On August 1, 1931 Mabel gave birth to their first child, Mary Jane.²⁶  At the time of her birth, the couple was renting a home located at 1168 Reaney, in St. Paul.²⁷  By 1932 they moved across the street to their forever home at 1155 Reaney and Cleve became a motorman (driver) of a streetcar for the Twin City Rapid Transit Company; a job from which he would eventually retire.²⁸

On July 20, 1934 the couple welcomed another daughter, Carol Jean.²⁹  On October 18, 1939, when she was only 5 years old, she died of pneumonia; Carol Jean was buried at St. John’s Cemetery in Little Canada.³⁰

Avis (Cleve’s youngest sister), Mabel with hand on Carol Jean’s head and Mary Jane on tire swing

I suspect this picture was taken in 1938 or 1939.  Avis would have been about 28 years old, Mabel about 36 years old, Carol Jean about 4 years old and Mary Jane about 7 years old.

The United States officially entered World War II on December 11, 1941.  Even though he had already experienced the horrors of war, Cleve registered for the draft on April 27, 1942.³²  He was a part of the fourth registration, for those men whose year of birth was from April 28, 1877 to February 16, 1897.  It was generally referred to as the “Old Man’s Registration” or the “Old Man’s Draft”.  Cleve was not drafted to fight, but I’m sure if he had been called to duty he would have been proud to serve.

The 1950 U. S. census enumerates Cleve, Mabel and Mary Jane.³³  Cleve is working as a streetcar driver and Mabel is working part-time as a telephone operator.

Cleve retired from Twin City Rapid Transit Company in 1960 at about age 65.³⁴ 

On Sunday, November 6, 1977 Cleve passed away at Mounds Park Hospital in St. Paul; he was 82 years old.³⁵  His death certificate states that the immediate cause of death was a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot that blocks and stops blood flow to an artery in the lung).He had outlived his parents and all of his siblings.

Services were held on Tuesday November 8^th at the Blessed Sacrament Church in St. Paul followed by Cleve being laid to rest near his daughter Carol Jean in St. John’s Cemetery in Little Canada.³⁷

Mabel was at Mounds Park Hospital when she passed away at 78 years old on November 24, 1981; she had survived Cleve by just over 4 years.  Her immediate cause of death was colon cancer that had spread elsewhere.  On November 27^th she was laid to rest next to her husband at St. John’s Cemetery.³⁹

Thanks for visiting, come back soon,
Cynthia

© 2024 Copyright by Cynthia Vadnais, All Rights Reserved

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Footnotes for Cleveland Peter Peltier and Mabel Caroline Erhardt post