Minnie

My great aunt Minnie passed away in October. She was a really amazing lady---so kind and generous with her time and talents. She will surely be missed! Grandma, Jean, Danny and Dee came to town for her funeral. We gathered together with Jim, Jennifer, Bj and Ginny at our house on Sunday night before the funeral for dinner. As always, the time together was so precious!

 

The next day, we traveled to Adrian for the service. It was such a nice service, very fitting for Minnie. I was told she planned it herself. She did a great job because every new song made me think, “That’s perfect for Minnie!” She fought cancer off and on for 37 years. I knew it had been a very long time, but didn’t realize it had been that long. What a battle!! I’m thankful for the person she was and the example she gave to us.

 

I didn’t take my real camera but was thankful my iPhone takes decent pictures. Before the service, this crew sat in the fellowship hall waiting. What a precious family! Left to right: Bea, Jake, Don, Annie, Ida (aka Grandma!)

 

 

 

I love to see a community pull together. The lunch they served the family was simply incredible. Some of the best home-cooking I’ve had in a while and there was NO shortage of food even though around 100 people ate. What a blessing and show of support for Minnie and her family! At our table, left to right: Danny, Jake, Bea, Jean, Ida.

 

 

 

After lunch, Heather snapped this photo for us. Left to right: Janice (me), Ida, Jean, Cris, Annie and Mike.

Since the funeral, I received an email from Heather. It contained a story from her dad, Don, telling a story from the “olden” days. Thought I’d share it here. I might also add that during the lunch, they were discussing directions to someone’s place. You should head down a certain road—I didn’t hear which one, and turn West at the tree. Haha! The Tree. And everyone knew exactly what they were talking about. (except me obviously!)

Here’s the story from Don:

Danny told me about the question of history of the old tractor at Richard's, whether it was Frank's original.  I told him of a clue from my personal experience.  Probably 12 yrs. old then, I was at Frank's old place driving the old tractor to the one-way.   Somehow I got it in reverse gear and backed up

against the plow, breaking the draw bar.   He didn't chew me out, just got that draw bar off and set to welding it.  (He could fix anything.) So if examination reveals an acetylene weld on the draw bar, I think that might be conclusive.

     I remember trundling the old thing from Frank's to Dad's and plowing on the Evans section.  I remember one of Dad's hands declaring it "took 2 men and a boy to turn a corner with it".    I remember plowing a half-mile from where Richard and a hand were cutting wheat with the old Regular and a 14 ft drag combine -- Oliver or Baldwin? -- when I got a big hat wave.  I started with the pickup and got another impatient wave off.  Well, they must want the tractor.  So I managed to get loose from the Hoeme and started to them.  I thought, now if they want the tractor, they must want to pull something.  Now they won't have a chain -- what can I take?  Going by the windmill (this was at the West Barn), I spied a length of cable

and hooked it to the tractor.  Reaching the combine I found it mired in that little flat lake east of the windmill, and Richard fiddling with about a 5' piece of light chain.  I showed him  the cable length and he just marveled and marveled how little brother had enuff sense to figure that out.  My, I felt so good!

     This had to be l947, the great wheat year, when Pop's wheat got hailed down and we had to run the sickle on the ground, and had to take off a spark plug wire to get the old Regular to run slow enuff for the machine to handle the great mass of straw.  What would that be -- one mile per hour??   --- come, don