A to Z April Challenge: T is for Thelma

My theme for the A to Z April Challenge is “In-Laws and Out-Laws – Friends of the Family.”  I will be researching friends, colleagues, neighbors - those people who came and went touching my family’s lives in both small and large ways. 

is for Thelma.  Thelma Clare Hockman.

Okay, it’s time for me to come clean.  

THIS is Thelma Clare Hockman.  

Thelma Clare Hockman Sarver

It is NOT Bill Porter as I reported HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

See -- it says "Bill"

When my grandaunt Velma Davis Woodring labeled the picture “Bill,” I believed her.  There really was a girl at Harrisonburg Teachers College in 1925 known as “Bill Porter.”  But the name was never aligned with a photo to compare.  I trusted my aunt not to deceive.

But she did.  When I ran across the “Lovingly, Thelma” portrait, I went searching for the truth which had been in front of me every time I looked at a census.  There she was:  Thelma Hockman, next door neighbor. 

Thelma was the third of four children born to Jacob and Attie Hockman.   Velma and Thelma grew up side by side in Shenandoah, Virginia.  They even went to college together.  However, Thelma attended for just one year.  Yet, there are probably more photos of Thelma in Velma’s scrapbook than of any other friends.

Thelma Hockman at Massanutten Peak
a college hiking trip Oct. 1924

Thelma Hockman on the right
waiting for the train on the campus of
Harrisonburg Teachers College

Velma captioned this "Us and No More"
Thelma, Leta LeVow, and Velma
Leta and Velma were roommates;
maybe Thelma was the third roommate.

Unknown, Thelma, Velma
in the new outdoor pool at
Harrisonburg Teachers College 1924

June 9, 1925 - last day
of their freshman year at HTC
Velma, Thelma, Leta LeVow, and
unknown

Thelma is sitting on the beam
Virginia Cole is standing.

Thelma married Lacy Wilson Sarver March 7, 1927.  An amusing tidbit in the social column of the Richmond Times Dispatch on March 6 noted that Lacy was spending the weekend in Shenandoah.  

Cambria, Virginia social column sent to Richmond Times Dispatch March 6, 1927
from Genealogybank.com

Well, I guess so!  It was the wedding.  Then at Christmas, the newspaper reported that Thelma was spending several weeks with her parents. 

Cambria, Virginia social column sent to Richmond Times Dispatch Dec. 1927
from Genealogybank.com

Velma captioned this "Us and Our Mothers"
Standing: Thelma and Velma
Sitting:  Attie Hockman and Mary Frances Davis

Thelma and Lacy lived in Christiansburg, Virginia, and had four children, 3 girls and a boy.  Lacy worked as a postal clerk for the railroad.  At least during the time when the 1930 and 1940 censuses were conducted, Thelma did not work.  Apparently they never left Christiansburg.

Thelma died in 1992.  She and Lacy are buried in the Sunset Cemetery in Christiansburg, Virginia.

 

from Findagrave.com
photo courtesy Jan Robinson

I am no toady who would try to thwart the throngs in their tenacious trek through the terrain called the A to Z April Challenge.

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.