Lester Eldon Williams
There are two reasons that I chose my maternal grandpa to write about for the prompt "Flew the Coop". Both will become evident as I tell the story of his life.
Lester was born on 11 Sep 1906 in Rensseleaer, Indiana as the 4th son to Owen and Minnie Williams. His father was a farmer and a farm tile ditcher. As Lester grew, so did the Williams family. By the time he was 13 five sisters had joined the Williams family. Life wasn't easy in a family that large so by the end of his 8th grade year in school Lester decided he'd had enough education. What did he do to help the family after quitting school? Good question. My guess is that he helped out on the family farm or did other labor to help out at home.
Lester stood 5' 9' tall and had a slight build, weighing about 145 lbs. His hair was brown and his eyes were blue. On 15 May 1926 when Lester was 19 he married 16 year-old Irene Eldora Cartwright in St. Joseph County, Indiana.
By the time of the 1930 Census when Lester was 23 and Irene was 20 they lived in Portage Township, St. Joseph County, Indiana on Prairie Street in a rented house. They didn't have a radio and their monthly rent was $20, or about $320 in today's dollars. Lester was working as a laborer for Mixed Concrete Company. There was no occupation listed for Irene but I wonder if she did some sort of work outside the home. I know they had been trying unsuccessfully to start family at this point.
By 1931 Irene and Lester were considering a private adoption but just before taking the final steps Irene discovered she was pregnant. On 20 Jun 1932 my mom Peggy Katherine was born. Sixteen months later their son Walter Owen was born. Leo Eldon followed in 1938 and Robert Lee in 1941.
And now for the first reason I thought of Grandpa when I saw the words "Flew the Coop". As the family story goes--related by my mom--one day during the Depression Grandpa was standing on a street corner hoping for work when a man named Earl App drove up. Earl App owned a poultry market and asked if Grandpa wanted some work. His answer was yes and with that, a long relationship began. Before the days of large grocery stores, meat and poultry were sold in specialty shops. In the Mishawaka City Directory of 1937 Lester Williams' occupation was listed as "poultry dresser", which meant he:
Chopped off bird’s head or slit bird’s throat to slaughter bird, using a knife. Hung bird by feet to drain blood. Dipped bird into scalding water to loosen feathers. Held bird against projecting rubber fingers of rotating drum to remove feathers or may have plucked the chickens by hand. Cut bird open, removed viscera, and washed bird and giblets.
That had to have been difficult and unpleasant, but it was work when jobs were scarce. By the 1940 Census Lester's occupation had changed to "poultry buyer". A 1943 newspaper ad in the South Bend Tribune showed Lester in a management position. App's Poultry Market by then had three locations and he had been given the responsibility of managing the Bourbon, Indiana store.
The family story--again, related by my mom--is that when Earl App and his wife moved to Michigan in 1945 he sold the Bourbon poultry market to Lester for $1. Earl and his wife didn't have any heirs and he wanted to show his appreciation to Grandpa for his years of work.
For the first time in their married life, Lester and Irene were able to buy their own home. They purchased 456 E. Walnut Street in Nappanee, Indiana. The house included a one-bedroom apartment that first held Irene's mother and step-father, Martha and Arthur Hartman. In the 1950 Census the family was recorded as:
The enumerator for this section of Nappanee was Martha Hartman, a resident at 456½ E. Walnut Street, the apartment in Lester and Irene's home.
In 1953 Lester put this ad in the South Bend Tribune:
And now for the second reason "flew the coop" seemed to fit. In the early 1960s Lester and Irene's marriage began to fall apart when Lester was unfaithful. He flew the coop and left the marriage after more than 35 years. He also began to drink heavily. Six years after the desertion of his wife and family, sick with emphysema, Lester asked for forgiveness and returned to live with Irene. As hurt as she was by the divorce and desertion, she had never stopped loving him. For the next seven years Irene took care of him until her heart gave out. After her death Lester went to live with his younger sister Kate for several years before he went to a nursing home. He died on 24 Sep 1979 just after his 80th birthday in the Fountainview Nursing Home in Elkhart.
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