4. Albert OLSON [scrapbook] " J." was born 2 May 1885 in Illinois. He died 11 May 1958 in Chesterton, Indiana. J. married Anna Cecelia WEST on 23 Jun 1907 in St. Joseph Michigan (Benton Harbor). [Parents]

5. Anna Cecelia WEST [scrapbook] was born 1888 in Michigan. She died 1967 in Santa Maria, California. [Parents]

6. Francis L. PARKER [scrapbook] was born 31 Oct 1886 in Godfrey, Illinois. He died 1948 in Elgin, Illinois. Francis married Vida Belle HARE in Elgin, Illinois. [Parents]

In 1914, Francis had an extremely acrimonious divorce from his first wife, Helen Clark. He ended up paying Helen alimony for the rest of his life. (Unheard of today.) As we have the divorce records, it appears that young Vida was the cause of their marriage break up. In Vida's last years she loved to talk about "Frank". One story I remember her telling is about how much it bothered her that Frank would smoke cigarettes while eating dinner and he'd even lay his burning cigarette on the edge of his plate while food was on it. This would drive Vida crazy and she'd nag him not to do that. But four decades after he died --she said that "she 'd give anything to see him do that again".

7. Vida Belle HARE [scrapbook] was born 23 Oct 1896 in Illinois. She died Jun 1987 in Santa Barbara, California. [Parents]

Vida Belle Hare Parker was born in Illinois in 1896. Her mother died shortly after her birth and she was co-raised by her maternal Grandparents Dennis and Mary E. Madden. Dennis died when Vida was 10 and Mary died when Vida was 13.

Vida married Frank Parker about 1916. They had five children, one of them being my mother-in-law, Sylvia. Frank died in 1948 and Vida died in 1987. They were married for 32 years, but Vida lived a long life afterwards, 39 years as Frank's widow. Vida moved from Chicago to Santa Barbara in the early 1980's and lived with Sylvia (her daughter) and Melvin Olson until her death in June 1987.

Ironically, this year I found some handwritten notes I had taken that Vida had dictated to me of her family lines back in 1982 or 83 when I was a newlywed. They matched exactly from what I found on my own through Ancestry.com.