Life “north of Lane” in the 1940s

Longtime UA resident Pauline Stinson Stamm shared her memories and photos with a Society volunteer (and distant relative), John Purdum. Pauline, born in 1935, attended South Perry Township school (later Fishinger Elementary and now part of the Wellington School). Her home in Perry Township was annexed into Upper Arlington in the 1940s. Here are a few photos to show what life looked like in the 1940s:

Pauline on the fields that Ben Blinn would purchase in 1954 and sell to the City in 1973 to create Fancyburg Park. Pauline’s great grandmother, Nancy Stinson, inherited the land from her father, Julius Caesar Richards. The Richards family had owned those lands beginning in the early 1800s. According to Pauline, Clarence Yost (Pauline’s grandfather) and Joe McDowell built the house with the assistance of Ace Yost. Note: Julius Caesar Richards is buried in the Bickett-Richards Cemetery on Riverside Drive behind the Speedway station.

Pauline and her brother, Larry Stinson, noted on the photo to be standing at what today we know as the site of the Tremont Library (2800 Tremont Road). According to Pauline, her immediate family lived near this site.

This photo pictures Pauline's Uncle Jack Yost on left with Pauline on his lap, Pauline’s father Paul Stinson on right with Larry Stinson on his lap. The boys in back are Dwayne Yost and Bob Kilgore. Jack Yost was home from deployment in Germany as a paratrooper. Jack was later shot down and died in the war over the Rhine. Pauline’s recollections match closely with the descriptions of Operation Varsity.

Here’s one earlier image - the 1920 class at South Perry Township School. Pauline’s parents were both students at this time and are in the photo.

First grade class- South Perry Township School 1940. The students pictured here according to Pauline are:

First Row: Alice Lehman, Rosemary, Frank Kerry, unknown, John Harry Throckmorton, Pauline Stinson, Charles Vaughn, Patty Gifford

Second Row: Robert Hickman, Marjorie Wright, Patti Gale Wilson, unknown, teacher Mrs Wilcox, unknown, Nancy Miller, unknown, Marilyn Geese

Pauline in the coat she received as a gift from Judith (“Judy”) LeFever. Pauline’s family boarded the LaFevers’ pony, so Judith would come to ride it with Pauline and the other children. Judith grew up on UA’s Yorkshire Lane and graduated in the UAHS Class of 1951. At Duke University, Judith met her first husband, Gerard Louis-Dreyfus, and they are the parents of actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus.