rained off and on, so I didn't go to the pool.   Wrote to my parents and continued reading an interesting book - The Heartland:  Ohio, Indiana, Illinois.  Dan called to say he would be in Philadelphia over night, then called from Philly at 7.  I read, baked cookies, watched TV.  Stayed up til 1:00."

 On the same day many miles west of us in Oak Park  IL, my mother, Ruth Kellogg, wrote in her diary.  

Monday, August 9, 1965
"Rain.  Phoned Beth & long-distanced to Diane.  As a result of talking to Diane (who is feeling fine), I started making a shift for Diane out of her former sorority curtains.  She is using shift a lot I made her."

The picture below is from July, 1936 when Diane was 2 months old.  Ruth Kellogg (30) had driven, Kenny (4), and grandmother Lottie (49) out to Elgin.  They were visiting Ruth's brother, Jimmie (25), in a mental institution.  He was diagnosed as a schizophrenic as a teenager.


Here are some short entries from Ruth's diary.  She was now the mother of 2 children - an infant and a 4-year-old, Kenny.  If you have ever leaped from 1 to 2 children, then you know what a big jump that is.  Ruth and John lived in a flat above her parents at 5458 W. Iowa St. in the Austin section of Chicago.  Lottie did help with some babysitting from time to time.  Her father, "Papa", was always a calming, steady influence.

Sunday, June 1, 1936 - "CHILDREN'S DAY.  I sent Kenny to Sunday School with the Allens.  At 4:45 we went for Children's Day exercises.  Had baby Diane dedicated with Cradle Roll members.  Had Allens to dinner."
Baptists are "dedicated" when they are named.  Later they are baptized, immersed in water, at around 12 years old when they are aware of the decision they're making.   The Allens were neighbors and close friends of Ruth and John, but soon moved to Reading PA and then on to Texas a few years later.

Monday, August 10, 1936 - "After we were in bed last nite it poured & blew terribly & a tipsy doctor skidded into our car at curb.  Funny.  I awoke John & he had to call garage to get bumpers unlocked."
Interesting that Ruth thought the "tipsy doctor" was funny - maybe because of the locked bumpers.  She was brought up in a non-alcoholic family as was John.  

Saturday, August 22, 1936 - "Went to show & left baby with John.  Kenny with me.  When we got home, she was crying in the dark while John slept on the back porch."
This was probably John's way of showing me who was boss.  He was reared in a more harsh time for children, having been born in 1899.

Friday, August 28, 1936 - "John had bad smash up with car on way to work.  Says a milkman was in way & he didn't see the other car soon enough.  Both at fault."

Friday, September 4, 1936 - "Had to bail John out of jail at 9:45 tonight.  Lucky for him I had saved $70.00.  The other fellow in accident served warrant & John has to go to court."
On the following day when they were leaving for Ann Arbor MI to see John's mother and stepfather,
Ruth mentions that John returned the money, so apparently the court felt it was not his fault.

Sunday, September 13, 1936 - "Rained hard & long today, but we started for Elgin to see Jim at 2:15.  He was fine & we all ate downtown & drove around.  Home at 8:15."
Jimmie did have shock treatments at Elgin, but I am not sure just when.  His first flare-up was at church as a teenager, so 9 or 10 years earlier.  Mental illness was not understood at all at this point or even 40 or 45 years later when he was placed in a mental hospital in Florida.

The Merediths at Baron Lake MI in 1916

"Summer 1916, Rutlage's Resort, Baron Lake, Mich" is on the back of the picture in my grandfather's writing.  Brought up in Berrien County on the southwest corner of Michigan, James R. Meredith loved the green forests and the lakes, including the big one, Lake Michigan, that formed the western edge of Michigan. 

Jim didn't have a middle name, so used "R." as his middle initial.  I've always thought it was because of his grandfather's name.   
Benjamin R. Meredith from Kent Co., Maryland had that initial.  Did it stand for a name?  Maybe.  Born in 1801, he was a soldier in the Florida War and the Black Hawk War.

Jim and his wife, Lottie Weekes Meredith, did travel from Chicago back to Michigan often to see his family at this stage, only married 11 years (Nov. 23, 1904).  Jim was doing well,
after moving to the big city, Chicago, for a job and a better life.  In 1916 he was working for a major company, Western Electric, where he would be employed for the rest of his life.

The small woman seated between the two children must be Jim's mother, Ruth Parks Olmstead Meredith, age 68.  She appears in another picture a few years later.  The girl is Ruth Viola Meredith, named for both grandmothers, at age 10.  The boy is James William Meredith (5), who is named for his father and his mother's father, William Walter Wilson Weekes, from Wilkes-Barre PA.  They called him "Jimmie."

Standing behind them are two women I'm guessing are a cousin and an aunt of the man in the middle, Jim Meredith.  Lottie, Jim's wife, wasn't in the picture.  Maybe she was behind the camera.

This is a casually posed picture with three of the subjects looking off to the right side, drawn to something - a dog barking, laughter, someone heading their way.  Young Ruth, my mother, looks strikingly like I did at about that age, right down to the somewhat bored vibes.  It looks like there's a house or a cabin behind those pictured.

Pictures from the past give you a feel for what life was like, but dredge up more questions than answers.  They make me want to study further what life was like at that time and especially for my ancestors.

Ruth's Life Changes Again in Florida, 1983 Diary

The Pellettieres seen in 1981 in the family room in front of the fireplace in Palatine.  In 1981 Cindy was 14, Diane and Dan 45, Lynn 15 and Kate 11.

I've just gone through many of Ruth's diaries in her late 60s/70s and found that as her life in Clearwater became secure, there were few mentions of the family back in Illinois.  I think she was still sending a gift and card for birthdays, but there is no mention of that either or of the birthday itself.

However, to be fair to Ruth, she had had some major developments in her 70s.  She was very slowly moving into dementia, though the early signs of it were easy to mistake for just aging.  Her brother Jimmie, a schizophrenic, was placed in a mental hospital far from Clearwater after having a breakdown.  He had been living in a small house in nearby Largo with his mother, Lottie Meredith.  Lottie was 96 when the following diary entry was written and was living in a nursing home close to Ruth and John.  It happens that July 13 was granddaughter Cindy's 16th birthday.

Wednesday, July 13, 1983 -  "I spent 2 1/2 hours with Mom.  Pushed her down halls and into Rec. Room briefly.  Watched her eat sparingly of her lunch, which has at least 5 items plus coffee.  I got back here by 3:45 & J. took off in car."  It sure gets a work-out between us."

Thursday, July 14, 1983 -  "Had my hair done - first since Perm last week.  Looks good - Mary is perfect after all these years doing it for me.  I give her a good tip too.  I no sooner got home than J. took off with car on errands.  In afternoon he walked  to and from town for exercise!"

The Kelloggs each had a car from 1942 to around 1980 when John decided they should sell one of the cars.  John was a month from his 84th birthday when he walked to town.  I recall his walking to the library from the Horizon House on the causeway all the way into Clearwater, both for exercise and because he loved to read.  John was not easy to get along with and very strong in his opinions!