Chicago, Chicago, that marvelous town! On State Street, that great street....

Wilma's biography continues... (her story from her biography is typed in Georgia font, and my words are typed in Arial font)....

"We found a place to rent in a two-flat building on Linda Flora Terrace (later called Dayton Street). It was located at about 4400 N., close to Lincoln Park and Montrose Beach. The rent was $40.00 a month. I believe water was furnished. It had three bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, pantry and bath. We eventually bought the building, borrowing the down payment of $500.00, toward the price of $4,000.00, from Loyola University. It was a good brick building of two floors with three bedrooms on each floor, and glassed-in porches on the back. We lived there for nine years, always renting one floor to make our payments. When we left Chicago to move to Cedar Rapids, we sold the building for over $13,000.00. Times had improved and property had increased in value.

This is the house where I spent the first four and a half years of my life. The area is now in a 'rehabilitation zone' and the building had been refurbished in this photo. I took this picture in the 1990s when my oldest son, Doug, and his family lived in a suburb north of downtown Chicago.

 [When we lived on Dayton Street as I grew into early childhood, I remember the family who rented the upstairs apartment of this building. They were a couple from Scotland and their two children, the McClearys. I remember their Scottish brogue and can still hear how they pronounced the name of either the man of the family or their son - I don't recall which one. They called him 'Baub' (Bob). I still enjoy hearing people who speak with that kind of accent. They were a nice family, and their daughter Beth was very sweet to me.]

"Carol was born in Chicago at St. Joseph's Hospital in the winter of 1940. Dorothy Ann, Jean and Merry attended and graduated from Senn High School. Dorothy Ann went into nurse's training at Illinois Masonic Hospital. Jean worked at Marshall Fields for awhile, and then joined the Waves, as World War II was being fought at that time. Merry and Marilyn Barrett (my brother's daughter) worked one summer at a factory making some product for the war effort. 

I remember these caned back chairs, and I also remember that my sisters would roll up the linoleum 'rug,' push the table and chairs to one side, and would turn on their record player and jitterbug to the music. Having four older sisters was pretty entertaining for a little child, I must say!

The photo above was our living room. I remember during the war, my parents put up black velvet 'black-out' curtains over the windows in the evenings, so if there were enemy bombers or spy planes flying over Chicago, they would not be able to see our lights from our homes. I remember the lamp next to the couch in this photo. I think that lamp 'lived' with us for quite some time. My mother was always painting the base and getting a new shade for it. She never threw out anything that had some use left in it!

  

Here is a photo taken in that living room right after I was born. I still remember the velvet couch where my parents are seated. I love the look on my father's face in this photo. Obviously, he was 'smitten' with this new little daughter, in spite of it being his fifth daughter, and no son!

I like to call this photo 'American Gothic,' Cooper-style! I still have the watercolor behind my mother. It was painted by my Aunt Rachel, probably when she was a student at the Chicago Art Institute, and lived with us for awhile. Notice the book shelves behind my mother. We always had books to read, and it was obviously an important part of life for my mother, especially, since she had been trained to teach school. I am sure the influence of both her and my Aunt Rachel (also a teacher) and their love of reading instilled in me the need to read that I still have today.

Here is my big sister, Dorothy Ann, holding me in our back yard. Since I was so much younger than my older sisters, they were like 'extra' mothers to me. I think they doted on me, and probably spoiled me. According to family tales, my sister Jean once was holding me and dropped me on my head, and that incident was held to be the reason for my ornery and stubborn nature as I grew up...

Here is my sister Dorothy Ann in her bathing suit with me sitting on a blanket in our back yard, getting some sunshine. There are many photos of my sisters and of me when we were all still at home and living in Chicago.

Dorothy Ann in front of our two-flat stone house.

Another shot of Dorothy Ann, holding me, in the back yard of the house.

In this picture, Dorothy Ann is pretty dressed up, and I don't know exactly what was going on with the 'turban' I was wearing...maybe they had just washed my hair and didn't want me to get chilled. In any case, it is an 'interesting' look...

Here are Margaret, Merry (in back), me and Dorothy Ann. I think I remember taking this photo to school, all crumpled up in my pocket. I have to remember to ask my daughter-in-law, Carol Hansen (Carol Hansen Photography, Waterloo) if she can fix this for me. That will take some work with "Photoshop," I'm sure!

The Cooper Family in Chicago (pre-Carol days), with curious neighbor kids watching from the porch. Wayne is in back, and Margaret is in front. In the center are, left to right, Wilma, Merry, Dorothy Ann, and Jean.

Here is our whole family, the winter I was born, left to right, on the couch, Wayne, Wilma with me, Dorothy Ann, Jean, and on the floor in front, on the left, is Merry, and on the right is Margaret.

And, here we are again, with me about 1 1/2. Back left is Merry, and right is Jean. Holding me is Dorothy Ann, and sitting sweetly on the right is Margaret. (Sad that this shot is slightly out of focus...)

Here is Dorothy, with her wonderful smile...probably before she began nurse's training.

Dorothy Ann (probably her high school graduation portrait), with an affectionate signature, as I think she gave this picture to her new boyfriend, James A. Herman) Notice she signed the picture 'Coop!'

Here is Dorothy Ann and a friend (I don't know her name). They seem to have a good joke between them... I love the big fur collars, the gloves, purses and especially the hair-do's!

This is a photo taken in our living room in Chicago as these girls were all growing older. I am also in the photo, but just the top of my head is visible. Left to right, Wilma, and a friend of the sisters (but I am sorry I don't know her name), Jean, Dorothy Ann, and on the floor in front, Margaret holding me, and Merry.

More to come on my next post...many photos of the pretty 'big' sisters and their lives in Chicago...and the continuation of Wilma's life...  Stay tuned!