Tuesday, July 17, 2012

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 AShurte
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.

Friday, July 13, 2012

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

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

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.


Friday, July 06, 2012

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!

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

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....

Monday, July 02, 2012

Happy Birthday, Drew!!

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Happy Birthday, Evia!!