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My Maternal Grandparents

I do remember my maternal grandmother going over
a bit of the family history. It was hard to keep in mind.
But always there was the part about how we were
descended from Pocohantas. I used to think that was
really great until I read somewhere that it used to be fashionable.

 

Here is an invitation to celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary. Colonel Milton Starbuck, who fought in the Civil War, was married to Ann Meredith in 1845. One offspring of that marriage was my great grandmother, Gertie Cox. Here is where tbe name Starbuck comes from. To understand the meaning it has for me, you have to see how I have incorporated it into my dreams and personal mythology.

 

 

 

Here is my great grandmother, Gertie, and her husband, Mr. Cox.

 

 

 

I have been aware of the maternal line much more than the paternal.Here I am sitting for a photo with my mother, her mother, and her mother--i.e., my mom, grandmother and great grandmother. I look like a woman myself, with long hair and a little dress. I also have a look in my eye as if I'm the beloved prince of quite a harem.

 

 

Here are my grandfather (Pearl F., or P.F. as he was called) and my grandmother (Zena). They both became music teachers. They had a studio in their home in Salem Oregon.

 

 

 

I remember my grandfather playing the violin for me. I didn't like violin music, but he would straighten me out. It was the "King of the musical instruments" he would tell me. I liked it best when he would play for me, "Turkey in the Straw."

Otherwise he was usually playing classical music.

 

He taught Spade Cooley how to play the violin. Spade Cooley went on to have his own country music band. I remember his coming to my grandparents' house. Through Spade Cooley there was a link to Roy Rogers, who was also a singing cowboy. I have this vague memory of Roy Rogers visiting the house, but I don't think it really happened.

 

Spade Cooley at age 15, with my grandmother--in a bathing suit! I never saw her in one myself. My grandparents adopted Spade Cooley and my grandfather taught him to fiddle. He went on to become a cowboy musician. You can still find two of his movies and one CD. He created a special brand of country music, a big band style. He spent some time in jail for shooting his wife. When he got out of jail, on his next public appearance, he died of a heart attack.

 

Here is a link to Spade Cooley's CD on Tunes.Com

 

 

 

My grandparents and their own child, my mom, Ruthyn, named after a prominent attorney in Salem, Oregon.

 

  My dad and his father in law, P.F., my mom's dad.

 

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