Girl in the grass skirt?
This photo of Nancy Piper (circa 1941) was taken in the backyard of 71 Westmoreland Road, Trafford PA. Nancy’s parents, John & Edith Piper, purchased the Stevenson/Shaw home in 1923, one of Trafford’s oldest dwellings originally built by Robert J. Stevenson around 1873. In the background you can see the old Stone Front Bar located on Brinton (present-day Anthony’s Hotel & Tavern), on the right are a couple of homes located at the corners of Brinton Ave and 2nd Street, and on the left is a garage still standing on Adrian Avenue.
So why is this young girl wearing a grass skirt in Trafford? Nancy’s first cousin, Harry L. Piper Jr., was stationed at Schofield Barracks on the Hawaiian island of Oahu in 1941. Nancy’s family tells us that Harry would send Hula skirts to relatives and friends back home. They believe this one was sent to Nancy around her 14th birthday. Months later, Harry witnessed the devastation that occurred at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, and his accounting of those events were printed in the Altoona Tribune on December 27, 1941.
Sadly, just one week before the article about Harry appeared in the Altoona paper, Nancy’s brother, James R. Piper, was tragically killed in a plane crash in Butler County. He was only 28 years old and co-owned a plane with another gentleman who was injured in the crash but survived. The Pittsburgh Press reported that the men were on their way from Johnston’s Airport in Pitcairn to Butler. Johnston’s Airfield was located in Patton Township.
Nancy had two sisters who years earlier left Trafford for jobs in Washington DC and were in the Capitol building listening to Congress on December 8, 1941, when President Roosevelt famously declared December 7th as "a date which will live in infamy." Nancy’s older brother John was still living with the family in Trafford when, like so many other young men from Trafford, enlisted into war service. John served in the Navy from August 1943 until June 1945, concluding his service just about the time his sister Nancy was finishing high school. Nancy graduated from Trafford High in 1945 and would join her sisters, along with her mom, in Washington DC.
Photo of Harry L. Piper Jr (1918-2001) shared by David Piper on Ancestry.
Her cousin Harry, who mailed her the grass skirt, left Hawaii in June 1942 for service in the Army Air Corps and had a distinguished career as an Army Air Corps pilot, flying thirty-two missions over enemy-occupied Europe, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with three Oak Leaf clusters, and Purple Heart. Harry retired as a Lt Colonel after twenty years of military service.
The Trafford Historical Society wishes to thank James & Lia Woodall, the children of Nancy Piper Woodall, for sending us this precious photo of their mom, a recent monetary donation, and for sharing a bit of their family history. Nancy is now 95 and living in Arizona with her family. We look forward to hearing more stories about Nancy’s days in Trafford.
