February 8, " A Day that will Live in..."

This is how Mother, Vivian, Donnie and I may have looked 85 years ago today as we were ready to leave our home in Seward and move to the farm northeast of Garland. It was to the farm where Dad's parents had moved to from the Abie area when he was 6 years old. I had a severe cold at the time of the move and don't remember much about it. Grandpa and Grandma Vrana had bought a home in Bee, NE, and left all the livestock, machinery, etc. at the farm for Uncle Joe and Aunt Ruth to take over at the time they got married. They moved on after a couple years and that's when we moved onto the place. Our house in town had electricity but no running water so going to an outdoor toilet was nothing new. Mother missed having an electric motor on her Maytag and an electric iron.

 I had gone to Kindergarten in Seward and had just moved in to a new elementary building after Christmas vacation as a 1st grader. I had several good friends among kids my age and couldn't believe the difference when I found myself in this Country School with over 30 big kids. I can't say that I was ever harassed but referred to as a "town kid" in not very complementary ways. Most of the kids in school were 3rd generation immigrant Germans or Czechs and often a Grandparent would be living with them. It was a difficult adjustment, but it was the best thing that could have happened to a "town kid".