1. 2.
Click photos to view larger.
1. Ration Stamp assortment.
The blue and red dots were plastic type ration
coins
2. War Bond sample - Denominations available
were $25, $50, $75, $100, $200, $500,
$1,000, $5,000 and $10,000
MEMORIES
The "Good Ole Days", when money was scarce
and nobody knew what a credit card was!!
GRADUATION: 1941
I graduated high school in May 1941 from
Saint Peter and Paul Catholic high school,
Ottawa, Ohio. There were no jobs available.
We were living at the Maag farm. Their son who
farmed it was in the service at that time. Bing
still in high school, agreed to do the farming
while the son was gone. So, the whole family
moved to the Maag farm.
OTTAWA TO DES PLAINES, ILL: 1941-1943
A family friend had a relative in the Chicago
area who was superintendent of a small hospital
which needed help. The hospital, Northwestern
Hospital 316 N. Lee St., Des Plaines, Ill., was
owned by two doctors. Molly Laibe, the relative
of the family friend, was superintendent of the
hospital for them.
Mom and dad knew her family well and felt
I would be treated well if I worked there. After
graduation I left for Chicago on a train that
summer. I would not be 18 till September. This
was a big step for a small town/country girl,
quiet and bashful. I also had no idea what I
would be doing at the hospital.
Upon arriving, Molly Laibe explained what
duties I would have. I was to give baths, give
back rubs, empty and replace bed pans, and
also deliver meals and return the dishes to the
kitchen. I did many things normally done by
nurses, which I was not. There were few
nurses available because of the war.
DES PLAINES TO SEASIDE, CA: 1943-1945
Shortly after arriving, I met someone I knew
from Ottawa, Bill Laibe. He was a nephew of
Molly Laibe and was working at the hospital
helping with x-rays and learning about them.
It was not too long before we started to date.
On November 9th, 1943, I became Mrs. William
Lemley Laibe. We were married in St. Mary’s
Church,
Des Plaines, Ill. at 9:00am by Father
Stutpke. We had a Wedding Breakfast at
Northwestern Hospital where I worked. A
Wedding Dinner was served later at the
Diemer residence, another relative of Bill's.
We stayed our first night in my room at
Northwestern Hospital where I had been living.
Bill was already in the army at that time and we
left the next morning for his camp in Denver,
Colorado, then on to Camp Fort Ord in
California, arriving there 20th Nov. 1943. We
lived off base in a little town called Seaside. Our
first son, Frank was born, the 21st of December
1944 while we were there. He was baptized on
14th Jan. 1945 in beautiful old Mission
San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmelo, founded
in 1771.
SEASIDE, CA TO OTTAWA, OH: 1945-1946
After the war ended Bill spent some time in
Japan. Frank and I returned to Ottawa, where
we stayed with mom and dad for just a short
time at Grandma Hornung's and then on to
the Sherman Street home when they moved.
Bill left Nagoya, Japan on 27th Jan. 1946,
9:15 am on the USS General H. W. Butner and
arrived in Seattle, Washington. He then went
to Des Plaines. He was discharged at Camp
Grant in Illinois on 17th of February 1946 and
came to Ottawa to pick us up at mom and
dad’s on Sherman Street in Ottawa.
OTTAWA TO DES PLAINES: 1946-1950'S
We then moved to back to Des Plaines, where
Bill worked as an x-ray technician. Our second
child Judy was born on 8th Feb. 1947 while we
lived there. We then moved to Maywood, Illinois,
where Bill worked in Hines Veterans Hospital as
the head x-ray technician. When he left there,
we moved back to Ottawa in the early 50's.
MAYWOOD TO OTTAWA: 1950'S-CURRENT
In ottawa, we rented an upstairs apartment from
Morgret’s. Our third child Tim was born there. In
November of 1952 we moved into a home we
rented from Mrs. Bennett on North Maple Street.
A year or so later, the house was purchased for
us by “Aunt Molly” Laibe. It was Aunt Molly’s
way of saying we had worked hard for her at the
hospital. This home is where the rest of our
family was born, and I still live. |