Louise Mary (Gruden) Corun (1906 - 2001)

Born 8 Sep 1906 in Charleston, Kanawha, West Virginia, United States

Wife of Ward Bruce Booker — married 28 Jul 1923 in Charleston, Kanawha, West Virginia, United States

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Biography

Louise was born about 1906.

Newspaper Articles

Louise Corun

Her name was Louise Gruden (a German name). She was born in 1907 in Charleston, West Virginia. Her parents were Jacob and Magdline Gruden. Her mother died when she was just three years old.

Jacob had no relatives here; he came from Germany when he was just a child. One of his sisters died in France, and another sister died on the boat and was buried at sea.

Jacob worked as a boiler maker, earning only $25 a week - $10 of which was spent for rent. He had no extra money to pay someone to take care of his four children - James. Mary Elizabeth, Agnes, and Louise. Neighbors helped out for a while but finally he was forced to put the Children in an Orphanage. Louise lived there until she was 8 years old; then her sister was sixteen and old enough to take care of the family. All the children came home to be with their father.

The family lived on top of a mountain. The road to Charleston wound three and a half miles down - or up, depending on which way you were going. Louise walked alone to school each day, up and down the mountain. In the winter, when the snow was deep. she would put heavy wool socks over her shoes to keep the snow out. She didn't have any boots.

In the summer she would walk the same three-and-a-half miles to take her father his lunch. As she walked along she liked to stomp her feet down real hard and watch the dust devils come up between her toes. Once she stumped her toe and fell down. spilling her father's lunch of biscuits and cold chicken out in the dust. She gathered it up and blew the dust off as best she could - but on that day she didn't stay and talk to her father as he ate. Instead she hurried home, as fast as she could with her hurt toe, and waited nervously for her father to come home. She was afraid he would scold her for his dusty lunch . . . but he was more concerned about her toe.

On Saturdays she was given a nickle to spend for whatever she wanted. (A whole nickle!) Louise was pretty smart, she soon learned that you got more for your money if you bought Cracker Jacks, which lasted longer than candy - and you got a prize, too.

There was a small country store on the mountain top. Not too far from Louise's home, where you could buy almost anything for a family's needs. Food staples were sold in bulk; you took your crackers, coffee, sugar, etc. home in brown paper sacks. Flour was sold in cloth sacks. If you took the sacks back to the store you got two pieces of candy for your effort.

As she grew older she was allowed to have boy friends, but only on Saturday or Sunday evening. The only thing there was to do was to take a walk. When she was 17 she married Ward Bruce Booker They went to live in Charleston. Ward dabbled in politics and one year ran for Justice of the Peace. He was so well liked that everyone In the district voted for him. He died when he was only 35.

Louise and her three children - James, Roberta, and Barbara - moved into a house that the neighbors built for her. The material for the house cost her $75. Her son was sixteen years old and with the help of a friend they dug the well by hand and walled it up with stones as they went down. She lived there with her children until her son was drafted into the Army.

Her sister had moved to Maryland (Steiner's Hill, just west of Jefferson), and was operating a small restaurant. She asked Louise if she would come to Maryland and help her in the restaurant. Louise sold her house in West Virginia, and with her two daughters came to live in a little place close to her sister. There she met Dorsey Corun.

Louise and Dorsey married on December 20, 1943. They had two sons, Donnie and Danny. Dorsey had just built a new house on Corun Road, so they lived there until the children started to school. But there was no school bus, and it was a long way for the boys to walk, so they sold the house and built another one closer to Jefferson. Later, Louise worked for a number of years at Lee's Diner, helping her sister in that restaurant. (The restaurant at Steiner's Hill had been sold). Now Louise makes quilts - wedding ring, dove, babydoll, and applique ones. She makes beautifui pillows and crochets tablecloths and bed-spreads.

A recipe for leather britches was handed down from Louise's first husband's grandmother, who was one-sixteenth Indian. Snap green beans, ready for use. Then, with a darning needle string them on stout thread. Hang from the kitchen rafters. To prepare, soak overnight in a kettle of water. Cook, with cured pork for sevral hours. Add a few white navy beans (to improve the taste) if you desire.

Obituary

Mrs. Louise Corun, 94, of 4109 Jefferson Pike, Jefferson, died Saturday, March 31, at College View Center, Frederick.

Twice married, she was the wife of the late Ward B. Booker, and the late Dorsey K. Corun.

Born Sept. 8, 1906, in Charleston, W.Va., she was a daughter of the late Joseph and Madeline Hastings Gruden.

Mrs. Corun was a member of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Petersville.

Surviving are four children, Daniel L. Corun Sr. and wife Kay E. of Alpine, Wyo., Donald K. Corun and wife Susan H. of Jefferson, Roberta M. Coulter and husband Kenneth of Knoxville, and Barbara A. Leiby and husband Donald A. of Frederick; 10 grandchildren, Sharon Miller, Cheryl Staubs, Nancy Coulter, Susan Sigler, Donna Coulter, Larry Leiby, Cynthia Johnson, and Daniel, Patrick, and Ashley Corun; nine great-grandchildren; one great-great-granddaughter; and a number of nieces and nephews.

Mrs. Corun was preceded in death by one son, James W. Booker, in 1979; two sisters, Mary Elizabeth Carnes and Agnes Rice; and a brother, Joseph E. Gruden.

The family will receive friends from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, April 2, at Keeney and Basford Funeral Home, 106 E. Church St., Frederick.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, in Etchison Memorial Chapel at the funeral home. Interment will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Frederick.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to St. Mary's Catholic Church, 113 First Ave., Brunswick, Md. 21716. Published by The Frederick News-Post on Apr. 2, 2001.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ *https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/fredericknewspost/name/louise-corun-obituary?id=34149751, *https://web.archive.org/web/20230116014153/https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/fredericknewspost/name/louise-corun-obituary?id=34149751

• 1930 Census: "1930 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1930; Census Place: Elk, Kanawha, West Virginia; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 0058; FHL microfilm: 2342272
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 6224 #100170119 (accessed 11 January 2023)
  Louise Booker (22), wife, in household of Warren Booker (25) on Elk River Road, Elk, Kanawha, West Virginia, USA. Born in West Virginia.
• 1940 Census: "1940 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1940; Census Place: Elk, Kanawha, West Virginia; Roll: m-t0627-04415; Page: 25B; Enumeration District: 20-85
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 2442 #145586486 (accessed 15 January 2023)
  Mary Louise Booker (33), widowed head of household in Elk, Kanawha, West Virginia. Born in West Virginia.
• 1950 Census: "1950 United States Federal Census"
  United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Record Group Number: 29; Residence Date: 1950; Home in 1950: Jefferson, Frederick, Maryland; Roll: 2381; Sheet Number: 9; Enumeration District: 11-58
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 62308 #61081573 (accessed 15 January 2023)
  Louise Corun (43), wife, in household of Dorsey K Corun (53) in Jefferson, Frederick, Maryland, USA. Born in West Virginia.

• Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
  Find A Grave: Memorial #31811498 (accessed 9 January 2023)
  Memorial page for Louise Gruden Corun (8 Sep 1906-31 Mar 2001), citing Mount Olivet Cemetery, Frederick, Frederick County, Maryland, USA (plot: Area FF Lot 83W1/2 Grave 3); Maintained by Kim K (contributor 46955000).

• Media
• Marriage Register W.B. Booker / Louise Gruden
• Marriage Register Cecil Chandler / Louise Gruden