The rest of the Cooper girls in Chicago...

After Dorothy Ann got married, the two older girls dated fellows who they met at school or about town. There were plenty of young men going through Chicago during the war, either signed up to serve as soldiers in the Army, or Marines, or as sailors in the Navy. It created a sort of 'melting pot' of young men who were, of course, attracted to good-looking young women.

 

Jean and Merry  posing with me in my cute little coat and bonnet. Pleated skirts were obviously in style, as were sweaters and full hair styles.

This was taken when Jean was at Senn High School. Jean was the 'dramatic' one in the family, and there were a lot of photos taken of her posing and looking quite fashionable!

Dorothy Ann and Jean with one of the many pets we had over time. I don't remember this dog or it's name.

Jean posing on the fence behind the house on Dayton Street. Notice the curly hair...Jean always had pretty hair, and still does to this day when she's in her 90's.

 
 And, here's Jean, the 'drama queen!' I think she missed her calling, and could have been a movie star with all of that pose-ability!

Here's Jean, with that wonderful smiling laugh, on the steps of the house on Dayton Street.

 

Jean Barrett Cooper in her Wave uniform

 About this time, the Cooper family began to travel to northern Minnesota for summer vacations. In this photo, left to right, are Linda Rae Levenick (my cousin, Aunt Rachel and Uncle Herbert's daughter), and standing in the back are Wayne, Margaret, Merry and Jean. Wilma is kneeling in front of Wayne, and I'm standing to the right of her. We are all posed on rocks at Itaska State Park, at the headwaters of the Mississippi River.

Here we all are again, that same day at Itaska State Park, with my Uncle Herbert, Aunt Rachel, and Wilma standing next to the marker for the 'headwaters of the Mississippi.' Kneeling and sitting down in front, left to right, are Merry, Margaret, Jean holding me, and my cousin Linda.

It was about this time that Herbert and Rachel and my folks bought some lakeshore lots on Potato Lake, 6 miles north of Park Rapids, Minnesota. The land at that time was so very cheap. The land was charged by the front foot which was just $11.00. That land ran all the way back to a county road that ran parallel to the lake but with a whole lot of woods in between. Our two families held most of that lakeshore, but Herbert's sister and brother-in-law, Pete and Esther Hansen, bought one lot down near the lake, and built a 'Cape Cod' style cabin on the lot. The cabin had a living room/dining area, a bathroom, a kitchen, and one bedroom downstairs, and there were two bedrooms in the loft above the first floor to the back of the building. Until my sisters and brothers-in-law bought the cabin from Pete and Esther, it remained like that. After our family bought it, a room was added on to one end of the living room part, and that expanded nicely the number of people the cabin could accommodate. A storage shed was also added onto the cabin, and held tools, fishing equipment and other items for maintenance.

Herb and Rachel built a cabin at the top of the hill above Pete and Esther's cabin, and my folks built a cabin next to Herb and Rachel's. Our families spent many fun times together there, and I was lucky enough to be able to spend my summers for many years with my aunt, uncle and cousin, at the lake from just after the time when school let out for the summer until a couple of weeks before it restarted in the fall. Uncle Herbert was a principal for two elementary schools in Des Moines, so he needed to get back a bit before school began in the fall. 

More to come on the Cooper girls in Chicago, and more about our vacations in Minnesota! Come on back, okay?