July 22, 1941 (Tuesday)

HELEN TURN 24. EDNA MAKES JAM.

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Nice day getting warmer.

This is Helen's 24th birthday.

Henry went to Road Comm

meeting.

Alice gave me 7 qts. or

red raspberries -

made jam. 9 pints.

Had a hard shower of

rain accompanied with a

hard gust of wind.

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Every year at Christmastime, my mother wraps up a box filled with homemade jams; peach and strawberry. It is always my family's favorite gift.

According to A Modern Kitchen Guide, published in 1940, "Jelly making, as practiced in the the home, is an art—an art founded on scientific principles."

I am sure Edna had mastered the art of making jam.

My mom has mastered the art as well. She makes pretty splendid jam.

I do love raspberry jam. Mom reads this blog so maybe next Christmas our box will contain a few jars of raspberry jam along with the peach and strawberry.

July 21, 1941 (Monday)

EDNA AND HENRY WATCH HANK PLAY BALL UNDER THE LIGHTS

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Beautiful Day. Warming

up.

Washed and did usual

days work.

Going to bed early.

Hank + Orlo cutting oats

in 7 acre field south of

[?].

The Lowell Hot Points and the

Ionia Merchants played soft

ball at Lowell under the

lights. Hot Points Won.

Henry + I went to the game.

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Edna and Henry went to see Hank play softball under the lights in Lowell. It must have been a later-evening game or a cloudy day if the lights were on. On July 21, 1941 the sun set at 9:03 PM in Michigan.

Edna noted earlier in her journal that she was going to bed early. This made me wonder if she sometimes does her journal entries as things happen rather than all at once at the end of the day. Was it her plan to retire early but then later she an Henry decided to go see Hank play softball under the lights or is her definition of early just different than mine?

Either way, it delighted me to read that she and my great grandfather went to see my Uncle Hank play softball under the lights in Lowell.

I assume that Hank's team played on the same field in Lowell at Recreation Park where, in my teens, I watched my dad play softball for The Alto Lions and Lowell Engineering.

When dad's teams played on other diamonds we had to take lawn chairs but Recreation Park had wooden grandstands. That was the 80's and even then the grandstands were old. I loved watching ballgames from those grandstands. At that time, I didn't think about who had played on that field before or who watched ball games from the grandstands before me.

The grandstands are gone now. But the ball diamond is still there.

An aerial view of the ball diamond at Recreation Park as it looks today

My dad is an archivist. He has boxes and file drawers filled with old family photos and documents. This is wonderful. When I read something in Edna's journal and ask him about it, he is often able to present me with a photo or document to support my inquiry.

When I asked about Hank playing softball for the Lowell Hot Points, dad sent me a photo of the actual 1941 Lowell Hot Point team and the names of all of the players.

It's a great picture. What I love most about the photo is that it is not of the guys in uniform but rather of them being served a meal by the Lowell Hot Point Company, their team sponsor.

Hot Point Team – 1941

Left Front to Back:

Emmet Gless, Bill Wieland, Charlie Posthumus, Art Meijers (the bit of head showing) Marv Porritt, Stanley Coles

Right Front to Back:

Harold Krebbs, Hank Johnson, Earl Posthumus, Orton Seese, Bill Briggs, Hotpoint Representative, Matt Briggs

Standing (Right Back):

Mel (Mutt) Lewis

I also thought it would be fun to share a picture of the Lowell Engineering fast pitch softball team for which dad played.

That's my dad (Dick Johnson) second from the left in the front row.

Lowell Engineering Team - circa 1982

Back Row:

Carl Higgins, David Fosburg, Roger Graham, Jim Thompson, Jeff Rickert, Don Sterzick, John Haggai, Randy Wilcox, Jerry Posthumus, Larry Fosburg

Front Row:

Rick Wilcox, Dick Johnson, Howard Hobbs, Dick Bancroft

July 20, 1941 (Sunday)

EDNA IS GOING TO BED EARLY

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Real cool all day.

Rob, Maggie and Mary left

at 5 o'clock to go to Lyd's to

pick up Luella then go to G.R.

to Eleanors for the night then

leave for Ill to-morrow.

Going to be early as I'm

really all tired out.

Rob + Maggie, Henry and I

and Shirley with Mary in her

car went to Jen's to call

this A.M.

Hank and Orlo reached

home about eleven o'clock

last night from Detroit after

seeing "the double header."

Hank took Marie Watson

Orlo took Jean Godfrey.

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Edna is going to be early and I am glad for her. The last few days have been fun but exhausting. Here's to a peaceful slumber, Edna.

One of the things I love most about my great grandmother's journal is when she writes things that, I think, are meant to be little inside jokes or remarks to herself. In this entry, she places quote marks around the words "the double header" then goes on to write about how Hank and Orlo took Marie Watson and Jean Godfrey to Detroit with them.

Hank was not quite 18 when he went to the double header in 1941.

Orlo was 23. He and Jean Godfrey were married a few months later on October 3.

Almost exactly one year earlier, on October 14, 1940, Orlo enlisted for service.

I couldn't find a lot of information about Orlo's service during WWII. I did find a short record noting that after 2.5 years of service, Orlo Hostetler was discharged from the United States Air Force in May of 1944 after having contracted malaria while in the line of duty.

Howard Hostetler

While searching for information about Orlo's service, I stumbled upon an image of Orlo's brother Howard in his military dress.

Looking at the picture of Howard brought unexpected tears. He was so young. Look at him!

Orlo was young, too.

Orlo and Howard's mother, who was also named Edna, had five sons. I wondered how many of her boys saw active duty during WWII. I could only find information about Orlo's and Howard's service.

My great grandmother on mom's side of the family, Lizzie Hoover, raised nine boys and a girl. Five of her boys served during WWII. Read about George, Henry, Andrew, Michael and Jacob Hoover's service during WWII.

Orlo Hostetler passed away on August 25, 1999 at the age of 81.

His brother, Howard Hostetler, lived to be 94.

The image I found of young Howard was attached to his obituary, which I wanted to share in its entirety here.

Howard W. Hostetler, age 94, of Hastings passed away June 21, 2017 after a long and satisfying life.

He was born July 28, 1922 in Bowne Township, Kent County, MI, son of Murl and Edna (Mishler) Hostetler. Howard was the third of seven children born into a farming family. He attended school(s) in the rural Freeport area and graduated from the eighth grade. He possessed astute math skills and a broad spectrum of real world skills. Growing up on the family farm during the great depression, sponsored many do-it-yourself activities and learning experiences in those days. Working the fields with horses, canning and drying meats and vegetables, the outdoor copper pot method of making many gallons of apple butter and so many more endeavors, filled those busy times. In his mid-teens, he would ‘hire out’ to local farmers doing more of the same. He remembered exactly where he was when the news came, that The Empire of Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. Rather than waiting to be drafted into the Army, he enlisted in the U. S. Navy. He took his basic training in Gulfport, MS and later sailed from California under the Golden Gate Bridge headed for Hawaii. At Pearl Harbor he would acquire more training as a hardhat deep sea diver and was later deployed with the Seabees in the South Pacific. He dove on the sunken battleship Arizona while at Pearl.

After being honorably discharged from the Navy in December, 1945, he would return home to the Freeport area where he would continue his working career. He had many occupations with many employers over the years, along with self-employment. He bought equipment for sod laying and acquired work with state and local highway construction agencies. He owned and operated a Harley Davidson dealership in Hastings in the early 50’s. He would also work at E.W. Bliss, Eaton’s, the Sunoco station in Dowling, Sackets Garage in Hastings, Hastings Schools as a bus driver, Dowling Cemetery Sexton, farming, and the Barry County Road Commission from 1965 retiring in 1987. He was a hard worker and held two or more jobs during many years of his life, providing for his wife and family.

He met his future wife and love of his life, Elsie June Tobias in 1948 at Angelo’s restaurant in Hastings. It was a chance meeting that resulted from their food orders getting mixed up. They were married in Goshen, IN on June 17, 1950, the bride’s birthday.

Howard enjoyed many varied hobbies over the years, including gardening, yard games with the kids and family, model airplane flying, radio controlled vehicles, kites, cribbage, and the family board game ‘Pollyanna’, and much much more. He was very mechanically inclined and could fix anything. He spent many hours in his shop tweaking and reinventing things. On many occasions friends and neighbors would seek his help with challenging mechanical issues. He loved that.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his oldest brother Lawrence Hostetler and sister-in-law Beulah, brother Orlo Hostetler and sister-in-law Jean, brother Jim Hostetler, brother Gerald Hostetler, brother-in-law Art Ketchum, brother-in-law Bob Bauer, brother-in-law Basil Tobias and sister-in-law Fern, brother-in-law Merle Tobias and sister-in-law Wilhelmina.

Howard is survived by his wife of 67 years, Elsie, son Stan Hostetler (Patricia), daughter Jayne Mitchell, sister Edwina Burgess (Frank), sister Barb Bauer, sister-in-law, Jerilee Hostetler, and many nieces and nephews. He is also survived by his faithful cat, Howie.