Ingenuity of a Professional Handyman

There may be only one person in addition to Elaine and I who can relate to this picture. That person is my brother-in-law Larry who is a “professional handyman”. We had been having trouble with one of our toilet stools while he and my sister Janice were visiting us some years ago. It seemed that the “stopper” would flip back to far when flushed and water would continue to run. Larry ingeniously cut a piece of metal out of a soda can and wired it in place to solve the problem. Corrosion ate away at the material and about 3 years ago, I replaced it. It “went bad” again the other day but having learned a long time ago that you never do any plumbing over a Holiday weekend, I waited until this evening to work on it. I also needed to do something productive today in addition to going to coffee, to Kiwanis, grocery shopping and playing 18 holes of golf. I gave some thought to seeing if we could get by until Janice and Larry come this summer but will probably have other “handyman” items on the list when they get here.

Memorial Day 2011

 

My Great Grandfather, Christopher Turner was born in Northern Ireland, September 1, 1833 and came to Illinois in 1851. He served in the 99^th Illinois Infantry, Company A, from 1862-1865 along with troops from Virginia and Cass Counties. Christopher was a farmer/bricklayer who came to Seward County, NE in the early 1870’s and married Matilda Robinson on October 13, 1873. Matilda was born in Tyron, Ireland May 12, 1857 and came to this country as a youngster and on to Seward County, NE. She was 24 years younger than Christopher. They raised a large family here in Seward County. He had suffered several infirmaries during the Civil War and died November 20, 1905. Matilda died July 15, 1930 and I remember there living on the Henry Heuman farm a couple miles south of Seward. Over the years I had heard the stories of Christopher having served in the Civil war but it wasn’t until I saw his name on a bronze tablet in the Illinois monument at the Vicksburg National Cemetery and read more of the battles that it took on new meaning. Elaine had done considerable genealogy research and was familiar with his military service. As we traveled to Biloxi, MS for the International Soil and Water Conservation Society meeting in August 1999 we stopped at several National Parks to get my Passport stamped. It was an honor to have my picture taken pointing to the Christopher Turner name on the Bronze Tablet. It was also an honor yesterday to put a spray of flowers on his grave here in Seward at the Greenwood Cemetery in the shadow of the Guthman Memorial Bell Tower.

Family Tombstones

In accordance with old family traditions, Elaine & I took flowers to family graves here in the Seward Cemeteries this afternoon. Families include parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, great-grandparents, great aunts and uncles. Our Peonies were slow to bloom because of our cool spring but we had enough for our parent’s graves. Beyond that we used plastic flowers. We were pleased to see the amount of decorating that had already been done before we got out. It’s always a solemn task which brings back many memories. The Seward Cemeteries are well maintained so along with all the flowers, and the many, many flags that are displayed, it makes for a very impressive scene. It’s a far cry from what I remember as a child when we lived near the Oak Grove Cemetery out in the country north of Garland. We would not only take flowers and water but also the old “push-type-reel” lawn mower to cut the grass on the family plot. Though that Cemetery was classified as “abandoned”some years ago, the County contracts for the mowing and care of several such ones in Seward County. This public service can be largely attributed to one County Commissioner who did much of the maintenance himself until he got the County committed to it. While at the Seward Cemetery this afternoon, I came across an old friend who is a couple years older than I. He had on dark-glasses and told of eyesight problems. We hadn’t seen each other for a few years and had to ask who I was. Later, I began to wonder if it was because of the way he saw or the way I look.

Energy to Spare

After playing 9 holes of golf and having lunch, I spent nearly 3 hours working in the yard this afternoon. Needless to say, I did stop to rest a few times. With the rain and cool weather, the grass had grown considerably since it was mowed a week ago but I was pleased to see the progress of my asparagus and sunflowers. Elaine has about given up on her radishes assuming that see planted them in the wrong time of the moon since they mostly went to tops. When I finally used up all my energy on the yard work this picture came into view. It was taken in the fall of 1946 when 5 of us fellows went on a trip down in the Ozarks. We had no particular destination but after “throwing a rod” in Bub's '37 Chevy, we enjoyed several days in Conway, Arkansas. This was “Old Town” Conway and not the metropolis it is today. We were fortunate in having a great mechanic get the engine repaired in a matter of 3-4 days. By that time we had spent most of our money and headed for home. We left early one morning, drove through Fort Smith and over to Oklahoma City. We were home early enough to go to a dance in Bee that evening. That was in September of 1946 and Elaine and I had our first date in October of that year. Oh to have some of the energy now that was “surplus” in those days.  

King George VI

With her English “roots”, Elaine had been anxious to see “The King's Speech” since it was first released and especially since the Academy Award presentations. There were no baseball games to watch last night and we needed to take things to the recycle center, so we picked up the DVD from the local Movie Place video store on the same trip. It's a great story but I wonder if his speech problems may have been slightly exaggerated for the movie. I don't remember hearing him speak over the radio but I do remember the day of his Coronation. The spring of 1937 was a busy time at our home with the arrival of twins in January. I had been moved up to 7^th grade and had difficulty competing for good grades with my sister. Students in Country Schools were required to take 7^th & 8^th grade “County Examinations” in those days with tests given in each of the subject areas in the curriculum. The tests were given twice each spring at the nearby High Schools. You could take a tests the 2^nd time to improve your grade if you chose. I didn't know that at the time and missed an opportunity by staying home the morning of the final day of the tests. My morning wasn't wasted however, since I listened to the Coronation of King George VI on the radio and was very much impressed with the formality. King George VI served his country well during the dark days of WWII and the difficult years of reconstruction that followed.  

Harold Walker and his wife Linda from Clinton, Arkansas were at our house the other evening to visit. Harold is one of my first cousins on my Mother’s side of the family and we hadn’t seen them for some years. Of the Walker grandchildren, sister Vivian(d)was the oldest, then Verlon, Clifford(d), Donald, Imogene(d), Marjorie(d), Kenneth(d), Harriet(d), Stanley, Roger(d), Melvin(d), Jerry, Janice, Doris, Delores, David Gene(d), Duane, Bonnie and Ronald. The birth dates range from 1923 to 1948. Nine of the twenty are deceased and unfortunately, little contact is maintained between the cousins. This is in contrast to the first cousins on my Dad’s side of the family where we get together periodically and maintain a family news letter. Ruth(d) was the oldest of the Vrana cousins, then Theodore, Vivian(d), Richard, Robert(d), Linsford(d), Verlon, Donald Wayne(d), George(d), Donald Dean, Doloros, Kenneth(d), Philip, John, James(d), Dale, Barbara Phyllis(d), Robert, William(d), Janice, Jerry, Merle, Bonnie, Patricia, David Gene(d), Margaret and Joanne. These birth dates range from 1918 to 1947. Eleven of the 27 are deceased. The picture was taken when my folks celebrated their 25^th Wedding Anniversary in1945. Most of my cousins on both sides of the family were there as well as their parents. WWII had just ended and several of the older cousins had not yet returned from military service. Families lived closer together back in the days when I and most of my cousins were growing up and so we knew each other. In today’s world families are much more widely dispersed, and it is more difficult to maintain close relationships. However, with Facebook, Tweeter, and other social media, hopefully they can be maintained for the benefit of Families and Society.

Tornados

 The recent tornados brought back memories of the one that hit Ankeny, IA on March 13, 1990  destroying 20 homes and damaged another 16 including our Condominium . This was during the time that I was serving as Executive Vice-President of the International Soil and Water Conservation Society headquartered there. We kept our house in Seward and drove back frequently for family reasons. Elaine stayed in Seward to be with a Granddaughter who had tubes put in her ears the weekend prior to the tornado so I was alone. The Maple Wood Condominiums included several 3-story buildings next to I-25 on the east edge of Ankeny. Ours was on the 3^rd floor in the southeast building of the development. We had 4 inches of rain the night before and by sunset it was obvious that we were in for another storm. While we had warnings, there were none specific to our area. Our electricity went off so I lit a candle on the kitchen table and stepped out on the balcony. The first thing I noticed was the pair of Swan that lived on the small pond in the development went sailing by at the 3^rd floor level. Normally we could hear a constant roar from traffic on the interstate highway but the roar as the swans went by was 10-times greater. Suspecting something was about to hit, I went back inside, blew out the candle and I heard our bedroom windows being blown in and the ceiling in the hallway falling down. It was over in a matter of seconds and when I opened our door to the central hallway, it was blocked with about 2-feet of insulation and ceiling material.  I got on down where residents had congregated and determined that no one in the building had been injured. The top-floor unit to the east end our building was destroyed with the young couple having taken refuge in their bath tub. Considerable damage was done to the whole eastern end of the building. There were injuries on I-25 when motorist ran into debris and auto accidents occurred. I called Elaine 3 times during the course of the evening since they too were in a tornado warning area. Insurance restored all of our damage including new windows, carpet, etc.  I didn’t report that I found a thorn from a locust tree in one of my shoes that had been in the closet with the ventilating doors closed.