July 21, 1941 (Monday)

Jill Johnson Tewsley
Jul 21, 2021
2 min read

EDNA AND HENRY WATCH HANK PLAY BALL UNDER THE LIGHTS

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.

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.