Nola Mundt (on the right) with two of her friends in June 1934,

probably right after high school.

*****

Nola (again on the right?) with two of her friends,

at "camp" in 1936.

*****

Nola (on the left this time) in 1937 - there are supposed to be 

three friends in this picture.

*****

Jim Mayes in his senior high school picture - 

from 1934.

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Jim Mayes in 1937. This picture may have been taken around the time

of his first job - pumping gas at a service station. He told me that he was paid a dollar a day,

and that he felt guilty because he took the job away from a man who was trying to

support a family (but the man was a heavy drinker).

*****

A picture from 1938 shows Jim Mayes (on the right) with a couple of friends. I was

in my forties when Dad surprised me with the news that, before Mom straightened

him out, he was Pittsburg's equivalent of a juvenile delinquent.

*****

 

January 1, 1939, Jim Mayes and Nola Mundt were married. They drove to a nearby town to

see a movie as their 'honeymoon'. And they missed out on the 'shivaree' their friends

had planned because it snowed after they got home, and the friends could see no tracks

in the snow and thought that the couple was spending the night elsewhere.

Pictures of Nola are few and far between, but Jim has a number of pictures from his youth.

Around 1920, with Aunt Maud Wright at Hebron, NE.

*****

 

Also around 1920 with Aunt Maud Wright.

*****

 

Around 1926, at home on Jackson Street.

*****

 

Around 1927?

*****

 

Finally, some pictures of Jim and Nola around 13-14 years of age.

*****

 

Nola's confirmation class (she's the tall girl in the back row).

*****

 

Jim, apparently with his dog.

James Harold Mayes (Sr.) was born April 3, 1917.

Three days after he was born, he was adopted by Iver Earl Mayes and Grace Elizabeth Wright Mayes.

The story behind the adoption that Dad told me was that Grace Mayes and her mother were going somewhere in Pittsburg, and Grandmother Wright got the heel of her button-up-the-side shoes caught between the railroad ties at a crossing. A train was coming down the tracks, and it proved impossible to stop the train, pull the heel of the shoe free, or unbutton the shoe and get Grandmother Wright's foot out of the shoe. Grace Mayes had to stand there and watch her mother get hit by the train. As Gramps told me, they 'picked up' Grandmother Wright 'with a shovel and a bucket.'

Grace Mayes was so upset that it was decided that having a baby to care for could only help her - hence the adoption.

Gramps Mayes wrote on the back of this picture - "I recall vaguely my parents telling me that Grandfather P(leasant). A. Mayes gave them this wicker baby buggy when I was adopted. J. H. Mayes 9-27-1995"

Nola Elizabeth Mundt was born may 4, 1916, daughter of Theodor Albert Gotthilf Mundt and Hulda Erna Koopmann Mundt.

*****

On the left is Hulda Koopmann Mundt (with her sisters) and she is holding her daughter, Nola. I would guess that the picture dates from 1918 or 1919.

*****

 

Ted, Hulda and Nola Mundt - probably from 1920 or 1921.

*****

 

This is Nola and her sister Flora, probably 1923 or 1924. For reasons I'm not sure of (though part of it was probably her insecurity), I often heard Mom refer to herself as 'a little girl from the wrong side of the tracks.'

This is how I remember Ted and Hulda Mundt - from 1962.

And this is them at their 50th anniversary, Nov. 26, 1965 - with their daughters behind them (L to R) - Lorna, Nola, and Flora.

Theodor (Ted) Albert Gotthilf Mundt was the third child of August and Elizabeth Mundt. Born Feb. 26, 1893, he was 12 when his father died of tuberculosis. His older brother, John, was 17 at the time and his youngest brother, Christian, was 2. All the children were very busy, either on the family farm, or working for neighbors to provide some income for the family. (There is, of course, a lot more information in the family history books that Jim and Nola Mayes provided for their children and grandchildren.)

When Theodor was 21-22, he 'dated' a pretty girl in the congregation - Hulda Erna Koopmann.

Theodor and Hulda were married on Nov. 26, 1915.

Their first child, Nola, was born May 4, 2016. Uncle Jim has pointed out that, at that time, a young couple who had 'rushed' things were expected to stand up and apologize to the congregation. I never heard anyone say that Ted and Hulda did that, although Ted was known as a 'preacher's kid.' Nola was pretty deep into her Alzheimer's when Gramps Mayes informed me that Gramma 'always' knew that she was a 9-pound, 3 month premature baby - and that was the reason why Gramma was so insecure.

One last picture of August Mundt, which is rather unusual, because of its size - 20x16. Someone in the family thought it was worthwhile getting such a large picture some 120 years ago.