RECENT POSTS
Mourning the Losses in the "Hap, Happiest Season of All" December 13, 2020
In 1960, Bill's Dad Took Him to Enlist November 11, 2020
The Day After Graduation November 05, 2020
Seeing Things She Didn’t Think She Would See October 15, 2020
Mourning the Losses in the "Hap, Happiest Season of All"
Today a song came on the radio and I wasn't prepared for how it would make me feel. It was Andy Williams singing, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." I love to sing! I launched into the song at the top of my lungs, and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I kept singing, but I was singing through loads of big, fat tears. I was crying a LOT as I kept singing, "It's the hap, happiest season of all!"
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In 1960, Bill's Dad Took Him to Enlist
“When I turned 18, my dad asked me which branch of the military I wanted to join. He took me to enlist in the Air Force in 1960, and I was discharged in 1969. I served all over the world. My boot camp was at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. I did data processing during my time in the military, with additional assignments.
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The Day After Graduation
I enlisted a day after I graduated from high school. I chose the Army because I knew if I went in the Navy, I would get seasick, so the Navy was not a good choice for me. My vision wasn't good, so flying was not for me either. I believed enlisting was the responsibility of anyone physically able to serve their country.
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Seeing Things She Didn’t Think She Would See
“I was born in Talladega, Alabama, where I was raised on my grandfather's cotton farm. I enjoyed living there, and we were never bored! We had a lot of freedom and plenty of space to run around and play. We grew our own vegetables and raised our own cattle, and my grandfather was well-respected as a businessman. He was a Native American, so it was impressive at that time in the South that he owned his own farm. We never had to worry about anything.
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What's the most interesting job you've ever had?
"One day, I was talking to a fireman and he told me to put my application into the Battle Creek Fire Department. I was hired, and it started a wonderful career for me. I loved that every run was different and there were never any two alike.
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True to Her Word
Before I was born and while I was young, Grandma Maggie and Grandpa John owned on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Every morning around 4:00 AM, Grandpa John and a hired man would get up and milk the cows by hand. The milk would be put into 10-gallon milk jugs which were then loaded onto the back of a horse-drawn wagon.
While they had been out milking, Grandma Maggie would have prepared a large farm breakfast. Then their five children, including my mom, Agnes, would come down to have breakfast together. Before long as breakfast was finished, it was time for the kids to throw on their coats and grab their things for school. They would hop on the back of the milk wagon to get dropped off at school, as Grandpa went on to drop the milk at the local dairy.
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A Lifelong Passion for Cycling
“Biking has long been a favorite hobby of mine. I remember getting my first bike from the Marion Gamble Hardware Store as a birthday gift from my parents when I was in grade school. The picture on the right is of my father holding me when I was just a newborn.
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What is Your Favorite Fourth of July Memory?
“Now my family has a cookout, and sometimes we go to a parade. Growing up though, about the time when my brother was two years old, my mother told him that all the fireworks were people celebrating his birthday because his birthday was on July 3rd. The funny outcome was he believed it until he was in first grade!” -Sandy L.
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An Unforgettable 4th of July
As a kid, our family would always go to the local fireworks display to celebrate the 4th of July, and while it was a tradition that I greatly enjoyed, there is one entirely different 4th of July celebration that I will never forget.
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Honoring Our Fathers
It began before I can even remember. Since infancy I have been a daddy’s girl. My parents tell me of how when I was a baby, my father worked second shift. To allow my mother to get a bit of sleep, she would pass me to him, as he got home from work and she headed off to bed. He would talk to me while he heated up and ate his dinner. He would play with me and read me the newspaper. For an hour or two each night before he put me to bed, I had his undivided attention, and surely, I thought that was just the greatest thing ever!
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