I saw these address books as I sorted through items at the Ridge Road House and thought, yes, keep them! Old address books have a page for birthdays: if someone needs to confirm an ancestor's birthday this would be a good resource. If you want to look up census data from a particular town or city, this could be a starting point.
The red address book belonged to Harry Cooley himself. Harry and his wife Gertrude (Small) lived on the farm down the road for over 35 years but owned this particular house for only two years (1953-1955) before she passed away from lung cancer. Sadly, my husband Daniel R. Cooley only remembers her ill and lying in bed (he would have been 3-4 when she died. Harry lived until 1986.
The other address book belonged to Harry's second wife Bernice (Parker Lane). Even though she doesn't share DNA with the family, she lived at this Ridge Road house for almost five years, from 1957-1962, and Harry loved her dearly. Harry discovered her on the kitchen floor having died of a heart attack (they knew she had a bad heart but she had been completely fine just the day before).
Share any memories of your grandmothers...Gramma Cooley and/or Gramma Bernice in the comments section below. I realize you had to be born well before 1955 to be old enough to remember Gramma Cooley and well before 1962 for Gramma Bernice.
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