Roland and Edna Dodds

Thinking about my "Summer Grandma Camp", makes me remember those lazy summer days -- when I'd spend A WHOLE week with my mother's mother -- Grandma Dodds.  I have written about my father’s family -- but never much about Mom’s side.

Actually,  I don’t know very much about them. I don’t think that’s unusual. If you watch TLC’s show, “Who Do You Think You Are” (GREAT show) -- you realize that for most families -- the real story is seldom told, and often lost. The circumstances of a family, the love, the hate, who was brave and who was not...what they did to survive, heartache, loss -- that history all dies with the people who lived it. And maybe that’s the way of it.....

So, here’s what I know.  Edna Stahl was born in 1899.  She married Roland Dodds on October 16, 1923. They had three children: Rozella, Joyce (my Mom) and Melvin.

Roland Dodds worked as a lockman on Mississippi Lock and Dam #14 for over 30 years.  He also painted houses on the side...and he was a quiet man.  I was 17 years old when he died, but I cannot recall ever having a conversation with my Grandpa Dodds.

Here’s some family “lore” ....(which means, I am making some of it up)

Edna was not pretty, and she had a very prominent, Roman nose. Her looks probably limited her suitors...and, frankly, I don’t think her personality helped much. I remember her as a severe woman who seldom smiled.

After she graduated from high school, Edna got a job working in the offices of Standard Oil. At the age of 24, she was on the cusp of being an “Old Maid”.

But, she was spared that humiliating fate when she married Roland Dodds in 1923. He had recently returned from World War I.

They paid $600 for a small house in Princeton, Iowa. I’m not sure when they moved into the house -- but they lived there for the rest of their lives. 
 

The house was dilapidated, and the last tenants owned a hoard of cats. My mother remembers cleaning piles of cat poop...and scrubbing the floors and the walls to remove the smell of cat pee. (my Mom hated cats.)

Although they were married for 50 years -- Edna and Roland Dodds were not Romeo and Juliet. They tolerated one another...but there was never any warmth between them.

I remember Grandpa Dodds sitting in a leather chair in their small living room, winking at me as Grandma was nagging him about something.  She always seemed annoyed with him....but he never seemed too affected by her complaints. Maybe because he was buzzed most of the time.  Grandpa Dodds had a “drinking problem”.... but nobody in the family really talked about that. 

This is Grandma and Grandpa Dodds' house.

A few years ago, a friend of Deena's purchased the house and did a major renovation.

I was shocked at how small the porch was. Grandma hung a porch swing every summer...and we spent hours sitting on this porch, watching the river and listening to the trains... learning how to crochet

The new owner kept the glass-door kitchen cabinets.

We can never know the truth about the couple that lived in this house for 50 years -- why they got together in the first place, the issues they struggled with, or how they really felt about each other.  

But we do know Roland and Edna Dodds had a secret.  One they kept from their children. 

Tomorrow -- the secret....