Family Connections: Growing Up In Maryland

Dad didn't share a lot about his life growing up. I have imagined what life must have been like growing up near Washington DC just before World War II.

Grandmother and Grandfather Van Leuven married in December 1932, Grandfather left for Washington DC to pursue his doctorate degree at George Washington University and Grandmother joined him in June 1933. Here is a photo of their first home together on 1304 Kenyon Street (they lived on the top floor and rented from an old lady who lived by herself).

1304 Kenyon Street (third red-brick house from the left)

Both Grandfather and Grandmother Van Leuven were very involved in their branch where they became acquainted with Ezra Taft Benson, who was then Secretary of Agriculture. Grandfather worked as a probation officer at the District of Columbia Juvenile Court and Grandmother eventually worked as a telephone switchboard operator in a plush apartment house on Connecticut Avenue.

On April 29, 1935, Grandmother gave birth to their first little boy. She said in her life history, "Ray was a cute baby with the curliest hair you can imagine. Little ringlets all over his head. I didn't know a thing about raising babies. We had lots of friends, but they were all scattered around; none of them lived close. I needed someone to advise me, my mother I guess. However, I did study the baby books, which was my first mistake. I tried to do everything for Ray that the book said to do. In the first place, we couldn't find the right formula that would agree with him, although we tried many. Later, as I look back on it now, I fed him too much. He was a roly-poly baby, and so pretty. As he began to grow tall, he became very skinny. He crawled quite a bit and he had one trait; he would throw anything he could lift that was in his way as he crawled, over his shoulder. He loved to throw things, and when he was a little older his Dad would take him to Rock Creek Park where there were lots of rocks and let him throw them into the stream as long as he wanted to.

Rock Creek Park

Dad said in the talk he gave at Grandmother's funeral, "My parents lived in Greenbelt, Maryland when I was a child. A block from our home was a forest where we spent most of the summer. Mother patiently endured the menagerie of turtles, snakes, frogs, lizards and bugs that my brother and I would bring home. It was not uncommon for one of us to walk into the house with a live grass snake wrapped around our neck for a necklace or around our waist in place of a belt, or for her to find frogs or lizards in our pockets. Mother would even tie a string on to the leg of a June bug so we could let it fly the length of the string like a kite."

I discovered a bunch of very small photos that I must have received from Grandmother before she passed away. Looking at these has given me a better sense of the world my dad grew up in near our nation's capital and more appreciation for my grandparents whose independence and sense of adventure I respect.

Photos from June 1935, dad was 6 weeks old...