Ruby Tuesday...

To borrow a phrase from Sister Susie....

"It's not Strange..."

Well, maybe a little.
Ok. Maybe it is strange, but I'm glad I don't mind being strange.

I'm talking about going to a funeral for someone I have never met.

Have you ever done that?

I was headed up to Lowell for Garland's funeral anyway, so I decided to just come up a day early and go to Marcia's service as well.

In the time that I had figured out who she was and how we were related, I had talked to Ruby and heard her memories of Marcia and her family. She called Marcia's dad, Uncle Lew and had fond memories of going to their house and ice skating on Red Wing Lake.

I did a search on the Lowell Library site and found an article about Marcia's dad (our Great Uncle) and the various work and businesses he owned. One of them mentioned a Fox Farm on Red Wing Lake, which I read was on Holtz Road.

Now, here is where I fail as a historian and a memory keeper. Being the youngest and having moved away from Lowell, forgive me, but I did not know that there was a lake on Holtz Road. I asked Susie if she knew where Red Wing Lake was on Holtz Road and she gave me her "uh, yaaah." response.

So, Marcia inherited, Red Wing Lake...yes THAT lake on Holtz road that everyone in Lowell knows about except for me. I then figured out that it is next door to where Mrs. Hoshaw lived and that Marcia owned the mobile homes that were lined up on Holtz Road and she was Blanche's landlord. I learned from Mike, that Marcia's mom started working at Hardings when she was in her 60's and worked there several years, well into her 80's, I believe.

I went to her funeral service, expecting a small, short service.
I don't know what compelled me...other than the need to represent our family and to pay my respects and honor her in her passing, since I had not met her while living.

It was a little strange, but oh, my goodness, I am SO glad I went.

It was a small crowd.
I recognized only a couple faces.
She had been cremated, so there was just a picture up near a floral arrangements.
There were a couple cousins in town from out of State and I believe, a nephew who spoke.
And a lady named Roberta Thomas gave the Eulogy.

I understand that Roberta was first a family friend, I believe a neighbor and later, also had Marcia for a patient.
She gave a wonderful tribute to Marcia.
Starting from the very beginning of her life, all the way to her last moments on her deathbed, she told Marcia's story, with facts, tenderness, humor and love.
What a gift!
When I left I felt as if I really knew Marcia.
I went in very sad that I had not met her. Very sad that I would never know her or her story.
I left her service, feeling as tho I DID know her.
Still, sad that I did not get to meet her and hear these stories from her, but I was very, very glad I went.

So, even tho it is a little Strange, I'm glad that Strange does not keep me from doing what my heart tells me to do.
I'm glad I went and can now say that I feel I know Marcia...and as a long lost cousin can introduce her to you, here....and hopefully honor her life and her memory.

and That's not Strange.

Marcia A. Shurte
94, of Lowell, IN, passed away Friday, June 8, 2012 at Lowell Health Care Center. She is survived by cousins, Mary Ann (Jack) Kelly and Jim Burroughs, both of Sun City West, AZ and longtime friends Ernest and Jean Hausmann, Roberta Thomas, Paul Ackerman and their families. She was preceded in death by her lifelong friend, Elma "Johnnie" Johnson. Marcia was a 1936 graduate of Lowell High School, receiving her Bachelor's Degree from Ball State University and Master's Degree from University of IL; she was a retired Teacher from Crystal Lake, IL School System. Marcia was very giving to friends and family. She donated to many charitable organizations and was known for her kindness. Cremation will precede Visitation, July 6th from 10-11, concluding with a Memorial Service at 11AM, all at Sheets Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 604 E. Commercial Ave. in Lowell. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to, Roberta Thomas, 625 Gatewood Dr. in Lowell for the Lowell Health Care Center Garden Beautification Program. 

Directions to here: 

Go here to see more pictures of Marcia's life.

Flashback Friday...Lowellians

Stopped by the Lowell Library to see if I could find more pictures of Marcia Shurte.

They have a great Indiana and local interest collection which includes several Lowellian Yearbooks.

Found several pictures of Marcia and many other family members.

Always fun to discover pictures I've never seen before.

 Especially love these two

Lowell Red Devils

Ruby Tuesday...

I was writing the blog post about Pauline Sioris and went to Sheets' website to copy her obituary and saw her picture.

No, not of Pauline.

I saw her picture and I didn't even have to see the name to know that we were related.
She looks THAT much like many of our other family members.

I saw the obituary for Marcia Shurte.

We are related to the Shurtes on the both theVandercar and Tilton side of the family.
Great Grandma Hattie (Grandpa George's mother) was a Shurte.
Great Aunt Alice (Uncle Keith Dinwiddie's mother) was a Shurte.
(I've covered all of this in a post about why Ruby looks so much like Aunt Lulu).

Hattie and Alice also had a brother named William Franklin, our Great Uncle.
He had a son named Lewis.
Lewis had a daughter named Marcia.

So Hattie ➝  George ➝ Bob

     Alice ➝   Keith    ➝ Ruby

     William ➝ Lewis ➝ Marcia

And this is why Marcia looked so familiar.
She looks a lot like Great Grandma Vandercar...and Aunt Lulu...and Pauline...and Ruby...
so you can see why I recognized her.

Recognized, but alas I did not know her.

And here is where I let out a great big heavy sigh.
Because, I can't believe she lived so long...
and I can't believe she was right there in Lowell, right there on Holtz road, that she was even Mrs. Hoshaw's landlord and I didn't even know about her.

She would have known lots of PEOPLE and lots of PLACES and lots of STORIES that I would have LOVED to hear about.

Flashback Friday....Real World 101

I started my senior year in high school and without my asking, Dad starting shopping for a used car for me.

I suppose my after school schedule of every night play practice and yearbook was wearing mom and the family car out.

After we found the car (that's another Flashback for a different Friday), I was told, "now you need to get a job."

I wasn't quite sure how to fit a job into the crazy senior schedule, and I really don't remember any of the details of how I found it, but my first real job, with a real boss (I'm not counting working at the station for Dad here)...was at the Stuckey's at I-65.

I only worked a few hours during the week and on the weekends.

A couple girls from school worked there and I think some of the Merkel kids had worked there. (Maybe Aunt Maxine suggested it)??

I really wasn't thrilled about working with fast food. I didn't want to see my friends come in and have fun, while I was working. Honestly, I didn't want ANYONE I knew to see me in the awful polyester uniform and the ridiculous hat I had to wear.

I found out soon enough, that I had nothing to worry about.
The snack bar wasn't tempting enough to the locals.
Gas was always a little higher than the Truck Stop and all we ever saw all day long, were travelers. People on the way to or on the way home from somewhere else. 

Stuckey's was a unique company.

Most of the buildings were shaped alike.

An A-Frame type building with very high ceilings. Almost Cathedral looking.

They were also unique in that most of the managers were transplants from other areas. They would move managers around to various stores. Housing was provided. Each one of these stores had an apartment attached to the building. You walked into the back store room and there was the door to the apartment. I don't think it had an outside entrance.

This is where my first boss, Jim, lived with his wife Alice.

Jim and Alice.
They were an odd couple. Jim was a little man who was very quiet and calculating.
Alice was a heavy smoker who would come out of the apartment, cigarette in hand screeching "J-e-e-m." Her lipstick was bright red and always a little larger than her actual mouth.

I can remember Jim being sorta nit picky. The kind of boss that wants things a certain way, but never bothers to tell you what that way is...until he's telling you what you did is not that (right) way.
But, I don't think any of us had any major problems with him. It's just that he was the boss, we were not.

I still remember the day that he showed up.
Jim and Alice had been running us in circles all week long, getting ready for a visit from the District manager. There was a lot wrong with that store. It had been opened a long time. The bathrooms were not updated and pretty bad. Not dirty, but never clean looking...just worn out. There was flooding all the time due to the building sitting lower than Rt. 2. Neither Jim nor Alice seemed to make any extra effort to fix any of these things. That was until these visits...then it was lots of band aids and things done that we normally didn't do.

I was standing by the register in the snack bar when he arrived.
A handsome white haired man in a navy blue blazer with tan pants.
Jim scurried up to the door to meet him.

They exchanged hand shakes, a bit of small talk and headed toward the snack bar. There was a unspoken silent, "don't you dare mess up his order" threat from Jim in the air.
Jim turned to me and said "This is one of our new girls, Nancy Vandercar...Nancy this is our District Manager, Garland Fish."
Before I could get a "hello, nice to meet you"out, Garland turned to Jim and said, "Oh, I know who she is, Nancy and I go way back, don't we Nance?" He said to me with a wink. I was a little surprised, but this was not anything unusual in my life. Having grown up living behind the Log Cabin, the local Social hang out for the community, I often had people that I didn't know telling me "I remember when you were this tall." I figured that Garland was a customer of Dad's and he probably knew me from the station.

So neither Garland nor I was surprised, but poor Jim.
He looked as tho his goose had been cooked. I'm not sure if he was proud to have hired someone Garland approved of, or scared that I might give all his secrets away to his boss that I go "way back" with.

It was at that moment, that Garland Fish taught me my first lesson of working in the real world.
Sometimes...it's not what you know, but who you know.

Let's just say, my life got a lot easier at Stuckey's after Jim found out that I knew the District Manager and the District Manager knew me!

Ruby Tuesday

To Everything.....

As it often goes...

with this thing called the Family Circle...

One family member passes on...and another one is born.

2 dates to add to the family history record.

Ryan Douglas Thompson, Jr. was born June 28, 2012

Garland Fish passed away on June 30, 2012


Turn, Turn, Turn....

Happy Birthday, Drew!!

Happy Birthday, Evia!!

Happy Birthday, Alene!

Flashback Friday....Baby.Baby.Baby!

Baby Ryan

Baby Jamie

Baby R.J.

Welcome to the World!

Ryan, Jr !!

Happy Birthday James!

Flashback Friday....So Long.....

Ruby, Garland, Betty

It was already 45 minutes past the time we should be leaving to make sure we didn't get stuck in traffic on the way to the airport.

After a week of seeing Ruby and Garland together, I hated to say the words:

"Well, Ruby. We should probably be getting on the road."

She looked down and said, "Oh, okay."

Garland, who never misses a beat....eased the heaviness in the air by perking up and almost shouting...

"Okay, Goodbye then!"

...like we were leaving to go pick up a pizza or run an errand.

That is Garland. He always has the perfect words: just the right thing at the right time.

Making a joke when things were too serious.

If he told you about a flaw in someone, he would counter it with a compliment.

Telling a story to bring a point home. And often the point would not be what you expected.

At his outburst, I laughed out loud.

Ruby shooed him.

Gayle gave the "that's my dad" look...

And Garland smiled a big smile...

even tho the look on his face was of a man who knew his time was short.

Ruby said her goodbyes and was overcome with emotion and went to the porch.

As she left, he said:

"So long....I'll see you on the other side."

....and I mentally changed my "status update" to:

"That moment when two old friends say goodbye, knowing they will probably not see each other again....... : (   "

Happy Birthday, Casey!

Ruby Tuesday

 At the Lowell Library...kickin' it old school with the one and only Ruby...of Ruby Tuesday fame.

I have been doing a lot of reading about Lowell History on the Lowell Library's excellent website.

I read about some scrapbooks and wondered if the Library had them in their files.

Ruby and I stopped by to ask questions and we found that the Library has lots of local history resources and friendly workers to help you find them.

Ruby was in her element as this is how she did ALL of her research (way before computers existed).

She found this treasure in an old Lowellian before I could even get back to my seat:

Bob Vandercar 

(Ray Rinkenberger to the right of Bob)

We asked for information on the Kenney family and the librarian pulled a thick folder out of the filing cabinet.

She said, "Oh, you're in luck...there is a whole book in here!!"

I was proud to point at Ruby and say, "Oh, yes! And she wrote it."

What an honor to spend a "Ruby Tuesday" with Ruby herself!

Directions to here:

When we were leaving the library, Ruby stopped at the desk and whispered to the lady...

"If I lived here, you would have to kick me out of here every night."

: )

Sunday Dinner with The Fathers and Ruby

I'm not sure how I managed to NOT get Ruby in the picture...
maybe because we sat together collecting Family Record sheets....which made her VERY happy.

Along with the Homework...

There was dinner.

There was dessert.

(home made Ice Cream)

There was research

(checking footprints for Flat Feet)

...and there was skipping!

Jerry, skipping off into the sunset

Flashback Friday...Great Graduate

How can this Great Nephew be old enough to graduate?

Congratulations Casey, all your hard work has paid off!

Ruby Tuesday....our "adopted" cousin

You can read the "Kenney Record" from cover to cover and never come across the name, Garland Fish.
However, over the past couple years, I've come to find out, he is as close to the Kenney/Tilton family as any other cousin that is listed in Ruby's research.

Prior to 2009, I knew that our family was somehow connected and or related to Garland and Ann Fish, but I wasn't sure how.

It was during my first visit with Ruby in 2009, that I finally learned how Garland came to be known as part of the family.

Ruby was telling a story about her brother, Norman and Garland's name came up.

I asked how Garland was related to us.

Here's the story, according to Ruby:

Garland was the youngest child of his family. 

Apparently, after the older children had already left home, Garland's parents separated and/or divorced which was not very common back in those days.

Garland lived with his dad. He told me that he once counted up how many places he and his dad had lived in Lowell and the number was in the double digits. He said as soon as the rent would come due, they would have to move along to another place.

Ruby tells the story about Garland being over for dinner one night at their house.

Norman said to Uncle Keith and Aunt Phebe,

"you know it's sort of rough for Garland at home right now, do you think he could stay with us tonight?"

Uncle Keith and Aunt Phebe said yes, and according to Ruby, Garland never went back home.

He lived with them for the rest of his school years and became "like a second brother" to her.

So, he was unofficially adopted into the Dinwiddie/Tilton family.

It may not be recorded in the book, but if you know how to read between the lines of the official family record,  he is as close to us and our family as any other cousin.

Cousins on Main Street

Barb came into town for a conference and Wes & Debby treated us to dinner.

Wes, Debby, Barb

I love spending time with this guy!

 Monday she came up to Carmel and the Northerners came down for dinner.

We all came from 4 different places/directions and met at the Carmel Antique mall.

This picture is one set of us right after we heard the other set...an aisle over saying, "I don't see them but I hear them!"

Dinner on Main Street.

Flashback Friday...."This used to be my Playground..."

On the morning of Erin's Baptism,
Jeremy & and Kelly swore that they saw me walking the go-cart track out by the mom and dad's house.

Later that day, I learned what no one wanted to tell me.....

.......that my old playground was getting tore up.

So, that following Monday,

I had to go out and take a walk down memory lane and visit my old stomping grounds one more time, before it all got pushed into the ground.

No one can really tell me much about how the track came to be.

What made Uncle Ralph decide to plant this track in the middle of the pasture/field?

I guess I'm gonna have to go visit Don and see what he remembers about the when, the how and the why. 

What I do know and I have been told is:

It was on Uncle Ralph's property.

It was originally a track for horse racing.

There were bleachers at some point.

There was a concession stand.

There was lots of noise. (insert go-cart racing sound...and turning of head in circles here).

It was an oval track with a run off that you could turn back around and enter the oval again.

It was the official meeting point of the Tilton/Vandercar gang of kids.

I have found no pictures of the actual horse or go cart races, but here's a few that if you look really closely, you can see the track...our playground in the background.

If you look just over mom's right shoulder you can see the white asphalt in the middle of the field.

You can see the shape of the track off in the field and there seems to be power poles and maybe some sort of a stand?? (in the upper left of the picture)

Beyond these ridiculously cute and goofy boys, you can see a small building that was the concession stand. A concession stand!!!! There was enough people there to sell concessions, yet I have no idea who made, sold or worked it. 

I do know that years after the track closed, my brother may have used the rafters as a hiding place for "things." Also, looks like a power pole near the track...this may have become a basketball hoop for the Tilton boys, later on.

the curves.
I was amazed that so much of the track was still intact.

But, for me, it was just there...my entire life.

The horse and go cart racers had long abandoned it by the time I came along.

It was just there, for me....a really cool playground.

My personal asphalt track...to ride around

and around

and around

and around

and around

and around

and around

and around

and around.

On foot, on my bike, on my motorcycle.

Around and around and around.

In fact, if I had a dollar for everytime I walked, ran or rode around and/or across that track....

well...I might still live near that track ; )

One of my favorite memories is when Kendel and I decided that we were gonna dig our way to the other side of the world. We figured that if we dug straight thru the earth, we would eventually end up in China.

So, on a very hot summer day, we started digging.

And what better place to plan our journey thru the center of the earth...?

Of course the center of the go-cart track.

We dug and dug and dug.

I'm sure I supervised more than I dug.

But we both were out there for quite some time.

It was hot.

And then we saw it.

You know on a hot day, when you look across the field...how you can sometimes see the heat waves in the air? How the horizon looks like there is a blur and fumes/vapors, how the air is wavy...??

Well, when we saw that...and then it hit me.

It hit me that I had forgot about hell.

I told Kendel to "STOP DIGGING" because we were getting close to HELL.

I pointed to the wavy air and convinced him that it was because the heat off of hell was making the air extra hot.

I vaguely had an idea that hell was "down" and seeing the heat waves in the air, I thought...oh, no, to get thru the center of the earth...we will have to go thru Hell...and I did not want to go to hell, no matter how much I wanted to get to the other side of the earth.

Needless to say, what took us hours to dig...

got filled up in a matter of minutes...cause we were afraid of going to hell.

I am not making this up.

I blame my older brothers for my over active imagination

and I'm sorry to say that Kendel was the one who heard and got sucked into many of my magical thinking theories.

"This used to be my playground..."

If it was your playground too, tell me your stories!

Directions to here:

And yes, of course, I took a piece of the track to add to my collection of special "rocks."

Summer.....

is kicking this Blog and Bloggers butt.....

sorry.

Happy B-eer -irthday Ryan!

Cheers!

Ruby Tuesday

This Tuesday really was a Ruby Tuesday.

I walked past the office at work and heard my phone ringing.

I rarely have the ringer on and rarely answer it at work.

I answered it and it was Ruby.

She was upset and crying.

She had just heard from Garland's daughter that he had been to the doctor and got a bad report. 

His cancer had caught up with him and the doctor predicted he had 2 weeks to live.

She was trying to decide whether to come now or wait for the funeral.

So sad to hear her so upset.

Flashback Friday....Til we meet again.

A few years back, maybe 2000? 2002?

I'm not sure, but it was in the land before digital pictures;

I took dad down to Lake Village to Pauline Sioris' home.

Pauline's sister Ruth was down from Minnesota for a visit and Pauline and her daughter Carolyn invited  Dad and Aunt Gladys West over for lunch.

It was a table full of first cousins catching up and telling stories about the old days.

Cousins...now...and then...

How I WISH I would have had my LiveScribe pen to record the table talk that day!

I remember some of the stories, but at that time I had not studied the family tree enough to know who all they were talking about. I also remember trying to translate much of what was being said to Dad who was not wearing his hearing aides.

One thing was for sure.

Pauline was the go to cousin for the details of the stories.

If you ever met Pauline, you know she could talk a blue streak....

and once she got to talking she started flitting around the house, pulling out props for her stories and showing off family heirlooms.

I remember her opening a hall closet and pulling out a black cape, draping it around her shoulders and spinning around. She said it belonged to (and here my memory fails me) either Great Grandma Hattie or Great Grandma Effie....and it was the cape that Grandma would wear to keep warm when they traveled by horse and buggy.

One of the most touching moments was when everyone was saying goodbye...

Ruth gave Dad a hug and held his hands and said in a voice that sounded just like Great Aunt Lulu, "Do you think we'll ever see each other again?"

It was a memory keepers moment.

One that gets burned into memory.

I forgot a lot of what I heard that day, but I did not forget that moment....and I watched and kept track of the answer.

They did not meet again.

Ruth reached the point that she could no longer travel.

And Dad passed away without ever seeing her again.

Pauline is someone I should have revisited....

She was always happy to talk and to tell story after story.Her health started to fail and she spent short stints in Lowell Health Care until her fate, the same fate that took Aunt Lulu's memory caught up with her and Carolyn was no longer able to care for her at home and she moved to the Nursing Home.

Last year Ruby and I went to visit Pauline.

We found her near the nurse's station in a wheel chair.

I had been told that she constantly talked....and made up rhymes and songs (just like Aunt Lulu did....but not much of it made sense. ( This was also how Aunt Lulu was once she moved to the nursing home).

I knelt down next to Pauline's wheel chair and said:

"Pauline?
I'm Bob Vandercar's daughter."

She turned to look at me and studied my face with her clear blue eyes.

I thought I was seeing a ghost as she had the same furrowed brow that my dad would get when he was trying to come back from the land of far away.
I had never noticed how "Vandercar" that look was...until I saw it on her face. 

I waited a few seconds and asked her,
"...do you remember Bob?"

She smiled and said..."
(hay was the word she inserted at the begining and end of every sentance and what she used when she couldn't remember a word).

I laughed out loud and said...
"Yes...that's right! I brought someone else to see you.

Do you remember Phebe and Keith...."

and she broke out in a sing songy voice...

"Phebe and Keith Dinwiddie....hay."

I said, "do you remember Ruby?"

...she nodded and said "Dinwiddie...hay."

I pointed up to where Ruby was standing in front of her and she said,

"Ruby and Norman and Betty...hay."

I was SO glad that she recognized Ruby.

What a gift and a memory for Ruby to take home with her.
To be remembered.

I looked over at the nurse's station and they were all watching and listening and seemed a little amazed. One of them said...

"do you know the names she is talking about?"

and I nodded yes.

We rolled her back to her room and listened as she strung together names and rhymes and hay...and Jack...hay and Jeanette...hay....and Carolyn....hay and Grandma Effie....hay.

I asked her if she remembered Grandma Effie and she said....

"Grandma Effie....hay....the cookies...hay...and the red dots....hay."

Ruby slapped her knee and explained that Grandma Effie used to make cookies with red cinnamin candy in them.

I took note to tell all the Grandmas that I know...
that all those little things you do for your grandkids will stick in their memories long after their short term memory fails them.

She talked about "Norman being ornery and getting a lickin'....hay (laughing a little)....and I felt so bad for him....hay....and Jeanette...hay...(and here she started to cry a little...remembering Jeanette...who had died very young)...and Jack was so handsome....hay....and her babies. And all this seemed to be interspersed with actual poems and little songs that she may have at one time memorized.

It was clear that Pauline still loved to talk. 

The stories were not as understandable as they were on that day we sat around her table at lunch,

but it was comforting to know that even tho her day to day memory had failed her, she still had and held onto memories of people she loved and good times she had lived.

I was sad to leave her there.

But was glad for the visit.

And even tho it was not said out loud, I thought once again of Ruth's question to my dad, when Ruby and Pauline said goodbye.
"Do you think we'll ever see each other again..."

As it turned out....it was another visit for a memory keeper to treasure.

They did not meet again.

Pauline passed away 4 months short of her 99th birthday.

I hope Great Grandma Effie and her are enjoying a plate of cookies with red dots.

Til we meet again, Pauline.
Rest in peace...hay.

Happy Birthday, Cody!

Random Whispers

I need to learn to listen to random thoughts that pop into my head.

A lot of these thoughts fly thru my head while driving.

If I would listen to them...I would not be so surprised at news...both good and bad.

I cannot count the times that a random thought...in hindsight...has acted as a harbinger for what is to come. It's not always that way...but I'm seeing more and more...it is true.
Nevertheless, I'm always shocked....at the news.
Until I remember that I was warned.

Sometimes it's a thought, sometimes it's a song. A stranger's face that reminds me of another face I know. Sometimes it's a scent that is locked away in my brain...and when it is in the air, it reminds me of a place, a person, a thing. Random stuff. Random whispers.

I came up to Lowell on the 25th for Erin's Birthday party.
I can't remember if it was on the way up or on the way back that I thought of Pauline, but I know it was while I was driving.

Maybe it was because I was thinking about calling Ruby to see if she was still planning on coming in August.
Anyway...there she was...in the forefront of my thoughts.
I reflected on my and Ruby's trip to the nursing home to visit her.
I pondered that it had been over one year ago.
A whole year...
and she was still there. Still sitting in her wheelchair. Still holding on.
I thought a year is a long time...
a year is a long time to live there.
Yet, in the state that her mind was in...who knows what a year seems like? A day? A week? Forever?

I made a mental note....
I should print a photo of Grandma Tilton to show her.
I should go and see if I could make sense of her rhyming stories.
I should find out if Carolyn is still able to visit.
I should find out how Carolyn is doing.
I should go visit her the next time I am in town....it wouldn't take long.
I should do that.
I will do that.

AND right there...
 I should have known that there was a REASON that she came to mind.

And if I had listened, maybe I would not have been so shocked when I read of her passing on Facebook.

I suppose I am not alone in this.
Help us all to listen, take note....and hopefully act.

You never know what those random whispers may be telling us.

Ruby Tuesday...Goodbye to our oldest cousin.

I was hoping the first Ruby Tuesday story and post would be adding a birth to the family genealogy record, but it looks like it is an obituary instead.


I was getting ready for work and checked Facebook and our cousin Barb Lindemer (Aunt Lulu's grand daughter) had posted that Pauline Sirois had passed away on Sunday and the visitation was happening in one hour.

Pauline Sirois, 98, of Lake Village, passed away Sunday, May 27, 2012 at Lowell Health Care Center. 

She is survived by daughter, Carolyn Brownfield of Morocco, grandchildren, Kirby (Kelly) Brownfield of Mishawaka, Kim (Tina) Brownfield, Otterbein and Kerry (Terrie) Brownfield, Morocco, 9 great grandchildren and 8 great-great grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by husband Bertram "Jack".
Visitation will be Tuesday, May 29, 2012, from 1-2 at Sheets Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 604 E. Commercial Ave. in Lowell with Graveside Services following at 2:30 at Lake Village Cemetery. 

I'm sad I was not able to attend. Thank you Janet for representing the Vandercars.

Pauline was Dad's first cousin. 
She is related to us on the Vandercar/Tilton side.


She was the first born of Aunt Lulu (Vandercar) and Uncle Fay Tilton.


She was one of those cousins that were related to us twice over...meaning she was a cousin to us on the Vandercar side and the Tilton side.


I know, Dave, confusing, right? See me, and I will draw you a picture.


Pauline LOVED to talk and tell stories.
If you closed your eyes and listened to her, you would swear that it was Aunt Lulu talking. They had the same unique high-pitched sing-songy voice.


She was our oldest cousin on Dad's side of the family.


Oh, the stories that flew away with her!

Til we meet again, Pauline...

Happy Labor Day, Cousin Bill !!

We had a nice surprise at Sunday Dinner....!!!!

Cousin Bill and family's visit which we thought was taking place on Labor Day weekend...ended up being on Memorial Day!

Bill had emailed Susie about driving thru Indiana and staying for a few days on Labor Day weekend.
Susie, of course, said that would be fine, just let her know the details when it got closer.

Bill called the Saturday before Memorial Day and left a message saying, "Okay Susie, see you tomorrow!"

Apparently, Bill had a Senior moment and had typed Labor Day in his email, when he really meant Memorial Day!

I hadn't planned on coming to Sunday Dinner,
but Scooter can never pass up the chance to see Sniffer,
so I got in the car and came up for dinner.

We had a great time with the Cobbs...

and the Chari's Columbus gang...and their tiny dog...

and we got to help Matt blow out his "40" candles.

Happy Birthday Matt!!

Happy Labor Day, Bill!

 Come back on Labor Day and we will celebrate Memorial Day!