1976 - the Bicentennial Year

I was inducted as President of the local BPW chapter in June of that year and in the August we submitted our bicentennial float for the Mt. Vernon "Sweet Corn and Watermelon Festival". We won first place!! We also left Regal 8 that year - Grandpa will go into the whys and wherefores of that. They did give us a big send off party and the advertising man for the company, and good friend, Bob Miller designed our logo for our newly formed company - Topper, Inc. At our farewell dinner, they had a cake made with the new logo.

Another big event of the year was Taffy having puppies. That was an experience. First, I read all the books on 'how to prepare your dog for its first birthing, and how to prepare a suitable place for her to have her puppies'. The book said the latter was extremely important as dogs wanted privacy when the time came. Well Taffy's idea of privacy was between Dick and I on the bed in the middle of the night. I scurried her to her 'private place' and she followed me back, so I spent the night lying on the floor next to here while she delivered seven little puppies. I actually kept dozing off and she would lick my nose and wake me just before each birth. Things went well for about 2-1/2 weeks but then Taffy collapsed on me and almost died. We rushed her to the vet (late at night again of course!) and it turned out she was deplete of calcium. They saved Taffy, but ordered - no more Mommy feeding her babies. We had to wean the puppies. Fortunately Gordon and Irene had just arrived for a week's visit, so they were a huge help in getting the puppies fed. Our first attempt was funny, we had a cloth laid out over the table and each got a puppy and tried to teach it to eat the pablum out of a saucer. We ended up with pablum everywhere and all over the puppy, so we carefully cleaned the puppy before returning it to its bed and got another one. The only problem was after the first one, we couldn't tell which one we had bed and which we hadn't - so after that we got wise enough to leave them dirty until all were fed.

Katrina married Lynn Allred this year and they came to visit us with Suzanne and Becky. What a delight, we had a great time with them.

We ended the year with our first real vacation since moving back to the midwest. With Taffy we headed north and crossed into Canada visiting Calgary, Lake Louise and Banff. Saw our first bear in the wilds which was really funny. It was sitting on a table at a roadside rest area and didn't look that big squatted down. Dick drove closer, stopped the car and rolled down the window. Taffy was sitting on my lap looking out. She never moved and never made a sound.

We watched it for a while when it moved and started up (it looked a lot bigger then), so we slowly drove away closing the window as we went. When the window was fully closed and we had put a little distance between us, Taffy became the ferocious protector dog we always knew she was!!!

Our trip took us into British Columbia and then we headed down the Pacific Coast, ending up visiting family in California before returning home.

This has always been one of my favorite photos taken of Dick and Taffy - it really looks like they are sharing a joke doesn't it?

As if 1976 hadn't been an eventful enough year, I ended it by having a hysterectomy when we returned from the trip. Even that gave me some wonderful memories. Dick actually had to be out of town the week I had the operation (they kept you in hospital for ten days back then), but he had a bouquet of flowers delivered to me every day I was in there. That plus the flowers I received from family, office personnel and BPW friends, made my room look a florist and they brought two extra carts in when I left just to wheel out all the plants. I have a very fond memory of my doctor/surgeon. I was operated on in the morning and some time that evening, I woke to see him watering my plants and flowers. How many doctors do you think would do that?

There was on more highlight for me that year too, but I'll share that in my next blog.

1975 was an eventful year....

Not only moving into our first house, but followed almost immediately by our first dog. Taffy Bach y Ty Mawr (which translates from the Welsh as Little Taffy from the big house) joined our family and it wasn't long before she and I were roaming the woods behind us. Taffy was about ten weeks old when we got her and lived to 17. She was a delight, thoroughly spoiled and extremely snooty. I had another change of pace in my life too, in that I joined the local chapter of BPW (Business & Professional Women). I actually had joined in 1774 but got very active and involved from 1975 on. I loved the meetings and especiall enjoyed the conventions:

Dick has always teased me that Gerald Ford and I tore up the ladder at the same time. For you young folks out there, Gerald Ford was speaker of the house, when the vice president was forced to resign (Spiro Agnew) and followed quickly to become President with the resignation of Richard Nixon. I joined BPW late 1974, was asked to be program chairman very quickly with the sickness of the one that held the title. Fall 1975 was made Vice President and became president the following year. The above photo was taken at the Las Vegas Convention.

The third major event of that year was bringing my mother out to spend three months with us - she came in October and stayed through into the New Year.

We also added another dog to our family. I wanted a companion for Taffy, so followed up on ad for another papered cocker spaniel. What I found was a poor dog that had never been off the leash tied in the yard and with heat sores all over his back. Even though he was not exactly what I wanted, there was no way that I could leave him there, so Andy Capp joined us and even though we only had him a short time (he was killed by a motocycle), he did father Taffy's only litter of puppies.

I took time off in November and she and I set out on a 5,000 mile trip across the northern route to California, where Dick flew out and met us while we visited family. Then she and I came back the southern route, with stops at Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. It was a major trip and one that my mother never forgot. She was in awe of everything - especially the vastness of our country.

My sister, who has visited many times, in Florida, California, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arizona, always comments on the size of the country. Her favorite phrase is to say that no matter where you here, even if you are on a street in a town, you are somehow aware of the vastness and size. This may sound odd, but I know I have the exact same feeling in reverse every time I go back to Britain. Even when I am in the country I have a 'claustrophobic' feeling of the smallness. Strange what the mind can do isn't it?

Before I join Grandpa in the memories of 1975 & On

I want to back up to the event of my father's death in January 1974. My sister, being distraught, called the office early morning instead of our home, so Dee and Faye from the office showed up at the trailer we were living and told me the news. I immediately started making plans to fly home for the funeral, and also talked with my brother in Canada who wanted to go. We got our travel agency working on it and I worked like a fiend in the office wrapping up all the things that had to be done and organizing my being gone for a few days. Dick was in town, but already had a trip scheduled the following morning out of St. Louis to Hawaii (a short business meeting). Late that evening, we drove over to St. Louis and stayed in a motel and headed for the airport very early the next morning. It turned out that both of us were scheduled on the same flight from St. Louis to Chicago and from there would be going in totally opposite directions. So Dick (the executive on company business) sat in first class, and I (paying for it ourselves) was sitting back in 'tourist'. We both took aisle seats and waved to each other during the flight!. The rest of my journey proved to be one of the worst travel experiences I ever went through. We had the flight scheduled so that I would fly to Montreal with a change of planes in Toronto, and there Gordon and I would meet up and go on to London from there. I actually had a four hour lay-over in Montreal, so Irene and the boys were coming to the airport with Gordon so we could have a visit. Robbie Burns warned that all good plans often go awry! And this was one of them. Toronto had a huge snow storm, so having landed there, they were suddenly canceling flights going out. There were more people schedule to fly than planes they were letting out. I started to plead my case - my father's funeral, my brother's connection, etc. and finally got on the very last flight out. When I arrived in Montreal, I had 15 minutes to connect to the London flight, so the 'visiting' with Irene and the boys consisted of literally running side by side from one terminal to the other! By now it is quite late in the evening, and I had very little sleep the night before, so wouldn't you think that I would really sleep on the plane. But Gordon and I hadn't seen each other for quite some time and we talked constantly all the way to London - arriving the next morning (with the time change). Rented a car and drove the 250 miles to north Wales, arriving late that evening. By the time I did go to bed that night, I had gone something like 54 hours with 3 hours sleep! A couple of weeks after my return home, I found this photo that I had taken of my father the last time I had seen him alive. He and I had taken a walk along what is known as Invalid Walk and Haulfre Gardens, which overlooks the whole town of Llandudno. My father was not well at the time and had severe problems walking, but insisted on doing this favorite walk with me. This photo is taken of him looking over the town, and it inspired me to write a poem, which I hope you will enjoy my sharing with you. I wonder what memories this man might have, Sitting on a bench in the Gardens he loves. The town of his life lays out before him, Changed, and changing and yet ever unchanged. To his left a pier stretches to the sea, More modern now with a 'now' appeal. But the Pavilion remains ever standing and sure, As a memory of meeting the girl of his life. His eyes wander on and view the distant hills. The Little Orme and Penrhynside and memories of family. He remembers walking with his father, Poaching with his sister, and loving his mother. A wandering eye at the town below Shows buildings he climbed, and jumped from and built; Shows bricks he carried, and chimneys repaired, And a gas power plant, long gone now. Westward his eyes rove and see the house Where thirty-odd years of life and joy were spent. Where sat a lady whom he adores, And memories echo in its now empty rooms. A view of the West Shore, the golf club and Links; Chasing a wayward horse which seats his daughter; Memories of dogs, their devotion and work, Of golf games, card games and snooker too. The memories go on just viewing this town. The price of soccer games and golf awards won. The pride in a wall, a house, a job well done. The pride of four children whose love he has earned; Of their growth, their own lives well performed; Of a fifty year marriage - still whole and full of care. He's getting old now, time marches on. The climb to this hill was not as easty this time. But he made it, like everything he's done in his life, Part struggle, part determination - all strength. A man's life reflects many things, And not all of it can be looked at with pride. But when the good outweighs the bad as it did with him, That view before him must look pretty good.

Photos:

These photos and those in the next blog go with Grandpa's blog that follows. The first one here shows the side of house. The fireplace went from the main level up two stories and there was a large loft area with an extra bath upstairs that overlooked the living room. The lower level you see here was where the master suite was. The lake, before it filled with water. Once we had this completed, we anxiously waited for the rains to fill it up. We had what we thought were pretty good rains, but the lake area was so big that it just seemed like a drop in the bucket. Then one night - here comes one of the famous mid-western storms and we are watching the lake get fuller, and fuller, and fuller. We were beginning to panic. Would the dam hold? But it did and from then on we had a fun lake where we boated (small raft with electric motor), and swam.

It sure was pretty when it snowed. See the little dot on the right? That was our first dog Taffy.

This was the back of the house facing the woods and creek. I loved the decks that Dick put in. He put bird feeders along the top of rails and it was wonderful to watch the birds that came to feed, especially the red cardinals.

Love this photo of Mom - taken on Kentucky Lake.

More photos

This photo was taken just before we left to move to Florida. It was a real tug to leave this spot even though we were excited about Florida. This shows the split driveway well. To the left it went slight downhill into the garage (and behind the garage was the master suite). The right went up to the main level of the house where the living/kitchen and other bedrooms were.

The only photo I seem to have taken showing the lake is this one and you only get a glimpse of it with the dam and picnic area.

We ended up with a huge lawn area in front of the house and in the back and around part of the lake. Dick asked me to help one day. I got a bit too close, panicked, jumped off and the following was the result!!! I wonder why he never asked me to help again?

Frances enjoying one of our trips to Kentucky Lake.

1975:

The business is growing and doing well. We buy our first home. A twenty acre piece of property with 2,800 sq.ft. home with a two car garage. The home is about 70% complete. The outside is basically done, but only rough finished inside. It will require a lot of work. The house set back off the road about 250 ft. and had a creek running approx. 200 feet behind. This creek was the start of the Big Muddy River. The entire 20 acres is forest, with rolling terrain, except for about 3 acres semi flat in the right front corner where the house is located. We were too busy at work to get much done at home, but we asked Keith to come stay with us that summer and help out in finishing the house. You can see him and Casey here working on a picnic area we put in the back. But the first major project was to put in the concrete driveway (ranging from 12' to 30' wide and approx. 250' long). We tackled this in the heat of the summer with a 44 year old, out-of-shape man, and five kids ranging in age from 14 to 17 years old. We got it done. It took five days and a whole bunch of "when the going gets tough guys, the tough get going". The kids consisted of Pat, Casey, Keith, neighbor Rick Jones (Debbie's brother) and a friend of Rick's.

We ended up (over a year and a half) completing the picnic area, putting in a lake, finishing the inside of the house, including a full master suite in the lower section, and two layers of decking in the back. I might say we were a bit proud of the place.

Late that summer Mom, Hazel and Karen came out to visit and take Keith back. This gave us an opportunity to show them around southern Illinois and the Kentucky Lake area. The photo above with Frances, Bill, Hazel, Margaret in the forefront and Joe, Casey, Patrick, Karen, Keith in the background was taken at Crab Orchard Lake. It was almost a family reunion, just Jerry and Louise and their families missing.

Living here was where we became aware of Debbie. Her father Bill Jones lived approx. 1-1/2 to 2 miles SE of us and owned a large acreage including a lake. He owned considerable equipment and did a lot of dirt work for us, leveling off areas and putting in our dam and digging out the lake. Bill Jones always wanted someone to work with him and run errands - get him a tool, etc. and at that time Debbie at the age of 12 was his helper. At 6am when he showed up to work, Debbie was with him and we became friends. Whenever she had free time she would ride her horse over to our place, with her faithful dog trotting behind, and it soon became a regular Sunday event. Her parents seemed to have no problem, and she slipped into being our Sunday 'daughter' to our summer 'daughter'. Perhaps she was the daughter Margaret never had.

Jerry and Bev and family visited us briefly as did one of Margaret's nephews from Canada, and also Gordon and Irene. It was a fun place to entertain people.

We also bought another house - this time a fire damaged home in a nearby village Bellerive. Some of the roof and walls had burned out and of course there was a lot of electrical and smoke damage throughout. We offered Bill and Frances a full share of any profit if they would help with the cleanup, remodeling, etc. We did pretty well on that and made a fair profit. A four bedroom/3 bath house (approx. 2800 sq.ft) we bought as is for $22,000 and sold for $45,000. Not bad for an 8 week evening and weekend job. During that time good wages were $800 to $900 a month.

In 1976 we got more company - but this time a bit more permanent. Mom, Hazel, Keith, Karen and Cody and baby Jeremy moved back to Illinois. They stayed with us until they got settled. Karen and Cody bought one small house, Hazel and Keith another, and Mom another. (Mom later moved into a senior living apartment). Hazel, Keith Karen and Cody all found jobs. Cody at Precision Engineering, Hazel at the hospital, Karen at a funeral home and I don't recall what Keith did.

It was nice for Margaret and I to have some of our family closer.