Rauma Family Memories

Finnish families are famous for being close-mouthed so getting all of the facts of this story has been very difficult. But we do know that Miriam was a very strong-minded woman and we suspect that she threw her husband out. We also know that the relationship was volatile from the beginning. It is believed by family members that if Miriam had not gotten pregnant, they would never have married because they were not very compatible. Opposites attract and they obviously were attracted to each other. But the relationship was troubled from the beginning and likely is the trigger that set off the alcoholism. Interestingly my grandmother wouldn't remarry until her ex-husband was deceased.
Newspapers.com - Fitchburg Sentinel - 11 Sep 1944 Divorce notice
Notice of grandparents' divorce
My memories of my grandmother involve visiting her at her home on Seneca in Fitchburg, just down the street from the cemetery. Every time we would visit, it was to this home. She lived there with Coop and worked as the manager of the local S&H Green Stamps store. When we would visit she would always open the store after hours and let us grandchildren choose anything we wanted from the store’s inventory. This is how I got a pitch-back machine which consisted of netting with a strike zone marked on it. If I threw a strike with sufficient force the baseball would bounce back to me and I could easily catch it. If not, then the ball would bounce wildly and I would be forced to chase it.
After my grandfather’s death, Grandma Rauma married Coop and became Grandma Cooper. Harold Cooper was a very quiet man and didn’t seem to want much to do with us so we didn’t interact with him much. Soon after their marriage he died. I’m not sure we ever visited them during this time. One thing that I do remember about Coop was his insistence on eating dessert first whenever we went to a restaurant. He was quite insistent about it. It still strikes me as a good idea from time to time.
Grand Opening
Grand Opening of the S&H Green Stamps store my grandmother managed until she contracted cancer
My grandmother developed colon cancer soon thereafter and my stepmother spent considerable time tending to her needs. It was on a drive to the Baltimore Washington International airport that I fell out of the car and rolled onto the shoulder of the I-83 without being seriously hurt. It helped that she was driving in the slow lane. I had been leaning against the door resting when it opened. It all happened so fast that in retrospect it is kind of funny.
September 1960
September 1960. Joe was just born.

When she died Joe and I were called to the principal’s office of Windsor Manor Elementary school and informed that one of our parents was on the way to pick us up. It is the only time I remember being called out of class that way. As my father was an only child the burden of dealing with the estate was his and my stepmother’s. My grandmother was a women of above-average means so my father inherited not only all of the belongings, but the home, the car, her investments, and several interesting collectibles. It was from this collection that I laid eyes on a handwritten letter from Valley Forge. She also had a coin collection of some value along with some blue chip stocks. Coop had a large number of tools and as a result my father’s tool collection probably doubled. At my father’s death, my brother Mike inherited all of those tools.

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