Friday, August 27, 2004
JANUARY TO JULY....1974
January 13th….the Vikings won the Super Bowl.
January 28th…..Mohammed Ali won the heavy weight championship fight.
March 20th….Chet Huntley….network news anchor died.
The weather was very cold in our area for this end of winter. After the first of the year we took down the Christmas tree and re-organized the house. When you live in a mobile home that is a constant job. Warren and I were more involved in church every year. I made a promise to God that I would step up and be counted when and where I was needed. He had been very good to me and I knew it was time to try and give something back…..He took me at my word.
Warren did the same and with him working at the shoe factory and me taking care of Jennifer, doing mom and Ruth’s hair each week along with their sewing and my own……it was amazing how we had time to make it around the clock…but we did. The difference was….when you give it all to God, He makes time for you to get “it” done. As I read back in my journal we were having mom and dad, Ruth and Floyd, Becky and Hank and many friends from church over to eat with us several times a week. I have never been a “box” cook so when I read about all the cakes, pies, hot rolls and the mountain of cookies and meals I served, it was in a mobile home with no air conditioning and a very small kitchen. I am not patting myself on the back but testifying what God can do when He is in charge.
We went to church and Sunday school mornings; training union and church on Sunday evenings. Bible Study (held in homes) one evening a week, prayer meeting and choir practice on Wednesday’s. In between we were studying the Bible on our own and being fueled and inspired more each day. It was a time of enormous spiritual growth for both of us.
Through the last of winter and the early Spring, mom and dad went back and forth to see about uncle Alfred who had pneumonia (he lived in Mountain Home, AR.) and to the hospital in Springfield where aunt Mardelle was having serious heart problems. In May they went to Blair as grandma Stricklett was dealing with serious vascular problems in her legs. She had always eaten like a bird and never indulged in rich food, fat or sugar. Nowadays they would think with her particular problems that she had too much cholesterol. She never smoked nor was around smoking but here this little skinny grandma was having the battle of her life. Eighty-five pounds and yet the veins in her legs were clogged and gangrene had set in.
Warren and I had planted a big garden and invested in a garden tractor this year. The rewards were keeping us busy canning and freezing. Somehow, in between all of the other we were able to can much of what we raised. We now had the need for a freezer to put up our strawberry jam and all the other garden things. We bought an upright freezer and for a time it served our purpose.
In May grandma Stricklett was taken back to the hospital. The pain in her legs was unbearable and the doctor said the only thing to do was to amputate both legs. The option, if you will, was to not operate in which case she would have a very painful death. The family could not bear to have that done to their mother who was 90-years of age. There was simply nothing they could do to ease or reverse the situation. I wonder if in this day and age there MIGHT be something now?
Mom and dad and the other children that could went to be with her. We were surprised to see dad come home in a few days………he told us he just couldn’t stand to see that nice old lady suffer like that. He had always held grandma in high esteem and he couldn’t understand why she had “to go like that.” Dad was tough on the outside but inside was just a big marshmallow. Mom and her sister’s kept us informed and remained vigil by grandma’s bedside throughout her ordeal. On the 11th of June, grandma died, and it was one of those times where the family was happy to see her suffering over. She was a little short of her 91st birthday which would have been in August.
Dad and we prepared to go for the funeral. I called George and John who wanted to go. George was trying to get leave so he could go and it was granted to him. My brother, Louis, was flying in from Seattle. We stopped in Shawnee and picked John up…..George had gone ahead the day before and arrived ahead of us. Warren and I got rooms at a nearby motel and the boys stayed there with us. When all of the Stricklett family came together it was quite large. There were 6-living children and their spouses, with 17 grand-children and families…..I’m not sure how many of the great-children there were at the time.
We congregated at the funeral home on Family Night and watched as Blair residents passed by to pay their last respects. As one of the earliest residents she was well known, loved and respected. On the day of the funeral aunt Mary insisted the hearse bring grandma home before going to the cemetery. One of the last promises she made to grandma was that she would “take her home, again.” As the family stood in the yard, the grandsons carried her coffin to a resting place by the lilacs…a few words were spoken and then we made the trip to the cemetery. Each one of us had been marked by her life of supreme discipline and humility…….we would go on from this moment……following in her footsteps……..
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
January 28th…..Mohammed Ali won the heavy weight championship fight.
March 20th….Chet Huntley….network news anchor died.
The weather was very cold in our area for this end of winter. After the first of the year we took down the Christmas tree and re-organized the house. When you live in a mobile home that is a constant job. Warren and I were more involved in church every year. I made a promise to God that I would step up and be counted when and where I was needed. He had been very good to me and I knew it was time to try and give something back…..He took me at my word.
Warren did the same and with him working at the shoe factory and me taking care of Jennifer, doing mom and Ruth’s hair each week along with their sewing and my own……it was amazing how we had time to make it around the clock…but we did. The difference was….when you give it all to God, He makes time for you to get “it” done. As I read back in my journal we were having mom and dad, Ruth and Floyd, Becky and Hank and many friends from church over to eat with us several times a week. I have never been a “box” cook so when I read about all the cakes, pies, hot rolls and the mountain of cookies and meals I served, it was in a mobile home with no air conditioning and a very small kitchen. I am not patting myself on the back but testifying what God can do when He is in charge.
We went to church and Sunday school mornings; training union and church on Sunday evenings. Bible Study (held in homes) one evening a week, prayer meeting and choir practice on Wednesday’s. In between we were studying the Bible on our own and being fueled and inspired more each day. It was a time of enormous spiritual growth for both of us.
Through the last of winter and the early Spring, mom and dad went back and forth to see about uncle Alfred who had pneumonia (he lived in Mountain Home, AR.) and to the hospital in Springfield where aunt Mardelle was having serious heart problems. In May they went to Blair as grandma Stricklett was dealing with serious vascular problems in her legs. She had always eaten like a bird and never indulged in rich food, fat or sugar. Nowadays they would think with her particular problems that she had too much cholesterol. She never smoked nor was around smoking but here this little skinny grandma was having the battle of her life. Eighty-five pounds and yet the veins in her legs were clogged and gangrene had set in.
Warren and I had planted a big garden and invested in a garden tractor this year. The rewards were keeping us busy canning and freezing. Somehow, in between all of the other we were able to can much of what we raised. We now had the need for a freezer to put up our strawberry jam and all the other garden things. We bought an upright freezer and for a time it served our purpose.
In May grandma Stricklett was taken back to the hospital. The pain in her legs was unbearable and the doctor said the only thing to do was to amputate both legs. The option, if you will, was to not operate in which case she would have a very painful death. The family could not bear to have that done to their mother who was 90-years of age. There was simply nothing they could do to ease or reverse the situation. I wonder if in this day and age there MIGHT be something now?
Mom and dad and the other children that could went to be with her. We were surprised to see dad come home in a few days………he told us he just couldn’t stand to see that nice old lady suffer like that. He had always held grandma in high esteem and he couldn’t understand why she had “to go like that.” Dad was tough on the outside but inside was just a big marshmallow. Mom and her sister’s kept us informed and remained vigil by grandma’s bedside throughout her ordeal. On the 11th of June, grandma died, and it was one of those times where the family was happy to see her suffering over. She was a little short of her 91st birthday which would have been in August.
Dad and we prepared to go for the funeral. I called George and John who wanted to go. George was trying to get leave so he could go and it was granted to him. My brother, Louis, was flying in from Seattle. We stopped in Shawnee and picked John up…..George had gone ahead the day before and arrived ahead of us. Warren and I got rooms at a nearby motel and the boys stayed there with us. When all of the Stricklett family came together it was quite large. There were 6-living children and their spouses, with 17 grand-children and families…..I’m not sure how many of the great-children there were at the time.
We congregated at the funeral home on Family Night and watched as Blair residents passed by to pay their last respects. As one of the earliest residents she was well known, loved and respected. On the day of the funeral aunt Mary insisted the hearse bring grandma home before going to the cemetery. One of the last promises she made to grandma was that she would “take her home, again.” As the family stood in the yard, the grandsons carried her coffin to a resting place by the lilacs…a few words were spoken and then we made the trip to the cemetery. Each one of us had been marked by her life of supreme discipline and humility…….we would go on from this moment……following in her footsteps……..
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
