Tag Archives: Family Memories

Family Treasures~Part 2

12 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

As I mentioned last week, sometimes, the things you grow up with, just don’t seem like anything special.   They are just “there”….part of the woodwork. I’ve found that, not until I got older – and left my girlhood home – did those “things” become important to me.

My mother and father lived in the house I grew up in for many years following my marriage. Fred and I moved to Fort Worth, Texas, for him to attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Following that, we went to San Jose, California for one year for Fred to study meteorology at San Jose State College, to prepare him for his meteorologist career in the U.S. Air Force. During that year, my father died.

Mother continued to live in my growing-up house. About five years after my father’s death, mother remarried. We saw them only one time in that house before they sold it and moved into an apartment. Many of the things I grew up around, were put in storage in my step-father’s sister’s garage. While on a visit one time, mother asked if we had the chalk pictures – which I didn’t. Apparently they were put in that storage. I would love to have them now, but they are gone – no one knows where.

Again, they were just part of the “decoration” of the house where I grew up. I always thought they were neat and cute, but they didn’t have any “hold” on me at that time. I don’t remember who did the chalk drawings, but one was of my brother at about two years of age, and the one of me was at about two years of age, also. They were in colored chalk, and really cute.

Here are a couple of pictures of Bill and myself beside our respective chalk pictures. Unfortunately, these pictures were in black-and-white, so you can’t really see the colors.

However, here is another one that had the pictures in color. Mother and dad had purchased a new couch, and mother had made a new picture arrangement above it.

3

 

And here’s another one, taken in 1966, Christmas, that shows those pictures a bit closer, and in color.

4

These are a family treasure to me, even if they aren’t in our possession. Something to remember and enjoy the memory.

 

 

 

 

Tags: , ,

Love….Take 2

17 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

 

Recently I wrote about Love (December 20, 2015).…..what is love? There are so many kinds of love in this life – the love of best friends, the love of a spouse, the love of parent for a child – and the child for the parent. The love of a person for the Loving Heavenly Father who blesses us with so much in this life, and His love for us.

In my lifetime, I’ve been blest with all of the above. God has been so gracious to me and I thank Him daily for those blessings.

But I also have “mementos” of some of those blessings. For instance:

2

This little hanger-on has meaning for me. When we were living in Panama City, Florida (Tyndall AFB), Fred had the opportunity to go to Colorado Springs, Colorado for a conference, and was able to take me along with him. We arranged for our daughters to stay with people, and we were set to go. Unfortunately, as the time to leave drew closer, the military found a military flight for Fred to take – which meant I would have to travel alone. That really wasn’t a problem, except we like to travel together. Oh well, such is the way with the military. When I finally arrived in Colorado Springs, it was full dark. Fred picked me up from the airport and we headed to the motel. The next morning, as I woke up, he told me not to get out of bed just yet, and to face the window. Wondering what in the world???….he pulled open the curtains………and there in all her glory was Pike’s Peak in the bright morning sunlight!! Gorgeous! All that to say that this little memento is from that trip. Whenever I look at it, I remember that time, and the beautiful surprise Fred had for me, and his delight in giving that surprise to me.

And this little plaque:

3

This was painted by our daughter, Karen, when she was rather young. I actually don’t remember when she gave it to us, but we’ve had it a long time. And we both treasure it. It is a memento of the love she had as a child for her parents.

For this past Christmas, Fred was given a “tea” set – mug, lemon tea bags, and this plaque that says the same thing as the mug.

4

 

Because we both believe the words of this scripture to be so very true, we treasure this plaque, and have added it to our collection of love mementos. When we look at it each day, it reminds us of God’s love for us, and how we need to treat that love, and how to pass it along to those God places in our pathway each day. We can only pray that we live up to His desires for us.

5

Tags: , , , ,

Go Run

10 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

Well, Christmas is over. All the hoopla is done. And I’m still eating all those Christmas cookies that I made. Man! I’ll be glad when they are done and out of the house! Just too much temptation to eat, and eat, and eat. I mean, I don’t make cookies that I don’t enjoy, you know?

Not too long after Fred and I married, his mother shared a recipe for German Springerle cookies. They take a bit of work to make, and I only make them at Christmas time. The batter has to be “beaten” for one hour – you read that right – one hour! I finally purchased a standing mixer solely for that purpose. Then all the other ingredients mixing together – a little anise extract and seed, then some grated lemon rind (zest), and powdered sugar, then the rolling out and pressing down with the wooden boards.

Then comes cutting them out, and after all the dough is cut, cooking them. They puff up and make marvelous “pictures” on the cookies, and I really enjoy eating them. With that “hint” of anise and lemon…….mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

3

Then there are the cookies that my Aunt Jessie called “Pecan Puffs.” I’ve seen them called Italian wedding cookies, and other names. These are really my favorites. Again, a bit of work, with all the rolling and all, but they are worth it! And I’m overly proud to say that my recipe is the best! I know, I know – very prideful of me. But I’ve eaten some of those others – and I just like mine the best.

And then my best friend, Sue, makes the very best divinity I’ve ever tasted and sends that on as her Christmas gift to us. I reciprocate by sending her a couple dozen of my Springerle cookies and a couple dozen of the Pecan Puffs as well. A very nice trade off.

But by the time we wade through all those goodies – WHEW! I really need to go run and work off some of those calories!

And that brings me to a picture I saw on facebook. Really says it all:

 

4

 

Tags: , ,

Discipline

22 Nov

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

As I’ve mentioned in previous musings, I’ve been going through stacks and stacks of papers and pictures that we have accumulated. I’ve found a number of cartoons that my Mother had cut out – probably the newspaper – and sent them to me. And I’ve used some of them in my Old Things R New postings.

Today, however, I would like to share something that we found in my Mother’s Bible following her death.

She was always a hard worker, whether it was at the job where she was paid (she was an accountant, and worked at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque to supplement Daddy’s paycheck, to purchase things that we might not have been able to have otherwise), or when she purchased and opened the Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio, or when she was cleaning the house, cooking our meals, doing the laundry…. She was a hard worker.

I think the only time I ever saw her sit down and “rest” was after dinner and clean-up from that, to watch a little TV. One of her enjoyments – especially in her later years – was to sit down after breakfast, with a cup of her favorite coffee, and peruse the newspaper. She would read it from cover to cover.

But this little snippet of information is a real insight into her life. I think it was a testimony to the way she lived her life, and the way she saw life. It certainly makes one take notice about the wisdom of the words.

Discipline

What do you think?

Her favorite scripture was Psalm 118:24

This is the day the Lord has made;

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

 

 

Tags: , , , ,

Granny~Part 4

2 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

                                                    

 

In my previous musing, I spoke about my Granny’s gift of sewing. She was a master at it. And all on her old Singer treadle sewing machine.

 

Back in those days, we girls wore either hoops under our full skirts, or lots and LOTS of crinolines, to make our skirts “stand out.” Some of the things that Granny made for me fell in the category of very full – probably a full circle – skirt made from heavy felt. I loved them all. I remember a fuschia skirt,

2

a turquoise skirt,

3

and especially a red skirt that was made for a 1955 Christmas parade in which I took part. I was in Junior High School then (equivalent to Middle School these days). It was named Jefferson Junior High School, and our colors were red and white. Here’s a picture of a bunch of us girls in our red and white, spelling out “Jefferson.”

4

Granny also made a taffeta dress for me for Easter in 1955. My, I was such a young thing then!

5

Granny had a bit of a green thumb – which she did NOT pass along to me! Her favorite was the African Violet, and she had many small pots of them in the kitchen corner window. She had a real knack of caring for them, and enjoyed all the different colors of the plants she had.

6

Occasionally Granny would travel back to Texas for a visit with her sisters (Loa and Lillie).

7

 

Since Aunt Jessie was the working one in the family, Granny went alone. Here is a picture of her at the original Albuquerque airport.

8

 

Notice the Pueblo Indian architecture (adobe) as well as the vigas protruding from the building (horizontal roof beams made of logs, usually protruding from the side of the house). We had those on our house, as well, although I think ours were more decorative than useful. When we were children-into-teens, we would go out to the airport, sit on the stone wall and watch the airplanes come and go. The original landing strip was also used by Kirtland AFB, so we got to see quite a few airplanes. And it was spectacular at night! That was also a great place to watch the July 4th fireworks!

I also mentioned Granny’s great sense of humor. Here is an example from DiVoran – my wonderful sister-in-law (love), and published author:

I recall one thing Granny said that tickled my funny bone. We were all in the kitchen washing and drying dishes, except Jessie. I had just put a plate I had dried quickly in the cupboard and Granny reached up and touched it, then she said, “Hmm, feels like it sweated during the night.”

Another thing, I asked my mother why she thought Jessie didn’t help with the dishes like all the other women did. I don’t think Mother’s answer held much water. She said it was because Jessie worked every day just like the men did and that exempted her. At the time, I bought it, but thinking back, who else worked their forty a week? Your mom and mine.

I loved my Granny, and memories of her still delight me.

 

~~~~~~~~~~The End~~~~~~~~~~

9

 

 

 

9

Tags: , ,

Granny~Part 2

19 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

                                                    

I’ve mentioned before that my Dad was 20 years older than my Mother. When Mother had been dating Daddy for a while, she showed Granny a picture of Daddy, and Granny exclaimed: “Why…..he’s an OLD MAN!”   But that didn’t really make any difference to Mom and Dad, even though he was only six months younger than his mother-in-law.

2

Granny was really a good cook. And back in those days, more women stayed home and did the cooking for their families, than we do now. For some reason, I remember being in San Antonio with Granny and Aunt Jessie, and the smell that I remember is one of Frito Lay Corn Chips™ that she had spread out on a cookie sheet and warmed in the oven, because they had become “limp” from the moisture in the air. Heating them in the oven would “crisp” them up again. It was a unique smell, and one I’ve not smelled since. I guess Frito Lay now has a better way of sealing their packaging.

I remember that whenever I had the flu or strep throat (which I had a lot as I was growing up!), she would make a pot of potato/onion soup for me to eat. It was so good and was just what I needed when I didn’t have much appetite. Unfortunately, I never got the recipe from her. I have a recipe for a delicious potato/leek soup (from my wonderful sister-in-law, DiVoran), but it just isn’t quite what Granny made, but as close as I can come without Granny’s recipe.

3

One of my favorite things to eat is popcorn. I remember one time when I had either the flu or a very bad cold, and Granny was staying at our house. She asked what I wanted to eat, and I told her a BIG bowl of popcorn! She popped it up, fixed it just the way I liked it – lots of butter and salt – and brought it to me. Unfortunately, my sinuses were so stopped up that I couldn’t taste anything – and the popcorn held no appeal to me. To say that she wasn’t happy with me, goes without saying.

Granny had a terrific sense of humor.

4

She could tell a joke with the straightest face – then just howl with laughter when I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.  I’ve seen this look of mischief on her face so many times. She was such fun.

5

Aunt Jessie always had a dog around the house. And she and Granny both loved those dogs. They came to Albuquerque with Ginger, a beautiful red Cocker Spaniel.

I don’t remember just when Ginger died, but I do remember when they got Trixie – a little Pug. As my Mother said when Trixie was just a puppy – “She’s so ugly she’s cute.” And she was.

8

As Trixie got older, along came Bubbles – a black Poodle.

9

9

They were all fun dogs. We had cats at our house, and dogs at Granny and Aunt Jessie’s house – so we had the best of both worlds.

10

Granny (Addie) with Judy and Bill Lites, 1956

~~~~~~~~~~To be continued~~~~~~~~~~

Tags: , , ,

Janet and the Paint Puddle

7 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

                                          

Fred and I waited until he graduated from college before we married. We had known each other about three years and engaged for half that time (I invite you to revisit my October 5, 12, 19, 2014 posts on “How We Met”).

As soon as we left the wedding, we headed for Fort Worth, Texas, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where Fred was to study for the ministry. While there for four years, I went to work, getting my “PHT” degree – you know – Putting Hubby Through, while Fred achieved his MDiv and MRE (Master of Divinity/Master of Religious Education).

When no ministry openings came available for Fred upon his graduation, and his Draft Board became interested in him, he began checking into the military openings. And so we found ourselves in the United States Air Force.

We spent one year in San Jose, California, while Fred studied Meteorology. We then spent three years in Wiesbaden, Germany. Our next tour was 13 months in northern Maine. And the follow-on tour was in San Antonio, Texas, where Fred was an instructor in the Air Force Officer Training School.

After living in apartments and government housing all that time, we decided it was time to finally own our own home. And we found one that was quite comfortable, and a new construction.

1

The entry to the house was divided from the living room by a half-wall, with spindles to the ceiling.

After we had been in the house for several years, we thought of painting that half-wall and entry way, and set about to do it. We laid out a cover for the carpet, just in case. We had a step-stool to get the higher-up areas. We had our rollers, brushes, and paint trays that we kept filled with paint.

Roller
Roller
Brush
Paint tray
Paint

Karen was in school, but Janet was still at home with us. We were busy painting, and had warned Janet to stay either in the living room or her room, but do NOT come in the entry way. However, I frequently found her edging her way around one of the half-walls and into the entry way, rather than going the other way, through the kitchen and family room. And then, as you might surmise, I looked up, saw her squeezing by that half-wall again, and I yelled, “JANET!” Startled, she looked up, whirled around and lost her balance, and SPLAT! landed right in the middle of the “puddle” of paint in the paint tray!

Fred was rather furious, but I picked her up (she was bawling by this time), and took her to the nearest bathroom. While she was in the tub, with me “hosing” her down, the whole thing just tickled my funny bone. I began to giggle – as did she – and we had a great time cleaning up.

She survived the paint – and we survived the painting. And it’s a sweet memory.

Tags: , ,

The Greasy Pork Chops

1 Jul

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

Bill Rocket Plane

 

In 1974 I was between jobs and our family took a 6-week camping trip (see “Our Trip Across America“ blog posted 10/10/2012) to see some of the wonders of America and visit friends and relatives along the way. We had a great time visiting some of my relatives in Louisiana and New Mexico and high school friends in Arizona. We stopped to see DiVoran’s brother and his family in Bonita, CA which is just south of San Diego, CA and one of my work friends in Diamond Bar, CA which is located just east of Los Angeles, CA. From there our trip took us up the scenic California coast to Fort Bragg, CA where DiVoran’s parents were living at the time.

1

Her father, Ivan, was a fisherman who “Lived to Fish” and his longtime dream was to own a commercial fishing boat and ply the Pacific Ocean for its rich verity of salmon. To fulfill this dream he had bought a 50 foot commercial fishing boat the year before and was an old hand at ocean salmon fishing by the time we arrived.

4

We were having a wonderful visit with Ivan and Dora, but Ivan couldn’t wait to take me out on his boat and show me how he was realizing his dream. The day we went out the weather was overcast and cool when we left. By the time Ivan had finished setting his lines, the seas were up and it was getting pretty rough. As we headed back in, taking in the lines and fish, the boat was rolling and pitching so bad it was all I could do to hold on.

2

Ivan got on the radio to tell Dora how bad the weather was and that we were heading home. Before she signed off, she told Ivan that DiVoran wanted to say something.

 I have to put the story on pause for a moment at this point and give you a little background on how Ivan had teased Divoran as she was growing up. He was always telling her that the meal they were eating was Bambi or one of her pet animals, and teasing her about how weak her stomach was when she would get car sick during family trips on those winding Colorado roads.

 Well, DiVoran got on the radio and asked Ivan how the fishing was going; how many fish we had caught, how bad the weather was and all that. When he told her he had to go, she said for him to be careful and to hurry home because she and Dora had a nice hot meal of pork chops waiting for him. Nice greasy pork chops…. nice big greasy pork chops, just swimming in grease. Ivan started turning a little green around the gills and told DiVoran to “SHUT UP!” The last thing I heard on the radio before Ivan signed off was DiVoran laughing. “Sweet Revenge!” I thought to myself. Over the many years we had gone fishing together I had never known Ivan to get sick on a boat, but this was the one exception, and it was perfectly played by DiVoran.

3

After we got back to the marina, got the boat tied up and cleaned the boat and the fish, no one talked much about the incident. But, at dinner that evening (and by the way it wasn’t pork chops), I noticed an occasional smile when DiVoran and Dora would exchange glances. I guess that just goes to prove the old saying, “What goes around, comes around.” At least it did for Ivan that day.

 

Luke 6:31

Tags: , ,

The Wedding Dress

20 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

 

On May 30, 1937, my parents married. Daddy was 44½ years old, mother was 24 years old. Daddy was six months younger than his mother-in-law. I remember mother telling me once that, after she and daddy had been dating a while, she showed Granny a picture of daddy, and Granny’s response was, “Why he’s a OLD MAN!” However, that didn’t deter my parents from marrying. Thank goodness!! And Granny came to love daddy as her son-in-law. They got along quite well.

I honestly don’t remember whether or not Granny made mother’s wedding dress. I know that Granny was a great seamstress, as was mother. Perhaps it was a joint effort. I do know that it had big, puffy sleeves and a straight skirt. She looked very elegant in it. What later surprised me, was that the skirt was full enough to allow a hoop or many crinolines under it. It may have looked straight on mother, but it was very full skirt!

J mom

 

Mother’s sister, my Aunt Jessie, took the dress after the wedding, layered it with white tissue paper, and kept it in a cedar chest. It rested there all the years between mother and dad’s wedding and mine.

When my wedding was approaching, I told mother that I would like to wear her wedding dress – with a few alterations. I really didn’t like those big, puffy sleeves. Really made my skinny arms look even skinnier. There was a lady in our church who was a professional seamstress, and we engaged her to “remake” the dress. She removed the sleeves, essentially making it a sleeveless dress. I say essentially, because mother and I shopped around and found some gorgeous Belgian lace. She made a complete dress out of it to fit over mother’s dress. It had the long sleeves, and even a bit of a train in the back. I thought it was beautiful!

j

 

 

It was while the dress was being “remade” that we discovered how full the skirt was. In my day, the “in thing” was hoop skirts or lots of crinolines. As I look back, I realize how elegant the straight skirt looked, but I wanted that full skirt – and that’s what I got!

 

But I guess the important thing is that I was able to wear my mother’s wedding dress. It always held a special place in my heart. And I think I was able to honor both my parents by wearing that special dress.

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Surprising Relatives~Part 2

26 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

Judy Wills

 

Some years ago, I became interested in genealogy.  I was so excited about it all, and I mentioned to Fred’s Dad that I would love to have their family history.  He rather turned me down flat with a “don’t you know that in five generations you have about a million people?!”  That went no where.  But later, I realized that I wanted something different.  So I approached him again about it, and he started in, again, with the “don’t you know….”  I stopped him and said, “No Dad, I want YOUR childhood memories…and Mom’s childhood memories.”  “Oh.”

And so, they both began writing their memoirs.  Dad would type his up, and e-mail them to me to make whatever typographical corrections that needed to be done.  Mom hand-wrote hers and sent them to me to transcribe.

After they finally said, “we’re finished,” I put them in book-form and made copies for all the family.

I had asked Fred’s parents about pictures of the family, and they both said there just weren’t any.  I was quite disappointed, until one day, on a visit to their home, I stumbled upon four picture albums!  I was so pleased!  I now had pictures that I could add at the appropriate spots to highlight the narration.  And so the scanning process began.  The whole project was a fun thing to do, and definitely a labor of love on my part.  Now all their children, grandchildren, great-grands and on down have not only memories of how these two lovely people grew up, but how life was, back in those days.  I only wish I had started this process when both of my parents were still alive.  I can only go by pictures and what little I gleaned from my Mother before her death.

In any case, during this time, we made a trip to Washington state to visit with Fred’s parents and both of his sisters.  It was just after Emily had told us about making the connection with Walt and Pauline Eby.  While spending a few days with Emily and Ron, they invited Walt and Pauline over to dinner, so we could share family stories.  I had taken the rough draft of Fred’s parent’s Memories book with me, and after dinner, I asked Walt to look through it.  Unbelievably, he had some of the originals of the pictures I had in the book!  Amazing!  He was so happy to read the stories, and know a bit more about this side of the family, and how they “related” to his parents and his Uncle Bob and Aunt Eleanor.

While it shouldn’t be, it’s always surprising to find relatives in the most unusual way.  And God has a way of bringing us together and making that family connection that is so very precious.

 Proverbs 3:6

Kitty and Charles Wills under the Engagement Bell at Wheaton College.
Kitty and Charles Wills 1980

Tags: , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →