I am sure many readers of Cousins have family and ancestors who were married 50 or more years. Have you ever noticed how old they are. In my husband's family, I found three sets of grandparents who were married for 50 or more years. First is Hallie and Ina Augustus who were married over 50 years. Hallie and Ina are my husband's maternal grandparents. Ina's parents, his great-grandparents, Edward and Minerva Reeder celebrated 69 years of marriage. Edward's parents, John M. Reeder and Elizabeth Neely who were married in 1858 reached 51 years before great-great grandma Elizabeth Neely Reeder died in 1909.
On my side, there were my parents who were married 50 years in 1991 and were 2 weeks short of 62 years when my mother died. My maternal grandparents, Bert and Nina Grisso, celebrated 50 years in 1969. My paternal great-grandparents, Charlie and Jennie Wright not only reached 50 years but made it to 69 years just like Edward and Minerva Reeder on my husband's side. Great -grandma Jennie Wright's parents, Nathan and Anna Olmsted were also married 50 or more years. Research will probably find more.
Well, guess who is joining all those old couples. My husband and I will be married 50 years on November 26, 2016. We might be old, but we have had a good time getting here.
Last year I wrote about Thanksgiving memories and feelings. This year I hope you will re-read it. Click on Thanksgiving Memories or read it in the featured post on the right side of this page.
I am especially thinking of my dear friend from that Thanksgiving at Fort Rucker when her husband, Dan, teased me about having Prime Rib. It will always be one of my favorite Thanksgivings.
Happy Thanksgiving to every one reading this post. Hold your loved ones close and join me in giving thanks for another year of being together.
Growing up, I always knew the answer to the question of America's first coast to coast highway. America's first coast to coast highway was also known as The Lincoln Highway. And The Lincoln Highway ( Also known as U.S. 30) went right through my hometown. I have mentioned that it passed between The West End Cafe and The Skelly Station. At one time it went directly down Main Street. At sometime, it was diverted away from Main Street and routed around the southwest corner of the town. In my family, this was significant because my great- grandmother's farm was affected. She lost a small corner of her farm to this highway project. In the 40's and 50's when my dad was farming the land, he had the opportunity to watch the coast to coast traffic going past the corn rows he was working. He was convinced from his daily observations that the worst drivers in the country were from Illinois and California. I have no idea what his criteria were, but he felt very strongly about it.
Sometime in the 50's, U.S. 30 was rerouted to the north side of town. There was an effort to move the highway to avoid having so much traffic pass through the main part of town. The old highway was left intact and soon we had two ways to the county seat, the next town to the east. These highways are still called Old 30 and New 30.
Another connection I had to this famous road is that the farm I lived on while in high school was located on Old 30.
This highway has an interesting history and on its 100th anniversary, The Lincoln Highway Association brought its history and significance to the attention of the country.
Many websites, blogs and other informational pages from the Internet provide information about The Lincoln Highway. I hope you take some time to read more about it.
No, our family is not related to the Kennedy family. I thought I needed to make that clear immediately. This post title might have made a cousin or two jump to the wrong conclusion. After all, we enjoyed learning about our relative Dr. Grisso.
Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy is the title of a book by Kate Larson which I just finished reading for my winter book club. I highly recommend it.
Reading about Rosemary and what mental health was like in the 20's-50's and even beyond, made me think about a relative that many of my cousins may not have been aware of. She was the wife of my great-great Uncle LeRoy Vorhies. Uncle LeRoy was the youngest brother of our Great Grandma Estella Smith. Lulu was institutionalized in Colorado for many years. This is about all I know. Now I wonder why. Now I am motivated to learn more. When I know more, you will be the first to know.
Recently, we visited Las Vegas to attend the Sweet Adelines International Competition. A friend was singing and with our winter proximity to Vegas it seemed like a great way to support my dear friend whom I have rarely seen for over a decade. While there, we also helped a high school friend celebrate his birthday. Such fun with new friends and old friends. It is true that new friends and old friends are silver and gold. Time is precious. It was a special few days.
Looking through Mary's calendar, I see that Mary and Vern were in Vegas at about the same time only sixteen years earlier. It appears they arrived on Sunday, October 8 and checked into room 1509 at the Las Vegas Club. The reader may remember that Mary almost always recorded the hotel room number when they traveled.
Monday, October 9, 2000
went to gamble at 6:15. toast and coffee at Horseshoe
Breakfast with Pat & Cecil at 4 Queens
I hit 3000 nickels
Vern hit $445 at Las Vegas Club
to bed at 9:15 p.m. In the 70ties.
both tired
Tuesday, October 10, 2000
brkt [breakfast] at Dugout on Main St. No luck
I won $200.00 at L.V Club on wheel of Fortune (2)
Vern won on W of Fortune also. Connors came to eat
chicken & lunch with us at L.V. Club. I made about
$700 to-day to room at 7:30 both tired
Wednesday, October 11, 2000
45 degrees at 6:10 a.m. brkft at Union Plaza went
to Sam's town. lunch at soup & salad buffet back
to Fremont at 1 p.m. Went to Californian lost on
double diamond. Connors left for Iowa
cool most of day wore jackets.
There are no more reports of winnings on Thursday and they left Vegas Friday a.m. at 10:30. They always had fun when they went gambling... win or lose.
We learned about Menehunes when we spent winters on Maui. Menehunes are mysterious small people who come around when no one is looking and do secret things. Like say, you can't find something. Oh, the Menehunes took it or did it or whatever blame you want to put on them. Mostly they do good deeds, but they seemed be thought responsible for other activities that are unexplained.
My point? The Menehunes have been messing with my blog. I have admitted how my Pre-election post got published. I accidently hit the publish button instead of the save button. But how my post from July 16 ended up in my email box recently is something I can not understand. The only answer is Menehunes. I sure hope they don't mess with me again.
If you are an email subscriber to the blog Cousins, you have already read today's post. Last week I must have pushed the publish button which is right next to the save button. See what happens when I take a break. I have to be retrained. So, the following post was intended for November 7, 2016. Read it again if you wish. You may find that I made a couple of corrections.
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Well, tomorrow is the big day. Election Day 2016. Looking back at Mary's 2000 calendar, I see the date was November 7 when Mom voted in 2000. I say "Mom" because I don't know if my father ever voted.
Tuesday, November 7, 2000
28 degrees @ 6:10 a.m. Went to vote-
coffee at CM site. Stopped at Doll's
at Lounge. Lunch at Long John's at Ames
tried to find people at N Star Fish Hatchery
stayed all nite at Casino. Room 347
Wednesday, November 8, 2000
23 degrees at 9:30 a.m. at home left casino
at 6:48 home at 9:30 a.m. I went to
Carroll for lunch with Wed Club at Family
Table. home at 2 p.m. Doug Beckman here
to-nite for chili. Hunting deer.
Thursday, November 9, 2000
23 degree @ 5 a.m. Cool all day. Doug
Beckman got his deer about 8:30 a.m.
I went to get my hair set in a.m. We both
napped in p.m. John called to-nite. Cecil
has cancer in ribs & skull. Taking radiation
And then the next week:
Tuesday, November 14, 2000
22 degrees @ 5 a.m. Chilly all day
read and napped. Florida votes
counted all day on T.V. windy &
cloudy till noon
As I listen to the commentators make reference to the problems in the 2000 election, I enjoyed reading the notes of an ordinary citizen
( my mom) making note of votes being recounted. What will 2016 bring? How much of it would have appeared in mom's calendar if she were still with us.
My genealogy research and organization is sort of on hold. Surgery, travel and readjustment to our winter home have played a role. My blog has suffered too.
I've been reading other blogs and am "almost" inspired, but then I fade back into my lack of enthusiasm. However, thanks to one special cousin, I am going to attempt to get back to it.
I promised more Mondays With Mary in a recent post. I need to keep that promise.
With the election approaching, I thought I would share a memory from the election of 1980. I actually found the letter I am going to tell about while sorting papers this summer. I thought I scanned it to include in a future blog. The future blog is here but who knows where I stored the letter on my computer. So, here is the story without the evidence.
In 1980 when Ronald Reagan won the election, I was teaching 5th grade language arts. Somehow, I came up with the idea of the kids writing letters to Ronald Reagan with their advice for his presidency. Amazingly, he (undoubtedly his staff) wrote back to my students. The letterhead said Office of the President-Elect, Ronald Reagan. The kids and I were all thrilled. Evidently, my principal was thrilled as well. One day he came to my room and asked to see the letter. He took the letter, made a copy for me and kept the original for himself. Hmmmm. It wasn't until years later and with a little more maturity that I realized this wasn't really right on his part. Oh, well. I have the memory. I have the copy. Now if I can just find it.
