Thelma Irene (Copple) Selsor (1910 – 1995) was born either in Missouri, or in West Frankfort, Illinois, to Gaither Calvin Copple (1878 – 1947) and Eva (Martin) Copple (b. 1888).  She was born 18 April, a few days after the official 1910 census date, but a few days before her neighborhood was enumerated.  A child named “Myrtle” was listed as aged 1/12 (presumably 1 month old) in the household. [1] Could that be Thelma?

As indicated in the article, Thelma Irene married Lawrence Marion Selsor  (1911-1972) in Jonesboro on July 24, 1942.   Thelma worked at the (local?) air base, while Lawrence was with the Works Project Administration.  They took a honeymoon to Memphis, Tennessee. 

A quick search for Thelma Selsor on Ancestry’s page for U.S. city directories (1822 – 1995)  seems to indicate that the Selsors made their home in Jonesboro, Arkansas, after they married.

I did not do enough research on Thelma to determine if she had children.  However, it appears her paternal grandparents were Levi and Malinda (Dobbs) Copple and her great-grandparents were William and Abigail (Handley) Copple.  William’s parents were both Copples, being cousins to each other, and Thelma was likely my 4th cousin 3 times removed.

“Selsor-Copple Rites are Performed Here,” The Courier News (Blytheville, Arkansas), 31 Jul 1942, page 2, column 1; Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 22 September 2019)

[1] 1910 U.S. census, New Madrid County, Missouri,  population schedule, Enumeration District (ED) 108, Hough, page 2B, family 43, Gaither [indexed as Garther] Copple household; digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/ 1910uscenindex/: accessed 18 Oct 2019); citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication T624, roll 802.