barque at Holmes Hole Harbor
The Bath Slave Case

The Bath Slave Case

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Sometimes when searching for family information in newspaper archives, there’s a story that simply must be shared. Today’s search was in the Bangor Weekly Courier. The year: 1854. I was looking for Olympe Josephine Poulin Lambert, my great-great-great grandmother (her daughter Olive was George Vayo‘s mother). The poor woman only lived to be 35 or 36. I was hoping to at least discover her date of death and burial place. Using the unusual first name of Olympe, the search began….

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2025 snowfall
‘January Thaw’

‘January Thaw’

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The mercury hit 57 today and may make it even higher tomorrow. That is what you call a January Thaw! Thing is, there’s nothing to thaw. No snow since last month, and even then, not much to brag about here in southern Indiana. No doubt that will change in the coming weeks and I’ll eat my words, crunching on icicles all the while. Growing up in western Massachusetts, we had a January thaw each year. The best part (next to…

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Sister Lucia Schmitt
Sister Mary Lucia

Sister Mary Lucia

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You may remember the tragic story of Peter Schmitt: “The $2 Murder.” Peter’s mother, Maria Theresia Mehling Schmitt, was a relative from Gary’s father’s side of the family. (Even though Mehling was Gary’s mom’s maiden name.) I can just hear Gary’s Mehling cousins in chorus: “Prove it!” That is what all the online genealogy classes I take preach, too. Not to mention my journalism professors in college. And so, courtesy Ancestry.com: Now that we’ve got that established, let’s learn a…

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The Snow Queen
A giant, a queen, and a starling

A giant, a queen, and a starling

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As 2025 ends, the books of December are a mix of fable and fact. The first – a special treat – was read to me entirely by grandson Cam. He used a variety of excellent character voices, which never failed to delight me. He’s shares his thoughts in Book 1, below. Book 1: The BFG by Roald Dahl The BFG by Roald Dahl, in my opinion, is a great book to read. The story has Sophie, the main protagonist, and…

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Crocheted tuxedo cat
‘Picasso’s Cat’

‘Picasso’s Cat’

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Judging from Mom’s poem below, I’m guessing she and Dad had just returned from a trip to The Hemingway Home in Key West, Florida, when she wrote this: Picasso’s Cat whichever life it wasdiscarded broken to the boxthe nine were not exhausted in Hemingway’s housethe cat Picasso madeemerges whole on the high chestout of Mexicohe tops it like a santothe house guides and the garden cats below pay homage ~ joan vayo ~ January 31, 1996 There are numerous stories…

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1955 Christmas - Mom and Harry
‘Solstice 1955’

‘Solstice 1955’

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This poem didn’t appear until its subject matter reached 41 years old. Mom, God bless her and keep her, may well have taken till then to get a good night’s sleep! Solstice 1955 Our son slept in the circle of my armsthat winter afternoon we drovethrough little towns in Massachusettssnow fell on the streetsand in the toy storewhere the china stars were sold ~ joan vayo ~ August 13, 1996 Sorry, Harry – I guess Mom and I just gave…

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1918 Leo Werne
The Doughboy

The Doughboy

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He was the only local boy to fight in Italy during World War One. Leo Paul Werne was a younger brother of Gary’s grandpa George. Born on January 25, 1891, he was 25 when the call came to sign up for the draft. Leo prepared to go “over there.” As part of the American Expeditionary Forces, Private Werne was a “Doughboy.” According to a front-page article in The Ferdinand News on May 23, 1919, Leo had quite an adventure: Returns…

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binoculars
‘AMERICAN GOTHIC – Nineteen-Sixties’

‘AMERICAN GOTHIC – Nineteen-Sixties’

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On the sad anniversary of Sandy Hook and the day after the Brown University shooting, I’ll just leave this here: “AMERICAN GOTHIC – Nineteen-Sixties” ©1971  Joan Vayo. All rights reserved. Binoculars photo courtesy Alan Levine. Please subscribe here and we’ll send an email notice with each new story:

1978-80 Mom & May
‘Winter Red’

‘Winter Red’

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We all were prone to red cheeks in the wintertime. Even inside the house: One teacher in junior high loudly proclaimed I looked like one of the Campbell Kids when I arrived at school, winded, after bicycling to school. That last hill was long and steep. Had I not been still out of breath, I’d have sassed the bum. Mom loved the reds of winter, and wrote this poem a quarter century ago. Winter Red Clap for colorholly winterberrycome caps…

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1913 Minnie Mehling
The hat

The hat

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Farmer Gary‘s great-grandfather Anton Mehling was born on October 2, 1862. To be completely honest, my interest in Anton started with his wife. His second wife. And that incredible hat: They married on April 8, 1913. Anton had been a widower for three years; Minnie had lost her husband in 1912. Minnie’s maiden name was Philomena Pfaff (according to Gary, the first “f” is silent). She married Fred Tillman, who was born in Prussia but grew up in southern Indiana,…

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