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From George Werres with some modifications by Harold Olson:
Jeanna Bernice Wolk was christened at Immaculate Conception Church on February 11, 1921. Her big, half sister Sophie said Jeanna was too long a name for a baby. She suggested everyone call her Jean. Sophie was 14 years old at the time.
Jean dropped out of high school to marry Joseph Blazes. They had two childen during their marriage. Raph Joseph and della Marie. Ralph was born on October 26, 1938 and Della was born on ?.
Paul F. Olson was the second husband of Jean's. She and Paul have two sons. Paul Jr. was born on June 30, 1944. Harold was born on October 9, 1952. Here's something interestng: Paul was born in 44 and when he was 52 Harold was 44 who was born in 52! Anyway, the 4 of them resided in the aprtment behind the tavern and building they owned at 21st and California. 2101 South California was the exact address. Some of the phone numbers they had were Cliffside 4-3431 and Bishop 7-3627. The phone company back then thought that actual words in the phone number would help people remember them more easily. And since I still do remember them after more than 40 years, I guess they were right! Everyone was always welcomed at the Olsons. It was a very busy life for them.
From Harold Olson:
Yes it was busy. My mother worked at Ideal Bindery to make ends meet. My father tended bar at their tavern which they called Jean and Paul's Lounge. We lived in back of the tavern in one of the apartments. There were two stories above with 4 more apartments that they rented out. One of our most famous tenants were Vick and Stanley, who would come to the bar, have a few drinks, go up to their apartment and argue at the top of their lungs for the rest of the night! Me and my brothers would spend countless hours fixing up and painting the apartments after tenants would move out. I remember scraping one apartment's walls of wallpaper that seemed like it was 1 inch thick. When Ralph married DeeDee they moved into one of the apartments.
My mother was the enforcer of the family. I don't ever remember my dad hitting or even yelling at any of us. My mother on the other hand would use the back of her hand, a belt or even an ironing cord to beat some sense into us. And yelling was always there to reinforce the punishment and the louder the yelling, the more nervous you got. Don't get me wrong, I love my mother, but there were times when it was tough. When she was going through menopause and I was in my "know it all" teens, that had to be the toughest times of our lives. But we've mellowed out a bit since and get along well together.
When my father died of a long battle with cancer in 1966, my mother sold the building and helped my two brothers and thier wives purchase homes in Hanover Park. After I graduated 8th grade from the military academy, my mother and I moved to the suburbs, Stickney, that is. She bought a new car for herself, a 1966 Chevrolet Biscayne, Blue, six cylinders, a big boat. We moved in to a small apartment in a 10 unit apartment building. I think the car was bigger than the apartment. That first summer, my mother would go to work, I would be at home alone, I'd sit in the darkened apartment with the air conditioner on, no friends, my dad just died. Pretty miserable huh? The one thing that helped was that Butch would come over and we'd go to the forest preserve and fly a motorized hand held plane in circles till we were dizzy. He had a wife and family and took the time and wemt out of his way to do this and I appreciated it.
Anyway, my mother retired from Ideal Bindery after 30 years and moved into an over 55 apartment complex in Alsip Illinois. As she got older she had to give up her car, at the time some knd of Chevy hatchback, and her independence. It got rougher and rougher for her to move around and walk. She fell one night, hit her head, went to the hospital, where there was going to be long hours of rehabilatation. So we moved her to Applewood nursing home in Matteson to be close to us.
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