My paternal grandmother died 39 years ago today, Nov 3 1986 at the age of just 62. She had fought cancer for several years prior to her death.
Clema Alberta Myers Starr was the youngest child of Raymond Jasper Myers and Margaret Evelyn Thompson. Born 10 December 1923 in Danville, Illinois, her father Raymond abandoned the family when she was young, moving to New York where he remained until his death in 1969.
Margaret raised Clema, and her older siblings Margie and Ray Jr. in Peoria, living with her grandmother, Lucy Tetterton- Dewoski and mother, Maude Hoots-Eken for a time in Lucy’s boarding house on Adams Street in 1930.
Clema attended St. Joseph’s Catholic school in downtown Peoria on North Sheridan (now known as Richard Pryor Place).
In 1936 she was living on 1st Street in Peoria; her mother working in the hospital laundry as a mangler. There Margaret met John Hounihan, who also worked at the hospital, as a “fireman”, a boiler operator.
In 1939 her mother married John Henry Hounihan, and the family moved to Fisher Street, her older sister married and living next door. 16 year old Clema is not listed as having a job in the 1940 census, completing the 8th grade.
On 10 May 1941 at the age of 17 she married Kenneth Ernest Starr in Peoria.
9 months after their marriage, Clema gave birth to her first son, Larry in February of 1942, followed by Dennis 15 months after that in May 1943.
Ken was working at Caterpillar Tractor Company in Peoria to support the growing family, but in August of 1944 he was drafted in to the Army for WW2, leaving Clema and two toddlers to serve in Europe until March of 1946.
Ken’s father Ernest had purchased a small home for the couple in the new Sunnyland neighborhood between East Peoria and Washington IL built largely to house families working at the Caterpillar Tractor company where Ken was employed. Ken and Clema expanded the house over time, Clema’s mother moving into a basement only house next door and her sister Margie’s growing family living nearby and so they raised their boys in a close knit family community.
They enjoyed vacationing in cabins on lakes and Ken bought a cabin on Spring Lake with some fellow Cat employees. He soon ended up buying out the other men and building their permanent home there.
