An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving, the 112th Carnival of Genealogy

Thanks Footnote Maven.

Carol at Reflections From the Fence reminded me I had failed to write my entry for Jasia's "An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving'', the 112th Carnival of Genealogy.  
I have always loved Thanksgiving.  When growing up, my mom, dad and I would make the 80 mile trip to Pawnee.  The family would alter who had the meal. Sometimes it was my Aunt Dora, sometimes my Aunt Lynn, and sometimes my Uncle Ed.  I loved especially when my Aunt Lillie came down from Kansas, because she made the best rolls.  Those were wonderful family days.  All the kids would go outside and play, sometimes getting hurt or in ant hills. (I remember my cousin stripping his pants off because he had stomped in an ant hill. Silly boy.)  Unfortunately, there aren't any pictures from that time that shows how we enjoyed each other.  I also remember there was always a table laden with food.  Two kinds of potatoes, (sweet potatoes, and white potatoes), green beans seasoned with bacon, white and brown gravy, jello plain and with fruit, turkey, and oh my so many desserts.  After dinner, the men would sit and visit about hunting, watch a TV, or snooze, while the women straightened  up.  All the older members of the family are gone. My mom is all that is left of that generation.
Her tradition was grabbing my children to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on television.  My daughter told me even that is not the same. Today, my children are spread across the States, we occasionally may see one or two get together, but more often than not, they have Thanksgiving with their own family and lament that there isn't any family near.

Me with my cousins at Thanksgiving.

Two years ago I wrote this post of what I was thankful for.  No change in this girl's life.

Sentimental Sunday... The Hero Had An Entrepreneurial Spirit

The Hero was always interested in small businesses. He researched all aspects of business. What made it successful, advertising, legalities, marketing, so many different facets.  I asked him why the interest? He said he loved business, and his High School DE  instructor had taught them so much about being in business for yourself, that he was going to do it himself. He was a member of DECA.  DECA still exists today.

The Hero is on the far left. Below, he is in the center.

These are clipping of the same accomplishment. As you can tell their DE was very good.

The Hero had several very good business ventures. One was a decking company.  It was quite successful until the economy took a dip in Houston because of the down turn of the oil industry in the 1980's.  He had a couple more endeavors, but the timing never seemed right for his own company. When he began his battle with cancer, he decided that if he couldn't build his own company, he would make others successful.  He took on several different endeavors of others and in truth assisted them in succeeding.  He believed everyone should have a chance to achieve. 
I was always be amazed at his ability to write bookkeeping programs to fit the specific needs of specialty companies. He made beautiful brochures.  His ability to write legal forms, and fight legal battles for the companies was amazing.  His bookshelf was full of computer software instructional books, legal books, and marketing books.  He applied what he learned early in life to help others achieve their dreams.

Sentimental Sunday The Hero Instructed His Children

My granddaughter was blessed last week and given a name in keeping with our beliefs.  My son, daughter-in-law and myself had come down to my daughter's house to be there for the blessing. There was 8 of us in the house with 2 bathrooms getting ready for the event.  I made the remark to my son, "How did we ever survive with all 8 of us as you all were growing up with only one bathroom?"  He laughed and said, "Dad gave us a Family Home Evening lesson on how to take a bath."  Now there was a smile on his face.  "I still remember the lesson.  Dad was standing there a bar of soap in one hand and a wash cloth in the other.  He said, 'You dip in the water and get wet.  Take the soap and lather and scrub with the cloth. Then dip and rinse.  You are done and out for the next person.' "  By this time my son was laughing just at the thought of the Hero standing with the soap and wash cloth and giving the dipping motion.  I didn't remember this one. I am so glad he shared.

 I hope some of the other children will stop by and give their perspective.  I am giggling as I write this because it is such a Heroism.

Thanks for stopping by. : )

Sentimental Sunday... The Hero Continues to Encourage Others.

When the Hero pushed me to attend my 40th (no old people comments), little did we know it would have far- reaching affects on myself and others.
While we were there, I renewed an old friendship. This is good.  The class was auctioning items to help cover the cost of the reunion. (They are probably the closest class in the Edmond High School ever.) Two of the items were original paintings by my friend. He fell in love with them and won the auction for them.

This one of the painting he won. It is items from her life.

When he visited with her about them, he was saddened to learn she didn't have a great image of herself as an artist and her mother had discouraged her from pursuing her love.  This was just something she had started doing again. He told her, in his estimation, that her work was of great worth.  She should continue. He repeated to me when we got home that he hoped she would keep painting.  He had hoped to sell at least one painting to prove to her it had great worth.  Unfortunately, we found out about his cancer and that diverted his attention so he was never able to achieve his goal.  It was with gratitude, I received this letter this week. I have modified it to keep her family names out of it.  It would have made the Hero very happy to know.

Hi Fran, If this works, you should see included, a pic of the painting I took to my first granddaughter who lives in Colorado Springs.  I'm writing a story or series of stories to go w/ it.  My granddaughter loved it & sat right down & started naming the animals & making their sounds!  She's 19 mos.  I've got new granddaughter, her painting planned-a fish tank w/bright saltwater fish.  It'll be 22x26 same as the other one.  I think of your email informing the class of your husbands passing & the last part telling me he said to keep painting.  That was such an inspiration to me!!! I've been doing just that - thank u so much! Love u 

11-11-11 Happy Veterans Day!

While my dad was living, Veteran's Day was always very important to him. He was proud of having served in the Army Corp of Engineers. I wrote a little about him in a previous blog post.  
I thought I would just post some pictures from when he was in Europe in WWII.  Hope you enjoy.

Newspaper write up in the Pawnee Chief

Marcelle France. The 12 year old girl he always wondered what happened to her. The fellow soldier unnamed

Company 1308 D Army Corp of Engineers

Unknown Soldier and Lester Langley on right in Nice, France.  Maybe some one will recognize.

Lester on the left, T4 Good on the right, Picture says 'the day I got out of hospital in France' (Lester's hand writing)

Lester 1943 Marcelle France

Record of Honorable Discharge. Is not online.

Sentimental Sunday The Hero Helped Save His Granddaughter

I was thinking of my granddaughter, Iris, while driving and a story came to mind.  
When Iris was about 18 months old, she was an adventuresome child. (maybe her mom will drop by and correct any information I may remember incorrectly. It was a highly emotional time.) Her mom put everything up as high as she could because Iris liked to climb.  
One early evening, I received a call from Iris's mom who was clearly upset.  She said Iris had climbed, using the dresser drawers, to get to the top of a high shelf where she had put the cleaning products and had apparently gotten some rust remover called Whink on her hands.  She wasn't sure if she had gotten any in her mouth.  What should she do?  The only thing I could think of was call 911.  

The Hero came in asking what was going on.  I told him and we pulled down my bottle of Whink to see what was the active ingredient in it that removed rust. It was Hydrofluoric Acid (Hydrogen Fluoride).  I will digress here a minute to fill you in on the Hero's background.  When he worked for the building materials company, he was in charge of safety and making sure the OSHA rules were followed. He held regular safety meeting, and kept a MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) on each product they sold, even the cements.  When he heard Hydrofluoric Acid, he thought it sounded familiar but couldn't remember.  
We took our daughter over to watch the other children, while we took the mom and Iris into the Emergency Room. They had said bring her in. Redbeard was meeting us at the hospital.  While we were waiting, some red spots appeared on her arms and thighs, then disappeared.  The wait continued. She wasn't sick, but the worrisome reds spots would come and go. An hour later, Redbeard got them to at least let the physician's assistant see her while we waited.  
Our faith believes in laying on of hands.  While we sat in the back room, still waiting, the Hero and Redbeard gave Iris a blessing, that said among other things, "that her caretaker would know what to do."  A few minutes later, the PA came back in, examined her and said she didn't see any challenges, and to give her Benedryl for the apparent red rashes and sent us home. 
The Hero was upset, but it wasn't his call, so we all loaded up in the cars and left for home.  As we were driving, the Hero slapped the steering wheel and said "I remember what Hydrofluoric Acid is!  We had it for a cleaning fluid out on a job, and it was so caustic that the men had to dress in spaceman suits when cleaning with it.  I need to see a MSDS on it, something is not right!"
When we arrived at home, he immediately got on the computer and looked at the MSDS online.  Oh, wow!  It was an awful chemical.  He found the emergency medical service number, an 800 number, and called Redbeard and told him to call.  
Later Redbeard called us back and said it was a poison control center in Denver. They were the only ones with the treatment information on the product.  The Benedryl was the wrong thing to give her.  The red splotches was the chemical moving through her body.  It was like an internal burn. He was told to give her tums, and to make pastes of the tums and apply it where the splotches had been.  
The next day my daughter took her into see the pediatrician.  The Doctor had never heard of Whink, or the treatment.  Later we found she had talked with her friend in chemical who confirmed what we had found.  She said she couldn't believe they never taught about that when she was in school. 

In the end, all was well.  In truth, Iris's caretakers found what to do.  Her granddadE loved his "Copper Top" so much.  He loved being around her and watching her never ending energy.  I wanted her to know that he was always there for her.