Christie's Diary

1964

8-2 Sunday after noon John & Mable & Madge were out here had a good visit then we went for a ride after 7 o'clock to South Haven and around to cool off it was 80 degrees all nite

* * *

John was Christie's brother. Madge was Christie's sister. Mabel was John's wife.

PHOTO L-R: Mabel, Bill, Christie, John, Madge

Christie's Diary

1964

7-31 sent 1 dollar to disabled American Veterans 1425 E McMillan St Cincinnati Ohio, serial no of dollar bill X17143632A

* * *

PHOTO: Ray Treat

Ray Treat was Christie's brother. He was a veteran of World War I.

Ray died in 1963, about a year before this diary entry was written.

PHOTO: Christie at Ray's grave, Arlington Hill Cemetery, Bangor, Michigan

PHOTO: World War I Veterans are shown as they looked when they marched in the first Memorial Day service held in Bangor in 1921. Ray is in the front row, 5th from left.

* * *

Here are all the other pictures I have of Uncle Ray

PHOTO L-R: Ray Treat, John Treat, Marcus Treat

(John was Ray's brother, Marcus was their father)

Here is what Jack Treat wrote about his uncle Ray Treat:

 He was never married and using today’s upbeat description, would be considered a "Free Spirit". He was very similar in size to his father, around six feet tall and over two hundred pounds. He had many talents which included Barber Shop Quartet singing, and I have been told he was an outstanding left handed baseball pitcher. He played for several local town teams. 

  He joined the army the second day of April 1918 and was fighting in France the twenty eighth of June when he was gassed, and later received the "Purple Heart" medal along with others as the war ended November 11, 1918. After the war he worked on river steamboats as fireman and later as a trucker, which was his lifetime occupation. He hauled mainly produce, but also anything else that was moved by truck including farm machinery, livestock and fish. Ray was known by his family as "The Big Boy" and is buried in Arlington Hill Cemetery beside his parents in Bangor, Michigan. -- (Source: Jackie Dallas Treat) 

Here is what my dad wrote about Uncle Ray:

 

Raymond was a PFC in Co. 1 28th Infantry in World War I, (Serial # 58249) He always said that had a problem from the mustard gas that the Germans used in that war. (He was gassed May 28, 1918 in France.) According to his enlistment record he enlisted on May 10, 1917  in Columbus, Ohio, and was discharged February 1, 1919 at Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan.  He was  also told to report for induction for WWII (1942) but was rejected because he was gassed in WWI. 

  I remember one time on one of his trips to Ohio and Tennessee he brought home a lady friend; shortly after we were at my mother's and my brother Bernarde said who is that lady that Uncle Ray is shacked up with, and mother said that was his house keeper and that's all. 

  One Christmas Eve we invited Uncle Ray for dinner and when he was late we called his house to find out why, When he answered we could hear people laughing and singing, He said that he could not make it and was sorry. -- (Source: Richard M. Thomas)

PHOTO L-R: Ray Treat, Chris & Bill Thomas, Ralph Till, Massie Treat, John Treat, Bernarde Thomas, Mabel Treat, Richard Thomas (my dad). This picture was taken some time between 1952 and 1954.

Christie's Diary

[box note: over to page 4, then back to this page][should have been here]

* * *

I think I told you about how Christie's diary entries are scattered randomly through the book. There were a few pages where she wrote numbers at the top of the page -- to help clarify any confusion. [Spoiler alert: It didn't.]

Page 190 was number one

Page 189 was number two

Page 188 was number 3

Page 193 was number four

Page 187 was number five

Christie's Diary

7-27 Bill went back to work for Eddie on the tar wagon looking after that for him.

7-25 Madge & Leonard was out Saturday to get the fence post pounder & Bernardes was here to. Bernarde & Eileen went to visit Effie in hospital & she is doing fine. Bill went & visited her a little while Sunday afternoon & she is to come home today if she has no fever 

7-27 she is feeling good & looking good & her voice is good

* * *

Grandpa (Bill) had just retired from the county road commission, but it looks like they called him back in every once in a while to help out.

Madge & Leonard were Grandma's sister and her husband.

PHOTO: Madge and Leonard Till

"Bernardes" were Bill & Christie's oldest son and his wife Eileen and their sons Mick, Greg, and Kim.

PHOTO: Bernarde & Eileen, Mick, Greg, and Kim

Effie was Grandpa's sister. In 1964, when this was written, she was a widow.

PHOTO: Christie, Mick, Effie

If I recall correctly, it turned out that Effie had cancer in her throat. She never smoked, but her husband Harry Wieland smoked cigars, and so she probably developed cancer from second-hand smoke.

Christie's Diary

 1964

7-26 Sunday was our community club picnic but I was sick so we didn’t go. We went and got eggs and went around by Hartford and saw Mrs Schriner about our 500 club dinner at the Midget

* * *

The back of this picture says "The Sunshine Circle taken at Maple Isle Paw Paw 20 August 1952"

I don't remember any of Grandma's clubs being called The Sunshine Circle -- I didn't know any of them had names, but I guess they did. I don't recognize any of the people in this picture except Grandma 

* * *

This is a picture of Hartford, Michigan, in the 1940s. I have marked the "Midget" coffee shop that was next to the movie theater. The sign says GOOD COFFEE. And their coffee really was good. I worked there for 2 weeks (filling in for a friend while she was on vacation) and discovered the secret -- sprinkle a pinch of salt on top of the ground coffee before brewing. 

All the merchants in town went to the Midget for lunch and/or coffee breaks throughout the day. And in the evenings the place served hamburgers and fries to movie-goers. I've eaten at the Midget many times after a movie or a ball game. I went to the Midget for lunch once, even though we were not supposed to leave the school campus. I had to stay an hour after school for punishment. Big deal. It gave me a chance to get my homework done before I went home. That was the extent of my rebellious phase.

The Midget was a fixture in Hartford for many decades, starting in the 1930s, I believe. I have no idea if it's still there or not.

There was also a Midget Lunch Room in Watervliet (5 miles down the road from Hartford). It was owned by the same family that had the Midget in Hartford. I don't know which of these Grandma was referring to in her diary note. That place opened in 1929, and I know is still doing a booming business today. These days it is known as the Sidetrack Cafe.

Christie's Diary

1964

7-20 first they had been here to stay since the __ of March before they moved to the McCurdy place on Hartford Bangor Road cause they got mad at us just 4 months ago. 

The tempture is 80 degrees at 240 PM

* * *

"they got mad at us" means my mother got mad at them. That happened more than once during my parents' marriage. Mom didn't like Grandma. And when my mother was having a feud with someone in the family, the rest of the family had to ostracize them, too. And there was always someone Mom was feuding with at any given time -- it was a revolving door. Usually there was no discernable reason (except in Mom's head) for the feud to start. And no discernable reason when it ended. Mom called the shots. Both of my brothers and I had our turns through the years. There were very few times that all three of us were in favor. Almost everyone in the extended family got a turn at least once.

This is the house Grandma called "the McCurdy place" -- my dad always called it Drake's place, because we rented the house from Curtis Drake, who lived next door and owned the farm on which the house was located. It was surrounded by apple orchards. That was fun, because we could climb the trees and pick and eat as many apples as we wanted. I loved to eat them while they were still green, before they got ripe. They always told me I'd get a stomach ache from them, but I never did. 

We lived in this house for 3 1/2 years, from the middle of my 4th grade year to the end of 7th grade. It was in the Hartford school district, so we switched from Bangor to Hartford schools in the middle of the school year for the 2nd time. (The first time I was in 2nd grade.) We lived in six different houses by the time I graduated from high school -- always in Bangor or Hartford. It took them several years to sell the first house they bought in Bangor, so after that they always rented, and we moved every few years from one house to another.

Christie's Diary

1964

7-19 We had our annual family reunion at Bernardes, all were there but [Madge & Leonard scratched out] Madge & Leonard & Junior & children. Had a good time. Dianne & Ricky come & stayed all nite with us. they half to go home today. Dianne has to take music lesson tomorrow.

* * *

PHOTO: Mary holding Doug, Junior holding Cindy. Junior was the son of Christie's sister Madge and her husband Leonard Till.

This was cropped from a large group photo taken in 1950.

John & Mabel Treat's 25th wedding anniversary 1950

Christie's Diary

7-16 Mick was over all week we took him home & took a ride on their pontoon around the lake.

Beautiful evening. Mick helped Grandpa shingle the barn while here they went to WKZO & got the shingles & lumber for my cupboard

* * *

PHOTO: Lake of the Woods, Decatur, Michigan

I think this is the raft that they floated out onto the lake in the summertime. This would have been the back yard where their new house was going to be built a few years later (1967, I think). In 1964, when this diary entry was written, Bernarde & Eileen lived across the street from this property. The lakefront properties were in the planning/construction phase at that time. If memory serves me correctly, it was Eileen's brother LaVern Rice who developed that lakefront subdivision. 

Here are a couple better pictures of the lake. These were taken from the deck of Bernarde & Eileen's lakefront house.

Christie's Diary

1964

7-13 Alta took Effie back to WKZO to the Dr again. Its cool cloudy today rained early this AM.

 * * *

Here is a picture of the page in the book where Grandma wrote this diary entry

Christie's Diary

1964 

7-13 Bill & Micky went to WKZO to get roofing shingles & plywood make me a corner cupboard on porch

* * *

I think what she's calling "porch" is the room she had Grandpa build toward the back of the house that served as an extension of the kitchen. It had a door that went out into the side yard by the well. 

Their house also had an outdoor cellar door -- just like in the old song... "Playmate, come out and play with me, and bring your dollies three, climb up my apple tree, look down my rain barrel, slide down my cellar door..." You can't see it very well in this picture.

Here is a stock photo of a typical cellar door -- slanted, hence the idea of sliding down it. I don't know if houses still have these or not. I'm guessing most houses don't have root cellars any more. If you open the doors, there are stair steps leading down into the root cellar.