HomeMy WebLinkAboutwillett tucker 2025 sue thompson NL ArticleA Scrapbook in the Enfield Files
Sue Thompson, Enfield Town HistorianIn 1940 Doris Christine Tucker Willett created a scrapbook to document events in her life. Doris was born in 1920 to Leon and Bernice Tucker. They
lived on Halseyville Road near the No. 4 Miller Corners School with her brothers and sisters. She went to grade school at Miller’s Corners from 1926 to 1934 moving on to Ithaca High
School 1934 to 1938. In the 1930’s she was a member of the Rollison School Girl Scout Group a few of the members were Doris Lehman, Doris Ink, Thelma Ink, Bettina Lanning, Gloria Lovelace
and Jane Hoover.She also was a member of the Millers Corners Merry Makers 4-H Club. In 1940, she worked at the Cornell (City) Library in Ithaca, where she documented library events by
collecting related articles in her scrapbook. On October 12, 1940, she married Gordon E. Willett. She preserved her wedding announcement in her scrapbook, along with numerous other engagement
and wedding announcements: Marion Leonard and Lewis Crippen, Dorothy Gyles and Leroy Whitaker. They were married at her parents’ home, and an interesting detail about her bridal attire
was that she wore a street-length dress in 'soldier blue.' Could this choice of color have been influenced by the outbreak of World War II in 1939?" Gordon Willett registered for military
service in July 1941. In 1944 an article in the Ithaca Journal reported that Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Willett would be moving next door to Doris’s parents at Trumbulls Corner because Gordon
would be leaving soon to join the Marines. In the first pages of the scrapbook were many articles regarding enlistments into the military during WWII. Some of the articles were about:
Otis Drew, Francis Willis, Paul Ervay, Lyman Warren, Francis Holley, Margaret Hansen, Joseph Brablic, Charles VanGorder, and Ralph Whitaker. There were articles regarding news events
such as the February 1958 snow storm, articles of family members and neighbors visiting each other, birth and death notices. A high amount of articles occurred during the 1940’s and
then fewer articles up to 1975. Articles involved residents from Enfield, Ithaca, Trumbulls Corners, Binghamton and Johnson City.After Gordon returned from service they moved to live
in Broome County New York. Gordon died in 1988 and Doris died in 2020 at 80 years of age.
This scrapbook has been scanned in its entirety. The jpg picturescan be found on thelaserfiche site for Enfield, www.townofenfield.org – For Residents – Archived Documents-Public documents-historian-Scrapbook
Doris Tucker Willett.