"Live in such a way that those who know you but don't know God, will come to know God because they know you."

Thursday, May 24, 2012

My Mom's Mom


Hi everyone,

Last night my mom told me a little story about her mom that I had never heard before. I thought it would be a fun one to tell you about.

My grandma Florence was born in Kentucky in the early 1900's.  This is the only picture, well sorta picture I have of my grandma when she was little, very little...

 
This isn't my grandma, this is her sister Flossie. Grandma is behind her in her mama's tummy. :) We can pretend that she looks like this little one.  Who by the way, didn't live much longer.  She died soon after this picture was taken. She was bit by a tick and got Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. :( Not sure how that happens in Kentucky. Guess those ticks travel quite a ways from the Rocky Mountains.

Anyway..the family moved to Washington state soon after this. Grandma Florence grew up in a little town called Reardan in eastern Washington. It was a little town on the railroad line.This was back when there were steam engines that pulled the trains. They were powered by wood or coal...




A man who was a good friend of the family worked for the railroad.  He would use a hand car...


...to go up and down the tracks to clear the tracks of anything that could cause a problem for the trains. He would also make sure that the tracks were always in good repair.

Grandma Florence and her friend lived quite a ways from their school. So every morning the two little girls would (for years) go down to the tracks hop on one side of Mr So and So's hand car. And with  him on the other side they would pump the handles up and down til they got to the crossing where they could walk the rest of the way to school.

Just picturing them made me smile. What a nice man to do this for them every morning AND afternoon for several years.  What a workout! 

Makes me glad that I never lived too far from my schools. I always walked to school. Never lived far enough away to get to take a school bus. Don't remember ever getting a ride to school either.  I don't even remember ever seeing school buses back then. Lol


 We walked everywhere. To school, the store, a friends house, to church.  To the TV to turn it on/off and change the channels. :)


Anyway, that's it for today. I hope all of you have a wonderful day.
And welcome to Barb my newest follower. :)


Take care all.

 

5 comments:

  1. Hi Janet--interesting story--I think we all need to think about how much easier we have it today as far as getting around. So sad the little girl died--I know my dad's family lost 3 little ones (out of 13 ) as it was fairly common back then for families to lose young children. So sad. Have a great day!!--Jan

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  2. What a great story!
    Love it, and the pictures too.

    We also walked everywhere, and didn't mind it at all.
    I even remember walking and reading a book at the same time.
    Baby.... I had skills!!

    Smiles :)
    Kerin

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  3. What a wonderful, wonderful story. Sad about you Grandmom that died so young and never got to raise her children.

    I rode a bus to school every day of life- an hour each way through the mountains. I always envied the kids that lived close enough to walk- xo Diana

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  4. Such a sweet story.. We use to walk everywhere, too.. Not so much now .The girls must have loved the little train ride.. smile..

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  5. Wonderful story. I love hearing the stories my parents tell of life in Cache Valley when they were kids. I walked or road my bike to school and anywhere else I wanted to go. Ah, those were the days!

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Thank you so much for your sweet comments. I always enjoy hearing from you. Have a wonderful day. :)