originally published in the Goering Gazette, July 1989
From Raph, as told to Rosie: We had an old rifle that shot right and high and so you had to adjust accordingly. I even got something with it sometimes. I remember that Dad worked on me to retrain me after my accident. I remember one time I went to school with skunk smell. They sent me home to change clothes.
From Jim, as told to Martha per telephone: One time I went with Dad on the milk route in Canton. Our last stop was the cafe and he took me in with him. As we were leaving he bought me a large lollipop and then admonished me to be sure to eat it all up before we got home so nobody else would know!
While in high school in Peabody I had a sweetheart named Twila. Somehow I managed to get some money for a Christmas gift for her and purchased a necklace. One evening a few days before the holiday Dad asked me to stp out on the porch and there he gave me a small gift to give to Twilas as he thought I should remember her. As it turned out, I gave her both gifts and they were both necklaces.
From Martha: Grace had such a quick wit. She was living with us in Canton while Dan was in the Navy and one day she got distracted and didn’t watch the creamed corn and it burned a bit. She said, “We’ll just call it Indian corn!” After that, the boys would ask for it.
One day young Martha baked bread. Something must have gone a bit wrong. Anyway, it was not edible, it was very heavy. So they threw it out. In fact, it was so heavy the dog couldn’t even run off with it.
Overheard from Joan at the reunion, “and then there was Jim. He’d always shove everything off into my plate that he didn’t want.” Aw — come on Jim!