July 13, 1941 (Sunday)

Hank went stepping out

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Nice day. Cool + Dry.

I puttered around

all day cleaning

cupboards + etc.

Hank played ball

at Lowell this P.M.

Lowell Hot Points vs.

Greenville. Lowell lost.

Hank went stepping

out to-night.

Kate + Bill here to night

played euchre. Men

won all the games but

one 5 to 1,

Lucille, Jack + Mary here

this P.M. - Lucille brought

me a qt. of red rasp-

berries.

Orlo had day off went

fishing.

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Going to the movies, attending card parties, enjoying a soda at the corner drug store, and dancing were all popular stepping-out activities in the 20s, 30s and 40s ---at least according to an encylcopedia.com entry on "Everyday Life 1929 - 1941."

Handsome Hank

Edna often notes when someone goes to see a movie or plays cards. I think Hank must have looked pretty spiffy when he left the house for her to note that "Hank went stepping out." I don't think he was headed to see a movie or play cards.

I searched the local papers for July of 1941 hoping to find an ad or a mention of some "doings" —a dance or a some sort of shindig — to which Hank may have gone. I didn't have much luck. But I always find a gem or two when looking through the newspaper archives.

First, I stumbled upon an advertisement for the Lowell Hotpoint Co. Edna said Hank played ball on this day for the Lowell Hotpoints.

I am not sure what is going on with the little naked-looking cartoon man in that ad but the New Improved 1941 Hotpoint Electric Refrigerator with 7 food storage zones, including a place for butter and big bottles sounds like a must have appliance.

I also found an ad for The Safety Smoker which clamped to a car's vent window, allowing ashes to fall outside of the car. The Safety Smoker advertisement is not at all relevant to Edna's journal entry for this day, I just found it interesting and amusing.

It was the story about a local farmer spotting a black bear that really captured my attention. Bear sightings in the lower part of lower Michigan aren't common.

Raymond Russell reported to the Lowell Ledger that he saw the 300 lb. bear once while he was in the onion field and again while digging potatoes. The article concluded by telling that Russell was a former big league baseball player. I can only find one Russell on the Detroit Tigers All-time roster and it wasn't a guy named Raymond. I didn't find a Raymond Russell in the Baseball Encyclopedia, either. Maybe he never made it to the Bigs. Or maybe he imagined the black bear and the baseball thing.

[insert eye roll here for my unfounded skepticism]

I am sure he saw the bear and played in the big leagues. I just can't find proof of either, other than this article from the Lowell Ledger.

I shared the article with my mom and dad. Dad, a huge baseball fan, said he has a faint memory of some guy from that area having played big league ball. My mom said she knows where the Lampkin farm was and will show it to me sometime.