Evelyn Elizabeth Paul was born on October 18, 1906, in the small town of Pawnee, Illinois. She had an older sister, Mae, and eventually three younger brothers, Charlie, George, and Joe.
Her father's name was Levi James Paul, but everyone called him "Nine". My cousin Linda (great uncle Joe's daughter) said she heard two possible reasons why. Probably the most likely is that "Levi James" contains nine letters. But apparently the story that great-grandpa Levi told was that it had to do with the length of his penis. Yes, I come from polite, mild-mannered stock. =)
Evelyn moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1929. After a stint dating a Purple Gangster (she broke up with him when she found out what he did), she married Robert Reinning, an ironworker, and had her only daughter, Loretta, in 1936. She and Robert later divorced.
Evelyn worked for a time as a telephone operator at Michigan Bell before going to work for the Detroit Free Press. Her brother Charlie lost his life during World War II, and was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart.
She later married a second time, to William Springer Haire, whom everyone called "Shin", although nobody seems to remember why. Shin was twenty years older than "Eva" (as her friends called her), and she was eventually left a widow after he died of cancer. She always insisted that Shin was "the love of her life".
In 1979, at the age of 73, Eva moved to Sweetwater, Tennessee, to live with her daughter, and her grandson Joe Ossenmacher-Bedford, then 11, who was named after her youngest brother. She died there on January 5, 1994, at the age of 86, after a short illness.
My gram was the most amazing woman that I've ever known. I still miss her terribly. I will never forget how she touched my life. She was the only person who could call me "her little angel", and get away with it. The Elvis Costello song "Veronica" always makes me think of her, because I have seen from old pictures that she was a stunningly beautiful woman when she was young. When we only know someone late in their life, it's sometimes easy to forget that they were young once, too.
My brother Bill remembers Gram's passion for playing cards, and indeed she struck the image of quite the cardshark with her Salem jutting from her mouth. She always tried (and usually succeeded) in hustling us all into a game or two of Euchre at family gatherings. The rest of the time, she contented herself with solitaire. Sometimes, gleefully, she'd cheat. :-)
Bill also reminded me of Gram's addiction to Doritos, which I remembered well, and her love for Mrs. Dash Season Salt, which I don't remember as well. Knowing her, she probably put the Mrs. Dash on the Doritos. :-)
From my sister Evie--some things that remind her of Gram:
When I got this list from Evie, I said "mulattoes make you think of Gram? As in mixed-race people?" She said, "Yes. We were in the park one day across from her flat on Livernois (Street, in Detroit). She was talking about mulattoes and I didn't know what they were, and she told me. I guess the reason I remember such and odd thing is the comment that she made to me after she explained what they were. She said how beautiful they were." :-)
This photo was taken in Sweetwater, Tennessee, in 1985, by my sister Evie Proulx. Yes, she was named after her grandmother.
�����I love you, Gram!�����
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