Zelma Elizabeth Leach was born October 13, 1919 at Cooper Hill, Missouri. She was the third living child of Peter and Rosa Christena Leach.
Zelma's family was very poor, and she had to wear lots of hand-me-downs. During the summer she went barefoot to save on shoes. She dug May apple roots to sell to buy shoes for the winter. She said that was too much hard work for no more than she got out of it.
Zelma's father worked hauling clay, but when money was really scarce, he would weave baskets and sell them. He also made toys.
Zelma's toys consisted of corn husk dolls and horses her father made, but one Christmas she received a small, red-rocking chair for her dolls. She treasured that chair, and kept it all her life. She allowed each of her children to use it for a short time. When she thought they were too big for it, or too rough, she put it up again.
Everyone helped out in the home, and Zelma started cooking when she was eight years old. She stood on a stool to reach the stove and eventually became a very good cook. Her fried chicken was especially good.
When Zelma was twelve, she moved with her family to the Leach place, near Woollam, in Gasconade Co., Missouri. Her and her brother, Wesley, grubbed out all the stumps and roots. Zelma met Ernie, her future husband here. He was a friend of her older brother, Edgar. Ernie would come calling and ask Zelma's mother if Edgar was home. Tena would answer, "No, but Zelma is.
Zelma and Ernie were married in Union, Missouri on April 25, 1935. Wes Robinson, a friend of Ernie's, drove them to Union, Franklin Co., Missouri so they could get married. When they applied for the license at the court house, they were told they had to have a letter of permission from Zelma's mother because she was only 15 at the time. They had to drive all the way back to Gasconade Co., Missouri to get the letter from Tena.
Zelma loved pretty clothes and lots of nice shoes, a passion she could indulge when she moved to St. Louis and went to work. So many women joined the work force during World War Two the press dubbed the working female "Rosie the Riveter." Zelma earned that title when she went to work for Curtis-Wright building airplanes.
Ernie & Zelma were the parents of three children:
1. Lucille Adams Smith
2. Donald Lorraine Adams
3. Dennis Wayne Adams
Zelma's family was very poor, and she had to wear lots of hand-me-downs. During the summer she went barefoot to save on shoes. She dug May apple roots to sell to buy shoes for the winter. She said that was too much hard work for no more than she got out of it.
Zelma's father worked hauling clay, but when money was really scarce, he would weave baskets and sell them. He also made toys.
Zelma's toys consisted of corn husk dolls and horses her father made, but one Christmas she received a small, red-rocking chair for her dolls. She treasured that chair, and kept it all her life. She allowed each of her children to use it for a short time. When she thought they were too big for it, or too rough, she put it up again.
Everyone helped out in the home, and Zelma started cooking when she was eight years old. She stood on a stool to reach the stove and eventually became a very good cook. Her fried chicken was especially good.
When Zelma was twelve, she moved with her family to the Leach place, near Woollam, in Gasconade Co., Missouri. Her and her brother, Wesley, grubbed out all the stumps and roots. Zelma met Ernie, her future husband here. He was a friend of her older brother, Edgar. Ernie would come calling and ask Zelma's mother if Edgar was home. Tena would answer, "No, but Zelma is.
Zelma and Ernie were married in Union, Missouri on April 25, 1935. Wes Robinson, a friend of Ernie's, drove them to Union, Franklin Co., Missouri so they could get married. When they applied for the license at the court house, they were told they had to have a letter of permission from Zelma's mother because she was only 15 at the time. They had to drive all the way back to Gasconade Co., Missouri to get the letter from Tena.
Zelma loved pretty clothes and lots of nice shoes, a passion she could indulge when she moved to St. Louis and went to work. So many women joined the work force during World War Two the press dubbed the working female "Rosie the Riveter." Zelma earned that title when she went to work for Curtis-Wright building airplanes.
Ernie & Zelma were the parents of three children:
1. Lucille Adams Smith
2. Donald Lorraine Adams
3. Dennis Wayne Adams
Zelma Elizabeth Leach was born October 13, 1919 at Cooper Hill, Missouri. She was the third living child of Peter and Rosa Christena Leach.
Zelma's family was very poor, and she had to wear lots of hand-me-downs. During the summer she went barefoot to save on shoes. She dug May apple roots to sell to buy shoes for the winter. She said that was too much hard work for no more than she got out of it.
Zelma's father worked hauling clay, but when money was really scarce, he would weave baskets and sell them. He also made toys.
Zelma's toys consisted of corn husk dolls and horses her father made, but one Christmas she received a small, red-rocking chair for her dolls. She treasured that chair, and kept it all her life. She allowed each of her children to use it for a short time. When she thought they were too big for it, or too rough, she put it up again.
Everyone helped out in the home, and Zelma started cooking when she was eight years old. She stood on a stool to reach the stove and eventually became a very good cook. Her fried chicken was especially good.
When Zelma was twelve, she moved with her family to the Leach place, near Woollam, in Gasconade Co., Missouri. Her and her brother, Wesley, grubbed out all the stumps and roots. Zelma met Ernie, her future husband here. He was a friend of her older brother, Edgar. Ernie would come calling and ask Zelma's mother if Edgar was home. Tena would answer, "No, but Zelma is.
Zelma and Ernie were married in Union, Missouri on April 25, 1935. Wes Robinson, a friend of Ernie's, drove them to Union, Franklin Co., Missouri so they could get married. When they applied for the license at the court house, they were told they had to have a letter of permission from Zelma's mother because she was only 15 at the time. They had to drive all the way back to Gasconade Co., Missouri to get the letter from Tena.
Zelma loved pretty clothes and lots of nice shoes, a passion she could indulge when she moved to St. Louis and went to work. So many women joined the work force during World War Two the press dubbed the working female "Rosie the Riveter." Zelma earned that title when she went to work for Curtis-Wright building airplanes.
Ernie & Zelma were the parents of three children:
1. Lucille Adams Smith
2. Donald Lorraine Adams
3. Dennis Wayne Adams
Zelma's family was very poor, and she had to wear lots of hand-me-downs. During the summer she went barefoot to save on shoes. She dug May apple roots to sell to buy shoes for the winter. She said that was too much hard work for no more than she got out of it.
Zelma's father worked hauling clay, but when money was really scarce, he would weave baskets and sell them. He also made toys.
Zelma's toys consisted of corn husk dolls and horses her father made, but one Christmas she received a small, red-rocking chair for her dolls. She treasured that chair, and kept it all her life. She allowed each of her children to use it for a short time. When she thought they were too big for it, or too rough, she put it up again.
Everyone helped out in the home, and Zelma started cooking when she was eight years old. She stood on a stool to reach the stove and eventually became a very good cook. Her fried chicken was especially good.
When Zelma was twelve, she moved with her family to the Leach place, near Woollam, in Gasconade Co., Missouri. Her and her brother, Wesley, grubbed out all the stumps and roots. Zelma met Ernie, her future husband here. He was a friend of her older brother, Edgar. Ernie would come calling and ask Zelma's mother if Edgar was home. Tena would answer, "No, but Zelma is.
Zelma and Ernie were married in Union, Missouri on April 25, 1935. Wes Robinson, a friend of Ernie's, drove them to Union, Franklin Co., Missouri so they could get married. When they applied for the license at the court house, they were told they had to have a letter of permission from Zelma's mother because she was only 15 at the time. They had to drive all the way back to Gasconade Co., Missouri to get the letter from Tena.
Zelma loved pretty clothes and lots of nice shoes, a passion she could indulge when she moved to St. Louis and went to work. So many women joined the work force during World War Two the press dubbed the working female "Rosie the Riveter." Zelma earned that title when she went to work for Curtis-Wright building airplanes.
Ernie & Zelma were the parents of three children:
1. Lucille Adams Smith
2. Donald Lorraine Adams
3. Dennis Wayne Adams
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