Family home
Stories set here
- Strawberry Patches, Saturday Baths, and Childhood PlayDiana recalls Carol’s frightening knee injury, punishment for charcoal writing and throwing rocks, and fear during her mother’s pneumonia. She describes the small house before bedrooms and a bathroom were added, Saturday baths in kitchen tubs, outdoor games, dolls, jump rope, and Jacks. School memories include crying on her first day, health inspections, and a sixth-grade ribbon.
- Seven Children, Shared Adventures, and Sisterly MischiefDiana remembers Iris cutting hair, Bernie rescuing her from punishment and playing records, and Bob driving four younger sisters to school and building an igloo with Billy Johnson. Carol served as a second mother, led 4-H meetings, and accompanied Diana to the State Fair. Dee was a card-playing companion and peacekeeper. Diana and Barb shared sleeping space, television suppers, prank calls, forbidden games, and adventures with Carol’s car. Family outings included the drive-in, ice cream, carnival rides, and drag races.
- A Car for College and a Family That Always HelpedDiana recalls demanding study habits, family gardening and tomato sales, and her anxious departure for college. Iris and Bill’s gift of a car made nursing school feasible. During an earlier John Deere & Company strike, Iris brought groceries when the family lacked money. Diana describes her scholarship, difficult college years, friendship with Martha Kawada, and graduation. Memories of planting a flower garden and helping haul water from the water works lead to gratitude for the family’s enduring support and resourcefulness.
Events here
Early childhood
Charcoal names on the garage lead to punishment
Dee, Barb, and Diana wrote names on the garage, then threw rocks and a brick at Carol after she threatened punishment. Their father spanked them and made them clean the garage.
During Diana’s childhood
A larger home and an indoor bathroom
The living-room and bedroom wall was removed. Their father added two bedrooms and a bathroom; before the addition the family used an outhouse and bathed in aluminum kitchen tubs.
Before Diana’s college years
Iris brings groceries during the strike
During their father’s strike from John Deere & Company, Diana overheard that grocery money had run out and offered five silver dollars received as hospital gifts. Her mother declined. That day Iris arrived with a station wagon full of groceries, and their mother cried.
High school
Diana plants a flower garden
Wanting to beautify the house, Diana planted a garden her father tilled behind the garage. Mrs. Rohrer supplied perennial starts. Tiny mail-order evergreen starts mostly survived; some remained in Dee’s yard.
Saturday nights; hot summer nights
Saturday snacks and summer sleeping arrangements
Mom made buttered, salted popcorn or fudge after baths. In summer heat, the children slept on a white sheet on the living room rug with a fan blowing.
Family corrections
Notes sent in by the family and approved on review. They sit alongside the original record — the book's wording is never changed.
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