WV - Sodder Family - 5 children, Christmas eve 1945 - #2

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Hi all,

I just found these threads on the Sodder children and spent hours catching up on reading everything posted here. I did some searches for Look Magazine, and found some info from the Library of Congress about looking up old photographs:

http://memory.loc.gov/pp/lookhtml/lookrel.html#in

Also, with our recent trend of Myspace pages on other threads...has anyone thought about doing a MySpace page? :)
 
Shadow205 said:
I need help researching and trying to find an old magazine. You will remember mentioned that George Sodder saw a picture of a young girl in a magazine that he beleived was Betty. He traveled to New York in an attempt to identify the girl but was not allowed to see her. Here is the letter that he wrote to the school;

Walt Whitman School
25 East 78th Street
New York, NY
Attn: Miss Louise Krueger, Director

Dear Miss Krueger:

The enclosed picture of several of your students appearing in the May 14, 1946, edition of LOOK magazine is self-explanatory.

For your information, the little girl to which the arrow points quite definitely resembles one of our children who disappeared during the latter part of 1945, and I shall appreciate it greatly if you will, at your earliest convenience, favor me with the following information:

1. Her name
2. The date of her enrollment
3. Any further information you may feel at liberty to supply.

Needless to say, your cooperation in this matter will be more than appreciated.

Yours very truly,

George Sodder
According to Jennie(Granddaughter) it is not known if he received a reply to the letter or not. She thought that she located the correct magazine and purchased it but the picture that she was looking for was not in it. So, evidently there was a mistake on which issue the picture appeared in. Anyone that would like to help could search for anything to do with the school, classmates.com, reunion sites, any place where we might find pictures of students from that time period, any info on "Ms.Krueger".

Any ideas on where we might go with this information?

Jennie also said: My mom remembers the picture showing little girls lined up at a ballet class.
Click to expand...
I found a site that lists old issues of Look Magazine and describes some of the topics featured in them:

http://www.pastpaper.com/List-Look40s.htm

The February 5, 1946 issue lists "Ballet Fashion Show". Not sure if that is what we are looking for. I find it hard to believe that Mr. Sodder would get the date of the magazine wrong. Perhaps the magazine has pages missing from it?
 
Gina_M said:
Hi all,

I just found these threads on the Sodder children and spent hours catching up on reading everything posted here. I did some searches for Look Magazine, and found some info from the Library of Congress about looking up old photographs:

http://memory.loc.gov/pp/lookhtml/lookrel.html#in

Also, with our recent trend of Myspace pages on other threads...has anyone thought about doing a MySpace page? :)
Click to expand...
Gina, as a matter of fact I have been trying to get a summary finished so that I could put it on myspace. I hope to have it finished within a couple of days. I already have the myspace for the Sodder family but there is nothing on it yet.
I sent an email to Jennie (Granddaughter) this morning asking if it were possible that there are pages missing from the magaizine.
 
Granddaughter said:
Hi all -

Sorry for the long absence. As indicated in an earlier post, my brother and I both have been involved in major commitments at work recently.

On with the important news ... my brother has completed an initial version of the website! Some information is already posted, and we will continue to add to it. The web address is http://www.sodderchildren.com.
Click to expand...
Since there are a few members new to the thread, I wanted to bring the Sodder children website up to the top for you.
 
Has anybody thought about calling Look magazine and asking them if the picture Mr Sodder saw is in that paticular issue? If not which issue was it in? They would also more than likely have the name of the little girl. It is also very possible that her name could have been changed. If he did recieve a reply from the school and was given the name of the child he saw I would be tempted to search for her. It's a shame Mr Sodder didn't actually get to see this little girl in person. He would have known for sure one way or the other if it was his daughter. I also would like to comment on the picture of the gentlemen holding the bones they found in the ashes from the fire. I believe that there would have been a lot more bones and they would have been much bigger. The house couldn't have burned hot enough to cremate them.
 
I just joined this forum, and I have spent all night reading every post from the beginning. What an incredible story. And, for the sake of family members of the missing I do hope there is resolution. I will be following this from now on. I wish there was something I could do to help.
 
Teresa Larson said:
Has anybody thought about calling Look magazine and asking them if the picture Mr Sodder saw is in that paticular issue? If not which issue was it in? They would also more than likely have the name of the little girl. It is also very possible that her name could have been changed. If he did recieve a reply from the school and was given the name of the child he saw I would be tempted to search for her. It's a shame Mr Sodder didn't actually get to see this little girl in person. He would have known for sure one way or the other if it was his daughter. I also would like to comment on the picture of the gentlemen holding the bones they found in the ashes from the fire. I believe that there would have been a lot more bones and they would have been much bigger. The house couldn't have burned hot enough to cremate them.
Click to expand...
Welcome to WS's Teresa!

Look magazine photograph collection (Library of Congress)


Look was a biweekly, general interest popular magazine published from March 1937 to October 1971 by Gardner Cowles, Jr., under various company names: Look, Inc. (1937-45); Cowles Magazines (1946-65); and Cowles Communications, Inc. (1965-71).

more at the link http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?ils:3:./temp/~pp_NLdb::mad:@@mdb=fsaall,app,brum,detr,swann,look,gottscho,pan,horyd,genthe,var,cai,cd,hh,yan,bbcards,lomax,ils,prok,brhc,nclc,matpc,iucpub,tgmi,lamb
 
Shadow, I am going to look at your myspace page when I get home. Unfortunately myspace is blocked here at work.

The threads of this case have gotten so long, I apologize if this has already been covered, but why wasn't the fire chief/inspector never charged or investigated more thoroughly?

Was the disgruntled insurance salesman ever questioned?

The man who admitted to cutting the Sodders phone line, why didn't they investigate him more throughly? It is obvious he knew something and was in on this whole disaster.
 
I am new to the Sodder thread and trying to catch up. Can someone tell me how many kids total there were? Forgive me if it has been covered.
 
from everything i've read, me feeling is: if there really are no bones at the site, and never were--- then there was some mafia involvement (or possibly anti-italian immigrant forces at work), as so many other signs point to someone targeting them. they burned down their house in hopes of killing them all, but the children who were up late possibly went outside to investigate and were perhaps taken by gunpoint and driven off, probably killed as witnesses.

since there are very few records of unidentified remains on file before a few decades ago- they may have been found years ago & reburied. or their remains may have been built upon, paved over, or they may have been dumped at sea or gotten some other 'treatment' the mafia uses to make people disappear. i seriously doubt they could still be alive. still, hopefully all the older jane & john does out there have been checked against these children- well, as much as you could do w/o DNA.
 
In 1968, over 20 years adter the tragedy, the Sodders received yet another mysterious reminder. An envelope arrived addressed to Mrs. Sodder with no return address. Inside she found only a photograph of a young man, 24-28 years old, wearing white pants and a shirt, and sitting in front of a window. On the back of the photograph were these words: "Louis Sodder" "I love brother Frankie." "ilil Boys" "A90132 or 35" Mrs. Sodder was convinced that the photograph was of her son Louis Sodder, who was supposed to have died in the fire at the age of nine. The Sodders took the photograph to Charleston in an effort to convince Attorney General Donald Robertson to reopen the case. But the Attorney General was not convinced of the identity of the young man. Determined to follow this lead just as they had so many others, the Sodders again employed a private detective. They paid him in advance and sent him to the town which was listed on the postmark of the letter. They never heard from him again. Mrs. Sodder was afraid that if the letter or the name of the town was published it could bring harm to her son. She had no choice but to admit defeat. The photograph was enlarged and placed in a frame in front of her fireplace. She took comfort in the belief that although her children were out of her reach, they were still alive.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a273/shadow205/Sodder%20Family/Louis_Sodder.jpg?t=1166799362

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a273/shadow205/Sodder%20Family/Louis.jpg?t=1166799396

I beleive that the picture that Mrs. Sodder received was indeed a picture of Louis. This is one of several reasons why I firmly believe that the children did not die in that fire and that they could very well be alive today.
 
That is creepy. I cannot figure out how this investigation got so bungled. Seems like the fire chief/investigator and the disgruntled life insurance salesman were involved in this tragedy, why weren't these 2 investigated more?
 
If that is not him, it is an amazing likeness. Looks exactly like Louis only bigger, right down to the bushy eyebrows. I hope that maybe these children discover that they are "missing" and can reunite with their family.
 
A reporter from the local newpaper has taken an interest in the Sodder children and is going to do a story on them! She has read the entire thread here at WS's plus a couple of other sites that I sent her. This is a step in the right direction to bring attention to the case and the timing is perfect. Christmas will be the 61st aniversary. I'm not sure when the story is going to run but here is the link to the paper for those who want to watch for it.

www.register-herald.com

Merry Christmas Audrey Stanton and thank you for your interest in this case!
 
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