Orene Hardman's schoolgirl diary Wetherall Family Collection
Inside front cover and front free fly leaf Wetherall Family Collection	Fred Warren, Peck High school, 1929 Wetherall Family Collection

1930-1933, 1934, 1937

Orene Hardman's schoolgirl diary

Orene Hardman, my mother, began her diary from the 21 November 1930 entry like this.

November 21, 1930   My Birthday -- day I received this lovely gift. About 20 spankings from kids. Nice Presents & Jean [Graham] stayed all night with me.

At the top of the entry she added -- "And no one else but Fred [Warren] gave it to me."

Orene attended Peck High School from 1927 to 1931 and graduated with the Class of 1931.

Jean Graham, who graduated in 1933, was a close neighbor and friend, and a member with Orene and 4 other PHS girls of the SKP gang -- the "Six Pajama Kids" who "drove people crazy" as my mother told me when explaining the meaning of the initials to me around 2000, 3 years before she died. Jean later taught school in Kendrick.

Fred Warren, who graduated in 1928, was her boyfriend or at least good friend for a while. He later operated a sporting goods shop in Lewiston.

"Charley Coon killed self . . . New kittens, 3 of them"

"Charley Coon killed self" my mother wrote in the upper left margin above the entry for 3 May 1931. In the upper right margin she wrote "New kittens, 3 of them". The main entry reads like this.

May 3, 1931   Went to S.S. [Sunday school] Min [Minnie France] & Walt here. Didn't do much Went down new high-say in Hank's car. Ate supper at their place.

Charles (Charley, Chas.) Bruce Coon (1891-1931) was born on 3 October 1891 in Mercer, in Mercer County, Missouri, and killed himself on 2 May 1931, apparently in Clarkston. His 5 June 1917 draft registsration card, for Central Ridge Precinct, signed by Cora B. Steele, states that he was a farmer, married with one child, and describes him as caucasian, short, stout, blue eyes, brown hair, not bald. The 1930 census shows him living in Peck with his wife Dola Ann (McGee) and three children. He worked as a "Stock buyer" on "Own account". Presumably this means investment stock rather than livestock. I have no information about motives. Possibly he lost a lot of money in the 1929 market crash. Dora (1892-1965), widowed, married Sorenson, was again widowned, then in 1948 remarried Roscoe Allen Tasker (1894-1963) and is buried by him in Belcrest Memorial Park in Salem, Marion County, Oregon. Charley Coon is reporstedly buried in Normal Hill Cemetery in Lewiston, Nez Perce County, Idaho.

Selections from Orene Hardman's diary 21 November 1930 to 6 February 1933 6 February 1934 to 13 February 1934 8 August 1937 to 18 September 1937
1 January, Happy New Year!, Cramps, darnit!	2-3 January, Orville [sic = Orval] [Hunter] and Ella [Coon] married
4-5 January, President Coolidge died	2-3 February, Theo [Thomas]
10-11 February, Ronald Hersey	16-17 March, [Big Canyon Creek] Flood
18-19 March, Flood, no trains, no mail	20-21 March, Read "Behind That Curtain"
Memoranda, 1 April, F.W. [Fred Warren] and R.W. [Ronald Hersey]	8-9 April, Salutatarian declined
14-15 April, Cherry Blossom Queen offered	16-17 April, Cherry Blossom Queen declined
30 April, Memoranda, Ideas of marriage	1-2 May, Russell Betts
11-12 May, Cherry Blossom queen accepted	15-16 May, High school commencement
25-26 May, Drowned man	27-28 May, Central Ridge Cemetery
29-30 May, Central Ridge, Orval and Ella	3-4 June, Princesses picture, Uncle Roy [Hardman]
9-10 June, [Lapwai princess] Ooyama letter	17-18 June, [Lapwai princess] Ooyama photo
19-20 June, Graveyard	6-7 July, Saw rattlesnake
Memoranda, 1 August, Questions education	8-9 August, My Bill
10-11 August, Bill undecided about work	12-13 August, Luckiest girl
14-15 August, Bill at Boise	16-17 August, Bill sworn in as Idaho attorney
18-19 August, Bill has many propects, Orene applies for teacher job at Orofino school	28-29 August, Bill and Orene dine at home of Swaynes in Orofino
10-11 September, Bill has prospects of very good job [with Samuel Swayne in Orofino]	12-13 September, "Bill . . . Gave me diamond ring -- and took my heart."
14-15 September, Orene's teaching job at Pierce to start	3-4 October, Orene takes book-keeping tests, highest in class
25-26 October, [Orene's father] Owen [Hardman] hunting up Selway	31 August, Memoranda, "Mama & Daddy opposed to me [going away] to school"
3-4 November, "Dad came home. Got one elk and killed 4 deer."	13-14 November, Had argument on marriage
21-22 November, Birthdays	23-24 November, Bank [where employed] fails, job is over, can see schooling gone
Memoranda, 1 December, "Guess my schooling is shot unless I get another job"	6-7 December, "Went to Lewiston . . . Fell for a Jap boy."
24-25 December, Christmas	26-27 December, Boyfriends
28-29 December, Boyfriend saga continued	30-31 December, Boyfriend saga continued
Memoranda	Memoranda