You can tell I did not spend time in the Ellen Bottom like my brothers did as I was growing up. The only memory I have of being there is of a time when David and I were very little, and Hazel was “baby sitting” us on an old quilt by the creek while the rest of the family worked in the corn (I think the crop was corn). I remember it was so hot even in the shade by the water. David and I played with the little fossils we found in the water and I thought they were little rocks that someone had found and drawn pictures of creatures on them. Continue reading “Ellen Bottom stories”
Thoughts on my brother Reed
I would like to present some thoughts about my brother Reed to honor his birthday today.
So many people remember Reed for his sense of humor. And we all know it was wonderful indeed. He had a dry humor (something like Linda inherited, I think). But whenever most of my brothers and sisters talk about Reed, they remember that he was always a serious, hard worker. I think it must have been true all his life, as soon as he was able to do any kind of tasks about the farm. Donald says Dad counted on Reed to be the most responsible of the bunch after Ernest and Frank went into the service. For example, some time in the winter months when the school bus didn’t run, the boys would (happily) come back home, and if they were lucky, they would get to go hunting. When they started for the woods to hunt, Dad always let Reed be the one who got to carry the gun. Continue reading “Thoughts on my brother Reed”
Stories in celebration of my brother-in-law Aaron (Big A)
These stories are in celebration of my brother-in-law Aaron (Big A) who turned 95 years old on Saturday. Please share with our email family.
My sister Alline says she cannot remember much about Aaron when he was very young because he didn’t attend the same school as she and Clarice. But Alline said she thought, and Donald agrees, that Aaron went to Knob Lick School on Bastin Creek. Old people in the community called it, the “Blue School.” Continue reading “Stories in celebration of my brother-in-law Aaron (Big A)”
Sister-in-law Deva
As most of you know I like to drive around Casey County on roads where my passengers and I can look and reminisce. I especially love to go for car rides with my sister-in-law Deva. We like to drive out toward Willow Springs where she grew up. She has shown my sisters and me the old house where she lived when she was young and told us how she walked across the road to the Willow Springs School. In those days, she says she liked most of all to make playhouses with broken pieces of her mom’s dishes. Her early interest seems logical to me. All through her life, Deva has been making a beautiful home in more ways than one, I think. Continue reading “Sister-in-law Deva”
My brother Cleo
My brother Cleo was a few years ahead of me; so, of course, I cannot recall him as a youngster. But I remember things that my sisters have said about him when he was a little boy. Hazel said that our neighbor Eddie Salyers, who liked all of us kids, especially liked Cleo. Eddie referred to Cleo as that “little dark-eyed boy.” My sisters also have made similar remarks. Maybe Eddie and the others noticed Cleo’s brown eyes because all his older brothers had been born with blue eyes. I am not sure. But maybe that was the reason. Anyway, Hazel said that it was Eddie who took care of Cleo the night his younger twin brothers were born. Continue reading “My brother Cleo”
Remembering Dad
In the summer time after a hot day of working, Dad, and usually most of the boys, would sit outside under the maple trees in the evenings. It was cooler under the trees than it was inside the house. I think I was allowed to be there mostly because I was too little to be of any real help to Mom or my big sisters as they cleaned up and washed the dishes. Continue reading “Remembering Dad”