Farmer Gary has always been crazy about his dad’s uncle Rob Wigger. Rob was a lovable character. He’d grown up on a farm near where we live today, so his visits were always full of questions for Gary. To me, it felt like a pop quiz. Gary passed with flying colors each time. We’ve been digging around all week looking for a photo or two of Rob, and what we have is a beautiful family portrait, probably taken in 1918….
Every year about this time, the church picnics begin. Every weekend there’s one, and for decades the prime drawing card (and money-maker) was the same: Turtle Soup. Farmer Gary loves Turtle Soup. When I found a family recipe the other day, it got him to telling stories. Not just about the soup. About the man. Johnny Lange. The Turtle Man: Johnny Lange (pronounced “LONG-ee” … Gary would never forgive me if I didn’t add that Johnny had a brother whose…
Farmer Gary and I have a twice-daily tête-à-tête in the sunroom during which time we read obituaries. It’s not my thing, but Gary is a dedicated condolences-giver. Even when it’s been a generation since the last communication, his ears will perk when I start reading the online obit: “Dad bought a calf from his grandfather once. When’s visitation?“ Recently, we added information from the Ancestry app to our routine. It provides that week’s birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and death-date memorials from…
Back when Farmer Gary and I announced our engagement (just-in-time-for-Christmas, 1981), so many of my relatives and college friends chimed in, “My grandparents were farmers!” or “My great-uncle grew up on a farm!” Suddenly, the world was one big farm. I’m experiencing the same with Gary’s family tree. Every ten years, the census report announces this ancestor or that was a farmer. Their children were “farm laborers.” Farmers everywhere! It took a half-second longer than it should have for me…
Let me admit up front to taking more than a few minutes to decide whether to name this post “The Sisters” or “The sisters.” Because this is the story of two sisters who chose to live their lives as Sisters. The past month or so, I’ve dug in on Farmer Gary‘s side of the family. Specifically, after his godmother Stella’s funeral, her sister Marie gave us a packet of information Stella’s late husband, Arch, had collected over the decades. Arch…
Farmer Gary’s grandfather on his dad’s side was George Werne. A good name. The name George means “farmer.” The farmland we live on now – and on which Gary continues to grow crops – was once farmed by George. He bought the “home place,” which was 40 acres, from his parents and later added the “back 40,” where Gary and I built our home and raised our family. George added to the property over the years, bringing the total to…
Today was the day. Time to head to the county courthouse for a little prick in the arm. The entire process took less than half an hour. Checked in, secured a second Covid vaccine appointment, got my “Fauci Ouchie,” and went into the rotunda to sit in a chair for 15-minutes, just in case. And whom should I run into? Why, it’s Mr. Lincoln! As must as I’d like to have sat next to him, Abraham and I agreed that…
Remember the panic about the H1N1 flu a decade ago? There was good reason for that. The first time H1N1 struck was back in 1918. In the U.S., it was originally detected among military personnel, in the spring of that year. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates one-third of the world’s population was infected (about 500 million) by what was then called the Spanish Flu. There were at least 50 million deaths. The death toll included Private John Henry…