Going thru more stacks of papers today and found this newspaper article from Dec 1977 when grandpa retired! It mentions his love of water skiing and a newly-purchased camper

Lisa's facebook post....

I Was Born A Dairy Farmers Daughter

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I was born a dairy farmers daughter,

raised on the 240 by Halfrock Holler,

we were raised the old fashioned way,

if you can't say something nice, then you better not say,

now apologize and hug and kiss your sister.

My Mom and Dad raised 4 kids in the country air

when your gumboots sprung a leak,

you sure wished for a brand new pair

summers were hot, winters were cold,

you were expected to do what you were told,

growing up a dairy farmers daughter.

Mom & Dad had their daughters 1, 2, 3

then along came baby brother when I was 15,

Mom milked the cows that morn,

drove herself to the hospital and he was born,

was she tough? Damn, she had to be!

We were always late everywhere we had to go,

'cause the cows were out or the milker quit or some such woe

Dad would say go on ahead,

he'd tend to the homestead,

and Mom put her makeup on driving down the road.

Growing up we didn't have the world wide web,

but we had neighbors like Buck, Billy Gene, and Red

they always had your back,

you never had to ask.

and no favor could ever be too big.

Our whole neighborhood was on a party line

when a neighbor thought it was their turn you'd hear some sighin'

or throat clearing or clicks or raps

you didn't tell any secrets on that rotary dial phone

'cause then every one else would be a knowin'.

When the wind blew just right we got one channel on tv

KTVO Kirksville, Channel 3

we watched Hee Haw, Bonanza, and The Six Million Dollar Man,

Barney Miller,The Brady Bunch, Happy Days, and ........

cartoons were just on Saturday morning.

In the wintertime we'd ice skate on the pond

in the summer we'd pitch tents down by the old barn.

A Bonnie & Clyde car in the ditch

playing Little House on the Prairie,

then to Charlie's Angels we'd switch

or take a book and find a tree to climb.

We wore makeup out to chore in every day

in case a cute neighbor boy stopped by to say hey

there were no cell phones, but The Halfrock Pollock had CBs.

one in the truck and a homebase in the diningroom where he talked with ease.

Chatting with Tadpole and his buddies at the end of the day.

Mom was the worlds best at making do,

she turned leftovers from the fridge into something brand new.

from the table you were excused

to not try a bite of everything was being rude

just the memories of a dairy farmers daughter.

Dad would go stand out on the back porch and whistle

the cows would appear in line, single file

some day's he'd call 'S Cow,

or crack the whip kapow

if he was gone we'd have to walk the whole damn farm.

Mom & Dad lived at work and worked all day

no holidays, no overtime pay

on crutches or with the flu,

not much you can do,

those cows needed milked twice a day.

Oh, Lord, the cows are out there in the corn,

and they were out in the new alfalfa just the other morn.

Dad's building fence like it's a race

can't keep those heifers any place

the school bus would pull into the lane

there's a cow in the front yard again

eating pears underneath the tree.

Each cow had a name and history

some were named after Dynasty on t.v.

I remember Alexis, Skyhook, and Vee

Princess, Star, and Molly.

just the memories of this dairy farmer's daughter.

We'd come home from school and find a list of chores

and some homemade cookies to eat before we went back outdoors

Mom and Dad had gone to town

for a part for something that had broke down

and they relied upon their dairy farmer daughters.

Now the old milk barn doesn't stand there anymore

no more Axsom's with five gallon buckets out doing chores

or climbing up on the well to ride old King

our retired star of the barrel racing ring

while Wart Hog the dog hid in the jimson weeds.

When I was a kid I couldn't understand

my parents fierce attachment to this land

and why they chose such a hard way of life

for a husband and a wife

just why did they become dairy farmers?

Lots of folks had dairies way back then,

but I haven't seen a Mid-Am truck rumblin' down a blacktop since I don't know when.

The milk truck driver David made me swoon,

he looked like the Shaun Cassidy poster in my room,

on milk truck days I was glad to be a dairy farmers daughter!

My dad was color blind and couldn't tell red from green

so the day lil' sister got bucked off a calf he thought mom was mean

how could she laugh when baby daughter was covered in blood?

(turned out to be cow manure and mud)

never a dull moment when you're a dairy farmers daughter!

My mom sang along with 61 Country on the radio

and played piano at church the mornings she got done milkin' early 'nuff to go

when she had a free moment she'd read a book curled up in a chair

twisting a lock of hair

and take a break from being a dairy farmer.

There were hot summer nights at the county fair

and moonlit drives down dirt roads goin' no where

I married the boy I loved back then

we have Koren, KJ, & Katie and our grandson Ian

I was a lucky dairy farmer's daughter.

Sometimes I wonder what our children will remember from their youth,

if in the lessons we tried to teach they'll find some truth,

we were young and made it up as we went along,

but they still turned out smart and strong,

the children of this dairy farmer's daughter.

I've been at the hog farm 19 years come May,

still walking 'round in gumboots most every day.

some mornings getting out of bed is rough,

but I was raised to be tough.

The stuff that makes a dairy farmer's daughter.

I didn't appreciate those lessons way back when,

now I'd give anything to see Dad leanin' on the barn yard gate talking to Donnie again

Him and Mom got fifty years

lots of laughter and lots of tears

raising their dairy farm son and daughters.

my brother is on tv again....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vIYjSj60LfU

“Our jail has a very good track record of keeping our people in line and keeping everyone safe and secure and we want to maintain that. It's going to improve our security. Newer equipment meaning less downtime, less repairs that have to be made. Less time to make sure everything is up and running. So we can focus more time on the job at hand and get everything done,” said Corrections Director John Axsom

I sometimes wonder if those who went on before had time to mourn their lost children.....

in the midst of just scrambling to survive....