Theme
Humor
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
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
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
Floyd at the Stoplight
Norm associates Floyd with sitting in a car at a stoplight, opening the door slightly to spit, and calling other drivers “half-wits.”
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
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 · 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
A Midnight Drive to The Pits
While recalling learning to drive, Barbara confesses that she took someone's car in the middle of the night while everyone slept. She thinks it was Carol's car. She picked up friends and drove out to The Pits, identified as strip mines, to swim, ending her confession with an apology.
Barbara's Chapter
Laugh a Lot
Barbara describes her philosophy of life simply: “laugh a lot.”
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 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 · 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 · 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!”
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.
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 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
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 · Club began in 1945; continued 55 years later
Club Days, Secret Pals, and Midnight Friendship
Mom’s eight-player club met on the second Wednesday of each month, rotating homes to play 500. Alice Atchison recalled its names changing from the Pregnant Women’s Club to The Hot Flash Club. Mom prepared with meticulous cleaning and dessert making; prizes and annual Secret Pals added to the fun. After Daddy had his stroke, he mistook a Secret Pal card for evidence of a secret lover, a story Mom later told with amusement after his death. In her widowhood, Mom enjoyed supper, cards, and midnight snacks with Ruth, John Reichenberg, and Florence Britz. She also played Euchre through Friend’s Circle and the Community Center, preferring the Circle’s company.
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 · 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 · 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 · 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 · Fifth grade
A Mother's Appeal for a Note-Passing Sentence
Caught passing a note asking a friend to play jacks, Delores faced a classroom debate and vote on her punishment during a unit on the judicial system. The class sentenced her to write “I will not pass notes” five thousand times. Before going to card club, her mother spoke with Mrs. Plumly and reduced the sentence to five hundred repetitions. Delores says she never passed another note.
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 · 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
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
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.
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 · 1940s and later
Ice Deliveries, Party Lines, and Summer in the Basement
Carol describes well water pumped beside the sink, water heated on the stove, an icebox supplied by an iceman, and glass-bottled milk delivered during the war years. She contrasts her family's circumstances with school friends Juanita and Lavelle Nelson, who lived in a boxcar and cooled food in a hillside hole. She recalls distinctive party-line rings and secretly listening to conversations. In summer the family lived and ate in the cooler basement; her father eventually cut up their oak dining table to make a punching bag ceiling-mount.
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 · 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
Jump-Rope Rhymes and Fun Without Batteries
Carol recalls chants used while jumping rope, including counting kisses, a broken milk bottle, and teddy-bear actions. She remembers playing many different games and entertaining themselves for hours with simple things, without batteries.
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
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
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 · 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
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
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
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 · 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 · 1954–1957
Full-Circle Skirts and the Clothes Snatchers
Wanting to fit in as a teenager, Carol followed fashions including rolled jeans, stiff crinolines, full-circle skirts she made herself, cinch belts, bobby socks and saddle shoes. Barb and Diana secretly wore her clothes to school until wrinkles from rolled waistbands gave them away. Carol also describes boys' duck tails, crew cuts, sweaters and shoes.
Carol's Chapter
Friday-Night Games with a Dear Friend
Carol recalls doing almost everything with Lila Lambert (now Becker) from grade school through high school, including attending the same church and its Luther League youth program. Their friendship continued into the time of writing. They attended Friday-night football and basketball games to support the Moline Maroons, whose rivals included East Moline and Rock Island. Home games took place at Browning Field and Wharton Field House. Carol humorously describes basketball's popularity by saying someone had to die before a reserved seat became available.
Carol's Chapter
Buck Night and a Car Full of Friends
Carol recalled popular drive-in movies, where staff initially washed the front window before the show. On Buck Night, a dollar admitted as many people as could fit in a car. Once, her group put a couple of friends in the trunk because the front was full.
Carol's Chapter · 1987 and earlier
Jeff’s Bear Hugs and Loving Humor
Carol remembers Iris and Bill’s son Jeffrey, who died July 7, 1987. She loved his sense of humor and the bear hugs he gave while teasingly calling her “Auntie Carol Mae.”
Carol's Chapter · Summer between Carol’s junior and senior years in high school
Carhop Trays and Late-Night Reassurances
Carol’s first part-time job was serving root beer, hamburgers, and malts as a Tasty Treat carhop. Owner and neighbor Mrs. Mary Poston hired Carol, Dee, and Marilyn McFarland; Carol recalls that they made about seventy dollars plus tips that summer. Mrs. Poston also owned Hasty Tasty Restaurant, where Barb washed dishes on second shift. Despite being frightened when returning home around 1:30 a.m., Barb joked that she was protecting Carol from Peeping Toms.
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
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 · 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.
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 · One summer
The Golden Ear in the Popcorn Field
Bob and Bernie planted popcorn in a field next door after Dad promised they could keep the sales money if they cared for it. By harvest they were weary of the work, but Dad's claim that one gold ear lay in the field prompted them to pick it in record time. They never found a gold ear. They sold the popcorn for ten cents a pound, and Bob thinks they made a little money.
Bob's Chapter
Laughter at Oscar Peterson's
During a visit to Oscar Peterson's, Dad and Oscar were drinking a few beers. Dad gave some to Oscar's cat, which acted crazy, making everyone laugh. Bob recalls this as an example of Dad's humor and the laughter he shared with friends.
Bob's Chapter · 1950’s through the time of telling
Four Hours Away from the Phone
Robert began golfing while working at J. C. Penney’s in the 1950’s, playing in a league and with friends. Despite feeling his ability had not improved, he still enjoyed the game, the interesting people, and the great courses. His favorite benefit was four hours away from the phone, with no cell phones allowed.
Bob's Chapter · During his thirties and forties
More Fun Than Anybody at the Bowling Alley
Robert bowled for many years, usually on a team. He remembered his teams as unsuccessful but having more fun than anybody. His scores ranged from a best of 207 to a worst of 88.
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
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 · After three years in Oshkosh; 1983, 1972, and 1988 as written
Learning the Business and Building Stores
At Iris and Bill’s suggestion, the narrator left Penney’s and learned the Ben Franklin business at Bob Retzlaff’s Madison store. He reports opening Bormann’s in 1983 as part owner and manager, with Bill Retzlaff cosigning his first loan, and five successful years of business. He also states that he sold out in 1972 to become manager and partner with Iris and Bill in Elliott’s in Janesville for eight years. These dates conflict and are retained as written. In 1988 he bought a Janesville Ben Franklin Store and converted it to an all-crafts store. He also served five years on Rock County Bank’s board, finding it especially interesting to learn who borrowed money for country club dues.
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
Pepper Zinnias and Comic-Strip Mischief
The children sprinkled black pepper on flowers for Mrs. Rohrer, hoping for exaggerated sneezing like something from the Nancy comic strip. Instead, she thanked them and commented on the unusual pepper zinnias. The narrator also recalls a favorite Nancy strip about taking revenge on a grapefruit.
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 · When the narrator was about ten
A Summer Hailstorm Becomes Peach Ice Cream
While Bernard and Toby Fry played Crow on the Frys' porch, a sudden summer hailstorm left a thick covering of quarter-inch hailstones. Mrs. Fry had them gather the hail and used it with rock salt to freeze cream, sugar, and peach slices in nested cans. Singing and laughing, she joined the children in rolling the can across the kitchen floor. They then ate all the ice cream on the porch.
Bernie's Chapter
Childhood Secrets and Iris's Tea Parties
Later, Toby and Bernard played doctor in the woods. Iris and a girlfriend saw them and threatened to tell, leaving Bernard worried for a long time. He nevertheless remembered Iris as generally kind to him and recalled Mom saying that Iris welcomed his arrival as a permanent, witless guest for her tea parties.
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
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
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
Halloween Windows, Rackets, and Mischief
Bernard describes making a noisy Halloween device from a notched thread-spool, string, and nail. During junior and senior high, he painted storefront windows each Halloween, including a motorboat-race satire whose reference to parking and making out at the airport went entirely unrecognized. Someone put watermelon rinds in the Peterson’s chimney after they refused treats; Ray Rohrer or Butch Hannah was suspected. Bernard recounts stories of cruel tricks on children that he considers probably urban myths. He denies overturning outhouses himself, is uncertain whether Bob did, and recalls Bob's fondness for matches.
Bernie's Chapter · When Bernard was about seven
Daisy Guild at the Halloween Party
Iris dressed Bernard as a girl with spit curls and took him to a church Halloween party, introducing him as “Daisy Guild.” He remembers bobbing for apples and getting water up his nose. No one guessed he was a boy, which he humorously attributes to Iris's convincing costume and introduction.
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
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
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
Barefoot Summers and Toughing Out School
Bernard recalls being a good student despite never liking school. His parents' insistence that education offered a better life helped him persevere, but he eagerly awaited summer vacations and wished they would never end. He jokes that, if he were in charge, children would run barefoot until age ten before starting school.
Bernie's Chapter · High school and classmates’ later careers
Improvised Lines and Memorable Classmates
Bernard enjoyed building sets and performing in school productions. In Cuckoos on the Hearth, nearly the whole cast improvised, alarming Miss Rosenberg and upsetting the one actress who knew her lines. He also recalls the theatrical and musical talents of Herman Zimmerman, later a Star Trek production designer, and names classmates Maynard Swanson, Don Swenson, and Stan Leech as later holders of public office.
Bernie's Chapter · Age eleven; sixth grade
A Broken Arm and Left-Handed Palm Trees
Bernard broke his arm trying to play Crack The Whip before mastering ice skating. His father paid seventy-five dollars to have it set and unsuccessfully sought reimbursement from the fire department responsible for the Riverside Park pond. Bernard remembers his father’s sympathy and belief in letting children learn through mistakes. Unimpressed by the newspaper’s description of a fractured wrist, he nevertheless turned the injury to advantage by earning an A-plus for a three-dimensional Yucatan Peninsula map made with his left hand and decorated with green ricrac palm trees.
Bernie's Chapter
High School Honors, Art, and a Touch of Rebellion
Bernard recalls academic and artistic successes, including a poetry prize, an art award, six plays, and graduating in the top 10 of 300 just after turning seventeen. Frank disputes his reported I.Q. of 149. Alongside these achievements, Bernard remembers pretending to be a “Hood,” buying a switchblade, and keeping misbehavior from his parents. High school introduced him to differences in wealth; he also remembers struggling in PE and being relieved that he was too young for the Korean War draft.
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
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
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
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
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 · 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
Selling Shoes and Saving for Art School
Bernard saved his shoe-sales salary and substantial bonuses at J. C. Penny’s to fund art school. He humorously describes his sales technique of praising both the shoes and customers’ feet. Once he had enough for tuition and a little rent, he felt ready to leave familiar meals behind; the passage ends before stating his destination.
Bernie's Chapter · 1940s; after the war for the surplus-store recollection
Forties Memories: A Surplus Periscope and a Hidden Photograph
Bernard recalls a War Surplus Store opening in Moline after the war, much to his father’s delight. He and Bob obtained a small periscope and unsuccessfully planned to use it to watch Sis Vergain undress, but her shade remained closed. He also recalls ordering a glossy photograph of Jane Russell in “The Outlaw” and hiding it in his dresser because he felt uncertain about whether he should have it.
Bernie's Chapter
A First Friend and a Little Hope at Art School
On a hot July Monday, Bernie begins figure-drawing classes at Ray Vogue in Chicago. Overwhelmed by the nude model and anxious about fitting in, he meets Byron, an Army veteran studying on the GI Bill. During a cigarette break, Byron's openness and encouragement leave Bernie both unsettled and smitten. With tuition paid but only a week of rent money remaining, Bernie needs a part-time job. By day's end, a new friendship and the discovery that he can draw as well as his classmates give him hope.
Bernie's Chapter
A Streetcar Search and a Fifty-Dollar Lifeline
With rent due and only five dollars left, Bernie searched Chicago retail stores by riding different streetcar lines. A trip along Clark Street to Granville Avenue brought him a shoe-selling job at Winsberg’s with hours that fit his classes. After he sold a customer five pairs of shoes on his first day, Mr. Winsberg advanced him fifty dollars.
Bernie's Chapter · September 1954 and five years in the Chicago office
A First Layout and a Warm Welcome at FCB
After deciding he had had enough art school, Bernard crossed the street to Foote Cone and Belding and was hired despite his slight portfolio and lack of advertising knowledge. Six months later, he won approval from a difficult Armour Chemicals client on his first assignment. He recalls five happy years in the Chicago office, an award in his first year, and pioneering television work with an animated Dial commercial called “Mr. Oops.”
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
Candy Counters, a Picnic, and a September Wedding
While managing the candy and cosmetic counters at the Highland Ben Franklin store, Iris met Bill, manager of the East Moline store. He teased her by pretending to be a supervisor inspecting her counters, but also sincerely encouraged her business interests. Their first date was a picnic in May, with food described as “Fired chicken—apple pie.” They married in September.
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
Floyd’s Enthusiastic Batch of Glug
One Saturday, Floyd proposed making Glug. After shopping for port wine, raisins, and spices and finding a recipe, Ethel, Iris, Floyd, and Bill spent hours preparing it in Bill and Iris’s downstairs kitchen. Floyd promised it would be wonderful, but his expression upon tasting the hot result revealed that it had not met his hopes.
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
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
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.
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.
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 · 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 · 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 · 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.