It would appear that Dorothy Krull did make the trip with my grandmother to Norfolk. In fact, it appears that she might even have stayed in Mrs. Evans’ boarding house. I don’t know if my grandparents ended up getting a hotel room somewhere in Norfolk for the week or if Dr. Lentz was out of town for part of the duration, thereby allowing my grandparents to stay at the Evans house together in a room. What today’s letter does tell me is that Dorothy must have borrowed another resident’s alarm clock and there was a dead mouse left behind in the closet!

Dorothy Jane (Jackson) Krull was born July 8, 1908 so she was a couple years younger than my grandmother, but their oldest children were the same age. Dorothy’s oldest, Elizabeth “Betty” Krull was the same age as my Uncle John. They were in the same graduating class from Kent High School in 1848. On the 1940 census in Kentland, Indiana, Dorothy J. Krull was the wife of Nicholas P. Krull. They were the parents of three children: Elizabeth (9), Richard (8), and Nicholas, Jr. (5). According to the census, in 1935, the Krull family had been living in Oak Park, Cook County, Illinois. However, it appears that Nicholas grew up in Kentland, the son of Nicholas Krull, an immigrant from Germany. By 1940, Nicholas & Dorothy had returned to Kentland to stay.

As I sat at my computer attempting to track down Dorothy and her family, I came across the cemetery records for Newton County, in particular Fairlawn Cemetery. This is the cemetery where my grandparents are buried in Kentland. Much to my surprise, my grandparents and the Krulls are listed together, their burial plots side by side. They must have been very good friends indeed. Sadly I also discovered that Dorothy’s son Richard died soon after the 1940 census and Betty didn’t live very long either. She died in 1973, at the age of 43. Nicholas died in 1966. Dorothy lived another 30 years, dying in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1996. I found a very brief obituary for Dorothy through the ObitArchive. It really didn’t tell me a thing about her. I found a family tree on Ancestry that lists Dorothy and Nicholas, but does not list any of their children. I sent a message to the tree’s owner. Perhaps they know of or are related to the Krulls. I’m sure eventually I might come across a photograph of Dorothy. I think it is likely that among the photographs of my grandparents there are pictures of the Krulls, but they just are not labeled. Nicholas Jr. (or technically Nicholas III) would now be in his 70s and appears to have lived in the Arlington, Virginia area. I think it would be great to make contact with some of Dorothy’s family. Once my grandmother starts talking through her letters, Dorothy is mentioned quite frequently. I am sure we will get to know Dorothy a little better in the weeks and months ahead.

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Letter transcription:

Tue 1700 (postmark June 23 8:30 PM 1942)

Dear Mother,

Hope you are home and OK by this time. You will note some mail that came again today. The letter from Mark is a little mixed up but I guess its OK.

Another Dr. got orders today. He has to report to New Jersey to a brand new destroyer. That to me seems like a pretty good assignment. He came in long after I did. In fact 3 or 4 of those that came in after me are already gone.

Don’t forget to buy the stamp for the windshield before July 1^st.

We had a very hard rain last night, seemed to me as if it rained almost all night.

Mr. Ferneau told me to tell Dorothy he still had it in for

(page 2) her for setting his alarm clock so early.

I finally got that laundry today that is one bunch it was taken on the 11^th so that was only 13 days. That will hold me now for a while at least, but I’ll have to get some more out right away.

Mrs. E. found a Dead Mouse in the closet in Dorothy’s room. She was very much put out because we didn’t tell her. She hasn’t said anything about a package you left as yet. You must write her thanking her etc. I think she will get as much kick out of that as anything.

Well, I’ll do better next time

Love Daddy

©2012, copyrighted & written by Deborah Sweeney