Dwane’s Grandparents and Parents

A long time ago, Elizabeth Midkiff and James Frederick Harris had a beautiful daughter named Mary Ruth in Owensboro, Kentucky. The date was 23 January 1927. Almost two months later, Johanna Mae Elder and Hilary Oswald Knott had a handsome son named Francis Leo. It was 17 April 1927, and the place was Browns Valley, Kentucky. Mary and Francis, who everyone called Leo, are my parents.

Mary and Francis married on 17 August 1946 in Owensboro. I was born in October the next year. My brother Cletus James was born on 9 June 1949 and the twins, Mary Paula and Joseph Paul, on 3 December 1952. The four of us born in Owensboro. Early in 1952, the family moved to Peoria, Illinois.

We lived on NE Adams street in an apartment until my parents bought a house on Vohland Street in Beverly Manor, Illinois. We moved in the summer of 1953, in time for me to begin first grade at St. Patrick’s Elementary School in Washington, Illinois. Cletus and the twins followed when they reached school age.

Lori’s Grandparents and Parents

A long time ago, a beautiful daughter was born on 27 July 1933 to Mary Elizabeth Neubauer and Robert Joseph Green in Donna, Texas. They named her Virginia Louise. James Alexander, Jr, a handsome boy, was born to Margaret Sarah Sherlock and James Alexander Cameron, Sr on 31 July 1929 in Minot, North Dakota.  Virginia and James Jr. are my wife’s parents.

Virginia and James met in Corpus Christi, Texas, and were married there on 29 July 1950.  They had three children born in a Corpus Christi hospital. Colin James was born 24 July 1951,  Flora MacLeod (Lori) in January 1954 and Heather Jenny in November 1967.

Virginia and James bought a house on Rosedale Street sometime before Colin was born and lived there all their lives.

I hope you enjoyed the brief glimpse into our family history. Questions or comments are appreciated and enjoyed.

Be safe in this trying time.

Objectives

This trip was the third we have taken in the thirty-two foot class C. Three of our seven grandchildren joined us on our adventure. We had several goals for this excursion.

Prime was to pay our respects at the gravesites of my wife’s parents and brother. This is something we hope to do annually on their birthdays and parent’s anniversary for as long as our health permits. That their birthdays and the anniversary are in the same week makes it possible with one trip.

Getting to the cemetary by RV meant days driving to cover sixteen hundred miles to and the same home. The television and cd player received extensive use by the passengers as my wife, and I piloted through Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisanna, and finally Texas.

Scott, LA

We stayed at the Lafayette KOA Holiday in Scott, Louisanna on the trip down. Our site was near the lake, and we were treated to a beautiful scene as the sun rose. The kids enjoyed a round of putt-putt at the eighteen hole course in a light drizzle.

After a short visit with relatives in Houston, we traveled on to Sandia. We spent nine days camped next to my wife’s cousin’s house. They once had an RV and still had a working electric hookup and dump site. Electric was critical as the air conditioning was essential when temperatures broke the one hundred degrees heat factor for six of the nine days.

At Sandia and Mathis

The grandchildren were not bored. Sunscreen became their best friend as they spent days swimming in the pool with cousins they hadn’t seen in a year. Their good times continued well into the early morning. Reports of their antics mentioned 1 am, and one occasion 2 am with popcorn or other snacks.

We spent much of the time visiting a great-uncle who lives on Corpus Christi Lake. He is 88 years old. Though in poor health, he and I spent hours talking about many things. He spent time in the Air Force, served in England where he met his wife, and of more adventures.

We were reminded that between last year’s visit and this year’s, three relatives had passed–his wife, my wife’s aunt, and her cousin.

Crossville, TN

The trip back had a stop to visit my uncle and cousin in Alba, Texas. They are in their 80’s and having medical challenges. It was a nice visit, although marred by learning that a cousin, son to my uncle, had passed in January. I left wondering if my wife’s great-uncle, my uncle, or cousin would be here to visit next time.

The route home differed from that coming down. We went from Texas to Tennessee via Arkansas. It didn’t shorten the route home but provided different scenery for much of the drive. We stopped one night at the Crossville/I-40 KOA. The campground is two-thousand feet above sea level and has many amenities. The young ones enjoyed the game room with pool and table tennis. The next morning found us relishing the outdoor temperature in the seventies. Such a change after the near one-hundreds of the past days.

Home

Welcomed home by our dogs and passing the children to their parents, my wife and I have spent the last two days recovering. Vacations can be very taxing! Yet, we look forward to another and soon.

Did you take a vacation this year? Care to share it using the comment form? Please do, I would love to hear about it.

We attended Ronald’s ninety-second birthday party last year on Easter. It was the first time we met my wife’s relatives in Ohio in person. Read about it here.

We had dinner Friday night with Lori’s cousin, Jennifer. I was a third wheel as they caught up on the past year’s happenings with her family in Ohio and our’s in Maryland. How comfortable they are with each other amazed me.

Dinner finished, they went shopping, leaving me to fend for myself. Fortunately, there was a Half-Price Books store in the mall. I perused the stacks to kill time. After a suitable length of time, I paid for the one book I found interesting and went to rescue my wallet. My surprise, they were finishing, and my wallet wasn’t empty.

We thought we arrived early for the party only to find almost everyone already there. Missing was Heather and Heather. One is my wife’s sister and the other a cousin. They came in minutes after us, so we weren’t the last.

Everyone doted on Ronald, the guest of honor, all afternoon. His smile lit up the room when his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and family from Texas and Maryland sang and wished him a happy birthday. The great-great-grandchildren could not attend. Later, he joined in singing some Scottish ditties to our delight.

The day’s excitement tired Ronald and about 7:30 it was time for him to rest. We said goodnight and goodbye to Ronald as Jennifer and Heather took him to his room.

Cousin Heather invited us and my wife’s sister Heather to her house. We spent several hours visiting before having to call it a night to rest for the drive home.

I may have mentioned it rained on the drive home. It rained, it poured, it drizzled, and it rained seven hours of the eight we drove. It couldn’t dampen () our good feelings about the weekend.

We had a great time and looked forward to the next visit.

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Have you taken an interesting trip? Tell me about it using the comment form.

Road trips are a place to make memories and learn of other’s memories. Road trips are something we are familiar and comfortable with. Pack the car, settle the kids, charge off to the destination, a short stay, and return to home. This weekend followed the menu with one exception, no kids settled in the car.

Stopping in Ohio

We spent the first afternoon and night in Dayton, Ohio where we had dinner with Jennifer, my wife’s cousin. We did an after dinner visit with Ronald, Jennifer’s father–my wife’s 92 year-old cousin. For two hours, we listened to stories of Ronald’s years in Scotland and some from his years in the United States.

My wife, Jennifer, and Ronald exchanged stories until it was time to go. Before we left, Jennifer and Ronald treated us singing several Scottish songs. The visit was interesting and entertaining.

The next day we visited with my niece, Crystal, in Illinois. The hours sped by as I told some of my memories and she shared some of hers. They were stories of family and friends from mine and her youth. We sometimes strayed into stories of my siblings and my parents. Unfortunately, time was called, and we had to leave, leaving many stories yet to be told.

More Family Memories

I find it difficult to translate the enjoyment of hearing stories of Ronald’s life and sharing remembrances with Crystal into words. I relished learning of Ronald’s time in the Army during World War II and Crystal’s adventures on a three wheeler on School Street’s hill. But, melancholic at knowing when Ronald, Jennifer, Crystal, my wife, and I pass on interesting and fun stories of our lives will leave with us.

That is unless we share them with others. I can’t tell their stories, but I can mine. Occasionally, I will use this venue to pass them on.

Make my day by using the comment form to relate a memory you cherish.

Missing you

What does ‘missing you’ mean? My wife would say it means not being able to make the call to her Mother when she has a concern. Or when she wants to brag on one of her seven grandchildren. Or being able to take a vacation and sit together talking about the cares and joys of life.  They talked almost daily for the last 30 years. Daily life will never be the same for her since her mother passed Feb 2016.

My wife would say it is not being able to go fishing with her brother. Or sit with him talking cars, guns, grandchildren, work, people they knew or hundreds of shared experiences growing up. He passed April 2016, about 10 weeks after her mother.

At the cemetery

I sat with her today at the cemetery. We sat on a bench monument at the head of her brother’s grave. We overlooked her mother’s grave to the headstone for her parent’s. We shared stories, but mostly I listened. When she cried, I tried to comfort her. I found myself tearing up.

The time came to leave. We stood, said goodbye to her brother and approached the parent’s headstone. My wife leaned over and rubbed the picture of her mother engraved there. “Happy birthday, Mom.”

It is cliché to say “They will never be gone as long as we hold them in our hearts.” The cliché is supposed to make us feel better. But it is a poor replacement for seeing the smile, hearing the laugh, or holding the loved one. It can only soothe the hurt in ‘missing you.”

Me, it has been twenty years since my mother passed. I lost two brothers and my father between October 2002 and October 2003. My sister passed in 2011. Some days, when I am experiencing a success, I find myself reaching for the phone to share it with my mother. To this day, ‘missing you’ touches me.

May they all rest in peace knowing we are “missing you.”

Are you missing someone? Use the comment form to tell me about them.

My wife and I spent part of the Easter weekend with members of the Cameron Clan living in Ohio. The rest spent traveling to Ohio and back home. We found the drive safe. The weather cooperated, and only a small part of Friday’s trip saw rain.

Ronald McDonald Cameron heads these branches of the Cameron tree. My wife’s father was James Alexander Cameron, Jr. He and Ronald are cousins making Ronald my wife’s first cousin once removed. He will be 92-years-old on 23 April 2018.

Many families spent the weekend visiting with family, but for us, it was the first time to meet these relatives. Eighteen months ago we learned this branch of the Cameron tree lived just a short eight-hour drive away. They were having an Easter Sunday luncheon and invited us. It was time to meet them.

We met Jennifer, one of my wife’s second cousins, Friday evening. After the hugs, we spent several hours getting to know each other and learning the weekend schedule. Each of us expected a busy weekend.

Saturday

Heather, my wife’s sister, flew from Texas to join the family reunion on Saturday.  While waiting for her to arrive, we attended Jennifer’s granddaughter’s third birthday party. We met her children and grandchildren. (More persons to add to the family tree I maintain.) We spent the rest of the day and evening meeting more cousins and their in-laws. We met Jennifer’s sister Heather and brothers Colin and Gordan. The evening ended with everyone going to dinner at a small eatery and bar in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

The eatery sits near an old train station. The space where the rails once ran has been paved over and makes a wonderful bike path. This is a picture of the train station.

Sunday – Cameron Reunion

Sunday started with picking up a special cake. The cake top had the Cameron tartan and crest. We took the cake to the nursing home where Ronald lived.  He joined us before the families arrived. They warned us he was a special character, and he proved to be such. Ronald, almost 92, entertained us with stories of family, singing, and telling jokes.

Animated conversations followed the potluck luncheon. Several centered on the Texan branch and others on the Ohio side. Pictures followed every discussion to commemorate the occasion. Cell phone batteries died by the score.

We packed to leave for the drive home and were in the car when called back. The piper had arrived. We rejoined them. A cousin’s son entertained everyone with two Scottish bagpipe renditions. It was a proper conclusion to the reunion of members of a Scottish Clan and those of us lucky enough to have married into it.

We left promising to return soon.

Tell me how you spent the weekend using the comment form.