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Note: Mary was two and a half years old when her mother died of a ruptured appendix. She had only one vague memory of her mother holding her. It was 10 years before her father married again. During this time, Mary lived with her grandparents Jeff and Molly Bond. Mary continued to live with the Bonds even after Raymond married Alice Neeson. She spent an extended length of time with her father one summer before he married. Since she never met her stepmother, this would have been before her 12ÙCsupÙDthÙC/supÙD birthday in September 1925. I think that the Bonds were very fearful that Ray would take his daughter to live with him. I'm certain it would have been a disruption to Mary's live. There may also have been a prejudice against Ray because he was illegitimate or because Alice was Catholic. The fact that Ray and Grace eloped is an indication of a possible problem. Ray and Alice were only married five and a half years when Ray was killed in the car accident. Neither Mary nor any of our family ever saw her two half sisters. Molly spent much of her life raising children. Her siblings were 9, 12 and 17 and she was only 19 when her mother died. She married Jeff about four and a half years later and had her own daughter, Grace, 9 months later when her sister, Lucy, was 14 years old.
Mary was a bright child in the first grade and was placed in the third grade the next year. Mary and her grandmother moved to Salem for her to attend high school and college. I think that Jeff spent much of the time in Smithburg to be nearer his work. She graduated cum laude from Salem College.
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