Off The Coast of Ballard: Family Pictures

This picture probably doesn't belong here, but it's me, and as my cousin Andrea said, "It's your blog". So I kept it in. The dingy that I'm in is one that dad built while he was courting mom. He built it in my grandfather's basement. Maren is in the process of refurbishing it, but it isn't a small task. But I digress.

While the above picture is probably from 1959, this narrative starts just over 60 years earlier. From 1898, here is a picture of the house Grandma Ruth was to be born one year later. Uncle Dick refers to the folks in the carriage as Grandma and Grandpa Greene, his mother's (my grandmother's) parents. On the porch is Dick's great grandmother Eaton. The house was in Moriah Center, New York.

Before moving on, it's decision time. From which generational perspective should we refer to these people? Is it my Great Great Grandmother, or Uncle Dick's Great Grandmother. Again, according to my cousin, it's my blog. So I'll defer to my Uncle and use his perspective. Subsequent generations can just add however many 'greats' to the title and we can move on. Uncle Dick's great grandmother Eaton is my generation's Great great grandmother and Devin and Kylies (And Logan's, Pierce's, Brittany's and Meghan's) great great great grandmother Eaton.

And speaking of Great Grandma Eaton, (Uncle Dick's great grandmother), here she is with an infant Ruth Carlotta Greene. The year was 1899.

Grandfather Greene to Uncle Dick this was Hugh Glyndon Greene, born in Western Pennsylvania. He was a school teacher for 35 years. Among other subjects, he taught penmanship and math.

A very young Ruth, around 1905 or so, with her mother, Mary Titus Greene. While her name was Ruth, her middle name was Carlotta and her father always called her 'Lotte'.

Fast forward a few years. Ruth grows up and attends Wellesley College. The following pics are likely high school graduation, around 1916 or so.

Unknown to this young woman growing up, there was a an older fellow, 23 years her senior, who had been born Harry Christian Aberle. Harry's father, Fredrick C Aberle owned a mill and Harry started to work in the mill at the young age of 12.

Aberle Mills was a fairly large, going concern and Harry took over the reins from his father. Pictured below are his half brother Gustav Carl Aberle, Fredrick Christian Aberle in the middle and Harry Christian Aberle. Harry had been married, then widowed in 1920.

In 1923, Harry went on a cruise to Havana with his young daughter Betty. It just so happened that one young school teacher went on that same cruise. The young school teachers name is lost to history but she had a friend. One Ruth Carlotta Greene.

We (and by 'we' I mean Uncle Dick) believe this picture came from that first cruise. Harry is on the left, likely the captain of the ship to his right with his arm around Betty and Ruth on the right.

In reviewing these pictures, my cousin Andrea commented on Harry's 'muscular legs'. My mother concurred. Perhaps thats what young Ruth noticed as well?

One more picture from that cruise. Dick said these were the only shots he'd seen of his father in a bathing suit.

Their courtship lasted 3 years. Harry would visit family and always find the time to stop by and visit Ruth on the way. Dick said it must have taken him 3 years to land her.

The picture above is Ruth, one year before she and Harry were married.

In 1926 they were wed. Harry was 50 and Ruth was 26, one week shy of her 27th birthday. A two month honeymoon involved a cruise to Europe.

The shot above is from the cruise, just before the ship departed for Europe. Harry and Ruth are pictured below.

Two years later the future pilot was born. John Hugh Aberle. My father.

By the late 30's they had 3 sons. Carl, on the left was the middle son, bracketed by Dick (with mom Ruth directly above), and John Hugh between Ruth and Harry. Carl had been oxygen deprived at birth and suffered brain damage. Portions of his brain worked exceptionally well, but back then special needs kids were not well understood. While Harry was fortunate to have the resources to provide care, Carl was quite a handful at times. At my father's memorial service Dick described he and my father growing up being bookends around the chaos that was Carl. Dad (John) would sequester himself in his room and either read or build one of his many models.

Carl, above with the household help. On the left is the cook, Pauline Gaskins who preceded Grace by several years. On the right was Carl's nursemaid, Pearl Thompson. This was taken 6 years prior to Harry's death. Within two weeks of his death, all the household help resigned. As Dick related, it wasn't due to any ill will towards Ruth, but the death, in Dick's words, "creeped everyone out". Harry's funeral was in the music room and Dick recalled avoiding that room especially at night for sometime afterwards.

L to R, John, Ruth, Harry, Dick and Carl

Poised shot of Dick at the Piano.

Dick, Carl and John

Poised shot of Carl at the piano

Harry took many photographs and had a 16mm movie camera for family events. This was quite something in the 1930's. He ended up with 100 reels of 16MM movie footage. Mom recalls seeing some of them in the late 1950's and at that time they had quite a red tinge to them. Now they are so faded as to be unseeable. Worse, film from that era is highly flammable.

This sequence of pictures was done for possible Christmas pictures. Neither Carl nor Dick played the piano, but Dick claimed that Dad could, at one time, play a couple of tunes on the piano. No one in the west coast family recalls John ever going near the piano, deferring to Mom's ability to play the instrument. Dick did take violin lessons, which he described as a 'disaster' spanning several years. His music teacher finally informed him he had no talent and just couldn't take any more money from his mother.

Dick's paper route

John and his mother, Ruth

Dick had a paper route that covered three blocks. Originally the route was shared with George Steele, but he gave up on it, leaving Dick to cover all three blocks. Friday night was collection night where Dick would go door to door collecting money. There were many times where his customers informed him that they didn't have the correct change, could he come back later. The following Monday was deposit day. The news company didn't mind being short one week, but by the following week it came out of Dick's pocket if he hadn't collected. Rules were rules.

Carl and Ruth

Ruth reading Carl's favorite book, the 'Peter Patter Book' by Leroy F Jackson. It was a collection of offbeat nursery rhymes and Carl loved the book. So much so the book ended up being little more than shreds and scraps after years of reading and re-reading.

Church was first on Sunday, followed by a dinner at 1pm. Harry would have a beer during dinner, his only beer of the week. Much to Ruth's displeasure, John, Carl and Dick could sip a little off the top of the beer prior to Harry's indulgence.

After dinner the tradition continued with a road trip. Usually the road trip was to one of three places.