Jack and his Great Grandfather

Jack was over early this morning and caught Elaine and I in the bathroom. He knew we looked different but didn't understand why.  Julie and Sadie were also here when I got back home from having a short coffee break. In addition to playing ball, domino's and "Pony Boy", he sat on my lap and wanted to take selfies with the laptop.  We took three and when I looked at them tonight, it struck me that his and my facial expression's were very similar. In fact, I thought it interesting that  while our expressions are different in each of the pictures, his and mine are similar in each. I wondered if we had some sort of special bonding to make that happen. I already knew that we had a pretty special relationship. Sadie had been to Story Time at the Library and brought home several books which she enjoyed having read to her. Jack had his own little book with pictures of objects such as Trucks, Tractors, Cows, etc and he knew the name of most of them. Trucks of any kind are still his favorites.

Cliff Lowell and Hope Springs Eternal

Clifford Lowell presented the program at Kiwanis this noon. He told of his 8-weeks of Basic Training in Texas after having volunteered for the U. S. Air Force in the early 50's. Cliff plays the Piano for the singing at our noon meetings. He has taught school, written a book on life experiences, and makes presentations on various topics over the years. He went into detail with some actual quotes of his introduction to the military. Time didn't permit him to cover the full 4 years of his service commitment but promised to give us "the rest of the story" at a later date. 

I put a dollar in the "Good News" basket and told that Elaine and I had delivering Home Delivered Meals this past Friday for "the last time".  We have been delivering meals here in Seward for a number of years. I mentioned that we usually remember the first time we do things but seldom have the benefit of knowing when we do something "for the last time". There are probably more things in that category that we are ready to accept since "Hope Springs Eternal".

Family Reunion 2005 etc.

This picture was taken back in 2005 at a Vrana cousins reunion held at The Villager in Lincoln. It was planned by Muffy and Ted and was a great event. We took down albums of pictures and memorabilia as did others. Ted, Kenny, Don, Bob and I played 18 holes of golf during the afternoon at Pioneers. A catered set-down dinner was served in a private room where we told Vrana stories and took pictures. We continued the reunion by going to Crete the next day for a Czech Buffet dinner. Several of us played golf again at Highlands in Lincoln. One of the features of the reunion was the unveiling of the "Vrana" quilt. Most families provided a block representing some memory of a family heirloom with Muffy and her daughter putting it all together. 

Don auctioned it off to the group, and we all were  happy to see Muffy have the high bid. Several of the blocks were picture collages but there was good variety. My writing this was prompted by writing our contribution to Pat this afternoon for our quarterly cousins newsletter. I am also in the process of writing a narrative of our activities during 2005. It was one of the few years when I didn't get it done on a timely basis. I am actually going back through my 2005 Journal and reading every page. While it is more difficult to write after 11 years, it is also interesting to recall events that were completely forgotten. Others like the Kiwanis Flag Project saw its beginning back then. I played golf on nearly a daily basis and was on the City Council and deeply involved with other Church, Civic, Fraternal, Retirees and other organizations.

Col. Gerald D. "Jerry" Meyer

We went to the Retirement party for Colonel Gerald D. Meyer this afternoon at the Nebraska National Guard Museum where Jerry will continue to lead the staff for the State as the Nebraska National Guard Historian.  He, Mary and their family came to Seward just a couple years ago when the National Guard Armory here was selected to become the State Museum. Jerry has had an illustrious career with the Guard having enlisted in 1984 in Iowa and trained as an enlisted solder. He was commissioned through ROTC at the University of Northern Iowa. He served in many positions during his career and was deployed on 2 occasions to Afghanistan. He was also deployed for Hurricane Relief. He has, served as a High School teacher in Exira, IA and Columbus, NE. It was in Columbus that he and his students led the effort to build the "Andrew Jackson Higgin's Memorial". Mr Higgins was born in Columbus and designed the wooden landing crafts that helped the Allies win WWII. 

Jerry's leadership and experience made him the ideal choice to head-up the Seward Museum project which took a 1956 National Guard Armory and converted it to the Museum. There is still a lot of work to be done but his leadership so far had demonstrated this will become a destination point for many. This picture of part of the crowd this afternoon gives a glimpse of the "Curtis Pusher" and the recently dedicated "Airborne exhibit" which features a mock-up of a soldier jumping out of a C-130. Jerry and his wife have already had a very favorable impact on the Seward community.

An '05 Birthday Celebration in D.C.

At he end of each year we typically go through my Daily Journal and list what we call Highlights. We usually also write a narrative of the year's activities. Selected pictures are put on collages. The Highlights, Narrative and Collages are printed out from computer files and put in a 3-ring notebook. They are also stored on computer files for each year along with all of our digital pictures, Christmas letters, etc. We found recently that the narrative for 2005 had never been written so we decided to do it. Many of the  narratives have been written years later which is an opportunity to relive many interesting events and refresh our memory of things forgotten.

We celebrated my birthday in '05 by going back to Washington, D.C. and getting most of the family together. We drove our '02 Buick La Sabre, took Carolyn and Julie with us and went to Tim and Laura's in Columbus, IN. We then took their Tony and Maggie and went on to the D.C. area where Jon and Mary's family is located. Verlon drove up from Richmond to join us in visiting the Folk Festival on the Mall, Old Town Alexandria, Historic building on the Mall, and saw the Nationals beat Toronto 5-2 in the old RFK baseball stadium. We all had a great time.

...for the Last Time

Elaine and I started doing "Meals on Wheels" some 20 years ago and for the last several have done "Home Delivered Meals" for Kiwanis. We decided some time ago to "retire" from the task. I even recruited a new member who may be able to "fill in". Our quitting never hit me until Gene, while announcing who was doing what for the Social Services Committee at the Kiwanis meeting this week, mentioned that we would be doing the delivery this Thursday for the last time. While many of the Kiwanians do it by themselves, Elaine and I have always enjoyed doing them together. It has worked out real well since our delivery day coincides with the Senior Center Potato Bake. Our last two deliveries are at the Manor which is adjacent to the Center. The meals for both deliveries are prepared at the hospital, and there are probably over 40 delivered by volunteers. The recipients look forward to seeing the person doing the delivery just about as much as the food. The City of Seward is blessed with a Cadre of volunteers that cover a wide range of activities. The Senior Center is another of the places where a large number of people continue to work to provide service to others. Many of us think America is already great at the local level.

Vrana 1st Cousins

This was taken out at the Vrana farm north of Garland in the late 20's with my Mother, Aunts, and 1st Cousins. The aunts are: Anna, Rose and Tillie (my Dad's sisters), Dad's brother John's wife Anna, and my Mother, Florence. The little kids are (l-r) Dick, Bob (twins), Lindy,  my sister Vivian and me. Another cousin Ted,  a couple years older  isn't on the picture. We were the first "wave" of the 27 eventual cousins. Interestingly, Ted is one of the 14 of us still around and he celebrated his 94th birthday recently. We have always been a close-knit family with annual family reunions when we were kids and then Cousins reunions as our parents passed on. For the past several years, Pat, one of the younger cousins has compiled a Newsletter from information provided by us individual cousins. We are all indebted to her for helping to keep us all in contact. It was her request for information that prompted me to write this and see if this picture has ever been included in a Newsletter.