Missing Puzzle Pieces

On Lee's headstone application a signature belonging to Ethel appears.  Ethel has a different last name than his.  Is she a sister?  No.  I wonder who she is.

I found Lee on the 1920 census married to Edna.  Maybe Ethel and Edna are one and the same.

Mix-ups like that happen on the census records.

Sometimes.

I found Lee on the 1930 census.  I found Ethel with him. I am still thinking that it could be possible that the Edna on the 1920 census could be Ethel.

It happens.

Well, not this time.  I still don't know who Edna is, but she's not Ethel.

Ethel and Lee had two girls listed with them with a different last name.  They are listed as daughters, not step-daughters.

Sometimes step-children are listed as biological children on the census records.

It happens.

I find Lee, Ethel and one of the girls on the 1940 census.  The daughter has his last name this time.

I stumble across an obituary for one of the girls.  Or at least I think it is hers.  Year of birth is possible, Ethel is her mother, father listed has the same last name as hers on the 1930 census and there is her sister.  I believe I have a match.

Except...

The obituary reports the family moving to another state when the deceased was nine.  Lee is never mentioned.

The family did NOT move to another state according to the census records.

I suppose it is possible that she went to live with her father when she was nine.  Her sister is with the mother and Lee in 1940.  The deceased was married and listed with her husband in 1940.  I haven't found her biological father in the 1940 census yet.

Remember Lee's headstone application and Ethel with a different last name than his?  She used her FIRST marriage name.  The same name as her daughters.  They were adults and married.  I don't understand why she used that name.  

Her headstone has her listed with the first married name and the social security index has that name, too.  She's buried in the same cemetery as her first husband.  She was married to him for less than ten years.  She was married to Lee longer.  I wonder if Ethel and Lee divorced after the 1940 census?

I still don't know who Edna is.