My Grandmother's Diary Update

By Dennis Lantz

When I discovered my grandmother’s diary in the attic of my old home, I had no idea what I would find within its pages. Vivian Mae Humphrey West died in 1941 at the age of twenty-four. My mother, Marlene JoAnne West Lantz was less than two years old when her mother passed.

I did not know that the diary existed, and am perplexed that my mother never told me it was in her possession. Many times we discussed genealogy, but the diary was not mentioned. Although she was too young to remember her mother, she certainly knew many of the family members mentioned. In fact she was quite close to them.

Maybe it was too painful to discuss. Or perhaps she may have misplaced the diary or thought she lost it. I suppose I will never know the answer.

Diaries are personal. They can contain information that is hurtful, emotional or even incorrect. I intend to reveal some of the more interesting parts of my grandmother’s diary and I don’t want anyone to be upset. I really don’t think they will be. I’ve combed through the entries and have not come across anything that will cause alarm.

Most of her journal could be considered weather updates or simple musings about where she, Elvin (my grandfather), her mother and father or siblings went on that particular day.  

I don’t believe there are any untruths or salacious elements. In fact, with only a few exceptions, there is very little emotional display. But that doesn’t mean a lack of information. She frequently inserts little details that show how country-folk lived during the third decade of the twentieth century. You should remember that this was the final years of the Great Depression and just prior to World War II. Like today, it was an interesting time to be alive.

I am currently deciphering and transcribing. This undertaking should be completed soon. It’s a five year diary and I am now on the third year.  Janel and Matt Howe are helping me with this task.

On a personal level, I can’t shake the feeling that I was meant to find the diary. I believe everything happens for a reason, whether to guide us along our life’s path or to help someone else. The reason isn’t always clear.

If I was to speculate (and I’m fond of doing that)... I would say that the diary is supposed to bring my family together. We are not completely disconnected, but it would be a stretch to say that we are close… certainly not as close as the Humphreys or the Wests apparently were in the 1930s.

The dynamics of my mother’s family are simple, really. Elvin West married Vivian Humphrey and they had two children. Kenneth Eugene West was born in 1937 and Marlene JoAnne in 1939. Vivian died in July 1941. Elvin remarried in 1942. Edna Billings West was the only grandmother I knew. For that matter, she was also the only mother Marlene knew. Rev. Elvin and Rev. Edna West had two children. Carol Sue and David Lee.   

I came to an important realization while reading the diary. I know very little about my grandmother and her family or my grandfather. I need my aunt and uncle (or anyone else) to fill in some very big knowledge gaps. My grandfather also passed away before I was born.  

I believe Vivian died from an enlarged heart caused by rheumatic fever. Her picture hung in our living room at our house on Ghent. In my memory, which is unreliable at best, the moon or a glowing orb was behind her head. She seemed rather mystical to me.

What I know about my grandfather, prior to reading the diary, sadly can fit in a few sentences. Both he and grandma (Edna) were evangelists and preachers. When my Aunt Sue and Uncle David were older they performed and toured as The Singing West Family. I’d seen pictures of him with a guitar, so assume that he played. I also heard that he had a club foot. I still don’t know what that means.

So I intend to ask my Aunt Sue and Uncle David to fill in the blanks. I have a list of questions I will send them as soon as I am finished transcribing the diary. I don’t want this to be weird for them. Obviously Vivian was not their mother and it might seem odd to read about their father when he was married to someone besides Edna.   

But I expect they will be interested in getting a glimpse of their dad as a young man, barely out of his teens. He was just out of school and married… so soon to be a widower. 

No matter, I very much want to know more about him. My mother talked of him, but I’m ashamed to say that I never got a sense of him as a person. Vivian’s diary gives him life, but it also creates more questions.

I also have a list of questions for my mom’s cousins on the Humphrey side. Aunt Reva’s children. Uncle Carl’s children. Aunt Norrine’s descendants. So many questions...  

A few of the ‘characters’ in Vivian’s story were familiar to me. Great-grandma Humphrey, Aunt Reva, Aunt Norrine, Great-grandpa Benjamin West, Uncle Ken, my mother… but each was different in her story than in mine. Some were just babies. Obviously they were all much younger.

Also fascinating, but not relevant to any family history, were the non-family names she mentioned… whom I knew. She reported the birth of Howard Kier. She mentioned Earl Cole. I knew them both. She talks about Martin Gillette painting their house. I didn’t know Martin, but remember my uncle Elzy and others talking about him. Now I want to know more.

In my next update I will give you a clearer picture of Vivian’s life and the people who were part of her story.  I am hesitant to call it a tragic tale even though she died so young. Ironically, I am thankful that she did. My aunt and uncle (and his children and grandchildren) came about because God took Vivian home so early.

Until next time,

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