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Note: MARGARET SHAFFER, COBOURN, CARPENTER, my Mother. Mom was born in Conshohocken, the date on her Social Security application said 1905. I have a strong feeling that her birth date is 1903 or 04. Dates didn't appear to mean much when it interfered with what a person was trying to do in the early days, maybe even so today. Mother said she was a happy child, stayed close to home and adored her father, she was around her father whenever she had the chance. I'm not sure if Mom graduated from school or not, I hope to find out later, I do know she was in eleventh grade, she had told me that she had won a scholarship for handwriting but they took it from her when they found out she was left-handed. Writing with the left hand back in those days was not considered normal. I know she didn't meet my father in school because he went to the Lower Merion Schools was four girls, even after they left home and were married they seemed to stay in touch with each other. Mom married my father in 1924 at the court house, Media, Pa. (Delaware County) I'm sure my Grandfather Shaffer disapproved of this marriage or they would have been married in the Presbyterian Church, Conshohocken. I'm pretty sure this is where my father met Mom. Not that he was a regular church goer but Grandmother Cobourn was a member of this church also and I'm sure she took her children their from time to time, especially during special holidays. I know my father was baptize the year after I was born, maybe to satisfy Mom. I just believe my Grandfather Shaffer was of the opinion that Dad was not good enough for his daughter and that he had no future. I know Mom's sister Florence and my Dad's sister Elizabeth where at the wedding because they witness the certificate. I know Dad was younger than Mom by a year or two and from the start they seemed to be right for each other. In 1930 Dad told Mom he was going back and live with his parents, sort of one of those "think things out" line. In my baby book Mom covers this period and the person Dad was seeing that was the cause of him leaving home. But in 1932 Mom and Dad has a picture of them in New Jersey with the looks of two people in love. The very next month Dad ;asked for a divorce. The papers filed and when are in my book that shows an interesting fact, but the divorce is granted in 1933, JUNE. From the period of 1930 when my father left we moved in with my mothers parents at 719 Matsonford Road in West Conshohocken. I loved this home, the area and the school. I can remember the house today, where Grandfather had his organ, the little flower house and beautiful neighbors. A lot of the pictures I have were taken during this period. My father came over usually on Sundays and we would go to various places, Zoo, parks and other attractions. In 1933 my mother remarried my step-father and we moved to his home about three blocks from Moms parents. Things change but my Dad still came up to my step-fathers home to take me out. It was during this period in my life I realized that Mom was still very much in love with my Dad. Throughout my childhood until I went into the service she always encourage me to stay in touch with my Dad. My mother always made the best of everything, we always had friends and relatives at the house and we would always be going to her friends and relatives. I really believe Mom enjoyed life the most when she lived in Hudson, Florida for almost ten years. She was completely on her home and for the first time she didn't have someone to worry about. It was a shame when her two daughters decided that she wasn't fit to live by herself anymore and moved her back to Pennsylvania. My Mom spent the last years of her life in a nursing home, it was sad, she looked after all of us but when it came to her time for someone to care for her she had to go to a nursing home. My mother lived a good life, she was a very religious person and tried to live by those rules. I never seen her smoke or take a drink, she was quite a lady..........
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