Sentimental Sunday: Dick and Paul Pape, ABT 1901

 I believe my father found this picture in my grandparents' basement in early July 1970, while going through some of the things of his father, my grandfather Paul Robert Pape (1896-1970), who had died that April.  I remember being down in the basement of my grandparents' triplex at the corner of Hastings and Central in Evanston, Illinois, and I remember Great Aunt Martha Pape Bleidt (1890-1980), over there as well.  I imagine she was the one who identified the boys in this picture as her younger brothers, Otto Richard "Dick" Pape (1898-1972), and Paul.  She said they were ages 3 and 5 respectively in this photo, meaning it was taken about 1901.

I've written about Martha and Dick and their other siblings, Clara and Rhea and Lee and Walter, but I really have not written much about my grandfather Paul.

Paul Robert Pape was born July 1, 1896, in Evanston, Illinois, most likely in the family home at 1043 Sherman Avenue, where his parents, John Pape (1851-1945) and Gertrude Kramer Pape (1859-1919) and his four older siblings were living at the time.  He was baptized July 12 at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Evanston.  He received his First Communion there on May 2, 1909, and confirmed there on September 24, 1911.

According to a 1917 Evanston city directory, Paul was still living in the family home on Sherman at age 21, working as a salesman.  In June 1918, he registered for the draft, and indicated he was working for U. S. Materials Company in Chicago.  A family photograph indicates that he served in the Navy during World War I, although I have not yet found proof of this.   By 1920, he was working as a salesman again, and still living at the family home.

Sometime that year, he met 18-year-old flapper Elizabeth Florence "Betty" Massmann (1902-2000) through a friend.  One of their most wonderful dates was when they took a romantic canoe ride on Lake Michigan and he sang "Indian Love Call" (lyrics here) to her.

Four years after meeting, Betty and Paul were married on September 3, 1924, at St. Jerome Catholic Church in Rogers Park, Illinois, in a beautiful large wedding and reception. They honeymooned in Woodruff, Wisconsin, where, unfortunately, it poured rain the whole time! So they returned to Chicago and enjoyed the shows and dinners out.

Paul and Betty were living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when their first child, Paul Robert "Bob" Pape Jr. was born in 1926.  By October 1927, they were back in Evanston, where second child and first daughter Elizabeth "Bette" Marie Pape was born.  She was followed by my father, Frederick Henry, and two sisters, Rose Mary (1931-2007) and Marilyn Electa, born in 1933.

On the 1930 Census Paul is still a salesman, this time with an oil burner company, but by the 1940 Census, he is an insurance broker.

From at least 1930 through at least 1953, Paul and Betty and their family lived at 2093 West Lunt Avenue in the Rogers Park area of north Chicago.  Then they lived in a duplex in Wilmette for a while, but eventually moved to the triplex at 2547 Hastings in Evanston in the early 1960s.  I remember visiting them there around 1964. 

My grandfather contracted lung cancer and died on April 24, 1970, in Evanston.  He is buried at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.