Hobart High School Class of 1916: Philip Waldeck

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Just thought I'd stray over into Deep River, as I sometimes do, and mention Philip Waldeck. After all, he was the Secretary of the Class of 1916! "Mac" was the only child of the Deep River village blacksmith, William Waldeck, and his wife, Augusta.

So he drove a Ford, according to that caption — he had driven one for years, I gather, since as early as September 1911 he earned a mention in the paper for running his Ford into another car at the Lake County Fair (no one hurt). In those days he was called "Fillie." Just a few weeks later, he was driving home from Uncle August Maybaum's when he swerved around some cows in the road and skidded into a ditch; it took two hours to get his car out.

When Philip was eight or nine years old, his mother became seriously ill. It was her mental condition that first caused alarm to her husband and friends, and it deteriorated to the point where she was adjudged insane and in June 1904 taken to an asylum at Logansport, Indiana (probably Longcliff Hospital). From there came the alarming report that she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer of the abdomen, which was supposed to have caused her insanity. …And then we hear no more of her (or, strictly speaking, I find nothing in my notes) until June 1906, when suddenly we find her back home in Deep River, in good enough health to host a "ten-cent tea" on her lawn to raise funds for the Willing Workers (a charitable club formed by women in the Deep River area). So I don't know quite what to make of that whole episode, but it likely was frightening enough to young Philip and his father when it happened.

Anyway, we're now in 1916, the family is back together, all apparently in good health and spirits, and Philip is a proud graduate of Hobart High School.


(Click on image to enlarge)
William Waldeck's blacksmith shop in Deep River, Indiana, date unknown (but probably between 1903 and 1912). Image courtesy of the Merrillville-Ross Township Historical Society.


Sources:
♦ "Charles Maybaum Killed by Falling Tree Thursday." 11 Sept. 1913.
♦ "General News Items." Hobart Gazette 17 June 1904; 1 July 1904; 29 July 1904; 15 June 1906.
♦ Hobart High School Aurora yearbook 1916.
♦ "Ross Township Notes." Hobart Gazette 1 Sept. 1911; 22 Sept. 1911.
♦ "School Closes Next Week." Hobart Gazette 12 May 1916.



P.S. to Bonnie — Please see the new comment on the August 4 entry; someone is asking for your help.