Jewells of Thought

The Great Depression was the era Freddy was born into. I am apparently grouped into the millennial generation. The absolute dichotomy between these two generations is immeasurable.

He was the fourth child in his family. There was Maxine and Ralph and maybe a couple years difference between them. Then a decade came and went. Ralph died at the age of 10. He went to school and for some reason of sorts the teacher hit him. Remember this was a one-room school house and teachers were able to discipline when needed. However, we don’t have a lot of answers about what happened; it is believed he had a heart murmur quite possibly. Anyhow Horace became child number three. Another decade disappeared and Fred rounded out their family.

Fred joined the Navy following in his big brother’s footsteps. Meaning Horace became the man of adventure, I’m certain, for this baby brother of his. Unlike the war veteran, his older brother, he joined during the time of the Korean War, but spent most of his time in the mid-west. Unfortunately measles took him from his original company and he actually gained some benefits from that experience. His company would make a “clean sweep” of the company’s graduating at the time. It was a big honor for Company 31.

Their father died while Freddy was serving up at the Great Lakes Naval Station one week after his 20th birthday in 1953. Originally they rejected his petition to leave for the funeral. Fortunately, that didn’t sit well with Horace, being a hero from the war came in pretty handy in this scenario. He began talking to some people and the results ended in Freddy getting a leave to come home for his family’s sake. This is a moment where God works in mysterious ways. Horace’s experiences in surviving a ship sunk by the Nazi’s and was asked by his Commanding Officer to create a private bathroom in a LST or Landing Ship Tank. He was a resourceful man and I have seen a picture of that bathroom in the making.

Freddy sure admired that big brother of his and they were two amazing men in their own rights. Today, Freddy would have been 91 years old. I often wonder what he would think of the current events over the past 18 years since his death. He didn’t get saved until after he met Rosemary the love of his life and was married. However, I can’t imagine him not being the Deacon or the man who loved teaching his Sunday School classes. He wanted a study room in his house and was working on it when he died in 2005. Now I am using some of the books from his personal library.

Using his selectively picked collection means a lot to me as his granddaughter. Sometimes I still feel I have a lot more to learn from him and Uncle Horace. I wish our younger generations could have experienced my youth with these guys. I have always felt more at ease with my elders than those my own age maybe this is why!

There is not a day that goes by when I don’t think of all the ways he’s still with me. Living in such close proximity to my grandparents house and actually living in the house grandpa was lived in as a child is still pretty amazing. At least 4 generations of our family have lived in this spot although the houses are different. Plus it’s the beauty of farm life. Growing up among this clan was a blessing!