Chester P. Aden's Nickname

 

My mom, Sharon Eileen (Aden) Kienlen, referred to her parents as "Mom and Chek." She never called her father, Chester Aden, "Dad" or anything like that. It was always "Chek." She told us that when she was little, he was away for World War II and that "Chek" was a mispronunciation of "Chet",  his actual nickname.

I don't remember my Grandpa being called "Chet." Never. This week, I set out to see if my mom's story was true. A quick search on Newspapers.com led me to this:

There is it! Chet! The ad is from 1957. During this time, my grandparents had several irons in the fire to support the family. A few years after this, they moved to St. Louis with my mom. Grandpa found a job with the Metropolitan Sewer District where he worked until his retirement. I went inside the big plant on South Broadway in St. Louis once. My grandpa worked night shift. He forgot his lunch so we went with my Granny to drop it off. My childhood mind pictured the inside of a sewer plant as dirty and smelly, I guess, because I still remember being amazed at how clean it was. We were in a giant concrete room that was empty except for a bunch of pipes. I drive by the place twice daily on my work commute, and I think of that every single time.

In 1958, my mom's uncle, Ray Holland, was in Florida. They were the same age, so their relationship was more like cousins would be today when people don't have children at the same time their parents are having children. They would have been about 16 years old when this was written. I received this letter from a cousin of my mom's. I think it's amazing that Ray saved this silly little letter, given his age at the time he received it. What a testament to the friendship they must have shared! 

I wish I could thank him.

I believe a page is missing, because my mom would have signed the letter. I also hope that she was wrong about her brother's college friend's age. My uncle Tom Aden would have been a teenager in 1958. I work with college students. 27 year old students should not be hanging out with undergrads. My guess is that her brother lied to her about his friend's age because my mom was apparently a little boy crazy and she (my guess) was probably bugging her big brother about his friend. 

You can see in her letter, though, that she clearly called her dad "Chek." I also learned that everyone helped provide financial support to the family, which would have included her brother's college tuition and living expenses. Working together, they were able to have some fun, too, including boat rides and movies.