1928-1943

Most of Dick’s cousins lived in California while he was growing up in Indiana, so there were not many opportunities for them to be together until Dick got older.

Dick started high school in Indianapolis shortly after the U.S. entered World War II. Pictures and artifacts of that time are on this page, and some travel photos.

We have so many pictures of Dick with others in his family – it was not easy to choose which ones to include. It was a great family!

While he was growing up, Dick Votaw spent many weekends and summers at his Aunt & Uncle’s farm near Plainfield, Indiana.

After they were married, Harold and Mildred opened the Votaw Pharmacy on the west side of Indianapolis. The ad in the window is for Gillette blades – it says “You can’t buy blades in your bathroom.”

From this period of Dick’s life we have quite a few pictures, some newspaper clippings that feature him, thanks to his mother, and a long section of his autobiography.

You know how the first child in a family always gets the most pictures taken? Imagine what it’s like for an only child! Yes, we have a lot of pictures of young Dick Votaw. We also have his autobiography. The first part of it is reprinted here.

Dick enjoyed typing letters to Aunt (Tirzah) and Uncle (Frank Jessup). Nine of these letters have been saved, and they tell us quite a bit about Dick’s life during his junior high school years (1939-42).

Mildred inherited speaking and leadership gifts from her father, a Quaker pastor. She was active both in church ministry and as a citizen wherever she lived.

Her parents loved taking photos and film, so we have some great pictures of Doree (“Mom” to me) when she was a little girl.

In this photo we can see Herb & Mary Martin, with their children Bert and Doree, and Herb’s mother Caroline Martin. They are standing in front of the Martin home in Pomona, where Doree lived from the time she was born until she married in 1951.

My uncle Bert Martin was born the same year that my father was born: 1928. We have some good pictures of him as a boy (this one was taken in 1936), and quite a lot of video.

Between 1937 and 1942 Doree wrote a series of poems which were kept in a slim “Autographs” book. The poems were illustrated by her mother.

On a short vacation to Aunt & Unc’s farm in Plainfield, Dick tries his hand at writing a detective story.

Doree’s mother (Mary Martin) recorded these sayings in Doree’s baby book.

a classic car – wonder what it was like to drive?

fashion in the 1940s