Saturday, January 31, 2015
nephew Andy's address
new mailing address.
EN3 Dailey, Andrew
USS NEW YORK (LPD 21)
UNIT 100333 BOX 505
FPO, AA 34092
Saturday, January 24, 2015
diary entry from June 17 2006
was very excited to find out that William Cullen Bryant was a character in a fiction book Forever that I am reading!
amazon.com listing: "This widely acclaimed bestseller is the magical, epic tale of an extraordinary man who arrives in New York in 1740 and remains ... forever. Through the eyes of Cormac O'Connor - granted immortality as long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan - we watch New York grow from a tiny settlement on the tip of an untamed wilderness to the thriving metropolis of today. And through Cormac's remarkable adventures in both love and war, we come to know the city's buried secrets - the way it has been shaped by greed, race, and waves of immigration, by the unleashing of enormous human energies, and, above all, by hope." November 2003
Friday, January 23, 2015
Aunt Mary wrote that she & Aunt Freeda remember their Grandma Daisy Axsom singing Little Rosewood Casket.
found a youtube link....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO_f2xp3soE
couldn't find the lyrics on lyrics.com.....no one had published them.
it was written in 1870, first recorded in 1920, often considered a folk song. found some lyrics on google!There's a little rosewood casketsettin' on a marble standthere's a package of love letterswritten by my true loves handgo and bring them to me, brother.come and set upon my bedlay your head upon my pillowwhile my aching heart grows dead.read them gently to me brotherread them til I fall asleep.Fall asleep to wake in heavenoh dear brother do not weep.Last Sunday I saw her walkingwith a gentleman by her sideand I thought I heard him tell hershe was soon to be his bride.When I am dead in my coffinand my friends have gathered roundand my narrow grave is readyin some lonesome churchyard ground.There's a little rosewood casketsettin' on a marble standthere's a package of love letterswritten by my true loves hand.
Ronald Harry Hesseltine November 26, 1943 - December 22, 2014 Resided in Alamo, TX -
Ronald Harry Hesseltine, age 71, of Alamo, Texas, formerly of Urbandale, went to his Lord on Monday, December 22, 2014 at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, TX. Ron was born on November 26, 1943 in Washington City, Iowa to William Charles Hesseltine and Esther Lucile Rice.
He is survived by his daughter, Christina McNeley of Johnston, IA; son, Richard Hesseltine of Norwalk, IA; brother, Ed (Joan) Hesseltine of Tullahoma, TN; sister, Thelma (Herb) Glendenning of Simpsonville, KY; sister, Sarah Nightingale, Donna, TX; sister, Nancy Kellett, Hickory, MS and sister, Linda Hesseltine of Omaha, NE. He was preceded in death by his wife, Dona Lynn Hesseltine; his son, Craig Hesseltine; his father, William Hesseltine; his mother, Lucile Rice and a brother, Russell Hesseltine. He proudly served in the U.S. Army as an F & E Systems Repairman stationed in Fort Stewart, GA. After returning to Iowa, he worked at the Des Moines branch of Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. as a Millwright until his retirement in 1995. He was also an award-winning professional musician in Iowa and Texas and could play any stringed instrument. After retirement, he continued to enjoy playing music at jam sessions, riding his Goldwing motorcycle and golfing with friends. He was thrilled to have had two hole-in-one shots over the years.
A memorial service will be held at 12:30 p.m., Friday, January 30, 2015 at Iles Westover Chapel. Burial will follow at Iowa Veterans Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to The Iowa Veterans Cemetery, 34024 Veterans Memorial Drive, Adel, IA 50003-3300.
Arrangements by Iles Westover Chapel
- See more at: http://www.ilesfuneralhomes.com/obituary/Ronald-Harry-Hesseltine/Alamo-TX/1473434#sthash.8Fb3paxw.dpuf
ALAMO - Ronald Harry Hesseltine, 71, died Monday, Dec. 22, 2014, at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen. Skinner-Silva Funeral Home of Pharr is in charge of funeral arrangements.
Published in The Monitor on Dec. 24, 2014 - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/themonitor/obituary.aspx?n=ronald-harry-hesseltine&pid=173571961&#sthash.J6SVpJpv.dpuf
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Grandma Loves Me
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Bad heart, broken leg; two different ailments.
Hometown Boy by Duane Dailey
column in The Mirror, December 31, 2014
Recovering from open-heart surgery is easy compared to repairing a broken leg. Wouldn't seem that way, but I can testify.
With heart surgery, it didn't take long to overcome the man thing. I soon found I could not care for myself. The most basic necessities of life were beyond my skills. I mean everything.
With only a leg break, I am not allowed total care. My offending appendage was put into a hard cast and I was sent home. That made sense to me. I can take care of myself.
Not long later I began to have an inkling, slight as it was, that I might not be in total control of my life. Yes, I had a walker that gives me mobility. Until you use one, you can't realize that you have lost use of one leg and two hands.
A walker allows hobbling about. That's it. Your hands can't carry what you need. Or, allow you to use what you need once you get there.
In heart recovery you are tied to a hospital bed with tubes, wires, and monitors. You know immediately you are not mobile. You have nothing needed nearby. All must be brought to you and done for you. A man gives up quickly and adores what care givers do.
This free-range recovery is a bit too rustic for me. I am a mobile, helpless man. Fortunately, there are women in this world who recognize this in an instant. And against all good commonsense they came to the aid of a helpless one-legged man.
My duahter took charge after heart surgery, when I was sure I could care for myself after the hospital. She was not going to leave town until I was committed to a care center. They had met men like me, before.
This time Janet gave instructions from afar. I am a bit more adept at listening now.
There is a special place in Heaven I am sure for Church Ladies. One opened a spare bedroom for me. Others provided things I did not know I needed, including a shower seat.
Then carry-in food arrived. Followed by calls of support and offers of help.
From my office it was not a Church lady, but a working journalist who knows what a hard-headed working writer needs. Electronic devices with power cords and chargers soon arrived, followed by working files of stories in progress. And, mail and all those newspapers.
Then reality hit. I needed help returning to the Emergency Room for stronger narcotics. Meanwhile, my daughter sent orthopedic-nurse ideas from Florida.
First get pain under control. Don't play tough man. Take enough pain pills, she says. "The longer in pain, the longer the recovery."
Work on getting swelling down. Swelling causes pain. That means getting fluids away from injured joints.
"Keep those toes above your nose." Her mantra helps my heart move blood back up hill. What an education I get in basic body repair.
The surgeon gives hope of freedom in three weeks. Reality comes from my daughter who cares for codgers in Florida. "Six weeks," she says. "You're an old man." Babies heal in a week. Three-year olds heal in three weeks. An old man takes longer.
After a full week, lessons sink in.
Now I adjust to practical needs. Order is brought to my life. Besides, I lack pep to cause too much trouble. I think.
I am a man of many clutters, reading and clipping newspaper stories.
Then I arrive in a household of ultra-order. No piles of clippings showing before I came, an early riser in a house of three late sleepers.
My life reaches sock-drawer order. Everything is in place. What a concept. I think I can survive a broken leg; maybe even order in my life.
Send your accident reports to duanedailey7@gmail.com or 511 W. Worley, Columbia, MO 65203.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Sunday, January 11, 2015
and Aunt Mary says he also enjoyed Baby Snooks
The Baby Snooks Show was an American radio program starring comedienne and Ziegfeld Follies alumna Fanny Brice as a mischievous young girl who was 40 years younger than the actress who played her when she first went on the air. The series began on CBS September 17, 1944, airing on Sunday evenings at 6:30pm as Toasties Time. The title soon changed to The Baby Snooks Show, and the series was sometimes called Baby Snooks and Daddy.
Aunt Mary says Great Grandpa Johnnie loved The Great Gildersleeve radio show
t he Great Gildersleeve was a happy endeavor where great talent met with great writing. Gildersleeve was invented by actor Harold Peary, who would play him through most of the character's life. However Gildy would also spend time under the stewardship of Willard Waterman. Leonard L. Levinson held the pen during the first season, and created most of the characters that filled Gildy's hometown of Summerfield. However, under the writing of John Whedon the show truly came to life.Gale Gordon Whedon would get credit for partially serializing some of the situations in Gildersleeve's life. Gildersleeve had to deal with a new family, Marjorie and Leroy, and try to raise them to be model citizens.In this he was sometimes aided by his feisty housekeeper, Birdie Lee Coggins. Outside the home Gildersleeve had many love interests and a circle of friends, The Jolly Boys Club, that kept him close to the earth. Episodes of The Great Gildersleeve can be enjoyed at Old Time Radio.
Aunt Mary said that Gabriel Heatter was Great Grandpa Johnnie's favorite radio news person. found some Gabriel Heatter quotes!
The only time some people work like a horse is when the boss rides them.
More power than all the success slogans ever penned by human hand is the realization for every man that he has but one boss. That boss is the man - he - himself.
If you were happy every day of your life you wouldn't be a human being, you'd be a game show host.Biography Nationality: American Type: Journalist Born: September 17, 1890 Died: March 30, 1972 Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/gabriel_heatter.html#HrTB3KAgQyJYx7hM.99
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Friday, January 9, 2015
Bobby McCullough
Laura Marie Phillips Young
Alvin Sorenson
Hadacol. looked it up on wikipedia after Aunt Mary said her grandpa Johnnie drank it as an energizer.
Hadacol was a patent medicine marketed as a vitamin supplement. Its principal attraction, however, was that it contained 12 percent alcohol (listed on the tonic bottle's label as a "preservative"), which made it quite popular in the dry counties of the southern United States. It was the product of four-term Louisiana State Senator Dudley J. LeBlanc, a Democrat from Abbeville in Vermilion Parish in southwestern Louisiana. He was not a medical doctor, nor a registered pharmacist, but had a strong talent for self-promotion. Time magazine once described him as "a stem-winding salesman who knows every razzle-dazzle switch in the pitchman's trade".
In 1943, LeBlanc conceived the idea that became "Hadacol" in New Orleans, when he had persistent pain in his foot and elsewhere. He asked a doctor to give him medication for pain: then he found that what the doctor gave him was a B-vitamin elixir, which he proposed to duplicate with a few changes and sell to a mass consumer market. (Years later, reports arose saying that LeBlanc had offered the doctor a share of the business, but the medical man refused. On a return visit, LeBlanc allegedly stole a bottle of the medicine when the nurse had left the room.)LeBlanc said that his research showed that multivitamins taken collectively would yield greater results than a single vitamin for a specific problem.
The label on the tonic's bottle clearly stated that the recommended dosage (1 tablespoonful taken 4 times a day) was to be taken "...in a 1/2 glass of water after meals and before retiring". However, some pharmacies in dry counties were known to sell it by the shot-glass and at least one bar in New Orleans' French Quarter was known to sell a "Tassel Cocktail" with Hadacol as an ingredient.[3] In Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, sales of Hadacol were limited to liquor stores.
Front of a 1948 Hadacol 25¢ token. LeBlanc's picture is center. Top says, "LEBLANC LABORATORIES". Bottom says, "LAFAYETTE, LA." The hole punched in it at the top was done at the time of redemption.
Back of a 1948 Hadacol 25¢ token. The center image is a Hadacol bottle with a "HADACOL" banner across it. Top says, "GOOD FOR 25¢ ON A BOTTLE OF HADACOL ANYWHERE". Bottom says, "1948". The hole punched in it at the top was done at the time of redemption. Click to view large size.
LeBlanc created the name "Hadacol" from his former business, the Happy Day Company, maker of Happy Day Headache Powders (which had been seized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)) and Dixie Dew Cough Syrup. "Happy" became "HA", "Days" became "DA," "Company" became "CO", and his own last name "LeBlanc" provided the "L". Hence the created name was "Hadacol."[5][6] However, when LeBlanc was asked about the name, he would often joke, "Well, I hadda' call it something!"
A two-page advertisement for Hadacol appeared in the centerfold of the 1951 edition of Grier's Almanac, an annual publication marketed to farmers in the Southern USA. The ad's headline read (in very large type):
Don't Be Satisfied With Symptomatic Relief! It's Possible to RELIEVE THE CAUSE OF YOUR AILMENTS When Lack Of Vitamins B1, B2, Iron and Niacin Cause Stomach Disturbances, Gas, Heartburn, Indigestion, Nagging Aches and Pains, and Certain Nervous Disorders.
The ad continued with testimonials and a glowing plug for Senator LeBlanc, stressing the curative powers of Hadacol for a number of ailments "...due to lack of Vitamins B1, B2, Iron and Niacin". A capsule version of Hadacol was briefly produced, consisting solely of a B-Vitamin and mineral mixture.
LeBlanc promoted the tonic as a "Dietary Supplement" instead of a medicine, stating that it was "...formulated as an Aid to Nature in rebuilding the Pep, Strength and Energy of Buoyant Health when the System is deficient in the Vitamins and Minerals found in this Tonic..." While Time Magazine described it as "a murky brown liquid that tastes something like bilge water, and smells worse."[7]
The American Medical Association was not as appreciative. In an official press release in 1951, the AMA stated, "It is hoped that no doctor will be uncritical enough to join in the promotion of Hadacol. It is difficult to imagine how one could do himself or his profession greater harm from the standpoint of the abuse of the trust of a patient suffering from any condition. Hadacol is not a specific medication. It is not even a specific preventive measure."
LeBlanc flooded the airwaves with testimonials to the powers of the seemingly miraculous (yet foul tasting) brown liquid and turned the jingle called "Hadacol Boogie" into a popular recording. Promotional items included various fliers, signs and clocks, a "Captain Hadacol" comic book,T-shirts, lipstick, an almanac, plastic thimbles printed with the Hadacol logo, water pistols and cowboy-style holsters, glasses used for taking the diluted mixture, and a stamped metal token redeemable for 25¢ towards the purchase of any bottle of Hadacol (LeBlanc brazenly placed his own portrait on the front of the token, and the trademarked logo on the back). These items, along with the Hadacol bottles and the boxes they were packaged in, are now much sought-after items, and fetch high prices among collectors of Southern memorabilia and medical quackery.
In 1950, LeBlanc offered a handsome financial incentive to anyone who could provide him with a parrot that was trained to say "Polly wants Hadacol!" The parrot was to be exhibited at promotions. The offer included the following:
The owner of such a bird, if selected, will be given a reasonable compensation on a contract basis. The owner and the parrot will travel in a limousine with the parrot's name engraved in gold on the door and will stay only at the best hotels. The parrot will be furnished a gold cage and its life insured. The parrot will visit large drugstores, perform at conventions, etc., and may be presented on radio and television. The Le Blanc Corporation has a triple A high credit rating.
LeBlanc was an entrepreneur in other areas too, but it is Hadacol that made him famous outside Louisiana. For his "Hadacol Goodwill Caravan" touring shows (the last of the big-time "medicine shows"), LeBlanc brought in Hollywood celebrities, including such luminaries as Roy Acuff,[12] Milton Berle, Lucille Ball, Minnie Pearl, Connee Boswell, Mickey Rooney, Bob Hope, Cesar Romero, Dorothy Lamour, Carmen Miranda, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Judy Garland, Jack Dempsey, Chico Marx, Hank Williams and James Cagney to help him market the product. He also sponsored a separate touring show featuring notable Jazz and Blues musicians to attract black customers. Admission to the Hadacol gala was two Hadacol boxtops for adults, one for children. Considering that the 8 ounce bottle cost $1.25 and the "family size" 24 ounce bottle cost $3.50 each during the late 1940s, this was not cheap (Adjusted for inflation, the prices would be around $10 and $30 in 2007). Sales of the tonic at the shows were brisk.
According to musician Weldon "Big Bill" Lister, who performed in the Hadacol Caravan, "The only way you could get into that show was with a Hadacol boxtop, And believe me, we played to crowds of ten, twelve thousand people a night. Back in those days there wasn't many auditoriums that would hold that many people. We played ball parks, race tracks - you know anywhere where they had enough big bleachers to handle those kind of crowds." The final show was on 17 September 1951.[13] Paul Schrader wrote a script entitled Eight Scenes from the Life of Hank Wlliams, which has not yet been produced. It includes a sequence on his performances with the Hadacol Caravan.
In a 15-month period ending in March 1951, LeBlanc sold more than $3,600,000 worth of the tonic. In another six months, after LeBlanc sold his interest of the LeBlanc Corporation (Hadacol's parent company) to investors for $8,200,000,the enterprise collapsed under the weight of debtors. It was discovered all too late that LeBlanc was spending more for advertising by that point than he was taking in as receipts (turning its $3,600,000 profit into a $1,800,000 second-quarter loss), had concealed both $2,000,000 in unpaid bills and a $656,151 tax debt, and another $2,000,000, listed in the ledgers as "Accounts Receivable", were cases of the tonic out on consignment, much of which was being shipped back. In an official court statement, the Federal Trade Commission stated that the publicity behind the tonic was "false, misleading and deceptive" in representing the nostrum as "an effective treatment and cure for scores of ailments and diseases." The ensuing bad publicity played a contributing factor to LeBlanc losing a gubernatorial election in 1952 and effectively halting his future statewide electoral chances.
Martin Gardner's In the Name of Science (1952) mentions an interview that LeBlanc gave on Groucho Marx's radio program: When Groucho asked him what Hadacol was good for, LeBlanc gave an answer of startling honesty. "It was good," the senator said, "for five and a half million for me last year." In 1954, after the Hadacol fiasco, LeBlanc tried to re-enter the patent medicine market with a lemon flavored non-alcoholic vitamin tonic named "Kary-On".[18] Unlike Hadacol, it quickly vanished from production.
The name "Hadacol" has become synonymous with any panacea or "cure-all" of dubious origin.
According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, there were two attempts to revive Hadacol. The first was in 1987 by Edmondson Enterprises of Shreveport, Louisiana. The second attempt was in 1997 by Au Pharmaceuticals of Tyler, Texas.[20] Both attempts to revive the brand were unsuccessful. In 1976, "Hadacol" Multi-vitamins were distributed by the Atlanta, Georgia based "Hadacol Corporation" in an unsuccessful attempt to revive the brand name.
Influences[edit]
Hadacol was the subject of several Country, R&B, and Cajun tunes of its time:
"Drinkin' Hadacol" by "Little Willie" Littlefield;
"Everybody Loves That Hadacol" by Tiny Hill and His Orchestra;
"Hadacol (That's All)" by the Treniers, "Hadacol Bounce", written and recorded by Bill Nettles and performed also by Professor Longhair;
"Hadacol Boogie," covered by a number of musical acts, notably Bill Nettles and His Dixie Blue Boys and, more recently, the 2006 collaboration of Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Guy (whose version on Lewis' Last Man Standing album ends with an outro alluding to LeBlanc's "Hadda call it somethin'" joke).
"Hadacol Bounce" by Professor Longhair.
"Hadacol Corners" by Slim Willet (backed with the soon-to-be classic "Don't Let the Stars Get In Your Eyes").
"Valse de Hadacol" (Hadacol Waltz) by Cajun musician/composer Harry Choates.
"H-A-D-A-C-O-L" by Al Terry (Allison Theriot).
In the late 1990s, the American roots-rock band Big Iron, to avoid confusion with another band with the same name, changed the band's name to "Hadacol". The cover of their 1999 debut CD, Better Than This, is based on the label used on the tonic bottles.
In 1948, Blues pianist Elmore "Elmo" Nixon made his debut as a "front man" when he recorded two songs under the name "Elmore Nix and the Hadacol Boys".
In 2005, Brent Green created an animated short entitled Hadacol Christmas. The animator describes the threadbare 12 minute film this way: "Santa Claus invents Christmas with a belly full of cough syrup and a head full of dying crows." Mr. Green posted the film on YouTube in two parts (Part 1 Part 2).
"Hadacol Corner" was the originally proposed name for the town of Midkiff in Upton County, Texas, but the U.S. Postal Service objected (presumably because it disapproved of a registered brand name's being used as the name of a town).
WINTER HAS ITS UPS AND DOWNS
It seems there's always plenty to loathe about winter: the cold, the snow, sometimes ice, the miserable, gloomy gray days that seem endless. But, as a retiree, there's also a lot to love...sleeping in, a good book, reminiscing and (if so inclined) staying in one's P.J.s ALL day.The first snowfall of the new year (2015) is spectacular to look at from inside my cozy home. While I sip a cup of hot chocolate with the warm steam curling around my face, it's a perfect spot to turn back time.
There is ice underneath today's light covering of snow, but on a fateful day back in 1954 there was only ice. That morning, I was running late to make the 1/8 mile trek to the blacktop to catch the school bus. Just as I stepped off the back porch of our farm house onto the first of four concrete steps, I saw the bus across a pasture on Highway 65. At that same moment, my feet flew out from under me. I went airborne along with my notebook and books I'd been clutching. I landed on my tailbone on a metal boot scraper at the bottom step. Did I cry? You bet I did!Eventually, I picked myself up, gathered my scattered belongings, welcomed empathy from mom, while vowing to heed dad's warnings, "Be careful of that first step when you go out on winter mornings!" After all these years, dad's wisdom still resonates just as clear as it did in my youth. If I never have another mishap, I've had some experiences I'll never forget.
while cleaning, found a stash of letters from Aunt Mary, who is a well of old family stories and genealogy...
11-22-2014 When you were a baby, I thought you were one of the sweetest babies in the WHOLE world! And today, almost 50 years later, you are still very dear to me. The room that I helped decorate (Vaile Mansion) turned out to be beautiful. We've gotten many compliments and I'm proud of it. We 3 friends enjoyed the camaraderie. I hope we'll be able to continue decorating for several years to come! Aunt Dona's birthday is Nov. 28. I think she's around 88 or 89. Her daughter, Dona, would've been 70 this fall. She, your dad, and cousin Butch (George Ross) were all born in 1944. Fred & I have been learning a new card game called GOLF at the senior center and we both enjoy it. (they also go to thrift stores, senior citizen center events, cafes for birthday celebrations.) Virginia called to say that Alvin Sorenson died. He was a bit older than her and me. ( I think 77.) Virginia said that Aunt Maude's 3 daughters Isabel, Sue, & Vera were all pregnant at the same time. His funeral was in Indianola on 11/17. Jan. 5 2015 Aunt Dona's niece Laura Marie Phillips Young (I think 68) died from cancer recently.Aug. 28 2014 On the night (wee hours, around 2 A.M.-2:30 A.M.) of 8/26 I heard coons running around on my roof, then a really loud commotion. I grabbed a flashlight, turned on outside lights, didn't see anything, but left one on. After daylight, I looked around outside and saw where they'd pried off shingles around the roof line on each side of my fireplace chimney and had an actual hole made on one side. I attempted to put up a barricade which didn't stop them. So yesterday eve I bought old fashioned moth balls and dumped them into the hole and worked my fanny off putting sturdy stuff against the hole and a concrete stepping stone against it and it was still in place this morn. Going in/out yesterday eve, carried in perspiration dealing with this problem I caused myself another one by locking myself out. I borrowed screwdrivers and a little pen flashlight from neighbors several houses down, took a basement window out, crawled through the crawl space, dungeon dark without a flashlight, climbed into finished side of basement, got lights turned on, got my house key, backyard gate lock key, and my flashlight.
The pen flashlight was difficult because one had to suppress a button the end. I barely got the window back in before dark, even so, it was hard to see and I had to work mostly be feel because I couldn't hold my window frame, screwdriver, and flashlight all 3. When a keychain came apart not long ago, my house key fell off in the car and I arrived at my front door with only my car keys, so I dug out my hidden key and like a moron didn't re-hide it.Dec. 27 2013 Today is 100 years since my dad was born. The long hours of darkness, often too cold to get outside and walk, car woes, a let down from the anticipation of planning & 18 days of completing the Vaile kitchen decor and of writing of your dads passing on so many Christmas notes/letters, I think all contributed to me having the blues and feeling BAH HUMBUG a lot of this holiday season. Maxine wrote that Marjorie Hamilton (91) passed away. She was the daughter of Clem & Madge (Boyd) Hamilton. (undated) After Mom died and Freeda was preparing to sell dad's house, she sent me a cross stitch pictures that Mom made and gave to her Aunt Mary & husband Charlie Uhler for their 50th wedding anniversary. When Aunt M. moved into small quarters, she gave it back to Mom. I'm glad that she did, so it can stay in our family! I'd like to use it in 2015 decor, wedding theme at the Vaile. ...a quilt, (Texas lone star, I think) made for me winter of 1957-8 by Grandma Daisy and given to me for high school grad. gift. Jan. 5 2014 Virginia told me that Orville & Ruth (Flanagan) Dale's son Eldon & his wife Sue were having a ball reading info you'd put on the internet about Grandpa Johnnie & Grandma Daisy. I have some tidbits. Grandpa Johnnie would sit in a cane woven seat chair behind the wood burning heating stove & cut off the white portions of pop corn with a knife (pocket knife, I think) and gum them. He wanted his socks snow white and grandma would boil them. He wore high topped shoes, both work shoes and dress shoes. He wore overalls for farm chores and with dress slacks suspenders. He used Vitalis hair dressing and was very meticulous. (deb's note: my dad was also very meticulous.) Grandpa drank Hadicol (or Hadical?) an energizer. Grandpa listened to Gabriel Heater (not sure of the spelling) for the news. HE listened to the Great Gildersleeve and Baby Snooks (her voice was Fanny Brice) on the radio and I liked the latter. Grp. made fish bait called "STINK BAIT" that he kept in a covered bucket on the enclosed back porch. He loved to fish and sometimes at Cainesville he & Grm. would take us kids along to Rock Riffle (it was somewhere northwest from the John George corner on Pea Ridge. As I recall, it was a bit n.w. from Surprise School.) We could walk across the river on rocks and play at a distance so as not to disturb the fish. After they moved by us at Trenton, we kids got to go with them sometimes to the Princeton sale (auction) barn. One time at Cainsville Grp., Grm., & dad went to a farm auction. The men and Grm. got separated. When bidding began on a pressure cooker (Mom wanted for canning) both dad & Grm. began bidding & after awhile discovered they were bidding against each other, otherwise Grm. probably would've gone on bidding not to let anyone outbid her. One time Grm. was reading aloud and she kept saying "Shoot, shot. Shoot, shot." Finally Dad said "Oh, shoot, shot, shit!" Boy! That got her dander up! Grm. wanted Grandpa's casket to be brought out to our house and put in our livingroom and a wake held. Mom & dad obliged even though it was June and HOT. She had a phootgrapher to take pics of Grp. in his casket. She carried one of those pictures back and forth from Calif. in her suitcase. Grm. could never keep the seams straight in her nylon hose. One time she came out with her slip showing. Of course, Grp. told her. She trotted back into the house, hitched her slip up over a piece of twin she tied around her waistline, hurried back out to the car and we were on our way. Grm. kept a long braid cut from Aunt Nona's hair and beautiful penmanship of Aunt Nona's in a trunk upstairs at Cainsville. She referred to her deceased daughter as "Little Sister." Aunt Mickey (Uncle Marvin's widow) wrote that Grm. was very disappointed that he stayed in Ca. when he went out after high school to visit Aunt Vi instead of coming back to the farm. He had a dog that crawled under the house, mourning him and died. Grm. referred to her mother (Grm. Boyd) as "Poor old ma." she called Aunt Cora "Corie." Grm. wrote some poetry in the early 1960s, sent it to an address she saw in a magazine ad, believing that they'd use them as songs and pay her. But they requested money from her. She went to her banker who told her that they should pay her not the other way around. We older 3 got to goto/from Columbia & stay in motels when Grp. saw doctors. Once Grm. turned a kettle over our heads to take a shower. Grandma received a record with one of her poems being sung by a woman. I'm sure she must have sent money for it. They made her believe she had great promise. She wanted Al & me to listen to it and guess (as if we knew) who was singing. I guessed "Shirley Joan?" Aunt Anna's daughter. Grm. always thought we had to many clothes. She would rant, "When I was a little girl, I had only 1 good dress!" That was sad, of course. Her mom (Grm. Boyd) was like the old woman who lived in the shoe! Such was common before any birth control pills, vasectomies, etc. Grm. Boyd had 10 children, I believe and maybe one that died in infancy. Grm. liked to interfere with our upbringing. Dad would tell her, "You raised your kids. Now, I wish to Hell you'd let me raise mine!" She loved to check how many miles we put on the car when we were teenagers, so that she could tell dad the following morn. One night we saw her peeking out when we drove in. Freeda announced that she was going to outsmart Grm. She stuck a piece of adhesive tape over the odometer, locked the car doors, which I doubt we normally ever did, then we went in our house to watch. Right away, Grm. came out in her nightgown, flashlight in hand. she tried to peek in through the locked window. Freeda & I had a fit of the giggles. of course the next morn right on cue Grm. trotted over & wanted to know what that tape was doing on the dash. Whenever she had gotten on Grp.'s case, he'd declare, "It's Hell if you do and Hell if you don't!" (deb's note: hmmmm....I think I remember my dad saying this, as well!) Grm.'s siblings believed she (as a widow) & Aunt Cora should care for Grm. Boyd & not expect them to leave their husbands. She was hot over that! Grm. canned meat & anything edible when at Cainsville. electric lines didn't come that far. Someone recently told me that there had been a town or community called Rock Riffle. I think it was on Missouri side in vicinity of Davis City,IA. In the fall of 1953, Grandma Shafer came down to the farm for a visit. Grandpa Johnnie's tombstone had been set, so Grm. Daisy asked Mom & Grm. Shafer to go with her to Martin Cemetery to check it out. Roger may have been with them unless Dad was watching him. Us older 3 kids were in school. Hearing Grm. Shafer tell about this many times was hilarious. She said, "Daisy drove ?MPH the entire way up the highway. Then, when we got to the cemetery, she stepped on the gas and we shot between the entrance posts at 45MPH!" I think it wasn't more than 25MPH, Freeda might remember, but I know it was a snails pace on the highway. Yup! That was Grandma Daisy! Grm. was a spunky old gal for sure! Dad always said that she 'herded' the car. One time she was taking me and Freeda and maybe your dad to Cainsville to visit with Grm. Boyd after Grp. Johnnie died. Her car was parked right outside the back gate to our house under the big mulberry tree. She would kill the engine, roll backwards, try again and again until the car was down against the fence that ran behind the garage over to the milk house. After mom, dad, & Roger lived in Ca., he came back on the train with her when he was 14. Mom & dad gave him orders not to ride in a car with Grm. if she rented a car. Virginia printed off some pictures for me a few years ago. one is Grm. Boyd and children (Freeda, your dad and I are in the group. I'm guessing our ages at around 2, 4, and 6. virginia is also in this picture.). one is a portrait of Grp. Sanford Boyd. One is a portrait of Grm. Daisy as a young woman, she was pretty. One is Grp. & Grm. Boyd with small children and he is holding Grm. Daisy when a baby, plus other pics. (undated) Trisha's oldest just turned 10 on 2/7.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
this makes me think of my dad....a true, original, humble, hard-working farmer. and he truly loved his farm.
he had his bad days, sure, but I don't think even on the days when cows got out or died or the tractor broke down or any other disaster that he would've not just tried to get some sleep and start over again tomorrow. he truly enjoyed putting up hay and building fence. and he taught us some colorful cuss words along the way!!! miss my dad.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Merry Christmas to all Yanks & Rebs...
love this picture.... our families had both, as most families probably did.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)