Granddaddy feeding Rachelle, who was just pulling up on furniture, little tastes of Lemon Meringue Pie.

Harry was born in Missouri where he grew up learning about farming. He finished high school, a Business School, and then started working at American Electric. It was at American Electric that he met his wife Hazel. They were married and had their first daughter. After several years they moved to the family farm. There on the farm they raised a variety of livestock and crops. They also had their second daughter while they lived on the farm. When the second daughter came the older daughter spent many hours out with her father working in the fields and riding on the tractor. Working the farm was hard and it was laboring work. Being the practical man he was, Harry knew that he would need to leave the farm before he had worn his body out and was still young enough to do something else.

The young family moved from the farm to Kansas City. He got a job at Ford Bendix making airplane parts. After several years, the company closed and Harry had to find new work to support his family. There were no jobs available locally, but he heard there were jobs out west so the family packed their car and moved west looking for work as they went. They went as far as Albuquerque where he found a job with ACF. Harry was bright and intelligent and seemed to excel at any job he put his mind to. Their time in Albuquerque was good. The family traveled a lot in the west seeing the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena, camping in Colorado, driving through the pacific Northwest, seeing Yellowstone, and many places in between. Their oldest daughter married and started her family and their younger daughter was in college when once again the company Harry worked for closed. Some of his supervisors recommended him for a job in Oak Ridge and once again Harry and his wife were moving. In Oak Ridge, Harry finished out his working career. With time their younger daughter settled close by and their older daughter within a five hour drive. Harry spent his retirement enjoying gardening, taking up hobbies, being an elder in his church, and teaching a Sunday school class. He seemed to always be busy and served his wife faithfully. He was fortunate to know all of his grandchildren and see two of them marry before his passing.

Of Mama’s grandparents Granddaddy, as he was known to Mama, was the around for many years of her life. It would have been great to have known him as an adult, but her life was very blessed to have known him through most of her childhood. Some of the amazing memories Mama has of him are the great magic tricks like making a coin appear from behind your ear, he would put funny cups on his eyes and pretend he was different characters, he learned to make fun sugar popcorn that he would treat us kids when we would come to play, we were fascinated to watch him master whatever new hobby he set his mind to, we enjoyed rides in his boat, and loved his “special” pizzas. Looking back something that was always wonderful was that Harry and his wife worked together doing most things. They assisted each other in cooking, putting up garden veggies, and other projects.

Granddaddy was such a tinkerer. Probably the best thing he ever made for Mama was her doll house and many of the dollhouse pieces. Mama spent hours playing with the house that was such a labor of love he and Grandma made together.

Mom’s favorite memory of her father is: the yearly hunt for the perfect Christmas tree in the mountains outside of Albuquerque.

His legacy was his devotion to God, church, and his wife along with the hardworking spirit that drove him. His hardworking spirit can be seen in his girls, his cleverness in his grandkids, and his green thumb in his older daughter.

Two kitchen helpers

Granddaddy entertaining Philip with the silly cones on his eyes.

Granddaddy with all but one of his grandkids. From left: Carrie, Rachelle, Granddaddy, Philip, and Chip.

The photo was taken of his backyard in Oak Ridge. Running along the side of the yard is his beloved garden that kept him busy all summer long. Dad must have been on the roof taking the photo and in the photo are: baby Rachelle, Joyce, Granddaddy, Grandma, Philip, Dalmatian mother Prissy, and Dalmatian pup Sparky.

Granddaddy “Lincoln Logging” with Philip and Rachelle at the kitchen table.

Today was a beautiful day. It was a warm and sunny morning to play at the Botanical Garden with our friends. We shared our last picnic and playtime for a while as Elena and Maeve will be doing some traveling. Emily is praying for her friends every night that God would take care of them on their trip and bring them home safely. Very genuine and sweet! One funny activity of the day was with the Pringles we shared. The girls all enjoyed making their duck faces with the chips.

The big girls being very sweet together.

They were being a bit silly, but having fun playing in their special castle.

How very typical of Julia these days to have her fingers in her mouth. She is cutting some molars right now and they must be bothering her a lot, because she puts everything in her mouth to chew on it. Sweet smile – she enjoyed her time playing with her friends.

Mirror, mirror on the wall – who’s the silliest of them all? Today it was the little girls for sure.

Maeve is always ready for a moment with the camera, at least with Ms. Rachelle.

Grandma T with baby Rachelle

Thelma was born in Missouri. She married Charles while she was in college. After moving several times, they had their children in Cincinnati. While her children were in upper-level classes, she returned to Missouri Teachers College to complete her elementary education degree. She then taught in a Cincinnati elementary school until retirement. While the children were in school she was a substitute teacher in the school system her children attended. In Cincinnati she was an active artist, painting most of her life. All of her children’s homes are filled with art from her hand. The inspiration of most of her art was the places she knew or visited including a trip to Europe following her husband’s death. Her life did extend beyond her husband’s and she enjoyed the privilege of knowing all of her grandchildren.

A college education for a woman in her era was not common. Her daughter followed in her footsteps and received her degree in teaching which she used until retirement. This legacy of education is a strong one in our family where all the women have continued on to complete their college degrees along with the men.

Mama does have of memories of time with Grandma T. She passed away while Mama was still in elementary school, so while her memories are limited they are clear. Mama remembers the twin beds we would sleep in when we would visit. The apartment building she lived in was unique to Mama as a child because she knew no one else who lived in an apartment. The apartment was very close to an ice cream shop which she remembers visiting. One New Years Eve, Grandma T watched Philip and Mama while we all watched the Wizard of Oz on TV. Mama remembers being very scared during the movie and hiding among the blankets we were camping in on the floor. Mama remembers the apartment as being very full. All of the walls were covered with art. We would be allowed to play, if we were quiet, in a basement area, back drive, and in the apartment. On a visit to Grandma T’s one summer Philip and Mama were introduced to our first non-parent tennis lesson. Forgive the random remembrances, because these are about all Mama has of her time with her Grandma T.

Mama is pleased to have her own selection of Grandma T’s art to hang in her house. Mama’s has been told that Grandma T never thought a painting to be completed. She was known to get a paint brush and paints out to make changes to works on her wall. What a fun perspective on life!

Dad’s favorite memory of his mother is: that she often took him to art school with her.

Her legacy to her family was her art skill and the inspiration of art. Mama has seen first hand examples of this legacy in both her aunts art interests and in the help her own father has given her in art projects where he showed his own skill in perspective and drawing.

Three generations – Grandma T, Philip, and Rachelle. Photo taken outside of Grandma T’s Cincinnati apartment.

A family visit – Grandma T and two of her children’s families, Ann and Philip. Ann was taking the photo. From the left Uncle Don, Lynn, Laura, Grandma T, Joyce, Philip, Phil, and Rachelle.

One of Phil’s favorite pastimes was baseball. This photo was taken outside of the Cincinnati Reds ballpark.

The grandparent that Mama never knew. Charles was born in Missouri, received his education degree at Central Missouri Teachers College and met his wife Thelma there through his best friend who was also Thelma’s brother. He worked for a time in Kansas City, got additional education in Minnesota, and a masters degree from Ohio State. After getting his masters he was hired by a high school in Cincinnati where he taught industrial arts including wood working and drafting. They remained in Cincinnati the rest of their lives raising their three children. He saw all of his children marry and met many of his grand-children.

He raised his children during and after WWII in which the kids kept victory gardens and used the extra veggies to sell in the neighborhood. Charles placed a high value on education and all of his children completed their college educations. None of the children settled in the area and both of their sons served in the armed forces.

Charles was very handy at building with wood. Some of the things that he built that have remained in the family are picture frames and a children’s table.

His legacy to the family was his love of education.

Dad’s favorite memory of his father is: doing projects for boy scouts with his dad. Dad would make the designs and then they would build the projects together at the high school wood working shop.

While Mama never met her Grandfather she has been taken past places he lived in Missouri and Cincinnati. One of our family favorite stops was a neighborhood bakery where he would get his favorite weekly baked good. Mama has several frames that he built for his wife’s art and the child sized table.

Charles, Thelma, Phil, and Joyce on Phil and Joyce’s Wedding Day

Following will be several different posts about some of the girls great grandparents. In no way is this a biography of their lives or even guaranteed of being completely accurate. It is just an attempt to represent a bit of heritage and relationship we had with or to each other. The inclusion and exclusion of some of the great grandparents also does not limit their significant impact upon our family, only represents the available information.

We want to honor those who have gone before us and their contributions to our individual lives and to the corporate entity of our families. We also want to thank those who have told us stories of family members we were unable to meet and pass on our own version of stories. Through these stories we have met the people who have shaped our family.

We are having one beautiful day here in Tennessee. The temperatures are getting up toward 70 degrees, the sun came out around noon, and there is a pleasant breeze. To celebrate this wonderful weather (which is only lasting one day), we met our friends after school at a nearby park. We also needed to break the trend of not taking the camera out much. These cold months are hard ones to remember to take photos of our resident smiles.

The park play highlights include: lots of running around, giggles, trying new equipment out, one wet slide that slowed down Emily’s fun, post-lunch snacks, and lots of busyness. Despite being wet, Emily had no interest in coming home. The warm weather makes us all long a little more for spring to officially come.

Wow, they both looked at the camera and smiled together! We are so fortunate that Emily has such a great friend.

Emily will be getting a haircut tomorrow so this is the before photo, but what a great smile from her too. Not always what she is willing to give the camera.

The only way they would both look at the camera (or in the direction of) was to ask about the bug on my head. They were skeptical – does it show? Emily needs more gray shirts, her eyes sure look gray in this photo.

Our sweet girl. Having a great day of not acting too independent. She is wanting to show so much individually these days. She wanted to butter her bagel just like Emily did. She too will be getting a haircut tomorrow, but not expecting any huge style changes.

Our resident pixie friend. Without the awesome pigtails she would still be a pixie, but they sure do make the look complete.