Harriet: The Growing Up Years

Sometime after Mom's passing, I decided to go through the big family album that she had.  It was a newer album with newer pictures.  By newer, I mean it was filled mostly with her grand children.  My nieces, Tabitha and Yvonne were probably the inspiration for it.  There were a couple of old 8 x 10's in it, like the black and white family picture.  As I started going through the album, I removed all the hidden pictures behind the newer one on top.  I love doing that.  To this day, I leave the older picture in the frame that I am replacing with a newer, more up to date one.  A favorite thing is to look at all the old pictures when I open up the back of that frame.  April, at age one with her crazy hair and precious smile, Jason with his skinned knees and so cute that everyone thought he was a girl until he turned three, Mandy, with her blond hair wearing her strawberry bikini, Leah with a rubber duckie sitting in a tin tub with her crazy hair on top of her head grinning from ear to ear.  I like to stop and remember.  I like the warm feeling that floods my emotions when I see those memories.

I got off track a little bit... but that's what I was doing with the family album.  Examining each and every picture behind every sleeve.  I had taken all the 5 x 7's out of a tight spot and decided to reach my fingers in as far as I could to see if there was anything else there.  I felt a folded up piece of paper and when I pulled it out, this is what I found! A school paper from Mom's elementary school days!

A story Harriet wrote about the "Akron"

A little girl by the name of Harriet wrote this in August of 1931.  She was almost 7 years old.  What a treasure!!!  It was only a couple of months later that her daddy passed away... on her 7th birthday.

Sometimes I wonder if Mom showed this to me long ago... how did I know to look there, to dig in to that tight slot?  I have come across so many things.  Some I remembered having, others I knew I had but I didn't know their significance until I started the scrap book.

A little bit of history: The USS Akron (ARS-4) was a helium-filled rigid airship of the United States Navy that was lost in a weather-related accident off the New Jersey coast early on April 4, 1933, killing 73 of the 76 crew and passengers on board.  During its accident-prone 18-month term of service, the airship also served as a flying aircraft carrier for launching F9C "Sparrowhawk" biplanes. 

I also have a tag from a Kiddies Picnic at Buckeye Lake Park.  The picnic was sponsored by the Columbus Elk's, Patrol No. 37. The date was Saturday, July 8th, 1933.  A memory of the 8 1/2 year old Harriet.  Grandma must have written her name and address on it because it is written in cursive.  The address on the tag is: 726 W. Chapel.  That would be in Columbus, OH.  That must have been another very special day for her to keep that little piece of history.

I don't know much more about Harriet as she was growing up.  I know there were eight kids total in the family, not including the baby that died.  Mom had four sisters and three brothers.  Wow!  That must have been fun... sometimes, at least.  Mom loved coming from a big family.  She would have liked to have more kiddos herself.  

Random Thought: I would have loved to have had a sister!  I still would love to have a sister.  I envy my girls their close relationship.  April and Mandy are as tight as sisters can be.  I'm happy to have been able to give all four of my kids the gift of sisters and a brother... well J has three sisters, no brother.  They are all very close and that makes me happy.

As I remember different stories, I will share them.  It is very late right now and I am too tired to do a good job.  If I had to guess, I would say Russ was her favorite brother, if not her favorite sibling in all.  As far as sisters go, I would say Martha and Ruthie, the baby.  From what I can remember from Mom's stories, Mean ol' Aunt Lucy was always hard to deal with... at least where Mom was concerned. Lol  Aunt Oma got married shortly after Grandpa died.  I'm not sure if they were close at all.  Oma was nine years older than Harriet.

Top Left- Lucy and Russell, Top Middle- Lucy, Top Right- Oma, Middle- Harriet, Bottom Left- Wyatt, Middle- Mary (Grandma Salyards), Right- Ruth.  Second Page to the far Right is Martha holding her nephew Russ.

 I will talk about some of the other pictures at a later date.

Harriet: Best Friends, The Boyfriend and Artistic Talent

I wonder what it was like to be Harriet's best friend.  I call her Harriet because, as I learned more and more about my mother and her life, I got to know a young woman by the name of Harriet.  With all the hours I researched and dreamed, I feel like I only got to know her a little bit.  I am envious of her best friend, Mary Jo.  I wonder what they whispered about, covered their mouths with their hands and giggled about, the heart breaks they shared and cried about.  Did Harriet cry when Ernest broke up with her that first time when he found out how young she was?  Did she run to Mary Jo's house and fling herself on the bed and cry and cry and cry till the tears were all gone.  Did Mary Jo make her laugh and give her hope that one day, if he was the right one, he would come back?  I bet she did, because that is what best friends do. 

Harriet at age 16 and Mary Jo. Bottom left, Harriet and Clara.

Harriet must have been 16 when she met Ernest Ely.  They were double-dating.  Harriet was with another guy, and Ernest was dating one of her best friends.  I can't remember which one, but I don't think it was Mary Jo or Clara.  Ernest became quite smitten with Harriet that night.  She was a beauty, as you can see from the picture above.  Ernest told Harriet after the double-date that he wanted to start seeing her.  I believe she told him he would have to talk to her friend about it first.  Can you imagine having your girlfriend think you stole her boyfriend?  Apparently, things were not serious between the two of them, from either set of eyes, so it worked out.  He broke things off with the other girl and dated only Mom.  Harriet and her friend remained friends with awkward moments.  Ernest and Harriet happily dated, that is, until he found out she was only 16.  Then he dumped her and ran!  From what I understand, it was quite abrupt. Maybe it wasn't quite that traumatic, but he did quit seeing her.

A random memory: Notice the lipstick.  I am sure it was red.  As a little kid I remember mom getting up at 5:30 am to fix Dad's breakfast and see him off to work.  She would get out of bed, brush her hair and put on her red lipstick.  Every morning.  And when he came home of an evening, guess what?  Yep!  The lipstick... and neatly dressed with her hair in place and make-up on.  No wonder my girls and I are so vain!  We come by it honestly.  You will never catch us in Walmart without our make-up, neatly dressed, hair in place and without lipstick or lip gloss.  Well... maybe if there is a sick baby. 

A few months later Ernest and Harriet ran into one another on a bus, at a bus stop... something like that, in downtown Columbus.  They began to talk.  I'm sure Harriet looked irresistible and Ernest very handsome.  He was six years older than her, after all.  An older man.  And he worked out.  Dad was Buff, as they say.

He used to be able to cross Eckel's Lake on these rings... which was a right of passage in the day.

This is a picture I found on a fan page for Eckel's Lake.  It is probably from the 70's.

The rest is history.  They started dating again.  Harriet was a senior in High School.  One of her teacher's liked to give her a hard time about her work.  Anybody who ever knew Harriet would tell you she knew how to stand her ground and she was certainly a force to be reckoned with when she got in a mood.  One day she just had all she could take, or all she decided she wanted to take, and she told her teacher in no uncertain terms that she wanted to get married anyway.  She walked out and went home.  She quit South High School in January or February of her Senior year and ran off to Greenup, Kentucky with Ernest and got married.  February 7, 1942.  And she lied about her age.  The marriage announcement in the paper said that she and Ernest were both 21.

Fun Fact:  I was talking to my Aunt Mary ( Dad's younger sister, Mary Louise Ely) a few months ago and she told me a story I had never heard before.  Apparently, Dad was going to marry another young woman at one point.  She was underage also.  They were going to run off to get married and her parents put a stop to it, or they did run off and her dad caught up with them and stopped it from happening.  Apparently, Dad was pretty tore up about it for quite awhile.  That may be why he was so gun shy when it came to Mom's age.  Just a thought.  I did find a picture of Dad with his arm around a blond headed girl in one of Grandpa Ely's wallets.  I wonder if that is her.  Aunt Mary said this happened quite awhile before he met Mom.

Opps!  I've jumped ahead of myself.  There are sisters and brothers and other family members that wind through this tale of Harriet's life.  And did I mention that she was quite the artist?  Here are some samples of the art work of a young high school girl in Columbus, Ohio, in the depression era.  The sisters will have to wait until my next post.  Then it is Dad's turn.

The picture on the bottom right is a self-portrait of Mom that Harriet and Ernest drew together.  I wonder where they were at the time.  A park bench?  Inside her home at the kitchen table?  Her home was more commonly known as Grand Central Station.  Lying beside each other under a tree by a lake?  I don't know.  I didn't ask.  Funny how that works.  Ask.

A random memory:  During my first visit to New York City about ten years ago, my best friend, Karen, and I found ourselves in Grand Central Station.  I remembered then how Mom referred to her home growing up as such.  With eight kids and their friends... I'm sure it was just that!

Next time:  More about the Salyards family.  The "sisters"  and brothers and Aunts, Uncle's and Cousins.

Keepers

"Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now... Dad in trousers, work shirt and a hat, and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, and dish-towel in the other. It was the time for fixing things: a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. ...Things we keep. 

 

 It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, re-heating leftovers, renewing; I wanted just once to be wasteful? Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more.

 

 But when my mother died, and I was standing in that clear morning light in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any more.

Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away, never to return. So..... While we have it, it's best we love it... And care for it... And fix it when it's broken... And heal it when it's sick.

This is true: For marriage... And old cars... And children who misbehave at times... Dogs and cats with bad hips... And aging parents... And grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it... Because we are worth it. Some things we keep, like a best friend that moved away or a classmate we grew up with.

There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special... And so, we keep them close!

Happy Mothers Day!

Mom and me when I was about 3 years old.  I have memories of this day.

 

Mom's last summer ~ Alcoa Pool ~ Summer of 2010 ~  It was a good one, and she liked it!!! :)

 

I Miss You, Mom !