Aunt Dorothy & "Our Little Home"

This picture was taken a few months earlier at our "little home" than the one I posted yesterday with Vivian and I cutting apples and Donnie in a crib next to us. Aunt Dorothy is with Mother, us boys and Trixie. This was on the east side of the house near some of the Apple trees in the orchard. Aunt Dorothy (Mother's sister) was a part of our lives for many years. As a young girl she was stricken with "Infantile Paralysis" (Polio) which limited the growth of one of her legs. She wore a built up shoe but walked with a decided limp all her life. When Uncle Clarence's wife, died suddenly leaving 3 little kids under 5 years old, Aunt Dorothy volunteered to help fill the void in helping raise the family. When the kids were raised and on their own, Aunt Dorothy invited her Uncle Fred to come live with her in his declining years. They were very compatible and did a lot of child care. Occasionally, we even had them take care of our 4 kids when we lived near them in Lincoln. She was recognized by Radio Station KFAB as the "Good Neighbor of the Midwest" in 1956. 

After Uncle Fred passed on she moved back to Seward into The Manor and spent the last of her 90 years in the Sundermann West Care Facility. Her sister Ethel spent time with her during these years as did Elaine and I. She had many of her Mother's desirable Irish traits. 

This is a winter view of our "little home" as Mother would say, and shows the Outhouse, Goat shed at the end of the Garage, wash house and the house. When the Folks sold the place to Hughes Bros. in 1944, we put skids under the tin garage, and I drug it with our John Deer A out to our farm north of Garland.

Early Childhood

During our visit to the Seward County Fair that ended last night, I had occasion to mention to a friend that I was born near that location many years ago. Some of the ancient building are seen in the background of this picture. The Grandstand was to the left of the buildings in the picture. The race track extended from that area right up to the other side of the RR tracks and just beyond the white post shown. Donnie was a cute little fellow in the crib; Vivian and I were cutting up apples which Mother used to make Apple Butter. I don't remember the kettle I was working with, nor the dishpan, but the blue bowl that Vivian has was a part of Mother's kitchen equipment for many, many years. We were close enough to the Grandstand that Vivian & I would take our coaster wagon over and ride down the steps. The City park was nearby so we would also ride on the swings and slide.

This picture was taken over a year later when Aunt Ethel, Uncle Ralph and Aunt Dorothy stopped by. Here again some evidence of the Fairground and racetrack is visible in the background. We are standing on a platform above the door to our cave. While we had electric lights, we kept many things in the cave using the small ice box very sparingly. Everyone looks "dressed up" but me.  I might have had to stay home and take care of our goats while the rest of them went some place. I wasn't able to digest breast nor cow milk when I was a baby; so Dad bought a Nanny goat for $60.00. The goat's milk agreed with me and got me off to a good start. We later moved out to the Vrana farm where my Dad grew up. It was a difficult transition for a "town kid", going from a new school building to an old country school with kids in all eight grades. 

'36 Ford Automobile

My Brother sent information on this car. "In 1935, officials at Allegheny Ludlum Steel Division and the Ford Motor Company collaborated on an experiment that would become a legacy and a tribute to one of the most dynamic metals ever developed. Allegheny Ludlum, a pioneer producer of stainless steel, proposed the idea of creating a stainless steel car to Ford. The idea took shape in the form of a 1936 Deluxe Sedan." This story reminded me of the '36 Ford Victoria that we had in the late '50's as our first, 2nd car. Elaine often wanted to take the kids and go out to her Folk's farm and I had driven our car to work. Seeing this green Ford Victoria on the Ford Dealer's lot one day, provided a solution to our problem. 

 Our offer was accepted on 2/23/55 for a house on 5th St. and on 3/2/55 we bought this low mileage, '36 Ford  for $35. It had belonged to an old maid who gave it good care. It got run into on 8/22/55 while parked on our side street resulting in minor damage. (I did have it properly parked at the time.) With 4 little kids, we traded our '52 Chevy for a new '56 Pontiac Station wagon on 4/13/56. Elaine was teaching Sunday School and on 8/12/56, she put the 2 older boys in the back seat of the Ford and hurried to Church. As she turned on to 5th St., the back door flew open and Tim rolled out on to the busy street. I had watched the whole event take place and rushed out to pick up this 4 year old. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt and they went on to Church. I don't think she ever drove it again after that nor did she want the kids riding in the back seat. By 12/7/56 I bought a '47 Chevy 5-passenger Coupe from Sahn's and sold the old Ford to a couple of young farm boys from Bee for $90.00.

Seward County Fair

Marv and his Lady were working the Kiwanis Club of Seward booth at the County Fair when we stopped by this afternoon. This is the 146th Annual Seward County fair which is running August 11-14. 2016. The number of events, the extent of open class exhibits, the amount of 4-H competition and the entertainment schedule is just unbelievable. Each year it seems that the Fair Board is able to put together a schedule that tops the previous year. When the State Fair was is Lincoln, it was always the "big fair" for most of us in this area. Since it moved to Grand Island a few years ago, both the Seward and Lancaster County Fairs have grown considerably. We didn't participate in very many of the activities but did enjoy the exhibits and booths in the Ag Pavilion when we got down for the Polka Jamboree. Franklin Hronik heads up the group of Button Accordion players that also includes a Drummer and Tuba player.

This group plays for several events during the year and is always an attraction at the Fair. Dennis (far right in the picture) is the only local person in addition to  Franklin. They come from David City, Crete, Valparaiso and elsewhere and seem to enjoy playing as much as we enjoy listening. My Dad would have enjoyed playing his button accordion with such a group but never had the opportunity. Son Jon would have to learn some of the music since they all play by ear but they still play many of the same songs he heard Dad play.

Nebraska Elected Officials

Governor Pete Ricketts, Lt. Governor Mike Foley and our State Senator, Mark Kolterman held a Town Hall meeting in Seward this morning. I had another commitment so was unable to take-in the whole session but was very favorably impressed with what I heard. The Governor used budget charts to show State funding to agencies, commissions, and others receiving state funds. He is very articulate and demonstrated a working knowledge of each entity in his discussion. He focused on the number of quasi administrative commissions receiving state funds, outside the Governor's control. 

  The Nebraska Natural Resources Commission was such an Agency during my 8  years there during the '80's but has since been brought in as a "Code" agency and later combined with the Department of Water Resources to become the Department of Natural Resources. There are legitimate arguments on both sides of the "independent commission" issue, but I can certainly understand the Governor's point-of-view.  The professionalism shown by all speakers was what we Nebraskan's expect of elected officials, I wish we could see something similar in our Presidential Candidates.

A 97 degree Birthday.

I put this picture of Carolyn on Facebook this morning for her Birthday, with this message: "Would you believe that this little girl now has 2 Grandchildren to play with instead of this Barbie Doll". This was taken at our home in Lincoln ahead of our moving to Virginia later that summer. Carolyn would have been approaching her 9th birthday. She had a little red haired girlfriend her age that lived next door. They were best friends during the four years we lived in Lincoln and have had occasion to get together since coming back to Nebraska. I found a notation that this Barbie Doll was her first. I have no idea how many she may have had eventually. One of Carolyn's many traits is her ability to foster good friendships. That trait has been a blessing over the years and still is today. It has no doubt been of more value to her than the old "Vrana trait", that never allows you to passively accept something you don't agree with without speaking up to question it. While we have thoroughly enjoyed a close relationship with Carolyn over the years, we have more than ever appreciated she, Ben, and all of our Seward family as we grow older. 

Elaine and I did some geneological research this afternoon in an attempt to put together family relationships of some people who passed on during the 20th Century. Elaine has done a lot of work on my family but some connections are still difficult. As we worked in the living room on this rather tense project with the outside temperature in the high 90's, we noticed that it was even getting warm inside the house. I checked the thermostat which was set at 75 degrees and the temperature showed 80. I checked the vents and no air was moving. I went right to the phone and called H & S Plumbing at 4:40. The receptionist said she would try to catch Tim before he got away. He was over within a few minutes. After checking  things in the basement, he went up in the attic where the fan is located and determined its motor was the problem. He went back to get one and installed it in the blower in the garage before taking it back up to the attic. Everything worked, and he was on his way before 6:00pm.

Seward Memorial Library Site

This is what the lot looked like south of the Post Office when Bob Dahms and I talked to John and "Red" Keller about making it available for the Seward Memorial Library. Bob and I were on the Library Foundation Board along with others, and their willingness to make it available was great news. The Foundation had looked at several other possible sites and none were nearly as desirable as this "downtown" location. Getting this southeast quarter of the block "paved the way" for obtaining the SW quarter of the block where the Library was then constructed.  This is what the west half of the Library half-block looked like on Saturday, October 21, 2000 when the Seward Fire Department burned down the two old houses that sat on the property. The two old buildings on the right side of the picture, on this side of the City Hall, were also demolished for the Library. The building at the left edge of the picture was across 6th street, west of the library and was demolished fairly recently to provide for the expanded and renovated Jones National Bank and Trust. These were major improvements to downtown Seward.