Thursday, January 26, 2017

Continued Connections of MP - Mary Parker Brown and Ethyl Elizabeth "Betty" Eicher of Ohio



Jan 21 2017  Unearthing more of the Betty Eicher and “M P”, Mary Parker Brown Story in Ohio  - Found more of the papers that cousin Billy Eicher sent a couple of years ago, in a box hidden in my office!  Happy to be clearing and cleaning prior to another trip to Ohio, where they may be added to the collection at the Ohio History Center –

Betty, AKA Ethel Elizabeth Eicher, was attending Miami University in Oxford OH in 1934
1935 April - Ethel, AKA "Betty" is living on campus in Oxford Ohio, Miami University-  Penny post card from her Mother, Minnie Stupp Eicher (who died later in 1935 )

Mother's concerns about Betty's "cold" and heat and also with son Bill who was 16 years younger, and she became like a second mother to him with Mary Parker MP here - Betty born 22 Feb 1913 Miamisburg OH and Bill, Wm H Eicher  b 16 Feb 1927  Miamisburg OH
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Envelop mailed by MP, who was teaching in Hiram to Miss Betty Eicher in March 1940
 Noticing the familiar language of "Dearie" and relating to a living arrangement, likely the Parker home in Franklin, just south of Maimisburg - Curious about the Marie here, and perhaps is on the 1930 Census for the home --Marie was age 4, born 1926 in Ohio, and daughter in law of Barry and Anna Brown from Kentucky - And in 1940 was age 14, living in the Brown home, 403 Park Ave, Franklin Ohio

 
 Mary Parker living with the Cline Family near Hiram College Campus with Cline Family - Tommy Cline age 7 according to Census 1940, born in Peking China ----



 1940 Letter Envelope from father Charles A Eicher from home in Miamisburg to daughter Betty now living c/o Miss Mary Parker Brown

Betty's father, writes to explain who he has come to trust, Miss Edmundson, whom he later married and the resentments between him and his oldest sister Emma Esther, and my grandmother Edna, his younger sister who married Noah Elwood Weaver - watch out for those 3, and trust the doctor and Miss Edmundson - insight for me to notice what was handed down to my father and also in the Eicher lineage -----and that forgiveness heals and can lead to full serenity in my experience  --


 





Charles A Eicher wrote this in 1940, 5 years after the sudden death of his first wife, Minnie Stupp,
--> 27 Aug 1935, Dayton, OH - and while he was dating  --> Ethyl Amy EDMUNDSON, whom he married  --> 3 Jul 1945, Montgomery Co OH 

In reading Betty's 30 something summary of life in Miamisburg to her younger brother Bill in the 1980's  she writes of her poor health at the end of high school and that her father had no trust in a college education, and in fact he gave her a piece of jewelry (page 29) a small ring - in the writing I learn that Miss MP Brown from Franklin was teaching at Miamisburg and that Betty applied to be her teaching assistant which she as able to be - Betty graduated in 1931 from High School in the Great Depression and on p 31 "For three years after graduation I was at home (Central Ave, Miamisburg near the Hill Grove Cemetery)  Sometime during that period I learned that Miss Brown had loaned money to some students to go to college -p 32  the terms were generous - 2%interest while the student was in college, 4 % after leaving college "  "When Mary Parker offered to help me financially for college I was afraid Dad would be against the idea - He was great on education in general, but because one West Carrollton boy who was a fool before he went to college and was still a fool when he left college, Dad was down on colleges ------I suggested we ask Mother first, so Mary Parker did, and Mother talked Dad into letting me go   Although theorectically (sic) MP was to provide money for college expenses, she was soon paying all of my expenses -------I enrolled in Miami University, in Oxford, in the Fall of 1934 - I weighed 98 lbs----I was then 21 years old - I was assigned a room in a girls dormitory, East Hall - one of the oldest dorms and Lillian Kehrle Suttman had roomed in East years before  -----my Freshman roommate was Evelyn McClelland - she married an Astro-Physicist and took a Master's Degree at Ohio State one year when I was at OSU - We keep up a correspondence  (see more on the writings of Betty in the pdf I have saved ) - About her Mother's death and (p 33) as they did not have a telephone in their home, the Kehrle's got a call from the hospital in Aug 1935 when Mother, Minnie Stupp Eicher, who had had a surgery for a tumor in Dayton, had a blood clot (embolus) to her heart and the neighbor gave a message Shirley Kehrle to Betty and she gave it to her father who went back to the hospital - Bill ran down the alley (was 8 years old) and he said "Mother didn't die ---she was the only Mother I ever had"  Bill, those words have haunted me and will continue to haunt me for the rest of my life"

Then she describes how Mary Parker helped her to try to commute three days a week up to Oxford, Mon Weds and Friday that fall, and stopped until spring and took care of Bill  and then transferred to Ohio State in Spring of 1936   -----

(Betty Graduated from OSU with a BA in 1939, and in 1940 an MA-
1941 - 42 taught 6th + 7th grade at Franklin where the only one with 2 degrees and paid $1000 -and the discipline problems for the 7th grade were more than I could handle"(p 35) 
MP suggested to  apply to a southern girls school, where there would be less of the discipline problems - Southern Seminary and Junior College as a Guidance Counselor and teacher of Psychology and Sociology for $800

She took a job in Virginia in '42-'42 Girls School in Buena Vista Virginia and left after one year, because of low pay -   Got a job at Patterson Field (Dayton) and paid $1860 per year - as a Civil  Service employee ----worked there and wrote until moved to Florida in 1947



 Jan 1942, Franklin OH Thirkields Store Receipt for $2,58 when she was living in Franklin with MP

 
1945 Letter from Pvt William H Eicher to his sister, Betty living at 403 Park Ave, Franklin 


March 29 1947 Fan Mail Envelope with Betty still living with Mary Parker and Brown Family - 403 Park Ave, Franklin in Warren County OH
 
Letter from Judy Lawson requesting an autographed photo in 1947 for a Polly Pigtails Story and referred to herself as a "cousin" too - Ancestry com research finds a Judy Lawson - Judith V Lawson, daughter of school superintendent William Everett Lawson, and Virginia Vandyke Lawson -born 10 JUN 1935 Cynthiana, Harrison, Kentucky - Curious if the cousins are from Mary Parker Brown's side not sure


Published fiction, short story by Elizabeth Eicher from The Catholic Miss of America Jan 1954, published by Youth Associates Company 25 Groveland Terrace, Minneapolis 5, Minnesota
Cover of The Catholic Miss of America found in Betty Eicher's papers carried by her nephew, Billy Eicher, Wm A Eicher of Lakeland Florida and inside index ----

 Page 14 across from Bill Lackey's art work page 15 first page of short story
 Page 16, second page of story- and the set up for going the Long Way and facing her fears, Joannie's scream and Ann's decision ---


 
Ann and Joannie trembling together and the ankle injury - and others coming to the Long Way to the rescue ----
  
P 45 and end of 'Fraidy Cat"story by Elizabeth Eicher  


















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