OH OH - "The Red Shoe Mystery" - Lola Celli, 24, Grandview Heights, Feb 1946

[Amy74]

I'm sorry if it's too early to make a new post but here goes.

I've been doing some (light, admittedly) research into this... and I have the following questions.

- Was Logan County ever searched?

- Does anyone know what Lola Celli taught and where? All I've found is that she taught home economy at West Mansfield High School but I don't know if this is accurate (keep reading, I'll explain).

I did some Googling on West Mansfield High School and from what I gather that's an old name for the current Mansfield High School, also the building was changed a few times. Can anyone with knowledge from the area confirm if they are the same school?

I looked up old yearbooks, which was tough because it took me a while to figure out what I said above. The ones I found are categorized under Mansfield High School, probably because that's its current name. I don't know how yearbooks work. Would Lola's disappearance be mentioned or would it be considered disrespectful to include that? I guess not because some yearbooks seem to have stuff in memory of deceased teachers but can anyone confirm. Also, when is a yearbook published? I have always thought it would be at the end of the school year but could it be earlier?

The 1946 yearbook does not mention Lola as a teacher or her disappearance and neither does the 1947 one. This makes me think I'm looking at the wrong school. If anyone knows when she started working there that would be helpful too because she's not in the 1945 yearbook but that could be her first year at the school.

Mansfield and West Mansfield are different places in Ohio. Mansfield (and Mansfield Senior HS) is in Richland County.

West Mansfield (Logan County), I'm pretty sure is currently part of Benjamin Logan Local School District. You could contact them for info on what school would have served West Mansfield in the time period you're looking. They could probably also tell you where to find some yearbooks.

 

[Veidt]

Mansfield and West Mansfield are different places in Ohio. Mansfield (and Mansfield Senior HS) is in Richland County.

West Mansfield (Logan County), I'm pretty sure is currently part of Benjamin Logan Local School District. You could contact them for info on what school would have served West Mansfield in the time period you're looking. They could probably also tell you where to find some yearbooks.

Thank you so much for this! This was really helpful. I'll try to find out which school Lola taught at and I'll post here again when I do.

 

[Veidt]

Ok, a quick update... I can't seem to access the school district's website. Does anyone know how I could search for an e-mail? Google gives me a couple of phone numbers that were taken from the site but since I don't live in the US it's easier for me to e-mail as calls are more expensive.

 

[Marilynilpa]

I don't know if this will work, but try this link:

http://www.benlogan.k12.oh.us/educa...ry/default.php?sectiondetailid=322&showdir=38

Next to the picture of Mark Butler, Principal, is a "send e-mail" button. That should work for sending a message.

Good luck!

 

[Veidt]

^ Thank you! A sleuth* also PMed me a link to a page on their site we can contact them from. I don't know why the site wasn't working for me over the past few days or if it was just the main page (which still doesn't work). I've e-mailed them via their general form but if it gets lost in their inbox I'll try getting in touch with the administration directly. Let's hope they reply soon!

* I don't know if they're ok with being named as it was a PM.

 

[marycarney]

Just stumbled across this thread while avoiding the work I should be doing here at home

Couple of thoughts after having read this in one sitting:

I cannot see her going back to Italy - Italy was in ruins in 1946. Post-war food shortages, infrastructure in ruins, refugee camps..............a place to escape, not to visit.

I wonder if the 'red shoe' morphed itself partially into the description of the car as 'red coupe'? I'm not sure that automakers even MADE cars in red pre-war. And if they did, it would be rare and a red car would stand out like a sore thumb, right?

Having said that, it was far easier to 'disappear' and re-invent yourself in 1946 than it would be today. I do not think this was the case, just an observation.

I lean toward her getting into a vehicle with someone she knew . . .. . . . .

 

[Veidt]

Just stumbled across this thread while avoiding the work I should be doing here at home

Couple of thoughts after having read this in one sitting:

I cannot see her going back to Italy - Italy was in ruins in 1946. Post-war food shortages, infrastructure in ruins, refugee camps..............a place to escape, not to visit.

I wonder if the 'red shoe' morphed itself partially into the description of the car as 'red coupe'? I'm not sure that automakers even MADE cars in red pre-war. And if they did, it would be rare and a red car would stand out like a sore thumb, right?

Having said that, it was far easier to 'disappear' and re-invent yourself in 1946 than it would be today. I do not think this was the case, just an observation.

I lean toward her getting into a vehicle with someone she knew . . .. . . . .

I agree with the Italy idea. Not only was it in ruins but it sounds like her family never went back to Italy and that she never visited after her family left for the USA. It sounds very implausible that she would decide to go to a place which not only was rough at the time but where at best she had only relatives when she was so close to her immediate family. If she had just gone for a visit her family would know.

The car thing is a great thing to point out.. cars from that time period are not my strong suit but I just Googled and red coupes already existed in pre-war times. As to how common they would be I don't really know. I Googled and came up with this(http://www.cars-on-line.com/fd08_40-48custom.html), there are a few cars listed and there were other Google hits as well. I assume it would have been normal enough or surely LE would have a made a point of tracking down and interviewing everyone with red coupes in the area. Don't we have a few members who sometimes weigh in on other threads with posts about cars? Someone should try to get in touch with them and ask them to give us a hand.

As to disappearing, I really want to believe that she just changed identities but lived a long and happy life somewhere else.

 

[Marilynilpa]

I agree with the Italy idea. Not only was it in ruins but it sounds like her family never went back to Italy and that she never visited after her family left for the USA. It sounds very implausible that she would decide to go to a place which not only was rough at the time but where at best she had only relatives when she was so close to her immediate family. If she had just gone for a visit her family would know.

The car thing is a great thing to point out.. cars from that time period are not my strong suit but I just Googled and red coupes already existed in pre-war times. As to how common they would be I don't really know. I Googled and came up with this(http://www.cars-on-line.com/fd08_40-48custom.html), there are a few cars listed and there were other Google hits as well. I assume it would have been normal enough or surely LE would have a made a point of tracking down and interviewing everyone with red coupes in the area. Don't we have a few members who sometimes weigh in on other threads with posts about cars? Someone should try to get in touch with them and ask them to give us a hand.

As to disappearing, I really want to believe that she just changed identities but lived a long and happy life somewhere else.

If you'd like to follow up on the car idea, you might PM one of our members, Richard. He seems to know quite a bit about cars from the 30s and 40s. I know he's answered a couple of questions for me before.

Also, Richard started this thread way back when!

 

[Richard]

Automobiles in 1946...

The United States Auto production went into a state of suspended animation during the World War II years. The last models to come out were 1942 models, and only a few of them went to the civilian market before Pearl Harbor was attacked (December 7, 1941). Almost all of the 1942 models and existing earlier unsold autos, trucks, etc went to the Army and Navy for the war effort, and then the Auto makers began in earnest making airplanes, tanks, jeeps, etc.

This was true of all industry and manufacturing during the war. Typewriter companies made rifles and pistols, Musical Instrument Companies made ship and airplane instruments, Westinghouse made binoculars, etc, etc. It was a nationalization of industry never seen before or since.

With the end of the war in late 1945, Automobile production began again and the designs were almost exactly like the 1942 models.

Since Lola went missing in February of 1942, it is doubtful that the car was anything but a pre-war model (1941 or earlier).

A "coupe" meant a two door model, and back then it usually meant that it had only one seat, and maybe a small space behind the seat for briefcase, suitcase, etc. They were also referred to in advertisements as a "Businessman's Coupe". These coupes had a distinctive look, as the passenger compartment was smaller than that of a four door sedan. They were usually meant more as an economical alternative to a large car than as a type of sports car.

Car companies have always made autos in a number of different colors, but the choices were limited. Most were a very conservative color like black, dark green, dark blue, medium gray, or maroon. Bright colors were usually reserved for race cars or sport cars.

The color red may have been refering to a dark red or maroon color. Bright red would definitely have attracted attention back in 1946. It was the color of choice for the fire chief's car.

I remember back when I was a kid in the 1950's, and a teenage neighbor boy painted his "hot rod" bright red and parked it on the street. Every body noticed it and commented on it because it stood out so much from other cars.

 

[carbuff]

I agree with the Italy idea. Not only was it in ruins but it sounds like her family never went back to Italy and that she never visited after her family left for the USA. It sounds very implausible that she would decide to go to a place which not only was rough at the time but where at best she had only relatives when she was so close to her immediate family. If she had just gone for a visit her family would know.

The car thing is a great thing to point out.. cars from that time period are not my strong suit but I just Googled and red coupes already existed in pre-war times. As to how common they would be I don't really know. I Googled and came up with this(http://www.cars-on-line.com/fd08_40-48custom.html), there are a few cars listed and there were other Google hits as well. I assume it would have been normal enough or surely LE would have a made a point of tracking down and interviewing everyone with red coupes in the area. Don't we have a few members who sometimes weigh in on other threads with posts about cars? Someone should try to get in touch with them and ask them to give us a hand.

As to disappearing, I really want to believe that she just changed identities but lived a long and happy life somewhere else.

I'll have to go back and read through the thread to see what I can figure out that's specific to this case, but in general I agree with Richard's summary. And a lot would depend on how red the red car was. The newer it was, the less likely to be red. In the prosperous roaring 20's, people were more willing to be showy. When the Depression hit, they went for basic black.

I own a 1942 coupe. It's a Studebaker and it's one of the last cars of any brand built before WWII. It's sitting in my dad's garage waiting to be restored. When/if it ever gets done, it would look something like this: http://magazine.utvdrive.co.uk/images/articles/2572_1_letterbox.jpg. Right now it's mostly dust and rust, though. The brightest color it came in was something called Winedust Maroon, which is kind of brownish but my father and my grandmother would have still called it "red." A car that was really bright red, like a hot rod or a fire department car, would have been "candy red" or "fire engine red" to them.

p.s. On the Italy idea -- while you're right about the condition Italy was in, and the rest of Europe for that matter, there were quite a number of people from this country who went over to Europe to help rebuild. She could have done something like hitched a ride to the nearest city and signed on with the Red Cross to work in the refugee camps, for instance. There were a bunch of agencies involved in that sort of work.

 

[nerosleuth]

Here is a map of the Grandview Heights area where Lola Celli was last seen.


West Third Avenue & Cambridge Blvd. Grandview Heights, Ohio - Google Search


First of all, I want to point out that shopping centers didn't exist in Columbus back in 1946. All of the major department stores were in Downtown Columbus.

From what we know about the day Lola went missing, Lola reportedly was last seen walking towards the bus stop from her home. It was also reported that she wasn’t seen on the bus from the bus stop.

Lola would have to walk westbound on West Third Avenue for 2 ½ blocks from her home before reaching the West Third Avenue and Cambridge Blvd. bus stop.

The cross streets along the route where she was last seen walking westbound on West Third Avenue before reaching Cambridge Blvd. are Glenn Avenue, Wyandotte Road, and Lincoln Avenue. Those streets are residential streets.

Now let’s suppose that she walked on the other residential cross streets along that route from her home rather than going to the bus stop.

If she turned to walk northbound on Glenn Avenue, Wyandotte Road, or Lincoln Avenue, she would have reached Fifth Avenue.

Fifth Avenue was one of the major main drags back then and still is today. There would have been businesses and lots of traffic on Fifth Avenue back then.

If she turned to walk southbound on Glenn Avenue, Wyandotte Road, or Lincoln Avenue, she would have reached First Avenue and if she went further south, she would have reached Goodale Blvd and the railroad tracks. First Avenue and Goodale Avenue in that area are residential streets.

The bus stop at the intersection of West Third Avenue and Cambridge Blvd. is at the border of Grandview Heights and Marble Cliff.

Now let's supposed that she went past the bus stop from West Third Avenue and Cambridge Blvd. and continued walking westbound on Third Avenue.

If she continued walking westbound on West Third Avenue going past Cambridge Blvd., two blocks later she would have reached Roxbury Road. West Third Avenue ends at Roxbury Road.

There is a wooded area and railroad tracks at the intersection of West Third Avenue and Roxbury Road.

Had she continued walking westbound through the wooded area and went over the railroad track; she would have reached Dublin Road (U.S. Route 33) and the Scioto River. There are quarries West of U.S. Route 33 and the Scioto River which are still operational today.

Now, even though she didn’t walk eastbound on West Third Avenue, had she done so, she would have reached Grandview Avenue which is in Downtown Grandview Heights. That would have been a walk of 8 blocks.

I believe that Lola got into a vehicle with someone she knew and trusted.

The possibility that Lola may have went into a vehicle on another street rather than the street she lived on cannot be overlooked.

 

[Veidt]

Richard and carbuff, thanks for explaining the car thing, that was really informative and it was interesting because I don't know a lot about cars from that period. It would be helpful to know if the car was indeed bright red but I assume that if that was the case people would have taken a lot of notice as you say. So it was probably dark red, I suppose.

p.s. On the Italy idea -- while you're right about the condition Italy was in, and the rest of Europe for that matter, there were quite a number of people from this country who went over to Europe to help rebuild. She could have done something like hitched a ride to the nearest city and signed on with the Red Cross to work in the refugee camps, for instance. There were a bunch of agencies involved in that sort of work.

You're completely right about this, plus Lola seems to have been religious and she could have been willing to go in to help out. However, I do believe she would have told her family, they were very close... going to a local convent to become a nun (as people thought she had) seems less drastic to me than crossing the Atlantic in those days. But who knows, maybe she really needed a clear break from her life and wasn't sure if her family would be ok with the prospect.:twocents:

nerosleuth, thank you for this! It really does seem like a very long walk and it seems unlikely she would have walked all the way. Here are two other possibilities of what could have happened besides getting into a car with someone (which IMO is the most likely scenario):

- Lola goes into someone's house on West 3rd Ave. or the cross streets. Someone she knows who sees her and invites her inside or someone who asks her for help to lure her away.

- Lola would not get lost on 3rd Ave. IMO because she knew the area but she could have walked past the stop for some reason - she decides to walk along because she wants to walk or she is distracted. She ends up in the wooded area and something happens to her there. Less possibly she could have gotten lost in the cross streets.

Even busy areas could have been a likely place for trouble... remember, nobody saw her vanish even on West 3rd Ave. Someone may have seen her get into a car or house somewhere or talk to someone but it didn't "click" in their heads later that the person they saw was Lola. If there was no struggle it would have seemed something commonplace for an outsider. :twocents:

 

[Veidt]

I received an e-mail back from the School District. (I'm discussing this in this post rather than my last one to keep things more organized.) They were really nice and sent me a digital packet of scanned information about the school. Still going through it because I only saw the reply now and it's kind of long. It includes lists of notable alumni, superintendents, a history of the school and my favourite part which was a list of resources that I will have to look into. I can post that list here too for anyone who wants to help. I would put up the file online too but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to share it. I'm looking into the option of creating a password-protected page off-site to keep things like this if anyone is interested.

The lady who replied to my e-mail also explained that the building of West Mansfield High School was demolished in 1995 when they built a new elementary school. She also said the school became a part of this district in 1965.

She also suggested looking for information in the Benjamin Logan Disctrict libraries in Bellefontaine and West Manfield, or trying the Logan County Historical Society. I obviously can't go there in person but I will try to get in touch and see if the librarians can send me more information even if I have to PayPal them for copies.

 

[nerosleuth]

nerosleuth, thank you for this! It really does seem like a very long walk and it seems unlikely she would have walked all the way.

I was told by a family member that lived in the Columbus area since the mid 1950's that it was very common for people to walk one or two miles from their home to the bus stop back then.

I came across a website called Ohio Public Library Information Network. To access this website you have to be a resident of Ohio and also have a public library card in Ohio.

On that website I was able to view Sanborn Fire Maps for Columbus and suburbs from 1951. The Sanborn Fire Maps has drawings on their maps of all structures and their addresses from most communities in the United States.

Sanborn Maps - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I was able to find a Sanborn Fire Map for Grandview Heights in Lola's neighborhood from 1951.

It turns out that there are alleys in Lola's neighborhood on some of the cross streets. It could be possible that Lola could have went or was lured to an alley on the cross streets in her neighborhood.

And on the Sanborn map for Grandview Heights, there is a Roman Catholic Church and covent on the corner of Arlington Avenue and Roxbury Road. The church is located west of the bus stop and isn't far from Lola's home.

 

[carbuff]

I've been going through vintage fashion sites trying to find a picture of shoes similar to the ones she was wearing, but I haven't found anything yet. Pumps with cuban heels are mostly brown, black, or tan. I have found a few pairs that were red suede, but they're in dressier styles.

Here's a blog article that talks about 1940's styles. Scroll down to "pumps"; cuban heel on the left. http://covellifashion.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/1940s-shoes-the-ultimate-vintage-shopping-guide/

I remember my grandmother, a stylish woman, used to wear shoes like that, and also the more practical "oxford" style. Cuban heels were sturdier than narrow heels and allowed a woman to walk comfortably while still looking stylish. So they would have been a good choice for walking to the bus for a shopping trip.

But the red suede -- that's dashing.

 

[Pink Panther]

Somehow, red suede shoes and running off to join a nunnery just doesn't jive for me. IMO she hitched a ride with someone she knew very well and had no reason to suspect of ANYTHING. A family friend, a clergyman, someone she knew. By all accounts, she was a straight-laced common sense person who wouldn't have put herself in a precarious situation. I don't believe for a second that she took off and went back to Italy.

 

[Veidt]

nerosleuth, I was referring to the walk from her home to the shopping area - which to me indicates she would have taken the bus, unless she enjoyed walking or decided to do so that day for some reason. You know, the alleyway is a good point although I don't know if she would have been lured that easily - like the car scenario it would have to be someone she knew or who looked harmless. Ted Bundy in his time put up a respectable appearance and would ask some of his victims for "help" or otherwise use similar schemes to get them away from people and into their car, someone could have done something similar. I wonder if she could have taken a small detour to drop by the church before carrying on.

carbuff - I agree, there is something odd about the red suede... but maybe she decided to wear something special that day, maybe she knew she would run into old friends and would like to look nice. Maybe she had bought them recently because of how "different" they would have looked and decided to wear them.

Pink Panther - Yeah, you wouldn't wear anything very special to go join a nunnery unless you wanted to use that as a decoy. But I don't think this is what happened. She was very close to her family and if she became a nun she would at least have told them after she did it if she thought they were opposed to the idea IMO. With Italy I doubt she would have gone without saying anything given how long the trip would have been. Also the local convents were searched and in the case of a criminal investigation I believe a nun would have come forward to say that Lola was safe and well. The scenario that someone she knew was involved is the most likely IMO.

 

[carbuff]

Veidt, I don't think there's anything odd about the shoes themselves, or about Lola owning them. They're the kind of stylish-yet-practical-for-being-on-your-feet-all-day that would seem to fit with a young schoolteacher who has a bit of money of her own to spend for the first time. And as Pink Panther says, they don't really fit with joining a convent. But they are different, and they're the choice of a strong-minded young woman with a clear sense of self.

They aren't so unusual that they would have been controversial (not "loose" or "fast" or anything like that) but they are unusual enough that the witness who thought he saw a shoe like that near the car is not likely to have guessed right just by accident.

Yes, I agree, she wanted to look nice. The rest of her outfit matches that.

 

[Veidt]

Veidt, I don't think there's anything odd about the shoes themselves, or about Lola owning them. They're the kind of stylish-yet-practical-for-being-on-your-feet-all-day that would seem to fit with a young schoolteacher who has a bit of money of her own to spend for the first time. And as Pink Panther says, they don't really fit with joining a convent. But they are different, and they're the choice of a strong-minded young woman with a clear sense of self.

They aren't so unusual that they would have been controversial (not "loose" or "fast" or anything like that) but they are unusual enough that the witness who thought he saw a shoe like that near the car is not likely to have guessed right just by accident.

Yes, I agree, she wanted to look nice. The rest of her outfit matches that.

Ack, sorry if I didn't explain myself well. I meant that, as you say, it's definitely not something highly predictable and so it seems strange to me what the driver reported. If it was not one big coincidence that someone saw a red shoe being thrown out of a vehicle during an argument on the very day she disappeared then either the driver knew more than he shared or he really did see Lola. Although a coincidence is also possible JMO.

As you say, they're definitely less "uniform" because they are "different". The way she was dressed, IMO, points to someone who really knew who she was and who was herself within the confines of what society at the time considered to be proper. She was respectable by those standards but doesn't seem to have been boring at all.

And as I said in my last post, Pink Panther is right and the way she was dressed didn't really scream convent or even Italy to me. If you were joining a convent you'd wear something less "cool" even if you still wanted to wear something special it would be very discreet and subdued. If she just went to Italy for any reason, she would have presumably taken something or at the very least taken more practical clothes for a journey across the Atlantic.:twocents:

The only way going to Italy and her clothes would be linked would be if she was just enlisting that day to tell her family once she got a reply, but this now is just straying into mass speculation as saying that she took a detour to sign up is equivalent to finding a million other places that would be just, if not more, likely where she could have gone on her way to the bus stop. JMO.

 

[carbuff]

"Respectable but not boring" is an excellent way to phrase what I was trying to get at. Thank you