52 Ancestors: Week 11 - Turning Point

 
Turning Point: The Strength of June Elizabeth Putman

A turning point in a person’s life is often a moment that changes everything - forcing them to find strength, courage, and a new direction. Such a moment came in the life of my grandmother, June Elizabeth Putman, whose resilience shaped the future of her family.

Walter Raymond Simmons & June Elizabeth Putman
Photo taken about 1920 enhanced with Gemini

In 1920, June married my grandfather, Walter Raymond Simmons, in Detroit, Michigan. It was the beginning of a hopeful new life together. Walter found work at the Ford Motor Company as an auto worker, a good job during a time when Detroit was booming with opportunity. The young couple rented a house in Dearborn, Michigan, not far from Walter’s older sister Bernice and her husband Howard. Family was close by, and I imagine they spent many evenings or weekends visiting with them.

Walter and June Putman Simmons
Photo taken about 1921 enhanced with Chat GPT

In June of 1921, June gave birth to their first child, a son named Wallace Raymond Simmons. Their home in Dearborn soon became the center of a growing young family. During these early years, June also pursued her love of music. She attended the Detroit Conservatory of Music, where she received a certificate of accomplishment. Music would remain an important part of her life. She was an accomplished pianist and eventually learned to play the organ as well.

Walter Simmons holding Wallace & June
Photo taken about 1922 enhanced with ChatGPT

Four years later, June traveled back to her hometown of Henning, Illinois, to give birth to her second child. On January 29, 1925, her son Paul Herbert Simmons—my father—was born. After his birth, she returned with her baby to Dearborn, where she and Walter continued raising their two boys. June later said that those were happy years. Walter worked steadily in the auto industry, and the family enjoyed a comfortable life together.

June Putman Simmons, Paul Simmons, Walter Simmons & Wallace Simmons
Photo taken about 1929 enhanced with Gemini

But in 1931, everything changed.

 

That winter, when Paul was only six years old, he came down with the flu, which soon developed into pneumonia. Shortly afterward, Walter also became ill with the flu, and his condition worsened into pneumonia as well. Paul eventually recovered, but Walter did not. On February 24, 1931, Walter Raymond Simmons, my grandfather died.

Walter R. Simmons 1902-1931
Buried in Mann's Chapel Cemetery, Vermilion County, Illinois

For my grandmother, this was a devastating turning point. Suddenly she was a young widow with two small boys, living far from her parents and facing the uncertain years of the Great Depression. Both her parents and Walter’s parents came for the funeral. Afterward, June made a difficult decision. She packed up her belongings and left the life she had built in Michigan.

Her youngest son, Paul, went temporarily to live with Walter’s parents, as Walter’s father was a Methodist minister who served several churches in central Illinois. June and her older son Wallace drove a Model A Ford all the way from Dearborn back to her parents’ home in Henning, Illinois. It must have been a long and emotional journey—leaving behind the place where she had once been so happy.

Life in Henning during the early years of the Great Depression was not easy. Her parents, Ernest and Cora Putman, were doing their best to make ends meet like everyone else. After several months, June’s father encouraged her to bring Paul home so that her two sons could once again be together. Soon Paul returned, and for the next four years he lived in Henning with his mother, brother and grandparents. 

June slowly rebuilt her life. She became active in the church, where she played the piano on Sundays and often during the week. She also began giving piano lessons to children in the Henning area. Music once again provided both comfort and purpose. Meanwhile, Wallace and Paul attended the Henning public school in town.

Henning Elementary School about 1932
Paul Simmons, my father, sitting fourth from the right 

Henning School Basketball Team 1933-1934
Wallace Simmons kneeling second from the right

Even during those difficult years, new possibilities began to appear. About a year after returning to Henning, June started corresponding with a man she had known in Detroit named Jack Merritt. Jack had been through hardships of his own; his wife had taken their small child and returned to Alabama, eventually filing for divorce. Over the next two and a half years, June and Jack wrote letters to one another. In those letters she described her life in Henning, her church activities, and her piano teaching.

Eventually they arranged to meet in Chicago, where they attended the World’s Fair together in the early 1930s. Their friendship deepened, and on April 1, 1934, June married Jack Merritt in the nearby town of Bismarck, Illinois.

This marked another turning point in her life. Once again, June packed her belongings and returned to Detroit—this time with her second husband and her two sons. They settled into a house on Vinewood Avenue, where they lived from 1934 until 1960.

In Detroit, June joined a nearby Presbyterian church and played the organ on several occasions. Music continued to be at the center of her life and service. On August 14, 1940, June gave birth to a baby girl, Carl Sue Merritt. Over the years she watched her two sons and daughter grow up. All graduated from high school and the boys later enlisted to serve during World War II. She experienced the worry of seeing them leave for war and the joy of welcoming them safely home again.

Jack Merritt, Wallace Simmons, Paul Simmons, Carol Merritt & June Putman Simmons Merritt
Photo taken 1944 - Enhanced with Gemini

Looking back on my grandmother’s life, I often think about the courage it must have taken for her to begin again after losing her first husband. The death of Walter Simmons in 1931 could have left her defeated, but instead she showed remarkable strength and resilience. She returned to her parents’ home, rebuilt her life through faith, music, and family, and eventually found happiness again with Jack Merritt.

 

That tragic winter of 1931 was the great turning point in her life. From it came a new chapter—one that revealed her determination, faith, and the quiet strength that carried her family forward for generations.