Jerome Settles Down

When last we heard of Jerome Chester, he was just visiting Hobart from Ithaca, New York. Now we hear of him again, and suddenly he is living in Chicago and working "in the hotel business," which sounds to me as if he might be helping his mother and stepfather run their little hotel empire.

The reason we hear of him now is because — at last, at the age of 40 — Jerome had apparently gotten tired of sowing wild oats. The Gazette announced that he would soon be married to "Alice Howkins." Actually, it was Esther A. Hawkins — perhaps her middle name was Alice. She, too, was 40 years of age.

All I can say is, she must have loved him very much to be willing, for his sake, to become Esther Chester.

In making this announcement, the Gazette was kind enough not to mention his scandalous past.


Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 4 Oct. 1918.