Doris’s Baby Locket
Leora Goff Wilson was the oldest in her family and the only one married, with two small sons. She started writing letters to boys in military service in 1918 when the oldest three of her seven brothers were sent to fight in France with the 88th Infantry Division. When baby Doris Wilson was born that August, Wayne Goff was especially taken with the news of the birth of his first niece. He sent money home from France, asking his younger sisters to buy a gift for the baby. Georgia and Ruby Goff chose a locket for baby Doris, large enough for her to enjoy wearing as an adult. They had it engraved “Wayne to Doris.”
First Anniversary
Doris grew up during the Great Depression and was a waitress when WWII began. She married an Iowa farmer who’d become a pilot in Texas.
Marfa, Texas, was so crowded during WWII that Doris and Warren Neal lived in a room in a church. Some people were even living in the Marfa hospital.
So they decided it would be better if Doris returned home for the birth of their first baby, and they could spend a few weeks with her mother’s help. The couple rode the train back to Iowa in March, 1944, with the baby due in late May.
The Neals spent their first anniversary apart, but Warren sent Doris a locket with pilot’s wings on it to commemorate the day–May 16, 1944.
My Baby Locket
Grandma and Grandma Neal, Kenneth and Ruby, gave me this baby locket while Mom and were still in the Dexter clinic hospital, June 1944. It looks like I used it for teething! (I added it to the pin.)
Do you have a locket or piece of jewelry that has a family story?
The only thing better than an heirloom is one with a story!