Lucille is the daughter of Elmo Thatcher & Virgie Minnie (Pennington) Nelson. Folks who remember her from her younger days always comment on her love of animals and how good she was with them. In high school, she was on the basketball team.
On 25 May 1928, she married Raymond Lee Crawford of California MO and had 3 daughters, Virgie Bell (1933-2007), and twins Betty Ann (1934-2001)and Jo Ann (1934-1999). They travelled to several states with Raymond's job as a lineman, which perhaps contributed to their marital problems. In 1933 when her father died suddenly of a heart attack, they were in Dixon IA. After a stormy 8 years with several breakups, they finally divorced on Nov 17, 1936 in Montezuma IA. She married Alfred Ziglar on 16 May 1942, resulting in another divorce, date unknown. About 1949, she married Clay Copas, but learned after his death that his divorce from his 1st wife had never been finalized. She was left alone, with none of Cope's retirement or insurance benefits.
Lucille and Cope lived on 3 acres in Platte County, between Riverside and Gladstone MO and operated a mini-farm, including a huge garden, guineaus, ducks, geese, chickens, horses and a faithful old dog named Bosco. When I came along, there appeared another dog Tippy that was always MY dog. We used to make weekly trips to Riverside Red-X for supplies, which always included beer and cigarettes. Every spring, we would make a trip to the feed store in Nashua to pick up chick feed and a box full of chirping chicks she had ordered.
Not until very late in life did she get running water in the house. All during the 50's and 60's, she had water hauled in to a cistern. There was an outhouse out behind the house, and there was a pump at the kitchen sink with a bucket for drinking water, and a ladle that we all drank out of. No germaphobes back then!
I spent as much of every summer as possible with my Grandma. The front bedroom was set aside for me. The closet was full of wonderful items from the Roaring Twenties that my Grandma wore as a flapper. All the gorgeous hats, boas, sequins, fringe and high platform type heels (as I recall) fascinated me. I wish I had had the sense to ask her more questions and to care more about her past while she was still around to share. I just had no idea of the history they held.
She taught me how to iron, garden, can tomatoes and green beans, ride horses, clean stalls, buck hay bales, and raise chickens.
She had the most beautiful long auburn hair, but kept it in a braid wrapped around her head all day, not letting it down until bedtime, and then she would let me brush it. Even after her youth had slipped away, she was still a beautiful woman.
She was always partial to blue morning glories and had them growing every year on a piece of lattice by her back door. And old-fashioned yellow iris lined her entire driveway on both sides.
While her early life must have been a real party, in her later years she became quite reclusive. She would talk to her neighbors on occasion, but rarely left the house except to make her weekly trip to Red-X. Her daughter Virgie lived with her the last several years, and remained in the house, after Lucille died, until it burned.
Sadly, in that fire, generations of family pictures, Bibles, documents, the treadle sewing machine on which she taught me to sew, and all those wonderful Flapper outfits were lost.
On 25 May 1928, she married Raymond Lee Crawford of California MO and had 3 daughters, Virgie Bell (1933-2007), and twins Betty Ann (1934-2001)and Jo Ann (1934-1999). They travelled to several states with Raymond's job as a lineman, which perhaps contributed to their marital problems. In 1933 when her father died suddenly of a heart attack, they were in Dixon IA. After a stormy 8 years with several breakups, they finally divorced on Nov 17, 1936 in Montezuma IA. She married Alfred Ziglar on 16 May 1942, resulting in another divorce, date unknown. About 1949, she married Clay Copas, but learned after his death that his divorce from his 1st wife had never been finalized. She was left alone, with none of Cope's retirement or insurance benefits.
Lucille and Cope lived on 3 acres in Platte County, between Riverside and Gladstone MO and operated a mini-farm, including a huge garden, guineaus, ducks, geese, chickens, horses and a faithful old dog named Bosco. When I came along, there appeared another dog Tippy that was always MY dog. We used to make weekly trips to Riverside Red-X for supplies, which always included beer and cigarettes. Every spring, we would make a trip to the feed store in Nashua to pick up chick feed and a box full of chirping chicks she had ordered.
Not until very late in life did she get running water in the house. All during the 50's and 60's, she had water hauled in to a cistern. There was an outhouse out behind the house, and there was a pump at the kitchen sink with a bucket for drinking water, and a ladle that we all drank out of. No germaphobes back then!
I spent as much of every summer as possible with my Grandma. The front bedroom was set aside for me. The closet was full of wonderful items from the Roaring Twenties that my Grandma wore as a flapper. All the gorgeous hats, boas, sequins, fringe and high platform type heels (as I recall) fascinated me. I wish I had had the sense to ask her more questions and to care more about her past while she was still around to share. I just had no idea of the history they held.
She taught me how to iron, garden, can tomatoes and green beans, ride horses, clean stalls, buck hay bales, and raise chickens.
She had the most beautiful long auburn hair, but kept it in a braid wrapped around her head all day, not letting it down until bedtime, and then she would let me brush it. Even after her youth had slipped away, she was still a beautiful woman.
She was always partial to blue morning glories and had them growing every year on a piece of lattice by her back door. And old-fashioned yellow iris lined her entire driveway on both sides.
While her early life must have been a real party, in her later years she became quite reclusive. She would talk to her neighbors on occasion, but rarely left the house except to make her weekly trip to Red-X. Her daughter Virgie lived with her the last several years, and remained in the house, after Lucille died, until it burned.
Sadly, in that fire, generations of family pictures, Bibles, documents, the treadle sewing machine on which she taught me to sew, and all those wonderful Flapper outfits were lost.
Lucille is the daughter of Elmo Thatcher & Virgie Minnie (Pennington) Nelson. Folks who remember her from her younger days always comment on her love of animals and how good she was with them. In high school, she was on the basketball team.
On 25 May 1928, she married Raymond Lee Crawford of California MO and had 3 daughters, Virgie Bell (1933-2007), and twins Betty Ann (1934-2001)and Jo Ann (1934-1999). They travelled to several states with Raymond's job as a lineman, which perhaps contributed to their marital problems. In 1933 when her father died suddenly of a heart attack, they were in Dixon IA. After a stormy 8 years with several breakups, they finally divorced on Nov 17, 1936 in Montezuma IA. She married Alfred Ziglar on 16 May 1942, resulting in another divorce, date unknown. About 1949, she married Clay Copas, but learned after his death that his divorce from his 1st wife had never been finalized. She was left alone, with none of Cope's retirement or insurance benefits.
Lucille and Cope lived on 3 acres in Platte County, between Riverside and Gladstone MO and operated a mini-farm, including a huge garden, guineaus, ducks, geese, chickens, horses and a faithful old dog named Bosco. When I came along, there appeared another dog Tippy that was always MY dog. We used to make weekly trips to Riverside Red-X for supplies, which always included beer and cigarettes. Every spring, we would make a trip to the feed store in Nashua to pick up chick feed and a box full of chirping chicks she had ordered.
Not until very late in life did she get running water in the house. All during the 50's and 60's, she had water hauled in to a cistern. There was an outhouse out behind the house, and there was a pump at the kitchen sink with a bucket for drinking water, and a ladle that we all drank out of. No germaphobes back then!
I spent as much of every summer as possible with my Grandma. The front bedroom was set aside for me. The closet was full of wonderful items from the Roaring Twenties that my Grandma wore as a flapper. All the gorgeous hats, boas, sequins, fringe and high platform type heels (as I recall) fascinated me. I wish I had had the sense to ask her more questions and to care more about her past while she was still around to share. I just had no idea of the history they held.
She taught me how to iron, garden, can tomatoes and green beans, ride horses, clean stalls, buck hay bales, and raise chickens.
She had the most beautiful long auburn hair, but kept it in a braid wrapped around her head all day, not letting it down until bedtime, and then she would let me brush it. Even after her youth had slipped away, she was still a beautiful woman.
She was always partial to blue morning glories and had them growing every year on a piece of lattice by her back door. And old-fashioned yellow iris lined her entire driveway on both sides.
While her early life must have been a real party, in her later years she became quite reclusive. She would talk to her neighbors on occasion, but rarely left the house except to make her weekly trip to Red-X. Her daughter Virgie lived with her the last several years, and remained in the house, after Lucille died, until it burned.
Sadly, in that fire, generations of family pictures, Bibles, documents, the treadle sewing machine on which she taught me to sew, and all those wonderful Flapper outfits were lost.
On 25 May 1928, she married Raymond Lee Crawford of California MO and had 3 daughters, Virgie Bell (1933-2007), and twins Betty Ann (1934-2001)and Jo Ann (1934-1999). They travelled to several states with Raymond's job as a lineman, which perhaps contributed to their marital problems. In 1933 when her father died suddenly of a heart attack, they were in Dixon IA. After a stormy 8 years with several breakups, they finally divorced on Nov 17, 1936 in Montezuma IA. She married Alfred Ziglar on 16 May 1942, resulting in another divorce, date unknown. About 1949, she married Clay Copas, but learned after his death that his divorce from his 1st wife had never been finalized. She was left alone, with none of Cope's retirement or insurance benefits.
Lucille and Cope lived on 3 acres in Platte County, between Riverside and Gladstone MO and operated a mini-farm, including a huge garden, guineaus, ducks, geese, chickens, horses and a faithful old dog named Bosco. When I came along, there appeared another dog Tippy that was always MY dog. We used to make weekly trips to Riverside Red-X for supplies, which always included beer and cigarettes. Every spring, we would make a trip to the feed store in Nashua to pick up chick feed and a box full of chirping chicks she had ordered.
Not until very late in life did she get running water in the house. All during the 50's and 60's, she had water hauled in to a cistern. There was an outhouse out behind the house, and there was a pump at the kitchen sink with a bucket for drinking water, and a ladle that we all drank out of. No germaphobes back then!
I spent as much of every summer as possible with my Grandma. The front bedroom was set aside for me. The closet was full of wonderful items from the Roaring Twenties that my Grandma wore as a flapper. All the gorgeous hats, boas, sequins, fringe and high platform type heels (as I recall) fascinated me. I wish I had had the sense to ask her more questions and to care more about her past while she was still around to share. I just had no idea of the history they held.
She taught me how to iron, garden, can tomatoes and green beans, ride horses, clean stalls, buck hay bales, and raise chickens.
She had the most beautiful long auburn hair, but kept it in a braid wrapped around her head all day, not letting it down until bedtime, and then she would let me brush it. Even after her youth had slipped away, she was still a beautiful woman.
She was always partial to blue morning glories and had them growing every year on a piece of lattice by her back door. And old-fashioned yellow iris lined her entire driveway on both sides.
While her early life must have been a real party, in her later years she became quite reclusive. She would talk to her neighbors on occasion, but rarely left the house except to make her weekly trip to Red-X. Her daughter Virgie lived with her the last several years, and remained in the house, after Lucille died, until it burned.
Sadly, in that fire, generations of family pictures, Bibles, documents, the treadle sewing machine on which she taught me to sew, and all those wonderful Flapper outfits were lost.
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