To find out more information on our Family Members, check out the following areas on the Website.

Cemetery Information

School Information

Census Records

City Directories

I have typed all I can remember what Mother and others told me about her life:

Early Days
Maxine's family was poor and lived in the West End of New Albany close to the river. Most of her family lived in the same area.

She had 1 half-sister Rosemarie, 1 sister Iris Marie, and 3 brothers James Ronald, Clarence Wayne and Larry Joe.

She talked about the winters being so cold they slept together and piled the dogs on top of them to help keep them warm. One of the boys continuously peed to bed nightly and made the night uncomfortable. LOL

They lived close to the railroad tracks and when the train came through, the railroad workers would throw coal off to them. Grandma would fix them sandwiches to thank them.

She dropped out of school in the 10th grade and did not return to get her GED.

Marriages and Children
She first worked at Monason's at the corner of Charlestown Road and Beechwood Avenue, (I know this is wrong, I will find it and correct it) as a waitress. This is also where she met and married her first husband Charles Edward Durbin, he also worked there. During their marriage they had one daughter, Sharon Ann. They later divorced.

In 1953, she met her 2nd husband Ralph Rodriquez. They married had 2 daughters, Rhonda Ellen and Laura Diann.
During the time they were married, they leased several different local bars in Louisville. Ralph had a drinking problem and several times left with the bars unlocked, so the landlord closed it on them. He owed taxes and the Beverage Board was looking for him and they moved to Indianapolis to get away.

He didn't work to help provide for the 3 children and she worked for a cousin's restaurant as a waitress. She had to hire a lady that lived in the apartment building to look after the children. It became too much and her Father and Brother-in-Law drove to Indy to bring them back to New Albany. They lived with her sister Iris until she could get an apartment in the local housing project where they lived for around 5 years. She continued to do waitress work for Tommy Lancaster's. Local customers loved her and they would do little things for her and her children from time to time.

Child support would come at times and there were so many times, she had no idea where Ralph even was. He had moved on to Chicago from Indianapolis. Rhonda was such a daddy's girl, that she would cry for him until she made herself sick. Maxine had to take her to Chicago to see her daddy and this fixed the problem of missing her daddy.

At some point, she was able to get a job at the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant sewing mortar bags. She was layed off and went back to waitress work. She worked at the North Side Inn as a waitress and met her best friend for life Peggy Rogers. These two grew so close you would have thought they were actually sisters.

Single Life
During her rough single life,  to make sure her children had what they needed, she would have to put school clothes on layaway at the Fair Store and buy their shoes at Kinney's. She would put their Christmas toys on layaway at Western Auto.

She paid for furniture on time at Bennett's and Schmidt's Furniture.

She didn't drive, so she depended on rides or cabs to get where she needed to go. She would even put us kids in a cab from time to time to send us to the Doctor when we were old enough.

Because she worked mostly night time, she wasn't involved in any of our school activities and we were not able to either.

Maxine had to get someone to stay with the children and found a live in sitter named Juanita Sutherland. She lived with Maxine and her children. She and Diann slept in the same room and Sharon and Rhonda slept in the same room. She took the best care of the children and thought of Diann as her own baby.

More to come!