Ruth Becomes a Senior Citizen!

Ruth Kellogg. my mother, is pictured with John, my father in Clearwater FL. Standing next to them are Dan, Lynn, Cindy and Kate.  This was taken at Easter 1977, so the girls were 10, 9 and 6.

Monday, July 5, 1971 - "Today I am a Senior Citizen - 65 years old!  I have gained a little in the 3 1/2 weeks since returning here - and have to watch that after getting into smaller clothes, etc.

We played doubles again from 8:30 to 10:00.  Then went directly from Ken's shop to mark off with chalk where boxes and rubber are to go when they arrive soon.

Very hot in sun but good breeze helps.  We took  a few hours - from 2 to 4 to visit Ethel & Ernest Betts.  She is doing quite well with her walker but will be using it the rest of the summer."

This diary held surprises for me.  I thought that Ken and Beth had divorced before he and the boys moved to Florida, but they must have broken up later.  She was "very nervous" about the move to Chicago, according to Ruth.

Also, Ruth was very focused on her weight.  She had been in the 130 - 140 range earlier/  On Jan. 1, 1971 she was 128 1/2, dropped to 112 on June 10, popped up a bit to 113 1/2 by July 5.  She doesn't say just how she was losing weight, whether using some weight loss product or just by eating a healthier diet.

The Betts were unknown to me.  They may have been friends through their building,  Horizon House, or through church.  Ruth and John knew a lot of couples. Visits with friends, bridge games, tennis were the fabric of their lives as retirees.  Ruth also spent a lot of her time sewing, knitting and helping her mother, Lottie Meredith, and brother Jimmie near Clearwater.  They had lived in Mt. Prospect for a few years after Ruth and John left the Chicago area.  I was their driver/helper then, but also had 3 little girls and a house to take care of.

"Ken's shop" was the new Florida location of the bandage business John had started in the late 1930s.
Ken took over when John, his father, retired.   He bought a house and a "shop" for making the bandage.  Their home in Des Plaines IL was sold that summer.  Ruth mentioned that I seemed depressed in a letter because I was the only one left in Illinois from the Kellogg family.

Amazing! Within Walking Distance of Me in West Bucktown is...

... MY FATHER'S FIRST FACTORY BUILDING

As I grew up in Oak Park in the 1940s and 1950s, I was very aware of a certain Chicago address:  2014 W. Wabansia.  That was the first factory building my father, John Webb Kellogg, bought in the late 1930s.  (See picture on the right.) He was proud of owning it and of the 6 1/2 day work weeks he trudged through to pay his costs as the Great Depression gradually ended.

From age 6 or 7, I saw it rarely, but heard about "the factory" or "Wabansia" every day.  Dad occupied the first floor, which was 8 or 9 stairs up.  Beneath it was an English basement, which was several stairs down and had a low ceiling.  All but Dad's floor was rented to industrial tenants.  There was a parade of them during the many years he owned Wabansia with constant stories about tenants, complaints about late rent,  about skipping out without paying at all, being hard on the floors, walls, seeing poor management etc.

What did Dad do on his floor?   Earlier when he was selling for them, Dad bought a surgical bandage company that was going broke.  He moved that business to Wabansia.  This was cohesive bandage
rather than adhesive, meaning it stuck to itself instead of the person using it.  He had 2 brands,
Sealtex and Quick.  At first he did all of the work himself, working 18-hour days.  By the time he bought Wabansia, he was able to hire Polish women from the area to roll and box the bandage after it was processed.  Years later, a client wanted unusually wide bandage.  Either Dad or my brother, Ken, who worked with him, found it was being used to support racing horses' ankles, especially when there was a wet or muddy track.  That turned out to be a valuable piece of business.

Dan and I live in West Bucktown in Chicago.  We found 2014 W. Wabansia one day while looking for the local branch library.  The factory is no more.  It's an upscale rebuild with a small grocery store on the first floor and condos above.  There's no English basement.  When my brother in FL heard about it, he was stunned, thinking it was still a Polish neighborhood with a mixture of modest homes, apartments and industrial buildings like his.  He bought the business after Dad retired.

"Out of a Job, Wife Gone, He Ends His Life..."

Ruth Kellogg and Kenny in Ann Arbor MI in 1934...

One day when I was leafing through my mother's 1935 diary, a yellowed newspaper clipping fell out.  It was tucked between the Nov. 18 and 19 diary entries.

Monday, Nov. 18, 1935  - "Did some cleaning, but am getting a cold and cough and it doesn't give me much pep. Afraid Kenny is also getting a cough.

Charlie Beal called up tonight to say they couldn't come this following Sunday as his brother (on north side) committed suicide last night & they were quite broken up about it for the time being."

The clipping itself tells more about this sad story...
"Out of a Job, Wife Gone, He Ends His Life With Gas"
William R. Beal, 28 years old, 1350 Argyle street, committed suicide by inhaling gas in the kitchen of his home yesterday.  His body was found by his sister-in-law, Mrs. Ruth Holland of Hammond, and by policemen who went to the house to investigate the disappearance of Beal's wife, Marion, 25 years old, which was reported by Beal last Thursday.  A daughter of the couple, Roberta, 3 years old, was left in care of neighbors by Beal Sunday night.  In notes left by Beal he said he was taking his life because he was unable to find employment."

On the following day, Ruth said she was filing the clipping in her diary and added, "It's quite sad."  This was still in the aftermath of the Great Depression, with jobs in short supply.   Ruth was about 3 months pregnant with her second child, which would be me.

President Reagan Shot!

Mon., March 30, 1981
"President Reagan shot plus 3 others.  He has bullet wound into left lung, but is doing well in the hospital.  TV has been all about the shooting by a young man ever since it happened about 3:45 PM."

I think the idea was to calm the public, reassuring them that all was well with the President.  The picture on the right is of John & Ruth 4 years earlier in 1977 in front of their car in Florida.

Tues., March 31, 1981
"I played bridge at Em Frost's - our 4-sum - this afternoon.  No luck, but a few good hands were fun for me.

Pres. Reagan's bullet was removed and is carrying on the office from the hospital room.  The culprit was caught immediately & the other victims are in various degrees of serious hurts."

Every once in a while Ruth's phrasing seems odd - such as the "serious hurts" sentence.  At this point she was 74, gradually moving into dementia.  Her handwriting began to change in 1982, another hint of what was to come.  In the picture, she and John are 70 and 77.

Wed., April 1, 1981
"Both Reagan and Brady (his Press head) are doing very well after the shooting.  The young man Hinkley is in custody.  He has wealthy parents to hire good lawyers.

J & I went to dentist for a check up & I had him (Dr. Faklis) grind down sharp back tooth.  That's all & no charge!  Letter from Marge Homer re: her Mom Bea - not good at all - a shame!"

Older than Ruth, Bea Newton was one of her closest friends when the Kelloggs lived in Oak Park.
These entries are not in Pieces of a Life. 

Newlyweds Are Busy (But One Is "Fussy") in 1929

Pictured: John and Ruth Kellogg honeymoon in Detroit and Ann Arbor (June,1929) after their wedding in Chicago.  Ruth is wearing her flapper-style cloche, coat and dress.

Saturday, Aug. 10, 1929 - "I hated to get up this morning.  Too tired.  I was busy finishing up work in the office this morning.

This afternoon I baked a pineapple upside down cake and ironed some clothes.  After the dishes were all washed, John and I got ready & went to Rose Roberts' home where we met her husband for the first time.  We had supper right away & then all of us did dishes & then played bridge.  Had good time.  They are so nice.  Home 12:00."

In one of Ruth's diaries - perhaps in the 1930s - she mentions that Rose Roberts "is getting a divorce."  Ruth and John were both working on Saturday morning for Montgomery Ward, so a 5 1/2 day work week.

Sunday, Aug. 12, 1929 - "Read paper before I did anything else after getting up.  I was on the run and had John busy too until about an hour before Fullers came at 4:00.  Papa called up this morning and told me to stop fussing so much.

Fullers, especially Mabel, were very appreciative and we all enjoyed ourselves.  The meal was good too.  There wasn't a thing that Mabel hadn't seen, but she was good company while I was preparing meal.  They had all gone by 8:30."    The "fussing" may be something Mama (Lottie) mentioned to Papa and had him pass on to Ruth.  She and Ruth were very close - only 19 years apart in age.  I'd think the fussing was part of adjusting to marriage while working, taking care of the apartment, entertaining friends.  These diary entries were not in Pieces of a Life.

Ruth is Busy with Friends, Family, Clubs in 1964

Ruth is shown feeding Philip Alan Kellogg here in late 1960.  She was helping with his younger brother, baby Roger Winslow Kellogg, at the time of the diary entries in 1964.

Ruth (57) and John (64) had just returned from 7 weeks in Florida when the diary entries were written.  They were still living in Oak Park where Ruth was involved with many First Baptist Church activities and other friends as well.  She was also the guiding hand for her mother and brother, who lived 2 miles away in Chicago - and helped Ken and his family in Westchester.  Diane and Dan Pellettiere were living in NYC.

Monday, Feb. 24, 1964 - "Letter from Diane with Beth Israel Hospital return address.  We phoned her tonight.  She's to be there a week and home a week.  Sounded good.  Went to Mom's for a few hours and forgot to bring my plants home!"    I think I had a bladder or kidney infection when I was at Beth Israel.  Lottie Meredith was 77 by then.

Friday, March 13, 1964 - "Letter from Diane asking if her room is available when they come in for first 2 weeks of July.  Of course we are writing right back that it is and always has been.  She is leaving 'sleeve' question to me - so I'll try to satisfy her with a small sleeve in dress.

Advised Mom to take tranquilizers to calm down.  Flat still not rented as of A.M."  Ruth also mentioned helping with the church circle meeting in the Colonial Dining Room that day.  I had asked Mom to make me a dress a week or two earlier - which is what the sleeve query is about.  Lottie Meredith had a small 2-bedroom flat above their 3-flat on Iowa St.  That caused a lot of stress on Lottie and son Jimmie, but provided some income.  I am surprised about the tranquilizers.  Both Jimmie and Beth were probably taking them.  Lottie's husband, Jim, had died about 20 years earlier.

Friday, May 16, 1964  - "Beth phoned - was depressed - so I drove out and brought Roger back for the nite.  (Philip was napping.)  Roger coming down with a cold.  He settled down by 9:30 for the night."   In skimming through the 1964 diary, I saw many entries about taking one or both of Ken's little boys for a day or two.  Beth was having a rocky time in those years.  Her own mother, Vera Tharp, a dietician, was most likely still working and was not from the Chicago area, so Beth called on Ruth for help.

Ruth Meredith Kellogg Turns 24 in 1930

The photo shows Ruth in 1930 wearing a black fox stole John had given her for her birthday.  They had been married one year in June.  
Saturday, July 5, 1930 - "I'm 24 years old today.  Folks gave me hose -- also rec'd 3 birthday cards.  Made a big bowl of potato salad.  More varnishing & polishing.  Went to show with folks & had ice cream at Walgreen's."

On June 25 Ruth and John had moved from 4705 Byron in Chicago to 5841 W. Superior St.  The "varnishing and polishing" is in their new apartment.  Ruth's parents, Lottie and Jim Meredith, helped too.  They did not live far from Ruth and John.  The unpacking and getting settled went on for several days.

The Great Depression was in full swing, but John and Ruth still had jobs in July.  Ruth bounced from one job to another at Montgomery
Ward as the sales dropped and people were fired.  She must have been well thought of because it would have been easy to fire her when a job she was in was eliminated.

Tuesday, July 8, 1930 - "Very tiring day.  John brought a mirror and end table home without consulting me!  He was late too!  Started to eat without him.  Took hot bath."

John is the kind of guy who wants to get things done right away - very industrious.  To him, it doesn't make a lot of difference which mirror or end table is picked, just that the task is done while Ruth would be concerned with the color, style, etc.  Neither the picture nor the diary entries are in Pieces of a Life,