MARCH 18, 1940 NOTES on the TRANSCRIPTION Gladys Cooper Star
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1939-40 1 THE DIARY OF GLADYS BOLON COOPER BOOK I. SEPT. 3, 1939 --MARCH 18, 1940 NOTES ON THE TRANSCRIPTION Gladys Cooper started her diary on her 40th birthday, and would keep it up for over fifty years until the day before her death on November 19, 1969. The diary was transcribed by Donald B. Cooper, son of Gladys, using the "Multimate" word processing program. The original diaries consist of 46 separate notebooks, which Gladys numbered 1-45. [The 46th book, which related to a trip taken to Arizona and New Orleans, in 1968, is labeled Book 35A.] There also survives a calendar for the year 1987 which contains many short, handwritten entries. All of the original books of the diary remain in Donald's possession. In making this transcription the original diaries have been copied verbatim except that certain abbreviations (such as, for example, "S.S." for "Sunday School," and "Chas." for "Charles" have been extended). In addition, certain explanatory comments, such as adding the full names of individuals, where known, or explaining the context of an entry, have been added in square brackets, i.e. "[...]." There are also a few places where the text is illegible, and this also has been noted, as appropriate. Finally, in a few places, I have typed names or sentences in CAPITAL LETTERS to highlight something or someone of unusual interest. IMMEDIATE MEMBERS OF THE COOPER FAMILY MARY GLADYS BOLON COOPER. (September 3, 1899 -- Nov. 19, 1989) The author of this diary. CHARLES DOLMAN COOPER (May 2, 1899 -- August 26, 1969) CHARLES WILLIAM COOPER(Bill). (August 13, 1924 -- Nov. 23, 1988) DOROTHY JEAN COOPER (KUTCHERA). (March 16, 1928- ) DONALD BOLON COOPER. (August 20, 1931- ) MEMBERS OF THE EXTENDED COOPER FAMILY FANNY EUGENIA DOLMAN COOPER (STEWART), (June 14, 1876-1971). Mother of Charles Cooper and Ralph Cooper, identical twins. Married CHARLES FREDERICK COOPER (July 16, 1875--Feb. 6, 1903) on June 16, 1898. There were no other children from this union. Married JAMES BLAIR STEWART (June 8, 1867-- ) on May 12, 1915. No children from this union, but James Stewart had six (?) children from his first marriage. Fanny was the daughter of SAMUEL FLEMING DOLMAN (June 23, 1833--March 16, 1897), a Union soldier in the Civil War, and EMILY CROW DOLMAN (August 14, 1835--Feb. 26, 1902). The Dolman's were married May 11, 1875. 1939-40 2 ELIZA JANE (JENNIE) DOLMAN (KNOWLES), (1880-1974). Sister of Fanny, aunt of Charles Cooper, husband of CHARLES E. KNOWLES, (Charlie), (1880-1950). No children from this union. RALPH KINGSTON COOPER, (1899-May 31, 1967). Identical twin brother of Charles Cooper, married FRIEDA MARIE PHILLIPS (HUBBARD), (1903- ), and father of JOSEPH FREDERICK COOPER, (1926-1995), BETSY FRANCES COOPER (AZLIN), (1918- ), RALPH KINGSTON COOPER, (King), (1937- ), MARJORIE ANN COOPER (LITTLE), (MINAKAMI), (1935 - ), and LINDA CAROL COOPER (ERICKSON) , (1940— ) Ralph lived on a 900-acre ranch near Buckeye, Arizona, raising variously cotton, citrus, and hogs. He left Harvard University in his sophomore year and moved for health reasons (indications of tuberculosis, which had killed his father, but which Ralph never developed) to the dry climate of Arizona where he met Frieda Phillips. The Charles Cooper family had visited Ralph Cooper and family in the summer of 1939 just before Gladys started her diary in September, 1939. GLADYS BOLON COOPER: BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT Mary Gladys Bolon Cooper was born on September 3, 1899 in Cumberland, Ohio, the daughter of Dr. WILLIAM K. BOLON (Nov. 5, 1853 -- December 14, 1914), and WILMA HAYES BOLON (March 5, 1865 — February 11, 1925). She was the only child of this union. Her father had previously been married to ANNA HALL; they had one son, AUDLIE, who drowned in the Scioto river (sometime before his father's death in 1914). Gladys attended public schools in Cumberland, Ohio, and college at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, and Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio without taking a degree. She did earn a Teacher's Certificate, and taught elementary school for a year or two in Cambridge, Ohio. Her interests included baking, canning, crocheting, bridge, and reading. CHARLES DOLMAN COOPER Gladys married Charles Dolman Cooper on June 9, 1923. The families had been acquainted since Charles and Gladys were babies. Charles, and his identical twin brother, Ralph Kingston Cooper, were the only children of Dr. Charles Frederick Cooper, D.D.S. (1874-1903), and Fanny Eugenia Dolman Cooper (later Stewart), (1876-1971). After graduating from The Ohio State University in 1923 with a B.S. in Engineering, Charles accepted a position as Instructor in the Department of Engineering Drawing in 1923, a position he held until his retirement in 1966 with the rank of Full Professor. Charles Cooper served the DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING DRAWING [later- Engineering Graphics] for forty-three years, one of the longest periods of faculty service in the history of Ohio State. He was also an active member of the Faculty Club, and Crestview Presbyterian Church. His interests included carpentry, gardening, and bridge. Both Charles and Gladys were loyal Republicans. CHARLES WILLIAM COOPER ("Bill") From this union were born three children, all born in Columbus. 1939-40 3 The first child was Charles William Cooper (August 13, 1924 -- November 23, 1988), who died of Hodgkin’s Disease. Bill, as he was known to the family, married GLORIA BOND (later, VAN DIXON), (October 27, 1924), and they were the parents of GARY LEE COOPER (September 27, 1951), NANCY KAY COOPER (August 27, 1948), COLLEEN COOPER (August 7, 1957), WAYNE ROGER COOPER (October 28, 1958), and KAREN SUE COOPER (GREEN), (February 1, 1960). DOROTHY JEAN COOPER KUTCHERA The second child was Dorothy Jean Cooper (Kutchera), born March 16, 1928, and, as of date of writing (1997) living in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dorothy Jean married RICHARD EMERY KUTCHERA, M.S. (July 26, 1924), and they are the parents of BARBARA JEAN ("B. J.") KUTCHERA (NOVAK) (August 15, 1955), CHARLES ANTHONY KUTCHERA (January 16, 1958), and VALERIE ANN KUTCHERA (HOOPER), (December 14, 1959). DONALD BOLON COOPER The third child, Donald Bolon Cooper, Ph.D., was born August 20, 1931, and like his father was a long-time Professor [The Senior Professor of Latin American History] at Ohio State University [1969 to 1995], and, after retirement from the main campus of Ohio State at Columbus, taught part-time several years longer at the Pontifical College Josephinum, Worthington, Ohio, and The Ohio State University at Newark, Newark, Ohio, where he continued to teach Latin American history. Donald married ELLEN ALBERTA HUTCHINS on September 8, 1957. They are the parents of Dr. JOHN FREDERICK COOPER, M.D. (September 6, 1958), THOMAS GLENN COOPER (November 23, 1961), and LINDA MARIE COOPER, M.S., (CHANNELL), (June 8, 1965). THE FAMILY RESIDENCE AT 393 MIMRING ROAD At the time of the beginning of the diary in September, 1939, Gladys Cooper lived with Charles and their three children at 393 Mimring Road in north Columbus in a neighborhood known as Clintonville. The Coopers had purchased this home new in 1931 for $8,500 just before the birth of Donald. They had previously owned a house on Oakland Avenue not far from Ohio State University. The house on Mimring Road was a large house in a quiet middle-class neighborhood. On the FIRST FLOOR the house had, in front, a sizable living room. In this room, as one entered through the front door, there was a small entry way, which included a closet (which family members called a "clothespress"), and a walnut hat rack with which Charles' maternal grandparents, Samuel and Marie Emma Dolman, had gone to housekeeping in 1875. Within the front room itself there was an upright piano, a small desk, or "secretary," a large, floor model radio, perhaps four feet high, a couch and other furniture. To the back of the house was the dining room, a breakfast room, the kitchen, and a half-bath. On the ground level of the house there was also a large FRONT PORCH, which had a "glider," or a three-seat couch which could move back and forth, much appreciated by the children. There were two silver maple trees in front, and, along the driveway, six large Chinese elm trees, and a hedge which produced small, inedible inky black berries ideally suited for throwing on neighbors’ driveways as a childish Halloween prank. 1939-40 4 The GARAGE was for a single car, but still rather spacious, allowing ample storage, and, in the loft, at the rear, and facing onto the backyard, there was an alcove in the roof where Charles raised fan tail pigeons. I do not recall that these were pets, and they probably were sold to others. Eventually the fan tail pigeons were removed, and those still there were given to the Columbus zoo. On the SECOND FLOOR of the house there were three bedrooms and a full bath. There was also a bookcase at the top of the stairs which contained the 1939 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, no doubt an expensive purchase for the Cooper family in those times. Charles and Gladys had the master bedroom, of course, and Dorothy Jean also had her own bedroom. The third bedroom was used for some years by Fanny Dolman Stewart, mother of Charles, who lived with the family for a time, and also, still later, by Jenny Knowles, sister of Fanny, who lived with the family for a shorter period of time. On the THIRD FLOOR there was, once it was finished, a large bedroom, first for Bill and later for Donald, a drafting studio for Charles, and a small sewing room for Gladys. The sewing room contained a beautiful, large oak chest where linens and blankets were stored, and which had been made as a high school wood shop project in 1916 by Charles and his brother, Ralph.