Theme
Family
Forward
The Spirit That Binds Seven Siblings
Bernie reflects on the powerful love binding seven siblings, considering their shared blood, close quarters in a tiny house, and individual relationships. Bernie invites readers to listen to each sibling's story and discover the common hidden truth underlying their family bond.
We Nine
Keeping the Family Pictures Safe
The narrator identifies a photograph as the only known picture of the whole family together and celebrates the many other family photographs preserved for the book. Cousin Merlin Ringering supplied pictures of early generations, while Iris rescued precious photographs from an old olive-drab strongbox and kept them safe. Many are being seen for the first time. The pictures in subsequent chapters are arranged roughly chronologically rather than necessarily illustrating nearby stories; assembling so many pictures made the book a long time coming, but worth the wait.
Barbara's Chapter
The Night Diana Came Home
Barbara remembers feeling shy around Diana when she came home from the hospital, and jealous because Diana was getting all the attention.
Barbara's Chapter · 1945 and early childhood
The Baby of the Family
Barbara recalls being born on May 26th, 1945, the fifth daughter and youngest of seven children. She slept in a baby bed in her parents’ room for six years. Her earliest, hazy memory is playing school with her sisters on a blanket beneath a large tree in the front yard.
Barbara's Chapter
Sisters’ Comfort in Kindergarten
When Barbara started Kindergarten at Roosevelt grade school, she cried every day and asked for Diana, Delores or Carol to come comfort her. She eventually adjusted but still missed being with her sisters.
Barbara's Chapter
Christmas Goodies and Mom's Handmade Ornaments
Christmas was Mom's favorite holiday. She decorated every room and made cookies or candy daily from Thanksgiving onward, storing them on the tiny back porch beside her small bottles of Pepsi. Christmas Eve morning brought thin slices of fried cornmeal mush. In the evenings she made distinctive Christmas balls, which Barbara still hangs on her tree. Barbara misses Mom most at Christmas.
Barbara's Chapter · Childhood through shortly before Mom's death in 1988
Mom's Card Tables and a Perfect Hand
Barbara remembers Mom crocheting over morning coffee, hosting Club with tuna casserole, yeast rolls, sweets, and nuts, and praising the prizes the children bought at the Highland dime store. Annual Club picnics at Riverside Park featured homemade food, flavored pop, swimming, cards, and watermelon. Shortly before Mom's death, during a card game at Carol's house while Diana visited from Florida, the players secretly arranged a perfect 500 hand for Mom and never told her. Barbara also recalls the haunting story of a Club lady losing a finger in a Mix Master, tentatively identifying her as Olene Allerdyce.
Barbara's Chapter
The Everyday Care That Made a Home
Barbara gathers memories of Mom's familiar sayings, childhood in Dunseth at the foot of the Turtle Mountains, and skiing over fences to school with her brother. Mom treated colds with crushed aspirin, sugar and water, and Vicks covered with flannel. Before Dr. Menton's house calls, Virginia McFarland helped tidy the house. Spring cleaning and Saturday chores kept the home spotless despite the coal furnace. Barbara recalls a music box bird she thinks Bernie bought in Paris, Mom's treadle sewing machine, the girls' Peppy Steppers 4H projects, and handmade Easter outfits for Sunday School. She adopted Mom's red-ribbon suitcase custom. Jennifer passed along Gramma Guild's recollection of tonsil removal before telephone work, and Barbara remembers Mom's lifelong red hair.
Barbara's Chapter
Daddy’s Lap, Garden, and Backyard Workshop
Barbara warmly remembers curling up in Daddy's lap and describes his old-time remedies, including cigarette smoke for earaches, hot lemonade with booze, Samon Salve, and an overpowering experiment with menthol crystals in a furnace-connected vaporizer. Family activities included drag races, wrestling, golf, gathering nuts and grapes, and working hard in the garden and orchard. She recalls reading in an apple tree, his embarrassment-inducing old cars, his objections to girls attending college, Friday grocery and library trips, Christmas gifts, singing, trading, and inventive repairs. She also remembers helping him adjust and repair the television and his name for homes south of Coal Town Road: “Frogtown.”
Barbara's Chapter
Norm’s Unforgettable First Family Visit
On Norm's first visit to meet the family, Floyd took him to Iris’s house. Entering through the garage, Floyd silently picked up an almost empty bottle of booze, drained it, and returned it to the garbage.
Barbara's Chapter · 1996
Merlin's Camper Visit and a Familiar Gesture
Retired steamship pilot Merlin visited Normal overnight with Dorothy after seeing Dee in Moline. His wife Marilyn had died two years earlier. During his visit he shared family stories, and Barbara noticed the finger-by-the-nose gesture that Dee had said resembled Daddy's.
Barbara's Chapter · When Clarence was fourteen
Clarence's Long Recovery in the Stone Shed
Dad's favorite full brother Clarence was helping take pigs to market when he jumped out of the truck on a hill, ran alongside it, and fell beneath a tire. After his lower abdomen was run over, the family took him home rather than to a doctor or hospital. He survived nine months of recuperation in a small stone shed without medical care.
Barbara's Chapter
Fourth of July with a Favorite Uncle
Merlin fondly recalled Daddy's Fourth of July visits to family reunions in Brainerd. He loved seeing his favorite uncle and the entertaining Aunt Gertie. Daddy's new cars made relatives think he was rich. The visits stopped sometime after Bernie and Bob were twelve or thirteen, disappointing the family.
Barbara's Chapter
Merlin Remembers the Older Generation
Merlin recalled disliking his grandmother Olive, who stuck her tongue out at him and prompted his mother to switch him. He related that Olive had five children before meeting Dan Guild and moved in with him after Clarence Vosberg died. Olive and Dan married quickly because Bessie was expected, a revelation that still disturbed Merlin. Dan was remembered as quiet, mechanical, and a poor dirt farmer. The account says Olive had eight children by three husbands and Daddy had five half and three full siblings; it separately calls Gertie Dad's stepsister.
Barbara's Chapter
An Oak Table Becomes a Punching-Bag Support
Barbara recalls Dad chopping up the pedestal of the family's round oak table and burning it out back. He nailed the tabletop to the basement ceiling and attached a punching bag for the boys.
Barbara's Chapter
Cards and Pantry Shelves in the Basement
The family sat in the basement playing cards during tornado warnings. Shelves held home-canned and store-bought fruits and vegetables, and a small room behind the furnace had formerly stored coal.
Barbara's Chapter
The Wringer and the Scent of Summer Laundry
Before the automatic washer and dryer, the family used a round agitator machine with two rinse tubs, one containing a wringer. Everyone feared getting an arm caught in it. Clothes dried outdoors on lines in summer, acquiring a smell Barbara loved, and on basement lines in winter.
Barbara's Chapter
Childhood Outings, Popcorn, and Sunday Sandwiches
Barbara recalls being told she got lost at Starved Rock Park when quite small. The family often walked to 41st Street to catch a bus downtown or to the library, and walked to the show in Highland. The Wizard of Oz frightened her, and she was told Virginia carried her out. Other pleasures included a huge pan of popcorn for the drive-in in Milan and Sunday nights making fried-egg sandwiches with ketchup and pickles with Diana while watching Lassie.
Barbara's Chapter
Visits and Stories with Gramma Hobson
Trips to Geneseo Illinois brought visits with Gramma Hobson, Billy Johnson’s grandmother, whom Barbara remembers as tall and very charming. They loved hearing her stories about Diana’s time in Children’s Hospital in Chicago.
Barbara's Chapter
Fluffy by the Chimney and Animals Around the House
Barbara recalls Fluffy, an outdoor cat who liked sitting beside the warm brick chimney. The family also raised pet rabbits in hutches behind the shed. Mom kept parakeets in a cage by the living-room window, and there were lots of mice.
Barbara's Chapter
A Remembered Visit to Brainerd
Barbara once accompanied Mom and Dad to Brainerd to visit relatives. She remembers little except her impression that everyone seemed very poor and that the cousins were cute.
Barbara's Chapter
Unannounced Visits and Amusement Park Adventures
Barbara recalls that the family seldom traveled because there were so many of them. They occasionally visited Arjean and Ray Moos in Elmhurst without calling ahead. Their hosts took them to Riverview Amusement Park, where adults played Bingo and children enjoyed rides and midway games. Bob impressed everyone by riding the parachute fall, while Barbara was terrified by the “Red Mouse” and retained a dislike of roller coasters.
Barbara's Chapter
Tin-Tub Baths and Saturday Night Movies
Barbara recalls Saturday baths in a kitchen tin tub with stove-heated water before Daddy and the boys built an addition with a bathroom. She describes crowded sleeping arrangements, a two-seater outdoor toilet, brown-painted iron beds, wool army blankets, and chenille bedspreads. Other memories include late Saturday movies while her parents played cards, Sturdevant Milk advertisements, visiting salesmen, and listening in on party-line conversations.
Barbara's Chapter
Treasured Presents, Music, and Bicycle Rides
Barbara remembers Iris’s gift of a comic-book subscription and Bernie’s love of Mario Lanza records and thoughtful birthday presents after leaving home. Bob teased her and helped her do flip-overs; she took Carol’s outfits while Carol worked, and Dee styled or cut her hair before school. Barbara played most with Diana, riding bicycles on 39th Street, where a dog once tried to bite Diana but 'got the wrong leg.'
Barbara's Chapter · One Easter during Barbara’s childhood
An Easter Flood’s Sweet Aftermath
Iris and Bill’s Ben Franklin Store flooded one Easter. While the other children remembered the cleanup work, Barbara remembered the back porch filled with chocolate bunnies, gooey yellow chicks, and chocolate-covered eggs salvaged from the disaster.
Barbara's Chapter · Barbara's childhood; television received at age ten
Radio Evenings and the Gift of a Television
Before television, the family gathered around the radio for The Lone Ranger, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, and The Shadow, while Mom listened to My Gal Sal as she ironed. Iris and Bill gave the family a black and white TV when Barbara was ten. Barbara lists many favorite shows and remembers having a screen placed over the television to draw on for Rudy Kazootie.
Barbara's Chapter · Barbara's childhood
Neighborhood Friends and Games for Every Season
Barbara remembers her closest neighborhood playmates and the pretend games she shared with Margie Britz. Childhood pastimes included swimming at Riverside Park, Popsicles, catching lightening bugs, lemonade stands, jump rope, cards, treasure hunts, yard games, and Jacks at school. She describes the frightening nighttime chasing game One O’clock And The Ghost Isn’t Here. Winter brought snow games, sledding, cocoa, and warming up on the register; fall brought leaf piles and Halloween treats and pranks. Quiet pleasures included reading Little House in Big Woods and watching clouds beneath sheets on the clothesline. Children also played in summer rain, although they were warned about “Night Air.”
Barbara's Chapter
A Chase Through the Orchard
Barbara remembers Sonny Joiner peeking at them through the bathroom window. Daddy would chase him through the orchard with a shotgun full of salt.
Barbara's Chapter
Sandwiches, Sunday Chicken, and Treats from Mom's Kitchen
Barbara recalls radish, fried bologna, and sugar sandwiches; gravy and mashed-potato dishes; homemade cocoa; garden vegetables; cookies dipped in Daddy’s coffee; Sunday fried chicken; Swiss steak; stovetop popcorn; vegetable soup with rutabaga; coffee cake; and cherry pie. She remembers fearing the pressure cooker and Dad’s saying, “The more white bread the quicker your dead.” As a very small child, she saw rabbits hanging from the clothes-line pole for Daddy to skin; despite assurances, Mom’s fried rabbit never tasted like chicken to her. She also remembers squeezing coloring into oleo, possibly putting it into a form afterward, and hovering around Mom for jelly roll cake trimmings, raw potato, or cabbage heart.
Barbara's Chapter
Radio, Sock Hops, and Teenage Days
Barbara recalls listening to KSTT—1170 AM and WLS—890, cruising Rock Island's One-Ways with girlfriends, Maid Rite sandwiches, and Whitey’s ice cream, where her mother always chose a strawberry cone. Her teen memories include sock hops, poodle skirts, crinolines, cinch belts, saddle shoes, Capezios, and curling irons heated on the gas stove. She remembers ten-cent fries after McDonalds opened during junior high, lunchtime dancing at Coolidge Jr. High, homecoming floats, 4-H and the County Fair, baby-sitting, work at Turnstyle and the Hasty Tasty, ironing even pillowcases, pizza's growing popularity, televised basketball tournaments, and hearing about the first man going into space over the school intercom.
Barbara's Chapter · 1963 onward; described as thirty-three years of memories
Barbara’s Years of Family, Learning and Quilting
Barbara left for Western Illinois University in 1963, met Norman Miller and married him in 1965. They moved to the Bloomington-Normal area that year and had Matthew, Jennifer and Amy in quick succession. After taking ten years off to raise the children, Barbara completed her Art degree in 1979. Norman found enjoyable work at State Farm Insurance, while Barbara devoted years to children's activities, worked in university Admissions and at an art center, and later found creative satisfaction in quilting.
Barbara's Chapter
Thanks for the Memories, Bernie
Barbara thanks Bernie for encouraging their recollections and says remembering the early years has been fun. She also describes a few of her quilts, her siblings Diana, Bob, Carol, Iris, and Dee on her staircase, and Bernie in his kitchen.
Diana's Chapter · Childhood, beginning at age three
Early Morning Journeys and Friendship in the Hospital
Diana traces the unexplained falls and progressive skin and leg changes that led Dr. Menton to refer her to Illinois Research Hospital in Chicago. Early morning family drives combined the comforting smell of coffee and cheese sandwiches with the fear of examinations and long waits. As illness interrupted school, Mrs. Lynch tutored her at home. Repeated hospital stays brought painful procedures and treatments, but also friendship with Loopy Gonzalez, hallway races, water-balloon mischief, Friday hamburgers, parties, special dresses, chapel services, and visits from family and friends. She also remembers homemade food and a church-donated basket from which she could open one present each day.
Diana's Chapter · Childhood and later reflections
Learning to Ride and Growing Up as One of the Kids
Following medical advice, Diana's mother treated her like the other children. Her parents offered special companionship when she could not join her sisters at the swimming pool. By experimenting with balancing and rolling a bicycle, Diana unexpectedly taught herself to pedal, an accomplishment she still recalls and shares with clients when discussing fear. Looking back, she credits steady love and practical parenting with helping her cope. She recognizes both anxiety and achievement in her drive to overachieve at school and closes with affectionate humor about her own resilience.
Diana's Chapter · Childhood
Facing Surgery and Finding Pride in a New Leg
After diagnosing localized scleroderma and abandoning treatments, doctors decided to amputate Diana's left leg, apparently to save her life. Her mother's practical explanation initially excited her, but her father's angry response left her ashamed; older siblings later told her he cried after the surgery. Diana recalls terror during ether anesthesia, pain in the absent leg afterward, restraints, and her initial refusal to use crutches. A therapist-led tour of other patients prompted her to walk. After discharge, her father closely followed construction of her first prosthetic leg in Davenport and learned to adjust it. His fascination and pride became a distinctive source of bonding.
Diana's Chapter · Early childhood through grade school
Strawberry Patches, Saturday Baths, and Childhood Play
Diana 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.
Diana's Chapter · Childhood through high school
Seven Children, Shared Adventures, and Sisterly Mischief
Diana 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.
Diana's Chapter · Childhood through college, with later reflections
A Car for College and a Family That Always Helped
Diana 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.
Diana's Chapter · 1926 onward
Lee's Many Talents and a Scooter Ride into the Family
Diana traces Lee's childhood near his extended family, work in his grandfather's grocery store, school achievements, Naval service, ministry, teaching, and successful insurance business. After his first marriage failed, Diana met him three years after his divorce. Her father initially regarded Lee suspiciously, but a bold scooter ride with Diana became a memorable turning point. Lee and her father remained friends, and Lee took him to the hospital when he had a stroke. Lee also formed a close bond with Mom and managed his best friend Sy Fox's campaign.
Diana's Chapter · After moving to South Florida; before 1995
Fishing, Not Catching, in the Florida Keys
Lee and Diana spent weekends at the Hurricane Motor Lodge on Marathon Key, fishing all day Saturday and Sunday. During their first year, Diana handed Lee her rod while she stepped away, and a huge Sailfish took her bait. Lee landed it, and The Marathon News printed his picture. They declined to mount the expensive fish, expecting more catches like it, but neither encountered another Sailfish.
Diana's Chapter · Through January 28th, 1995, and afterward
Cherished Ornaments and the Comfort of White Birds
Diana remembers Lee's warmth, generosity, love of babies, and reverent annual unpacking of Mom's Christmas ornaments, especially the shamrock and gold fish ornaments she made him. Lee died of lung cancer on January 28th, 1995, Mom's birthday. Two hours before his death, Diana watched white birds fishing in the lake behind their home and felt Mom was coming to take Lee with her. White birds continued to bring Diana comfort in her grief.
Diana's Chapter · Kelly’s childhood
Daredevil Friends, Favorite Foods, and Cards with Grandma
Kelly and Byron Huntsberger shared bicycle mishaps, neighborhood pranks, and elaborate Halloween costumes, including a painful pea costume Kelly rejected. Kelly celebrated her love for her father with a nursery-school card declaring she loved him more than macaroni and cheese. Family traditions included fishing trips and games of 500, with Kelly and her grandmother always partners.
Diana's Chapter · 1990–1995 and afterward
Kelly’s Courage and a Mother’s Pride
Kelly earned her Masters in Rehabilitation Mental Health Counseling in 1990. After being treated and cured of Hodgkin’s disease in 1995, she developed an interest in Traditional Chinese Medicine and earned a degree in it. Diana praises her daughter’s courage, compassion, determination, and tender heart.
Diana's Chapter · 1968 and early childhood
Welcoming Kelly and Raising a Florida Baby
Diana recalls her delight in pregnancy and Kelly’s birth, her mother’s help, and Lee’s tender care for their baby. Kelly disliked clothes and shoes. During a holiday visit to Moline, she refused to walk in the snow, then undressed indoors and was found dancing on the back porch singing “coolding!”
Dee's Chapter
A Family Remembered with Love and Pride
Though her childhood memories are vague, Delores remembers warm and happy feelings. She lovingly describes her grandfather, parents, and six siblings, expressing gratitude for her life and pride in the family her parents created.
Dee's Chapter · 1940 and later
From Pudge to Gramma Dee
Delores recounts her birth as Ethel and Floyd Guild's third daughter and fifth child, her mother's choice of her name, and the nicknames given by her grandfather, father, and grandchildren. Gramma Dee is the name she feels suits her best.
Dee's Chapter
Floyd, Tootsie, and Seven Children
Delores remembers her handsome, sociable father and her parents’ dancing at the Coliseum. She recounts the birth order of their seven children, her father naming Iris, and her mother naming the rest. She thought the oldest and youngest were spoiled but secretly believed she was Daddy’s favorite girl.
Dee's Chapter
Lessons from Daddy’s Shed and Garden
Delores spent hours with her inventive father in his shed, where he named her Sputnik and improved tools and Saturday auction finds. His demanding plowshare work at John Deere was followed by meticulous gardening. The children helped harvest and sold polished apples and tomatoes at Sam’s Market, keeping the proceeds. Delores remembers shelling homegrown popcorn and picking walnut meats with him, his humorous nose-straightening pose, his unusual favorite foods, and the elk he brought home from a western hunting trip that her mother refused to use.
Dee's Chapter · After retirement; strokes three years after retirement
Daddy’s Turn to Enjoy Life and His Last Concern
After years of providing for his children, Floyd bought a beloved motor scooter, a turquoise blue Comet, and a travel trailer, despite Ethel wanting nothing to do with them. Three years after retirement he suffered a series of strokes. He wanted to be baptized before dying and to see everyone. Delores recalls his insistence on seeing Iris’ husband Bill so he could ask Bill to take care of Ethel, a devotion she deeply admired.
Dee's Chapter · After Mom’s marriage through her senior years
Flour-Dusted Hands, Pretty Nails, and a Day of Curls
The narrator remembers Mom’s full-time work at home, her habit of dusting off her hands after tasks, and her lasting pride in her appearance. Susy recalled how Mom displayed polished nails but concealed damaged ones. Mom taught the girls beauty tricks, and she and Virginia spent a whole day giving five girls home perms. The narrator refused school the next day because her hair was too curly, though she later loved curls.
Dee's Chapter · Mom’s childhood
Mom’s Lighthearted Memories of North Dakota
Mom grew up by the Mouse River in North Dakota and told even difficult memories lightheartedly. Blizzards buried the house and required an exit tunnel, but she enjoyed skiing to school, where she did well. She also remembered the deafening arrival of grasshoppers that stripped the countryside of green leaves.
Dee's Chapter · Before marriage, wedding day, and years later
Switchboard Work and Sweet Memories at Lagos
Before marriage, Mom worked in a button factory and then as a telephone operator. A fire at Schmidt Beauty Supply kept her working extra hours transferring calls. Dad courted her at Lagomarcino’s, and after their wedding, with Elva Melton as maid-of-honor and witness, they went to the movies and then to Lagos. Years later, the narrator and Mom lunched there together.
Dee's Chapter
Sunday Chicken and Cakes from Scratch
The narrator recalls Mom's weekly fried chicken dinners, believing the fresh chickens came from their own chicken house. Daddy dipped the slaughtered chickens in hot water to ease plucking. Ruth Reichenberg's pursuit of a headless chicken frightened the children and became a humorous memory. Mom browned flour-seasoned chicken in a cast-iron skillet before baking it in a blue roaster, serving it with potatoes, gravy, rolls, garden vegetables, and homemade dessert. Carol took charge of desserts when old enough. Everyone ate the same meal at assigned places and on time. Alice Atchison shared memories of coffee-cup measurements and testing oven heat with her hand; the narrator wonders whether Mom used such methods but remembers her insistence on exact measurements except for pie dough.
Dee's Chapter
Diana, the Dishes, and the Party Line
Dishwashing was assigned to the girls, never Dad or the boys. The narrator says Mom never had to wash dishes because she had five daughters, then jokes that only four did the work: Diana never washed or dried a dish, being occupied with friends on the telephone, reading in the bathroom, or homework. Their first telephone shared a three-way party line with two other residents; three rings signaled a call for the family. The narrator recalls the possibility of listening to others' conversations and wonders what the other subscribers could have said about Diana's frequent telephone use. The claim that Mom never had to wash dishes contrasts with the subsequent recollection of Mom doing dishes with her parakeet on her shoulder.
Dee's Chapter
Pretty Bird, Fluffy, and the Attic Mice
Mom's green parakeet, Pretty Bird, perched on her shoulder while she washed dishes, chirping with the clanking dishes and repeating his name. Mom loved him, but he flew away when the front door was left open. The narrator also remembers Fluffy, a big white cat who chased mice, joking that he kept them from eating Barb. Barb feared the attic mice would climb into her bed, and she and Diana heard them at night. The narrator was more disturbed by mouse droppings found while searching boxes of hand-me-down clothes in the attic.
Dee's Chapter
Mom's Quiet Hour Before the School-Day Rush
Mom rose early, dressed, got Dad off to work, and packed lunches from supper leftovers. Before the children got up, she enjoyed black coffee, a cigarette, and crocheting doilies that became family treasures. She served hot breakfasts individually around the children's schedules. A timed bathroom routine followed Dad's installation of a new bathroom. The children rode the bus in grade school and walked in junior high until Bob got his first car and drove them. The narrator affectionately marvels at Mom's orderly management of the household.
Dee's Chapter
Monday Laundry and a Fright at the Ringer
Monday laundry required Mom to haul well water, heat it on the stove, and carry it to the basement. She washed whites first and Dad's dirtiest clothes last. While helping, the narrator had her hand and arm pulled through the ringer; Mom released the top immediately, leaving her more frightened than hurt. Mom cooked starch, hung loads outside, and folded dry clothes into ten piles. Embroidered initials helped identify underwear and socks, while at least three baskets were sprinkled with water for ironing.
Dee's Chapter
Tuesday Ironing and the Intriguing Mangle
Mom ironed on Tuesdays, working late at night when the children were young and during the day with their help when they were older. Listening to the radio, she pressed household linens and clothing, including Bob and Bernie's white shirts. Grampa bought her a mangle to ease the workload. The narrator describes its revolving padded barrel, foot pedal, and heating panel, wonders whether it really helped, and remembers that the fascinating machine was strictly off limits to the children.
Dee's Chapter
A Love of Cards Passed Down
Mom taught the children 500 and Hearts and enjoyed Scrabble with them. The narrator also played Canasta with Mrs. Nicholson, as did Barb, Diana, and neighborhood children, and remembers basement games of 500 Rummy. Adult visits to Mom always included 500 as a way to talk and remember. The tradition reached the grandchildren: Susy recalls Kings Corners, Cribbage, and Bunko with her grandma, Ruth, and Florence.
Dee's Chapter
Friday’s Shining Floors and Poker Nights
Friday began with thorough housecleaning and waxing the kitchen floor. Mom then dressed for grocery shopping at the A&P Store in downtown Moline while Daddy napped in the car and the children chose shopping or the library. Supper was pancakes, bacon, and eggs, followed by hurried dishwashing before poker company arrived. The Cordinglys usually joined Mom and Dad for games played with chips, never money. Drinks, midnight snacks, and Mom’s seemingly tireless work rounded out the weekly routine.
Dee's Chapter
Saturday Auctions, Peanuts, and Picture Shows
Dad, Bernie, and Bob attended Saturday auction sales, bringing home things Dad put to use. Afterwards Dad stopped for beer at a Highland-area tavern while the boys enjoyed peanuts and soda pop. Some Saturday afternoons the family went to the Highland Movie Theatre on 23rd Avenue, usually for a double feature. Dad gave each child thirty-five cents for admission and a snack; Roy Rodgers and Gene Autrey were remembered as popular stars.
Dee's Chapter
Saturday Baths and Mom's Banana Curls
With no running water, the family pumped water from an outside well and heated it on the stove. Saturday baths took place in a gray metal tub beside the kitchen heat register, screened by towel-covered chairs. Mom scrubbed the children, cleaned and clipped their nails, shampooed their hair with Halo, and set it in rags for banana curls before Sunday School. Despite over 30 years as a hairdresser, the narrator still marveled at Mom's curls. She also remembered Iris rinsing her hair with lemon juice and brushing it in the sun.
Dee's Chapter
Buttered Popcorn and Cool Sheets on Summer Nights
After Saturday baths, Mom served a big blue roaster of popcorn with plenty of butter and salt, or a large batch of fudge on a buttered platter. On hot summer nights she spread a clean white sheet over the living room rug, where the children fell asleep with a fan blowing on them.
Dee's Chapter
Mom's Top-to-Bottom Spring Cleaning
Every late March or early April, after the coal furnace was shut off, Mom scoured the entire house to remove black soot. Curtains were washed and dried outside on an adjustable wooden stretcher fitted with pins. Cupboards were emptied and washed, dishes cleaned, and shelves lined with fresh paper, including decorative scalloped borders. Winter clothes were stored with mothballs and hand-me-downs set aside. Storm windows came down, windows were washed before screens went up, and mattresses, rugs, and the family's one carpet were taken outside and beaten. The narrator remembers that Mom maintained this annual routine throughout her life, whether it was needed or not.
Dee's Chapter
Mom’s Sewing and a Sewing Machine’s Second Life
Mom sewed the girls’ school and Sunday school dresses, full circle skirts, shorts, and halter tops for Camp Shebonie, as well as sewing for the McFarlands. Virginia did Mom’s ironing while she sewed. Delores recalls Mom’s ease and speed at the pedal machine and humorously suggests it helped keep her legs and ankles trim. After Mom replaced her White sewing machine with an electric one and discarded it, Mrs. Poston rescued it and turned it into a marble-topped table for her restaurant, The Hasty Tasty, where the narrator says it remained at the time of telling.
Dee's Chapter · After the children were all grown
The Canning Jars Dad Hauled Away
While Mom was at card club, Dad decided she would no longer do any canning. He packed up all her jars and large crocks and took them to the junk yard. Mom was furious when he told her, and the narrator is unsure whether she ever forgave him. The narrator reflects that those jars and crocks would be valuable today.
Dee's Chapter
Summer Nights and Apple Butter Sandwiches
The narrator recalls her parents working hard to feed their children: Dad grew vegetables and fruit, and Mom canned over two thousand jars each year around harvest time. Mom worked mostly at night when it was cooler and the children were asleep. The narrator thinks Grampa sometimes stayed up to help. Mom made many preserves, pickles, and canned tomatoes; her apple butter was the narrator's favorite. Thousands of Ball jars and huge crocks filled the basement.
Dee's Chapter
Christmas Cookies, Stocking Oranges, and a House Full of Gifts
Dee recalls a Christmas season filled with Mom's cookies, candies, fudge, and carefully chosen gifts. Dad bought the real tree at the last minute; Dee speculates that freshness and fire safety were his reasons. Bernie decorated outstanding cookies and called the children to the window to see Santa, who was always gone before they arrived. Daddy filled stockings with large oranges from Lagomarcino’s, especially treasured during wartime scarcity. Dee carried the fruit tradition forward with Susy and her grandchildren. Carol's Christmas Eve birthday brought a homemade angel food cake, with the leftover yolks used for noodles served with chicken over mashed potatoes. Christmas gifts included homemade clothing, dolls, sleds, BB guns, and school-made presents. Daddy continued Grampa's gift of twelve pairs of stockings to Mom after Grampa died. Dad's insistence on slowly fried mush and his breakfast invitations added to Mom's work while she also prepared turkey dinner. After Iris married, the growing family gathered at her larger house on Christmas Eve, where gifts piled toward the ceiling.
Dee's Chapter · After Dad died
Pine Cones and Christmas Treasures
After Dad's death, Mom developed her craftwork, turning the basement into a hobby shop for pinecone wreaths and Nature Trees. Carol and the narrator took their children along to gather natural materials with her. The narrator still collects pine cones for the memories, despite Susy's restraint. Mom later made Christmas ornaments for family and friends, carefully providing one for everyone to choose during holiday visits. A newspaper featured her crafts and tree. The ornaments remain precious reminders of her generosity and love of hard work.
Dee's Chapter
Easter Eggs, New Bonnets, and Homemade Rolls
The narrator remembers coloring three or four dozen eggs, admiring Bernie's beautiful eggs, and racing to find eggs hidden indoors and outside. Mom made new Sunday dresses and spring coats each year, and the girls wore new accessories to wait for the Sunday school bus. A large dinner of ham, deviled eggs, candied yams, and homemade rolls completed a holiday rich in tradition.
Dee's Chapter · Mom's senior years, after Daddy died
Tuesday and Saturday with Mom
The narrator recalls Mom's busy senior years, her pride in getting seven children through school, and her family, friends, card parties, and crafts. Carol and the narrator stayed in Moline, married, had a child each, and worked at the Moline Dispatch and a beauty salon respectively. After Daddy died, the narrator cared for Mom on Tuesdays and Carol on Saturdays; both followed similar routines of errands and lunches paid for by Mom. The narrator humorously insists Mom's light auburn hair was natural. Mom traveled to visit children from California to Florida and to Germany after Charlie's transfer. Family contributions included clothes from Bob's boutique and goods from Iris and Bill's Ben Franklin store. The narrative closes with gratitude for Mom's care, strength, and devotion, including keeping ten people fed and dressed.
Dee's Chapter
Family Rumors and Grampa's Hidden Whiskey
Delores cautiously recalls a childhood rumor about Grampa having an affair and burning down a house, explicitly saying she may have the facts wrong. She thinks it was around the time he moved himself and her mother to Moline and changed his name from Lehman to Williams, and suggests Diana may know more. Years after his death, grandchildren digging in cement blocks at the bottom of the basement stairs during a holiday gathering discovered hidden whiskey bottles. Delores says her mother had kept his drinking to herself.
Dee's Chapter
Grampa's Hard Work and Courage
Grampa suffered a serious leg burn after falling into a vat of lye while working nights at a foundry. A newspaper article described a new treatment that healed the burn but left a terrible scar. Delores is unsure whether his cane use was connected. Her mother recalled his taking on the duties of judge, postman and coroner during a Swine Flu epidemic in their North Dakota hometown, apparently immune while many others died. After his wife died of tuberculosis when their daughter was eleven, he raised the daughter alone.
Dee's Chapter
Pudge's Memories of a Lovable Grampa
Delores remembers swinging on Grampa's leg and sitting on his lap. He called her “Pudge” for her dimpled cheeks; Bernie says she was his favorite, probably after Bob. She recalls his horseradish garden and his grinding radishes outdoors because of the smell. She also witnessed his sudden fatal heart attack in the hallway on a Sunday and remembers her panic as the ambulance took him away.
Dee's Chapter
A Painful Dentist and Lasting Reluctance
Annual school dental checks led Mom to choose a dentist for follow-up treatment. The narrator remembers him as rough and rude and the treatment as intensely painful, leaving her reluctant to visit dentists as an adult. Despite these memories, she praises Mom and Dad for keeping the children healthy.
Dee's Chapter
A Red Quarantine Sign and Homemade Applesauce
With ten people living in the house, the narrator marvels that illness was not more frequent. Barbara contracted scarlet fever as a baby, and health inspectors posted a red QUARANTINE sign. The narrator thinks Daddy stayed elsewhere so he could work. Mom offered homemade applesauce after the unpleasant preventive medicine. The narrator also remembers disliking Cod Liver Oil.
Dee's Chapter
School Vaccines and Memories of Dr. Menton
The narrator recalls lining up in the junior high gymnasium for an oral polio vaccine and comparing smallpox vaccination scars with friends before school. The children all went to the hospital on the same day to have their tonsils removed by Dr. Menton, whether or not they were sick. He also made house calls. She recalls a scandal involving his wife's drug theft, arrest, and imprisonment, followed shortly by his departure from practice. Mom was upset to lose a doctor she valued.
Dee's Chapter · Childhood; includes recollections at ages two or three and six or seven
Jacks, Paper Dolls, and a Childhood Full of Imagination
Dee remembers a happy childhood despite wartime film shortages and few toys. She recalls punishment for peeling airplane wallpaper, fear after The Wizard of Oz, Virginia’s ketchup prank, and endless games with Pat and neighborhood children. Paper dolls from Iris comforted her during an ear operation. Bicycle rides, a clubhouse, swings, and imaginative play filled the days, although large dogs frightened her and Hannah’s dog once bit her.
Dee's Chapter · 1949; the Fifties; later recollections
The First Television and the Music That Stayed
The parents returned from Diana’s 1949 leg operation in Chicago with the family’s first black-and-white television. Dee contrasts television with the radio programs that had fed her imagination. Bernie bought a record player after starting window-display work, and Dee repeatedly played Patty Page’s The Tennessee Waltz. Bob and Sue danced, Barb and Margie adored Pat Boone, and Barbie and Diana played instruments. Years later, Diana’s warped violin was discarded, rescued by Mr. Sajben, repaired, and played by his son; Dee regretted being unable to recover it.
Dee's Chapter · Childhood; about age eleven; summer at age thirteen; kindergarten and freshman year
Midwest Seasons, Family Outings, and the First School Bus
Dee recalls gardens, suntanning, summer treats, drive-in movies, and Fourth of July fireworks. Family trips took her to Chicago’s Museum of Art and Science and The Loop, then to Clarence’s farm in Worthington, Minnesota. Halloween brought homemade treats and Bernie’s prizewinning window paintings; winter brought sledding, snow figures, and Bernie and Bob’s newspaper-worthy igloo. Her earliest school memories are of crying before the kindergarten bus and refusing warm milk at Roosevelt school, where Mrs. Johnson played piano.
Dee's Chapter · Childhood through later reflection; calendar years not stated
Learning to Hear and Accept Herself
Delores describes her congenital left-ear deformity, hearing loss, early speech lessons, and a year at a special school where she felt accepted after being called stupid at regular school. Dr. Williamson reconstructed her ear at about eleven, partially restoring hearing, but missed schooling led to repeating a grade. At twelve, her first hearing aid revealed family voices, birds, and insects so vividly that she cried. Her father called her “Sputnik” because of the aid's modern technology. Later, Diana helped her understand that her impairment did not mean she was stupid and encouraged greater self-acceptance.
Dee's Chapter · 1959 and beauty school afterward
A Scholarship Hidden in a Desk Drawer
During her senior year, Dee entered an essay contest about becoming a beautician with Diana’s help. Only after graduation did she discover the notice awarding her a three-hundred-dollar scholarship to Hurley’s Beauty School. She enrolled and credits Diana with the essay and her rewarding career. Her first patron insisted on old-fashioned pin curls rather than rollers; despite Dee’s frustration, the patron liked the result enough to book another appointment.
Dee's Chapter · Teenage years through 1959
Circle Skirts, School Dances, and Teenage Confidence
Dee recalls crafts in the Peppy Steppers 4-H club, teenage fashions, and her lack of interest in food preparation, contrasted with Carol’s prizewinning baking. Though shy and unsuccessful at sports even after getting glasses, she loved school dances and a satin polka-dot dress bought at Kay Bee. She remembers her first crush on Merle Ericson, spending her socially difficult senior year with Carol and her friends, trying pizza at Frank’s, and graduating in 1959 with straight A’s in art.
Dee's Chapter · About age nine through high school
First Earnings and a Room to Be Proud Of
Selling flower seeds door to door earned Dee two bedroom lamps, and she also babysat for the Hancocks and Iris. She recalls Iris meeting Bill at Cozy Corners, Iris’s wedding and emerald ring, and a frightening night babysitting in Iris’s large house, when she hid a knife beneath a sofa cushion. Summer work at Tasty Treat brought unlimited root beer and paychecks that Dee and Carol pooled for twin beds, turquoise bedspreads, a lamp, and a rug; Mom made matching curtains. Dee also praises Bernie’s lasting plasterwork in his room.
Dee's Chapter · Thirteen-year marriage; February 4, 1977 divorce; through the time of writing
Family Love Through Changing Seasons
Dee recalls loving Ernie passionately during a marriage filled with motorcycles, travel, Susy’s dancing, and salon work. She tried to give Susy everything she had lacked as a child, later learning Susy wanted a sibling more than those comforts. Following her divorce on February 4, 1977, Dee did not remarry and found contentment with Susy and granddaughters Annah and Bryce. Gardening, treasure hunting, costume making, and furniture restoration enrich her life. She credits her family and the unconditional love passed down by her mother with sustaining her.
Dee's Chapter · 1942 through the time of writing
An Enchanted House Full of Family Memories
Delores remembers moving at age two into a four-room house on an acre, originally addressed 3209 39th Street. The house, garage, and land cost $2,750, with another $100 for the chicken house; payments were $25 monthly after $500 down. The orchard and yard were a childhood wonderland, while the small house eventually held ten people. She describes crowded sleeping arrangements, hand-pumped water, an outhouse, coal heat, rabbits, and time with her father in his workshed. Her father added two bedrooms and a bathroom without professional help in 1950. Later changes included removal of an interior wall, new carpeting, and white vinyl siding with hunter-green shutters. After three-quarters of the land was sold, the address became 3205 39th Street. Preserving the house helps her keep family memories alive.
Dee's Chapter · At the time of writing
A Mother and Daughter's Butterfly Garden
Delores and her daughter Susy landscaped the entire yard by hand, turning it into a bird and butterfly sanctuary. Susy helps add flowers and shrubs to attract butterflies. They hope to tag Monarchs the following season and follow their migration to Mexico, as gardening becomes an avid hobby for Delores.
Dee's Chapter
Loving Each Other Through Life
Delores reflects that seeing one another as spirits would make the need to love and help others clear. She finds her greatest joy in making others feel loved and believes family members chose to be together to support each other through life's difficulties. She closes with love and gratitude for sharing life with her family.
Dee's Chapter
Delores Remembers Her Parents' Love and Lessons
Delores thanks her mother and father for teaching her to work hard, play fair, and never give up. She credits their teachings as the foundation of her success and remembers their kindness, tender mercies, and love.
Dee's Chapter
To Barb, with Love: Braids, Laughter, and Kindness
Dee's affectionate poem celebrates Barbara from her braided-hair childhood and shared fright with Diana over attic mice through marriage to Norman, homemaking, parenting, studying, and world travel. It recalls whaling in Alaska and admiration of Monet in France, and praises Barbara's hospitality, giggle, flowers, quilts, and caring resemblance to their mother.
Dee's Chapter
Carol, a Sister Always Near
Dee's affectionate poem celebrates Carol as her childhood playmate and a sister who shares her appearance, mannerisms, and unspoken understanding. She recalls Carol's scooter injury, her skill in cooking, and her marriage and years in Germany with Charlie. The sisters cared together for their mother in her later years, and Dee affirms their enduring closeness despite living miles apart.
Dee's Chapter
A Loving Toast to Bob
Dee celebrates Robert Ray Guild in a playful, affectionate poem recalling his homemade wine, snow igloo, marriage to his high school sweetheart, dancing with Sue, successful business, coast-to-coast travels, and welcoming home. She praises his helpfulness and loyalty while teasing him about golf, gardening, and pistachios, closing with a wish that he remarry and a toast in his honor.
Dee's Chapter
A Loving Day with Bernie in San Francisco
In a poem signed Dee, Delores describes visiting her brother Bernie at his Victorian home in San Francisco. She admires his flowers and orchids, creative success, and zest for life. They visit an old-time ice cream parlor and order chocolate Yoplait with pears. His encouragement and conversation leave her inspired, and she bids him an affectionate farewell as she boards a trolley car with a fifteen-cent fare.
Dee's Chapter
Iris, Our Gentle Second Mother
In a loving poem signed Dee, Delores thanks her sister Iris for the care she gave her six younger siblings. An only child for over five years, Iris became like a second mother, feeding, bathing, hugging and comforting the children while helping their busy mother. Dee remembers Iris’s gentle ways and expresses lasting gratitude and unconditional love.
Carol's Chapter · Around 1943 through the time of telling
Childhood Warmth at the Old Brass Register
Carol recalls the brass heat register near the kitchen door in her childhood home's living room, installed when her father added a basement and furnace around 1943. Children warmed themselves and dried boots and mittens there. Despite repeated remodeling, the register remained unchanged, and standing before it on return visits brings back childhood memories.
Carol's Chapter · 1938 and infancy
A Christmas Eve Baby in a Wicker Basket
After her mother began having contractions while trimming the Christmas tree, Carol was born on Christmas Eve 1938 in Moline. Her father named her Carol Mae for the season. She joined Iris, Bobby and Bernie at the family's apartment; the later births of Delores, Diana and Barbara made her the middle child. Remembered as a very small baby, she was carried on a pillow and kept in a wicker basket on a bedroom shelf beyond her brothers' reach.
Carol's Chapter · 1942–1953 and later recollections
An Acre and Four Rooms to Call Home
Carol remembers moving to 3209 39th Street in 1942 at age four, running through empty rooms and jumping through windows. The $2,187 house stood on an acre in South Moline Township and initially had four rooms, an outhouse, and a well, but no bathroom, basement, or garage. Her father built a basement. A family of ten shared the small house, with the girls' living-room beds put away each morning and Grandpa Williams living there until his death in 1953.
Carol's Chapter · 1940s–about 1950; later recollections
The Garden That Fed the Family
The orchard and garden supplied fruit, berries, and vegetables that Carol's mother preserved for winter, with help from Grandpa Williams and Iris. Carol recalls shelling peas, snapping beans, apple pies, and the sound of canning lids sealing. About 1950, she helped her father prepare tomatoes for sale to Sam Gnatovich at three dollars a bushel and kept the proceeds. Her father later sold the garden land to George and Evelyn Sajben. In later years, family members could not reproduce their mother's dill pickles and suspected her well water made the difference.
Carol's Chapter
Washday Work and the Wonder of the Mangle
Carol recalls the all-day weekly laundry routine, usually on Monday, for a household of ten. Mom used a wringer washing machine, reused the wash water, and rinsed clothes in two tubs with bluing and Borax among her laundry supplies. She carried wet laundry upstairs to hang outside, arranging sheets to hide underwear, or dried it in the basement during winter or rain. Clothes were folded away or dampened for later ironing, and clean sheets marked the end of a hard day's work. One year Grandpa Williams bought Mom a mangle, and the children were so impressed that they fought over turns helping iron.
Carol's Chapter
Sharing Water and Learning to Save Every Drop
Carol recalls a family well that repeatedly went dry. Their water tasted and smelled good, unlike some neighbors' sulfurous water. Mom hauled water from Reichenberg’s well for laundry. Ruth and John Reichenberg and their children, Kent and Carolyn, were close friends and neighbors. Daddy fitted a wagon with a five-hundred-gallon tank he had made and fetched water from town two or three times a week to replenish the family's and neighbors' wells. These shortages taught Carol lasting water-conservation habits.
Carol's Chapter
Coal Hills and the Work of Keeping Warm
Carol recalls the family's coal-burning furnace. Daddy took Bob and Bernie to an industrial coal yard, where the car and trailer were weighed before and after loading to determine the coal's weight. While Daddy shoveled, Bob and Bernie climbed and slid down coal piles, blackening their clothes and angering Mom. At home, Daddy shoveled coal through a small basement window that he repeatedly broke. Tending the furnace required banking it every day and night and removing the cinders and ashes.
Carol's Chapter
Twice a Year, a Fresh and Clean House
Carol recalls the thorough spring and fall housekeeping required by the dusty, sticky residue from the coal furnace. Wallpaper was rubbed clean with a pink, gummy material, lace curtains dried on a nailed wooden stretcher, rugs were beaten, and bedding and draperies aired on the clothesline. Her mother also painted and wallpapered, teaching Carol to paint. Seasonal window changes included washing every window inside and out. Limited storage, a damp basement, and an impractical attic made clearing out unwanted belongings and rotating seasonal clothing essential. Her mother ended each cleaning season proudly admiring the home's fresh appearance and smell.
Carol's Chapter
Open Doors and a Winter Skeleton-Key Rescue
Carol recalls leaving doors unlocked in the early years, opening the front door for summer breezes, and hanging flypaper to catch the flies that entered. Later, the family used a skeleton key. One snowy winter morning, while Mom was visiting Diana in Florida, Carol stepped outside barefoot in a thin housecoat to shake a rug. Chris, whom Carol estimates was about five, slammed the door and accidentally locked it. Unable to get back inside, Carol sought help at the Sajbens. Mr. Sajben opened her door with his own skeleton key and joked that it would probably open every door on the street.
Carol's Chapter
Saturday-Night Baths in the Warm Kitchen
Carol recalls lining up with her brothers and sisters for Saturday-night baths, oldest first and youngest last. They bathed in a round galvanized wash tub in the kitchen, warmed by an open oven. Their mother screened the girls with towels draped over four chairs, added hot water to the shared bathwater, scrubbed each child, and dried them with oven-warmed towels. She kept all seven children clean and groomed, with clipped nails and clean, starched, pressed clothes.
Carol's Chapter
Iris, a Big Sister and Second Mom
Carol remembers Iris, the oldest child and six years older than Bernie, as a second mother. Iris played with her siblings, bathed and dressed them, babysat, cooked, and cleaned while their mother experienced many pregnancies over fifteen years. Iris married when Carol was ten.
Carol's Chapter · 1942–about 1949 or 1950; later reflection
Goodbye to the Outhouse on 39th Street
Carol recalls living in four rooms on 39th Street and the family's happiness when Daddy added an indoor bathroom and two bedrooms. Their gray-board outhouse had two holes, no heat, and sometimes Sears Roebuck Catalog pages instead of toilet paper. Nighttime trips were frightening, and Mom accompanied the children with a flashlight. Carol concealed the outhouse from school friends because she associated it with being poor. Daddy initially kept it as a backup after indoor plumbing arrived, but her brothers demolished it while he was at work and got into trouble. Carol ends by imagining a prettily decorated modern outhouse with decorating advice from Martha Stewart.
Carol's Chapter · late Forties or early Fifties
Experimental Treatment for Grandpa’s Injured Leg
While working as a fireman at Herman Nelson in downtown Moline, Grandpa Williams accidentally stepped into a vat of lye, severely burning and eating away the skin and flesh of his leg. Doctors used ACTH and Cortisone, described as experimental drugs at the time, to heal it. The Dispatch published an article about the treatment; Carol thinks it is in the family scrapbook.
Carol's Chapter · World War II and afterward
Lloyd’s Wartime Letters and Keepsakes
Although the family saw little of Lloyd, Carol remembers his return from World War II in uniform. He brought Mom two fringed rayon “sweetheart” pillowcases embroidered with colorful flowers, which she kept unused in her cedar chest. Photographs of naked natives from the Philippines, where he was stationed, remained in the strongbox. He also sent “Victory” letters on thin stationery that folded into its own envelope.
Carol's Chapter · 1881 onward
Gramps’s Helping Hands and Generous Heart
Carol recounts Edward Williams’s birth, marriage to Agnes Tomitum, and family losses. After Agnes died of tuberculosis, he raised Mom and Lloyd alone and moved with them to Moline in 1925. Despite arguments with Daddy over drinking, Gramps was a valued family helper. He contributed two thousand dollars for a house addition, worked in the garden, helped with canning and childcare, and paid for Mom’s false teeth and occasional dresses. Mom’s “good” dresses for 500 Club meetings were cotton housedresses costing two dollars and seventy-nine cents in J. C. Penney’s basement.
Carol's Chapter
Carefree Days and Dandelion Crowns
Carol recalls happy childhood days spent outside between meals. At about four or five, she watched insects and searched for four-leaf clovers. She and Dee spent hours making dandelion jewelry and crowns, fashioning hollyhock dolls with toothpicks, and plucking daisy petals for an imagined boyfriend.
Carol's Chapter
A New Red Bicycle to Cherish
The children usually rode old bikes, mostly boys’ bikes, mounting them from a cement block wall by the chimney. One year Daddy called Carol into the front yard, where he stood beside a new red bicycle. She nearly reached it before noticing it. She remembers her pride and how precious something brand new was in their household, though she cannot remember her age.
Carol's Chapter
Imaginations, Paper Dolls, and the Warmth of Home
Carol remembers childhood games with her sisters and neighborhood friends when store-bought toys were scarce. They played House on an army blanket, dressed in cast-off clothes, played in a canvas tent and a deserted trailer, and enjoyed paper dolls. Quiet play in the kitchen while Mom ironed and listened to the radio gave Carol a lasting sense of security. The children made newspaper kites, Kleenex flowers, and Kool-Aid stands, played street games, and sledded through steep wooded hills before warming themselves at the brass heat register.
Carol's Chapter · When Carol was about eight or nine years old
A Scooter Scar and a Strawberry Laugh
Carol fell from her scooter near the strawberry patch and badly cut her right knee. With Mom unable to leave Barbara, who had double pneumonia, Virginia arranged for Mrs. Hannah to drive them to the doctor. Carol received four clamps and retained a visible scar. Back home, her sisters, Marilyn, and Patty claimed to have found flesh from her leg, but Virginia identified it as strawberry—a mistake they still laughed about.
Carol's Chapter · The Forties
Clean Sheets, Warm Flannel, and a Family Doctor
Carol recalls doctors making house calls in the Forties. However sick the children were, Mom had them leave their beds so she could put on clean sheets before the doctor arrived. Mom also treated colds with Vicks and warm flannel cloths. Carol remembers Dr. Menton as their first doctor; he went to jail after being caught supplying illegal drugs to his wife. His successor, George Cook, provided medicine expecting more children to fall ill, visited frequently, and became a lasting family friend.
Carol's Chapter
Green Stamps and Two Brand-New Purchases
Carol recalls that the family never had new furniture, appliances, or cars, and that she was ashamed of their old cars. Daddy selected second-hand household items without criticism from Mom. Mom obtained new presents, small appliances, and accessories by saving S&H Green Stamps, and accumulated silver-plated dinnerware for eight using box tops redeemed for catalog points. Carol then remembers two things Daddy bought new: a turquoise Comet, financed with his first-ever loan through the John Deere Credit Union, and a kitchen table with three leaves and ten chairs from Phil Vinar’s Furniture Store. Her parents did not have a checking account until all the children had left home.
Carol's Chapter
Elmhurst Visits and a Zoo-Day Treat
The family made short trips to visit Ray and Arjean Moos and their four boys in Elmhurst near Chicago. Mom held a book in front of her eyes to avoid watching Daddy's fast driving and weaving on two-lane roads. The trips were special treats, often including a day at Lincoln Park Zoo.
Carol's Chapter
Family Visits and Long Sunday-Style Drives
Carol recalls that the family never took what she considered a real vacation. Daddy visited his relatives in Brainerd, sometimes taking Iris or the boys, but Carol never went or met her paternal grandparents. He also took the family on long drives toward the Wisconsin border. They visited Bessie and Harry Means and their children in Cordova, and a family named Rogers nearby. Bessie worked at the East Moline State Hospital.
Carol's Chapter
Free Air Shows and Sand-Burr Blankets
Carol recalls Daddy taking the children to watch airplanes at the airport and attend air shows. They sat on blankets in surrounding fields, where thorny, sticky sand-burrs clung to their clothing, but the outings were fun and free.
Carol's Chapter
An Ice Cream Stop at Roselles
On trips with Daddy, the children begged for cones whenever they passed Roselles on 23rd Avenue. Although Daddy often refused, occasional stops brought great happiness. The store sold Sealtest Ice Cream, and some cones contained a “Free Cone” note in the tip.
Carol's Chapter
Remembering Fluffy, the Family's White Cat
Carol remembers Fluffy as a big, fluffy white cat and the only family pet she recalled apart from Daddy's later canaries. Mom said the old, sick cat went into the woods to die. Years later Virginia McFarland told Carol that Fluffy had distemper: Daddy could not bring himself to shoot him, so Dale did. Virginia also recalled sharing coffee with Mom and hearing Fluffy using the children's potty-chair.
Carol's Chapter · Childhood and junior high years
A Place on the Bench and Cake for Supper
The family gathered around a rectangular table with three leaves and a wooden bench Daddy made. Carol remembers sharing the bench with Dee and Diana, while Mom sat beside the youngest child to help. Large homemade meals included bread at both ends of the table and dessert after every supper. Carol later thought the bread compensated for limited seconds. In junior high she made a two-egg cake almost every day, with leftovers packed into school lunches.
Carol's Chapter
Mom's Kitchen, Backyard Roasts, and a Special Sunday Dinner
Carol recalls homemade meals, sweets, Friday-night treats, and bedtime snacks, including Lloyd teaching the children to dunk peanut butter sandwiches into cocoa. She remembers coloring margarine and refusing ten cents to eat liver. After the move to 39th Street, Mom raised chickens, Bob had a pig, and Grandpa Williams raised rabbits. Watching a chicken being killed terrified Carol, though chicken dinners and competing for the wishbone were memorable. Daddy prepared backyard wiener roasts. Restaurant meals never occurred and dinner invitations were rare, making a Sunday ham dinner with Ruth and Tom Johnson especially memorable.
Carol's Chapter
Sunday Pies, Shared Chicken, and the Funnies
Sundays were reserved for family, with Mom rising at dawn to bake pies with lard crusts, crescent rolls, and cinnamon rolls. Favorite noon dinners included Swiss steak or fried chicken with mashed potatoes. Carol jokes that ten people shared one chicken, then adds that surely there were at least two. Mom ate the wings and Dad the back, liver, and gizzards, saving the meatiest pieces for the children; Carol now enjoys wings herself. After dinner, Barb usually escaped to Margie’s house and Diana read behind a locked bathroom door, leaving Carol and Dee to do dishes while Bob snapped towels at them. Afterward, they read the Sunday paper Dad brought from town, especially Carol’s beloved funnies.
Carol's Chapter
Small Birthdays with Cake, Ice Cream, and Stories
Carol recalls small family birthday celebrations with a favorite cake, usually angel food, and ice cream. Her mother bought one pint each of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, cutting each into four slices. Ice cream was otherwise rare. Few early photographs survived to help recall gifts, but Carol remembers 365 Bedtime Stories, which her mother read repeatedly, and a View Master with fairy-tale and children's-story reels.
Carol's Chapter
Saturday Chores and a Sack of Candy
Carol recalls the girls helping Mom clean every Saturday morning, including changing sheets, cleaning rooms, and washing the insides of windows. Carol disliked dusting Mom’s foot-treadle sewing machine but did it anyway. After sponge baths and dressing up, they shopped downtown, enjoying the New York Store elevator and visiting Penney’s and Block and Kuhls. At Kresge’s dime store they received a small toy and candy to share and savor. Grocery shopping at the A&P or Shinner’s Meat Market finished the day. Carol also recalls a scandal over Shinner’s selling horse-meat just after the war, when good meat was scarce.
Carol's Chapter · When Carol was about twelve or thirteen years old
An Easter Coat and Mom’s Quiet Generosity
Carol saved her baby-sitting money to buy a pink, short, lamb’s wool coat for Easter Sunday at Penney’s. While she tried it on, a woman stole the wallet she had set on a chair. The clerks could not catch the thief, and Carol went home crying without the coat. Her mother comforted her and gave her the twenty-five dollars she needed. Carol believed her mother must have gone without something that week, though her mother never mentioned any sacrifice.
Carol's Chapter
Clothes Made with Care on Mom's Treadle Machine
Carol remembers her mother's skill and industry in sewing childhood clothes on a White treadle sewing machine, including dresses, slips, pajamas, and coats. She especially loved an orange-and-white three-piece outfit made when she was in first or second grade. Her mother also sewed for Marilyn, Patty, and Iris' daughters and crocheted a baby dress for Linda. Virginia exchanged ironing for sewing for her girls. Mrs. Vandergeist sometimes helped with machine-made buttonholes, inspiring Carol's father to buy a button hole attachment. Carol does not remember her mother using flour sacks for clothing, although she notes that this was common in the Thirties and Forties. The family also wore hand-me-downs and used clothes from friends, with her mother reassuring her that they were fine to wear.
Carol's Chapter
Popcorn Profits and Fifty-Cent Discoveries
Bernie and Bob grew popcorn one year in McFarland’s vacant lot. Daddy promised they could keep the sales money and encouraged harvest help by offering fifty cents for each ear of Indian corn found among the popcorn. The boys dried the ears on the garage roof, used a popcorn sheller Daddy bought, and bagged the kernels in the basement. Daddy then drove them to movie theaters to sell their popcorn.
Carol's Chapter
Riverside Picnics, Warm Rolls, and Watermelon
Carol recalls favorite family picnics at Riverside Park, followed by swimming at the Moline Swimming Pool and playground play while the grown-ups played cards. Picnics with families from Mom's 500 Club featured each family's specialty foods. Mom rose at 5:00 a.m. to prepare cinnamon rolls and credited careful kneading for their texture. Bernie and Bob arrived early to save tables. Watermelon finished the outings; Carol accompanied Daddy to choose melons, which he tested for ripeness by cutting and tasting a wedge with his pocketknife.
Carol's Chapter
Woodland Nuts and a Buttery Treat
The family regularly went into the woods to gather black walnuts and hickory nuts, then dried them on the garage roof. Grandpa Williams spent evenings removing the nuts from their shells, and Mom baked them with butter and salt.
Carol's Chapter
Friday Nights, Fudge, and Family Games
Carol recalls Mom making a big batch of cocoa fudge after supper on Friday nights and pouring it onto her mother's hand-painted platter to cool. The family gathered around the kitchen table to play Tiddlywinks, Chinese Checkers, Parcheesi, or Monopoly, then finished the evening eating what Carol remembered as the best tasting fudge in the world.
Carol's Chapter
Christmas Records, Boxes of Goodies, and Mom's Fruitcake
Carol recalls her mother playing favorite Christmas records and baking from just after Thanksgiving until Christmas. The cold back porch served as a freezer for the treats. After the children left home, their mother mailed them large boxes of cookies, candy, and breads. Her annual Depression Fruitcake was made early, repeatedly soaked in brandy, baked in assorted containers, and finished with glaze and candied fruit. Carol and her father dearly loved it.
Carol's Chapter
Christmas Trees, Stocking Treats, and Family Togetherness
Carol recalls Daddy waiting until close to Christmas to buy inexpensive trees, once paying fifty cents, and drilling holes to rearrange branches. The family decorated with paper chains, popcorn, ornaments, saved tinsel, and fiberglass angel hair that made their skin itch. Their everyday socks held fruit, walnuts, and candy; they later learned Daddy bought the biggest apples and oranges at Lagomarcino’s. He traditionally gave Mom two pairs of nylon stockings. Larger family gatherings moved to Iris and Bill’s for Christmas Eve. Christmas was Mom’s favorite holiday: after the children left home, she usually put up her tree by early December, shopped with Barb in Normal, and enjoyed specialty shops and tearoom lunches. Norm took the group to the Apple Barn for apples and cider. Mom also finished ornament balls at Barb’s and taught Amy and Jenny to make them. Carol believed Mom especially loved the holiday because it brought the whole family together.
Carol's Chapter · 1950s; recollection extends to the time of writing
Wrestling Heroes and Barbara's Teasing
Carol and her father loved Wrestling From Hollywood. She remembers Gorgeous George and Verne Gagne as heroes and Mad Dog Vershon as a villain, describing their appearance and behavior. Carol considers this wrestling more entertainment than sports, but Barbara insists that Carol still believes it is real.
Carol's Chapter · 1940s–1950s; around 1950
Howdy Doody and the Neighborhood's First Television
Carol recalls movies in the Forties giving way to television in the Fifties. Around 1950, when she would have been about twelve, the McFarlands had the neighborhood's first TV, a large black-and-white console with a small screen. She visited daily to watch Howdy Doody and remembers its opening song and characters. Her family soon acquired a TV. Her father watched endlessly from his reserved favorite chair, while her mother seldom watched but liked game shows and possibly Arthur Godfrey.
Carol's Chapter
Comedy Favorites and Daddy's Laughter
Carol recalls comedy shows and personalities, including Your Show of Shows, The Honeymooners, The Texaco Star Theater, Burns and Allen, The Red Skelton Show, Jack Benny, and Bob Hope. She calls I Love Lucy her all-time favorite and remembers Daddy laughing and laughing at “Red Skeleton.”
Carol's Chapter
A Scary Ferris Wheel and an Unexpected Teddy Bear
At the Illinois State Fair, Carol and Diana especially enjoyed the midway. They rode the double Ferris wheel despite being frightened. When Diana wanted to play midway games, Carol refused because she believed the games were rigged. A barker overheard Carol, called the sisters over, and gave Diana his biggest teddy bear.
Carol's Chapter
Making the Best Better with Biscuits and Sewing
Carol began cooking and sewing when she joined 4-H, supported by her mother's guidance. She frequently appeared in newspaper photographs and entered food and clothing projects at the Rock Island County Fair. Carol and Diana won trips to the Illinois State Fair for demonstrations on baking powder biscuits and coffee-cake, respectively. Carol practiced until her family was tired of biscuits and presented her demonstration on WOC-TV, ending with a joke about a bride's biscuits being as hard as stepping stones.
Carol's Chapter
The Family Camper and Her Summer Songs
Carol was a Brownie and then a Girl Scout. Her father drove her to Camp Shabone in Port Byron many summers, and she remembered herself as the family’s “camper.” She recalled songs about making new friends and the upward trail, as well as Tell Me Why and Down in the Valley.
Carol's Chapter · Childhood–1995
A Lifetime of Faith at Calvary
Carol recalls riding the Sunday school bus to Calvary Lutheran Church as a young child. Her father never attended church, but her mother joined after his death and worshipped with Carol every Sunday until she died. Carol participated extensively in church life through teaching, singing, office work, groups, and council service. She was baptized and confirmed there at fifteen on May 16, 1954, married her first husband Don Boney there, and recalls Chris's baptism and confirmation there. She describes over fifty years of membership before transferring to a church in North Port, Florida, in 1995.
Carol's Chapter · 1948–1998, with earlier childhood memories
Next-Door Friends and a Lifetime of Kindness
Carol remembers the McFarlands as next-door neighbors and closest friends. She played daily with Marilyn and Patty and attended school with them through high school. Virginia and Carol's mother supported each other through hard times over coffee and cigarettes. Despite working outside the home, Virginia helped with housework, ironing, babysitting, and overnight stays, once washing the girls' hair outdoors with collected rainwater. The two women were charter members of a 500 Card Club founded in 1948 and belonged for over forty years. The McFarlands moved into town in 1952, and Pat later moved away when she married. Carol and Marilyn remained close. Carol recalls the losses of Dale in 1994, Virginia in 1996, and Marilyn's husband Bill in March 1998.
Carol's Chapter · 1944–1951
Banana Curls, School Games, and a Love of Reading
Carol remembers starting kindergarten at Roosevelt Grade School in Moline in 1944, riding in Mrs. Hogland’s improvised station-wagon seating, and wearing clothes her mother made and carefully arranged banana curls. Kindergarten included naps, a plaster handprint she still kept, and Drop the Handkerchief. Later memories include learning to read with Dick, Jane, and Baby Sally, riding the school bus, having tonsils removed with Marilyn and Bob, and loving fourth-grade teacher Mrs. Grafton. In fourth grade she learned time and multiplication, discovered boys, and began wearing glasses. In fifth grade she won a reading contest with over sixty books and became an enthusiastic comic-book reader. The section heading says First to Sixth Grade, although the account begins with kindergarten.
Carol's Chapter · World War II; August 15, 1945
War Stamps and Joyful News in Carolyn’s Yard
Carol recalls buying ten-cent Savings Bonds stamps at school as family finances allowed. A book holding $18.50 in stamps could be exchanged for a $25 War Bond redeemable in ten years. Her parents used ration stamps for food and gas, including rationed meat, coffee, sugar, and butter. While Carol and Carolyn Reichenberg played in Carolyn’s yard, a radio announced the war was over. Ruth and John tried to explain, and the children jumped, clapped, and shouted. Carol dates the memory to August 15, 1945, says she was about six, and states that the war was officially over that day.
Carol's Chapter · Carol's fifth and sixth grades; recollected later
Names and Verses Tucked Away
Carol invites comparison of family signatures and recalls Bernie's report that Dad's birth certificate spelled his name Floyde, leaving the reason uncertain. She still keeps her grade-school autograph book and shares playful verses and coded messages written by family and friends.
Carol's Chapter · Carol's sixth grade
Blue and Gold and Belonging
Carol remembers feeling part of the 'in' crowd as a sixth-grade cheerleader. Her mother made her short blue satin circular skirt and long-sleeved gold satin blouse. Carol wishes she had a photograph of the outfit and reproduces two remembered school cheers under 'Coolidge Cheer.'
Carol's Chapter · Carol's grade-school years
Scrubbed, Starched, and Sent Off with Lunch
Carol recalls Mrs. Shadle's periodic ringworm inspections, teachers recognizing the immaculately groomed Guild children, and strict expectations of behavior. With no school cafeteria, her mother prepared six labeled lunch sacks each morning, carefully matching individual tastes. Room mothers occasionally provided hot spaghetti served from a large electric roaster.
Carol's Chapter · 1954–1957; remembrance of 1996
High School Rides, Beautiful Papers and a Beloved Sister-in-Law
Carol recalls Bob driving the girls to high school and picking up Sue Warner, who later became his wife and Carol's beloved sister-in-law. Sue died on Carol's birthday in 1996. After school, the girls met their father at the A&P Store for the ride home. Carol describes her courses, clubs, satisfactory A’s and B’s, enjoyment of research and Bernie's elaborate term-paper covers. Nursing was financially out of reach, but she later felt glad she had not pursued it. She also remembers relatively minor classroom discipline problems.
Carol's Chapter
A Green Chevy and a Ticket to Freedom
Carol recalls intimidating tenth-grade driving instructors who also taught Industrial Arts. Only four of about fifteen students finished and received permits, and her leg shook during parallel parking. Her father opposed the children getting licenses because he needed his car for work and could not afford another car or repairs after a wreck. After graduating and getting a job, Carol lived with Iris and Bill and saved all her earnings for three months. Her father then helped her find a green 1948 Chevy for three hundred dollars, which she used to obtain her license. She and her sisters drove it for years, cruising with friends even after it lost one of its gears. Carol remembers gasoline costing about twenty-five cents a gallon and the car representing freedom.
Carol's Chapter
Popcorn and Pajamas at the Movies
Carol's family loved drive-in movies. They made buttered popcorn at home and carried it in Mom's blue enamel roasting pan. Sometimes they wore pajamas to the movies.
Carol's Chapter
Carol’s Extra Basket of Back-Then Memories
After the book was finished, Carol collected memories Bernie said there was not enough room to include. Her nostalgic list moves from Mom reading the funnies, homemade treats, and Dad's comparison of a Studebaker to a two-row corn picker to Bob's Davy Crockett hat, Bernie's stilts, school dances, fashions, childhood games, illnesses, street names, music, and remembered entertainment quotations.
Carol's Chapter · 1928; the Forties; later years
A Roller-Skating Beginning and a Legacy of Care
Mary Hill arranged Ethel and Floyd's blind date, and they went roller-skating. They married in Moline on November 6, 1928, with Elva and Frank Melton standing up with them, then celebrated with dinner and a movie rather than a honeymoon. Carol remembers their independent household responsibilities, relentless work in the Forties, kindness to neighbors, and family values demonstrated through everyday actions.
Carol's Chapter · Early years; after Daddy died
Friends Around the Card Table
Ethel and Floyd enjoyed Poker, Pinochle, Euchre, and 500 Rummy, while Floyd also played Cribbage with Grandpa. Friday poker nights included the McFarlands, Nickelsons, and Vergaines. They played Pinochle with Art and Eilene Cordingly and Ruth and John Reichenberg. After Floyd died, Ethel played cards almost nightly with Florence Britz.
Carol's Chapter · April 1945; throughout Mom and Dad's lives
Remembering Roosevelt and Getting Out the Vote
Ethel and Floyd were lifelong strong Democrats who admired Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. They listened to Roosevelt's Fireside Chats and trusted that the war would be won. Ethel mourned Roosevelt's death in April 1945, and the family kept his picture in the living room for years. She worked with Virginia McFarland and Mrs. Welander to arrange rides and remind people to vote, stayed informed about candidates and issues, and never missed voting.
Carol's Chapter
Dancing Together at the Turner’s Club
Carol recalls her parents' love of dancing early in their marriage. When her father first came to Moline as a single man, he joined the Turner’s Club to exercise and attend dances, which offered opportunities to meet girls. He became a tumbler, appeared in a Minstrel show there, and took Ethel to many dances over the years.
Carol's Chapter · 1911; later years unspecified
Mom’s Records and a Lifetime of Devotion
Carol recounts Ethel's birth in Newburg and her search for baptismal records when she needed a passport to visit Carol in Germany. The record supplied the spelling Kathrine, listed her father's first name as Edwin rather than the family's remembered Edward, and revealed a birth year of 1911 rather than 1909. Her already-engraved grave marker would remain incorrect, but she enjoyed learning she was two years younger. Carol also honors her mother's tireless work caring for the family, her support and guidance, and her life without an outside job after her first baby or learning to drive.
Carol's Chapter
Three Wonderful Months Together in Europe
Mom spent three months visiting Carol, Charlie, and Chris in Germany, a highlight of her life. Bernie also visited, and the group traveled throughout Germany, Denmark, and Holland. Favorite stops included Anne Frank's house and hideaway in Amsterdam, the Rijksmuseum with Rembrandt's Night Watch, Tivoli Gardens where ten-year-old Chris got lost, The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, and Hans Christian Andersen's home and the Museum in Odense, Denmark.
Carol's Chapter
Mom, the Quiet Heart of the Family
Carol remembers Mom as the glue holding the family together: patient, calm, private, warm, kind, and uncomplaining. Mom had no vacations or days off during the children's upbringing and was seldom ill. She enjoyed novels, especially The Thorn Birds, loved Pepsi, and dressed impeccably. Every Tuesday, Dee devoted her day off to making Mom “Queen for a Day,” doing her hair, taking her to lunch, shopping, and running errands.
Carol's Chapter
Holiday Card Games and Mom’s Perfect Hand
Carol recalls lively games of 500 whenever the family gathered at home for holidays, with improvised prizes and laughter that prompted Mom to tell the girls to settle down. Once, Carol and her sisters stacked the cards to give Mom a perfect hand. They intended to reveal the trick, but Mom was so excited that they could not bring themselves to tell her.
Carol's Chapter
Morning Crochet and Keepsakes of Love
Carol remembers watching Mom crochet at the kitchen table between Daddy's departure for work and the children's rising for school. Mom made hundreds of household pieces, individually designed Christmas ornaments, wall hangings, wreaths, and painted bread dough figures with Diana. Carol sees these crafts as expressions of creativity and treasures even the ornaments that have faded or fallen apart.
Carol's Chapter · April 1988
A Florida Visit and a Last Tender Touch
After a couple of years of severe abdominal pain and inconclusive tests, Mom visited Diana and Lee in Florida in April 1988. They helped her relax and took her on a cruise, but the pain continued. Diana persisted in seeking medical help until an x-ray revealed a large ovarian cyst wrapped around blood vessels. A complete hysterectomy found no cancer, but Mom could not recover and died of heart failure at seventy-seven on April 22, 1988, in Coral Springs, Florida. Carol cherishes the hand caresses they exchanged while Mom was on a respirator. Mom is buried beside Daddy at Riverside Cemetery in Moline, Illinois.
Carol's Chapter · 1996
Remembering Lee's Sparkling Eyes
Carol recalls the family's sadness when Lee died on January 28, 1996, Mom's birthday. She remembers his soft-spoken Southern manner, sparkling eyes, and big smile, and expresses her love for him.
Carol's Chapter · 1940s and later undated years
Summer Visitors and Backyard Memories
Carol remembers meeting Floyd's three sisters from Brainerd and his warning that they might think the family rich and stay forever. Uncle Clarence, Francis, and their five children visited before Floyd's illness and death. Other memories include wartime hand-rolled cigarettes and smoke rings, later chewing tobacco, hunting trips with Bernie and Bobby, and playing house in Floyd's former backyard workshop after he moved into the new garage.
Carol's Chapter · 1904–1965; later reflection undated
Casey's Lunch Bucket and a Life of Providing
Carol recounts Floyd's birth, conflicting family accounts of his birthplace, and his thirty-nine years at John Deere Plow Works. Known at work as Casey, he arrived early for his preferred parking space and carried six sandwiches in a black lunch bucket. Writing about his demanding life helped Carol appreciate his devotion to providing for the family.
Carol's Chapter · Christmas Eve, 1967–May 23, 1968
Caring for Daddy Through His Last Months
Daddy suffered a stroke on Christmas Eve, 1967. Not realizing its seriousness, the family went to Iris and Bill's while Mom stayed with him. After Mom called Iris to report that he was worse, Lee and Bob took him to the hospital. Following two weeks there, his agitation prompted a search for other care. The family rejected St. Anthony's Hospital in Rock Island because patients were smoking while Daddy struggled to breathe. Mom tried caring for him at home with help from the girls and daily visits from Virginia, but the burden became exhausting. He was eventually taken to East Moline State Hospital. He died at sixty-three on May 23, 1968, surrounded by Mom and all the children, and is buried next to Mom at Riverside Cemetery in Moline, Illinois.
Carol's Chapter
Daddy's Favorite Foods and Familiar Ways
Carol recalls Daddy's food preferences, dislike of milk, insistence on Sayman Salve, warnings about sun exposure and swallowed bubble gum, control of money decisions, and objection to Mom wearing shorts or slacks. He kept canaries, bought a motor scooter, slept in a characteristic pose while watching television, and enjoyed neighborhood conversations so much that Mom sent the children to find him at dinnertime.
Carol's Chapter · 1944–1988
Chris, the Sunshine of Carol's Life
Carol recalls her 1965 marriage to Donald M. Boney, Chris's birth in 1967, and the joy her son brought her. After the 1972 divorce, she and Chris moved in with her Mom. She remembers Don as a supportive father, recounts his Navy Corpsman service and decorations, and records his death after years of cancer.
Carol's Chapter · 1931–1986
Charlie's Path from Kansas to a Career of Service
Carol recounts Charlie's birth in Troy, Kansas, his place as the oldest of six children, and his mother's family connection to Amelia Earhart. After high school, Charlie served four years in the Air Force, including a year in Korea. He then used the GI Bill to earn a geology degree at the University of Kansas and worked twenty-seven years as a Department of Defense ammunition inspector before retiring in 1986.
Carol's Chapter · Before July 1978
Happy Years in the Rhine River Valley
Carol remembers life in Ingelheim as the happiest time of her life. She and Charlie worked at neighboring military units, while Chris attended school, learned German, and enjoyed sports. Her memories include skiing, castles, the Fasching Parade, wine festivals, weekend markets, European vacations, and visits and touring with Mom and Bernie.
Carol's Chapter · 1993–present
Phase Two: Sunshine, Church Friends, and Swans
After retiring from the Rock Island Arsenal in October 1993, Carol describes moving to Florida in July 1995 and enjoying a slower life in North Port. Church friendships, reading, keyboard playing, and Christmas ornament making fill her retirement. A swan collection begun with Charlie's anniversary gifts has grown to more than one hundred through gifts from family and friends.
Carol's Chapter · Childhood–1999
Chris: Backyard Friendships, Soccer, and a Life in Music
Carol's determination to live in the Coolidge school district placed Chris near three boys who became lifelong friends. His enthusiasm for soccer led to memorable football kicks and the captaincy of Moline Senior High School's first soccer team. At Northern Illinois University, he turned toward guitar and a college band while earning his degree. He later released a CD, founded a record company, supported local musicians, wrote music journalism, and compiled a family recipe book presented at the 1999 reunion.
Carol's Chapter
Grandchildren, Joy, and the Gift of Encouragement
Carol identifies Charlie's daughters Megan and Paige and their children. She reflects on the joy her grandchildren bring and the laughter, curiosity, wonder, and patience they have taught her. She hopes to make them feel loved and a little spoiled while encouraging them to try new things, take risks, and explore life.
Carol's Chapter
A Christmas Visit Captured in Family Portraits
Bernie borrowed a Leica camera to photograph a new place in San Francisco, then brought it home to Moline at Christmas. Using orange and green fabric tacked up in the girls’ bedroom as a backdrop, Bernie photographed the family. A portrait of Bernie taken by high school chum Jerry Edlund during the same trip completed the folio. Later on the family portrait day, the family celebrated Carol’s 23rd birthday. Bernie treasured how clearly the portraits revealed everyone’s personality.
Bob's Chapter
A Mother's Everyday Care and Treasured Handwork
Robert remembers his extraordinary mother's work raising seven children with help from her dad, Iris, and neighbors. Childhood in the four-room house on 39th Street included Saturday baths in a galvanized kitchen tub, an outhouse, clean school clothes, cocoa with a peanut butter sandwich, and repeatedly reused lunch bags. His mother made thirteen-egg angel food birthday cakes, tended and canned a large garden's harvest, and silently taught him to pick beans thoroughly by collecting three more buckets after he said he was finished. He treasures her doilies, Christmas ornament balls, and Santa dolls; his boys Steve and Brian also have ornaments.
Bob's Chapter
Canning Shelves and Grandpa's Special Sausage Crock
Mom preserved the garden and orchard harvest every year with help from Grandpa Williams and Iris, reusing hundreds of jars. Jelly was sometimes sealed with paraffin or covered with waxed paper and a rubber band. Dad built basement shelves like library stacks; jars sometimes spoiled and exploded, especially peas. Iris recalled catsup, spiced pork, pepper hash, and cabbage and cucumber relish. Bernie remembered pork sausage and sage patties preserved under solidified pork grease in a decorated gray crock on the cold porch. Made especially for Grandpa Williams, the patties were eaten cold straight from the grease. Bernie still has the crock.
Bob's Chapter
Keeping Fruit in the Backyard
The section lists cherries, peaches, pears, and lots of applesauce. The narrator recalls Dad wrapping pears and apples in newspaper and storing them for several months in bushel baskets in a covered hole in the backyard. The family ate the apples even when they became a little wrinkled.
Bob's Chapter
Dad's Workshop, Lessons, and Lasting Tools
Bob remembers Dad as someone who could fix anything, an excellent mechanic and welder whose projects brought many trips for parts, advice, and conversation with friends. Dad worked hard at John Deere, where friends called him Casey, tended a half-acre fruit orchard, participated in Dad’s Club, and took the children to Scout meetings. He taught them to make willow whistles and homemade kites. The family visited his brothers in Minnesota without announcing their arrival. His tough car negotiations embarrassed Bob but secured good deals. Bob recalls Dad's handsome appearance and enjoyment of his motorcycle and camper in retirement, and remembers him whenever he uses the tools he kept.
Bob's Chapter · Childhood through adulthood, including the 90’s
A Lifetime of Cheering, from Wrestling to the Packers
Bob describes his lifelong enthusiasm for watching sports and reading the sports page first. Before his family had a TV, his father took them to Iris and Bill’s apartment to watch wrestling, with Argentine Aroca their favorite. During the 90’s, Bob and his son Steve regularly attended Milwaukee Bucks basketball games. After many years in Wisconsin, he describes passionate loyalty to the Green Bay Packers, complete with hats, T-shirts, and sweat shirts, win or lose.
Bob's Chapter
Bob's Bright Fragments of Childhood
Bob lists vivid childhood memories: neighbors, a gasoline burn while playing with a toy steamshovel, Barbara refusing medicine, Bernie's skating injury, and Tom Johnson knocking out power lines with a falling tree. He recalls visiting the Rodgers in Cordova, swimming at Campbell’s Island, annual Riverside Park picnics, Iris’s wedding, and poker games with Art and Eileen Cordingly. Other memories include orchard camping and spraying, gathering walnuts, toys and homemade kites, fireworks, homemade foods, hauling water when the well dried up, building a house addition, basement heat relief and flooding, coal heating, backyard tomatoes, and the surviving mailbox millstone.
Bob's Chapter · Early Fifties and later
From Dad's Rebuilt Chevy to Beloved Station Wagons
Robert recalls starting to drive at thirteen around the 39th Street neighborhood and earning his license in a stick-shift car his father built from two junk Chevys for taking the children to school. He thinks Bernie and Carol also drove it. His own cars began with a black ’48 Ford he washed daily, followed by a succession of Mercurys, Oldsmobiles, Chevys, Pontiacs, and Dodges. His yellow ’57 Olds saw plenty of drive-in movie outings, and his ’69 Pontiac wagon was his first brand new car. Friends teased him about his station wagons, but he prized their hauling capacity. He always wanted a red Corvette convertible and says the red Mustang convertible comes close.
Bob's Chapter
Rabbit Hunts with Dad and Backyard Target Practice
Robert recalls Dad buying a twenty-gauge shotgun when Robert was around thirteen or fourteen, taking him rabbit hunting, and teaching him to clean rabbits safely. Dad told of hunting rabbits in Minnesota and filling a car's back seat with them; Robert wonders whether a photograph exists. Robert also remembers quail and pheasant hunting, backyard handgun practice with Dad and Dale McFarland, his favorite Red Ryder BB gun, and childhood fights using homemade slingshots and green grapes.
Bob's Chapter
Bob's Many Welcome Nicknames
Robert Ray Guild recalls being called Bob, Robert, Robbie by his dad, and Bobby by others. In junior high school, his small size earned him the nickname Pee Wee, which he still hears at class reunions. He welcomes all of these names.
Bob's Chapter
Five Thousand Miles and Still Friends
Robert recalls his best family vacation: three weeks out West with Sue, Steve, and Brian in their new 1975 station wagon. Their route included mountains, parks, cities, several days with Bernie in San Francisco, Universal Studios, and friends in San Bernardino. After five thousand miles, he marvels that everyone still liked each other.
Bob's Chapter · 1947 (picture referenced from the trip)
Dad Takes the Wheel at the Bridges
Robert remembers traveling to Minnesota with Dad and Bernie to visit Dad’s brothers. Bernie, eleven and a half and newly driving, was hesitant to cross the narrow bridges and stopped so Dad could drive across. Robert says he was ten.
Bob's Chapter
A Baby Pig and Fluffy the Wandering Cat
Robert recalled receiving a baby pig from a neighbor as a child. The family raised it in a pen behind the garage, greased it, and rode it before Dad eventually sold it. He also remembered a white cat named Fluffy, which stayed with them a long time and repeatedly returned from days away looking beat up and ragged. His own children later had a dog, a hamster, and some fish.
Bob's Chapter
Garden Chores and a Popcorn Enterprise
The narrator recalls the family's orchard and garden chores, including planting and watering vegetables by hand. He thought Mom and Grandpa did most of the work and noted that, with five sisters, he seldom did dishes. Dad bought a seed-planting device that the narrator and Bernie used to plant popcorn on land loaned by neighbors. They were allowed to keep the proceeds and sold several hundred pounds at ten cents per pound.
Bob's Chapter
Bob's Reflections on Time and Connection
Bob regrets not spending more time with and helping his parents or getting to know them better, not going to college, and not writing or calling often enough. He also regrets taking five years to finish his memories.
Bob's Chapter
Love Shown Through Work and Protection
Robert does not remember outward displays of affection in childhood, but recalls Dad checking on a stranger near their street and Mom sometimes receiving no pork chops when the plate reached her. Looking back, he recognizes his parents' hard work as their most important expression of love. He also remembers Dad's loving advice against joining the Navy.
Bob's Chapter · Junior high school–1996
Dances, Sue, and a Life Together
Robert recalls his first dance in ninth grade, new clothes from Mom, bus travel with his date, and dances at Coolidge Junior High and the Moline swimming pool. Through his high school friend Bob Warner, he met Bob's sister Sue. They dated for six years and married in 1960. He describes thirty-six years of marriage until her death from cancer in 1996 and forty-three wonderful years together. He celebrates her organizing, friendships, their trips and regular nights out, her care for Steve and Brian, and her love for their four grandchildren.
Bob's Chapter
Gratitude for Family, Friends, and Bernie
Robert expresses love for his family and thankfulness that he can help those less fortunate. His sons, grandchildren, and friends keep him busy and happy. He offers special thanks to Bernie for helping put the book together.
Bernie's Chapter · 1936
Bernie's Arrival Just After Midnight
Bernie recounts his birth as the first son and second child, in his parents' rented Moline home just after midnight on April 11, 1936. He weighed ten pounds. His mother later told him that after a colicky infancy he became healthy, happy, and talkative, saying “Bernie” as his first word at eight months.
Bernie's Chapter · Possibly around age three
Little Glimpses of an Early Childhood
Bernie recalls playing with the rubber buttons on his sun suit, a vague sensation of bouncing on Grampa’s Williams’ knee, a humming red top, and a wooden duck toy. He does not remember his birthplace house, but introduces the fragmented memories of the family's second house at 127 35th Street as material for a poem.
Bernie's Chapter
Railroad Treasures and Childhood Days by the River
In a sequence of childhood memories, the narrator recalls locomotives, Grampa's walks to kindergarten, gathering fallen coal for Mommy's stove, and finding treasures near the foundry. He remembers his fifth birthday, first-grade lessons, a printing prize, and a teacher locking out Arnold for lateness. Life in a big white house includes celebrations, baby Carol's arrival while Mommy is sick, Mommy returning with Baby Delores, games with Bobby and Iris, penny treats, a tavern visit, May baskets, and the fascination of a river the children are forbidden to approach.
Bernie's Chapter · July 16, 1942, and subsequent decades
The Little House That Grew with the Family
Bernard remembers the small house on 39th Street that became the family's enduring home. He believes Mom secured the loan to move the children away from the river and railroad tracks. Dad gradually transformed the four-room house with a basement, furnace, well, enlarged kitchen, bedrooms, indoor plumbing, siding, garage, and work shed. Memories of moving day, Grampa's songs and knee rides, the McFarlands, and freedom to play convey the deep closeness of the family.
Bernie's Chapter
The Homestead's Shade, Blossoms, and Sweet Fruit
Bernard recalls the elm Dad called a Piss Elm, which survived the children's climbing and sheltered Grampa Williams's food preparation and the girls' summer activities. He describes favorite bushes, rhubarb, poplars, mulberries across the road on Britz’s side, colorful flowers, and unusual garden crops. He remembers stomachaches from overeating mulberries and ends by joking that the homestead's fauna consisted of children.
Bernie's Chapter
Karo Cans and Grampa's Free Berry Patches
After harvesting the black raspberry patch near the outhouse, the children wore long sleeves and followed Grampa to wild raspberry and blackberry patches in the woods. Empty Karo Syrup cans hung around their necks left both hands free for picking. One year's blackberry harvest was so large that Grampa sold berries house to house to rich people in Villa Park.
Bernie's Chapter
Dirt Hills, Chugs, and Adventures in Ferry’s Woods
The children played King of the Hill on dirt piles, often ending in fights, and rode crude homemade go-carts called chugs. They planned but never built a Soap Box Derby racer because the wheels cost too much, instead watching the races on 7th Street Hill every year. In Ferry’s Woods they climbed oak trees and played cowboys and Indians, sometimes naked until Mabel Rosener objected to the risk of lost clothes. The narrator lost his new shoes for two days; his father found them and punished him. Throwing hedge balls instead of acorns also led to a painful injury.
Bernie's Chapter
Dress Ups on the Chicken-Coop Stage
Playing with sisters sometimes meant House, School, or improvised performances in an old chicken coop with its front wall removed. Known as The Play House, it held a trunk of musty old clothes contributed by neighbors for Dress Ups. Brothers, sisters, and neighborhood children watched the performances from the grass along the garden.
Bernie's Chapter
Green Plaid Bags and Marbles for Keeps
Bernard remembers the drawstring marble bags Mom sewed for him and Bob, Bob's remarkable shooting skill, and his poison-green peerie. He describes the rules of their games, the many marble varieties, and the temptation to use steel ball bearings to shatter another child's marble despite a forfeiture penalty. A favorite marble was called a “Baby” and usually kept out of play. More than once, parents made them return winnings from children they had lured into playing for keeps.
Bernie's Chapter
First Jackknives and Fierce Games in the Dirt
At about seven or eight, the narrator and Bob each received a small bone-handled pocketknife from Daddy and immediately learned Mumblety-peg. They also played a competitive knife-throwing game in their dirt marble circle, claiming territory according to where their blades landed. Billy Johnson excelled at this game. The girls protested and reported them to Mom, especially when the players showed off by rapidly jabbing knives between their fingers.
Bernie's Chapter
Shrill Whistles from Willow Branches
The narrator describes making whistles with pocketknives from four-inch sections of weeping willow branches: slipping off the bark, cutting a notch in the twig and a corresponding opening in the bark, then replacing the bark. Dad could make one with his large pocketknife in a minute.
Bernie's Chapter
Dirty Feet and Heavy Water Buckets
Bernard remembers getting filthy playing in the dirt. Mom did not require washing before meals but insisted on clean feet at bedtime. He thought the labor of carrying well water and heating it on the stove might explain this rule. He and Bob helped carry buckets they could barely lift. Mom kept a clean house but often said, “You need some germs to fight back with,” a view Bernard retrospectively endorsed.
Bernie's Chapter
Rainy-Day Toys and the Joy of Coloring
Bernard recalls indoor play during rainy days and winter: an Erector set, wood-burning kit, crystal set, painted figurines, and an electric train surrounded by Lincoln Log houses. He and Bob refused to box each other, disappointing Dad. He made comic books with newspaper strips and homemade paste, played Chinese Checkers with Grampa, and folded paper toys for Barbara. Coloring was his favorite distraction, inspiring a teasing aside to Diana.
Bernie's Chapter
Summer Baseball on Grampa's Philco Radio
Bernard remembers adoring Grampa Williams and following him as a toddler. His most vivid memories include Grampa's accident and death in his arms, but especially summer days when Grampa listened to baseball at the kitchen table while Mom ironed and listened too. Grampa meticulously recorded games and players on cardboard from Shredded Wheat boxes, saving every score card. The sounds of baseball broadcasts still bring Bernard an immediate, fond memory of Grampa.
Bernie's Chapter
A Shell Sign Toboggan and Happy, Tired Walks Home
A smaller, treeless ravine near the Vergain’s house offered safer sledding for girls and drew many children after heavy snow. Children used sleds, cardboard, boxes, and sometimes skis. The narrator's father made a toboggan from half of a metal Shell gas-station sign and attached a pulling rope. Its sharp-edged, rounded body carried three or more children in fast, spinning rides among other sledders and milkweed patches. Bernard remembers trudging home cold, wet, chafed, exhausted, and happy.
Bernie's Chapter
The House and Garden He Built in His Mind
Daddy's talk of buying a two-story house on 41st Street inspired Bernard to imagine its decorations and garden repeatedly, including geese to weed strawberry patches. Talk of moving to Walla Walla, Washington offered similar excitement, though he later understood these plans as only talk. The family did not have top sheets, and Bernard retained a preference for sleeping under just a blanket.
Bernie's Chapter · 1946 and later childhood and high school years
Small Gifts, Family Pride, and Big Dreams
A modest tenth-birthday gift made Bernard feel poor, especially beside Billy Johnson's new bicycle. His parents encouraged hard work and ambition, while Mom insisted the children should be proud of themselves and dreamed of travel. Inclusion in Jenny Swanson's luncheon for poor children wounded his pride. In high school he hid his modest home from wealthy friends, a choice he later regretted.
Bernie's Chapter
Junkers, a Workshop Sign, and Lasting Gratitude
The family's troublesome cars reflected limited money and Dad's enthusiasm for fixing junkers. Bernard and Bob learned mechanical skills from him. The children struggled to contain his junk piles, and Bernard's workshop sign urging a place for everything amused Dad without changing his habits. Bernard closes with appreciation for both parents' hard work, devotion, and sacrifice, and regret that he did not do more for them later.
Bernie's Chapter · When the narrator was about ten
A Chicago Visit and a Lasting Lesson in Thanks
Bernard visited Grandma and Grandpa Hobson in Chicago with Billy Johnson and Billy’s parents. They ate lunch at Marshall Field’s, ordering from a huge giraffe-shaped children’s menu, and Bernard bought Bob a toy roller coaster. After they returned home, Tom Johnson scolded Bernard for not thanking others for their kindness. Bernard kept the embarrassing incident from his parents and never liked Tom afterward, but never forgot to thank anyone again.
Bernie's Chapter · World War II
A Child's View of War News and Gifts from Uncle Lloyd
Bernard recalls not understanding the stakes of war while playing with metal military toys and imitating racist wartime caricatures. He secretly read Iris' censored letters from servicemen and listened to Gabriel Heater's radio reports with his worried family. Uncle Lloyd served in New Guinea and returned wounded with souvenirs for him; an unnamed sailor boyfriend of Iris also gave him cherished sailor's pants.
Bernie's Chapter · World War II
Making Do with Ration Books and a Victory Garden
The family had ten Food Ration and three Gasoline Ration books, and Bernard remembers little hardship from rationing. Iris and his mother improvised stocking seams with makeup. The family's established vegetable garden became a source of Victory Garden pride, with John Reichenberg supplying advice and shared seed catalogs. His mother displayed a blue-star service banner, his father refused to surrender potentially useful junk to scrap drives, and Bernard participated in Boy Scout paper drives.
Bernie's Chapter · 1945 and afterward
Victory Celebrations and Frightening Lessons About War
Bernard places V-E Day in late summer 1945 and remembers pride mixed with incomplete understanding. His mother wanted to join a celebration parade, while his father wanted to remain home. He recalls his father's draft exemption for dependents and wartime work making machine gun parts and tank tracks at John Deere Plow Works. After V-J Day, overheard accounts of atrocities made Bernard decide never to go to war. A later Royal American Shows exhibit in Moline terrified him with photographs and wax figures; he also recalls an unexpected glimpse of an exotic dancer at the carnival.
Bernie's Chapter · After Gypsy was returned to the farm
A Trial Brother for Billy
Ruth and Tom arranged for an older boy from the local orphanage to be Billy's trial brother, hoping companionship would address what they regarded as a discipline problem. The narrator says the Guilds considered their rules absurdly strict. The boy made realistic crepe paper roses but was more interested in neighborhood girls than in staying home with Billy. He was eventually returned to the orphanage, a parallel the narrator draws to Gypsy's departure.
Bernie's Chapter · 1940s
Learning to Ride and Making an Old Bike Shine
Bernard loved his repeatedly repainted bicycle. Daddy proudly declared him a remarkably quick learner, unaware that he had already practiced on Iris’ bike with Bobby's help. The children enjoyed spraying gravel with dramatic starts and stops. Bernard learned to ride hands-free, but copying Ray Rohrer's seat-standing stunt left his knee full of gravel. Bicycle errands included buying Mom's Marvel cigarettes at Fredrickson’s Market with no money left for treats.
Bernie's Chapter · 1940s
Night Rides, Bells, and an Ooga Horn
Large nighttime bicycle outings worried Ethel, while Daddy defended the boys' adventures. He fitted Bernard's bicycle with a generator light and loud steel bands that imitated a motor until they began wearing through the spokes. Bernard treasured four bells and an ooga horn, carried passengers on the rear carrier, and avoided a front basket because of a childhood belief that baskets were for girls. He envied Bob's chain guard and recalled boys rolling up their right trouser legs to protect them from bicycle chains.
Bernie's Chapter
Hours Beside Dad's Forge and Tools
The garage became a well-equipped workshop with a hand-cranked forge, wood- and metal-turning lathes, grinding and burnishing wheels, several saws, a drill press, and welding equipment. Daddy made parts for his inventions there and produced excellent arc welds. The narrator remembered the forge's brilliant fire and sparks, and the hundreds if not thousands of hours he, Bob, and the girls spent watching Daddy work.
Bernie's Chapter
A Garage Raising and a Last-Minute Ham Dinner
Floyd Guild recruited neighbors for a garage raising, promising a ham dinner but telling Mom only the day before. Virginia helped assemble and prepare the food and jokingly warned Floyd that people had better come to eat it. The garage was successfully built in a day. George Rohrer, who helped, attempted the same thing a year later, but no one came—not even Daddy. George built alone, and Daddy later contrasted George's sagging roof with his own straight one.
Bernie's Chapter
Daddy’s Pride-and-Joy Tree Sprayer
Daddy built an elaborate tree sprayer from an old Willys chassis, a homemade pump, and eventually a wooden tank from King’s Apple Orchard. Despite wearing a mask, he often became drenched in DDT or Malathion, as did Bernard. Daddy hoped to sell spraying services but never asked the neighbors, leaving the machine chiefly to serve the family’s dozen orchard trees. Bernard also drove it while Daddy guided a heavy scoop to level the driveway and dig a wastewater ditch behind the garage. Dale McFarland thought a shovel would have been faster, but Daddy insisted his machine saved work.
Bernie's Chapter
Borrowed Tractors and Five-Dollar Gardens
While working in Deere’s experimental department, Daddy invented at least four important agricultural devices without receiving royalties. He sometimes brought a tractor home in spring to plow the family’s truck garden. When he returned to work, Bernard—and perhaps Bob—used it to plow neighbors’ gardens for five dollars. Bernard’s memory was vague, but he believed they were never caught because the consequences would have been severe.
Bernie's Chapter
Popcorn and Lessons at the Plow
Bob and Bernard learned to drive a tractor and maneuver its plow while planting a half-acre of popcorn on McFarland’s empty lot. Bernard also plowed many other gardens that year under Daddy’s supervision. He remembered his right biceps becoming huge from repeatedly raising and lowering the plow at the ends of the furrows.
Bernie's Chapter
Childhood Beside the Peterson Family
Bernard contrasts his mother's gentle handling of accidents with the Petersons' fearful household, where children faced beatings for accidents or insufficient study. He remembers Eileen becoming a sweet person despite this treatment and believes the harsh rules troubled the boys, especially Billy.
Bernie's Chapter
Fourth of July Sparks and Childhood Mischief
Daddy brought home fireworks every Fourth of July, and the family eagerly waited for darkness to enjoy fountains, roman candles, sparklers, and pinwheels. Daddy also performed a risky trick with tiny firecrackers; Bob and the narrator burned their fingers trying it. Bobby and the narrator experimented with launching cans using firecrackers, and Bob once destroyed a model plane he had made. The narrator fondly recalls Snakes and expresses frustration with restrictions on home fireworks.
Bernie's Chapter
Watching the Sky from the Soul Bowl Hillside
The family attended public fireworks displays sponsored by the Moline Daily Dispatch at Soul Bowl in Silvis. They watched from the grassy hillside around the playing field, enjoying Mom's enthusiastic reactions and wishing the show would last longer. Sometimes they caught chiggers in the grass.
Bernie's Chapter · When the narrator was about eight and Bob about seven
A Frightening Summer Ride and a Childhood Misunderstanding
On a muggy summer night, the narrator's father took the boys and a .22 rifle to Harry Means's home on Campbell’s Island. Sent by Bobby to listen at the screendoor, the narrator overheard that they had to shoot someone and assumed a man would be killed and dumped in the river. The boys heard a rifle shot and waited terrified in the closed car. Much later, the narrator overheard Harry explaining that his hunting dog had been put down with Daddy's help. Embarrassment kept the narrator from telling the story until adulthood.
Bernie's Chapter · High school; twelfth grade
Finding a Life in Art
Bernard credits high school with starting him toward art. He felt no more talented than the rest of his family but thought he enjoyed art more, deciding in twelfth grade to make it his life work.
Bernie's Chapter · 1952 and later, dates unspecified
A Robin’s Egg Blue Chevrolet and a Cherished Ford
At sixteen, Bernard acquired a ’36 Chevrolet to drive to Moline High School. Its unfinished robin’s egg blue paint, missing parking brake, and shabby seats embarrassed him, but Dad kept it running and Bernard bought seat covers with his own money. He cruised Moline on a dollar's worth of gas and drove to Chicago with Herman Nelson one New Year's Eve without permission. He fondly remembers a black ’41 Ford with chrome and a radio, priced at $150, but cannot remember whether it replaced the Chevrolet, was shared with Bob, or belonged only to Bob.
Bernie's Chapter · 1947 and later
Learning to Cross the Bridge
Bernard learned to drive on Dad's homemade tractor and, at eleven, during a 1947 trip with Dad and Bob to Grandpa Dan Guild's funeral in Brainerd. Required to drive half the way, he initially refused to cross bridges, leaving Dad to take over. On the return trip Dad refused to cross the last bridge for him, and Bernard drove across in terror while Bobby laughed. He recalls lasting nightmares about bridges and never learning to swim. By the time he paid twenty-five cents for a driver's license at the postal booth in Schlegal’s Drug Store in Highland, he had driven for over four years; his Driver's Ed teacher excused him from road practice.
Bernie's Chapter
The Lasting Value of Being a Gentleman
Bernard wonders whether going directly to college might have led him to architecture. He reflects that being nice to his teachers brought more attention and better academic achievement, echoing his mother's advice: “It doesn’t cost you a dime to be a gentleman.”
Bernie's Chapter
Daddy's Strength, Hard Work, and Playful Spirit
Bernard recalls Daddy's characteristic work clothes, muscular build, and tireless labor, both lifting plowshares at work and building or repairing things at home. He remembers how handsome Floyd looked dressed in a suit, his rose-scented hairdressing, and his prematurely gray hair. A playful exchange with Mom about shaving illustrates his love of getting a rise out of people. His happy nature and good intentions endeared him to others, and his children regarded him as a hero.
Bernie's Chapter · Early seventies and an unspecified later summer after the narrator's father's death
A Mother's Steady View of Her Marriage
Bernard recalls that his father's authority in family decisions began to be questioned in the early seventies. After his father's death, some of the girls encouraged their mother to reinterpret her marriage through the women's rights movement. Bernard supports the movement but doubts that his mother adopted their interpretation. During a long summer visit to California, she told him that she had never questioned her husband's authority, that they each had their jobs, and that he was a good man who never hurt anyone—words she had also spoken in the hospital immediately after his death. Bernard likewise defends his father's decisions as consistent with the expectations of his time and emphasizes both parents' devotion to caring for the family.
Bernie's Chapter
A Reluctant Rabbit Hunter
Bernard dreaded hunting rabbits with Daddy and deliberately missed his shots. Daddy followed up, and the wounded rabbits sickened Bernard. Iris was an excellent markswoman, likened to Annie Oakley, while Bob was a good shot who enjoyed hunting.
Bernie's Chapter
Peanuts, Radio, and Time with Dad
Bernard warmly remembers Dad sharing peanuts from a penny vending machine at a gas station with him and Bob, and sitting close to Dad listening to favorite radio programs until Mom called them to supper. Watching Dad tinker made Bernard want to grow up like him.
Bernie's Chapter · 1947 and other undated visits
Minnesota Visits, Grandma's Sandwiches, and Northern Lights
Bernard recalls visiting Dan Guild's Minnesota grave, where aunt Myrtle seriously suggested digging him up. He remembers attending Dan's funeral at eleven in 1947, Grandma Olive's kindness over a fried egg sandwich, and visits with his father's relatives around Brainerd. His memories include attic sleeping, fresh warm milk at Uncle Clarence's farm, glowing swamp gas, brilliant Northern Lights in 1947, fishing, and mosquito bites.
Bernie's Chapter
Daddy's Daughters and the Men Who Married Them
Bernard reflects on Floyd's protectiveness toward his daughters and his demands that sons-in-law prove themselves. Although Floyd never forgave Bill for marrying Iris so young, Bernard thought they eventually liked each other, and Floyd acknowledged Bill's goodness and the couple's help. Don Bonney alone avoided an on-the-spot test, perhaps because he was a Marine hero. Bernard also remembers no parental discussions of marriage or sex.
Bernie's Chapter
Junk Trades, Cold Kayo, and Daddy's Infectious Laugh
Bernie recalls frequent, sometimes daily car outings with Bobby and Daddy that he considers significant to their socialization. Daddy told Mom when they would return but never their destination, and the girls were rarely included. The outings revolved around junk trading, often with Daddy's best friend Hugh Chase, who welcomed the boys with cold bottles of Kayo. Trades could involve guns, furnace parts, and elaborate arrangements among three or four people. Daddy delighted in recounting how he had gotten the better bargain. His teasing stories, habit of calling people “Good Looking” until he remembered their names, and infectious laughter made him a welcome visitor.
Bernie's Chapter
Sue's Good-Natured Ribbing of Guild Pride
The narrator jokes that Guilds have no humility, modesty, meekness, or reticence. Sue Guild, who was like his sixth sister, teased them about their enormous egos and suggested the well water was to blame. He emphasizes that it was all in fun and playfully declares the Guilds the greatest.
Bernie's Chapter
A Family Name That Rhymes with Wild
The narrator wonders why the family says “Guylld” rather than “Gild,” asking whether British origin and old vowel pronunciations might explain it but offering no answer. He explains the pronunciation by rhyming Guild with “wild” or referring to “Bewitched Bothered and Beguiled,” adding that this would work for Barb, Bob, and Brian as well.
Bernie's Chapter · Childhood; ringworm episode after W.W.II
Family Remedies and Memories of Childhood Illness
Bernard recalls ringworm treatments for himself and Bob, crediting Daddy's use of Kerodin with becoming a standard treatment after the Arp doctors heard of it. He remembers Daddy's foot fungus and recurring malaria, Gramps's weather-sensitive rheumatism, and Mom deliberately exposing the children to whooping cough. Despite saying he cannot remember childhood sickness, he recalls ringworm, measles, and chicken pox. Other memories include Mom's sewing injuries, sunburn and bursitis, his own dog-bite scar, a girl's scarlet fever that he tentatively attributes to Carol, and the family's belief that childhood vegetables would protect them from cancer.
Bernie's Chapter · Age twelve; later, the day before and day Kennedy was shot
A Blue Merry-Go-Round and News from the Sofa
Dad told stories of pulling childhood teeth with a string and door knob. Bernard's own tooth extraction under gas at twelve produced a vivid vision of a blue merry-go-round above a blue lake. Fear of another anesthetic experience led him to avoid the other children's shared tonsil-removal day. He eventually had his tonsils removed the day before Kennedy was shot and remembers eating potato chips on his sofa when Walter Cronkite announced the shooting.
Bernie's Chapter · When Diana was a little girl
Diana's Courage and Nightly Prayers
Bernard recalls loving Diana deeply and praying every night for her painful leg to heal, fearing she might lose it. He calls her illness the worst thing that happened to the family, while crediting her bravery and constant smile with making the tragedy bearable.
Bernie's Chapter
Floyd Guild’s Well and a Father-Son Secret
Bernard recalls Daddy locating water with a forked willow divining rod near the kitchen door, then spending much of a summer casting a dozen massive concrete rings. Daddy dug inside the stacked rings as they sank into the ground, creating a secure thirty-three-foot well. Bernard and Bob played in the rings and helped haul dirt until neighbors took over. A leftover ring became a play space in the orchard. Before water was reached, Dad and Dale secretly lowered Bernard into the cold well in a rough rope halter. Bernard recalled seeing stars in the daytime sky from the bottom. Threatened with the razor strap if he told Mom, he kept the secret until late in life; she claimed she had already known, which he doubted.
Bernie's Chapter
Daddy's Familiar Sayings
Bernard recalls Dad's characteristic expressions, including “Oh, yeah?”, “Little Snippers” for children, “Mother” for Mom, and “Good Looking” for men whose names he did not know. Dad used “Red up” for cleaning, said worn-out things needed “a new one,” and called soy sauce “Pigeon blood,” though Mom never used it. Bernard remembers frequent swearing but says he never heard Daddy use an Anglo-Saxon vulgarity. Annoying drivers were “Pigeons,” “Halfwits,” or “Slack-jawed.”
Bernie's Chapter · Childhood through working life; dates not stated
A Lifetime of Gratitude for Hard Work and Equal Love
Bernard sent his parents money every payday and found motivation in making them proud through advertising honors and promotions. He recalls his mother's exhausting work as the children's needs grew, and Jesse McFarland's praise of her as a saint and an exceptionally hard worker. The children wished Jesse would marry Iris. Bernard acknowledges taking Dad's work for granted and honors Mom's honesty, neutrality, and equal love, regretting that he never fully told her what those lessons meant.
Bernie's Chapter · Childhood through adulthood; dates not stated
Mom's Firm Hand and Comforting Presence
Bernard recalls being difficult to discipline, fearing his mother's threat to send him away, and finding comfort in her presence at his sickbed and her care before school. Her tears when he left for California made him feel guilty. He also remembers her advice about marriage and keeping his personal life private.
Bernie's Chapter · Childhood, including age sixteen or seventeen, and later recollections
Quiet Kitchen Talks and the Supper Call
At sixteen or seventeen, Bernard treasured quiet kitchen conversations while his mother ate a small sandwich and drank her last coffee of the day. She spoke of missing Grampa, worrying about Diana, and Dad's hard work without complaining. Overheard parental discussions revealed a cooperative decision-making partnership. Bernard also remembers listening to radio serials beside Daddy until Mom's familiar supper call, her delicious meals, and Dad's singing and whistling. He could still recall Mom's earlier voice but remembered Dad's speaking voice chiefly from later telephone calls after moving to California.
Bernie's Chapter · When Bernard was about eight or nine
A Friendly Greeting in the Hotel Lobby
Bernard's father took him into the LeClaire Hotel in downtown Moline and turned him toward a black man shining shoes. Having only seen white people before, Bernard was speechless when the man smiled and offered him a shoe shine. His father then led him away. Bernard is unsure whether prejudice was intended and thinks his father may simply have wanted him to see the man.
Bernie's Chapter
A Mother's Lessons in Equality
Bernard recalls discriminatory songs and limericks performed by his grandfather and father. His mother repeatedly countered them, out of his father's hearing, by teaching that no person was better than another. He believes her teaching, his own experiences of discrimination, and his liberal education helped him reject prejudice. He also recalls Dale McFarland's complaints about black workers at Farmall and abuse directed at Swedes and Belgians in Moline, ending with a hope that prejudice would end with his generation.
Bernie's Chapter · At age sixteen, with reflections fifty-some years later
Bernie Boy Learns to See Beauty
Selected by the Women’s Club of Illinois, Bernard attended a week of art classes at Robert Allerton Park. Robert Raushenberger used an ordinary rock to demonstrate how beauty emerges through observation and association, giving Bernard a lifelong way of seeing. Bernard also made two close friends and spent several nights exploring the estate’s trails, statues, architecture, gardens, and sunrises with them. When his father returned, he noticed Bernard’s weight loss and asked whether he had been fed. Bernard remembers the week as an exhilarating immersion in beauty and reflects on how much that awareness has meant throughout his life.
Bernie's Chapter
One Chance to Learn to Swim
Bernard recalls his father putting muslin water-wings on him and throwing him into the Rock River to teach him to swim. He sank, feared he would die, and cried after his father grabbed him when he emerged. His father carried him out and concluded that he would never learn to swim. Bernard says he never did, and that the swimming requirement later ended his advancement toward Explorer Scout despite his love of Scouting and more than twenty merit badges.
Bernie's Chapter · During the narrator’s two years at Ray Vogue
Finding Belonging in Art and Returning Home
Bernie enjoyed movies, galleries, beach outings, and cooking lessons with Byron while returning home whenever possible on the Rock Island Rocket and later in his Vauxhall. Art school, Art Institute visits, and parties organized by Byron brought him an accepting circle of friends. Their open conversations and diverse community helped him shed feelings of inferiority and embrace liberal ideas. He also credited his family’s love and closeness with his enduring sense of protection.
Bernie's Chapter · 1983 onward
A Shared Home, Art, and Lively Arguments
Larry introduced Bernard to Frank, who moved in with him in 1983 after art school. Bernard describes Frank’s large family, love of reading and computers, writing talent, and studies toward a Bachelor of Science degree and web design. Their shared interests, humor, and candid arguments make them intellectually well matched.
Iris's Chapter
Little Tea Sets and Dreams of a Welcoming Home
Iris recalls being the first child and having her own room before Bobby and Bernie were born. Uncle Lloyd brought treasured china tea sets, which she carefully repacked in their original boxes after playing house. She imagined dressing beautifully, dancing, and serving tea. Looking back, she feels those dreams came true in a lovely home where she entertains friends, and expresses gratitude for God's help, her husband, and her loving siblings.
Iris's Chapter
Toasted Nuts and Grandpa's Remembered Rhymes
Iris remembers Grandpa Williams spending hours at the basement workbench cracking nuts gathered in the fall, using the metal shoe last Daddy used to resole shoes. After supper, Mom toasted the nut meats with salt and butter in a tin pie pan. The family enjoyed them around the kitchen table while Grandpa recited long limericks from memory, some sad and some funny. Iris regrets not recognizing the importance of preserving this old family tradition.
Iris's Chapter
Penny Candy, Hollyhock Dolls, and Front-Porch Days
Iris recalls a small grocery store in a converted home's front room across from 1015 29th Street, where bread, milk, and penny candy were available. Living between the river and railroad tracks, the family received visits from hobos seeking food, and Mom shared despite the family's own limited supplies. Grandpa gathered dandelion greens for Mom to cook in bacon drippings. Iris remembers River Drive, Dad's beloved Model T Ford, a short-lived rabbit hutch, and making dolls from hollyhock blossoms beside the garage. One summer she badly hurt her knee falling from her bicycle on a black-cinder-covered street and spent long days recovering on the porch swing and cutting paper dolls. After Carol's birth, Mom was ill and weak for a long time; Iris tentatively recalls Grandpa being there part of the time and remembers Uncle Lloyd's brief visits. Grandpa Williams and Dad exchanged sharp words, while Saturday evenings also brought card games with Mom, Dad, and friends.
Iris's Chapter
Hot Water and Ice Deliveries at the River Drive House
Iris remembers a large green iron stove with a hot-water tank, which supplied the house's only hot water as far as she knew, and a bathroom shared with the couple upstairs. Her mother heated heavy irons on the stove; Iris is uncertain whether there were multiple irons or interchangeable bottoms with a single detachable handle. The household also had a wooden icebox, replenished by an iceman carrying a block of ice on his shoulder with ice tongs.
Iris's Chapter
Childhood Visits to the House in the Woods
Iris remembers her grandparents’ Minnesota woodland home, built by Grandpa and divided into sleeping and living areas with sheets hung from ropes. She brushed Grandma Olive’s hair outdoors, while Grandpa Dan entertained chipmunks with sunflower seeds in his pocket. Milk and butter were kept cool in a deep well, and mutton stew simmered on the stove—a smell Iris disliked. Weekend family picnics featured strawberries, homemade ice cream, fried chicken, biscuits, and singing; she tentatively recalls the men playing horseshoes.
Iris's Chapter
A Bicycle Rack and Two Country Routes
After moving from River Drive to a new country house at about eleven or twelve, Iris delivered the Moline Daily Dispatch to eighty homes after school. Her father repaired a second-hand boy’s bicycle and built a wooden newspaper rack for it. She also used the rack for Saturday bread deliveries, collecting bread from Peter’s bakery at an old farmhouse and taking customers’ orders for the next week. She loved the work and saw it as an early sign of her interest in business.
Iris's Chapter
Soda Fountain Work and a Treat for Mom
At sixteen, Iris took an after-school job at the Cozy Corner restaurant. She especially liked working behind the soda fountain. Her mother waited up when she worked late, and Iris sometimes brought her deep-fried chicken and French fries.
Iris's Chapter · 1940s; possibly 1950s
Bobby Socks, White Blouses, and a Mother's Handmade Skirt
Iris remembers bobby socks, saddle shoes, and the importance of having at least a half dozen white blouses—never colored ones—to feel fashionable during the war years of the Forties. Pleated skirts and cardigan sweaters completed the outfit. She recalls poodle skirts coming later, she thinks in the Fifties, and describes them as full, flared, ankle-length felt skirts, some with poodle appliqués. Her mother made hers.
Iris's Chapter · Second World War
Garden Food and Carefully Mended Stockings
Iris remembers the family's customary large garden becoming part of the wartime push to grow and preserve food. Ration stamps were required for scarce foods, including coffee, sugar, and meat. She stood in line at the New York Store for nylon hose, repaired stocking runs with tiny stitches, and learned from her mother to draw stocking seams on makeup-covered legs.
Iris's Chapter · Second World War
Quilt Squares and Dime Stamps for the War Effort
Too young at eleven to fully understand the war, Iris nevertheless responded to President Roosevelt's radio appeal. On Saturday mornings she made quilt squares at the YWCA for Red Cross ladies to sew into quilts for GIs. At about thirteen she sold dime war savings stamps outside a grocery store, wearing a patriotic hat and apron. She recalls, with uncertainty, that a hundred stamps filled a book, says twenty-five dollars bought a war bond, and had two bonds by war's end. She also recalls why her father and grandfather were not drafted and mentions a boyfriend who joined the Marine Corps after the war.
Iris's Chapter
Five Wonderful Children and a Life of Lessons
Reflecting on how quickly life passes, Iris names raising five children as her proudest achievement. She regrets not trying downhill skiing or pursuing more singing and dancing, worries about the challenges facing parents, and jokes that she would like to be four inches taller. Ultimately, she would change little and regards life as a learning experience, especially in forgiveness and being forgiven.
Iris's Chapter · 1940s
Gathered Around the Radio: Music and Wartime News
Iris recalls the constantly playing radio and the Moline Daily Dispatch as the family's main news sources, including news that might affect Uncle Lloyd in New Guinea. The family mourned President Roosevelt around the radio, but also enjoyed singing and dancing to popular songs and big bands. She recounts Bill's description of overseas propaganda broadcasts mixing favorite music with frightening, specific military information; she attributes that information to spies within the U.S. government. She remembers divided reactions to the August 6, 1945 bombing of Hiroshima, her father's approval, and Harry Truman's presidency.
Iris's Chapter
Faith and Family in Iris's Heart
Iris reflects on God as creator, guide, source of strength, and comforter during difficult times. She affirms answered prayers while trying to understand unanswered ones, believes in divine forgiveness and a purpose for every life, and describes her husband Bill as the spiritual backbone of their family.
Iris's Chapter · 1948–2000
A Good Life in the Homes We Shared
Iris recalls marrying Bill on September 11, 1948, and beginning married life in cramped shared quarters during a postwar housing shortage. Their next home was a fifty-five-dollar-a-month upstairs apartment in Moline, where Daddy brought the kids for Monday-night wrestling, potato chips, and Pepsi. They bought a small East Moline house where Linda, Beth, Jeffrey, and Laurie were born, then built a home on 4th Street Court in 1957, where Kurt joined the family and the children grew up. Iris traces later homes in Roscoe, a northern summer place, the sale of their house in The Ledges, a newly built Arizona home, and their move to a three-level Rockton home in spring 2000, calling it a good life.
Iris's Chapter
Precious Spare Time Filled with Creativity and Play
Iris describes her love of designing Christmas trees, decorating their stores, and helping operate the stores' gift shops. Her many leisure pursuits include sports, bird watching, singing learned from Daddy, dancing, and recently begun ceramics. She crochets gifts, including an Afghan for every family member, and reads fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, fairy tales, and books about angels.
Iris's Chapter
Leaving the Rock River House by Boat
Iris has vague memories of a brief stay in a house on the Rock River with a large screened-in front porch and many mosquitoes. During flooding, the family loaded belongings into a boat and left. She thinks this may have been her parents' second house in Moline.
Iris's Chapter
Songs, Dancing, and Days Outdoors with Dad
Iris recalls singing with her father in the car, especially on long trips to Brainerd. His favorite songs included Red Sails In The Sunset, which brings back a happy image of him singing beside her. He taught her to dance and, when she was about twelve, to shoot. She remembers using a twenty-two rifle, though she acknowledges the uncertainty of memory. He proudly praised her shooting, took her hunting without her shooting anything, and took her fishing during visits to relatives in Brainerd, where she caught fish.
Iris's Chapter
Mom's Tomatoes, Pepper Juice, and Canned Pork
Iris remembers her mother sorting tomatoes on her hands and knees beneath the large backyard tree, separating them for whole canning, catsup, and juice. She fondly recalls her mother's pepper juice and canned pork, regrets not learning to can pork, and says she misses her mother.
Iris's Chapter · Early in Bill and Iris’s marriage
Thanksgiving Potatoes and a Growing Friendship
At Thanksgiving dinner at the Moline house, Floyd challenged Bill to shoot potatoes tossed into the air with a four-ten shotgun. Bill, recently out of the service and fond of Skeet, met the challenge. They took turns shooting until the potatoes were gone. Bill felt that their previously unfriendly relationship improved afterward, and Floyd began visiting even when Bill was home.
Iris's Chapter
Mom’s Patient Listening and Labors of Love
Iris remembers calling Mom with complaints and receiving the patient reply, “I don’t know what to say about that.” Mom never took sides, talked behind anyone’s back, or told secrets. Iris also praises her baking, especially with yeast, and recalls learning crocheting, cooking, and clothes-making from her. She fondly remembers Mom working late at night at an old treadle sewing machine in the kitchen to finish something needed the next day.
Iris's Chapter
Dad’s Night in Jail and Friends Who Came Through
One summer evening, Floyd Guild called Bill from jail in Rock Island, asking for an attorney. Bill enlisted their friend Julie Lytton and found deputy sheriff Jack White at the jail. Floyd complained about surrendering his belongings and receiving bologna sandwiches instead of the steak dinner he had left at home. After a night in jail, he appeared before Judge O’Neil over an unanswered court order to pay property taxes. Julie explained Floyd’s impression that he did not have to pay, referring to Cook County. The judge instructed Floyd to read court letters and fined him seventy dollars, which Bill provided. After retrieving his possessions, Floyd discovered rain had soaked his car seats through the open windows. Julie never charged for his services, and Mom later found the court letters unopened in Daddy’s dresser drawer.
Iris's Chapter
Fishing with Gus and Fried Fish for Supper
Gus Falk often visited the family home and hunted deer with Daddy. He sometimes rode to Brainerd with the family. Iris remembers fishing with Dad at a lake on Gus's family's property, with Bernie and Bob joining later. They caught plenty of fish, and Iris delighted in eating fried fish instead of mutton stew.
Iris's Chapter
Gus Falk's Friendship and a Fresh Start in Moline
Gus Falk met Daddy, Uncle Clarence, and the other sons through stops at Grandpa Dan Guild's radiator repair shop in Brainerd during his annual Minnesota hunting and fishing trips. He offered to help them find jobs at John Deere in Moline. Upset by Grandpa's decision to cut down and sell the black walnut trees, Daddy left for Moline at sixteen. Gus secured him a job at John Deere Plow Works, where he worked for thirty-nine years. Iris also recalls Daddy driving a truck for a WPA road-building company during some early Great Depression years. He jokingly claimed his inexperienced crew built a particularly bumpy road section on the way to Chicago, but the family never believed him.
Iris's Chapter
From a Second Mother to a Cherished Friend
Iris reflects on her second-mother role in childhood and the friendships she now cherishes. She recalls Bernie's broken tea sets and playful dish-towel chases, taking little Barbara everywhere, soothing Diana's ulcerated leg with lard, helping reposition baby Carol's head until the neck grew stronger, regretting Delores's scoldings after her hearing problem was discovered, and understanding quiet Bob's pointing without his needing to speak.
Iris's Chapter
Remembering the Flower Lady with Love
Iris hopes to be remembered for her floral work and decorating at the little white Congregational church in Roscoe, Illinois. Being known there as The Flower Lady makes her happy. She also hopes her children, grandchildren, and Bill, her husband of over fifty years, will remember her with love.
Iris's Chapter
Gathering the Family's Memories, Facts, and First-Class Myths
Bernie introduces accounts of Floyd, Ethel, and Edward Williams compiled after family members had already written their memories. Earlier impressions were deliberately left unchanged. Bernie credits relatives' recollections, photographs, grave-site work, genealogical tracing, and oral-history interviews, including Diana's margarita-assisted conversations with Mom. Although initially described as true stories based on the most reliable information available, the accounts are also explicitly called anecdotal, possibly allegorical, and unprovable.
Iris's Chapter
Dear Jeff: A Sister's Love That Remains
Beth writes to her deceased big brother Jeff about the family's anger, confusion, and enduring grief. She remembers his gentle strength, humor, faith, and belief in openly sharing love. Dreams of him bring comfort, and she hopes for a future family reunion beyond death.
History of the Guild Family · 1884–1899
Olive and Clarence's Farm Years and a Sudden Loss
After marrying in St. Mathias, Olive and Clarence Vosburg traveled on horseback to a North Dakota farm, raised five children, and returned to Minnesota in 1898. In summer 1899, Clarence was crushed by a boulder while clearing a field. Myrtle's account, relayed by Orville, attributes the accident to a broken wedge pole and rejects other reported causes. Olive was left with five children.
History of the Guild Family · 1904–1907 and Floyd's youth
Dad's Beginnings and Family Resemblances
The family recounts Floyd Raymond Guild's farm birth, parents, inherited appearance, and full and half-siblings. They remember the infant death of Harold Herman and state that eight of Olive's ten children lived well into old age. The passage contains conflicting ages and dates for Olive and calls the Vosburg children both half-siblings and stepsiblings.
History of the Guild Family · 1801 and later legends
Jason Fairbanks and the Legends After the Hanging
Jason Fairbanks, youngest son of Ebenezer Fairbanks, was hanged on September 1, 1801 for murdering Elizabeth Fales. The narrative recounts his physical impairment, intellectual pursuits, claims of innocence and a failed double suicide, escape to Canada, reported confession, recapture and trial. It calls him 'Jonathan' during the escape account without explanation. A storm interrupted the hanging, and subsequent legends claimed that friends revived him and that he escaped to South America; the narrator compares these tales to those about Elvis Presley.
History of the Guild Family · 1445–1676; house legacy continuing to the time of writing
Across the Atlantic to a Lasting Family Home
The family traces its line to Mr. William Fairbanks in Yorks in 1445, then recounts Jonathan Fayerbanke's marriage to Grace Smith Lee, their seven children, and their voyage to Boston in his own ship in 1633. Jonathan moved to Contentment in 1636, built the enduring Dedham house, acquired land, joined the township covenant and eventually the church, and prospered as a farmer. The house is described as America's oldest standing timber frame dwelling, a National Landmark continuously owned by the family and never mortgaged, with replicas including one at Boston Commons. The passage also describes the wider family's political activity, Patriot and Union service, and slaveholding by some landed members. It retains inconsistent arrival chronology and contradictory wording about Jonathan's death relative to Grace's.
History of the Guild Family · 1697
A Family's Loss at Lancaster
Jonathan and Joshua, grandsons of the original Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks, were killed in a raid in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, along with Jonathan's unnamed seven-year-old daughter. Joshua was fifteen. Jonathan's unnamed wife was taken captive with six other town women and later released through government negotiation, carrying memories of bodily and spiritual suffering.
History of the Guild Family · 1905–1909
A Vice President in the Family
Charles Warren Fairbanks belonged to a branch that moved west to Ohio and became a prosperous railroad-law lawyer, Indiana senator and United States vice president under Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. Fairbanks, Alaska was named for him. The family recounts arguments that disagreements with Roosevelt cost him support for the presidency, which instead went to William Howard Taft, and jokingly wonders whether Charles shared the family's stubbornness.
History of the Guild Family
Swashbuckling Stars on the Family Tree
The narrator offers movie stars Douglas Fairbanks and his son Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as direct family descendants for relatives wanting a celebrity connection, noting their popularization of swashbuckler movies.
History of the Guild Family · 1445–1904
Carrie’s Roots and a Treasured Lock of Red Hair
The family traces Carrie’s Fairbanks ancestry and Newton’s Guild ancestry, notes the neighboring family grave sections near Dedham’s old St. Paul Church, and recounts Carrie’s birth, marriage, children and death. A lock of her red hair passed from Belle to Barbara Guild Miller. Floyd was born after both grandparents had died.
History of the Guild Family · 1830–after 1901
Inventive Hands and the Fortunes of an Inheritance
Newton’s mills, repair shop, patents and royalties illustrate what the family calls the Guild tinkering trait. The account also credits Thaddeus Fairbanks and Mr. Morse with scale and engine innovations. After Newton’s death, Dan supported his family with his inheritance, Bernal became a traveling salesman, and Frank Beckman lost most of Adah’s share in a failed furniture store venture.
History of the Guild Family
A Family Resemblance Remembered
Family stories said Newton passed an underdeveloped ear and cheek to Adah, who was proud of the resemblance; similar transmission was believed to involve Floyd’s children and Bernal’s son. The passage identifies the condition as Hemifacial Microsomia, gives an occurrence rate of about one in 5,600 births, and asserts that the family’s repeated occurrences were chance rather than genetic inheritance.
History of the Guild Family · 1898–1909, with earlier family background
A Snowstorm, an Open Door, and a Growing Family
Drawing partly on Floyd’s accounts, the family recounts Dan and Bernal’s rented farm and Olive’s desperate appeal after Clarence Vosburg’s accidental death. Dan offered shelter in exchange for cooking and housekeeping, initially unaware of her two oldest daughters. Olive and Dan married in 1899 and had five children, two of whom died young. The account also recalls Carrie’s devout household and Bernal’s departure after Newton’s death to sell sewing machines, including his meeting with Belle Woodley.
History of the Guild Family · 1904–1925 and later recollections
Hard Work, Strong Tempers, and Lasting Family Ties
The family describes poverty, shared winter coats, uncertain meals, Dan’s mechanical ingenuity and repair shop, and the heavy household work borne by Olive and her daughters. Severe arthritis and unproved suspicions of infidelity colored Olive’s marriage and behavior. Recollections differ sharply: some emphasize harsh discipline and complaints, while grandchildren recall kindness and others see a devoted couple with stubborn tempers. Dan’s brief 1925 departure ended in his return, and they never divorced. The narrative also remembers affectionate sibling bonds, Floyd’s signature practice, and Olive’s willingness to shelter daughters between marriages. Sweeping judgments about the Vosburg and Guild children are presented as family opinions rather than independently established facts.
History of the Guild Family · When Merlin was seven or eight
Merlin and the Unfortunate Sack of Onions
While visiting his grandparents, Merlin urinated from an upstairs window at night to avoid waking them. Unknowingly, he soaked onions Dan had left drying on the porch. Olive’s bean soup and liver and onions were spoiled and went into the hog’s slop barrel. Merlin received a willow-switch whipping but remembered the accident as getting even for punishments he considered undeserved.
History of the Guild Family · Perhaps about 1918
An Unexpected Inheritance and a Granary Home
An elderly bachelor left his wooded 160-acre property and operating sawmill to the poorest family in St. Mathias Township. The township elders chose the Dan Guild family. Floyd and Clarence saw a hopeful future, while Olive feared Dan would ruin their good fortune. Dan, Olive, Floyd, and Clarence made the windowless granary livable by sealing its open slat-work. Bessie had already left home to marry Ira Ringering, recently returned from World War I, and Pearl had died of diphtheria at 16 a year earlier.
History of the Guild Family · Around 1918
The Trees Stayed, but the Sons Left
Dan mortgaged the inherited land for $800 to buy eight dairy cows, but the herd failed to turn a profit. After a missed payment the bank foreclosed. Floyd and Clarence wanted to sell birch trees for pulp to pay the mortgage, but Dan refused to cut them. His sons left home, and the account says Dan lost the farm, land, trees, and cows for want of $200.
History of the Guild Family · 1917–1951 and later family visits
From the Old Farm to a New Start in Moline
Family memories follow Dan and Olive on the Falk property, the mysterious driveway inscription, Myrtle's minnow sales, and Bessie's diphtheria quarantine and marriage. After Dan lost the property, Clarence moved to Bessie's home and Floyd stayed with Uncle Bernie, learning horse care and practical jokes. Gus Falk helped Floyd move to Moline and find work in 1921. Relatives admired his success, and visits and reunions continued through his parents' later years. The passage preserves contradictory dates in Olive's calendar account and the boys' refusal to admit writing the inscription.
History of the Guild Family · 1875 and later; most events undated
Sophrona's Children and the Love That Helped Edith Heal
Adah Sophrona Guild Beckman died of tuberculosis at 38, leaving eight surviving children after Samuel's fatal poisoning at two. Her widower Frank married Clara, who severely abused little Edith and was imprisoned after Frank discovered the abuse. The family concealed the imprisonment with a brain-tumor story. Frank later married Mary, whose love helped Edith recover. Edith became a tender mother, and her daughter Gerri supplied details. The account also recalls Adah's lost inheritance and Frank's later Wabedo Lake resort.
History of the Guild Family · About 1926–1968
Floyd and Ethel: Dancing, Work, and Seven Children
Floyd and Ethel met on a roller-skating blind date, courted through dancing and picnics, and married in Moline in 1928 with Frank Melton and Elva as attendants. They raised seven children. The passage says Floyd worked his entire life for John Deere, while also recording a roughly year-long Depression layoff when Lloyd helped him obtain WPA truck-driving work. Remembered as hardworking, playful, outspoken, and devoted to family, Floyd died of acute kidney failure in 1968 after an earlier severe stroke and is buried beside Ethel.
History of the Guild Family · 1708–1882
The Lehman Family's Dunker Roots
Edward Williams was born Emanuel (Manny) Lehman near Astoria in 1882, to Pennsylvania Dutch parents Michael and Lizzie Lehman. They owned a large farm in the Dunkers' community and reportedly had migrated from Hershey, Pennsylvania. The passage traces the Church of the Brethren from eight members in Germany in 1708 through persecution, refuge in Holland, and settlement in Pennsylvania, describing its baptismal practice, pacifism, simple living, and opposition to slavery. Emanuel's siblings were Mary, Henry, and Harvey.
History of the Guild Family · Age 17 through 1905–1910 and later
From the Sunshine Store to a New Name
Manny and Harvey owned a successful hardware and grocery business in Astoria. According to an account Ethel reported long after his death, Manny discovered his young bride with another man, beat the man, allegedly burned the house, and fled after withdrawing half the store cash and bank savings. In Newburg he worked on a wheat farm, then managed a lumberyard with an attached restaurant and dance hall, subsequently becoming its accountant and prospering. Between 1905 and 1910 he adopted the name Edward Williams. The passage offers speculative explanations involving prosecution or bigamy when he married Agnes Tomitum, while stating that secret correspondence with Harvey revealed that the assaulted man had survived.
History of the Guild Family · About 1921; after 1930
A Frightened Train Ride to Grandma's Quilts
While Agnes was in a sanitarium, Ethel and Lloyd traveled fearfully by train to spend four or five months with Michael and Millisa Lehman in Astoria. Lizzie was remembered for her quilts and Michael for strict discipline. Ethel did not question the difference between her father's surname and theirs; Mary later told her the unspecified “bigamy” story after Iris' birth in 1930.
History of the Guild Family · 1911–childhood
Red Hair, Handmade Knickers and North Dakota Snow
Ethel's early life in Newburg included a comfortable home, her Norwegian immigrant mother's skilled sewing, and harsh winters. Agnes made her knickers from a catalog picture, making her the first girl in school to wear them. Ethel remembered tunneling through snow to the barn, skiing over fences to school and learning to walk on tiny snowshoes.
History of the Guild Family · 1916–after 1922
Loss and Growing Up Too Soon
Ralph died of double pneumonia despite a snowstorm sleigh journey to hospital and a blood transfusion. Agnes died in 1922 after tuberculosis and complications from swine flu. Ed moved Ethel and Lloyd to a boarding house run by Mrs. Howe. As he began drinking heavily, eleven-year-old Ethel took on care for herself, Lloyd and her father. Ed continued managing a diner and dance hall; Ethel recalled being caught by him kissing a dance partner in a car.
History of the Guild Family · School years–1988
Brownie’s Dancing Days and a Lifetime of Mothering
Despite grief at home and being refused a college education, Ethel found happiness in friends, dancing, and work. Mary Hill introduced her to Floyd, whom she married in 1928. Together they raised seven children, while Ethel survived a serious goiter and worked several jobs. In widowhood she enjoyed crafts, cards, grandchildren, and travel, including a cherished 1979 European holiday funded by Bernie. She died during a visit to Diana in 1988, remembered for her unqualified love.
History of the Guild Family · 1926–1965 and later
Uncle Lloyd’s Visits and Cocoa-Dunked Sandwiches
Lloyd moved to Moline, married and divorced, and later lived in Savannah, Illinois. His Army Signal Corps service included injuries during an amphibious landing in New Guinea, followed later by lung surgeries. The account says a 1965 surgery kept him from his father's funeral, although Ed's death is elsewhere dated 1953. Lloyd eventually disappeared from the family's lives, but his beloved visits left a lasting breakfast tradition of sandwiches dunked in cocoa.
History of the Guild Family · 1926–1953
Grampa’s Helping Hands at the House on 39th Street
Ed Williams became a permanent member of Ethel and Floyd's household around 1934, helping raise seven children and handling housework, gardening, and canning. He contributed earnings and savings toward enlarging the house. A severe acid burn at work ended his later employment, though treatment healed his leg. The family remembered his affection and help, alongside episodes when Floyd had to retrieve him after drinking. He died of a heart attack in 1953 and was buried without a headstone.
History of the Guild Family · Age 17; 1905–1910
From the Sunshine Store to a New Name
Manny and Harvey owned the successful Sunshine Store in Astoria. According to a later report by his daughter Ethel, Manny discovered his first bride with another man about six months after they were betrothed, beat the man, and allegedly burned the house after ordering his wife outside. He took half the store cash and bank savings and fled by train to Newburg. There he worked as a wheat farmhand, then managed a lumberyard with an attached restaurant and dance hall, and subsequently became its accountant. He changed his name to Edward Williams between 1905 and 1910. The family speculates about avoiding prosecution or a bigamy charge when marrying Agnes Tomitum, while stating that secret correspondence with Harvey revealed the other man had survived and the first wife had disappeared.
History of the Guild Family · 1708; 1882; Manny's childhood
Manny's Family and Their Dunker Roots
Edward Williams was born Emanuel (Manny) Lehman near Astoria in 1882 to Michael and Lizzie Lehman. The passage describes the Church of the Brethren's origins, persecution, migration, baptismal practices, and simple pacifist beliefs. A living Lehman relative said Manny's parents migrated from Hershey, Pennsylvania to Astoria, where they owned a large farm. Manny had a sister Mary and brothers Henry and Harvey.
History of the Guild Family · 1925–1965
Dances, Seven Children, and Grampa’s Helping Hands
After moving to Moline, Ethel met Floyd through Mary Hill and married him in 1928. They raised seven children, while Ethel worked several jobs and survived goiter surgery. Ed became a permanent member of their household, contributing childcare, housework and money, despite drinking and a serious workplace injury. Lloyd served in the Army Signal Corps, suffered lasting injuries and eventually lost contact with the family, leaving fond memories and a cocoa-dunking breakfast tradition. The passage gives conflicting dates for Ed’s death and funeral.
History of the Guild Family · 1909–1925
Red Hair, Snowshoes, and a Mother’s Handmade Knickers
Ethel’s early life in Newburg combined material comfort and her Norwegian mother’s skilled sewing with severe winters. Ralph’s death and Agnes’ tuberculosis disrupted the family, sending Ethel and Lloyd on a frightening train journey to their grandparents in Astoria. After Agnes died, Ed’s grief and drinking left young Ethel caring for her family. Friends and dancing brought happiness, but her father refused her wish to attend college and sent her to work.
History of the Guild Family · After Floyd’s death–1988
Cards, Christmas Ornaments, and a Long-Awaited European Journey
Widowed Ethel maintained a full life of handcrafts, Christmas ornament making, evening cards and helping family members after divorces. She visited Diana in Florida annually. In 1979 Bernie fulfilled her dream of Europe with a visit to Carol, Charlie and Chris in Mainz and a family trip to Denmark. Ethel died during her 1988 Florida visit and was buried beside Floyd, with an incorrect birth year on her headstone that had never troubled her.
Our Childhood Games
Keeping the Guilds’ Childhood Games Alive
Carol Sutton recalls fond memories of the Guilds’ favorite childhood games and encourages passing them on to children and grandchildren. She emphasizes their simple requirements, personal contact, and lasting memories. The passage gives a counting rhyme for choosing who is “It” or selecting teams, followed by instructions for tag.
Our Childhood Games
The Guild Children’s First Circle Game
The passage identifies Ring-Around-the-Rosy as the first game Mom taught the Guild children. Players join hands in a circle, sing the traditional rhyme, and fall down on the last line. An accompanying note claims that the lyrics originally referred to plague sores, flowers used to mask the smell of bodies, and victims becoming ashen or their bodies being burned.
Our Childhood Games
Jacks: A Guild Girls’ Obsession
The family describes jacks as a Guild girls’ obsession, explaining the basic progression from onesies through tensies and how a missed jack or ball ends a turn. More difficult variations included Sweeps, Eggs in the Basket, Double Bounce, Crack the Egg, and Pigs in the Blanket.
Our Childhood Games
Kick the Can in Front of 3209
The family recalls frequently playing their own Guild version of Kick the Can in the street in front of 3209, sometimes limiting hiding places to their yard and McFarland’s yard. They describe choosing a kicker, counting to fifty, searching for hiders, and racing to the can to capture or free players. Weak kicks drew shouts of “baby kick,” and anyone caught skipping numbers had to count again. Their rules allowed tripping, shoving, and tackling to protect the can. The family admits that players sometimes deliberately kept an inept child “It” for the entire game.
Our Childhood Games
Playing Twenty Questions Indoors
The family recalls playing Twenty Questions like the television show, asking, “Is it bigger than a breadbox?” The passage explains how two or more players share a total of twenty questions to identify a secret object classified as animal, vegetable, or mineral. Answers must be yes, no, or possibly, and a no passes play to the next player. The person who guesses correctly chooses the next object; if nobody guesses within twenty questions, the answering player reveals the object and chooses again.
Our Childhood Games
Hours of Squiggles with Bernie
Bernie entertained the family for hours with Squiggles, a two-person drawing game. Each player uses a differently colored pencil to scribble on paper, then exchanges papers with the other player. Within about two minutes, each must turn every bit of the received squiggle into a picture. Ingenuity matters more than artistic ability.