Aunt Mary memories from recent letters....

Freeda & Jerry were married 64 years yesterday (June 6 2023.)

12-9-23. we had an actual work horse named Old Rowdy. Dad's picture was taken with a team (BIG) named Prince & Puny.

Nov. 30 2023. 63 years ago today your Uncle Al and I were married in NewKirk, Ok.

2-10-24 when we lived near Cainsville, Dad had a big, 2nd hand FarmAll, then he bought a brand new Ford with a bright shiny disc. Uncle JR., Aunt Kate & their mob and her brother Bill came down from Des Moines. All of the guys flocked around the new equipment. Your dad was climbing like little boys do, slipped, but a foot on the disc. Dad, Mom, & Bernard (foot wrapped in a towel) were rushed into town to a dr. (In Uncle Jrs. car.) He was 6. I was 10. Aunt Kate was a good cook, began preparing supper while her brother Bill and I rounded up the cows for milking.

2-9-24 while watching a campfire being lit on tv I remembered an incident when Freeda & I had a slumber party (sometimes called a sleepover). we each invited 3 girlfriends near the end of the school year. oh, what fun we had! Mom, Dad, Roger slept out in Grandma Daisy's cottage. I don't recall where your dad slept. there actually wasn't a lot of sleeping by us teenagers. in the evening, we had a weinie roast in the backyard. one of the girls said "Bernard, you're the flower of the family!" I think it was Marion Saul and I think it was after he toppled over in his chair. she then added "A blooming idiot!" of course, all the girls nearly went into hysterics with laughter. I think that deflated your dads ego.

2-9-24 continued.....Mom had invited Stephen Sharp over to play with Roger. when getting in the car to take him home, Roger got a thumb or finger smashed in car door.

dad said to a little friend of your dads (probably Nolan Robinson) 1. tap on head "Hi, old top." 2. pat on back.."Glad you're back!" 3. twerk ear lobe, "It's been years since I've seen you." 4. last, he'd gently squeeze the nose. "I hardly knows ya!" Nolan's dad was in prison and Dad was a father figure to both him and Donnie.

2-8-24 this evening I thought of a shenanigan your dad & Freeda pulled. After I was working in KC, Freeda wrote me that she and your dad didn't want our dad to know how many miles they'd put on the car one night, so he unhooded the odometer. Before heading home, they pulledinto Bock's Impliment Co. driveway out east on E. 9th. your dad was laying down in front seat, trying to reach under the dash when a police car pulled up and shone a spotlight in on him & Freeda. I guess this nearly scared the crap out of them! they hightailed it home without reconnecting the odometer. the following dad, Dad drove the car while they were in school and learned what they'd done. Grandma Daisy liked to check the odometer and tattle to dad about how many miles we'd put on the car. once we went to Chillicothe to cruise. once your dad briefed us on the movie. after he went and Freeda & I didn't. one night Grm. was peeking out her door so Freeda put a piece of tape on the dash, locked the doors, and we went inside to watch Grm. trudge out in her nightgown with a flashlight. (here deb must inject that I admire Great Grandma's style. more power to her. we nearly wet our pants while watching and trying not to laugh out loud. the next morn, Grm. questioned the tape. once Freeda turned the car lights off because we were past curfew and we tiptoed inside barefoot in the dark. the pull up stairs was in mom and dad's bedroom. dad reached out and grabbed Freeda around the ankle and she let out a blood curdling scream so that ended us sneaking in. ( car still makes noise without headlights, Aunts Mary & Freeda....teenagers. they never ever change.) when your dad was in a lower grade at Central, he got out earlier than us girls. Mom gave him money to go across the street to Muff's Bakery to buy a loaf of bread for our school lunches. he bought candy and said he'd found $ on the hall floor. I remember your dad being teased from then on about finding a dime (I think) just rolling along the hall floor. there was a store called Doc's on the east side of Main that sold penny candy. It seems like we had biscuits in our lunch the next day. your dad, (and I think Merle, Carr, Kay ) and I don't remember who else stopped at a tavern at or near Chula. your dad was 15 and he went in and bought beer. once they were on the highway, they got pulled over. the newspaper only printed your dad's name and the girl driving the car (although she was not drinking.) hasn't MIP always meant IN POSSESSION? and can I possibly find this online in newspaper archives? The tavern owner was guilty of selling to minors prior. mom & dad went to court with Bernard. one time Grm. Daisy gave your dad some marbled when we lived norht of Cainsville and we rode our Shetland pony Sparkle to Grandma's on Pea Ridge. when we got home, he told mom, "Grandma guzzed 'emto me. not having a TV or seeing Santa in a mall like kids today, your dad was terrified and cried upon seeing Santa when he and mom came to a one room school function at the one room Moore School. lots of modern children are scared of Santa as well. Koren and KJ weren't fans. nor Zerelda. as a little tyke your dad climbed upon a stool at the Goodrich Drug Store in Cainsville and ordered something. Freeda & I had to go find mom to come and pay. he got scolded royally. he was in the 1st grade when we moved to Trenton March 1951. Donnie was only 9 when his dad died. when I was 12 and your dad 8, I caused us both to get a belting when I conned him with a dime to disobey dad and stand on the road instead of in the bus shelter dad had built. it looked like a toilet. I wrote a story about it in a creative writing class and it is in a book 1,001 Stories at The Midwest Genealogy Library. I have at least one other story in a book there. the library held the writing classes. as a little tot who played with 2 older sisters, your dad often played house with us and he wanted a doll, too. He named her Sue Carol. Freeda & I thought it should be Carol Sue. of course you did. insert eye roll here. dad had a first cousin Carol Sue King.

The horse head lamp has been in the family for many years. I was still at home when mom or dad bought it. (I think at an auction?) mom polished it with vinegar, it seems.

your dad loved cookies with crushed pineapple and I loved to bake. he pigged out on them warm from the oven then said "why do I do this?" he'd often turn himself against something he loved. he and RoyLee (18) had a warm milk drinking contest in 1952. Roy laid on his stomach in yard moaning afterwards.

your dad was a character. he wanted a 10th birthday party. mom was busy with canning, so unbeknown to her, he invited guests, all boys. Donnie (I'm sure), probably Nolan Robinson, David Lowell, and the boys from Tindall School. mom managed to whip up some refreshments. the boys played baseball. mom laughed about this when he and I went to see her in Aug. 1992 before she died from cancer Dec. 1992. when your dad was 8 he wanted some baled hay and ears of corn left on the front porch for Santa's reindeeer. dad obliged in helping and left a thank you note from Santa. your dad and our dad had an argument the summer your dad was 15. your dad and another boy ( a drifter who'd worked bucking bales with your dad. ) hopped a freight train in Trenton. he made it to NYC and was gone 3 weeks. dad would pace the yard at night unable to sleep from worry, but wanted him to return of his own free will, so did not contact the law. deb has a few questions here..... I was working in KC, and Mom didn't want me to worry so I didn't know about this until I went home on vacation. deb has more questions. so, I guess the Axsom's have ALWAYS been secretive?) when your dad showed up at Liza Burkey's, he was skin and bones. that evening, at the supper table he ate like he was starving. (don't you imagine he was????)

your mom told me that both your dad and Donnie wanted to carry you as a baby when going to a saddle club function. when Al died at your home near Modena, your dad and mom went with me to Slater's Funeral Home to make funeral arrangements. we ate lunch at Goldie's Diner (aunt of Donnie's) . all day, I didn't shed a tear and I wondered why. I think because it all seemed surreal. you and Lisa went to school and Lee Brush babysat Brenda. When you girls were all home, your mom had you to hang up your coats and be seated by her. when she began telling you 3 that your Uncle Al had died during the night and that he would be enjoying beautiful flowers in heaven, you began crying. it was then that I was able to cry. I rushed up the stairs, laid across a bed, sobbing my heart out. momentarily, your dad sad down on the bed beside me and without saying a word he patted me gently on my back. such an endearing gesture meant more than any words could say! in an airport, Salt Lake City, I think, your dad wanted to smoke. we walked a country mile to a lounge. walking back, we saw a plane backing away and believed it was ours and nearly had heart failures and were nearly running. thank God we didn't miss our plane. he told his teacher at Tindall that he was to buy something for his mom during lunch, but he bought cigs at the gas station. they fell out of his desk and his teacher told Mom & I think he was only 8.

so, in conclusion: our dad was buying cigarettes when he was 8, buying beer & jumping freight trains when he was 15....and he knew how to unhook an odometer. he should've expected ornery kids, I think...😂