Sometime last year, Phil suggested that I write a post about my siblings. As you can see, I jumped right on it. Anyway, here goes.
1960.
From Left to right in the back row:
Bill; Lives in Hutchinson where he has lived most of his adult life. His wife Jeanne died of Alzheimer’s a few years ago. They have three children and seven grandchildren.
Joan; Lives in Winfield where she retired from the State Home. She has four children, all girls, one of whom died from an automobile accident after her senior year in high school.
Mom and Dad were both born in 1899. As with most families back then, Dad took care of the business and Mom raised the family. Dad died in 1967 and Mom in 1987.
Barbara; Lives in Storey, Arkansas where she and her husband retired. Ross died a few years ago. They have three children and seven grandchildren.
Kale Jr.; Lives in Chicago where he went to college and spent most of his adult life. They have three children and five grandchildren.
Front row:
Pat; lived in Bartlesville and worked for Phillips for over forty years. She retired in 2000, and died of a stroke six months later. They had one child.
Dick; has lived in the Houston area for the past thirty years. He retired in 2002 after a career in accounting and property management. They have three children and five grandchildren.
Nancy; lives in Wichita and works for United Way. They have three children and no grandchildren yet, much to their dismay.
It occurs to me that most of you were an only child or had one or two siblings. You can not imagine what it was like to live in a four bedroom house with this many kids and only one bathroom. Needless to say, we learned to manage our time very well. I don’t know how my parents afforded to feed and clothe that many children, especially since we were all big eaters. We did raise a lot of our own food and usually had a cow that I enjoyed (not) milking twice a day. Dad also took in livestock as payment from some of the farmers in the area. If you wonder if I would change it, the answer is no. We are still close and other than Bill and I fighting a lot when we were young, we all got along and helped each other when they needed it.
All three of the boys have had by-pass surgery, Pat died of a stroke and Joan and Barbara have either had by-pass or had stents inserted. Nancy is the only one who has not had any kind of heart problem. She didn’t grow up in Cedar Vale though so she may have escaped the curse. There must have been something in the water.
8 comments:
That's a good looking family, Dick. And all really nice people as I remember.
Dick,
Do you have family reunions? It is nice for the children to know their cousins. This is something that my children were not able to do as all the family was so scattered around.
I didn't remember your older brother and sister, and for some reason I had forgot about your youngest sister. Like Wayne said, you have a nice family and it was interesting to hear about them.
We have family reunions every two years, usually at Holiday Island, which is just north of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. We normally have over fifty family members in attendance.
Thanks, Dick ... the report was interesting and the photos special. It was good to see all of you to bring up memories of a time past.
Your house on the corner was very active. One day on your front porch there were several of us gathered and a bolt of lightning hit too close. Seems like I had some numbness for a little while.
Good report Dick, I have more or less kept track of Barb and Pat over the years as they were nearest to me in age. Joan Cornett has made 7 reservations for this years CVHS alumni banquet. Does that mean that the family reunion is in Cedar Vale this year?
No,Don
Our next reunion will be in the summer of 2009.
It will just be the the six of us this year, and we are all going to the banquet.
It will be Kale Jr's 65th. I hope there are more coming from his class.
Dick - Enjoyed reading about your family. At the Big O tire shop in Pagosa Springs a few years ago, a guy had a tire problem on his 5th wheel and he was from Hutchinson. He said he knew your brother Bill. Sometimes its a small world.
Dick - After I had posted the previous comment about brother Bill,these emories of Bill came to mind. I thought you might find them amusing. He always seemed to be kind of a jokester, happy-go-lucky type, with a sheepish, mischievous grin. I remember during football practice he would rather run over you, rather than around you, especially smaller underclassmen. As you recall the boy's dressing room was in the high school basement. A gas heater warmed the room Bill peed on the hot heater, which made a pungent, offensive smell. Those who did not witness the act, yelled, "Who did that". By that grin on Bill's face it was evideent who the guilty party was. We "B" teamers were playing Leon, as I recall the score was tied or very close and near the end of the game, ( it makes a better story anyway). Bill came across in front of the basket, about half way between the basket and the free throw line, flipped the basketball over his head, the ball got only net as it went through the hoop. Bill ran down the court with that grin on his face as it if could do that everytime. I remember thinking what a gutsy play that was with the game on the line. I think we won the game, which beating Leon was a highlight.
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