Thursday, December 10, 1936
- Jill Johnson Tewsley
- Dec 10, 2020
- 2 min read
LUCILLE TURNS 33. ENDA DRESSES 3 ROOSTERS.
This is Lucille's 33 birthday.
I dressed 3 roosters
and made pressed
chicken for sandwiches
for shower to-morrow.
Also made
Angel Food cake.
Lucille decorated it
for the shower.
Lucille's Birthday
Tonight, I chatted on Facebook Messenger with my cousin Cate Wenger about a few family stories. Cate’s grandmother and my grandfather were siblings, two of Edna and Henry’s children.
I think it would make Edna very happy to know that her journal from 1936 is connecting her family in 2020.
Cate and I were chatting about her grandmother, Lucille.
On December 10, 1936, Lucille was celebrating her thirty-third birthday. She would be 117 years old today.
Lucille was the first born of Edna and Henry’s six children. Born in 1903, Lucille was perhaps the most gentle and quiet of the Johnson siblings.
Lucille was a schoolteacher before marrying John Watts on October 28, 1930. When she was just 22, Lucille taught at Bowne Center. Two of her siblings, Morse and Helen were her students.
Lucille had scoliosis which was significant enough to cause a noticeable hump in her back. According to her granddaughter Cate, it also caused Lucille to be in pain most of the time.
John and Lucille suffered the loss of two children before adopting a daughter in 1939.
On November 3, 1931, Lucille gave birth to an infant who died the same day. Seven years later, on December 2, 1938, Nancy Arlene Watts was born to Lucille and John. Nancy died three months later on February 24, 1939
Lucille and John adopted an infant daughter, Mary, in October of 1939.
Mary is the mother of my cousin Cate.
There are journal entries from Edna in 1939 in which she notes that Mary is a "such a good girl.”
In 1963, Lucille died at the age of 59. She preceded both of her parents and all of her siblings in death. Her husband John would outlive her by more than twenty years.
Cate said that her mom (Mary) and grandfather (John Watts) didn't talk much about Lucille. They both missed her too much.
Cate's dad Chris, however, is a storyteller. Thanks to him, Cate has heard stories about her grandmother.
Cate shared one of those stories with me.
“There was the time grandma had the house all tidied up to host a Farm Bureau meeting. My mom (Mary) always had ducks, partly due to Aunt Jen Pardee (Henry's sister) supplying her with ducks. Mom had an orphan duckling in a box in a back bedroom. Well ...the duckling got loose and was racing through the house. Grandma Lucille (who never swore) told her to ‘Catch that damned duck.’”
I think Edna would have said the same thing if a duck was loose in her house when she had just tidied up for a meeting.
I love the Johnson women!
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