This is the story of Larry’s father. It is a short story. His life was diminished by alcoholism, and cut short by an early death. What remains are anecdotes by Larry and his sister Patricia Suzanne (Sue), and the photographs and papers they kept.
Bartle to Zion
March 6, 1916 — born in Bartle, Cuba. November 25, 1916 — his mother Teresa died there. The 1968 book says the family moved to Zion, Illinois, on April 13, 1917, when he was six months old.
September 15, 1917, Clarence wrote that Mrs. Clark (Almeda) had been taking care of the children since about July 1, “and is just getting along fine with them.” December 10: “Mrs. Clark (Almeda) has the baby (Allen) over there now, and Steven and Ariel are sleeping there nights also.” December 15: “I seldom allow the children more than one slice of bread at a meal. All but baby (Allen) have been without milk or cocoa.”
January 28, 1930 — Ariel and Allen, age 14, “are camping in Wheaton.” August 13, 1931 — Allen, 15, “is at home most of the time with his mother (Almeda).” September 4, 1933 — Lewis and Allen, 17, “will take good care of the visitors” while Meda and Frances are in Omaha. December 28 — Allen had been working in a hotel in Waukegan and was out, the place having changed hands. December 29 — “Allen is a great big fine lad, and brings his girl in to see us sometimes. She sings over Voliva’s radio a good deal.”
Bakery truck, marriage
October 24, 1934 — Allen, 18, had worked with Frances’s husband Garland on his Omar bakery truck, “but now has a truck route of his own.” A family story: one dog on the route liked to pee on a tire. Allen rigged an old magneto coil to the wheel. The dog got a jolt. Clean tires after that.
September 9, 1936 — Bertha wrote that Thursday evening they had dinner in Waukegan with Lewis, Allen (20), Joe, and Ariel, then a short call on Meda in Zion.
July 13, 1937 — brother Lewis Paul, in the Navy at Portland near David, had met a sailor named Tony Reger. Tony was the older brother of Pauline Peterson. They had been separated young. Pauline went to a private adoption. Tony and George went to the Soldiers and Sailors Orphanage in Illinois. Somehow they connected Lewis’s friend Tony with Allen’s fiancée Pauline.
November 25, 1937 — Allen, 21, and Pauline Grace Peterson married in Waukegan. A year later Clarence wrote: “He has a very nice young wife (Pauline), and they are both working in Waukegan and seem to be getting on very well.” February 28, 1939: a cozy apartment in North Chicago; Allen at Armour in Waukegan as salesman and sometimes driver; Pauline a stenographer in a lawyer’s office.
July 27, 1943 — son Larry Allen Crosby born in Waukegan. December 25, 1946 — daughter Patricia Suzanne Crosby born in Waukegan.
2416 Edina Boulevard, Zion — about 1943–1950
Remembrances by Larry and Sue, 2019, written by Larry in the first person.
This was their age of innocence. A normal family — father, mother, two children. Friends and family visits, including Tony Reger’s family in 1949. They lived in a two-story house with a yard, across from a large park, down the alley from Grandma Crosby (Almeda). Teresa had died six months after Allen’s birth. Almeda became his real mother. Larry remembered trips down the alley for cookies.
Dad was personable and liked by all. He was good with his hands. He built a cement sandbox by the back door. There was a mechanical steel swing that “took on a life of its own.” Mom was scared of that swing. The children swung higher and higher. A large vegetable garden. A garage at the alley. A neighbor kid hit Larry in the face with a shovel. The scar stayed. He remembered the stairs to the living room and looking over the upstairs rail at Christmas. Their first black-and-white television, from Chicago. First show: Ed Sullivan.
Dad was interested in O-gauge model railroading. He brought engines home, though they had no layout. Larry still has several of the hand tools. His son Chris and grandson Joshua know where they came from. They are in use at the tree farm in Castle Rock, Washington.
Trips across the street to the park and the big swamp — “fishing” for pollywogs, cattails, red-headed blackbirds. Grandfather J. L. Vinnedge and wife Bertha, Pauline’s step-parents, lived across town on Eschel Avenue. J. L. was a barber. Larry got his haircuts there. The scent of Bay Rum stayed with him. He walked to East School. His only memory is being chased around the block by bullies. He got good at escaping.
226 North Jackson Street, Waukegan — 1950–1961
They moved to Waukegan about 1950. “This was the year that innocence died.” Grandma Bertha Vinnedge told Larry, “Your dad is a drunk.”
226 N. Jackson was a three-bedroom house with an attic gas heater and an unfinished basement. Sue and Larry had their own rooms at first. They used the basement as a roller-skating rink. A black cocker spaniel named Maxie.
Dad worked at a meat-packing plant at 813 Belvedere Street. He was a successful salesman and made deliveries. He was with Armour, Walker Meat Packing, and finally his own Crosby Meat Co. Larry remembered a trip to a Chicago slaughterhouse he did not want to see. Dad had the Crosby inventive mind — fine metal for an automatic page-turner for piano players, a darkroom in the basement. The smell of the chemicals lingered.
The alcoholism grew worse. They could not bring friends home. He was institutionalized for short periods at Elgin Mental Health Center. Results were short. Uncle Garland and Aunt Fran — Dad’s stepsister — were the real support. Frequent visits to their home in Lake Zurich. Mom miscarried a third child. Larry’s attitude filled with resentment and rage. He was afraid to bring friends home after school. He did not understand what they had done wrong.
2019 epilogue
Larry Allen Crosby: there can be no better legacy for a man than his tools. He carted them from Waukegan all over the country and finally to Castle Rock, Washington, where they are in constant use in the barn. Son Chris and his son Joshua know the origin and use them with reverence. Grandson Max, 11, was to be introduced to them in February 2019. The iron block weighs about 75 pounds. It is a handy anvil.
