In the Beginning

I have been working on our family tree with the help of Mike Schaaf. He is a cousin on the Langlois, Reynolds,Drescka,Esselman side. I know it is a stretch but he is related to you.

I remember working with Grandma Lois on our family tree. She would point to a name then tell a story about them. She would talk to me about Daniel, who moved his family from Bucks Co. Penn. then onto Scioto Co. Ohio along the Kentucky boarder. She spoke of his wife Jane. She sure was a strong woman, but I am getting ahead of myself.

I thought that I would blog some stories of people that I have known. I will write stories about people that you knew and of those who came before you.

Know that your had touched the hand of your grandparents and they have touched the hand of theirs. We are all connected.

I will begin with Grandma Lois She was my Mom. She was born in Harding Illinois in her Mothers house. My Mom used to say they always remembered her birthday because of of their hunting dogs was stung by a bee and they nearly lost the dog. No kidding. Grandma Lois told me.

Grandma Lois was the youngest of three sisters. It was Pat, Mary and Lois, their Mom and Dad were Florence Smith Terry and he was Daniel Terry.

After Grandma was born they moved the famiy to Casper Wyo. I guess it was because GGrandma Florence's family was there. They lived in a little house on Cherry St. I remember that because Grandma Lois would joke that they teased Mary. They would say,"Mary Terry lived on Cherry."

GGrandpa Dan loved GGrandma tons. Once while vising the house on Cherry St. I found a photo book filled with photos of the three girls and GGrandma Florence when they were young. I also found many letters of GGrandpa Dans letters to GGrandma Florence. I guess that was back in the day when everyone wrote letters. GGrandpa Dan wrote beautiful loving letters to GGrandma Florence. He was often out working for the Telephone company, sometimes far away. It was very hard on GGrandma, having him be so far away. I have heard from others that GGrandpa Dan had the wonderlust. He didn't feel like he could settle down and live a regular city life. It so crushed GGrandma Florence when he left. It was then that GGGrandma Smith came to live with GG Florence and her three little girls.

GGGrandma Smith lived in the little house on the same lot on Cherry St. She took over running the house and she called my Mom Buddy. GGrandma Florence's brother came to live with them too. The times were hard then and families all lived together to save as much as they could. Her brother was a teacher. The little white jewerly box on my dresser with the tiny cat on top was a gift that he gave to his Florence with some of his firt teaching money. The story of the cat jewerly holder is a story that my Mom told to me when I saw it on her dresser. So know you know the story of the cat jewerly holder.

When Grandma Lois was a bit older she used to go skying on Casper Mtn. She loved skiing and rollar skating. I have a little photo of her skating with Mary on Cherry St. It was before all the trees were big. I think Grandma Lois looks a lot like Aunt Lisha. Everyone does.

Once Grandma Lois was supposed to be home doing homework she went skiing instead. She took a hard fall and hurt her back. I understand I didn't like homework either. It was hard for her after that. She said it was the begining of her back problems.

When Grandma Lois finished high school she moved back to Illinois and lived with her Dad's brother Dale lived. She got to live in a house that was built by the Bishop family. Mr. Bishop and his wife had survived the Titanic sinking. His poor wife couldn't get over her survivors guilt and lost her mind. Mr Bishop remarried and they built the house up on the end of DeBois Lane.

The house was huge. Us kids all called it the mansion. They even had butler bells that you could pull and a bulter would come to see what you wanted. Of couse it wasn't that way when Uncle Dale and Aunt Ione lived there. Grandma Lois lived with Uncle Dale and Aunt Ione and their five children, Daniel, Janet, Beth, Dale Jr and Poppie. The house had 9 bedrooms and more bathrooms than that so they all fit in it well.

Grandma Lois worked for Uncle Dale at White Trucking. She was a secretary there. She would spend her free time with friends sledding and riding motorcycles. Now her comes the part where she met Papa. I guess the familes had known each other for some time, so it was natural for them to meet.

As you already know Papa road motorcycles and worked at the Harley Davidson Shop with Grandfather Charlie Saar. Grandma Lois would often go with Grandfather, Grandmother and Papa on Sundays to the races. I think that is where they really fell in love. I never found any love letters between them but Papa would always send her tiny rose buds on their anniversary.

This is a good place to rest. I will continue later with Papa's story.