Luella May Smith Vardiman (1872-1966)       

Adams County, Illinois & Saline County, Missouri


Photos:

Luella May Smith

Content:

Click on any photo to enlarge

Age: 94

Nickname: May

State: Illinois & Missouri

# of Children: 3

"Spelling for Vardiman (my family) is with an "i" except for Eddie who changed his to an "e" when he was in high school.  Various documents for my grandparents (John Peter and Luella May) have it both ways." 
Shirley Anderson, daughter of Charles Henry and Emma Henrietta (Jensen) Vardiman.

Links:



John Peter & Luella May Vardiman Home
721 N. Jefferson
Marshall, MO


John Peter & Luella May
Vardiman Home
721 N. Jefferson Marshall, MO



~ 1911
Vardiman Side:


Miles, John Peter, Richard Henry, Lizzie & Fannie were 5 of 11 Vardiman siblings

Luella May & Callie Smith were sisters who married Vardiman brothers, John Peter and Richard Henry


John Peter & Luella May Vardiman
Their sons:
Charles, Johnny and Eddie


Standing in Back Row:
Luella May & Emma
Sitting on Log in front:
John Peter, Bud, Shirley & Charles


1924 - Charlie, Bud, Great Grandmother Smith (Luella's Mother) and Grandma Vardiman (Luella May)

Bud and I called our
Great Grandmother
"Smith Grandma"
Email from Shirley Vardiman Anderson 21 July 2010


Left to Right: Eddie, Charlie, Johnny,
John Peter and Luella
with Shirley and Bud in front (grandchildren-Charlie's kids)

back yard at the farm in Marshall


Luella May visiting her parent's tombstone


1939 Vardiman Family Reunion

John Peter (seated) Luella May, Emma, Charles, Shirley, Luetta, Johnny, Gladys, Miles Edman "Eddie" and Harry "Bud"


~1943 John Peter, Luella May, Bill

"The folks in the photo are my Grandfather and Grandmother Vardiman holding me. They lived on N. Jefferson street, I believe the address was 721, in Marshall Mo at the time. John Peter Vardiman and Luella Mae Smith Vardiman, I went to Dad's Bible where Mom had recorded several dates and names. Date of Photo would be late 1943 or early 1944."

Email from Bill Vardiman 7/7/10


John Peter & Luella May

Golden Wedding Anniversary
Married 50 years on Dec. 25, 1944


Grandma Luella May Vardiman & Bill

"I think this is Bill. I would assume Grandma Vardiman made him a birthday cake. She always made me an angel food cake for my birthday. One year when we couldn't go to Marshall for my birthday, she sent me one in the mail - and it came through in perfect shape. She, of course, made them from scratch, and they were delicious."

Shirley Anderson 7/10/10


Grandma Vardiman and Grandchildren

"Back row: Grandma May, Bill, Shirley;
Front row: Mary, Chuck, Bob and Jim (who obviously did not want his picture taken)

I came across this picture the other day and thought it would be good to put under Grandma May's section. I remember when it was taken and she said, "I want a picture with all of my grandchildren". Bud and his family were not with us on this trip to Marshall."

Email from Shirley Anderson Vardiman
11 July 2010


Luella May's sister with her
button and coin collection and
newspaper article Dec. 8, 1948


Luella May's Salt & Pepper Shaker Collection


November 1946

Charles and Emma, Gladys and Edman, Luetta and John (Bill sitting on ground in front)This picture was taken in November, 1946 - probably at Thanksgiving - they rotated dinners.


Luella May with her three sons left to right: Charles, Miles "Eddie" & Johnny.


Luella May with her daughters-in-law left to right: Gladys, Emma & Luetta


Luella May Vardiman with her three sons (Charles, Johnny and Eddie) and their wives in 1955.


Luella May with her grandchildren (Johnny's children - Bill, Chuck & Sis)


Luella May with her grandchildren (Johnny's children - Bill, Chuck & Sis)


February 27, 1964
92nd Birthday


February 27, 1966
94th Birthday Party


June 5, 1966
Obituary


Grandparents in Marshall - trips to the farm

"My Dad’s parents (John Peter Vardiman and Luella May Smith Vardiman) lived on a farm in Marshall, Missouri (about 100 miles from Kansas City) and we frequently would drive there for a Sunday dinner. Also, during the school vacations I would spend a good portion of the summer with them - those were special times. I was allowed much more freedom than I had at home.

I had a pony named Hazel and there were frequent rides, there were chickens to feed and eggs to gather, kittens to play with, wheat to harvest, workers to feed.  There was no electricity and no inside bathroom.  There was a root cellar to keep the vegetables cool in the summertime.   My Grandmother cooked on a coal stove and she had an ice box for the milk, butter and eggs.  We had our big meal at noon and when we were done we put a cloth over the food and ate the leftovers for supper.   The beds had feather mattresses and what fun that was.

My grandmother was a wonderful cook and there was always lots of fried chicken (grandpa would always slip me an extra piece). Their means of transportation was a horse and buggy that would take us to town on Saturday. We always stopped at the ice house to get ice for the icebox and I also got a strawberry pop. My Dad’s Aunt Lizzie worked at the J. C. Penney store in town and we always visited her. I was so fascinated by the way they handled the money - it was put in a small container on a rope that would go to the office upstairs where they would handle the sale and return the change to the clerk on the same rope and container.

There was a colored family who lived in a one room shack (three or four generations) just down the road from my grandparents. The grandmother worked for my grandmother and my brother and I named her “Black Aunty”. She didn’t seem to mind and she was a dear soul. One time my Dad brought her to our home to stay for a few days. There was still segregation in those days and I remember my brother bringing his friends to the house and peaking around the corner to see this black person.   My Dad wanted her to see downtown Kansas City, but we had to wait until after dark to take her. I remember going down 12th Street and showing her all the lights (lots of nightclubs, etc.) She was very awed by all of this. She slept on a cot in our basement. She had a granddaughter named Lillian. I don’t remember ever seeing a husband but she kept having babies. They were so cute - we called them “pickininnies” and I loved to play with them.

I remember one time when we drove to Marshall that our Model T Ford got stuck in the mud. My grandparents’ farm was about seven miles from town and there were dirt roads. We had to sit there (no cell phones in those days) until someone came by, drove to town, called my grandpa and he came with horses and a buggy and pulled us out."

MY LIFE STORY - SHIRLEY MARIE VARDIMAN ANDERSON
Written in February, 2006 (As I approach my 80th birthday)


Regarding spelling of Luella's middle name: "Mae" or "May"

"I checked documents that David scanned that were Bud's and found the following. Marriage certificate is Luella M. Smith, page from family Bible shows Luella May. Funeral notice from newspaper shows May. Golden wedding newspaper article shows May. There's a copy of a letter written in 1924 to Dear May from J. P. Vardeman. Your guess is as good as mine. These documents would be older than Bill's family Bible."

Email from Shirley Vardiman Anderson 7/8/10

Copyright 2012