This is one of my favorite photos. It is of my Grandmother Dorothy Louise Marlin Boorsma, my favorite Uncle, Wayne Boorsma and my youthful mother, Marilyn Lou Boorsma Utter.
In talking with my mom about it she thought it was their Easter Photo and based on my uncles possible age, I think it was taken circa 1946. My mom would have been about 11 but her height in the picture made me wonder if I got the year wrong.
I asked her about her size and she said " I was the tallest and boniest girl in elementary school". She stopped growing in junior high but all the other kids did and caught up to her.
The picture was probably taken in their backyard at their home They lived at 4268 Buchanan Ave SW. in Wyoming, Michigan.
Grandma Boorsma lost her mother when she was 6,in 1919, to Tuberculosis and Influenza. Sometime after that the house they were living in burnt to the ground.
As a teenager, Grandma cleaned house for the wife of the owner of Kamp Oil company. It was located at 310 eastern ave, Wyoming, Michigan.
When my mom was in high school, my grandma went back to work at Herpolsheimers in the drapery department. Also working in the same department was man by the name of Art Gritter.
After a while Art and a friend Bill Westveer decided to start their own custom drapery business called Gritter and Westveer. They asked my grandmother to join them as an in home sales lady. She would bring in drapery samples book, measure the windows, write up orders and take deposits from clients.
She started circa 1952 and continued for over 20 years. She had an accident on the job circa 1965. She was measuring windows at a clients house, the chair she was standing on gave way and she fell backward onto the floor. Both of her wrists were broken. My Mom had to help care for her during the day. It was a concern and hardship for my mom as she was several months pregnant, had one (me) in school all day and my brother (Steve) was in half day kindergarten. We did not ride buses,so she had drive back and forth from Kentwood to Wyoming a couple times as day. Also they were a one car family as most were in the 1960's
My Dad was able to get work at Gritter & Westveer as a drapery installer. Eventually that would lead him into starting his own company, Jamestown Draperies.
My mom's first job was at the Ferguson Droste Ferguson hospital. She would take the bus after school and worked for the kitchen delivering meals to the patients. The hospital was well known for its colorectal floor but they also had a plastic surgery floor. My mom heard rumors of stars like Bing Crosby and others may have come to this out of the way hospital to get some surgery done.
Grand Rapids in Vintage Postcards: 1890-1940
By Thomas R. Dilley
Her second job was working for Bell Telephone. She was about 18 years old at this time and was a sorter for long distance calls, later to be moved to the foreign calls.
In the 1970's, she took a job at a local nursing home. She liked working with the patients quite a bit and remembers many stories about several of them.
Eventually she was working with my dad in the drapery business, doing customer in home sales, ordering fabric,rods and blinds,handling the billing,even making drapes for people.
Shortly after I was married in 1982 there was a situation in the family that forced her to look for other employment. She ended up at D&W Grocery store in Jenison as a deli clerk. Later she was able to get a position in the pharmacy. She took some classes and become a Pharmacy Technician. I think this must have been her best job and it brought out the best in her. She was good at it and got along with people very well. She worked hard all her life and is now enjoying retirement. I'm glad.Thanks mom for taking care of our family.
This is a Summer Girls #2 cast iron stove with the patent date of December 26 '93 (1893). My father gave this stove to me. He said it came from his grandparents home. They were Freemont Floyd Utter,1886 - 1940 and Lucina Ada Hopkins 1890 -1955.
