
July 12, 1932
Ralph and Lou on their wedding day
Ralph and Lou’s Story
In 1928, Ralph Beare, of Versailles, Ohio was in medical school at St. Louis, Missouri. At the same time, in the tiny village of Stewardson, Illinois, Lucinda Elliott, was suddenly left parentless and penniless without prospects. Not wanting to depend on her older siblings, she went to St. Louis to work in a hospital in return for training as a nurse. Lou met Ralph and fell in love. Ralph was tall, handsome, and Catholic. Lou had been raised protestant. She converted. After Ralph graduated with his MD and completed surgical training, he and Lou were married in 1932 in his hometown of Versailles, Ohio. They were 25 and 26 years old.
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They decided to make their lives in nearby Celina, where they could rent a house with a doctor’s office from the widow of a recently deceased doctor. Another reason for choosing Celina was its location on the west bank of Grand Lake St. Marys. The lake covers 13,500 acres with 73 miles of shoreline. Ralph loved to fish and he wanted a boat.
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Ralph and Lou hoped for many children. When they didn’t come, they tried fertility treatments, which failed. During World War II, Ralph was drafted into the Navy. He gave up his practice and the Beares moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he served as a surgeon at the New York Harbor Naval Hospital.
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After the war, Ralph and Lou, still childless after 13 years of marriage, went back to Celina. Lou wanted a brand-new house, but there was a moratorium on residential building, so they bought the old Heirholzer home at 423 North Main Street, which is also U.S. 127. Built in 1900, the large, two-story shingle-sided house still sits, snuggled up in the southwest corner of Main and Wayne Streets. The huge yard covers the entire quarter-block. It was fenced in with a beautiful, wrought-iron fence. It was just two blocks north of downtown, and in the first block of the stately homes that lined North Main. Ralph renovated the house and divided it into residence and office. He promised to someday build Lou her dream house.
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Ralph resumed his practice, and Lou threw herself into her role of Doctor’s wife. She played bridge. She gave teas. She joined the Doctor’s and Lawyer’s Wives Club and the Mercer County Medical Auxiliary. While Ralph had come to accept being childless, Lou was ever mindful of her “failure as a woman.” In 1946, at age 41, a hysterectomy robbed her of her last crumb of hope. Only then did she consider adoption as a last resort. Ralph was against it—they might end up with someone else’s “bad seed.” Lou refused to leave off until she talked him into it. However, at age 42, they were too old to adopt an infant. And they only wanted an infant. An older child who might have memories of another family—well, that was not to be thought of.
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Fortunately, a daughter of one of Ralph’s patients was a social worker for Catholic Social Services in Dayton, Ohio, about 80 miles from Celina. She took up their case and impressed on the agency that Ralph was a doctor with an established practice. He and Lou would provide a wonderful home with many opportunities.
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In 1947, The agency accepted Ralph and Lou’s application. At that time, I was 4 months old and in foster care. Upon psychological testing, I was found to be intelligent, interested in my surroundings, and of a congenial temperament. It was recommended that I go to a home with the possibility of a higher education. And so, I was given to the Beare’s.