The Four Cooleys

This is the only know picture of Ethyl and Edward Cooley's four children together. This was taken at their grandfather, Edward Johnson's farm sometime after 1931. From oldest to youngest pictured; Veltirea Leonia, Marvin De Forrest, Eugene Lawrence and Doris Maxine Cooley. Veltirea married Dr J. Walter Thompson and had two children; Snookie and Vicki. Marvin married Bessie Colbert and had two children; Marlene and Cheryl. Eugene married Helen Anderson and had three children; Donna, Larry and Connie. Eugene and his second wife Julia Rumley had three children; Bobby, Darlene and Veltirea. Doris married Frank Guess and had two children; Kevin and Michael. There are a total of fourteen Cooley grandchildren. That's the easy number. The total number of great and great-great Cooley grandchildren is much larger. One day I intend to get the names of each great and great-great grandchild. Today ain't that day.

Happy Birthday Justin!!!

If I'm certain of one thing, I know my "little" cousin is going to enjoy celebrating his birthday. Don't let the kewl exterior fool you. This man likes to have a good time and ensure all around him are doing the same. It's safe to save a fun time will be had by all. Happy Birthday, Justin. Much peace, many blessings and an abundance of love - today and every day.

I'd Like To Say...

A big HELLO from me. I enjoy writing so much. I started this blog as a way to share family stories and information. That's the problem. With so much information; documents, photographs, census information, it's not so easy to sit and write about one person. There are so many from which to choose. I want to include (especially for the members that are no longer with us) as much documentation as possible. I promise there will be more family stories and pictures in the near future. As always continue to check the blog every couple of days. You just never know when I'll post some tales of the fam.

Happy Birthday Leah!!!

It's time to recognize the birthday of another Cooley descendant. This young lady is Leah, the daughter of Justin and Libby. She is beautiful in her appearance as well as her spirit. I see a wonderful future for this great-great-great-great grand daughter of Lacy and Aggie Cooley.

Is The Family Reunion September 12, 2009???

The Fourth of July was spent with the family. The tradition continues and I'M LOVIN IT! I like spending time with my family -- holiday or no holiday. We will find a way or a day to get together to eat. With that in mind, I'd like to share a thought. The Fourth of July is all about barbeque and the "barbeque queen" did an excellent job. It was some of the best she's done this year. You go, Toyia! Good food always leads to good conversation. Old stories were told and new memories were created and NOTES were taken, so I'll put them together for another post. At the end of the day, a fun time was had by all. Will we have a chance to do the same at the family reunion? Well, I've been told it will be the second weekend in September. Since various relatives have talked about this amongst themselves, I decided to check this out, for myself. I placed a call to Armon, but he didn't answer and I left a voice message. It's time to know the plan and make the necessary arrangements to attend. I hope to learn something soon. As always -- when I know more, you'll know more. Who are the folks in this set of pics? A few Cooleys and a few Johnsons -- The Fam.

Happy Birthday Fatts!!! The Terrible 2's Are Here!

With a face like this you feel nothing but love for him. Each time I look a picture of "Fatts", I can't help but smile. Such a cute kid (yeah, I said it) with a cool disposition. This young man is the great grandson of Eugene and Helen Cooley. To my little cousin Jordan, I wish you a very Happy Birthday. Hey Justin and Libby, give him a lot of cake, ice cream, candy and cookies on his special day :-)

Independence Day

Let me ask you this, does England have a July 4th? Yep, they do! Silly question, I know. It's the Fourth of July and the work has begun. Toyia started her cooking on friday evening. I guess she's getting a head start on her feast. Yes, tradition continues -- there will be a family meal today. I do like to eat up a bunch food on days like today. Hell yeah I do!!! I enjoy it more when I have little or no cooking to do. This year I will help on a few things. Mom requested I make sweet potato pudding. I have made it before, but never for July 4th. It's not what we'd normally have. There will be the old favorites; barbeque ribs, chicken, burgers and brats. I'm sure Toyia "the barbeque queen" will put a few ears of corn on the grill, too. I like that. While preparing and then enjoying our delicious meal and good time together, there will be tales of holidays and relatives long past. Family history and traditions will be told by the "wise ones" and passed to the young ones to tell at future gatherings. Years from now, when some of us are gone or just plain OLD, Maurice will share these stories with his family. I know I'll be there to make certain he tells them correctly. This is a photo (one of my favorites) of Ethyl Johnson Cooley, with her sister-in-law Victoria Cooley Cogwell and friends. They were known to take many roadtrips throughout the midwest in the 1920's. The location of this picture may be Chicago or Minneapolis.

F.Y.I.

I want you to take a look at the older posts. I have added a few new pictures to some of them. Here are some pics of the fam.

Happy Birthday Zoe!!!

Go Zoey, it's your birthday! Happy Birthday Zoe Elizabeth. The little Princess is seven years old today. Zoe is the great-granddaughter of Eugene "Eckie Bud" and Helen Cooley. Something interesting happened the last time we were together. After having a large breakfast at Perkins, it was time for us to leave. Zoe and I played while waiting for the rest of the family. We were having a good time, just the two Cooley cousins. I happened to turn my head and noticed an elderly white woman looking at us. She looked at me as though I was a predator preying on this small child. It appeared as though she wanted to say or do something. I'm glad she didn't. She was dead wrong and I would have snapped her right up! I was playing with my cousin Zoe and making her laugh. I guess to look at us it would not be so obvious that we're related. No matter - she's mine and I am hers. Sometimes you have to overlook the ignorance of others. This taught me to let the love of my family be known to everyone. Zoe is the great-great-great-great granddaughter of Lacy and Aggie Cooley. I am their great-great-great grandson. It doesn't matter if all of my family "looks like me" or not, we have that common bond -- Cooley blood. I love you, Zoe. Happy Birthday to you. You are my little Princess.

Happy Birthday Jessica!!!

Happy Birthday, Jessica. Jess is the great-granddaughter of Eugene and Helen (nee Anderson) Cooley. I have witnessed first hand her ability to speak her mind, "the Cooley way." I see a promising future for this young lady. I have to teach her one small thing; I require a complete pound of bacon for breakfast. I don't usually share, but I will her. Stick with me, Jess. I'll make sure there is plenty of bacon.

Anna Belle Burns Lites Harris

On March 19, 1907, Anna Belle Burns was born to thirteen year old Victoria Cooley and thirty-eight year old Lee Burns in Bevier, Missouri. Lee was married with children and couldn't provide much help to Victoria for the care of their baby. To earn money, Victoria begin working in the kitchen of the local train station. After living with Uncle Harry and his family for three years (more on him later), Anna Belle was sent to live with her grandfather George Cooley, his wife Mary, and their three children; Edward, Curtis and Georgia Elizabeth.

By 1920, Anna Belle had moved to Des Moines with her mother and stepfather. It was about this time Anna Belle showed an interest in painting. She allowed her artistic talent to become a job for her. She found work painting china in department stores in downtown Des Moines. Anna Belle would continue hand painting china until her retirement. Anna Belle had two marriages in the course of her life. The first was to a man know only as "Lites." Mr Lites first name is unknown. For a brief time she and her husband lived in Detroit. Anna Belle had moved back to Des Moines when the marriage ended. Her second to Ike Harris lasted much longer. They stayed married until his death. Anna Belle had no children, but loved the children of cousin Edward and his wife Ethyl Cooley. Vel, Dideo, Eckie Bud, Maxine, their children and grandchildren were recipients of her love. From an early age she saw strength and unity in family. Her favorite quote was, "Don't do as I do, do as I say do." Wise words from a wise woman.

Vicki's Kids

Collectively, we are know as "Vicki's Kids." Of course we three have our very own unique
personalities. Thank God. A couple of things we do have in common are music and dancing.

I don't remember the exact year, but I clearly remember dancing with Toyia and Tony in our dining room at 914 Carroll. The Jackson 5 were on Carol Burnett and we couldn't sit and watch the show. We had to get up and do the bump and the robot like Michael, Jackie, Marlon, Tito's big ass, Jermaine and Randy were doing. I'm sure anyone that remembers watching the show would also recall getting up and dancing as well. The Jackson five were the "IT" group, period.


Michael was always, ALWAYS a talented performer. We may not have all wanted to be him, but we sure as shit wanted to dance just like him. I found a clip of the performance on YouTube. I'm posting it here, because when I think of Michael, I think how one saturday evening, in the 1970's My sister, brother and I were on one accord. For that moment were not growing "thought we were smart-ass" kids, but three people so enjoying the performance, we had to get up and dance. That was a good time for us. It has been a couple of years since the three of us have danced together. We last danced together in 2006. I feel it's time we danced again.