Dorothy (“Dot”) was my mother, and I'm her son, David (Dave).

On these pages are entries from diaries Dot kept in 1945 and 1946, at age 16-17, when she lived with her family in the Englewood neighborhood on the south side of Chicago.

1945 had the same calendar as 2007, and so each day's entry was posted in “real-time” 2007 progressed. Currently, in 2008, the 1946 and 2008 calendars are just one-day off.

Accompanying Dorothy's words in 1945 are recollections from her sister Louise (Sis). Louise wrote her remembrances back in 2000-2001, before she passed away in 2002.

I've also been fortunate to have stayed in touch with my mother's friend Sunny, who now lives in Florida, and she has been wonderful—supplying memories and enhancing various events the two of them attended together.

I have also been including photos from the scrapbooks belonging to Dot and her sister, and whatever news of the day, artwork and video clips I can locate that might add context or meaning to a particular day's diary entry.

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Background information:

In 1980, my late father sent me a few items he'd saved over the years after my mother's death in March of 1964. Among them were my mother's diaries from 1945 and '46, which I had no idea existed until then.

Regrettably, I have no films or audio recordings of my mother, except for a one-minute souvenir record she and my father made in about 1946, before they were married. Since I was only 14 when she passed away, my memories of her are of a very general nature, and so the diaries were, and are a wonderful, unexpected gift.

In the late 1990s, I transcribed the diaries' yellowed and brittled pages into computer text files. I then asked Dot's sister, my aunt Louise (“Sis”) if she would be interested in reading them and if she'd put her memories on paper. The two of them were very close then and throughout their married years. As you can see, they spent a lot of time together during 1945 and '46— shopping, or going to movies or out for a Coke. Sometimes they would simply sit out on the front steps, talking, listening to records, and watching the world go by.

My aunt's remarks helped bring to life the months and days; I thought her memory was truly remarkable considering that more than 50 years had gone by.

What I'm left with now is naturally very meaningful to me. The diaries may be interesting to local history buffs: places and things within the Englewood neighborhood—restaurants, theatres, transportation, schools, etc., many of which have long since vanished and are now all but forgotten. As the diary entries have progressed, I've been contacted by dozens of people who have become fans of Dot. Some grew up, or had family who grew up, in the neighborhood.

More than anything, this is a labor of love for me, Dot's son.

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Navigating the diary:

(Links to these other sections are located at the top of each page)

Today: the diary entry for whatever our current calendar date is. (The days of the week for 1946 are one-day off.)

Jan Feb Mar, etc.: Older diary entries are archived by the month and by year. Links are at the top of the page.

Scrapbook: A collection of Dot's friends and family and the places in her life.

News: the diary blog where I occasionally add some additional observations or post various updates. The blog has a message board where comments are welcome.

Send: you can “Email this page”. Recommend the diary by forwarding the URL to a friend.

Email: comments, suggestions, and memories are appreciated.

I'll be adding or modifying this page and others as needed. Please bear with my various grammatical errors, rambling text or broken links. They'll be corrected as I become aware of them.