These photo's of my dad's farm auction from circa 1987 were almost lost forever. They had been in one of my many boxes of stuff up in the attic of the house for more than a decade. As I was recently cleaning out my stuff these photos got thrown in the dumpster but were discovered by one of my brothers as he was sorting for recyclables. I am grateful he found these. They are not the best quality photos but they are precious memories. As a warning this is a long post!
My dad demonstrating that the tractor starts
Cement mixer and drums with pumps among other things
Farm equipment being auctioned off
Old brooders for chicks
In the front - old chicken feeders from the barn
In the front, chicken crates followed by egg nests and equipment
My dad with the orange hat with two sisters and brother-in-law
Chicken nests in the foreground to the left
In the front - many lawnmowers; to the left - farm equipment
In the front - egg carts used to gather eggs in the chicken house
Refreshment stand in the old corn crib equipment shed
Another view of farm equipment with the honey (manure) wagon in the center
Another auction crowd scene
Small items being auctioned off from tables
Another view with the farm house in the background
Some of the many cars parked in the fields along our driveway
My Mom is a special person. And here I want to preserve some memories of her and her life.
My mom enjoyed quilting at home and at church. She also quilted each year
for our local Christian school spring auction. Here she is working on a crazy patch quilt.
My mom made this quilt in 1985. My wife and I are blessed
to have this quilt on our bed in colder weather.
She also quilted wall hangings.
My dad got this apron for my mom many years ago.
My dad was a poultry farmer.
Here mom is holding a ring-necked pheasant. My dad used to hunt them
every year on his farm and mom would make pheasant pie.
Here mom is attempting to feed a peacock probably at the Philadelphia Zoo.
Us children looked forward to those trips to the zoo.
It's amazing sometimes what a photo or a few photos can do a person and the memories they trigger both happy and sad. This particular post was inspired by the photo below that my sister gave to me last week.
This photo of myself with my Dad and Mom was taken around three and a half years ago at the wedding reception for my wife and I. Our whole family with all their children was there for our wedding celebration. And my sister came all the way from from Thailand. She is my only sister and I couldn't ask for a better sister than her. We didn't fully know it then but the normality of life as we then knew it was swiftly coming to an end.
At that time we already knew that Mom had Alzheimers and was having some memory problems. But she could still take care of the house, make meals, and have meaningful conversations. And she could still appreciate and enjoy our wedding. But soon after that her abilities rapidly declined. Today she needs total care and she isn't capable of holding a conversation. Yet she is still special; she is my Mom whom I love and who my whole family loves. As for my dad as many of my readers already know, he was diagnosed with cancer a year ago from last fall and passed away the beginning of March this year. But we have many good memories and that is what I want to continue to share in the rest of this post.
Dad always loved dogs. Over the years,
he had a variety of Collies, Beagles, and mixed breeds.
He enjoyed snow and trying out a mini-bike
that one of my brothers bought.
He enjoyed games and celebrations. Here he and Mom are passing
a breath mint from one mouth-held toothpick to the other.
King of the Mountain after coming home from church
Dad enjoyed gardening each summer. Here he is with
some extra tall sunflowers and I think squash.
He enjoyed reading the newspapers to keep up with both local and world news.
Here he and Mom are browsing hymn books
possibly in preparation for singing in a quartet.
During my childhood years in the 1960s and 70s, Mom and Dad had Christian radio stations playing during just about all our waking hours. Us children looked forward to hearing the many Christian radio stories and dramas that were aired throughout the week. Below I am highlighting a few of the old time radio story programs we enjoyed.
Big John and Sparky
Big John and Sparky was aired on Saturday mornings. Big John was a mild mannered dad that loved and cared for Sparky who is a puppet. Adventures followed Big John and Sparky as they met up with a variety of characters. Big John voiced most of the characters and planned the sound effects and music. Sparky's voice was created by speeding up the tape to create his high pitch. Occasionally they did some music together, too. Below is The Little Red Caboose. More programming can be heard on Internet Archive - Old Time Radio.
Ranger Bill
Ranger Bill, Warrior of the Woodland, struggling against extreme odds, traveling dangerous trails, fighting the many enemies of nature. This is the job of the guardian of the forest, Ranger Bill. Pouring rain, freezing cold, blistering heat, snows, floods, bears, rattlesnakes, mountain lions. Yes, all this in exchange for the satisfaction and pride of a job well done.
Ranger Bill, Warrior of the Woodland, struggling against extreme odds, traveling dangerous trails, showing rare courage in the face of disaster, in the air, on horseback, or in a screaming squad car. Ranger Bill, his mind alert, a ready smile, unswerving, loyal to his mission. All this in exchange for the satisfaction and pride of a job well done.
One of the above two opening lines were used at the beginning of each episode. This was a Saturday afternoon program that I listened too as a child. Naturally, this radio drama series drew me with my love of nature and adventure. A number of Christian radio stations still carry repeats of this radio drama series. These stories can also be purchased on CDs from Moody Audio.
Sailor Sam
I loved following the adventures of Sailor Sam on both land and sea as a kid. Since I grew up on a farm, I had farm chores to do; but when this story came on, I was allowed to come into the house to listen to the program and then when it was over I went out and finished my chores. Unfortunately, I could not locate any sound file for this program to embed here. But there is a Sailor Sam blog that describes many of the episodes in this series. These also can be purchased at Moody Audio.
Yesterday some digital memorabilia pertaining to Dad was distributed to family members including some older photos. It brought back many good memories. So I thought I would share a small portion of them here.
One of a very few pictures of my Dad as a child
My Dad and Mom were married in 1954 in a double wedding.
Dad and Mom are respectively second and third from the viewer's left.
My Dad and Mom with their first three toddlers
A family picture with all the children; I am the one in the red suit coat.
Here Dad is operating a tractor-powered saw to cut firewood for the wood stove. The chicken house that held 6,000 chickens in cages is in the background. Directly in front of the chicken house was an orchard containing sour cherry, sweet cherry, apple, peach, and apricot fruit trees.
Dad and Mom making apple cider
Dad butchering a chicken while one of us finishes a late supper after work
My thoughts have been somewhat in a jumble not totally sure where I want to go with this post. Perhaps it's in part because of a number of events - my dad passing away on March 6, my last uncle on my dad's side passing away on March 27, and several other acquaintances experiencing similar losses in the past month along with important decisions needing to be made yet not hurried. But I'm going to start by sharing an aerial photo of my dad's farm from the early 1960s. It brings back many childhood memories for me.
In this picture to the far left are five chicken coups in a row that were used to house chickens before my time. Next to them are two red buildings side by side. The one closest to the driveway was used to raise chicks for laying hens. I'm not sure what the red building furthermost from the drive was used for. The next red building along the driveway was a combination equipment and corn shed. Then of course comes the large red barn which during my life time was used to house farm equipment, straw, chickens, and sometimes a few other livestock as hobbies by us children. Beyond that was another corn crib and a gray colored chicken house that can't be seen in this picture. The red shed between the barn and the house was mostly a storage shed and at times a garage. It also contained an outhouse where Dad recalls old Sears catalogs were used. As for the farm land Dad grew mostly corn and wheat though he occasionally also farmed oats and barley. Of course, we also had a very large farm patch in which we grew most of the vegetables we ate. Dad also grew lots of fruit trees and harvested some raspberries and blackberries that grew wild in hedge rows and woods.
A beautiful sign of Spring
Bright spots in the midst of lostness
Lastly, but not least, I want to highlight a book that I just recently read. Especially in light of the experiences I and my family have had recently, it is an encouragement to push on and to remember that we'll all be reunited again some day in the future. As I'm writing this I'm thinking of the song "I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God." So while I'm experience some feelings of lostness right now, I'm ultimately a part of a much larger family that I'll experience in a much greater way when I get to Heaven. And that larger family will include my more immediate family that I'm missing now.
And if you have 15 minutes this is worth watching.
Eric Whitacre is a talented composer and director.