Family Archives

November 22, 2012September 23, 2015

Sharing with Dad

I’m blessed this Thanksgiving season that I have a great family, including Mother, who turned 91 in October and still has a zest for life.

I never come to Cape without making at least one swing through New Lorimier Cemetery where Dad is buried. One thing I’ve missed over the years is the opportunity to share with him some of the stories I’ve covered and the fascinating people I’ve met. I never went into much detail, but it was nice to know that there was someone out there who wanted to live vicariously through my war stories.

A few trips back, I decided to keep sharing what I’m doing in what might sound like an unusual way. After I shot the train squishing coins on the tracks in Wittenberg, I left a railroad spike and a smashed quarter on his tombstone. The spike is now driven into the dirt at the base of it, and I retrieved the quarter to give to Brother Mark.

The blue tile came from Cairo

This time I left behind a blue piece of tile that used to be the floor of a building in Cairo. If I don’t come up with something more interesting, on my next trip back home I’ll leave some stone slivers I found on the ground at the base of a wall around the Fourche a du Clos Valley Roadside Park near Bloomsdale.

It’s not very conventional, but it works for me. And, I have a pretty good idea that it works for him, too.

In case you were wondering

In case you were wondering what those three objects are in the circles on his stone, Dad was active in Boy Scouting and Order of the Arrow. The carving on the lower left represents the Silver Beaver, “the council-level distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. Recipients of this award are registered adult leaders who have made an impact on the lives of youth through service given to the council. The Silver Beaver is an award given to those who implement the Scouting program and perform community service through hard work, self sacrifice, dedication, and many years of service. It is given to those who do not actively seek it.”

The object on the right is the Order of the Arrow’s Vigil Honor, “the highest honor that the Order of the Arrow can bestow upon its members for service to lodge, council, and Scouting.” They meant a great deal to him.

You can click on the photos to make them larger.

November 18, 2012

The Candy Dish

Mother said Son Matt had mentioned something about a candy dish, so Mother asked if I’d take a photo of this green one to see if this is the one he was thinking about.

I posted the picture on his Facebook page and got this response: “Yes. That always used to be in the living room.”

Niece Kim Steinhoff-Tisdale wrote: “I think I remember that one! With all the stuff Gran has acquired throughout the years, it’s amazing how much I can actually remember! Man, I love that woman!”

Brother David chimed in: “That was the “original Gran’s” (Elsie Welch) candy dish.

So, Mother sent it south with me for Matt and his family. Grandson Malcolm will be the fifth generation of our family to eat candy out of it. Mother’s request: “Always keep it full.”

It made it to Florida

This is Matt holding the candy dish at Son Adam’s house in Loxahatchee, Fla., proving that I delivered it safe and sound.

November 16, 2012November 10, 2023

Mother’s Gone Nuts

I mentioned the other day that Mother and I picked up pecans in Dutchtown on one of our jaunts. As soon as we got home, she dug out the Rocket Nutcracker that’s been cracking Steinhoff pecans for better than half a century. She clamped it in the vise on Dad’s workbench and went to digging in the basement food cupboard he built at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Before long she found the very same cigar box and nut pick he used sitting his recliner, watching TV and filling jar after jar with nuts.

Metal fatigue caused handle to break

The metal fatigue from cracking thousands of nuts eventually caused the handle to break, but that didn’t stop Dad. He just welded the handle back on.

You can buy one that looks just like this one except that it has a wooden handle at the end.

She’s ready for more

I figured cracking and picking out the nuts would keep her off the street this weekend, but, no, she got them all cracked and picked out in about four days. She’s ready to go out picking up more.

Pecan cracking photo gallery

Here’s a gallery of photos of Mother hard at work cracking pecans. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.

October 20, 2012

Wyatt Survives Boot Camp

Back on July 15, I ran some photos of Wyatt Perry, Wife Lila’s nephew, at his going-away party before he shipped out for Marine boot camp.

It gives me great pleasure to say that the high school boy who went away is now a Marine. After a too-short visit, he’s headed to Camp Pendleton. From left to right, Dad John Perry, Sister Laurie Everett, Wyatt and Mom Dee Perry.