Bonnie Maude Overby

Bonnie Maude Overby (1911 - 1996)

Black and white portrait of a smiling older woman.

IN PROCESS

Birth, Parents and Siblings

Bonnie was born on November 10, 1911, in Dixon, Kentucky, Webster County in northwest Kentucky to parents, Robert Lee Overby, age 29, and Norma Lee Stone, age 26. Later in life Robert and Norma were known as Papa and Mama O’by by their grandchildren and even children, based on the young grandchildren’s attempt to pronounce Overby. Bonnie was the third oldest of five children, including Elizabeth (Bess: 1903 – 1990), Cletus (1906 – 1908, died young due to dysentery), Maurice (1913 - 1995) and Lois (1919-1988). Mama O’by chose Bonnie’s name based on a little red haired baby girl in a carriage she had seen. Bonnie’s original birth certificate mistakenly listed her as Pauline Overby. A handwritten update to her birth certificate is dated 1956 by the Kentucky State Registrar. Later Bonnie and Jim had it validated and/or corrected in 1973 in correspondence with the Kentucky Department of Health and the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Growing up

Bonnie Maude grew up in Dixon, Kentucky with her family, likely on the family farm. No other information exists regarding her early years prior to attending and graduating from Webster County High School. By all accounts she was a superior student and a good athlete. She played on the high school women’s basketball team and anecdotally played tennis as well.

In 1927, between her Junior and Senior years of high school, she made a trip with approximately a dozen classmates on a Blue and Gray Bus Lines bus with stops in Cambridge City, Indiana (halfway between Indianapolis and Dayton), Allegheny National Park in Pennsylvania, Ticonderoga, New York, Niagara Falls, New York, Lexington, Massachusetts and Washington, DC, as evidenced by several photos.

In 1928, she made a trip to Hodgenville, Kentucky, birthplace of Abraham Lincoln and the location of the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, as evidenced by several photos.

Bonnie went on to attend and graduate from a four-year college program at Oakland City College (now Oakland City University) in Oakland City, Indiana, located 71 miles north of Dixon and 33 miles north of Evansville. Bonnie was an English, Social Studies and Latin major. She attended college during the most difficult years of the Great Depression (1929 – 1933). She was the first and only sibling to attend college, apparently causing some resentment with her brother and sisters. It is not clear why her parents selected her to attend college versus her siblings. Her uncle, L. A. Stone, Mama Oby’s brother, was the College Treasurer and Business Manager at the school, which likely played a factor in her selecting Oakland City College. He was one of nine administrators. L.A. often helped Bonnie as a mentor and arranged for her and others in her class to have a Senior Trip, like the trip she had the summer before her senior year in high school.

Bonnie was quite active and visible at Oakland City College. Per The Mirror, the Oakland City College Yearbook:

1929/1930 School Year

Bonnie was a freshman, one of 31 students in her class and listed as one of three class officers in the role of Secretary / Treasurer. She was one of twelve members of the Heroditonian’s History Club, a club for those who “believe that history has a vital meaning in their lives”. She was also one of 21members of the Peppy Pirates, a prestigious girls’ pep club.

According to a letter she wrote to her parents on September 24, 1929, when she first settled in, she was living at 218 Lucretia Street and that: “I believe I am going to like it just fine, though I may get homesick at the first. I am taking Algebra I, English, Ancient History and Introduction to Teaching”. From that same letter, it appears that she was already planning to pursue a career in teaching, “I wish you all would find out what the teaching requirements are for teaching a country school and send them to me. No one seemed to know and I didn’t either.”

1930/1931 School Year

Bonnie was a sophomore, one of 24 members of her class and is listed as the class Secretary. According to Bonnie Elizabeth, she had a boyfriend from her class named Harland Walker. She was again a member of the Heroditonian’s History Club, of which she was the Secretary / Treasurer. She was also a member of the YWCA. In addition, she was a member of the Peppy Pirates again.`

Her future husband, Jim Dinsmore, appears in the yearbook for the first time as a freshman. He was one of 17 members of the Glee Club, which planned to present the opera, Bohemia Girl that year. He was also a member of the Irish Navy, “an organization of men to sponsor a finer feeling of sportsmanship, to keep our pep bubbling, and lastly, and probably most important, to buy the honor sweaters our athletes earn and have the honor to wear.” The Irish Navy was the men’s counterpart to the Peppy Pirates. He was also one of 22 players on the varsity football team.

They must have already begun dating this school year at some point, as classmate and former boyfriend Harland Walker writes in Bonnie’s yearbook, “Wishing you and Jim all the success and happiness in the world”. Harland learned news of her new relationship as captured in a humorous clip in the campus newspaper:

Bonnie: ”I have something to tell you.”

Walker: ”What?”

Bonnie: “But first you must take this. (gives him chloroform) I had a date with Jimmie this weekend.”

According to Bonnie Elizabeth, her dad said he “fell in love with Bonnie Maude’s knees”.

Also, according to Bonnie Elizabeth, her mom played tennis in college, and both her parents studied the German language, likely due to the World War I conflict with Germany.

1931/1932 School Year

Bonnie was still a member of the YWCA, the Peppy Pirates and the Glee Club. She also became a member of the Mirror staff as the Photograph Editor and was elevated to class Vice President. On the list of “Luminaries at O.C.C.”, Bonnie is listed as “Most Loyal Girl”.

Jim had now jumped from the Freshman class to the Junior class, but it is not clear why. He was a member of the YMCA, the Glee Club, The Irish Navy, College “On the Air” programs and had also joined the Mirror staff as the Assistance Advertising Editor. He was again a player on the varsity football team, listed as a Tackle. According to the yearbook, “Jimmy, in his two years of playing, has become hard to handle. He has one more year to serve the Blue and White. And can be depended upon to stop his man”. Finally, he was a member of the Tennis Club.

1932/1933 School Year

As a senior, she was still a member of the Peppy Pirates and the YWCA, of which she was now President. She also continued her responsibilities as class Vice President. She had now joined the Oakland City Collegian, the official college paper, printed every Monday during the school year by the Senior Class, as the Society Editor.

Jim no longer appears in the Mirror anywhere in this school year’s yearbook. He may have had to leave Oakland City College, when his parents relocated from Indianapolis to Teaneck, New Jersey around this time. After leaving Oakland City College, during this period, amid the Great Depression, Jim was traveling around the country, bumming in freight cars on trains from stop to stop, likely from June of 1932 until he enrolled in Bucknell University in central Pennsylvania for the 1933/1934 school year. There was a William James Dinsmore in the 1934 Yearbook of Bucknell. He appears as W. James Dinsmore and was listed as a sophomore in 1933-1934. He was a member of the fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha and was also mentioned in connection with the honorary sophomore fraternity “The Friars”. On the road, Jim occasionally wrote letters to Bonnie on used newspapers, because he could not afford stationery. One of these letters was dated July 24, 1932, postmarked from Upton, Wyoming. In the letter, he cited stops he had made in Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska and Wyoming.

She graduated as the Vice President and a member of a class of 32 Liberal Arts students on June 8th, 1933, at the end of a week full of events. These events included the Junior – Senior Banquet in the College Cafeteria on June 1, the Commencement Sunday church service at the Methodist Episcopal Church on June 4, the Baccalaureate Service at the Student Memorial Hall on June 4, the Annual Concert in the Campus Chapel on June 6, during which Bonnie performed as a member of the Double Quartet, an ensemble of four female and male singers, singing “Oh for the Wings of a Dove”, by Mendelssohn, the Board of College Trustees meeting on June 7, Class Day at the Student Memorial Hall on June 8, during which Bonnie was featured in the program for delivering the class “Prophecy”, which was a tradition at the time in the form of a scripted, humorous, often theatrical reading predicting what each class member would be doing 5, 10, or 20 years in the future. It was a chance to showcase inside jokes, personality traits, and aspirations of classmates. It was usually delivered by one or two students chosen for their writing or performance ability. Finally, the formal Commencement and Senior Piano Recital occurred on Thursday, June 8.

Sometime after her graduation from college, Bonnie became a schoolteacher in Wheatcroft, Kentucky, teaching English and American Literature to high school students. She likely lived back at her grandmother Sarah Jane Jenkins’ home in Dixon with herparents, commuting to Wheatcroft each day. Wheatcroft was a very small town named for Irving Horace Wheatcroft, an Englishman, who in 1899 laid out and founded the city on land acquired from Elijah Cullen. He opened one or more local coal mines and built the Kentucky Western Railway from nearby Blackford to Dixon. The city incorporated in 1902.

On July 22, 1935, Bonnie was back in Washington, DC, where she was admitted to both the Senate Chamber and the House of Representatives Chamber, according to passes signed by sitting representatives of the 74th Congress. Frederick Van Nuys, sitting Democratic senator from Indiana, known for focusing on Judiciary Committee matters, anti-lynching legislation, and foreign policy, who submitted a report on anti-lynching legislation in March 1935 and advocated for strengthening U.S. neutrality to ensure peace, signed her Senate pass. Arthur H. Greenwood, a Democratic U.S. Representative from Indiana, who was a prominent Indiana attorney, representing the 2nd District (or maybe 7th), and served 16 years in the House (1923–1939), signed her House of Representative’s Pass.

Marriage & Children

Bonnie and Jim must have maintained an ongoing, long-distance relationship, as they were married on June 12, 1936, in East Orange, Essex County, New Jersey, a suburb of Newark, when they both were approximately 25 years old. They were married at the Oraton Parkway Baptist Church. Jim may have been living in New York City at the time according to their wedding announcement. They did not get married in Dixon because Papa O’by could not stand seeing his children get married due to the thought of losing them. Rather, they married in New Jersey, where Jim’s parents lived at the time and where his father, Carlos, a Baptist minister, officiated at their ceremony.

She and Jim had one child, Bonnie Elizabeth, born on June 13, 1937, at 5:30 a.m., in Stamford Connecticut at Stamford Hospital. They lived at 48 Highland Road, which now appears to be an apartment complex. It is not clear how long they were in Stamford nor the reason they relocated there. However, it was not a lengthy tenure. Contrary to much speculation, they did not name their daughter after the young character in the movie Gone with the Wind, but rather after Bonnie Maude herself. According to Bonnie Elizabeth, her parents had only one child due to Bonnie Maude’s very difficult childbirth experience. Her doctor had broken a leg in a skiing accident and therefore had to conduct the delivery on crutches and Bonnie Elizabeth was in a breech position. Due to these various complications, she had to have reparative surgery years afterwards. As a result, Jim asserted that he would not put Bonnie Maude through childbirth again.

Once Bonnie Elizabeth was born, Bonnie Maude became a stay-at-home mom, raising her daughter and partnering with her husband while he pursued a career first in furniture sales and then later as a sales executive for Frigidaire and while he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Due to Jim’s career pursuits and military service, over their lifetime they lived in six different states, including New Jersey, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Ohio and Louisiana.

Parenthood

Musings on Bonnie Maude from Bonnie Elizabeth:

I remember my mother thought I was a bit of a “fraidy-cat”, as I was growing up, even in later years, and when something would come up when we were together that I thought was scary, I‘d ask whether or not she was afraid, and she would say, “I’m not afraid of the devil himself!”, and I would say “Oh no! Don’t say that!”, fearing that he might grab her, or punish her in some way. Once as we were about to visit the Patrick Riordan Cemetery, I was afraid that someone would come out of a nearby trailer with a shotgun, so I was holding back, and Mom said to go on in there, and that she couldn’t believe she had raised such a goose!

She was a loving, caring, sweet mother to me, making me her All as I was growing up, even more so while my dad was away in the war. She used to say that if anything happened to me, my dad would kill her! But her purpose for me was way far beyond being afraid of being murdered. She was totally selfless. Always putting me first. And she was a wonderful nurse. I remember having measles, and her sitting with me in a darkened room all day long reading to me and caring for me. Sometimes her protection of me wound up the opposite of what she meant for me. She had been reticent about my getting a smallpox vaccination, fearing that I might actually get smallpox from the vaccination. But finally, one of the 3 schools I attended while in the 6th grade, refused to enroll me unless I had been vaccinated for smallpox, and the deed had to be done. But because I was older, I did get sick with a fever and aches and chills, so I had to stay in bed, and once again my dear sweet loving mother was ever at my side, swabbing me with a cold washcloth with water from our large aluminum roasting pan filled with ice water. I can still remember the sound of those ice cubes and the sound they made swirling around in that pan. And I still have the flannel blanket that she wrapped me in when the fever turned to chills.

I always was the Christmas Kid! Still even today! One of my most fond memories of Christmas time, and it took place every year while Dad was gone, was getting on the Sapulpa bus at the corner of Hickory Street and Jefferson after dark with Mom and riding together on it, all through its entire route around Sapulpa, seeing all the beautiful Christmas lights on those houses decorated up for Christmas!

Another sweet Christmas memory was the year that I had asked Santa for my own vanity dresser with a ruffled skirt attached to arms that opened wide, so that I could slide a vanity bench right under it. I can only now imagine what a difficult wish my Mom had to fill for Santa Claus. But when I walked out to the living room where the Christmas tree was, I nearly fainted! Because there it was, a snowy white vanity with pink floral skirt with ruffles attached to its arms! What a dear gift!! I was so happy! It was only as a mother myself in later years, that Mom must have found a used vanity, painted it white herself, and then this dear Mom, who hated to sew, found the right fabric, then stitched it up herself, ending up with sore fingertips, the result of many needle pokes!

My Mom had a recurrent dream In her dream she was always going up three flights of stairs, and there was a closed door at the top, but she never could open it.

In the hospital, on what I remember to be her last day, Mom said that she knew she had not been the most demonstrable mom in the world, and that Mama O’by hadn’t been either. But she wanted me to know how very much she had always loved me. I knew. And I never had any thought ever, but what she had been the most demonstrably loving mom ever.

Adulthood

As an adult, Bonnie Maude was smart, dignified and an elegant dresser with a sense of humor. Although she was reserved and likely an introvert, she had strongly held personal and political beliefs and was not shy about expressing those. In fact, she is known for writing scathing letters to those businesses and individuals who did not meet her expectations. For example, from an undated clipping, likely from the Dayton Daily News:

List Will Serve as a Reminder

I was just writing a letter to the paper to say you would do a real public service if you would publish a list of both Republican and Democratic legislators from our area who voted themselves that big, fat, horrendous raise.

Then I looked at my morning paper and saw you’d given us that very list. Thanks so much. I shall post it in a prominent place where each day I’ll see it and be reminded come next election to vote against each of my legislators who voted yes to that raise.

Bonnie Dinsmore, Centerville

Her family was important to her, and she held a very strong bond and relationship with her daughter, as noted above, forged during Jim’s service in the Navy and his frequent business travel. Bonnie and Jim were an unlikely couple, serving as an example of “opposites attract”. In contrast to Bonnie, Jim was adventurous, free-wheeling, extraverted and charismatic – comfortable being the center of attention in any group.

At some point early in their marriage, Bonnie and Jim changed from attendingSouthern and Northern Baptist churches to attending Presbyterian and other protestant denominationalchurches. Bonnie Maude was very intellectual and liked the intellectual appeal of a more dignified overall experience.

1936 – 1938 Teaneck New Jersey. After they were married, Bonnie and Jim were likely living with Jim’s parents in Teaneck, New Jersey, along with Bonnie Elizabeth once she was born. During this period, Jim had a job “lugging beef” for Swift & Company in a facility in New Jersey. He was almost certainly doing heavy manual handling of large beef quarters or sides inside a cooler, rail-car dock, or cutting floor. Swift & Company in the late 1930s was a dominant U.S. meat-packing giant, operating nationally with branded fresh meats, extensive by-product lines, and a vertically integrated supply chain. The decade found the company stabilizing after the Depression, expanding branded products, and maintaining its position as one of the “Big Four” Chicago packers, including Armour, Wilson and Cudahy.

1938 - 1941 Muskogee, Oklahoma. Jim’s older sister, Margaret and her husband H.A. “Red” Lynes already lived in Muskogee. Beginning in 1930, Red was a Sears & Roebuck assistant store manager in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. By 1934 Red had moved to Muskogee to take the position of store manager for the local Sears store, living at 111 N 16thStreet. Red and Margaret married in June of 1935 in Louisville and afterwards settled in Muskogee, living at 2406 Elgin Street. During this same period, Margaret began teaching at the Bacone Indian school (Native American) in Muskogee. By 1938 Red had left Sears to join Harbour’s Furniture Store as a Vice President. Then later in 1938 Jim, Bonnie and Bonnie moved to Muskogee, where Jim began working for Red at Harbour’s as a salesman, leaving the meat packing business behind. According to the city directory, Jim, Bonnie and Bonnie were living at 333 W 33rd Street, which no longer stands today. In its place stands the St. Francis Hospital complex. This western part of Muskogee was a bus ride away from downtown, where Jim worked. Bonnie and Bonnie, who was less than four years old, would often take the bus downtown to meet Jim after work for dinner and an occasional movie. This is where they also had their first dog, Trouble, a white Eskimo Spitz.

Bonnie Maude regularly made summer trips with Bonnie Elizabeth back to her hometown, Dixon, Kentucky, even during World War II. In the early years, she and Bonnie would make the trek by train, connecting in St. Louis before arriving in Evansville, where Mama and Papa O’by would pick them up. Eventually, they travelled by car. Jim seldom accompanied them. Bonnie and Bonnie built many fond memories during these trips. Bonnie Maude continued this tradition over the course of her entire life.

1941- 1948 Sapulpa, Oklahoma. In 1941, Jim left his job with Harbour Furniture to go to work for Milford Davis as a salesman at his furniture store, called the Davis Rule Furniture Store, in Sapulpa, a suburb of Tulsa, 60 miles to the northwest of Muskogee. They lived at 606 S. Hickory Street on the first floor, which is now a vacant lot, while another family, Henry and Lillian Erwin, rented the upstairs floor. It is not clear how Jim met Milford Davis. Jim worked for Davis Rule both before and after his service in World War II. Infamously, with a swell of patriotism after the Pearl Harbor attack, Jim and Dick McCaig, husband of Bonnie E.’s tap dance teacher Ivene, volunteered to join the Navy. However, Jim told Bonnie that he had been drafted. She did not learn the truth until many years after the war had ended.

Here is the story in her own words:

Jim worked at Davis Rule Furniture Store in Sapulpa during 1942 feeling guilty when asked by service men’s mothers why he wasn’t serving. Jim wasn’t eligible at that time to be drafted as he was past 30 with a pre-Pearl Harbor child and explained this to questioners. In 1943, when he was 32 years old, he had his draft registration transferred to Tulsa from Muskogee and didn’t mention that to me. In 1943 he told me he had been drafted and was to report to Tulsa for his exam.

After Jim had been gone for months, I read an article in a Tulsa newspaper – the heading was Muskogee, Oklahoma and said, “the Muskogee Draft Board is proud of the fact it has never yet had to draft a pre-Pearl Harbor father”. I stormed upstairs to read the article to Henry Erwin, swearing they were lying for propaganda purposes, and I intended to demand a retraction. Finally, he grinned and said, “Did it ever occur to you that Jim wasn’t drafted but volunteered?” Henry had known since the beginning and that is how I found out!

Jim served from the Fall of 1943 To November 1945 while Bonnie and Bonnie continued to live in Sapulpa. In 1943, Bonnie and Bonnie visited Jim at Camp Perry in Williamsburg, Virginia, where Jim was stationed for basic training. Jim waited at Camp Perry for almost a year before he was transferred to New York City for his final shipping orders. During that same period, Jim returned to Sapulpa for a short leave. When Jim passed through Panama on the way to Hawaii, he mailed Bonnie Maude a pair of silk hose, which were not available in the States. According to Bonnie Maude, “he was so good about writing letters home, sometimes writing every day”. Bonnie Maude’s primary responsibility during the war was to take care of and nurture Bonnie Elizabeth while Jim was away. According to Bonnie Elizabeth: “I don’t remember spending much time in that (my) room, except when I was sick, because most of the time when I was in the house I played in the other rooms, near where Mother happened to be, as we were great friends and talked together a lot!”

Bonnie was a good neighbor in Sapulpa. For example, according to Bonnie Elizabeth, “Farther down the street lived a widower named Mr. Franklin. He had either a Model “A” or Model “T”, I never could keep it straight. Anyway, periodically, he would need to make a trip to Tulsa to see his doctor, I believe. He was in his early 90s and could no longer see well enough to drive, so he had asked Mother to drive him there. This must have ben during WWII, because we had no car at the time. So, my valiant mother, who was fond of saying she wasn’t afraid of the devil himself, popped us all in that old car and put-putted us all the way to Tulsa, a 12-mile trip on the open highway. We were slow as turtles and everyone honked us over and passed us, but my mother did this favor proudly and was not embarrassed in the least by being seen driving this old card down the highway!”.

Bonnie & Jim’s good friends in Sapulpa included Dick and Ivene McCaig. Dick was Jim’s enlistment partner in crime and Ivene was Bonnie Elizabeth’s tap dance teacher. Their other good friends were Jean and John Mose – John was also their family dentist.

Jim, Bonnie & Bonnie lived in three different locations from 1948 to 1949, including Sapulpa, Fort Smith, Arkansas and Miami, Oklahoma, Bonnie Elizabeth attended three different schools in a year. She would have been approximately eleven years old at the time and in the sixth grade.

Bonnie to verify order below:

1948 – 1948 Fort Smith, Arkansas. Evidently, Jim left his job with Davis Rule to pursue an opportunity in Fort Smith, Arkansas, approximately 130 miles to the southeast of Sapulpa. Bonnie Elizabeth is not sure of Jim’s occupation and reason for going because it was so short lived. Perhaps it was a venture with Milford Davis. In Fort Smith, Bonnie Elizabeth attended The Peabody School, which was later converted into special education center but is no longer standing and has been replaced with apartment buildings.

1948 – 1949 Miami, Oklahoma. From Fort Smith, the family next moved to Miami, Oklahoma, a town 155 miles north of Fort Smith and 102 miles northeast of Tulsa, almost to the Missouri border. Milford Davis wanted to open a Firestone store in Miami and recruited Jim to team up with him to run the store. Apparently, this venture did not do well and therefore did not last long.

According to Bonnie Maude, “The Davis Rule store handled Frigidaire products, and it wasn’t long before one of the Frigidaire sales representatives told Jim he should apply to the Oklahoma City branch for a vacancy they had in sales. This he did and remained with General Motors for 25+ years”.

1948 – 1949 Midwest City, Oklahoma. Moving on from Fort Smith and the Firestone venture, the family moved to Midwest City, Oklahoma, a southeastern suburb of Oklahoma City, 195 miles to the southwest of Miami. This is when Jim first joined Frigidaire as the division manager of the Oklahoma City sales territory. They lived in a neighborhood that butted up against Tinker Air Force Base, where Bonnie Elizabeth attended junior high school. Even though Jim had been in the Navy, Bonnie was able to attend school on the Air Force Base.

1949 – 1952 Dayton, Ohio. After a year in Oklahoma City, Jim secured a new role with Frigidaire in Dayton, Ohio as the national sales representative for electric ranges. The family first rented a home at 54 W. Bruce Avenue off N. Main Street, then they rented a home at 448 Grafton Avenue, off Salem Avenue, near the Dayton Art Institute. Bonnie Elizabeth attended the 8th, 9th, 10thgrades at Colonel White lower high school and was due to next attend Fairview High School, the senior high school for students in the 11th and 12thgrades. Colonel White was located at 501 Niagara Avenue in the Santa Clara / Mount Vernon neighborhood but was demolished in 2008 and is now a small park surrounded by homes. Bonnie Maude was active in women’s church circles at College Hill Presbyterian Church at 1547 Philadelphia Drive. One of Bonnie Elizabeth’s Sunday school teachers, Mrs. Lois Bruce, was her future mother-in-law’s good friend, unbeknownst to Bonnie and Bonnie at the time. Bonnie Elizabeth also remembers that her group of friends at the time were very impressed with their preacher, Wiley Prugh, whose sister many years later served in the Southminster Presbyterian Church with Bonnie Elizabeth. Bonnie Maude was also active with friends and neighbors. During this period, Jim and Bonnie taught Bonnie Elizabeth’s first boyfriend, Ron Tateman, how to play bridge and he would come over to play with them often.

1953 – 1956 Overland Park, Kansas. In 1953, Jim was promoted to Sales Manager for Frigidaire for the district anchored in Overland Park, Kansas, a southwestern suburb of Kansas City. The family relocated to 7515 Mackey Road and attended a local Methodist church. Bonnie Elizabeth completed high school at Shawnee Mission High School, constituting the largest Senior class graduating in the United States the summer of 1954. During high school, Bonnie Elizabeth attended band camp at Kansas University one summer, including earning the honor to sing solos. As a result, she fell in love with KU and decided to attend the university beginning Fall of 1954 as a Voice major. While in Overland Park, Bonnie Maude guided her daughter through the completion of high school and into enrolling and attending KU. This is when Bonnie and Jim first became “empty nesters”. After Bonnie Elizabeth left for college, Bonnie Maude was active in the church and wasinvolved in Delta Mom’s sorority activities for Bonnie Elizabeth’s sorority, Delta, Delta, Delta.

1956 – 1957 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1956, Jim was promoted to District Sales Manager for Oklahoma City. The family relocated to a rental home at 1020 Classen Avenue, at the intersection with N.A. 14thStreet (1020), while Bonnie Elizabeth was also away at college. Bonnie Elizabeth also participated in a USO tour the summer of 1956. After graduation in 1958, Bonnie E. won a contest that enabled her to sing with the Central City Opera, for the summer session. While there she received word that she had been awarded a scholarship to study at the ETH, Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, Switzerland, (umlaut on ‘o’ in Eidgenossische and ‘u’ in Zurich) for the fall of 1958 through the spring of 1959. During this period, Jim’s mother, Bertha, would make periodic, extended visits with her children after her husband had died in 1948. During one of these visits with Bonnie and Jim, she fell and broke her hip while Jim was travelling for business, and Bonnie Maude was on her way to pick Bonnie Elizabeth up at college. Bonnie and Bonnie did not discover Bertha for hours. Subsequently, Bonnie Maude cared for Bertha, who was set up in an upstairs bedroom. Bertha was set up with a bell to ring when she needed something from Bonnie Maude. Apparently, things got testy at times, with Bertha’s demands needing to be satisfied. After coalescing with Bonnie and Jim, Bertha went on to spend time with her daughter, Dorothy, in Chicago

1957 – 1968 Dayton, Ohio. In 1958, Jim was promoted to a role in Frigidaire’s main office, its headquarters in Dayton, Ohio. Jim was the national merchandise manager for ranges, room air conditioners and dishwashers. They moved into a house at 413 Harmon Blvd in Oakwood. As Bonnie and Jim moved to Dayton, Bonnie Elizabeth took a job in Central City, Colorado in summer of 1958 to sing in the opera and then went on directly to study abroad in Zurich, Switzerland for the 1958 – 1959 school year, She returned to Dayton in the spring of 1959 and moved back in with her parents on Harmon Blvd – she had the entire upstairs loft as her bedroom.

Bonnie Maude’s father, Papa O’by, died in May 1960. At that time Bonnie Elizabeth had just become engaged to Bob Riordan. However, Bonnie Maude asked that Bob not attend the funeral because he was, as of that time, not yet introduced to the family. Bob and Bonnie got married June 18th, 1960.

Nine months later, Bonnie Maude’s first grandchild, Steve, was born on March 15, 1961.

By 1963, Bob built a new home for them at 6508 Hollins Way in Centerville, where they lived until 1968.

In 1963, Bonnie Maude’s second grandchild, Jeff, was born on August 14th.

1968 – 1969 New Orleans, Louisiana. Jim was promoted to a role as acting zone manager in New Orleans, Louisiana, beginning in September 1968. He was subsequently promoted to zone sales manager, succeeding Ober L. Wortz, who retired after 40 years of service to General Motors, owner of Frigidaire. A Prudential premium payment book from October 1968 to August 1969 lists New Orleans as their location. According to Bonnie Elizabeth, it was like a honeymoon period for them. Bonnie, Bob, Steve and Jeff visited them while they were living there. In New Orleans, they lived north of downtown and a few blocks south of Lake Pontchartrain in the Lake Terrace / Lake Oaks district at 1707 Jay Street.

1969 – 1978 Dayton, Ohio. Jim was promoted to a role as ??? After returning from New Orleans, they moved to 1455 Delynn Drive in Black Oak in Centerville, where they lived from 1969 To 1978.

As empty nesters, Bonnie and Jim enjoyed each other’s company and time with family and friends every place they lived. They also enjoyed traveling, especially fishing trips such as Islamorada in the Florida Keys. They took a trip to Ozarks with her sister, Lois, and brother-in-law, FM. While in Dayton, Jim earned a Frigidaire sales reward trip to Honolulu, Hawaii and they both thoroughly enjoyed it, although Bonnie Maude, who was not a good swimmer, did not like the long flights over the Pacific Ocean. They liked Hawaii so much they made a return trip to Kauai.

They also played games, such as gin rummy, frequently, dined together and visited and had dinners with Bonnie Elizabeth and family at home and at local restaurants like Steak & Ale and Bill Knapps. Although Jim would have a Manhattan drink almost every night, Bonnie would only occasionally join in with a whiskey sour. Jim was a big storyteller and known to embellish quite a bit at times. However, Bonnie would keep him honest and even occasionally shake her head in disagreement about these stories, to his frustration.

In 19??, she had knee surgery, including a metal cap on her femur and tibia as well as plastic inserted in her shin bone area. She also suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for years. Finally, she had two different heart attacks. The first was in 1969 – silent infarction and the second when she was living at Patriot Square on a new year’s eve.

In March 1973 Jim retired from Frigidaire. After a short period of retirement, Jim went to work for Ken Fletcher at this furniture store in Dayton, called Robard’s. Jim then opened a used furniture store called Nuthin New in Centerville, which thrived. At this point, Bonnie Maude and Bonnie Elizabeth had already begun to suspect that Jim was having memory issues that may have even contributed to his early retirement.

Bonnie Maude’s mother, Mama O’by, died in June 1976. Bonnie Maude, Jim, Bonnie Elizabeth, Bob, Steve and Jeff all travelled to Dixon, Kentucky for the visitation and funeral service.

1978 – 1980/1981? Sapulpa, Oklahoma. At some point Bonnie and Jim decided that they would like to retire to Sapulpa, where they had some of their best experiences and best friends who still lived there. Bonnie Maude committed to this move, already knowing something was wrong with Jim to allow him the most happiness at the end of his life. In the fall of 1978, they moved into a one-story home on 2409 Thunderbird Lane in southwestern Sapulpa, with sweeping views of looking west.

While back in Sapulpa, Bonnie and Jim rekindled their friendship with Dick and Ivene McCaig. For example, they attended some sort of lecture and dinner, hosted by some sort of captain, as seen in several pictures. Unfortunately, from these same photos, one can see that Jim was beginning to show evidence of dementia.

Unfortunately, in less than a year, Jim’s health rapidly declined because of what was later diagnosed as Alzheimer’s Disease. For a while, Bonnie Maude tried to care for Jim in Sapulpa, but ultimately, had to move back to Dayton, to gain the support of Bonnie Elizabeth and family and their Dayton-based healthcare providers.

1980/1981? Probably 1980 but need to check. – 1996 Dayton, Ohio. Returning from Sapulpa, Bonnie and Jim moved into a garden home in Patriots Square in Centerville at 968 Patriot’s square. Unfortunately, the movers from Mayflower arrived on Christmas Eve with all their household belongings drunk, which infuriated Bonnie Maude.

In 1982, Bonnie Maude’s first great grandchild, Kristen, was born on April 25th.

As Jim continued to decline, Bonnie Maude took over 100% of the household management responsibilities, which she was prepared to handle based on her prior experience running things while Jim was in the service and on the road for business trips. Fortunately, she was very frugal.

Bonnie cared for Jim at home from 198? to 198?. In 1981/1982?, Bonnie and Bonnie made the difficult decision to move Jim into a nursing home. The first nursing home did not work out, as they were “beating him”. They subsequently moved him to a new nursing home (Quaker) in Waynesville, Ohio, a short drive from Centerville. Then in 1985 Jim passed away on July 27th.

After Jim died, she spent regular time with Bonnie, Bob and the grandkids on weekends, holidays and special occasions. She continued to be an active reader and continued her tradition of traveling to Dixon Kentucky during the summers. During this period, she also attended a class reunion in Oakland City with four other classmates and thoroughly enjoyed it.

On December 30, 1989, Bonnie Maude attended Steve’s wedding to Debby Durant.

In 1991, Bonnie Maude’s second great grandchild, Jamie, was born on December 21st.

In 1994, Bonnie Maude’s third great grandchild, Olivia, was born on June 14th.

Death

Bonnie Maude passed away on November 28, Thanksgiving Day, 1996, at 12:58 a.m., in Kettering, Ohio, a southern suburb of Dayton, at Kettering Hospital, at the age of 85. She died of heart failure due to severe atherosclerotic heart disease after being admitted 4-5 days prior, complaining of shortness of breath. In the hospital they gave her codeine tablets to put under tongue to help improve her breathing. She ultimately had to have a heart catheterization procedure for the shortness of breath and needed to take Valium for the procedure. Bonnie Maude told her daughter that she could have passed several times while in the hospital due to shortness of breath. On her last day, she asked Bonnie Elizabeth to rub her feet, because she could not feel them any longer. On her last night, she waited until Bonnie Elizabeth had left to room to pass away. Bonnie was just down the hall in the ICU lounge when she got called back by a nurse so Bonnie Elizabeth could sit with her mom’s body. Bonnie Elizabeth learned later from a nurse that her mom had told the nurse that that was the night she was “going to go”.

The first visitation service for Bonnie was conducted at Routsong Funeral Home in Centerville, Ohio on Tuesday, December 3rd. A subsequent visitation service for her was conducted in her hometown, Dixon, Kentucky, at the Townsend Funeral Home on Thursday, December 5th. She was subsequently buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, also in Dixon, where numerous family members are buried, including her husband and parents. She survived her husband, Jim, by 11 years. Bonnie Elizabeth, Bob, Steve, Debby, Jamie and Olivia attended the services in Dixon.

Letter to from Jim Dinsmore to Bonnie Maude Dinsmore – Transcribed by Steve Riordan from handwritten letter on newspaper:

Sunday July 24. Upton Wyo. 1932

Dear Bonnie,

Gosh, it’s been a long time since I heard from you. Of course, you didn’t know where I was. I wonder if you cared. I do hope so.

A week ago Friday July 17 I got a letter from Marley saying that they were leaving for the West at 11 p.m. that night. The letter reached me at 11 a.m. I beat it to Vincennes and we caught a freight and rode to Flora, Illinois where the cops shook down the train and ran us all (about 50 bums) out of town. By the way Rip and Marley’s kid brother were along. Anyway, we didn’t get out of there till noon the next day. But we hit St. Louis about 5 p.m. and went to the YMCA for a bath and I washed some dishes for a meal. All the others had some money but for me. We left St. Louis at 9 p.m. for Kansas City and boy what a beating I took. I hopped on a car and rode the top. It was a Manifest Express and went like the Devil and the coal it threw and left me black and blue all over and both eyes got full of cinders. I stood it about 10 miles then I ran the tops about 20 cars and found a flat. We go in K.C. Sunday a.m. and promoted some food and had a bath and caught a freight to St. Joseph via Leavenworth and from there caught a C.B. & A. freight to Omaha, Neb. and from there to Norfolk via the C & H W from Norfolk we rode to Chadron [a city in Nebraska] (all the time looking for work). Yes I forgot to mention I went to sleep and fell off the train near St. Joe. I didn’t get hurt. So it was OK.

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From there we caught a freight to Crawford and then we split up. Marley and I caught a fast passenger out of there and left Rip and young Morley to catch a freight 12 hours later. Both of them had a pretty bad scare and lost their nerve and so they had to rest up some. I’ve had some pretty close ones but I didn’t mind. Well we caught it and got kicked off at Edgemont South Dakota and so we caught a freight to Newcastle Wyoming where I met a woman who said she could get me a job at ranch near Upton. So, Marley and I split up. He went on toward Montana and I came to Upton – and failed to get a job. Well last night I had made up my mind to catch a thru freight for Omaha and head back home and go to Camp Knox and from there to Dixon (with your consent) when Irene Irnet another woman who said her husband might be able to use me on his ranch. So I am waiting now for him. If I get this job, I’ll probably be here a month or more. If not I’m heading East tomorrow a.m. and heading home.

Darling please forgive me the mistreatment and neglect you’ve gotten from me. And I want you to know that is really you I love and I couldn’t love anyone else. And I want you worse than ever. And as soon as I can I shall come and see you and maybe I’ll be able to get into the cattle business for myself and then if you still love me I can bring you out here next year and Honey school teachers are better paid here than at home and there are four times as many openings. So you could teach if you wished.

Gee I was blue last night. All alone hungry and far away from you. I prayed for the first time in weeks and Honey it helped. I believe if you still love me I can get back to living right. Write me at Box 165 Upton Wyoming please.

Loads of love,

Jim

Riordan-Durant Family Tree

Connecting Generations, Sharing Stories

Bonnie Maude Overby (1911 - 1996)

Capturing Memories: An Ancestral Photo Album

Riordan-Durant Family Tree

Connecting Generations, Sharing Stories

Bonnie Maude Overby (1911 - 1996)

Capturing Memories: An Ancestral Photo Album

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