Ethel Parton Shaver was born the 18th of November 1881 in Iowa. Her parents were Henry C. Shaver (1849) and Francis "Fannie" H. Hodges (1851 to 1920). She was their fifth, and youngest, child. Both sets of her grandparents were from England.
Her grandfather, Rev. John Hodges, was one of the early pioneer Methodist Episcopal missionaries in Iowa, traveling all over the northern part of the state on horseback. Her great uncle was James Parton, historian and biographer. Her father was the editor of The Argus, a weekly newspaper in Des Moines, Iowa.
Ethel grew up in Iowa, but sometime after 1893 she and her mother moved to Litchfield, Montgomery, Illinois, where they were living for the 1900 census. It was there that she met then married William Walter Rainey (1877 to 1959) on the 4th of April 1901. Ethel and William had five children - one girl and four boys.
Children of William Walter and Ethel Parton Rainey:
1. Dorothy Genevieve Rainey (1904 to 1987)
2. Donald Victor Rainey (1910 to 1994) married Ila Benepe and had two children. After her death he married Rozella Worthington.
3. Truman Woodworth Rainey (1912 to 1924)
4. Robert Howard Rainey (1916 to 2005) maried Mildred Barlett and had four children.
5. William Philip Rainey (1922) married Dorothy Hanrahan and had six children.
When first married, her husband, William Walter Rainey, worked on a farm, however in 1905 he started working for the United States Post Office in Litchfield, Montgomery, Illinois. After forty years, he retired from this position. Ethel, her husband, and youngest child, moved to Sebastopol, Sonoma, California in 1945. This is where she died on the 17th of October 1952.
Writing was in her blood. In 1947 she published a book of poetry title Wilderness Bloom. She is also credited with writing the words to several different songs. The tragic death of her middle child, Truman, at the age of twelve, effected her greatly. She not only wrote about him, but in her poetry book one of the poems titled Portrait of My Son with the subtitle U. S. C. G. - 1942 to 1945 was about another one of her sons serving in the military during World War II.
This is the first poem in her book.
Life's Tapestry
by Ethel Parton Rainey
Here in my house of life
A loom awaits.
The warp is ready spread,
And I alone
May weave the woof with thread
I shall select
From skeins the Master Weaver
Offers me.
From these my own design
Must woven be.
But, when at last complete
The pattern lies —
A finished tapestry,
Its weaving mine —
What if imperfect be
The work . . . unskilled?
No beauty of design?
What then shall He,
The Master Weaver,
Say to me?
Her grandfather, Rev. John Hodges, was one of the early pioneer Methodist Episcopal missionaries in Iowa, traveling all over the northern part of the state on horseback. Her great uncle was James Parton, historian and biographer. Her father was the editor of The Argus, a weekly newspaper in Des Moines, Iowa.
Ethel grew up in Iowa, but sometime after 1893 she and her mother moved to Litchfield, Montgomery, Illinois, where they were living for the 1900 census. It was there that she met then married William Walter Rainey (1877 to 1959) on the 4th of April 1901. Ethel and William had five children - one girl and four boys.
Children of William Walter and Ethel Parton Rainey:
1. Dorothy Genevieve Rainey (1904 to 1987)
2. Donald Victor Rainey (1910 to 1994) married Ila Benepe and had two children. After her death he married Rozella Worthington.
3. Truman Woodworth Rainey (1912 to 1924)
4. Robert Howard Rainey (1916 to 2005) maried Mildred Barlett and had four children.
5. William Philip Rainey (1922) married Dorothy Hanrahan and had six children.
When first married, her husband, William Walter Rainey, worked on a farm, however in 1905 he started working for the United States Post Office in Litchfield, Montgomery, Illinois. After forty years, he retired from this position. Ethel, her husband, and youngest child, moved to Sebastopol, Sonoma, California in 1945. This is where she died on the 17th of October 1952.
Writing was in her blood. In 1947 she published a book of poetry title Wilderness Bloom. She is also credited with writing the words to several different songs. The tragic death of her middle child, Truman, at the age of twelve, effected her greatly. She not only wrote about him, but in her poetry book one of the poems titled Portrait of My Son with the subtitle U. S. C. G. - 1942 to 1945 was about another one of her sons serving in the military during World War II.
This is the first poem in her book.
Life's Tapestry
by Ethel Parton Rainey
Here in my house of life
A loom awaits.
The warp is ready spread,
And I alone
May weave the woof with thread
I shall select
From skeins the Master Weaver
Offers me.
From these my own design
Must woven be.
But, when at last complete
The pattern lies —
A finished tapestry,
Its weaving mine —
What if imperfect be
The work . . . unskilled?
No beauty of design?
What then shall He,
The Master Weaver,
Say to me?
Ethel Parton Shaver was born the 18th of November 1881 in Iowa. Her parents were Henry C. Shaver (1849) and Francis "Fannie" H. Hodges (1851 to 1920). She was their fifth, and youngest, child. Both sets of her grandparents were from England.
Her grandfather, Rev. John Hodges, was one of the early pioneer Methodist Episcopal missionaries in Iowa, traveling all over the northern part of the state on horseback. Her great uncle was James Parton, historian and biographer. Her father was the editor of The Argus, a weekly newspaper in Des Moines, Iowa.
Ethel grew up in Iowa, but sometime after 1893 she and her mother moved to Litchfield, Montgomery, Illinois, where they were living for the 1900 census. It was there that she met then married William Walter Rainey (1877 to 1959) on the 4th of April 1901. Ethel and William had five children - one girl and four boys.
Children of William Walter and Ethel Parton Rainey:
1. Dorothy Genevieve Rainey (1904 to 1987)
2. Donald Victor Rainey (1910 to 1994) married Ila Benepe and had two children. After her death he married Rozella Worthington.
3. Truman Woodworth Rainey (1912 to 1924)
4. Robert Howard Rainey (1916 to 2005) maried Mildred Barlett and had four children.
5. William Philip Rainey (1922) married Dorothy Hanrahan and had six children.
When first married, her husband, William Walter Rainey, worked on a farm, however in 1905 he started working for the United States Post Office in Litchfield, Montgomery, Illinois. After forty years, he retired from this position. Ethel, her husband, and youngest child, moved to Sebastopol, Sonoma, California in 1945. This is where she died on the 17th of October 1952.
Writing was in her blood. In 1947 she published a book of poetry title Wilderness Bloom. She is also credited with writing the words to several different songs. The tragic death of her middle child, Truman, at the age of twelve, effected her greatly. She not only wrote about him, but in her poetry book one of the poems titled Portrait of My Son with the subtitle U. S. C. G. - 1942 to 1945 was about another one of her sons serving in the military during World War II.
This is the first poem in her book.
Life's Tapestry
by Ethel Parton Rainey
Here in my house of life
A loom awaits.
The warp is ready spread,
And I alone
May weave the woof with thread
I shall select
From skeins the Master Weaver
Offers me.
From these my own design
Must woven be.
But, when at last complete
The pattern lies —
A finished tapestry,
Its weaving mine —
What if imperfect be
The work . . . unskilled?
No beauty of design?
What then shall He,
The Master Weaver,
Say to me?
Her grandfather, Rev. John Hodges, was one of the early pioneer Methodist Episcopal missionaries in Iowa, traveling all over the northern part of the state on horseback. Her great uncle was James Parton, historian and biographer. Her father was the editor of The Argus, a weekly newspaper in Des Moines, Iowa.
Ethel grew up in Iowa, but sometime after 1893 she and her mother moved to Litchfield, Montgomery, Illinois, where they were living for the 1900 census. It was there that she met then married William Walter Rainey (1877 to 1959) on the 4th of April 1901. Ethel and William had five children - one girl and four boys.
Children of William Walter and Ethel Parton Rainey:
1. Dorothy Genevieve Rainey (1904 to 1987)
2. Donald Victor Rainey (1910 to 1994) married Ila Benepe and had two children. After her death he married Rozella Worthington.
3. Truman Woodworth Rainey (1912 to 1924)
4. Robert Howard Rainey (1916 to 2005) maried Mildred Barlett and had four children.
5. William Philip Rainey (1922) married Dorothy Hanrahan and had six children.
When first married, her husband, William Walter Rainey, worked on a farm, however in 1905 he started working for the United States Post Office in Litchfield, Montgomery, Illinois. After forty years, he retired from this position. Ethel, her husband, and youngest child, moved to Sebastopol, Sonoma, California in 1945. This is where she died on the 17th of October 1952.
Writing was in her blood. In 1947 she published a book of poetry title Wilderness Bloom. She is also credited with writing the words to several different songs. The tragic death of her middle child, Truman, at the age of twelve, effected her greatly. She not only wrote about him, but in her poetry book one of the poems titled Portrait of My Son with the subtitle U. S. C. G. - 1942 to 1945 was about another one of her sons serving in the military during World War II.
This is the first poem in her book.
Life's Tapestry
by Ethel Parton Rainey
Here in my house of life
A loom awaits.
The warp is ready spread,
And I alone
May weave the woof with thread
I shall select
From skeins the Master Weaver
Offers me.
From these my own design
Must woven be.
But, when at last complete
The pattern lies —
A finished tapestry,
Its weaving mine —
What if imperfect be
The work . . . unskilled?
No beauty of design?
What then shall He,
The Master Weaver,
Say to me?
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