Meet Grace and Frank Jones

Meet Grace and Frank!  This is a photo of Grace and her second husband Frank Jones.   Grace was one of four sisters to Walter Tivis Beck and she wrote the "Treatise on William H Beck" which is in your family history packet.  

This picture of Grace and Frank is a cutaway from a wedding photo of our cousin Arlene Buffington.  Arlene who just turned 93, has been a treasure in that we've found a branch of our family that was lost through the years, and she has kindly shared some of her precious family photos and history with us.  The photos she has shared are truly precious to us because had we not found her...we never would have laid eyes on these relatives.

Arlene let me record her memories, and I can't wait to organize and edit them for all of us to enjoy.    She is truly a sweet woman and I am proud to say that she and I have become good friends.

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Slide Show Number One!

Recently, thanks to my cousin Kevin Copp.... I was able to scan pictures which originally belonged to our grandmother, Zada!  Thank you Kevin for being the person to share these with the rest of the family!   You rock! 

The photos in this slide show are only a sampling of the entire collection.  I hope you enjoyed looking at these as much as I did.   If you have already received your family packet, I'll send you a CDrom with all the 'new' photos so you can have and print the ones you love.   If you haven't received your packet yet, these will already be included!

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Zada & Larry: Part One

Before Larry and Zada met, she had been married to Clifton Paul Moore (AKA: Jack). They had a rough time in their marriage….
personally and financially during the Great Depression. By all accounts Jack was not a nice man, and had few redeeming qualities...but that's a different story.

After their divorce Zada held many jobs including: working at a café, owning/running her own small diner (Zada’s Diner), as a Dental Assistant and as a Switchboard Operator for the Telephone Company. 

Her daughter Beverly remembers helping her mom study for the Switchboard position to help her “learn the board”. Zada was a hard worker and managed to bring in enough money to support her family and pay the mortgage on their house which was 15 dollars a month at that time.

It was when Larry was on leave from the Army that he and Zada met.

Larry joined the Army in 1943 during WW2, and was on leave in Cheyenne Wyoming in 1945 as the war was ending. Cheyenne was/is only a short distance from Scottsbluff Nebraska where Zada and most of her family lived.  They married there after a short courtship.

Beverly had been staying with her grandmother Leola (AKA: Ma),  when Larry and Zada joined them for Sunday dinner. Ma had cooked a large supper, and when everyone was at the table, Zada announced she and Larry had gotten married.

The marriage took place on Jan 9^th of 1945 and they told everyone on Sunday January 14^th when Beverly was 13 and ½. She remembers being really hurt that her mother hadn’t told her about the wedding but everyone soon adjusted.
Before Larry entered the Army he had purchased a car in Claremont New Hampshire where his family was living at the time. 


Photo 1: Frank & Larry.  Photo 2 Frank & Zada
(Frank was Larry's Father)
The car is the one mentioned above.

 Not too long after his marriage to Zada, maybe a year or so, they packed their belongings on a trailer and made the trip to Claremont. On the way as they were traveling through Eerie PA, the car caught fire but somehow they were able to get it fixed and continued on.

When they finally arrived in Claremont, they stayed with Larry’s mother, Cora Kelley Copp.  Beverly remembers Cora as being a “heavyset woman” who was "nice and worked hard". Cora’s apartment was a two room, with a bed in the living room, and was located above a store. At the time she had two of her daughters living with her, Evelyn and Francis.

Evelyn would come home, open up a can of milk, mix it with water and drink it for lunch. She was a busy woman who worked and dated, so they didn’t see much of her at all. Francis, the youngest of the sisters was kind of a shy girl. She was the same age as Beverly so they became good friends until Beverly began dating and they drifted apart.

Larry and his new family soon found an apartment, and then moved into another one. In the first apartment there was only one bathroom on the entire floor, and all the residents had to share --which Zada did not like at all. The second apartment was better but had a ‘history’. Beverly remembers reading a magazine article which told of the murder of the previous tenant. Their building was just down the street and around the corner from Cora’s.

They only stayed in Claremont a few months, but while they were there, Larry worked as a delivery man for a bakery and Beverly went to school.  She found a job of her own at a local shoe factory, earning enough to buy her own school clothes. At work she sewed ‘uppers’ for shoes and the men at the factory called her ‘buttercup’.

Smoking was a big deal at that time…everyone was doing it, and Francis and Beverly were no exception. After school, they would walk over to Mildred’s to visit and to smoke. Mildred was “a lot of fun” and let them smoke.

Mildred and George had two cute little boys. One of them was called ‘junior’ so he must have been named after his dad. One time she took him to the store with her and he threw a really good fit. She was embarrassed said “that was the end of that” and she didn’t take him out with her again.

Mildred’s husband George worked a long time at a local factory making tools and took really good care of his family. Beverly remembers he bought his wife a new fur coat every so often, and she looked really nice in it. She laughs at the memory because while Mildred would look really sharp in the fur, underneath she would often have an old ratty dress-- evidently ‘comfort’ was the name of the game back then for Mildred. 

George was into photography and bought an expensive camera before he and Mildred left on a trip for The World's Fair in New York.  It was an exciting trip and they rode "in style" in their new car.   While they were at the fair their brand new car, and all their posessions including the camera were stolen.

After a few months, Larry, Zada and Beverly moved back to Scottsbluff Nebraska (and then later on to Twin Falls). ‘Something’ always seemed to happen on their trips, and on the way back to Scottsbluff,  Beverly remembers looking out the window and seeing a tire roll off the road and into the median, then a big "clunk" from behind.  They quickly pulled over to the side of the road as the runaway tire was off their trailer.

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Update

As you can probably tell, I'm back working on the Family History project!

You'll notice we have a new look on the blog, and I've just begun posting the photos, clippings, history etc.   There is MUCH more than what's on the site today, so check back.

December 19th we had a Christmas Party at Beverly Groces house in Twin Falls, and had a great time.   It was really neat to have so many Cousins, Siblings, and Uncles etc able to make it.   I handed out the Family History packets and hope everyone has had a chance to enjoy them.    If you haven't received yours in the mail yet, don't worry I haven't forgotten you.  With my move...and impending move happening I had to take a break and handle this thing called life!   I WILL be sending the other packets out in about a month.   

Hope you're enjoying the new year, and God has blessed you all.

Kelly

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Family Pics Sample

So far we have about 400 plus pictures, but not everyone is represented as well as they could be.  There is still time (about 2 weeks from 9/29/10) to get yours included. 

Call me if you need my email or address!  This is turning out to be something really special!



The slideshow above is just a sample of what we have at this point.

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Video Update!

Another Segment almost done!

At the bottom of this post is a short clip of the Family Cemetery portion of the DVD.

The full segment is about 8 minutes long and features the headstones pictures, cemetery info and personal photos of many of our ancestors and recently passed family. I've watched it on television and the clarity is great.

(Also....just in case you think I have questionable taste in music when you watch this segment, the choices are explained at the beginning by Bev Groce.)


There are several segments left to produce and I would like any family that would be willing to do some more of the voicework. So far, Beverly Groce, Marthabelle (Beck)Morris, Sandy (Forbes) Blevins and Sherri (Groce)Wachal have helped out.


I think it would be really special and amazing to have ALL family contributing to this legacy in this way. If there is someone you would like to make sure is included, or if you want to contribute anything at all, please drop me an email at: kellygroce_40@yahoo.com

Note:   I am having trouble locating a few obituaries for the following people:  William & Harriet Beck, Felicia Blevins, Bill Rounds, Janey (Jane Slane) and a few others.   If you have info/access or anything related, please let me know.

Hope you're all doing well!

Kelly

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Walter Beck

From the "Moore / Beck/ Howard Family History DVD"

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