Genealogy Heirlooms: Elaine - A Century of Love

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Elaine - A Century of Love

Pauline, Marian, Norma & Elaine

Florence holding Norma, Elaine, Pauline & Marian abt 1929

I remember when I first started to become a member of the "women" of the Gage family. It was my great grandparents 65th wedding anniversary and their nine living children as well as a large number of the friends and family attended the celebration. When I walked into that kitchen at 16 years old, I began to see my grandmother and her sisters with new eyes. There was something unique about those four women and the way they did the work and related to each other. I found that there was a special camaderie that existed and for the first time in my life I was included in the group. At the core of the group were four women who were a well oiled machine. My grandmother, Marian was the oldest, Elaine was next, then Pauline and Norma. Each sister seemed to have a role - Grandma was the worrier and the organizer, Elain was a natural caretaker, Pauline was the life of the party, and Norma had a quiet efficiency and was known as the pretty one. Norma died a few years later at age 55, when I was 18 of cancer. My grandmother died in 2011 at the age of 91, Pauline in 2020 at the age of 94 and Elaine passed away on Sept 7, 2024 at the age of 100.

It is an end of era for our family. Those of use who are among the older generations have enjoyed a unique closeness. We grew up with each other and played together at family reunions and as we grew older, we did appreciate the older family members because their interest and kindness was genuine. Until the past few years, I don't remember a family get together that didn't include at least one of those four women. Family reunions were serious stuff for them. I remember the last several years of my grandmother's life, Elaine came over early and the two of them spent the week planning, visiting ie catching up on family news and reminiscing about their lives and family. I think they looked forward to that time together more than the actual reunion. I last saw Aunt Elaine at the last reunion before Covid. Elaine was 95 at that point and spent most of the time flitting around from family to family visiting everyone and spending special time with Norma's daughter, Lou who was sick with cancer. Elaine was a natural caretaker and had tried to fill the role of mother to her sister's children - it didn't matter if they were young or senior citizens.

Elaine & Lou - 2019

Elaine & her family

I can't help thinking of Aunt Elaine as a young woman. I know from my grandmother and other family stories that Elaine was a feisty, tough petite child and teenager. Her husband told Dad that he remembered when they were children and at school that some boys thought they were going to put a snake down her neck...and found it down the back of their neck. She played basketball at the high school. Girls were only allowed to play half court basketball. This meant that they weren't allowed to use the full court. I guess they thought these girls weren't tough or strong enough to use the full court. I wouldn't have been surprised to find out that Elaine had spent a little time watching women's basketball enjoying the changes since she played in the early 1940's. However, her real sports passion was baseball. She loved watching the Seattle Mariners - watching baseball was a passion that she shared with her father.

Elaine married Wayne Larue on Jan 12, 1942 at 18 years of age. They married in Couer d'Alene, ID and I believe that they eloped. Wayne was drafted to fight in the World War II. He was sent to California for training. I do see something on his draft card that he was involved in the Bayview Naval Project near Coeur d'Alene and perhaps that was why they eloped. Anyway, sometime between Wayne being trained in California and deployed in the South Pacific, Elaine got pregnant and they welcomed a baby girl on July 13, 1943 in Marysville, CA. Wayne was badly burned while serving, healed up and actually fought at Okinawa. They came home after the war. I am not sure of the details of the events, but Wayne and Elaine ended up back up on Hatter Creek after his service. I know they ran the Co-Op for a time and Wayne worked for the National Forest Service. Elaine didn't have a "job" as we would call it today. However, it would be very foolish to think she didn't work hard. A farm/ranch wife in those days likely not only cooked the meals from scratch, likely made the bread and any desserts they might have. They had a garden and spent a lot of their time canning for the winter time. My Dad worked several summers on their farm. He remembers during spring planting that he worked the tractor after school to late evening when Wayne would take over for the night after getting some rest after his regular job. Elaine took over in the morning and worked till Dad got home from school. It wasn't until he was older that he realized that he still had food to eat and clean clothes to wear.

Back Left: Don, Duane, Byron, Pauline, Marian, Orland Bernard
Bottom Left: Norma, Florence, Ora, Elaine - 1982

I know that Wayne's job took them up to the area up on the St Joe River that was very sparsely populated in what today we would know at Red Ives past Avery, ID. They then ended up in St Maries, ID which is where they lived until Wayne's retirement. Wayne and Elaine were snowbirds who spent winters in Arizona alongside Pauline & Allen (Elaine's sister and brother-in-law). I also know that several of their cousins went south as well. They must have been quite a community of family. Wayne died in 1988 after suffering from the effects of ephysyma. I know that they had done quite a bit of traveling in their motorhome. I don't think Wayne was able to do a lot...so it was Elaine who did most of the driving and setting up wherever they camped along the way. Elaine sold her home in St Maries and made her way to Canby, OR where her parents were still living. She and my grandmother Marian looked after them for the final few years. After their passing, Elaine decided to move up to Renton, WA to be closer to her daughter and her family. Elaine wanted to be part of their lives instead of being a spectator watching from a distance. Life is very unfair in so many ways. Not long after Elaine moved to be near her daughter and family, Patti got sick and Elaine once again took on the role of caretaker and lovingly took care of Patti along with her daughters and Patti's husband until she passed. Elaine then jumped in and became and integral part of her granddaughters lives.

Wayne, Vonda, Elaine, Peachie, Patti and Lori & Shelley

I would like to think that when Elaine passed, all of those that she loved so much during her life were there to greet her. Elaine's daughter and husband...her parents and her siblings and all of those whose life she had impacted.