March 2, 1945 (Friday)

EDNA'S GLASSES BREAK. JEN AND WANETTA VISIT.

---

Cloudy disagreeable day.

My glasses broke apart

on my nose last night

so went to Lowell this

P.M. and had them

repaired. Did a little

grocery shopping also.

Raining to-night.

Jen and Wanetta spent

evening here last

night. Jen is freezing

some of her beef to-

morrow and will can

it in Pressure Cooker.

---

Jen is Edna's sister-in-law, Henry's sister. I wasn't sure who Wanetta was. I thought that perhaps she was a friend who was visiting or, given that Jen was a widow, possibly someone who was living with and helping Jen at her home.

Jen's husband, Ozi Pardee, passed away in 1932. His death certificate indicates he had been diagnosed with cancer of the colon and rectum three years prior to his death.

Jennie Johnson and Ozi were married on Christmas Day in 1889. Jen was just 20-years old. Ozi was 22. They never had children.

Jennie would outlive Ozi by 22 years, passing away at the age of 85 in 1954.

In the 1940s, the South Bowne news column in the Lowell Ledger, which was published weekly, was often compiled by Jennie Pardee herself. The column in the March 8, 1945 edition of the Ledger, written by Jennie, made note of the fact that she and Wanetta Schray called upon Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Cosgriff (Jenie's sister and brother-in-law).

I was glad to see Wanetta's name in print. Edna's handwriting left me uncertain and she had not included a last name. But Jennie and the Lowell Ledger made the formal introduction of Wanetta Schray to me nearly 80 years later.

It was the South Bowne news column I saw in a later edition of the Ledger that led me to conclude that Wanetta was most probably live-in company and help. In that column, it was noted that several people had called upon Jennie and Wanetta the previous week.

On October 2, 1945 Wanetta was married to Raymond Kruger, just a little over a year after this journal entry. She was just 19. Raymond, a truck driver, was 23.

The 1950 U.S. Census shows that Raymond and Wanetta had a 2-year old daughter named Betty and that Raymond was working for Consumers Power as an electrical lineman. It is possible they had other children but my quick search didn't turn up any results.

Wanetta passed away in 1995. Raymond lived until 2002. They are buried next to another in Woodland Memorial Park cemetery in Woodland, Michigan.