Sepia Saturday #104: Flora Fletcher Hedrick and The War Letters

Hello, Friends!  This week's Sepia Saturday theme seems to be mother and child, dressed in Navy uniforms. They were not really Navy uniforms, that is the Princess of Bavaria and her little boy, but it makes a nice introduction into what I wanted to post today.  Oh, boy.  Do I have a story of a Navy mom, who also had a son in the Air Force during World War II.

Flora Fletcher Hedrick

Once upon a time, there was a family named Fletcher, from Mercer County, Illinois.  Three Fletcher brothers and their families crossed the plains in a covered wagon during the year of 1864, and settled in the Silverton and Salem, Oregon area.  One of the youngest of the wagon train party was a baby named Ellsworth E. Fletcher.

Ellsworth E. grew up, married, and had three children.  The children were Lorraine, Flora and Ellsworth.  They were a tight-knit family, and Ellsworth E. wrote in his diary every single day for a long time, lucky for us.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Hobert, Flora and Danny

Flora grew up and became a school teacher. She met my great-uncle Hobert Hedrick, and they had two little boys, Danny (b. 1925) and Lyle (b. 1926).  Flora was my great-aunt.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Hobert, Flora and Danny are on the left.  

It looks to me as if Flora was pregnant with Lyle in this photo.

Then, for a reason unbeknownst to anybody but him, Hobert left, pretty much abandoning Flora and the boys.  Hobert divorced Flora and later married Velma and had two more children, Mom's cousins Judy and Bud. 

My great-grandparents, Ben and Litha Hedrick, were fit to be tied over the divorce.  Everybody loved Flora and the boys, and they kept in close contact with them.  At one point, Flora, Dan and Lyle moved to Drain so that they would know their grandparents, Aunt Florence (my Grandma T.), Uncle John and Uncle Homer, and their other Hedrick relatives.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Flora taught school in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.  At one point, she was teaching at Ainsworth School on Council Crest in the Portland area.  Flora also kept a diary of her boys for quite a while.  Sometimes the three lived with Ellsworth E. and Lorraine.  Flora's mother died when the boys were around three and four.  Dan and Lyle grew up to be fine, hardworking young men.   Flora was a loving and dedicated mother.  


When World War II came along, Dan was in the Navy, and Lyle and my Uncle John were in the Army.  Coming from a writing family, the letters flew back and forth on a frequent basis, and Grandpa Ellsworth Fletcher kept his daily diary.


Very sadly, near the end of the war, Danny's ship was bombed by the Japanese, and Danny died.  This devastated the whole family.  My Mom remembers being a little girl and they were listening to the radio when the news came on about that ship being hit.  She remembers Grandma T. (who had a special bond with Danny) saying, "That's Dan's ship!".  Unfortunately, she was right.

Flora had a difficult time figuring out the details of what actually happened.  Finally, she received this explanation:

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Later on, Lyle compiled all of Grandpa Ellsworth's diaries,  Flora's diary entries, and all the war correspondence.  He transcribed them and put everything in chronological order.  He essentially made a book of a 1265 pages, and was hoping to get it published.   Lyle wanted others to know what it was like for families during war.  He submitted the manuscript to several people, but nobody wanted it at the time.

  Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

  Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

  Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

One day, my Mom and Grandma T. drove to see Lyle.  Lyle showed them the manuscript and let them borrow it so that Mom could read it.  Mom and Aunt Sondy made a copy of it behind Lyle's back.  They were afraid that he would say no if he asked!  Later, after Lyle died, they made copies for us kids and for Judy and Bud and others.

The War Letters is simply amazing.  I have had my copy for several years, but am just getting the time to really sit down and read it.  I will read it in order someday, but went through and read all of Uncle John's letters, and am trying to figure out how to organize it in my mind.  My thought is to tell about the main family members of the Fletcher-Hedrick family and highlighting their lives.  A couple of weeks ago, I posted some about my Uncle John Hedrick, and you may " CLICK HERE" to read that post.  In that post, Uncle John is writing to his sister-in-law, Flora. 


Also, speaking of other posts, I featured Sepia Saturday earlier this week on my blog, and gave a shout out and links to some of my Sepia Saturday friends' blogs.  Please "CLICK HERE" to see that, and if you are a Sepia Saturday participant, please give yourself the award! 

Have a wonderful weekend, everybody! 

Kathy M.

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.