School's Over! They've Graduated

James gradutated from Cavanaugh High School in Crystal, MN in 1979, receiving a diploma (Special Education). Schools for mentally challenged persons in that state were so far advanced at that time. He loved going to school, and had many friends there. He rode a bus and never missed a day due to snow. The roads were cleared before time for the bus to come. They had a graduation dinner I'll never forget, prepared by the Food Service Class at the Technical school. I remember the big ice carving on the table. Graduation day was special too as they marched into the auditorium and crossed the stage to receive their diploma. James has very limited academic skills but has lots of social skills, thanks to good schools in GA, TX and MN. He was in the very first special class in Decatur, GA in the early 1960's.

        
Bill, our youngest son, graduated from Paris High School, and East Texas State University, Commerce, TX in 1980 with a BA in Fine Arts.

We moved to Minneapolis when Bill was a college freshman, leaving him in Texas. Jim traveled to Texas on business often and would visit him. It was hard leaving him behind when we moved.

Bill began his career working on a TV show called "PM Magazine" at a TV Station in Sherman, TX. He continued working for TV programs at Miami, FL; Columbus, OH; St. Paul, MN; and, Pittsburgh, PA. He left Pittsburg and moved to Florence, SC in 1992 where he still lives with his 3 daughters. He met his wife, Barbara, at ETSU when she was a Rotary Exchange student from London. Several years later, in 1987, they got married in Pittsburgh, PA and she came to the US to live. She died in 1996 and he has raised their 3 little girls, now 12, 16, 18. The oldest is in college at Clemson University, SC.

Ronnie graduated from Paris High School, Paris, TX and Stephen F. Austin University in l981 with a BS degree in Math and Computer Science. He began his college career in the band at Kilgore Jr College in Tyler, TX. He had a hard time deciding what he wanted to major in and spent some semesters working as a boat captain taking workers to oil rigs out in the Gulf. He met his wife Cindy and decided to go back to college and we credit her for helping him make that decision. He graduated with honors and for the past several years has worked for LIM, a computer software company in Austin, TX and is now CIO. He and Cindy have 2 daughters, both in college now. Ronnie is an outdoors guy and loves going to his hunting lease in West Texas.

Family Camping Trips

When our boys were growing up, we spent a lot of time camping in the N. GA and NC mountains. I think this photo was taken at a new state park in N. GA around 1963. You can tell we had just arrived because the boys are still clean! I don't remember the hat Jim is wearing in this photo!This was our first camping trip and we were a little nervous about sleeping in the woods. We put up a clothesline between 2 large trees, placed a tarpalium over the line and anchored each corned to stakes on the ground. We put our sleeping bags on the ground under the "tent". I was really nervous that there might be bears in the newly cleared area.

The boys woke up early the next morning and headed downhill to the outdoor toilets. Shortly I heard Bill calling, "Mom, come here" and I just knew something had happeded to James. When I got there he said he wanted me to see the "automatic" toilet; that you didn't have to flush it! You could hear snickers coming from all over the campground. They were definitely city boys from Atlanta, GA. We soon caught the camping bug and bought a large tent, a trailer to haul it and other supplies, including a food locker, lanterns, air mattresses for our sleeping bags, and much more over the years. Ultimately we bought a pop-up tent camper but this was after the boys were grown. We didn't use it too many times; too much work. Our idea now of camping is "Holiday Inn".

When we lived in Paris, TX, we would spend 2 weeks each summer camping in the west. We loved camping in the cool mountains in Colorado and the cold nights by the campfires. Once we saw bears eating blueberries at Glacier Park and I hid all the food in the car that night so bears wouldn't come looking for food. We did hear one sniffing around in the park that night. We camped all over Texas and loved Possum Kingdom. The water was so clear and blue.

One summer we decided to visit my sister and go to Assateague Island, MD on the Atlantic Ocean. That trip was marred by druggies camping next to us. They only stayed one night. When our boys were in high school and working at the Boy Scout Camp in OK, we didn't go camping as much anymore. Meal times were very creative but enjoyable.

Once at Nag's Head, NC, camping on the beach, we couldn't get the stove to work (too much wind) and the tent almost blew away the first night we were there and there were "droves" of mosquitos due to the wind blowing the wrong way. We woke up the next morning to hear a noise and Jim was outside packing to go home. We had already spent a week along the Blue Ridge Parkway and that part was enjoyable. We went back to Atlanta, spent the night and the next day went camping at Santa Rosa Island near Pensacola. That was a much better location for tent camping.

Too bad neither Ron or Bill have boys to take camping. The girls are not that excited about "roughin' it". No place to go to put on their make up, one of them complained.

Ron and Bill both became Eagle Scouts and we are so proud of them.

Flannel Nightdresses for my granddaughters

One Christmas I made flannel nightgowns (they call them nightdresses) for the granddaughters.

I wonder if the last granddaughter who was born (Caroline)  later got these as hand-me-downs? She must have gotten tired of seeing these before she outgrew them! Now they like to sleep in big cotton T-shirts or silk pajamas. And I don't make those!

Instead,  I make cushions, curtains, and other accessories instead of clothes. When Nerissa was visiting us in July, I helped her make this pillow for her apartment at Clemson Univ. She designed the pillow and my friend did the embroiderred monogram for her. It matches her hot pink comforter on her bed. (Her initials and mine are the same:  Mary Nerissa Gilmer for her and my name is Mary Nell Gilmer.)

I like to make things for the girls and they always seem to appreciate them so much.

Raggedy Ann and Andy for the granddaughters

One Christmas I decided to make a set of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls for each of our 4 grand-

daughters (#5 grand-daughter wasn't born yet). The two older girls received large dolls and the two younger girls got smaller versions. I had so much fun making these dolls and sewing their hair on their heads. They became "alive" when I added the facial features. I placed them on the sofa in the living room and several times a day I would go to the living room to check on my doll family.

They were like real people and it was difficult to put them in a box and wrap them to put them under the tree! I am happy to say that these dolls are still "alive" and most are packed away with things they want to save. They adorned their bedrooms throughout their childhood. Now 3 of the girls are in college and 1 is a Jr. in high school. I had to make a 5th set of dolls later on for the youngest who is in the 6th grade.

Prior to making the dolls, every Christmas I made the girls flannel nightgowns and they loved them. They started passing them down to the younger girls. Those gowns stayed around a long time.

I've made many costumes for them over the years. Once Elizabeth, the oldest granddaughter, called from Austin, TX and asked if I could make her a Queen Elizabeth costume, "Quick" she said. She needed it to wear when she gave a book report. She said to please use royal purple for the dress since that was her favorite color and to make a "ruff" to wear around her neck. I asked why she wanted a queen dress and she said she was planning to win first place and be crowned "queen" - and she did and she got her outfit just in time to wear it.

I've made many Halloween costumes for them. Just wish they lived closer by to try them on when I'm sewing for them. For that reason I don't try to make clothes for them.

I love making memories .........

Bound for East Germany

On Aug. 12th I wrote about my trip to Europe in 1981, and promised to write about my train trip from England to Piene, Germany - near Hamburg, in northern Germany (photo of train station in Hamburg)

With a change in plans due to an airlines strike, I had to revise my travel plans to return from a weekend in London, to Peine, where I was staying with a Germany family during a Friendship Force Exchange visit for 2 weeks. It was like the "slow train to China" with our old East German train cars often being bumped and left sitting on a side track until another train would come along and take us along for awhile and "dump" us again. I really don't know how long I was on that train travelling from Belgium to the East Germany border.

I shared a compartment with 2 punks from Berlin. One had lime green hair and the other hot pink hair. They had their radios/cassette players and loved heavy metal music. I knew enough German to have a brief dialogue with them. They were from Berlin and had been to London on a holiday. They started drinking beer soon after the train pulled out from Belgium and before long both were sleeping. I was afraid to go to sleep! All of the signs, etc. on the train were written in Russian language. I couldn't read a word. I was supposed to get off at the last stop (Hamburg) before the train crossed the East German border. With some side stops along the way, the train was several hours late. I was glad that I called my host family and told them I would take a taxi from Hamburg to Peine.

I arrived at the train station at 2 A.M. Just as the train was pulling into the station, the conductor came through calling the name of the stop and when he said Hamburg, I jumped up and gathered my bag (only had 1 carry-on) and when the trained stopped, I turned the handle on the door to get off and it wouldn't open!! I didn't know what to do, so I ran down to another compartment, and was prepared to start kicking if I couldn't get that door open. I turned the handle and it opened wide and I fell out on the sidewalk with my little bag! Nobody was in sight at 2 a.m. and as soon as I got up and looked around, the train was leaving. I got off just in time.I walked thru the long tunnel to get upstairs and the big waiting room was almost empty.


I walked outside to get a taxi. Several were parked there and I went up to one and was trying to tell him in German where I wanted to go. He answered me and said he spoke English. I was so happy. I hopped in the car and away we went out into the countryside, thru asparagus fields, to the little village of Peine. He got out of the cab and escorted me to the door and knocked and waited for my host family to open the door. They spoke in German briefly, I paid him, and off he went. She said he told her that I was a nice American and very brave!

I spent a few more days with my host family and then it was time to go to the marketplatz in Peine and board the bus, along with other Americans on the trip, to travel through East Germany to Berlin. This was a very depressing ride and I was a little uneasy when we had to cross the border. We stopped at the entrance to East Germany and the bus driver told us to sit still and not talk to the guards. They got on the bus and asked us to show them our passports. When they saw mine they took it and left the bus and went inside the guard house. We waited and waited and they came back and handed it to the driver and spoke a few words to him, and then motioned us to move along. The driver said they had not seen the new computer coded passports and thought mine was illegal. I was glad they didn't make me get off the bus. We were very happy to see the Brandenburg gate in Berlin once again after a long trip through Est Germany, and we boarded the plane to come back to Winston Salem, NC.

Other than these experiences, the trip was a great experience and the good out-weighed the bad many times. We were treated royally and dined and fested all week in and around the big city of Hamburg. Spaceship Columbia landed one week-end while I was there (in April) and all the Germans gathered around their TV sets to watch this big event and cheered loudly when Columbia landed safely.

Germany was much different from the post-war days we spent there in 1954-55. I'm glad I had an opportunity to go back almost 30 years later.

A Big Pile of Rocks!

Recognize this place? James was watching TV today and called me to come look at what he was viewing. He remembered his trip to Stonehenge when he and I traveled to England in August 1993 to spend a couple of weeks with my youngest sister Carolyn and family. They were there for 3 years courtesy of Eli Lilly, living near Windsor Castle and Ascot. It was a fun-filled time, going all over London and the countryside.


One windy, cloudy morning, Carolyn took us to see Stonehenge. James really wanted to stay home and watch the summer olympics being held in Barcelona, Spain. We talked him into going with us but he wasn't too happy. When we arrived at Stonehenge, we parked the car, and walked thru a tunnel underneath the road and came up to Stonehenge on the other side of the road.
James put his hands on his hips and surveyed the area. Then he said, "My word! There's nothing here but a pile of big rocks!" and he was ready to go. Some of the many tourists on the scene laughed and said, "He's right!" The rocks are just sitting out in an open field. They are so very big.


We left there and drove to Bath and checked out the old Roman ruins. He said the baths were too dirty to get in them. He loved going to Windsor village which surrounds the old castle and made friends with the store clerks there. They called him their American friend.


Someday I'll record some more of his excursions in London. He had a good time. Especially on the return trip home when they had overbooked and upgraded us to lst class seats. He had his own private stewardess to take care of all his needs. I had to take him with me or else I would not have been able to go. We both had a good time.

Remembering Mama and Papa Wilson

My Aunt Mattie Lena took this photo and sent to us when we were living in Wurzburg, Germany in 1954. This is how I remember my paternal grandparents. I didn't see them very often after I got married in 1953. We always lived so far away.
We lived with Mama and Papa Wilson (Fannie and Jim) when I was little and I have such good memories of these times. It was during WWII and so many things were rationed. Living the country we were able to grow our vegetables, raise our own pigs and cows for meat and milk, and were pretty much self-sufficient.

My dad had a sugar cane mill and made syrup and when we couldn't get sugar (it was rationed), my grandmother would make syrup cake and it was delicious. We also had a lot of bee hives and harvested the honey to eat and cook with.

I remember the noise of the corn being ground into grits and the sweet aroma of freshly grown corn. We were not allowed inside the grist mill with the giant wheels turning.

Mama Wilson was a great cook. She would make the best biscuits to go with homemade sausage, red eye gravy, and served with whipped cream!! People laugh when I tell them we ate whipped cream with our sausage. Her tea cakes were so good. And I remember her lane cakes, fruit cakes, fig newtons, and custards. Everything she cooked was good!

She was also a talented seamstress, sewing on a pedal sewing machine. Most of the time she made her own patterns. She sewed for ladies in Opp and Elba, including Mrs. Claude Dorsey of the Dorsey Trailer family. They always bought too much fabric and would give her the left over fabric. Mama would fashion dresses for herself or us if the fabric was appropriate for our age.

Mama and Papa dipped snuff and Rooster Snuff was their favorite. They would wash the empty snuff boxes and we would put a mixture of sugar and cocoa in them and pretend to dip snuff. Once we got our "play" box mixed up with the real thing and I let my friend Evelyn be the first to take a "dip" and she was angry with me for a long time. She thought I did that on purpose.

Papa Wilson had asthma real bad and had trouble sleeping at night. He also had cataracts and back then the operation to remove them was quite serious. He was almost blind and spent a lot of time with us children, telling us stories and teaching us things. He taught me to count by dropping kernels of shelled corn into a jar. I can remember how excited I was when I could count to 100 (I must have been 4 then). He taught me how to spell a lot of hard words. He was our guardian angel. I remember we could go anywhere if Papa Wilson went along with us.

Papa Wilson always made the grape juice for church communion and Mama Wilson made the communion bread. My friends would come home from church with me on communion Sundays and we would play " church" and eat the left over bread and drink the grape juice.

My Mama and Papa Wilson were always very special to me. I'm sorry I didn't get to spend more time with them in their later years. They both lived to an old age; Mama was 83 and Papa was 87 when they died.