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Diana Margaret Mitchell was born
My grandma was born on January 1st, 1941 at Englewood hospital, she was in the newspaper since she was the first baby born in the new year at that hospital -
Donald Mitchell was born
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South Town Theater
My Grandmas's favorite place to go after school since her mom worked she would go there and get White Castle for 7 cents. She said it was the fanciest theatre there. -
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Grammar School
Grammar school Louis Champlin right next to Englewood High School which was an all-black high school. There weren't enough classrooms for all the kids at her school some classes were in the high school. Since this was in the '40s and '50s there was still a lot of school segregation she says there were armed guards who had to take you to the bathroom if you needed to go. -
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High school
My grandma attended Harper High School while she was in high school her favorite show was American Bandstand -
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Willow brook ballroom
A fancy ballroom that my grandma and grandpa would go on dates there. -
Married at 18
My grandma married my grandpa at St. Barbra's church, Marty, at 19. -
Jay was born
My dad was born at Berwyn hospital -
Jimmy was born
My uncle Jimmy was born at LaGrange hospital -
Father passed away
Her father Arthur passed away at 69, Everyone called him Scotty since he was from Scotland. A couple of years ago we found out that he had another family in Ireland that he left and came to America. -
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Liver fine jewelry and gifts
My grandma worked at a jewelry store that sold really nice jewelry and statues. Which was in a mall, a block from her house on pine street, and was easy to get to. -
Moved to house in LaGrange Park
My grandparents moved from Hinsdale to LaGrange when Jay was old enough to go to school -
Mother Died
Her mother Catherine passed away at the age of 66 -
My grandma bought a monkey
My grandma bought a capuchin monkey from an organ grinder in Old Chicago Amusement Park. My grandma had seen the monkeys from the Lincoln park zoo and the organ grinder were so well trained so she hoped to train him. The monkeys' name was Capooch. -
Capooch had to be given away
When my grandma came home from work she found that the monkey had got out of his cage and had trashed the house, Marty then said that he had to give it away. It is still possible that Capooch is still alive. This is the only picture we have of him. -
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Montgomery ward and Trader Barb
My grandma got a job selling appliances there and was one of few women that worked there. On her vacations, she would work with her friend Trader Barb at fairs selling southwestern jewelry, her favorite fair was Rhinebeck NY in the Hudson Valley they had the oldest operating inn in America called the "Beekmans Arms". -
Moved to LaGrange Highlands
After Jay and Jimmy were gone the house was too big and Marty could deal with the stairs -
Donald Mitchell died
My grandma's brother was a police officer who died in the line of duty. They were very close due to her father not being around. He was buried in Meridian, Mississippi which is where he met his wife Cathy while in the U.S. Navy. He was in one of the search parties looking for 3 civil rights workers that were killed in the summer of 1964 (James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner). He didn't marry Cathy until 25 years later. -
Martin McHale died
After battle cancer, for many years my grandfather died from melanoma (skin cancer) that took over his whole body. The original cancer was from a sore on his back that developed many years after suffered severe sunburn when he served in the army in Texas and Hawaii during WWII. -
Moved to Countryside
After Marty died she had to sell her house and move to Countryside. She met lots of new people in her neighborhood, She met her best friend Marylin White, Simeon Wright who was Emmitt Till's cousin. he was lying next to him when he was taken in. There was another guy who lived across the street from her who she called Bozo since he was "always up to something goofy," his real name was Don DeCarlo. -
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The Great Indoors
My grandma starts working at the Great Indoors as soon as Montgomery ward went under, the stores were across the street from each other. -
Moved to Homer Glen
Unfortunately, my grandma had to move into a house in a retirement village that didn't have steps because of her rheumatoid arthritis.
