Five or six o’clock would come on a summer day and a cow bell would sound throughout the neighborhood followed by a loud motherly voice…Lin….Ken….Jeff.
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| Lin, Ken, Jeff Circa 1958 |
Mother. Martha Jean Stark Hughes
Martha Jean Stark, daughter of Charles Edward Stark and Martha Marie Frederick, who married later in life and had one child on December 4, 1921. Martha, known as Marse, grew up in Avalon, a borough outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, graduated from Wooster College in Ohio and married George VanGilder Hughes, a neighbor, who she attended Avalon schools with from first grade through high school.
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| 1922-1923 Mom featured on a magazine page Photography by Alfred Walter Stark |
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| Circa 1925 Pre School Photography by Alfred Walter Stark |
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| Elementary School Photography by Alfred Walter Stark All dresses made by Mom's Mom Martha Marie Frederick Stark |
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| 1931 Age Ten Photography by Alfred Walter Stark Note the beautiful, handwork on the dress The smocking and embroidered flowers all created by Mom's mother |
Mom's years before college was one of privilege. Not wealth, but certainly one of an upper middle class, even during any financial downturn in the country. Her father, was the head of the traffic department at Carnegie Illinois Steel Company. The traffic department was the financial end of the operation...the claims department....the money crunchers.
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| 1926 Kennywood Park Cousins with One Dollar Bills Dorothy and Lois Cooper Martha Jean Stark |
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| 1928 Motor Trip Martha Jean Stark, Martha Marie Frederick Stark, Wilhelmine Swartz Stark, Francis Stark and Charles Edward Stark |
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| 1929 Atlantic City |
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| 1934 Chicago Exposition |
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| 1934 Camp at Cedar Springs, Canada |
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| 1935 and 1936 YMCA Camp Buddy Lake Lynn, West Virginia |
One childhood item that I was unaware of was a speech issue. Mom did not actually identify what the issue was; however, she did take elocution lessons from her paternal aunt, Emily Stark Miller. The lessons took place sometime during Mom's elementary school years. Aunt Emily must have been a great teacher as Mom put the lessons to good use as she moved through her life.
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| Age Ten The Pittsburgh Press December 20, 1931 page 33 |
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| Age Thirteen The Pittsburgh Press October 9, 1935 page 38
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| Avalon High School Senior Photograph 1939 |
She was encouraged by her father to excel in academics. And she did. By her senior year she was the editor of the senior yearbook, a writer for the school newspaper, elected to The Quill and Scroll (a national honorary journalistic fraternity), acted in two school plays her senior year, and was one of four commencement speakers....the only female. By the way the salutatory was given by her future husband, George VanGilder Hughes, who she was dating.
Off to The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio in the fall of 1939. George headed to Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania and they continued their relationship long distance.
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| The Pittsburgh Post Gazette January 26, 1942 |
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| The College of Wooster Class of 1943 Senior Photograph |
George had fast tracked his college experience in three years and was already attending medical school at the University of Pittsburgh when Martha graduated. At this time the young couple knew a child was on the way. With years of medical school, internship and residency ahead, they made the tough, courageous decision to allow adoption through Catholic Charities.
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| Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph December 2, 1943 Page 17 |
Other Blogs on Flipside
-HUGHES, MARTHA JEAN STARK Fearless Females # 8: Journal--Baby Book
-HUGHES, MARTHA JEAN STARK Fearless Females #18: Shining Star Theater
-HUGHES, MARTHA JEAN STARK, Mom’s Last Christmas—Wordless Wednesday
-HUGHES, MARTHA JEAN STARK—Tombstone Tuesday
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