Thursday, July 14, 2011


I wish that every little girl could grow up being as proud of their Dads as Elaine has been of hers. Sometimes our daughters know us too  well and recognize our many foibles but still love and respect us for who we are. Elaine has never compared me to her Dad and has always helped to bolster  my image, particularly when our four children were at the formative stage. However, there are some things that no one could do as well as Albert. In fact there were quite a few things. One that she has talked about for years had to do with his ability to turn a cream separator.  Her family milked cows and sold cream, dressed chickens and eggs to people in Seward during the days of her childhood. As her story goes, “Daddy was the only one that turned the handle on the cream separator because he could turn it at just the right speed to separate out cream that when cooled, would hold up a knife. And, that is what their customers expected”.  I have heard that story over the years as part of the history of her growing up on the farm during hard times. Though dubious, I never questioned its authenticity.  Elaine’s older brother (and he has a PhD in Agronomy) were out for lunch last week so I asked him if he ever turned the cream separator as a young man and he gave us the same story Elaine has been telling. After lunch we all went up to help her older sister Joyce celebrate her 92nd birthday. At an appropriate time, I asked her if she remembered anything about their cream separator and selling cream during the depression years. Would you believe she repeated Elaine’s story word-for-word. What a wonderful memory of a Dad who could do something that so impressed his children that they all recall the details after 70 years.   

1 comment:

  1. Neat post, Dad! And I hope you know how much I still depend on and value your opinion and wisdom, too!

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