ATHOL BEADLE met her future husband through her father, LINA C. BEADLE, as both LINA and JOHN D. WITHROW were employees of Motor Wheel, an auto parts supplier in Lansing, MI. JOHN had recently angrily divorced his first wife, ELLA, because she had given birth to a son, CARL, with a fatal cranial defect (his skull did not entirely cover his brain). Upon marrying JOHN, ATHOL became stepmother to JOHN and ELLA's other child, MARJORIE. Not wanting children -- especially one who was a constant reminder of her husband's first wife -- ATHOL talked JOHN into placing MARJORIE in foster care.
ATHOL had several personality quirks. For one, she hated cooking -- resulting in the couple eating nearly all their meals in restaurants. After ATHOL's death, in closing out the family home, MARJORIE discovered, on a high kitchen shelf, dozens of 63 year old kitchen appliances and utensils all still factory-sealed in their original cartons. They were ATHOL's never opened wedding gifts!
ATHOL also believed in keeping her home absolutely pristine -- not a speck of dust anywhere, not a single pillow out of line. One time in the '50s when MARJORIE came to visit with her young children, one of them, toddling down the stairs, momentarily steadied himself by harmlessly touching a wall. ATHOL had the entire wall repainted.
Considering how she worried about children damaging her home, you can image how ATHOL must have felt after she herself gave birth to a child -- a son, JOHN JR. (a/k/a JACK).
The Withrow home in East Lansing remained picture perfect as long as JOHN and ATHOL lived there. After JOHN's death in 1978, ATHOL spent her final years in an assisted living facility.
ATHOL had several personality quirks. For one, she hated cooking -- resulting in the couple eating nearly all their meals in restaurants. After ATHOL's death, in closing out the family home, MARJORIE discovered, on a high kitchen shelf, dozens of 63 year old kitchen appliances and utensils all still factory-sealed in their original cartons. They were ATHOL's never opened wedding gifts!
ATHOL also believed in keeping her home absolutely pristine -- not a speck of dust anywhere, not a single pillow out of line. One time in the '50s when MARJORIE came to visit with her young children, one of them, toddling down the stairs, momentarily steadied himself by harmlessly touching a wall. ATHOL had the entire wall repainted.
Considering how she worried about children damaging her home, you can image how ATHOL must have felt after she herself gave birth to a child -- a son, JOHN JR. (a/k/a JACK).
The Withrow home in East Lansing remained picture perfect as long as JOHN and ATHOL lived there. After JOHN's death in 1978, ATHOL spent her final years in an assisted living facility.
ATHOL BEADLE met her future husband through her father, LINA C. BEADLE, as both LINA and JOHN D. WITHROW were employees of Motor Wheel, an auto parts supplier in Lansing, MI. JOHN had recently angrily divorced his first wife, ELLA, because she had given birth to a son, CARL, with a fatal cranial defect (his skull did not entirely cover his brain). Upon marrying JOHN, ATHOL became stepmother to JOHN and ELLA's other child, MARJORIE. Not wanting children -- especially one who was a constant reminder of her husband's first wife -- ATHOL talked JOHN into placing MARJORIE in foster care.
ATHOL had several personality quirks. For one, she hated cooking -- resulting in the couple eating nearly all their meals in restaurants. After ATHOL's death, in closing out the family home, MARJORIE discovered, on a high kitchen shelf, dozens of 63 year old kitchen appliances and utensils all still factory-sealed in their original cartons. They were ATHOL's never opened wedding gifts!
ATHOL also believed in keeping her home absolutely pristine -- not a speck of dust anywhere, not a single pillow out of line. One time in the '50s when MARJORIE came to visit with her young children, one of them, toddling down the stairs, momentarily steadied himself by harmlessly touching a wall. ATHOL had the entire wall repainted.
Considering how she worried about children damaging her home, you can image how ATHOL must have felt after she herself gave birth to a child -- a son, JOHN JR. (a/k/a JACK).
The Withrow home in East Lansing remained picture perfect as long as JOHN and ATHOL lived there. After JOHN's death in 1978, ATHOL spent her final years in an assisted living facility.
ATHOL had several personality quirks. For one, she hated cooking -- resulting in the couple eating nearly all their meals in restaurants. After ATHOL's death, in closing out the family home, MARJORIE discovered, on a high kitchen shelf, dozens of 63 year old kitchen appliances and utensils all still factory-sealed in their original cartons. They were ATHOL's never opened wedding gifts!
ATHOL also believed in keeping her home absolutely pristine -- not a speck of dust anywhere, not a single pillow out of line. One time in the '50s when MARJORIE came to visit with her young children, one of them, toddling down the stairs, momentarily steadied himself by harmlessly touching a wall. ATHOL had the entire wall repainted.
Considering how she worried about children damaging her home, you can image how ATHOL must have felt after she herself gave birth to a child -- a son, JOHN JR. (a/k/a JACK).
The Withrow home in East Lansing remained picture perfect as long as JOHN and ATHOL lived there. After JOHN's death in 1978, ATHOL spent her final years in an assisted living facility.
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