Susan

 

Jim took this picture of Susan.
It is classic and I'd love to know what she was thinking about
looking at that little doll bed ladder.
She was born in 1954.  This is probably about 1957.

Susan and Joyce
Joyce's outfit is red

That Ford in the picture was white and pink

Susan and Kitten  1955

Susan ready for the Talent Round Up Rodeo 
with the Musketeers!  

While Jim and Kitten lived in Independence at 2640 Arlington, Susan was born.  She entered this world on September 14, 1954, in the midst of a deep depression and great upheaval in the lives of her parents.  Each of them was blaming the other for causing the fury that was actually tearing them to pieces bit by bit.  Unfortunately for Susan, she didn't enter the world with the excitement and love usually extended to a newborn baby.  There was too much confusion going on, and while all of us suffered, perhaps Susan has suffered the most.

While still in her crib, it was discovered that Susan had the same hip problems as Joyce, and she had to wear a brace immediately.  Unlike Joyce, who had already started walking when the problem was discovered, Susan Didn't have to wear the body cast, but only the brace.  She was a brave little tyke and didn't seem to mind the brace, even though it extended from her foot to her thigh.  Once she started walking, she walked and climbed any place she wanted to go.  The brace didn't seem to bother her a bit.

Jim and Kitten were granted a divorce and Jim moved out.  The children were awarded to Della and me.  We tried our best to give them a normal home life, complete with surrogate mother and father.  Jim lived in the apartment behind the house and went about his own life, but he continued to support the girls.  Della was a wonderful mother to the girls, adding to her busy schedule the task of sewing for them and being there for all their needs.  We loved them with all our hearts, and were thrilled at the challenge of raising them.

In 1958, with Jim infatuated with the lecture business, the five of us, Jim, Della, Joyce, Susan and I went to Hawaii for the purpose of his filming.  Another couple and their son went with us.  When we got there, we stopped at the Hawaiian Hotel on the Island of Oahu.  We had a ground-level room that was adjoined by a huge swimming pool on the same level.  Immediately upon arrival, we parked the girls on the deck of the 10' deep pool, and leaving the women to watch the girls, I went into the adjoining room to change into my trunks.  Della never learned to swim, and as I started to change, I heard a terrible scream telling me Susan had fallen into the pool.   I dropped my pants, ran for the water, but (by the time I got there) Susan had already been rescued.  A boy named Steve Rumpf jumped in and saved her, his father standing by to make sure everything was alright.  It put a scare into us, and we were grateful that Susan had been saved.

Note:  Sue merely leaned forward and slipped into the pool.  No doubt she would have drowned if someone hadn't seen what happened and pulled her out, but reading this now, it sounds so much more dramatic to use the word, "rescued."  This Steve Rumpf was someone the grandparents were so grateful for, they exchanged addresses and sent Christmas cards to each other for many years.

All was going well - the girls were adjusting to their lives - when in 1960 Jim announced that he planned to remarry.  When he told us of his plans to take the girls with him, our hearts sank.  He bought a house only a couple of miles from us, and we thought that we would once again share the closeness we had shared with him and Kitten.  That was not to be.  Jim and Ella were married on June 1, 1960, and she promptly announced to us that we were not welcome in their home unless we were invited.  In 1961 Jim and Ella had a child of their own, James Eugene Moseley, and after that, things grew continually worse.  Ella was jealous of us and our relationship with the girls, and wasn't about to let that spoil her marriage.

When Jim and Ella made their plans plain to us, we thought maybe they knew what was best and we tried to keep a low profile.  The girls continued to spend at least one night a week with us for awhile, but gradually those nights were further between.  We just hoped and prayed that everything was going as it should, and we continued with our lives.

While Susan was a junior in high school, Kitten contacted her and wanted to see her.  Ella pushed the meeting, and it ended up that Susan went to visit Kitten for part of the school year.  Things didn't work out as Susan or Kitten expected, and Susan got on the bus to come home.

Note:  Kitten put Susan on a Greyhound bus by herself and sent her home without telling anyone she was even on that bus and headed to Kansas City!!  Susan called me late at night in possibly March-April of 1971 and asked if I could come pick her up at the bus station downtown.  I didn't feel comfortable doing that, mostly because I was pregnant (which now seems like a stupid excuse), but instead suggested she called Grandpa.  Of course Grandpa picked her up and brought her home for the night.  The next day, Grandpa took her to our dad's house, but they wouldn't let her come back home.  They did allow her to grab some of her things, so that's what she did, and went back to live with Grandpa and Grandma.   

Susan had received a letter from Ella telling her that they were all getting along fine without her, and that she wasn't welcome in their home.  When Susan got off the bus, she called us, and we were happy to go pick her up.  Once again, Susan was home with us, and we were excited to have her.  It wasn't until then that we found out how rough her life had really been with Ella.

Susan was dating, and started getting serious about a boy named Gary Jubratic.  Della and I were crazy about Gary and he was good to us.  He was wonderful to Susan, and before long they decided to get married.  Susan graduated from Van Horn High School in May and they were married in September 1972.  She was only eighteen but Gary was a good person and we thought everything would work out.  Susan gave birth to Felicia Lynn on April 5, 1973, and still things seemed to be working out for them.

Joey in center, Spencer

Jubratics, Gary, Susan, Della, Kitten, Ray

Susan and Gary
Community Christian Church on the Plaza

Gary still seemed to be crazy about Susan, but the marriage wasn't what she wanted.  After a few years, and many trial separations and reconciliations, they were divorced.  Susan took Felicia and Gary went his own way.

I have fond memories of the four of us together - Susan, Gary, Della and me.  Della loved Gary and asked for him up until her death.  We shared many good times together, and have been grateful that we were able to share that time with Susan.  She was a lot of company for Della and me when she came back from Kitten's and we enjoyed having her with us.  We have always loved her and tried to show her our love.  I pray that one day she will understand just how much she IS loved by all of us.

Note:  Ella encouraged Susan to go to Kitten just like she encouraged Joyce to get married.  She wanted both of us out of the house.   I wish that when Daddy got remarried, he would have just left us with Grandma and Grandpa.  It would have been better for all of us.

I do remember that we would ride the school bus to Grandpa's house every Wednesday.  We'd spend the night and go back to school the next day.

Ella was forever asking us what we told "the Moseleys" while we were there.  She felt like we were being interrogated when we were over there.  I'd guess that she was the major reason we didn't go back after awhile.  There was too much going on in our house that she and Daddy didn't want anyone knowing about.  It was just easier if they kept us home with no one to talk to.   As an adult, and a parent, I realize that if there weren't things to hide, it wouldn't have mattered what we talked about.

Funny story about the wedding day.  We all left and went to have dinner somewhere on the Plaza, but when we got there we realized Spencer wasn't there.  We went back to the church and found him there.  We'd left him there alone in all the confusion.  Poor little three year old!!