In Memory of Martha Jane Drake Dietz

 Martha Jane Drake Dietz

 Born: 04 Jan 1923

Died:  13 July 1960

 One of the things I love the most about family tree research it the constant ferreting out of clues, using information about one person to find information for another.  Here is my latest discovery -- and I'll let you know my results in the next couple of days.

Martha Jane Drake was my dad's sister.  And not just any sister.  His only sister.  His beloved sister.  The one who took care of him after their mother died and their dad gave them away.  He named his only daughter after her (that would be me).  I didn't know much about her because she died when I was 5 years old.  What I remember about her was that she looked a lot like my dad, Dobbie Drake, and my grandfather, Don Dee Drake, and while that may be handsome in a man, not particularly attractive in a woman.  I know that my dad always acted a little silly when she was around and if any one was the boss of my dad, it was Martha Jane.  And I remember him weeping like a little child when she died.

So I found this funeral card and I have no idea where it came from.

Let me back peddle for a moment -- for 5 years I've been looking for information regarding my grandmother Ruth Henrietta Scovill Drake.  It particularly bothered me that I didn't know where she was buried.  So here's what I'm thinking -- would a beloved sister, a DIVORCED beloved sister, just be shoved in the ground anywhere?  Would you think that they would think that she should be buried near family/with family.  So I'm thinking that maybe the buried her near her mom.  So over the next couple of days, I'm going to check out Highland Cemetery in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Another thing that bothered me is a man that I found in my mother's and father's address book called Uncle Souse.  I know that we got a Christmas card from him every year, and that my dad would sometimes talk to him "long distance" gasp.  Now I know that my gran Ruth Scovill Drake had a younger brother who went on to be a doctor.  And as you can see there is a Dr. H.A. Scoville as a casket bearer.  In the Federal Censuses, he was listed as Aaron.  It also concerns me that the Scoville is spelled with an E and in my family we are sans E.  I will have to ask my friend Mike Wooden, who was my German teacher in high school and also married to a German gal, if Souse is some sort of endearment.  And Souse is pronounce like Dr. Suess -- not souse like louse.  I also wonder who the 6th pallbearer was -- an Errol Lee.

I have a pretty good memory.  Well, it's more than pretty good.  I'm a damn marvel, and for the life of me I don't remember going to my Aunt Martha Jane's funeral.  I can't imagine that my dad would let that happen.  But after looking at the date she died  -- 13 July 1960 -- explains it.  On June 28, 1960, my mother had given birth to my youngest brother, Scott.  I'm pretty sure she stayed home with the newborn.  Now, I'll need to check with my older brother to see it he went, but I'm pretty sure I was left at home to tote and fetch.

My memories of Martha Jane Drake Dietz are very few.  She was a big woman and she scared me a little.  But what I remember is how much my dad loved her and even as grown adults, my dad and Uncle Jack missed her terribly and they never seemed to get over it.