Three Generations - 1920

My grandmother (Merle Ketner Shoemaker) as a teenager posed with her mom (Ethel Payne Ketner) and grandma (Lydia Burgess Payne) about 1920. The house behind them--2718 North Mason--was built by Merle's father and she would live most of her life in that house. It was always known as "Grandma's House" to me.

"Grandma Payne" (seated) died in July of 1920. "Grandma Ketner" (Merle's mother, Ethel) is a childhood memory to me. By the time I knew her, her hair was snowy white. I recognize her smile here, though.

Ernest E. Shoemaker (1902 - 1968)

Ernest Ellsworth Shoemaker was born 16 March 1902 at Mt. Holly in Warren County near Xenia, Ohio.



Ernie Shoemaker at about sixteen years old.
16 mar 1902 ~ 18 mar 1968

Sometime after 1910, his mother left his father and moved the family to Washington State. He joined the Navy for a stint before becoming a carpenter.



I don't know how he met my grandma Merle and I suppose I should ask someone before all those who have heard the story are gone. I think it was while he was in the Navy and stationed on Puget Sound.

His is a quarter of my own DNA. I had the opportunity to know him into my teens. But I don't feel that I know much of who he was or what he felt as a person. He seemed mostly unhappy when I knew him but maybe that was just the effect of grandchildren pestering him. Lord knows most young people that meet me probably think I'm a crabby old bitch so I could see that possibility. He had a sly sense of humor. I hope he made Merle laugh more than cry.

From the Forties...

My mother serving a nursing internship at Western Washington State Hospital in the late 1940s.


My father the milkman--one of his early jobs.

Nostalgia

The doily was crocheted by my father's mother, Pearl Ford Rutland. That's her in the photo with my Mom sometime around 1950. Our family's roots are in Washington state, where my family names turn up in books on local history.

Street Snap - 1945

A street photographer snapped this photo of my aunt Lillian and grandma Merle on the streets of Tacoma in 1945. World War Two was winding down and a new spirit of optimism infused daily life in the States. This picture seems to catch that feeling...

One Hundred Years

In 1908, my great-great-grandfather, Willard Tabor Payne, built a house at 3111 North 8th Street in Tacoma, Washington. For a decade, the house at 3111 North 8th was known as "Granda and Grandma Payne's house." My grandma Merle and her siblings played in the back yard or posed for photographs on the front steps.



Here--in 1910--great-great-grandpa Payne is watering the lawn and saplings. The house was to be his last residence. He died there in September of 1917 at the age of 68 years. Afterward, his widow, Lydia, went to live with her daughters and the house eventually passed out of the family.

I was curious to know if the house still existed. The north side of Tacoma is full of old neighborhoods and gracefully aging homes, but I was surprised when I found a street-view in Google Maps that showed Granpa and Grandma Payne's house still standing after a century.