Earline Jeffress

In some ways it was a sad beginning as Earl Doble, mom’s father died in the flue epidemic of 1918. Mom was born May 8, 1919 and her mother, Elsie Fern, was left a widow with a son, Virgil, three and a new born.

Being a strong woman she took Earl’s life insurance of $10,000, bought a house and started to take in washing, ironing and sewing to support her family. Along came John VanRaden in his red roadster courting this very pretty widow.

They ended up with 800 acres of prime farm land in northern Minnesota and that’s where mom grew up. When Mom was 14, her sister, JoAnn was born. She always worked very hard helping with the threshing crews (they fed them three hot meals a day), babysitting for neighbors and still having fun fishing, horseback riding and swimming. This was in the day when you ironed with a flat iron that was heated on the coal stove. Chores were not easy things.

Mom finished school after 8th grade and at 18 or 19 decided to go to live with her brother Virgil and his wife Gerry in Detroit. These were tough times in 1938! A friend invited her to go on a blind date to the movies assuring her that “the fellow” was very nice. Even though she didn’t like movies she decided to go. Glendell actually was very nice and every time he came to see her he wore a different suit so he looked very prosperous! He was borrowing suits from his friends. After three weeks he proposed as he knew they would be very happy together.

Earline said yes and then they had to drive from Michigan to Bernie, Missouri as Viola Jeffress said her son would be married by a Baptist preacher. The home town pastor was on vacation so a cousin drove them to Kennett, MO to get the deed done on April 11, 1939. How tired these two innocents must have been!

After a brief visit in Bernie, the newlyweds left for St. Louis to look for work. It was hard to find and they were hungry. Mom weighed 87 pounds and the bag of dried beans they bought weren’t very good with just water to cook them in. They ended up as a maid & butler for a wealthy family. It was a real challenge – cooking, cleaning, serving – with finger bowls!

Daddy got a new job at Strobe Grocery, a very up-scale place and they moved to St. Louis. They had a two room apartment with one shared bathroom. Laundry was done in the basement after you heated the water on a wood stove and found your wash board. Entertainment was a movie on the weekend that they saved 50 cents for and you got a prize such as a dish towel or plate with admission.

On January 20th, Jackie was born. They moved again and found Mrs. Lindsey to take care of me. Mom worked in an ice cream plant where she had to report at 5 a.m. She then got a job in a steak restaurant. Tips were really good as this was war time and soldiers came in to eat. Daddy got a job at Endicot Shoe Co and mom went to work in the office there.

Mom is pregnant again with Gary, I am three and Daddy moves to Detroit and stays with Virgil and Gerry. Mom then arrives with two kids. They soon rented their own place but mom never really liked it. Daddy worked nights 11 to 7 and sometimes had two jobs. This was during the race riots and it seems as though there were a lot of rats and mice neither of which were her friends!

Mom and the kids went to Oran, MO for a vacation and to stay with relatives. While there mom saw a restaurant for sale, bought it and called Daddy to pack up they were moving and operating a restaurant. They were very successful and mom was making 10 to 15 pies a day. I remember the day World War II ended as I was outside making mud pies and all the church bells were ringing and sirens were going off. Then, time for a change again.

Daddy got a job with Armor & Co and we moved to Paducah, Ky. Mom worked in a department store and Daddy traveled a lot. We lived right behind the I.C. Hospital in the top floor of a converted mansion. Gary and I had a fireplace in our bedroom and we used to roast hot dogs and marsh mellows in the winter. In the summer, we just plain roasted as there was no such thing as air conditioning. Our parents used to take us out to Kentucky Lake to lie on the shore and let the water wash over us when it was 102 at night.

Moving again we ended up in Roxana, Ill. It was a great time and I think we were there for three years. We got our first television in 1950.

Then we were on the move again, this time back to St. Louis. We lived in Pine Lawn and had a shot gun house (one room right behind the other). You entered into the living room, the next room was mom & dad’s bedroom (probably originally a dining room), then the big kitchen, a small bathroom and a screened-in back porch. For the first time in our life, Gary and I, each had our own bedroom upstairs.

It was time for another change and we moved to Denver, Colorado. Both mother and I were very upset. It seemed like the end of the world. We all survived. Mom and Dad became very active in the First Baptist Church of Aurora, I started high school and Gary was in middle school. Daddy was a deacon at the church and taught Sunday School and mother was very active in anything connected with missions. Two or three years ago she was honored at the church for 50 years of service in missions.

The years passed and both Gary & I married and had children. Mom & Dad were always there to love and help in any way possible. Daddy passed away in March 1999. They were married for 60 years. Every day of that 60 years if they were in the same place, mom laid out his clothes for him. It was such a hard transition for her. She stayed on at their condo in Windsor Gardens and then around 2007, mom started to have difficulty remembering things. She was with me briefly and then went to an assisted living facility and after a fall, went to the Life Care Nursing Home in Longmont. She had exceptional care and attention for the remainder of her life.

She was a good woman, wonderful wife and mother, intelligent, loving and always a classy lady.

Arrangements under the direction of Olinger Hampden Mortuary & Cemetery, Denver, CO.