Velma Marie Swing

1917 - 2007  (90 years)

• Name	Velma Marie Swing
  Born	19 Feb 1917	Francesville, Pulaski, Indiana, United States
  Gender	Female
  Moved	Abt 1919
  	To Elmwood, Peoria, Illinois
  Census	1920	Salem, Knox, Illinois, United States   [1]
  Moved	19 Feb 1921
  	To Wing, Illinois
  Census	1930	Pleasant Ridge, Livingston, Illinois, United States   [2]
  Occupation	Between 13 Feb 1934 and May 1938
  	Worked in Peoria, Illinois
  Occupation	Between May 1938 and Sep 1940
  	Worked in civil service at Rock Island (IL) Arsenal
  Occupation	1940  [3]
  	Clerk typist, Rock Island Arsenal
  Moved	Sep 1940
  	To Idaho
  Occupation	Between Jan 1941 and Dec 1941
  	Worked for Selective Service in Boise, ID
  Moved	Between May 1942 and Mar 1943
  	To Portland, Oregon
  Moved	Mar 1943
  	Returned to Idaho
  _AMTID	190111181368:1030:113173531
  _COLOR	1
  Died	3 Jul 2007	Boise, Ada, Idaho, United States
  Buried	9 Jul 2007	Caldwell, Canyon, Idaho, United States
  	Address: Canyon Hill Cemetery
  Notes	Grandma’s Memories November 19, 1997, at the Acapulco Restaurant: When they first moved to 1916 Lansing, streets weren’t paved, just grav el. But between the house & the cemetery side of the hill weren’t many houses. They could s ee clear to the mountains. That area in between had been a prune orchard (not by 1947) , so the hill was just covered in grass. No phone lines in yet when moved in--nervous for Gra m with no car (Gramp had to take it to shop) & 3 little kids. Problems with trees: cutleaf weeping birches on either side in front: s outh sapling cut off one ight, probably by kid on bike; replaced--then cut off by grader when i t finally came to pave oads ‘awhile’ after moving in. the birch on the north side survived b etter, till the year Uncle Jay died. When Gram went up to see Aunt Nancy she’d noticed its leaves w ere looking sort of yellow, then when she came back it was dead. It had died ‘just like th at.’ Used to have white picket fence round back yard since Paula was still v ery little. So she could have someplace to play. But one day Paula ‘turned up missing.’ Gram c ouldn’t find her anywhere. So she called Gramp, and he came up, & just as he reached N. I llinois/Rochester he saw Paula (about 2 1/2) and Bootsie heading down toward the canal! Gram always very worried about that canal (the first thing she thought w hen Paula was missing.) When they’d only been up there a little while a little boy f ell inover by the bridge near the Rose Garden, & got swept all the way down, through the siphon & was f ound clear by Notus or somewhere. Another time, Mom decided she was going to run away. She, Jay, Paula, & G am were all out in the backyard & Mom wanted to do something which Gram wouldn’t let her d o (Gram thinks). So Mom announced she would run away. Gram said, “Would you like me to h elp you pack?” Mom said, “No...” but headed off down Lansing, Rochester, & to that cor er there. Gram panicked because she didn’t know what to do if Mom actually took off. B ut she could still see her so just kept watching her. She stood there for some time, but then f inally came wandering back & never knew Gram was watching. Mom and Jay used to fight, too; Mom, perhaps, being older, thought she s hould always get her own way. But one day they’d come home from school on the schoolbus, wh ich dropped them off at the same corner, & they walked from there. They’d really been f ighting: Mom had some injury, and Jay had long bloody scratches on his arm from Mom’s fingern ails. Gram got really angry & said when things came to physical harm it was too much, and tim e to stop. And they did. But then later Jay & Carla would get into it--Gram thinks he woul d tease her...’like Matt did you. My brother used to tease me too.’ He would tease till Gram w as ‘just beside myself.’ Until one day (at about 13 or 14) Gram called Uncle Roy a bastard (!). H er mother heard, & said, “Velma, do you know what that word means?!” Gram said no. Her m other was going to make Roy tell her but he wouldn’t. So Gram decided it must be pretty b ad & never said it again. It was several years before Gram learned what it meant. Her parents met when her mother stayed with first Aunt Bert and then Au t Tillie to help them care for their children--both moved to Indiana. Gram’s dad, though in I llinois (on border), now lived at Wolcott, Indiana, where they’d lived ever since Gram could rem ember, in a litle bitty house. And met Gram’s mother. Up until 6 months before Lena married h im she’d always asserted that she’d never get married--’and Linda always said the same t hing.’ When Gram & Gramp first were going ‘to come out here’ she decided she’d b etter get recipes from her mother--she’d never cooked much at home: she did cleaning, & M arilyn liked the cooking and baking. But now when she’d not be able to call up for reci pes...so she got her mother’s stuffing recipe. Though her mother never followed a recipe; s he just added ‘a dab of this,’ ‘butter the size of a walnut,’ etc. Gram’s parents lived in Indiana, then, for a number of years, moving wh en Gram was two to Elmwood--her grandparents had a farm there, & they lived on it for two y ears. Gram can emember her fourth birthday, then, because it was that day they moved u p to Forrest--her father came later on, traveling with his farm equipment on the train. S o Lena & the two kids came alone ‘in an old touring car’--rather hectic. They got there, & G am remembers they had ‘wienies’ for supper, & then someone knocked on the door. Lena’s alway s been very afraid of hobos & bums, so Gram still remembers how her mother ‘went as white as a s heet’ but it waws only a neighbor asking for something. Where Millers now live (catty corner from 1916) lived the Kays (?) with t win girls--both they and their mother are now dead. More notes (November 24, 1994)....When she used to work at the old shop o Kimball, Grandma would sit at the desk there, and little mice would run over her feet. G am was never too afraid of mice, so it was okay. Her mother was terrified of mice, though. If s he saw one, without thinking, she’d be up on a chair or the bed: “It was a reflex action.” I t was freezing there in the winter, roasting in the summer, “not a good advertisement for their bus iness.” Grandma had never heard of broccoli when she was a little girl; they ha d brussels sprouts instead. Grandma’s parents used to speak in German when they didn’t wa t the kids to understand, and Lena used to speak to her mother in German all the time . Also, when Grandma was a little girl, her mother wanted her to have bangs; Grandma ’s hair looked terrible with bangs because of her cowlicks & widow’s peak, so her mother shaved t he top of her forehead and cut the hair just behind it into bangs! This looked fine. While Dad & I discussed his car saga returning from choir, Grandma reme mbered that when she was young you didn’t need a license to drive a car--not until she & G andpa moved here did she need one. January 12, 1994: Looking through stuff in Grandma’s basement once, I f ound a neat little compact. Gram remembered that Grandpa had bought that for her while th ey were dating. He’d asked her what she wanted for Christmas. She’d listed several thi gs, & he bought her all of them. Eating lunch at Acapulco, Grandma kept dropping things, & remembered a t ime when, very pregnant with Jay, she dropped a can of coffee (she was preparing break fast). It rolled around the kitchen, scattering in a ring. Grandma just sat down on a chair an d cried. Grandpa then came in & cleaned it up for her. “I would have had to get down on my k ees to clean it up...” And Mom was born in Portland, then they moved to Kuna. Grandpa bought a c uddy little house out in the country outside of Caldwell. He wasn’t accomplishing a ything fixing it up, driving back & forth from Kuna, so they moved in. One bedroom on the s outh side, a living oom, & the kitchen. There were no closets or cupboards; one shelf in t he front room. Outdoor bathroom of course. Mom was a very good baby, however, always behaving ; Grandpa made cupboards soon, though doorless, & Mom didn’t get into anything. Grand ma put raisins & Cheerios & cans of baby food down to the right of the sink for Mom to p ay with. She would scatter these around the kitchen. When the raisins & Cheerios were gon e, she would lisp, “More aisins & puffed wheat!” They had no running water, a pump out back. E lmo hooked up a tank somehow, so they had hot & cold running water, but only in the sink. Gr andpa added another bedroom on the north, connected to the rest of the house by two little r ooms. One would have been their bathroom had they stayed there. Mom doesn’t remember outdoo toilets, though, because the kids used a potty chair Grandma had. The sleeves of my medieval dress are made from an ancient pattern Grand ma has--I saw it. Grandma had a dress made from that pattern that was Grandpa’s favorite d ess of hers, ever. It was brown with turquoise carnations in it. Grandma has her mother’s wedding ring, with her father’s initials in it . His had her initials in it, and Roy has it. Grandma’s glad she, not Marilyn, got it, as Marilyn wa s careless, & her kids might’ve gotten it & lost it. Lena also had her mother’s ring, a simil ar but narrower band, but when she died, Bert, the eldest sister, looked for it, but couldn’t fin d it anywhere. Lena was careless, too, towards the end, so it is now lost. Gram’s Grandpa & Uncle Joe were Swiss yodelers. May 31, 1995: Talking of Matt’s interest in guitar, etc., Grandma said G andpa played that guitar in a band (we have a picture Mom sent a copy of to Matt) which p layed over the radio in Illinois & for dances. “My” violin belonged to Gram’s father, and Gran dma said he bought it at about 14 with the first money he earned shucking corn away from home. June 7, 1995: Grandma is now, but never used to be, afraid of heights. “ There was a big old apple tree in the orchard”, with a branch sticking way out, & a swing h anging from it. Grandma used to climb out onto that brance with a book, sit there, & read. She & R oy once clumbed up the poles supporting the grain elevator, and walked around atop it. Telling her of the Peoria man we met in Stratford, Grandma said, “Yes, t hat was where I was married.” She said she’d been married by a justice of the peace named H erman J. Bridegroom. She chose him for this reason and thought many people must have, becaus e next to his office was a neat little parlor, fixed up with nice carpet and soft lighting, e tc. We talked of laundry, how old machines you had to begin with whites, th en towels, on down to darks, because the same water was used throughout and would have grayed w hites. Mom asked if wringers were fun, and Gram said yes, unless you got an am cau ght, and we told of how Dad had when little: “Look how clean my arm is!” Gram said she’d h elped a woman who had caughter her hand in a wringer and, with a ring on, it could tear y our hand up quite a bit. It was haying time, and threshing time, so they came & asked Gram if she w anted to work for her. Gram hellped with the cooking, etc., but one day the threshers came, an d she had to feed them, too! I asked how old she was, and Gram said, she’d just graduated from h igh school, so she was sixteen. She didn’t really know that much cooking, she said. Some old er lady came to help out, too, and it was only for two weeks, and they got along. Speaking of Mr. Bridegroom...Going to Peoria, you crossed the bridge, t hen on the street (Gram could remember its name, but I can’t) he had a sign, Herman J. Bridegro om, and Gram had seen that every time she went into Peoria for years, and always thought it w ould be neat to be married by him, “and I was!” March 29, 1997: Gram told of her ‘big square house’ in Wing (moved the e right around 4th b-day, left when 12) with an orchard on the West (?) side. It had a big a pple tree with a big broad branch where you could sit without danger of falling. Gram used t o clamber up there with a book & read. But no danger of falling because “like your mom” s he didn’t need much sleep & could never nap. But one Saturday after finishing ‘the cleanin g’ they were planning for the dance that night, and Gram’s mom suggested they lie down for a nap s ince they’d be up late. Gram said she’d lie down but probably wouldn’t be able to sleep. But s he did! And was really surprised. And couldn’t remember any other time she napped until she g ot older-- ‘And now I can sleep anywhere!’ Square house: The fall of 1922 Grandma really wanted to go to school & had been f ussing. The first grade teacher told Lena she only had six students so one more wouldn’t m atter. So Gram started school at 5. By Christmas or so she and another girl had finis hed the first grade reader. They started on the second grade. And even though she got scarlet feve & was out of school for five weeks, still finished it. And the next fall they (she and the o ther girl) were started in second grade but were really bored so went into third grade at six. A b oy whose dad was on the school board ended up with them because if ‘those girls’ were going a head he should be able to. Which is why Gram graduated at sixteen. So she thinks always sort o f old for her age because she was small, and with older kids, which is why, perhaps, the a ge difference between her and Gramp seemed less. Scarlet fever: the worthless doctor came and saw where Gram had s cratched terribly, picked up her arm between thumb and finger as though he didn’t want to t ouch it, and said she had ‘seven-year itch’. Her mother asked if it couldn’t be scarlet feve and he said no. Next day he came, and Roy was also lying there on his bed, and Lena had him chec k both. He said Roy had the flu and just needed castor oil. But next day he, too, had a ra sh, and Lena called him and said angrily, “Have you ever seen a case of flu where you break out in a r ash?” So he agreed maybe both had scarlet fever. Roy was out of school for four weeks. Le a, too, had scarlet fever when little, but very bad. She was in bed for a year and had to l earn to walk again. Gram said scarlet fever tends to settle somewhere, and thinks it settled in h er mother’s kidney’s: when Gram was a sophomore her mother just didn’t feel right but didn’t t ust that same crazy doctor and drove up the Mayo Clinic, and they found that something was t he matter with her kidneys. They feared cancer and removed her left kidney--scar all arou d her left side. When she came back, she couldn’t operate the treadle sewing machine, so Gram g ot her first ‘ready-made’ dress then. Other two when a senior--the yellow crepe de c hine one for baccalaureate which is in her graduation photo, and her white graduatio dress. Also wore cap and gown. The guest speaker at the ceremony was the Presbyterian (?) m inister from Fairbury and sat upon the podium and was the first to clap when Gram’d finished h er speed and referred to her speech in his, ‘so I felt pretty good about that.’ ‘I always lo ved school...I really probably should have gone to college...’--scholarships for being valedictorian, b ut never really thought about it. Was actually only one year behind Roy in school. When he was a se ior he had a motorcycle and put a sidecar on it, and that’s how they went to school. A d Gram’s mother was glad because then she still had her car. Once they were driving ho me to Wing fom Forrest (5 miles) School and had picked up speed when they passed an alleyway. A b oy had just finished eating an apple and threw the core, and it hit Gram right in t he throat! Roy was furious and turned right around and drove up the alley and scared the guy half t o death! He made the guy apologize to Gram. The next year when Roy was no longer in school w as when Gram learned to drive the car, and Lena did without. And Gram thought she w as ‘hot stuff.’ Once the football team (whose games were played in the cow pasture there in F orrest) was playing a game somewhere, and Gram got permission to drive part of the team in he car. Big old four-story schoolhouse, grade school on first floor. Salutatorian Virg inia. Gram had very few dresses: would wear one one week, the other the next. But one winter s he had a part-wool dress Lena made, and wore it all winter long! I asked if she got sick o f it. She said, “Yes! I was so glad when spring came!” Another big maple tree behind the house, wi th the clothesline below it. And once Gram was hanging out clothes and was barefoot, and a b ee was in the grass and stung her foot. Didn’t always have a Christmas tree because they were sort of poor . But when Roy got older he insisted on it. So (‘because we didn’t have electricity then” ) they had little round holders with springclips to attach to branches, with pinky-width, 3-inc h candles in them. Christmas morning they had to wait at the top of the stairs. Lena’d sa id “Wait here while I check to see if Santa’s gone” and she’d light candles, and then they co uld come down. One Christmas it was really cold so Lena told her she could sleep with Roy ( chimney there & warmer!). Very excited so they couldn’t sleep, and Gram’s imagination g ot the better of her, and she said she thought she heard sleigh bells. Then later, watching t he chimney, she was sure she saw a shadow and was sure it was Santa! Some folks at Wing got together to build a community center where t hey had Saturday ight dances. Gram’s father called (not sang) the dances, perhaps the o ly caller. So he didn’t get to dance much, though he and Lena loved to, ‘but she had lots of pa tners’ and Gram loved it too, but didn’t get to much after she began dating Grandpa, because h e didn’t like to. Once the weather and roads were bad so they left the car and walked in along t he tracks! (one mile to town) Gram lived from age 2-4 in Elmwood, Illinois with her grandparen ts. Mom says Grandma had to work hard when a girl, had to keep house while her mom w orked in the fields. February 18, 1998--Asked regarding little store on tricorner lot along N orth Illinois--once a tiny grocery where Mom remembers getting popsicles out of a cooler. Grandpa a d Grandma parked near it in 1940 when they first came out here in the trailer (18 ’) they bought from Gram’s parents. On the corner with the hitch was a little dressing room/’bath oom’ (but no toilet). And a little 2-foot-square heating stove for wood or coal (Gram always f orgot to empty ashes till done cleaning and made a mess again)--stove at back of trailer, the cou ch/bed either rested on floor or put higher on little shelves. The cake at the double wedding s lid over (held at McGavins (?) where Elks is now), and someone had to hold up the top lay er during the eception. Gram told of driving into Peoria, crossing the bridge over t he Illinois River, and coming up a hill, and Mr. Bridegroom, Justice of the Peace, office on t he right. Lovely parlor with rose-colored carpet and soft light. Suddenly Grandma laughed at t hought of a forgotten memory. “Did I ever tell you what happened that night?” Mom said, “I’ m not sure that we want to know!” Roy and Marilyn ‘stood up’ at the ceremony, and their m other came down also (ceremony at 4:00), then they went to Elmwood to see her parents. Comi g back Lena decided to stop in! (They didn’t take a honeymoon, and Gram had to ask for tha t Saturday off even, because they worked six days a week) And Gram said, laughing, “And we w ere already in bed!” Roy was ‘having a fit’, saying, “You don’t want to go there!”, a d Mom says she can see it, because Lena had very firm ideas. Gram got dressed and went to ans wer the door, and then Gramp had to get dressed too, and he was embarrassed (Gram too, I gathe ) but not as much. And Gram says everyone has some qualms about marriage, wondering if ‘ev erything will work out all right’, but she had no real fears. The most interesting pet we ever had as children, and there were m any, was a squirrel. We lived in central Illinois and had gone into the timber near the Verm illion River to look for spring flowers. Three young boys had gotten some baby squirrels, no do ubt having killed the mother and robbed her nest. They showed them to us and my little siste just had to have one of them so my Mother agreed to take one. It was so tiny that it just fit i to the palm of one's hand and we had it for three weeks before it opened its eyes. My Father did 't think we could raise it as sometimes a wild animal will not take food but my Mother prepared a f ormula and fed the baby every three hours, day and night. As the weeks passed the little squirrel became the pet of the hous ehold. We bought a toy doll bottle and it learned to drink its milk, holding the bottle in its f ont paws like a baby. When we ate, it went around the table over our shoulders for a handout from e ach one of us. Or, if it was outside when we were eating, it would climb up on the screen door, h ang upside down and "bark" at us until we let it inside. My Father used to give the squirr el ginger snaps and, when it had eaten all it wanted, it would bury the rest under a pillow. My Fat her would get the cookie, give it back to the squirrel and it woud bury it again, patting down th e pillow with its front feet. When we gave it a grape or plum to eat, it would turn it quickly in its p aws and the peelings would fly, first from one side and then the other. We really enjoyed a ll the things we learned from this little pet. In the fall of the year, it disappeared and some friends in the co untry called and said the squirrel was at their place in a walnut grove. My Mother went out and b ought it home but within a week it was back in the walnut grove so we decided it was looking for c ompanionship and let it stay there. However, we never forgot our little friend and the enjoyme t it gave us. Grandma's dad went to shell corn the morning she was born. It was very c old. Lena had to call him to come back home. When Grandma was 6 weeks o ld she had pneumonia. 3 weeks old again [sic--my notes] backset [?], n early died lips & nails blue. fluid in lungs broken loose, Gram's mom c ame in & she was covered in it. 7 mths red measles. Lena didn't know a d didn't protect eyes. So when a bit older'd put out in evening in hi gh chair after sunset but tears would still roll down cheeks. When kids h ad it here, dark red drapes in liv room so sat in there in dark & Gram r ead out of Childcraft books. 'It seemed that's all I got done all day l ong.' Born in IN, to IL when 2 and lived on Grandfather's farm SW of Elmwood, I L remember being sick but not what she had. Big bush at corner of room u pstairs at head of stairs where she & Roy slept. Can remember roosters c owing. B-day when they moved to Forrest, little shacky house 1 big be droom, liv room, kitchen. Kerosene heather for heat, 3' tall or so, do esn't need chimney. That night heated wienies on top of it for supper ( 4th b-day) MMS b. 1922, when she a year old built a new house on that place--the b ig square one. Gram 'just crazy about that baby', wanted to hold her a ll the time Wanted to go to school so bad. Started at 5. Teacher said she had 6 o ther 1st graders so it was OK. Gram & 1 other girl went ahead, finishe d 1st grade reader by 1/2 way thru, finished 2nd gr by end of yr. Scar let fever on 6th b-day & missed 6 wks of school. So next fall 2nd grad e uninteresting so teacher said if her parents said OK they'd go to 3rd g . So when grad from 8th gr 12, & HS 16. Lena said Roy didn't try in HS because he was afraid he might have to m ake a speech. Started working Feb 13 1934 first job for Corn Hog Association Roosevel t thing. They'd measure farm field sizes, etc., & Gram had to make up w orksheets & figure acreages. Feb-Sept '34. 6 days/wk. $3/day at first , lowered to $2.50/day. Called back (laid off in winter) & back up. Of fices in Farm Bureau building. 1st yr. got athlete's foot, infection t hen from unwashed stockings (new) & new shoes & had to go home & have M om take care of me. Next yr. then (summer) got German measles & had to g o home again (had been in room in Peoria) & while home Marilyn came dow with mumps. To work for a week then she came down w/mumps & home aga in. 1st yr. Peoria stayed with friend of family who helped get job & roome d with her. 2nd yr. just had room & ate in restaurants. Got tired of e ating out a lot. Breakfast 10c doughnuts & glass of milk. Sandwich 15 c & milk 5c lunch. Supper 35c Hated to ride streetcars so walked to w ork (& saved 10c) prob. 12-14 blocks. Later then worked year-round. 1 938 got married, boss let her stay on (not usual). Had taken Civil Ser vice exam, didn't expect job from it (indicated grade not high enough) b ut May '38 opp. to Rock Island Arsenal. Apt. in Moline, IL to work there (not sure at first whether to give up j ob & go there). At first just clerk/typist, after while in charge of c hecking other girls' work, last 6 mths typing up inspectors reps on M1 ( 2) tanks & there til Sept 1940 then moved out here. 1938 did make trip here--Gram Roy Gramp Alice & another kid & his siste ; visited Jessens & they went hunting. Here from Sept 15-early Nov, c el. Roy's b-day on way home. Ran out of $ so last few days didn't eat t il Peoria where they knew they could get $. After here lived in trailer @ big house with garage next Stardust (not t hat house though). Didn't do anything that fall; Gramp didn't want any thing to interfere with hunting (feared unemp'd find him a job!) Gram t ired of trailer so looked for job--Selective Service in Boise, bought l ittle house there on N 20th. Shortly after Gramp at Sawtooth Co. on Gr ove St. Hunting trip to mts. rode in 14 mi. on horseback to old miner' s cabins on Mid Fork Salmon R. Big group. Gram didn't shoot any deer. U . Lee & wife along, & she killed a deer (hadn't shot or hunted before) A fterwards Eileen got white as a sheet 'I killed it...' Could kill 2 in t hat area. Got quite a few. Pretty sell sit. (home, etc.) so decided to start family. Gram quit j ob abt Thanks. Then Dec 7 Pearl Harbor. Gram felt bad, that they coul d've used her help. Then at Christmas planned trip to IL on Portland R ose midnight but at 9 am her dad called--Lena's ruptured appendix, so g ot stuff together & caught noon train. Rough trip not knowing what the y'd find. But had just discovered Sulfa; used that, & prob what saved h er life. Stayed with her a week or 2 after Gramp came back, pretty soo after learned she was to have Mom. May 1942 changed Gramp's classif. to 1A so could be drafted (w/Gram pre g. didn't want that) so to Portland to shipyards (doing war work so 4F ). Oct 1942 Mom. Landlady uncooperative because (knew kid's upstairs) f om ID & either helped get apt. or job or just met later [??] Madhous e & Gramp disliked job--welded too fast (!) & foreman said to slow down --he made others feel bad. Refused to, since a war effort. Foreman sa id if he didn't he'd get fired. Gramp said, "No, because I'm quitting! " Foreman said he'd go straight to army. But back to ID & farm (also n ecessary)--Gramp knew all necessary. German POW & Japanese, & some Mex icans. Back to ID March 1943. Bought little farm E of Caldwell, there w hen Jay born. Jan. 1946 back to IL & visited with folks in Fairbury. Her folks came u p & got Gram, Mom & Jay & then to TX. Gramp back here, sold farm, stor ed stuff. then to TX, too, brought back up to IL. There a little whil e then back here. Rented little place 1 mi. S of the farm, looked arou d for houses but couldn't find satisfactory, so had this one built 194 7 (Feb 17) moved in [When Grandma was born] the doctor came to the house. It was the same d octor as delivered Uncle Roy, but a different house. Birth certificate : Grandma needed hers for her civil service job, but there was no reco d of it, so her parents had to swear an affidavit. 1 place listed her b irthdate as Feb. 17, and another Feb. 19. Uncle Roy's birth certificat e was there, though. Grandpa H's wasn't there either, so his mother ha d to swear one also. Dating by late '34 or early '35, hanging out with h is brothers and sisters. To American Legion dance and stayed with Alic e. Civil Service exam: shorthand part did bad (hot & sweaty). Encoura ged to retake it but later called up to work. Late '30s was married. A senald Rock Island. From: Linda J. Montgomery [mailto:110235.567@compuserve.com] Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2001 10:11 AM To: Megan Montgomery Subject: grandma's info Hi, Just a fast note to tell you that I did remember to ask Grandma about W orld War II and she is writing down what she can remember--she will show it t o me when she's done and I will probably try to send it in an email. She said should she rewrite it and mail it to you and I told her she didn't eed to go to that trouble unless I can't figure out what she has writt en. So I assume I will see it tomorrow and send it--should I send it to you a t work or at home? You do need to remember, too, that she may include he politically biased views on stuff--I sort of got it last night when she w as telling me what she was doing--like she thought when we declared war on Japan we should have concentrated our effort on it and not got involved i the war in Europe--of course, I don't know enough about the whole thing t o agree or disagree with her, but I'm sure there was a reason for us doin g as we did. I also asked about the square dancing thing and she just said "country music' without being specific--I'll try to see if she remember s any specific songs. She also said Grandpa just called the square dances--he had cut off the end of the middle finger on his left hand eaching down into some kind of motor and after that, it was difficult f or him to play so didn't do much of it when he was older (did I know this before--I don't think so). Well, it's time for me to be off to school so guess this is it for now. Hope all is well in Virginia. Take care. Love you as always, Mom From: Linda J. Montgomery [mailto:110235.567@compuserve.com] Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2001 9:20 PM To: Megan Montgomery Subject: grandma's WWII info Megan, I will send you the info Grandma gave me; she had it written out and I' m going to copy her words exactly. I'm not sure if this is exactly what y ou had in mind; it is more about what she and Grandpa were doing during th e war. If you want something more specific, why don't you send me detail ed questions and I'll see what I From email from Erika Hoffmann, August 2006: Grandma said to me last w eek when I asked her "What was your favourite thing about being a mom.. .what part of it did you like the most?"...She said, "Well, that is too b ig a question for one answer, but (pause) I ALWAYS knew I wanted to be a m om". To me it was great to hear her answer something with such clear m emories of her past, and I think that is something you'll appreciate me t elling you about.
  Person ID	I6	Megan's Big Tree
  Last Modified	31 Dec 1969

  
  

  Father	Albert Carl Swing,   b. 11 Apr 1889, Cissna Park, Iroquois, Illinois, United States ,   d. 1 Feb 1969, Harlingen, Cameron, Texas, United States  (Age 79 years)
  Mother	Lena Agnes Hunkler,   b. 22 Dec 1892, Washington, Tazewell, Illinois, United States ,   d. 13 Jun 1964, Harlingen, Cameron, Texas, United States  (Age 71 years)
  Married	18 Jun 1913	Peoria, Peoria, Illinois, United States   [4]
  Family ID	F9	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Joseph Benjamin Hoffmann,   b. 22 Aug 1907, Fairbury, Livingston, Illinois, United States ,   d. 16 May 1983, Caldwell, Canyon, Idaho, United States  (Age 75 years)
  Married	12 Mar 1938	Peoria, Peoria, Illinois, United States
  Children	1. Linda Jo Hoffmann   2. Jay Brian Hoffmann,   b. 23 May 1944, Boise, Ada, Idaho, United States ,   d. 11 Aug 1984, Walker, Texas, United States  (Age 40 years)   3. Paula Marie Hoffmann   4. Carla Ann Hoffmann
  Last Modified	30 Aug 2021
  Family ID	F3	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 19 Feb 1917 - Francesville, Pulaski, Indiana, United States Married - 12 Mar 1938 - Peoria, Peoria, Illinois, United States Died - 3 Jul 2007 - Boise, Ada, Idaho, United States Buried - Address: Canyon Hill Cemetery - 9 Jul 2007 - Caldwell, Canyon, Idaho, United States  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Photos » Slide Show		Sailor Dress.jpg
  		Hoffmann Family 1993.jpg (At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)
  		Hoffmann Family Holiday.jpg (At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)
  		Hoffmann Family Lansing.jpg (At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)
  		Joseph and Velma Hoffmann Wedding Day.jpg
  		Annie Swing, Roy and Velma.jpg
  		Christmas 2002 (At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)
  		Joe _ Velma Hoffman.jpg
  		Joe and Velma (Swing) Hoffmann - Wedding Day
  		Lena Albert Marilyn Maria Velma Uncle John.jpg
  		Linda and Velma Hoffmann.jpg (At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)
  		Linda Jay and Velma Hoffmann.jpg (At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)
  		Graduation Photo
  		Velma Marie Swing
  		Wagon Ride
  		Sailor Dress
  		Annie Swing with Roy and Velma
  		Christmas 2002 (At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)
  		Velma Hoffmann
  		Hoffmann Family, 1993 (At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)
  		Hoffmann Family Holiday (At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)
  		Hoffmann Family on Lansing (At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)
  		Joe and Velma Hoffmann, Wedding Photo
  		Joe and Velma (Swing) Hoffmann - Wedding Day
  		Lena Albert Marilyn Maria Velma Uncle John Swing
  		Linda and Velma Hoffmann (At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)
  		Linda, Jay, and Velma Hoffmann (At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)

  
  

• Sources

  [S25] 1920 Census . Salem Twp., Knox, Illinois [unlisted month] 14-15, 1920 sup dist 7 enum 1 89 Fm 271 271 Swing Albert C Head R M W 30 M yes yes Illinois Ohio France F ench yes Farmer General Farm Ou 90 ---Lena Wife F W 27 M yes yes Illinois Switzerland Swiss Switzerland Sw iss yes none ---Roy A. Son M W 5 S Indiana Illinois Illinois none ---Velma M. Daughter F W 2 S Indiana Illinois Illinois none [S27] 1930 Census . [S1267] 1940 Census . [S301] LDS File from Mrs. Bates .