Podcast Glossary
The Podcast Glossary contains information on various pieces of information reviewed in the Podcast, including locations, major subjects, and listings of other individuals that are not members of Sweetie's direct family.
Butler Family - The Butler Family are the neighbors of the Demaree family in Lacona, Iowa. Wendell Butler is a close friend of Sweetie's father, Chester.
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Collingdale - Collingdale is the town in Pennsylvania where Lew's parents' home is. Their address was 936 Springfield Road (which today is an intersection - the house is no longer there). After Lew's father, Samuel, passes away in October 1945, the two individuals living there are Lew's mother, Sidney, and his sister, Elizabeth (a.k.a. "Dit").
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Cory Family - Sweetie made friends quickly with the Cory family who lived up the hill from her apartment in Ottumwa, Iowa. The head of the family was Nelson Cory, who worked with her at NAS Ottumwa, and she was very close to Nelson's wife, Eleanor. Nelson and Eleanor had two daughters in Ottumwa, Betty (who was in high school in the early 1940's) and A.L. When Sweetie was married to Lew Graham on December 3, 1943, the wedding was celebrated at the Cory family home, with about 30 attendees. Nelson Cory completed his work at NAS Ottumwa on February 15, 1944, and the family planned to leave Ottumwa after that work ended.
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County Line Rd - County Line Rd refers to the road which divides Bucks County and Montgomery County in southeastern Pennsylvania. It's also the street address for the new house Sweetie and Lew purchase in the fall of 1949. Sweetie's house was on the Bucks County side of the road, and had no street number, with her address only indicated as "County Line Rd., R.F.D."
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David Chase - David was one of Sweetie's boyfriends while she was in Ottumwa. However, it seems the relationship became one-sided by the time David sent Sweetie a marriage proposal in the mail and she chose not to respond. Sweetie genuinely cared about David and wrote to him many letters when he was deployed overseas, but this appears to have ceased when she met her future husband, Lew Graham, in person in late summer 1943.
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Dot and Johnny - Dot (a.k.a. "Dottie") was Sweetie's neighbor in Norwood, Pennsylvania. They met in 1946 when Dot asked Sweetie for help watching her son, Johnny, who was about Lewis' age, when Dot had to go to the veterinarian for her dog. Dot invites Sweetie and Lewis to her house for Johnny's first birthday party, and Dot and Johnny appear in pictures from their neighborhood on Love Lane.
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Dr. William Adlai Robie - Dr. Robie was the pediatrician that saw Lewis at the US Naval Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in spring 1947. A World War II veteran, Dr. Robie served in the US Navy for 22 years before going into private practice, joining the North Carolina State Board of Health, and becoming the Director of Medical Education at Wake Memorial Hospital in 1967. Dr. Robie passed away in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 2006.
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Ed - Ed was Sweetie's boyfriend from high school through her one semester at Parsons College in fall 1941. While Sweetie genuinely cared about Ed, she ultimately decided that the relationship would not work, and it is noted as having ended by spring 1942.​
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Franklin (Frank) Oehrle - A resident of Hatboro, Frank was the farmer who had previously owned the land on which Sweetie's House on County Line Rd. was built. He helps the the family prepare their land for gardening when they first move onto the property in the fall of 1949. Frank was a good farmer, despite some mobility issues, and was the best potato farmer in Bucks County in 1920.
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Hatboro - Hatboro, a town in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, is the neighboring town to Naval Air Station (NAS) Willow Grove, and the mailing address location for Sweetie's house on County Line Rd., despite her house being on the Bucks County side of the road.
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Hutchinson - Hutchinson (nicknamed the "Salt City") is in Reno County, Kansas. Sweetie and Lew relocate to Hutchinson, Kansas after Lew is transferred from NAS Ottumwa to NAS Hutchinson in July 1944.
Lacona - Lacona is a small town in Warren County, Iowa, about one hour's drive south of Des Moines. Chester Demaree, M.D. (Sweetie's father) moves the Demaree home there and becomes the town doctor for the remainder of his career. He and his wife, Laura, are still remembered fondly by the people of Lacona to this day, even though their house is no longer standing (pictured below). As of the 2020 Census, the population of Lacona, Iowa was noted as 345 people.
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Lucille Miller - Lucille was Sweetie's close friend at Parsons College in the fall of 1941 and the two of them moved to Ottumwa in the Spring of 1942 to pursue a business course. During that time, the two were boarding together, until by the fall of 1942, Sweetie moved into her own apartment. However, she remained friends with Lucille, and Lucille (and Lucille's mother) attended Sweetie's wedding at the Cory family home on December 3, 1943 in Ottumwa.
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NAS Hutchinson / Naval Air Station Hutchinson - This was a Naval Air Station in Hutchinson, Kansas in which the main operations were active starting in 1942. It was the sister station to NAS Ottumwa (Iowa) as both locations were determined to move forward by the US Government at the same time. Lew Graham (Sweetie's husband) is transferred to NAS Hutchinson from NAS Ottumwa in July 1944. More information about NAS Hutchinson is being compiled on this site here, as there appears to be an absence of comprehensive information about this station that's easily accessible online, excepting only a few sources.
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NAS New York / Naval Air Station New York - This was a Naval Air Station in New York City, New York, that during World War II included a location at Floyd Bennett Field. Lew Graham reports to this location when he arrives in New York before he is shipped overseas to England in April 1945.
NAS Ottumwa / Naval Air Station Ottumwa - This was a Naval Air Station in Ottumwa, Iowa in which the main operations were active from 1942 to 1947. It is the sister NAS Station to NAS Hutchinson (Kansas) as both locations were determined to move forward by the US Government at the same time. Much information can be found about this subject at www.nasottumwa.org and the administrative building of the base has been preserved and restored by the volunteers of the Friends of NAS Ottumwa, a non-profit corporation. NAS Ottumwa used to have approximately 60 buildings on the site - only one has been restored - Administrative Building (pictured below - picture is from May 2023). Sweetie is one of the first women to work at the base (first with the contractors who built it, and then officially for the government, and Lew Graham (her husband) is stationed at the base when it opens in 1942. Click here for more information on individuals from Sweetie's story while she was at NAS Ottumwa.​
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​NAS Willow Grove / Naval Air Station Willow Grove - This was a Naval Air Station in Willow Grove (Montgomery County), Pennsylvania that was in operation from World War II until 2011. It is revealed in the letters that Lew is working there as of spring 1947.
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Norwood - Norwood is a town in the southeastern portion of Pennsylvania. It's in Delaware County, and is close to the city of Philadelphia. Sweetie and Lew rent a small home at 37 South Love Lane there starting in summer 1946, and she makes friends with her neighbor, Dot, who has a young son (about Lewis' age) name Johnny.
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Office of Price Administration (OPA) - The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was the federal government agency that maintained the price control and rationing system during World War II. Founded as part as another agency in 1941, it soon became its own agency, and was in operation until 1946. Its top executive for the longest length of time (1943-1946) was Chester Bliss Bowles, who later became a United States Ambassador to India and was the Governor of Connecticut from 1949-1951.
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Ottumwa - Ottumwa is a city in the southeastern portion of Iowa. It's the county seat of Wapello County, and was founded in the 1840's. The Des Moines River splits the city into northern and southern halves. As of the 2020 Census, Ottumwa has a population of just over 25,000. Sweetie makes Ottumwa her home starting from spring 1942.
Parsons College - Parsons College was a private liberal arts college in Fairfield, Jefferson County, Iowa. It opened in 1875, but struggled in the late 1960's and early 1970's, and in 1973, bankruptcy was declared and the college closed. Sweetie attended Parsons College for one semester in the fall of 1941, and left the school to pursue a business course in Ottumwa with her roommate, Lucille Miller.
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Riesselmann Family - Sweetie's new neighbor (and kindred spirit) when she lives at County Line Rd., is Mrs. Riesselmann. Her name was also Catherine. She had an energetic personality and was very particular about her home, but looked out for Sweetie there. Her husband, Karel, was from Holland, and they had two sons about high school age when Sweetie, Lew, and Lewis moved there. In October 1949, Mrs. Riesselmann is expecting a third child.
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SS Atlantic Transporter - The SS Atlantic Transporter is the name of the oil tanker that Lew worked on from December 1948 and in 1949. It sailed across the ocean to the Middle East for oil, and also traveled to South America. Lew worked on board for several of these trips.
