Harold Leddy's Big Trip to Washington

Jack, who is sometimes given to exaggeration, says that his farther, Harold was the sole person on the west coast who was approved to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court.  He says that Harold traveled through the Panama Canal which has just been built (it was opened in 1914) on a freight ship, landing in New Orleans.  He eventually went to Washington and appeared before the Supreme Court. He wanted to practice international law:  whether he ever did I do not know.  Jack says that his father's adventures were written up in the Pasadena papers.

How Harold met Margaret.  The story is that Harold was friends with Margaret's brother Hamish, who was also a lawyer.  Harold and Margaret met at U.C. Berkeley when students there.  Harold fell in love and decided not to be a priest.

The Harold Leddy/Margaret Eddie family lived at ll75 Woodbury Road in Pasadena according to the 1930 census.  The house was built in 1925 and they were renting it.  It still stands today.

Wanamaker's Department Store 1909

 

 

John T. Leddy, Jack's grandfather was a cabinetry carpenter at Wanamaker's in Philadelphia.  He retired at a very young age and took his entire family to California by train.  The first place they arrived at was Pasadena and they got off there.  He built himself a house in Pasadena and a barn.

Jane Remembers Des Moines and her mother Edna Winter

Downtown Des Moines 1940, Vachon, John, 1914-1975, photographer.

Jane remembers that when she was a child she had to go to Des Moines to see the dentist.  It was in a very tall building and they could see all of Des Moines from it..an insurance building?  Her dad paid for braces ahead of time, but the dentist died before the job was done, and it was never finished.

Jane remembers discovering her parents stuffing money under the bed.  They had taken their money out of the bank for fear of a crash.  They told her never to tell anyone.  She always wondered whether they really thought it was safe to tell a child that!

Jane remembers that her dad hoarded coffee during the war.  There were bags of coffee in storage.  He just couldn't do without coffee and was worried that it would be rationed.

She remembers a trip to Washington D.C. to visit her mother who was working for the U.S. Census Bureau. She was in college at that time. The mother, my grandmother Edna Winter, was rooming with a WAVE friend and they had seen all the sights of the city.  Then Edna took her to all the city's sites -- she was exhausted.  They also went to a party at the embassy of some South American country.  It was all very exciting.  She remembers that when she went there she was in a sleeper berth on the train.  She also stopped in Chicago and visited friends on her way back to Iowa.  They took her to see the Chicago Art Museum. 

Edna had been a cook for Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls and various colleges.  She moved to the town of  Jane's college and was a cook there as well, to be near Jane.. 

I found this about Norwalk, Iowa, Jane's home town, on Wikipedia:
Norwalk's darker history includes this mass killing. "Mrs. G.R. McAnich killed five of her seven children and then turned the gun on herself in 1937."  I believe Jane mentioned this once.

St. Andrew's Catholic Church

Jack says that his grandfather put money into St. Andrew's Church in Pasadena.  I should also mention here that his Leddy grandparents had six children: Helene, May, Harold, Joe, Alma, and Jane.  Jane [Winter] says that she met the whole family once in Pasadena shortly before she got married.

Jack Sees Herbert Hoover as a Kid

Jack says his father took him to see Herbert Hoover in Pasadena.  Hoover arrived at the train station.  He probably spoke from the train.     

In 1928, Hoover ran for President with the slogan "A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.".

One Room School in which James Winter Taught

Jane's father James taught in this one-room schoolhouse in Iowa.  His wife and my grandmother Edna Winter also taught there.