The Marriage of Gene and Jean: A Wedding Celebration on Downey Avenue--1942

1942 had been a difficult year for the Allied powers during World War II. Many young men and some young women were heading off to various fronts. Worry gripped Irvington families as they bid good bye to their loved ones. The Germans and Japanese had gained significant ground. Under these frightful times, Eugene Fife, Jr. and Jean Booth decided to marry. The handsome couple had met at Butler University. Jean had been named Queen of the May her senior year. Eugene or Gene had deep ties to the campus because his mother Evelyn Henderson had been a professor of theater at the college. Gene had already graduated from an officer's school for the US Navy on the Notre Dame campus so the couple decided to tie the knot on September 30, 1942, before he shipped out to sea.

Jean dwelled at 280 South Downey Avenue. She was the fourth child of Dr. John and Corinne Booth. Dr. Booth was an ordained minister for the Disciples of Christ although he worked for the Board of Church Extension as the Executive Secretary. He read the vows to the couple on the day of their wedding in the Downey Avenue Christian Church. The ceremony took place at 4:00PM. It had been a gloriously sunny day. Marjorie Booth Watkins, a sister to Jean, served as her maid of honor while Roscoe Batts served as Gene's best man.  The couple hosted a small reception in the foyer of the church, a building that no longer stands in Irvington as church leaders replaced it with the current edifice in 1952.

After the ceremony, the families walked or drove down to 280 South Downey Avenue where the Booths hosted a dinner for the young couple. Mr. Fife had graduated from the Indiana University Law School in 1939 so he was able to resume his law career once the war was over. At some point in the day, the Booths and the Fifes gathered for a few photographs. In one image, the couple posed next to their parents in the front yard at 280. Behind them, you can see the brand new home at 261 South Downey Avenue. It would not be long before Gene was shipped out to sea for the war effort. Jean followed him to whichever port he was based in. Thankfully, he came home from the war and the couple settled in Indianapolis although not in Irvington. Gene later became an elected judge in Marion County. The couple had two children.

Jean Booth posed for the photograph c1940, a few years before her wedding in the front yard at 280 Downey Avenue. No houses stood across the street at that point as the Thompson/Hibben mansion had been torn down and none of the smaller homes in the 200 block had been built yet. 

Every May, Butler students crowned a Queen of the May.  Jean Booth of 280 South Downey Avenue, received this honor in 1938.

The Fifes and Booths gathered for a family photo on the day of Eugene Fife, Jr. and Jean Booth's wedding on September 30, 1942.  Behind them, you can see the newly built Cobb family home at 261 S. Downey Avenue. Pictured (left to right): Eugene Fife, Sr., Evelyn Henderson Fife, Eugene Fife, Jr, Jean Booth Fife, Corinne Schultz Booth, Dr. John H. Booth

Jean Booth Fife stood next to her sister and maid of honor, Marjorie Booth Watkins on September 30, 1942. Behind the young women you can see 261 South Downey Avenue.

The happy couple, Eugene Fife, Jr. and his new bride, Jean Booth Fife, posed in the front yard at 280 South Downey Avenue on September 30, 1942. 

Eugene Fife, Jr. and his wife, Jean Booth Fife posed in the "woods" next to the Booth home at 280 South Downey Avenue in the spring of 1943. Mr. Fife served in the Navy during World War II.  Mrs. Fife followed him from port to port throughout the war.

The historic images and stories for this post are courtesy of Mac Fife, the son of Eugene and Jean Booth Fife.

The Booths Move to Downey Avenue

Dr. John H. Booth, a rising star within the Disciples of Christ's Board of Church Extension arrived in Irvington in 1928. He had already been named as the Executive Secretary for that organization as a young man and came to the neighborhood from St. Louis because the Extension moved into the Missions Building at 222 South Downey Avenue.

John Booth was born on a farm near Wichita, Kansas in 1880. His family moved around a lot so his education was intermittent. He was a determined young man, however, and managed to finished high school in his twenties. He matriculated to Drake University where he met Corinne Schultz. They married in 1907 and had six children. As a young man, he became a preacher for the Disciples of Christ.

In 1911, he joined the Board of Church Extension, an organization for the Disciples of Christ, that raised money and administered loans for congregations seeking to build churches or Sunday Schools. His job was a busy one and kept him away from his family for much of the year. Mrs. Booth, a classically trained pianist, kept the home fires burning in all of the places where the Booths lived. The couple moved into 280 South Downey Avenue in 1928 and remained in the lovely home for most of the rest of their lives.

One of his grandsons, Mac Fife, remembers Dr. Booth as a confident person with a booming voice. Mr. Fife noted that his grandfather was a man of conviction who was devoted to the church.  Another grandson, John Charles Booth, recalled sitting next to his grandfather as they listened to a radio newscast hosted by Gabrielle Heatter during World War II.  Dr. Booth frequently became emotional and angry upon hearing the casualty reports from the fronts. He also recalled that his grandfather smoked a cigar and that each time he smells one today he thinks of him.

The Booths frequently hosted missionaries from all over the world in their home. Mrs. Booth was a nurturing person who was very involved in Irvington organizations like the Chautauqua Club, the Tuesday Club, and many church groups. Beginning in 1938, Mrs. Booth began to document the family in her journals.  Dr. Booth led the Board of Church Extension through both the Great Depression and World War II. He retired in 1948 leaving the finances in healthy shape for the next generation.

Although he stepped down in 1948, Dr. Booth was still very active in the church for the remainder of his life.  He lived long enough to help dedicate the new Board of Church Extension building in the round at 110 South Downey Avenue in 1958. He died in 1960 of heart failure. Mrs. Booth passed away in 1971 and the beautiful home on Downey Avenue was sold to another family.

Dr. John H. and Corinne Booth posed in their home at 280 South Downey Avenue on Christmas Day, 1948. They had already dwelled in the lovely home for twenty years.

280 South Downey Avenue in 2018

Dr. John H. Booth and his son, George, listened to the radio in their home at 280 South Downey Avenue c1935.

Bill Watkins (on the right) and an unidentified friend visited the Booths at 280 South Downey Avenue sometime in the mid-1930s. Mr. Watkins had come to visit Marjorie Booth, a daughter of Dr. John and Corinne Booth. Bill and Marjorie later married. You can see the rear of 270 (at the left) and 280 South Downey Avenue in this historic image. The home at the far right sat at 287 South Downey Avenue. It was later demolished. 

Dr. John and Corinne Booth stood on their front porch at 280 South Downey Avenue in 1954.

Dr. John Booth and his wife Corinne Schultz Booth celebrated 50 years of marriage in 1957. Behind them, you can see a "money tree" in their home at 280 South Downey Avenue.

Corinne Schultz Booth wrote in her diary nearly every day of her life beginning in 1938. In this photo, she posed at her writing desk in her home at 280 South Downey Avenue c1960.  

Stories and photos for this post are courtesy of Mac Fife and John Booth, the grandsons of Dr. John and Corinne Booth.