Jewell's Life Stories - written in 2011

In the beginning…….

My family-

     I was born May 3, 1918.   I was the youngest of Frank and Agnes (Degroot) Benjamin’s 5 children.   My brothers were Lester, Sherle and Lyle, and Anna was my only sister.   My mother told me later in my life when I was a teenager, that I asked her why I was named Jewell.   She said it was because I was the last baby and they felt I was a jewel, but spelled it differently.

Mother’s pneumonia- Epidemic of 1918

     The first I remember is when I was very young and sitting by a window in my highchair.   The sun was shining in and it was cold outside.   My mother had pneumonia and they didn’t expect her to live.   My father called her sisters and let them know how sick she was, so Aunt Carrie and Aunt Ardelle came to help care for her.   It was the year when pneumonia killed so many people, 1918.   I believe she might have died if she didn’t have such good care.   Dr. Braley came every day to check on her and after many days, maybe weeks, she seemed to be improving.   I am not real sure if I remembered all of this or maybe I was told so many times that it just seemed like I remembered.   I was told I also got the flu but was better after a week.

Cold bedrooms-

     I remember when I was little, my sister and I slept upstairs in one bedroom and my 3 brothers were in the other one.   On cold winter nights, my mother put 2 quart jars of hot water in our beds before we went to bed so they would be warm when we crawled in under the covers.

Falling into a pail- 1920

     When I was about 2 years old, I accidentally fell into a pail of old stale rain water, head first, and I couldn’t get out.   My brother Lyle happened to come by and heard the gurgling noise.  He found me and pulled me out and held me upside down, so that all that slimy water came out of me.   If my brother had not found me, I wouldn’t be here today.  

Benjamin’s Berry Farm

Going to market-

     In the early years, my parents only had 7 acres but kept buying more land over the years, west all the way to the cemetery.   The land was used for a produce farm.   Dad called it ‘Benjamin’s Berry Farm’.   My brothers helped my father work the ground and raise all kinds of vegetables and fruit that we picked and sold on a truck route in the neighboring towns.   Dad made shelves on the truck to show the produce easier.   My sister always complained that it hurt her to lean over so my mother took her place outside and let my sister do the housework and cooking.   Years later, a physical showed she had had polio when she was a baby that caused her internal organs to be pushed together, that caused pain when she bent over.   When there was extra produce, we took it to market in Grand Rapids where the truck would quickly be sold out.   On those days we had to go to bed early, get up at 3:00 AM, eat breakfast, and pick the last of the vegetables to get them loaded.   As I grew older, I was allowed to go along and help sell the produce.   Sometimes, my mother would make cottage cheese balls and wrap them in waxed paper.   We would sell these along with the produce.   Also, all the children would go in the woods and pick bitter sweet and make it into bundles, which we would hang upside down to dry.   The berries would pop open and be a bright orange red and we would sell them along with the produce.

Sleeping at the wheel- 1930

     One day we sold out by noon, so we got some lunch in Ada on the way home.   We had just gone down the Ada hill when I noticed that my brothers weren’t talking.   Lyle was driving but he had his eyes shut.   I quickly grabbed the steering wheel from the middle of the seat and put my feet on the clutch and the gas.   I didn’t try to wake him up because I knew how to drive from the middle of the seat.   Now when I think back, I wonder why I wasn’t scared, but because they had often let me drive from the middle, I didn’t seem to worry about it.   There were very few cars on the road and I could see downtown Lowell.   The single stop light was green so I didn’t have to worry about stopping and starting again.   Everything went along well with both Lyle and Sherle asleep.   I knew I needed to slow up to make the turn to go over the bridge into Saranac, so I woke them up.   They could hardly believe I had driven all that way home.  I was only 12 at that time.   He never said anything to my parents so they wouldn’t be worried, but it never happened again.

Going to the Ionia Free Fair-

      In the summer our family always looked forward to the Ionia Free Fair.   My brothers worked hard on the farm and my father paid them a quarter for a well done job.   It doesn’t seem like much but back then in those days, it was considered worth their work.   They saved up the quarters and when we all went to the fair, they would use the money for rides or special treats to eat.   They always paid my way.   My mother always made a real nice lunch, with Anna’s help, and jugs of lemonade.   She brought along a red and white table cloth, so we spread it out on the grass under a shade tree.    We all enjoyed a good lunch at the fair.   It was interesting to see all the other people’s fruits and vegetables, but I thought the produce from our farm looked better and fresher.

My first art entry-

    The day before the fair, we went there to place all our produce on display.  I found an envelope in the glove compartment and a pencil.   I unstuck the envelope until it laid flat.   I drew a picture of Betty Boop, a familiar picture back in those days.   When I finished it, I walked to the arts and crafts building.   When I entered the building, a lady came to me and asked if I had something to put on display.   I showed her the picture I had drawn and she was excited.   She had me write my name and age on it and she put it on display with the other artwork.   Later in the week when I walked through with my parents, there was a 2^nd place prize on my picture.  We were all so happy and surprised.

     After I won the prize, my father brought me to a house on Lincoln Ave, in Ionia, on the 3^rd floor.  He knocked on the door of a small apartment.   An old man came to the door and invited us in.  I saw he was painting a beautiful woman on a lounge.   I had never seen a painting so exquisite, his paintbrush seemed to glide so effortlessly and the picture was so real to me.   I went on drawing and sketching from then on, but never for money, just for my pleasure.

Dad made bricks for our new house

The sand pit-

     The first house that we lived in, in my memory, was a large farm house with a nice front porch and one at the back, too.   It was on the corner of Jackson Rd and David Hwy, in Saranac Michigan.   My mother grew vines on the back porch for shade in the summers.   There was a barn for our 2 horses and 2 cows.   We also had a tool shed with a chicken coop attached to the back.   My father had a sand pit behind the barn, where he got all the sand to make the bricks and blocks that were used to build our new house.   When I was young, I would invite my school friends over to play in the sand pit.   It was something special, no one else had one.   We would build all kinds of castles and moats and have fun all day.

Making the bricks- 1924

     Years later, my father decided to build a new house on the same farm, so he sent away for forms to make bricks and blocks.   All of us children would mix cement and pack it in the forms until it would get a little solid.   Next, we would let down the sides of the forms and trowel off the rough edges, then set them up on boards so they could dry.   After we had made a lot of them, my father used them to build a 2 car garage in 1924.   They made a cement driveway coming off Jackson Rd. that circling around behind the house, all the way to David Hwy.

Moving into the new house-

     My father made a basement about 200 feet from the old house, needing many more bricks.   He made rooms in the basement, for bedrooms and a kitchen with a dining area.   We moved out of the old farm and into the new basement.   Then he slowly tore down the old house, using all the good usable lumber, to build the house frame above the basement.   My dad built a sunroom off the dining room.   My mother used it as a sewing room with her sewing machine to do all the mending and sewing.   She had her sewing rocking chair in that room and her Bible.

Stones from the gravel pit-

     Many times, my father would take us to a gravel pit where he instructed us to only pick up special rocks.   They had to be oval or round and a pretty color.   He used them when he made cement baskets or other yard decorations.   He would set them on our lawn in the summer with the flowers growing in them.   People would drive by and ask if they could buy them.   Dad would move them to their lawns and make a little extra money.    Sometimes he even made tomb stones for people.   There was a tomb stone on our family grave in the cemetery, right close to David Hwy, where you could see it from the road, but it has been replaced with granite stones now.   When I die, I will be buried there, too, by my parents, and Lyle and June, near the road.

Working around the house

Mushrooms-

     In the month of May, we would look for morel mushrooms.   We would bring a big bag of them home, cut them in half, bread and fry them in butter.   I always thought they were better than steak.   Once, I decided to go mushroom hunting all alone, since I knew my brothers were all busy helping my father.   I followed the creek, looking in all the usual places but didn’t find any.   I decided to go beyond the big bridge at Riverside Drive, into a meadow where I was sure there would be mushrooms.   The only problem was that the property belonged to a man who kept bulls in that pasture.   I wanted mushrooms so bad that I climbed over the fence that had 2 strands of barb wire on top.   I got so excited finding mushrooms that I forgot to watch for the bulls.   I heard a pounding coming behind me and saw a bull running toward me.   I ran as fast as I could back to the fence and climbed over just in time.   Going over, my blouse caught on the barb wire and ripped and I was bleeding.   My mother was very upset with me.

Frozen laundry-

     When my mother did the laundry, she had 2 big tubs, one to wash and one to rinse.   There was a wringer with a handle.   I would help by turning the handle.   It would get the water out so my mother could hang them on the clothes lines.    Summers were easy but in the bitter cold winters, she had to do it all in the back room and then take the clothes outside in the cold.   The clothes would totally freeze and the wind would blow the ice out.   When my mother got in her 70s and 80s, her fingers became very sore and her knuckles knotted, from all those cold laundry days.  We had a root cellar, built in the bank, by the clothes lines.   We put some of the produce in there to keep them from freezing.   It was wonderful to have fresh vegetables in the middle of winter.   Mother also canned lots of fruits and vegetables.   Our farm had horses, cows, pigs and chickens.   My brothers even raised pheasants.

My tomboy Childhood

Little Jewell - second grade, 2nd row, 3rd from right

Special birthdays

     While there were just studs up and a roof, I had my 8^th birthday.   I begged and Dad let me have my party in the new house.  He was happy when we swept up the saw dust and nails to make it clean.

      I have so many memories of other birthday parties.   We girls would ask my mother to help fix a lunch to take along down to the creek.   She would fix some sandwiches and lemonade, and a coconut cake.   We all walked across a big field and came to a high bank, overlooking the creek.   We would sit down and eat our lunch.   I will never forget looking down into the creek bottom.   The whole valley was full of May flowers, which have beautiful white blossoms.   As the wind blew, all the flowers would look like waves in the breeze.   After eating, we took off our shoes and socks so we could dip our feet in the ice cold creek.   The water was always still cold when my birthday came in May.   Then we would all pick big bunches of May flowers and bring them home to our mothers.

Making skis-

    I was always tagging along with my brothers everywhere they went.   One time they went to a dump to look for things they could use to make sleds and skis out of for the winter.   I was walking some distance behind them and wandered off to the side.  My right foot broke through a crust and my leg went down into a white hot place.   I called out and they came running and pulled my foot out.   If my other foot had gone in, I could have gone down and gotten burned.   I was careful after that.   My brothers made the skis out of barrel staves and put leather straps on to slip my feet into.   One day I was trying on the skis they had just finished making and one of my brothers said “Let’s go down to Devil’s Hill and try them out.”   Devil’s Hill was behind the cemetery and I had only used a sled on it once.   I went down and at the bottom the hill went right back up.   My skis didn’t go up, they went straight into the hill and I ended with my face in the snow.   My brothers helped me up but I am sure they enjoyed the whole picture.

Fishing by the river-

     As I was growing up, one day my brothers took me along to fish in the Grand River.   There was a place where a creek came into the river.   It was wider there so I would play in the water there as they fished.   Our little terrier, Tippy, was so happy to go along.   He would get excited when a fish was pulled out of the water.   One day I found an old log and rolled it into that water and climbed on it and rode it all around in a big circle.    All was well until it suddenly floated out into the river.   It seemed fun until it reached the middle of the river where I found myself in the swift current.   Then it started rolling over and over with me holding on for dear life.   I couldn’t have been more than 7 or 8 years old.   I called out loudly and my brothers heard me.   Sherle ran down stream until he came to a row boat tied to a dock.   He hurriedly pushed it out and rowed to me.   Finally he reached out and pulled me to shore and saved my life.

Sink hole-

     Another time, I was walking in a low area along the river and didn’t follow behind my brothers.   Instead I walked along the river’s edge and felt myself sinking.   It was a patch of sink sand that my brothers didn’t even know it was there.   Once again, they got me out, using a log to reach me.

Shell gas sign-

     One day when I was very young, my brothers were playing in the back yard and they had a big round Shell Gas sign that we used to slide down hill in the snow.   But, this was summer and Lester sailed it into the air, like a boomerang, so it would come all the way back to him.   One time it didn’t come back, but went to the side and hit Sherle in the side of his face, cutting him real deep all the way through his cheek.   Dr. Braley came and sewed it up but he had a scar the rest of his life.

Amusement park-

     Lyle always took good care of me, so I would have a good time without getting into trouble.   He used to earn some money on the farm and we would hitch-hike to Grand Rapids.  We would go to Reeds Lake Amusement Park and go on rides, get something good to eat, and hitch-hike back home.   He would also go with me to the town dances.   He always said “If you smell alcohol on a man’s breath, give me a signal and I will get you away from him”.   Lyle was the best brother a girl could ever ask for.

Snakes-

     One time while walking in a field, my brothers and I came to a fence on our way to the gravel pit.   We had to climb over it, so I went to the fence corner by a shade tree, climbed up, and was about to jump down when Lyle hollered, “Don’t jump!”   He had spotted a rattle snake curled up, right where I would have landed.

Trapping a skunk-

     We always liked to hike around the country side as it was a nice pastime that didn’t cost any money.   My brothers liked to fish and hunt.   They set up traps in the river to catch muskrats because when they brought them home, they could sell the skins to a man downtown who paid 50 cents each.   They even sold skunk skins, the ones with very little white on them were worth more money.    One day when we checked the traps, there was a skunk in one.   My brothers told me to hit it with a stick because it was still alive.   I hit it right behind its head and it sprayed me really bad.   I ran away from it.   They got it out of the trap and we all went home.   My mother was disgusted with my brothers for having me get my clothes all smelly.   Later they told me I could have the money from selling the hide.   All was forgiven.

Lester made a radio-

    Our entertainment was our radio.   We had one in our home because my brother Lester sent away for the components and put them together himself.   Our family was the first ones in Saranac that had a radio.   I remember how neighbors and friends came to put the ear phones on to listen to ‘Amos and Andy’, and the ‘Two Black Crows’, and other good programs.    Lester also loved astronomy and read many books about the stars and moon.    We would lay an old blanket outside and he would show us each star that had a name and tell all about it.   This was a big help in school.

My big dog named Bob-

     An elderly neighbor had a big dog.   I always stopped and sat on the porch to talk with him.   He was getting pretty old and was very sick.  He knew he couldn’t care for his beautiful collie anymore, so he asked me to take her home and care for her.   I called her Bob because I just liked the name.   Bob made herself at home and my brothers built her a nice warm dog house for the winter.   She was an outside dog.   A few years later she became pregnant.   It was in the fall so my brothers fixed a cover over her house with bales of straw so she would be nice and warm.   One night we had an ice storm and that was the night Bob had her puppies.   She didn’t stay in her dog house with the puppies.   Instead, she must have tried to get into the barn.   She took the tiny puppies to each barn door and couldn’t get in.   My brothers came in the house and woke me up to get dressed and come outside.   They showed me 3 little puppies, one left at each barn door, all frozen to death.   I was so sad, I especially felt sad for Bob because she must have tried to have her puppies in the barn with all the horses and cows, where there was lots of room on the straw, but all the doors were shut.   Bob never had any more puppies, even though she was a healthy dog.

Wagon ride to Morrison Lake-

     My brother and sister and I used to hitch up old Dick, one of the work horses, to the wagon.   On nice days we would bring along a basket lunch and big jars of lemonade, and ride in the wagon to Morrison Lake.   We went to the east end, where there were trees for shade and grass for the horse to eat.   We would spread out the tablecloth on the ground and relax and enjoy a good time.   Then we went swimming before we headed back home.   It was quite a few miles but the trip was so fun that it seemed we were home before we knew it.

Visiting churches-

     All the years I was growing up, my father brought us to church on Sundays.   Sometimes we took the wagon, but usually we walked the 3/4^th mile, even if it was deep snow.   Our Sunday school teacher would take us to different churches some times, so we could see the differences in beliefs.   Once, my sister Anna and I visited the Free Methodist church in town.   We sat near the back and listened to the message but near the end of the service, some people got down on the floor and rolled under the pews.   My sister took my hand and we quietly slipped out the back door.   We decided that is why they are referred to as “holy rollers”.

Life as a teenager living in Saranac

Fun in town-

     I remember back when I was young and the big excitement for teenage girls living in Saranac was Wednesday and Friday evenings.  5 or 6 of us girls would walk around and around the one main street where there were lights and stores, where you could win a six pound bag of sugar.   Everyone would crowd downtown.   Even in the summer, there were movies on the grassy spot behind the stores, showing our favorite stars, Gloria Vanderbilt or Dorothy and Bing Crosby and “Dancing in the Rain” with Frank Sinatra.   These were some of the very best things to do. 
Watermelons- 

     I remember one night when it was just starting to get dark, all of us girls ran to jump into Hugh Dodd’s car.   Someone said, “Let’s go watermelon cooning”.   That was one of the most popular things to do.   Someone else said, “Let’s go up to Benjamin’s melon patch”.   That is when I realized they didn’t know I was in the dark car.   I spoke up, saying I would go pick out the melon, because I had been thumping all the big ripe ones that day and knew the one to pick.   I showed them where to park so we wouldn’t be seen with the headlights turned off.   I got the ripest one without letting my father know or he might shoot his gun into the air if he heard us there.   All went well and we took the melon to a place along the creek to eat it.   Everyone said they had never eaten such a perfectly ripe melon before.   Then I told them about how I knew exactly where the ripe one was, HA!     We were glad to be by the creek to wipe all the sticky juice off our faces.

Marshmallows-

     In the winter, a big group of us would bring along marshmallows to toast and head for the Mill Pond.   We had a special spot where we would go skating and have a wonderful time.    Then we would toast marshmallows on a stick till it was time to head home.   In small towns, there are so many things to do to keep teenagers busy without mischief.

Basketball-

     Our house was on the edge of town, just past the cemetery.   When I was in the 6^th to 8^th grades, I always stayed after school to practice basketball with the older girls.   It was so interesting because I was quite short but could easily shoot baskets from anywhere on the floor   I wasn’t tall enough to be a good guard.   When I was in the 8^th grade, our coach said that the team needed me as a forward because I was good at making baskets.   I was put on the team even though it was normally a rule you needed to be in the 9^th grade to be on the team.   That year we won more games than usual and my father would set up in his seat and cheer me on.   I was proud that my dad was there and he was proud of me.

Operetta-

     In high school I was in an operetta, playing the part of Merilee.   I still have the book.   I also asked if I could do the scenery for the background.   I really enjoyed painting a stone wall with roses growing on it.   I wish I had a picture of that.   It was fun painting something so huge and real looking.    I wish I had gone on in my life with painting.   When God gives you a gift, you should use it to the best of your ability.

Gypsies-

    All winter when we practiced, I had to walk home alone afterwards in the dark, past the cemetery.    Once on my way home, a car full of people stopped and 2 ladies dressed in bright colored dresses got out and came to me.   They both took a hold of me and urged me to get into the car.   I remembered how my mother told me about gypsies wanting to get girls to go with them, she told me not to ride with them.   I jerked free and ran across a big field to get home.   I was so afraid they would turn up Jackson Road and cut me off from getting to my house.   Then I saw that they kept driving on David Hwy.   I ran so fast and was out of breath, but I got home and told my mother what happened.   She was so happy that I was safe and did the right thing.   I never saw any gypsies after that.   Another time, walking home, it had been snowing and the snow was very deep.   There were car tracks for me to walk in.   When I got to the cemetery, I saw something walking in the track ahead of me.   I could smell it was a skunk, so I stepped out of the track, into the deep snow, to change direction, but I saw the skunk did the same thing.   I went to the other side then, away from him.   I ran through the deep snow, got past the skunk, and ran all the way home.    I told my family at the dinner table and they all laughed, but to me, it wasn’t funny.

My sister’s dress-

     My sister, Anna, could sew her own clothes.   She worked in a store in Ionia where they had a great variety of things.   When they had a sale on yard goods, such as cloth to make a dress out of, she would buy enough to make a dress or 2 for herself.   One time she had gotten some material, several yards of 2 prints that I especially liked.   When she had finished them, they hung in our closet and looked so pretty.   When I was getting ready for school, that morning, after she had left for work, I tried them on, knowing that she was much taller than me.   I thought I would look nice in the pretty soft brown dress with little yellow flowers on it.   I pinned it all around the waist with large safety pins to make it look my length.   I put a brown belt on to cover the pins.   After eating my breakfast, I quickly went to school.   I was 13 years old and in the 7^th grade.   Every one of my girlfriends told me how pretty my new dress was, so I just smiled back.   Then the teacher called me outside the school room door and asked me about my dress.   She had noticed how the hem was hanging long and short in places, so I had to tell her the truth about it.   She gave me a hug and was very understanding.   She re-pinned it so it would hang evenly.   After school, I hurried home to take the dress off, set up the ironing board, and quickly pressed out all the marks the pins had made.   I hung it back in the closet and my sister never noticed anything wrong, I was so relieved.   When we were older and had families, I told her all about what I did.   She laughed so hard and said she would never have known if I hadn’t told her.   

Meeting Bob in high school - 1934

Making mistakes-

     When I was young, it wasn’t so easy to walk with Jesus, I made many mistakes.   Even though I learned from my mother reading the Bible, I still was not in close contact with the Lord.   All through school, I was counted as a good girl and other students followed me because their parents knew I wouldn’t lead them astray. 

 The new boy at school-

     In my junior year in high school, a new boy came into our class.   He told us he used to attend Ionia high school.   His name was Bob Swanberg and he was very friendly.   He lived on N. Bellamy Rd. half way between Saranac and Ionia.  He told us his grandpa bought an old car for him and he worked hard to fix it up so he could drive into Saranac to attend school there.   Bob had several students who lived out in the country near where he lived on a farm.   These riders each gave him enough money so he could pay for gas.

Biology Class-

     One day in biology class, the teacher was teaching about genetics.   He told how you can tell, by examining farm animals, if they are healthy and would produce good stock.   He said it was the same with people, you can just observe their hair and skin color to be able to tell who, when paired together, would produce good children.   Then he said, “for instance, in this class, if I were to pick who I thought would make a good pair, I would pick Jewell and Bob”.   Then he went on to say the offspring would be healthy and probably very handsome.   Everybody looked at each of us and I felt a little embarrassed but then he said farmers do the same on a farm to raise good livestock.   Later on, others forgot what he had said, but Bob and I never forgot.

Tardy for school-

     In the spring, when everything was beautiful out, Bob asked me and my friend to go for a ride in his car.   Bob drove just outside of town where we parked and ate our lunch.   All of a sudden we heard big rain drops on the canvas roof of the car.   We had to put down the side curtains of the car to keep the rain out.   It was so special, sitting there listening to the rain, that we forgot the time.   When Bob looked at his watch, he hurried up and drove us back to school.    When we opened the classroom door, our teacher scolded us and asked why we were late.   Bob told her what happened but she still questioned his answer.   My friend said, “If you don’t believe us, ask us”.   We always laughed about that later, even though it didn’t make any sense.   The teacher was satisfied and continued to teach algebra.

Eloping to Indiana – April 1935

Running away with Bob-

     Later that same spring, while I was still a junior, Bob came to my home and said his parents had kicked him out and he had no place to go.   He begged me to go with him for a ride.   We got in the car and drove and drove, all afternoon and all night.    Bob told me we would go to Indiana and get married.   He had made a bed in the back of the car, he even had blankets.   I worried about what my parents would do when I didn’t come home that night, mother would be so worried.   The next day we got into a small town and saw a big house with a sign that read “Marriage licenses and weddings preformed”, so we stopped and went in.   The people at the desk were very helpful and asked lots of   questions.   We wrote our names and ages on a book and then were taken to a room where there were a lot of seats.   At the front was an organ.   We waited quite a while until other couples came and an organist played.    It was all beautiful; it was like a group wedding took place there.   When we left, Bob drove out in the country and parked on a little lane by a field.   He fixed the bed in the back seat area.   We went to sleep and heard it raining.   In the morning there was a knock on the door so Bob opened it up.   There was a farmer who said he could see we were stuck in the mud and he would get a team of horses to pull us out of the mire.   We thanked him and went on our way.   All of this seemed like just a dream to me.   We drove back home and Bob took me to meet his parents, where we stayed for a while.   Then we went to my home where my parents were so happy to see us.  

Getting jobs and finishing school- 1936

     Bob drove to Lansing to get a job at the Luce Factory.   He rented a room from my brother, Lester, and his family.   He would work weekdays and come home weekends.  We continued in this plan all summer and in the fall I went back to school to finish my senior year.   While I was still living with Bob’s parents, I got a job in an Ionia restaurant, when I wasn’t in school.  It was winter and it had snowed all day.   After work Grandpa Swanberg got off work at the barber shop and he picked me up from my work at a restaurant called “The Sugar Bowl”.   We headed for their home on Bellamy Rd. over country roads but when we got on their small road, the wind had drifted the snow so deep that the car couldn’t get through, and the engine stalled.    I wasn’t dressed to walk in deep snow, only in a skirt and nylons, but there we were, with a mile of deep snow between us and home.   When we finally got there, my legs were bright red and numb from the cold.   We got into the house and Grandma Swanberg used ice cold water to massage my legs with.   She was a registered nurse and knew not to use heat.   My legs got better after a few days, the redness and numbness left.   Bob was a grade ahead of me and had already graduated, so while I finished school, he continued to work in Lansing.   After I graduated, I moved to Lansing and we rented an apartment.

Married life in Lansing in 1937

Starting beauty college-

     It was 1937 and Bob and I were married couple, living in Lansing.   Bob was working at Luce Factory but I was sitting at home in an apartment spending my time sewing a dress for my sister’s little girl.   I felt I needed to have a job and earn money to contribute to our financial needs, but I was not trained in a profession.   I saw an ad in the newspaper for Fisher Beauty School, so the next day, for a small fee, I signed up to start immediately.   I made friends and enjoyed it very much.   We learned about dying hair and using a curling iron.   One day a lady came into the shop and wanted to have her hair dyed a darker color than it was.   I learned I had to ask if her hair had been pre-treated within the last 2 weeks.   She said NO, so I went ahead with the treatment.   I noticed that there was a strange feel to the hair, as if it were brittle.   As I came to the final step, I saw it was turning a strange color, sort of green-blue.   I asked again if she had it treated before and she admitted that she had.   Her hair looked terrible but she said it wasn’t my fault.   She would have to wait until it grew out and had it cut before getting it dyed again.   It was my only bad experience.   I did so well that the owner said I could become a teacher and get paid until the full period of training was over.   That was a big financial help.   After I finished, I was given a job in a shop across the street that was also owned by the Fisher school owners.   I worked there about 6 months when I became pregnant.

Earthquake-

     We decided we needed a larger apartment so we moved into the upstairs of a nice house on Garden St, off Washington St.   The owners had a 5 year old boy.   One day I was sitting on their porch, sewing on her sewing machine, when I felt the machine jiggling and moving down the porch.   I stood up and held onto it.   Later I found out on the radio that it was an earthquake.   I had never been in one before or since.

My first baby, John - October 1937

     With my pregnancy and morning sickness, I couldn’t stand the smell of food, so I would cook Bob’s breakfast and leave.   I needed to hurry to get to the corner of Garden and Washington St. to catch the bus that took me to work.    I would stand behind the tree and throw up, before getting on the bus.    I worked until I came close to my birth time, so we moved again, to Hungerford St, off W. Saginaw St.   It was a few blocks from where my sister Anne and Alva and their family lived.   Bob brought me to the hospital when the time came and then he went to work.   It was not long before John arrived.   Since I was put to sleep for the delivery, I awoke in a room all alone.   I asked to see my baby but all the nurses were busy.   I became afraid that something had happened to my baby.   All day passed by and they never showed me my baby.   I pulled the covers over my head and cried.   Later in the day, Bob came carrying a big basket for the baby; he looked very funny as he came in his overalls, swinging the basket.   It made me laugh.   Then a nurse brought John, my little fat healthy baby, for me to hold and all was well.

I guess that is how a Catholic hospital does, but it sure scared me.   Bob had driven to Ionia and gotten his mother who was an RN all her life and we all brought John home.   She helped me learn how to take care of a brand new little baby.   She stayed a few days and then Bob’s father came to drive her home.  

Early years in Potterville 1938

Building our first house-

     One time when John was a baby and we lived in the upstairs of a home in Potterville, Bob was still working at the Luce Factory in Lansing.  Bob’s parents brought us 2 crates of fresh corn.  The woman we rented from taught me how to can corn.   It was delicious to eat corn in the winter.

     Later that year we moved across town, into the upstairs of a large home by the railroad tracks.   The owner was a drinker and sometimes would be drunk and crawl up the stairs and knock on my door.   I would never let him in.   He always asked for my Sloan Liniment, because he could see into my cabinet from the stairway.   I never gave it to him because his wife said he would drink anything like that and it would burn his stomach.   The good thing that happened was while we were there Bob started thinking of building a house.

     Bob said “I’d like to build a house.  I think I could but I don’t know how to measure and cut rafters”.   Bob decided to build a house on a small scale that would fit in our living room, just so he would know how to do it.   He had to figure out how to miter the rafters for the entrance and dormers.   The little model house was built.   Then we bought a lot across the street from the school and Bob’s dad borrowed from his insurance to lend his son $300.00 to buy used lumber to build the house.   Bob rented a scoop, fastened it to his car, and pulled scoops of dirt out to make a basement hole.  I was pregnant but we went with a trailer and picked up loads of rocks.   I used a cement mixer and poured it into the basement wall forms while Bob filled it in with the rocks. 

     He worked on the house weekends, so while he was building it, I was asked to be in a town play.   I was still not showing my pregnancy so I agreed.   They had babysitters to care for our young children.   We had such a good time putting on the plays and the income helped the little town with beautification.   Finally in the fall we moved into our unfinished house.  Bob covered the siding with tar paper and the inside walls with water proof paper to keep dampness out.  He kept working on our house while we lived in it.  Bob paid his dad back the money when we sold the house and from then on, Bob built homes all over the Lansing area.

Joyce was born – October 1939

    I was getting close to my delivery time.  I had a doctor with a huge home in Charlotte, which he turned into a hospital.   We had company for dinner and they helped me put up curtains.   After they left, my pains started.   Bob took me to the hospital.  I had a hard time getting up his long winding staircase.   By the time they got me to the delivery room, I was ready to deliver.   I refused to be put to sleep so I could see my baby right away.   My beautiful little girl was born and I called her Joyce.   I had to stay in the hospital for a few days so the neighbors helped care for John.

     I came home to an unfinished house with a new baby and a 2 year old to care for.    The weather had turned cold by then so we had to keep the potbelly stove heating all night.   We took turns keeping it stoked.  Joyce got earaches easily when she was small.

     Bob’s parents told him that their old pastor was coming to Pottersville to preach, so Bob wanted to attend church that Sunday. I was so happy he wanted to go but he never wanted to go again.

     One day I was cooking carrots for supper when I heard people shouting “Fire! Fire!”   I looked out and saw a house on the street behind us on fire.   I stood there watching for a while and started to think I could smell the smoke at my house.   I turned around and saw my carrots had boiled dry and were burning in the pan.   We ate the top ones but they already tasted burnt.

     When we sold our little unfinished house, we moved into a rental on Main St.   It had been a store with large front windows.   We used that room for our bedroom with heavy drapes.   We could hear people walking right by our windows, it seemed strange.  

     While we lived there, I guess our neighbors realized we didn’t have much money.   On Thanksgiving, one of our neighbors brought us a roaster pan, with enough leftover turkey for us to eat for several days.   The same neighbor brought over material that I used to make dresses and pants for the children.   I sewed by hand as I had plenty of time while the children were playing.

Living in Lansing

Miracle Maid Cookware

    At this time, Bob started building another house, a tri-level on Maycroft St., off W. Saginaw St. in Lansing.   I would love to see that house again.   It was on a sloping lot with the garage underneath.   I made fluffy white curtains throughout.   One day a salesman came to the door and told me the house was beautifully decorated.   He asked if he could hold “Miracle Maid Cookware” parties in our home and I could earn all my cookware free.   We agreed and invited all our neighbors to the party.   They bought cookware so eventually I did get my free cookware set.

Carl’s birth – January 1943

     When we sold that house, Bob was building another one on Alpha St.   While living there, Carl was born.  When he was born, one of the nurses carried him all around and showed him off, calling him the “Little Elephant”.    He was very healthy.   One of the neighbors gave me a big party and I got so many beautiful baby gifts.

     When Carl was still young, John, Joyce, and Carl all had chicken pox and measles at the same time.   It was quite a mess, but they all came through it just fine.

Lake Lansing

     While living there, Bob bought a lot on Lake Lansing and built a small cottage on it.   He built me a little red row boat in the basement of our home on Alpha St.   When it was finished, he had to tear out the basement stairway to get the row boat out.   Every summer we spent weekends at the cottage, it was small with built-in bunk beds, a small kitchen, and a large screened in porch.

     When the house off of south Cedar St sold, he built a house on Kelsey St. in SW Lansing.   That is where we lived when John started school.   The school was not far from our house.  At first I walked him to school but soon there were older children who walked together so he walked with them.

     After that house sold, Bob built onto the cottage, doubling the size by adding 2 bedrooms upstairs, and a garage with a washroom.   He built a large building behind the house that he used to build a 17 ft. racing sail boat.   We used the sailboat on Lake Lansing and then sold it for a good price.   Next he built a speedboat and finished it so beautiful, like a piece of fine furniture.   But, the bow sloped down so when we went at a high speed, it would nose dive down in the water, so we sold it.   Bob built a launch that we used on Lake Lansing.   Many of our relatives and friends would enjoy a leisurely ride on the lake, especially in the evenings.

Fishing in the early mornings

     I would get up at 4:00 in the morning to go out fishing while everyone was still sleeping.   I knew a place where the creek ran into the lake and the pike liked the cold fresh water.   I would always bring home one or two pike, they tasted so good.   The children and I would go mushroom hunting at a special place and bring home lots of fresh morels and fry them in butter.  

Quick vacation to Florida

     One year while we were still living at Lake Lansing, Bob decided we should take a quick trip to Florida.   He liked to go to all the boating areas and see the other kinds of boats.   We asked around and found an 18 year old who was recommended as very dependable.  We left for a week in Florida.    Lyle and June went with us so we locked Lyle’s new sports car in the boat shed.

     We came home at the end of the week and found a mess.   The girl’s boyfriend, who was in the Navy, had come home on leave and they managed to get into the boat shed and took Lyle’s car for a ride.   The young man drove too fast on a curve and wrecked the car, with our 3 children and the girl in it.   No one was hurt but the car needed a lot of repair.   After that we hired a responsible nurse so they would be safe.   Our children were so precious to us that it was a terrible shock that they might have been killed in that car accident.   We learned a big lesson after the accident and it made us very careful after that.

Carl’s choking, move to Florida 1945

     When Carl was about 3 years old, we were living in Lansing at the cottage on Lake Lansing.   We were having a party and the children were enjoying the birthday cake, sandwiches, Kool Aid, and a dish of Spanish peanuts.  They kids all left the table with their hands full of peanuts, running down the steps and heading for the park next door.   Because he was the youngest, Carl was the last to hurry down the steps, but he fell and choked on his mouth full of peanuts.   The man who maintained the park saw Carl fall and came running over to help.   He noticed Carl was choking and coughing so he picked him up by his feet and gently shook him.   Most of the peanuts came out.   He had mostly quit coughing but I took him home to keep an eye on him.   In the middle of the night, I woke up hearing someone wheezing with a very tight sound.   It was Carl and he was having difficulty breathing.   The doctor told us to rush him to the hospital.   The minute we arrived, they took Carl into the operating room.   When the doctors came out, they said that if we hadn’t gotten him there quickly, he would have died, because the finely chewed peanuts had abscessed and filled the lungs.   We thanked them for saving his life, but God was overseeing the whole thing.   Carl was kept in the hospital, under an oxygen tent, for over a week.   They told us we needed to get him to a warm climate to be able to heal his lungs.   We packed up the car and a truck, and moved to Pinellas Park, Florida.  

Living in Florida - 1946

     In Pinellas Park, we found a nice old house with a porch on 2 sides.   It had a garage for our boat, Swan I, that we hauled down with us, and a big side yard full of citrus trees.   Carl recovered quickly, and was soon out running with the other children.   While we were in Florida, Bob built several small homes which were unfinished, but people bought them right away and finished them themselves.   We had time to take our sailboat out to the Gulf of Mexico many times.   We built a pier out on an island where we could tie up our boat.  A bridge connected it to the mainland.   Near the bridge was a large fish house and store, so every time we came home from a day of sailing, we stopped and bought seafood.   At home, I fried the seafood and fixed steamed vegetables.   The house was completely furnished and had a large building in the back yard for Bob to work in.   Joyce was small and played with the neighbors who had southern accents.   Soon she was talking with an accent, too.   John came home from school and said he needed a costume for a Halloween parade.   We used a cardboard box and drew faces on each side.   We used a sheet to cover his body.   He came home so happy because he was one of the winners.   One day as we were going out of the bay area, we came to John’s Pass.   It was a narrow inlet with a bridge over it.   We saw a boat approach the bridge and the attendant opened it for him.   So, we headed for the bridge but the attendant just stood on the bridge but didn’t open it for us.   We found out later, you need a boat horn to blow for him to open the bridge.     

Okemos - 1947

The house with the pool

     Bob decided to build a nice house in Okemos that was at 1785 Hamilton Rd.   I don’t remember how many years we lived there.   When it was finished he built a big pool in the back yard with a windmill to pump the water for the pool.   We went out in the fields and picked up rocks and took turns with the sledge hammer, splitting them.   Bob built the base of the windmill using cement and the flat sides of the stones facing out, it was beautiful.

     Next, Bob built a really large building behind the pool area, in his spare time.   He used it to build a large sailboat, Swan II, which slept 8.   We had bought the land behind our house and beside it, so Bob built a whole subdivision on those lots. He named his new road Swanberg Drive, but it now called Seneca Drive.  Our whole neighborhood became a big family.   Two elderly ladies gave Carl odd jobs and made a candy house for Christmas that was all edible.   Another neighbor had a son that became John’s good friend.   Another lady was a teacher and home schooled her son during the summer.   She invited Joyce to join him.  That schooling helped Joyce so much, they had lots of fun.   Our house was always full of young people in and out, partly because of the pool.

Carolyn was born – February 1947

   When we were living in a rented house on McCullough St, Carolyn was born.   I could feel that she was about to be born but the only car there was a gravel truck, so Bob helped me up into the seat and he took off real fast.   The ride was real bumpy and as soon as we got to the hospital, they hurried me into the delivery room and there was the baby.   Carolyn was a healthy plump cheeked little baby.   I was kept in the hospital only a few days and then we were released to go home.

Mary’s birth - 1951

     Mary was born at Sparrow hospital.  By the time I got into the delivery room, my pains were coming very close together.   The doctor checked me and left me with 2 nurses.   When I was ready, thee nurses couldn’t find the doctor.   I needed for the baby to be delivered but the nurses held my legs together with all their strength.   I knew it wasn’t right.   Finally the doctor came and Mary was delivered, but I wasn’t doing well, so the doctor had to give me oxygen, and Mary, too.   She was such a beautiful baby.   Later, a nurse told me the doctor had been in his office with a young nurse with the door locked.          

     At that time, my mother lived alone in her home in Saranac, as my father was ill in the hospital.   My brothers and sister decided my mother should live with one of us.   Bob spoke up and said she could live with us and help with the care of Mary.   After Mary was done nursing, I was able to get away for two day trips.   Bob liked to visit boat shows in Chicago so it would be nice that she would be there with the children.   It worked out good for everyone.

Chicago Swanberg

     We had some time to spare while in Chicago, so Bob looked in the phone book and found the name “Swanberg” so he said, “Let’s go visit them”.   When the man came to the door, he was a black man, who said he was Mr. Swanberg.    We were so surprised, we expected the person to be Swedish.

Arthur’s birth - 1953

     When I was about 7 ½ months pregnant, Bob finished the largest sailboat he built in the boat house behind out pool.   He decided to transport the sailboat over to Holland to a boat dock.   Bob asked me to go along to help by driving behind and telling him if the boat came too close to overhead electric lines.   The boat was on a flat bed truck.   I asked Marilyn, Anna’s daughter, if she would come along.   We needed help to clean inside the boat because it was full of sawdust.   She rode with me and the trip went well.   Once the boat was tied up at the pier, Marilyn and I got busy and cleaned the boat thoroughly.   I let Marilyn do all the ceilings and I cleaned the cabinets and bunks.   After we finished, we went for a short walk around the bay and saw how beautiful it was.   By the time we returned to the boat the men were finished with rigging the boat so I decided I would fix a steak dinner in the boat as everyone had worked up a good appetite.   We had just started when I felt a sharp pain and then another and another.   I realized I must be having labor pains early.   Bob went out and got directions to the hospital.   We went up some winding streets to the top of the hill where the hospital was.   Bob got me inside and Arthur was born as soon as I was admitted to the delivery room.   The doctors told me there might be problems since he was born so early.    When they brought him to me, he was only 4 ½ pounds and so tiny on a pillow.   I was just happy he was alive.   We had to leave him at the hospital for a week before we could bring him home.   He was so cute and ate well and grew.

Polio - 1954

     While living in Okemos, my father died in August 1954 and he was buried in Saranac.  After a long day of sitting for the children, we decided to stop at the Ionia Free Fair on our way home and let them ride on some of the rides.   One of the rides was swings that would swing way out and go around.   Carolyn was dressed in a dress and short coat so her legs were bare.   After the swing stopped, she complained that her legs hurt very much, so we took her to the Red Cross station under the grand stand.   The nurses wrapped her in warm blankets to keep her warm on the drive home.   The next day I called the doctor who came to the house.   He did some tests and said it could be polio.   Her body was twisting so he held her shoulders and I help her hips to keep her from twisting.   He gave her penicillin and also gave some to Carl as he was complaining of pain, too.   Carl was OK, but Carolyn could not walk because the polio had affected her legs.

The Move to Onekama – 1955

Blood pressure problems

     Years earlier, while we were living in Okemos, Bob’s blood pressure went up really high and 5 doctors who had been called in on his case, told us that he was just too busy in his building business.   Bob had 5 large homes that he was building at that time for doctors and professors.   They asked him to build their homes because he was a real perfectionist when building big beautiful homes.   He was in demand in the East Lansing area.

     All this managing of the building of these homes had taken its toll and the doctors said he had to move away to a place where he could relax and earn money while doing his hobby.   We sailed up along Lake Michigan until we came to Portage Lake and as we sailed in the opening we saw the green hill sides on both sides of the lake and the water was absolutely blue green just like a picture.   We pulled up to a dock and spoke to a man who was standing there and I asked if he could direct us to a Wick-e-Wache, because that is where my Aunt Rose Fuller lived.   He showed us where she lived and we told her that we were looking for property on the lake to buy.   Aunt Rose invited us to stay at her house while we were there and the next day she took us to Mr. Hansen’s house, a neighbor.   He had 12 acres on the lake front that he would sell to us.   God is so good to help in our times of searching that he led us right to the perfect place to build a home and a boat yard.

Building the house on the lake

     Bob spent the weekends at Portage Lake as he was building our house up there.   Grandpa Swanberg worked right alongside of Bob and there were two other hired men to help with the building.  

     We started by building a small cottage next to Ellen Ave. which we lived in on weekends until the house was finished.   This was in 1954.   During the time of building our house, I stayed during the week in Okemos and the children went to school.   Grandpa and Grandma Swanberg had a tiny trailer they lived in, next to the cottage.   That year, when Carolyn was 7, she got polio.   Her legs, feet and ankles were affected.   When we were up at the lake on weekends, Joyce and I would help her walk, one on each side to support her in the sand up there in the driveway.    It was hot and very soft because of the machines driving on it.  She enjoyed it so much and eventually felt her leg muscles strengthen and she regained use of her legs for walking on her own.   It was hard driving back and forth every weekend but it was the only thing I could do.   In 1955, when the school year was out and the house on the lake was finished, we sold the house in Okemos and made the move to Portage Lake.

     Bob built us a lovely 3 garage home out of sandstone and also a boatyard.   Bob built a dredge to use to fill in the low land and also making the water deep enough for tying up boats at our docks.   It seemed to be what the doctor ordered.  

     When we went on a trip to the U.P. of Michigan, we were hiking in the woods with Anne and Alva, and we crossed a stream stepping from stone to stone.   They were flat stones, like slabs of beautiful colors, a mixture of green, blue, gray, and black.   I mentioned how beautiful they would look, if we had a floor made of them.   Bob stopped at a nearby town and asked, at a store where they sold flooring, if he could get some.   They said there was a quarry where he could buy them.    The company sent a train car load of it down to Onekama and that is what we used in our entrance floor of our house on Portage Lake.   There was a creek along the edge of the lawn which ran out into the lake.   Bob built a beautiful bridge crossing the creek, out of logs.   It was the only way to cross the creek to get to the boat yard.

     Bob’s parents, Alvin and Hilma Swanberg, moved into a larger trailer and put it on lot close to our property.   They lived there even when Bob had gone back up to the lake to put the boats back in the water.   They never said what happened to him and maybe never knew.   The whole thing has never been explained.   Maybe, when I get to heaven I will know.

     When it was time to move in, we shipped all our furniture and didn’t buy any new furniture, it all fit in perfectly.   We rented the little cottage to people who came up to the church camp, which was just down the road.

     Bob built a dredge and he worked with John and Carl to dredge out the bottom of the lake.   Deep water was needed to build the piers for large boats to tie up.   The sand was piped to the low land where it was swampy, to bring up the height of the land so Bob could build boat sheds.  Next, they built a rail way to run the boats on from the water up to the boat sheds   Bob could accomplish anything that he put his mind to and do it well.

Special Christmas Eve 1957

     One year when we lived on Portage Lake, we were all home except John, who was attending college in Ann Arbor, Mi.   He was working in a shoe store while going to college.   We received a call saying he would be home Christmas evening to open presents with us.   Everyone was busy getting presents wrapped and the women were in the kitchen fixing a really special Christmas Eve meal, followed by gift opening.   Everything was ready but John hadn’t arrived yet, so we all went and sat by the Christmas tree waiting for him.   Finally 8:30 came and we were all getting hungry so we decided it was time to eat.   We kept hoping he would arrive, but we ate our dinner without him.   Just as we finally gathered in the living room, there was a noise outside, a car arrived and the car door was shutting.   In the door came John with his arms full of presents.    We fixed John a plate of food as he put his gifts under the tree.   As we sat in a circle, John told us what had happened.   He had decided to hitchhike home after he got off work.   He caught a ride that only took him part way, but the second man who picked him up, asked him where he was going.   He was a sales man and would bring him right to our house, because it was Christmas Eve.   As we opened presents, the presents John brought were bedroom slippers for everyone in the family.   I wore mine for years and then kept them in a drawer because they were so different, like bear fur.   Our 3 kittens were playing in the wrapping paper, having just as much fun as we were.

     When John was away at college in Ann Arbor, he used to send his laundry home in a special suitcase made for that purpose.   I would wash and iron his clothes and mail them back in the same suitcase.

Ann’s and Donna’s births – 1957 + 1959

     Ann and Donna were both born when we lived up at Portage Lake.   When we brought Ann home from the hospital, many of our neighbors came in to see her.   I kind of believe they also wanted to see the inside of our beautiful home, Ha!   When I went to the hospital to have Donna, Bob decided to stay with me at her birth since he had not been present for any of the other births.   We waited and the baby just wasn’t ready to be born, so Bob left.   Hours later Donna was born.   The doctor said she was such a plump baby it just took longer.   We were thinking about what to name this baby.   Bob said when he was little; he had a pet rabbit named Donna so he named the baby Donna.   I think it was a good choice.

Adventures on our sail boats

All the boats Bob built

     First there was the little red row boat that he made for me, because he loved my fried fish, liked the way I lightly battered it, nicely browned and tender.

     The next boat he built was a racing sailboat, which we enjoyed on Lake Lansing.   Of course we sold it quickly because people saw how fast it slipped through the water and how beautiful it was.

     The third boat was like Ford’s Edsel car.   It was a speed boat and had a beautiful finish but because the bow sloped downward, as soon as it gained speed it would nose dive into the water, so we sold it.

     Then he built a launch that could hold our whole family.   We would putt-putt around the lake with all our family and friends.   We spend many enjoyable afternoons and evenings out on the water in the launch.

     The fifth boat was a motor sailer, Swan I, built in the boat house behind out cottage at Lake Lansing.  It was 25 foot long with a big engine, like a car engine, under cover in the back, with a mast in the front.   We did a lot of sailing around Lake Michigan and along the Wisconsin coast.

     Swan II, the biggest and best sailboat, was built in the boat house behind the pool in Okemos.   It was a 41 foot ketch motor sailboat.   It slept 8 people and had a good sized galley. It was sold in 1967.

     For use around the boat yard, Bob built a tugboat, named “Little Toot” after a bathtub toy, and 2 dredges, the first had problems so he built a new one after studying how other people had constructed theirs.

     Finally, he built a steel hulled 27 foot sailboat, the “Bluegill”, named for its sky blue paint.   It was the last sailboat he built and was similar to the first Swan and slept 3.

The Charlevoix trip - 1943

     There was a time when Bob and I were out in our motor-sailer when a big storm came up out of the north all black and orange rolling clouds.   We had John and Joyce with us and they were little.   We were a long distance from land.   I feared for our lives and I went down into the boat and knelt and asked the Lord to keep us from harm.   As I climbed back up out of the boat bob asked, “I don’t know what happened, but the wind has stopped blowing and we will need to take the sail down and turn the motor on”.

     We seemed to be traveling along in a narrow path with wind on both sides.   You could see the waves being pushed high into white caps on the Michigan side.   On the Wisconsin side there were black clouds so low to the water and the water was swirling, but the rough weather on both sides did not come close to us.

     The next day we heard that seven people were drowned near Charlevoix during a fishing contest and their small boats were turned over.   Also on the Wisconsin side they had water spouts causing many problems for boating.

Shallow Leland harbor - 1943

     One day, Bob and I were sailing north on Lake Michigan along the east coast.   The boat we were sailing in at that time was a 25 foot motor sailer that Bob built when we were living at Lake Lansing, in 1943.   When we were getting close to the Leland Harbor, a big storm came up.    We had charts to let us know where every harbor was so we knew we were close to the Leland entrance.   The chart showed us the depth of the water at the entrance was only 3½ feet deep and our boat needed 3 ½ feet.   With the waves getting very high, we wondered if we could even get into the harbor.   Then we saw two men running on the break walls, one on each side.   When we got closer, we threw ropes to each of them and they pulled us gently into the narrow opening between the break walls.   Once inside, we tied up at the boardwalk and felt such relief that we were protected from the storm.   At that time, Leland was just a small fishing harbor, none of the fishing boats were more than 25 feet long and were used to fish in Lake Michigan close to the harbor.   In later years, Leland was turned into an art colony, the scenery there is beautiful with a waterfalls adding to the whole attraction.

     I remember that when we were sailing across Lake Michigan, we always bought smoked fish to eat with crackers.   It was something that would agree with your stomach when the wind was strong and the boat was tipping up and down over the high waves.   At times it seemed the bow of the boat was pointing straight up while the back of the boat was trying to dump us into the bottom of a huge wave.   Still, there was a freedom in sailing the Great Lakes, as you were so far away from the daily worries of the normal world.   I believe that is why Bob needed to get onto the boat and sail out into the blue, blue water.

Manistique trip - 1944

    All the time we were traveling in a peaceful path heading for Manistique which is in the upper peninsula of Michigan.   As we entered a small creek leading us into the harbor, we came to an ice house where they allowed us to tie up for the night.   We walked up an embankment to the main street and found a nice restaurant to eat dinner at.   While in the restaurant, a fierce wind came up and we were asked to move back away from the bog glass windows.   After eating, we all walked across the street to a small theater where we enjoyed watching a cute children’s movie.   Afterwards, we went out on the street and were surprised to see huge limbs that had been blown off trees covering the street.   As we walked back down the small embankment to our boat everything appeared to have been protected down by the water but as we saw that the wet sawdust from the ice house had forced itself into our boat and it took far into the night to clean the sawdust out of our beds and drawers.   As we thought about it, we thought that the wind must have been a small tornado connected to the huge storm that had been on the lake.   All was quiet after that and we were so thankful that no one had been hurt through it all.   That is how the Lord works.   He will answer your prayers if you ask him.

Mackinaw island trip - 1957

     Bob had to go get the boats back in the water.   Several of our family went on a sailing trip to Mackinaw Island.   While we were there we hiked up to the fort and explored many things on foot.   But one day in the middle of the afternoon we decided to rent a horse and buggy and take the ride around the island.   When we started out, it was about 3:30 and the horse was doing a good job of taking us on paths that were real pretty and woodsy.   All of a sudden he stopped in his tracks and refused to go any farther.    We were at a very narrow place we couldn’t turn around so Bob got out and took a hold of the horse’s reins and had to pull hard to get him to a place wide enough for him to turn the buggy around.   Finally we were turned around and the horse trotted right along all the way back to the barn.   Bob asked why the horse wouldn’t go farther and the man said “Dolly knows when it is 4:00 and feeding time and she wants to get back to the barn”.   They didn’t give us our money back or even a ticket for another ride the next day.   After spending the day on the island, we headed back to Mackinaw City.   Joyce needed to get back to work the next day so Joyce, Carolyn, and I decided to hitchhike back to our car so Joyce could get to work on time.   We stuck out our thumbs and got a ride with a man only going a short distance.   The second ride, with an older couple, got us to Petoskey.   The third ride was a young couple with a child.   They were so nice; they took us right to our car in Pentwater, even though it was out of their way.   John and Bob sailed down the shoreline but they ran into a storm.   It tipped the boat on its side until the sail slid all the way to the top of the mast and got stuck there.   Eventually John had to climb out to the end of the mast to unhook the sail because the weight of the sail kept the sailboat tipped all the way over.   It is a miracle that John could do it without falling off into the water.

Living in Ft. Myers, Florida – moved 1960

The beginning of the divorce - 1961

     We had to move to Florida that fall because of Arthur’s illness.   In the spring, my husband had to go up to Portage Lake early to get the boats back in the water for customers at the yard.

     I had to stay in Florida until school let out so we could go up and join him.   Also, Donna was just little and needed bladder surgery.   We needed to wait to get her out of the hospital.   Finally school let out and the doctor said if I made a bed for Donna in the back of the van, we could take her out of the hospital.  

     Bob’s parents were living in their mobile home by the lake near our home, so Bob would eat his meals with them.   One day Bob called and said “Come quick!   I think my head exploded.   I need you to get up here as quick as you can”.   We quickly left and I drove as fast as was possible to get to Michigan.   We had to make a bed for Donna in the back of the van after just having surgery.   There was so much fog in the mountains that we could only see 2 cars ahead.   We still made the trip in record time.

     When I drove in the drive, I saw Bob and 2 other men in front of the newly built cottage, which was between our home and the boat yard.   We all jumped out of the car and ran to him.   I tried to put my arms around him but he turned away.   Something was wrong.   I later found out Bob had sold our beautiful home and most of our belongings were gone.   He built the cottage for us to live in.  I didn’t really know what I would do so I approached Bob and said, “What do you want?”   He just said “I will be living with Helen”.    Bob spent his time with a lady friend in Onekama.

     We spent the summer living in the cottage with this crazy setup.   I couldn’t eat because I was in this mixed up thing.   Bob wouldn’t come near the family or me, all summer.   I didn’t know what to do when it got near fall and the time to make plans for the winter.   We couldn’t live in that cottage with no heat.   So, I drove to Manistee to talk with some attorneys and they said I would have to get a divorce.   They said I should take all his money to raise the children but I couldn’t do that.   The attorney advised me to get Bob to come to an appointment to see if we couldn’t work things out.   The attorney called Bob and made an appointment.   But the hour came and he didn’t show up, so we made another appointment.   He still didn’t show up.   By the end of the summer, the attorney made up divorce papers providing me finances to be able to have money for food as we stayed the rest of the summer in the house near the boat yard.   

He had worked all his life for what he had, so I said I would divide half and half.   That is what we did on paper.   I believe it was the right thing to do.

     It was an unfinished house.   I looked upstairs where Bob said he kept my things locked up.   There on the floor and in between the floorboards we all the coins from Carl’s coin collection so I knew Helen’s boys had rummaged all through our things.   Bob agreed that they played up there.   After I didn’t find anything, the only thing I did find out was that Helen’s daughter had my sewing machine at her house.   I called her and she said she didn’t sew and only used it for a plant stand.   I went and picked it up.   It was custom made special so it meant a lot to me to get it back.

     Carl was in Milwaukee in the Navy and had just been released after a hernia surgery.   He hopped on a motorcycle and drove through Chicago and all the way up the coast without stopping.   Carl was so exhausted that I fixed a bed for him upstairs where he could rest without being disturbed.   His body shook so bad that I could hear the bed shake from downstairs.   He finally rested and had a good meal.   We were all glad he was there.   At the end of the summer, Bob came back with us to Florida and built a house with a pool for the children to swim in, at 1325 Forsyth Ct. in N. Ft Myers.   Then he left and went back to Helen in Michigan.   Our home in Okemos with the pool was so nice and comfortable; I always wondered how things would have worked out if we had never moved north.

Living in Florida without Bob

     When Bob and I were divorced, I could not imagine life going on after that because the sadness and loneliness seemed unbearable to me.   I had to adjust to all the change and only by prayer did I make it all those years, alone, raising 5 children who missed their father.   I had no experience in business like writing checks or paying bills because Bob had taken care of all that while I kept busy raising the children.   I went to the People’s Bank and took lessons from a lady in the back and she taught me everything I needed to know.

     Bob was the smartest man I knew, he could build anything he set his mind to.  I really believed Bob had a stroke (possibly a mini stroke) and it caused him to be a completely different person who couldn’t handle raising the family, especially a retarded son who was the reason for our move to Florida.   When I said that it seemed like there was a pattern to what happened in our lives, because in earlier years we had to move to Florida because of Carl being so ill with bronchitis.

     So three times we moved because of some illness but we wouldn’t have it any other way.   In each case, the person was helped by the move and their life went on much better.

     God has a plan for our lives and many times things do not go the way we would have done it.   In the long run, it turned out better and later on as the years went by, you can look back and see it.   I continually have prayed and depended on what the Lord directs me to do.

     When we were living on Forsyth Court, in N. Ft. Myers, we had a pool and everyone was careful.  There were no injuries in the pool except one close call.   When Donna was very young, we were always very careful that she would not get out by the pool alone.   One time I was in the living room and noticed the door to the pool was open.   I looked around and didn’t see Donna.   I ran outside and looked in the water.   There she was at the bottom of the pool with her eyes wide open looking up at me.   I jumped in the pool and pulled her out and she laughed!   That little child was laughing!   I guess she must have held her breath because she hadn’t swallowed any water.   It sure scared me.

Brothers and sister wintering in Florida
      My brothers and sister always called and wrote to me and my mother would try to cheer me up, as she was living with us.   I always looked forward to late fall, when Lester and Beatrice, and Lyle and June, would come down to Sunny Court, on old 41, to spend the winter.

     I had taken training to be a nurse’s aide, to be able to keep up financially.   I worked at a school close by.   I would leave for work by 7AM and return home by 2:45 PM, giving me time to rest a little while and catch up on household chores, have dinner ready, and clean up afterwards.    I knew that my brothers and their wives would be coming in at 7:30 to spend the evening playing games at the table.   My mother always had some mending to do.   Many winters, my sister, Anne, came to spend the winter and of course, she would enjoy the games with us.   I would always have apples ready for us each to eat as we played.   It just seemed like, with all of them being around, it kept me from worrying so much.

     In 1966, my mother, Agnes, passed away in her sleep, at the age of 86.

     The next winter, Bob’s mother, Hilma, came and spent a couple of months with us to get out of the winter cold weather.    She enjoyed being around my brothers and sister, but she didn’t play games.   She would stay up and read for a while than go to bed, but our laughter kept her awake.   Soon she would come back out and join us and end up laughing along with us.   We had good times.   Hilma liked to go out to eat at Morrison’s Cafeteria, so when I would get home from work, she would be sitting in the chair by the front door with her coat and hat on, purse in one hand and her cane in the other.   She was ready to go shopping and then eat out.   Sometimes I would be so tired when I got home, I would say, “Just let me lie on the couch and rest for a few minutes before we go”.    I would try to get a short nap but Hilma would sit and read her Bible in a loud whisper so that after 10 minutes, I knew a nap was impossible.   I was glad to get a rest.   She always wanted to give me something for her 3 month’s stay.   One time she surprised me with 2 new front tires on my car.   I was so thankful because they were needed.   Another time she bought a nice refrigerator as she could see mine was old and giving out.

     My brother Sherle drove down one fall, alone because his wife didn’t think she would like Florida.   Sherle made a tape all the way down telling all about the scenery and the weather.   One day as he was sitting on a wooden bench, he was stung by a scorpion.   We never could figure out how that happened.   It must have been living in the old wood on the bench, but no one else ever was stung.   One time, years before that, my mother got up in the night to go to the bathroom and stepped on a scorpion.   She has numbness in her foot and leg, so I went to a neighbor, who had lived in Florida all her life, for help.   She cut off a piece of the cactus by my house and pealed it, pressing the slimy inside into a poultice.   We put it on her sting and covered it with a piece of plastic and so it could draw out the poison.   It worked so well, the next day all the numbness was gone.   We did the same treatment for my brother’s sting and he got better, too.

Arthur’s bronchitis and life with retardation

     Arthur was born at 7 ½ months, with a problem of retardation.   He used to help me with small jobs in the yard as mowing lawn and weeding the garden.   I kept him at home as long as I could but he had to start school.  In Onekama, Arthur attended the regular elementary school.   When I would go visit the class he was in, I would always find him sitting on the floor in the middle of the room.   He was so cold since it was winter and the school had cold floors.   The rest of the children sat in desks.   I asked the teacher why and she said that Arthur couldn’t keep up with the rest of the class and needed separate attention. Bob had offered the county a lot on the corner of M22 and Ellen Ave. and said he would build a school, if they would provide teachers and furnishings, but it had to be for the retarded.   They didn’t agree to do it at that time.  

     There was a time when some of the family got very ill with what the doctor called “non-specific bronchitis”.   It was a very bad bronchial problem that seemed a little like whooping cough.   Mary didn’t get it and she helped me with caring for the rest even though she was young.   Each one got over the sickness except Donna, who was a baby under one year old, and Arthur who was our retarded son.   The doctor would stop by the house on his way to and from the hospital in Manistee.   One evening as he checked Arthur he said that Arthur was not improving and if we didn’t get him to a warm climate for the winter, we would lose him.   Bob and I talked it over and Bob said he knew a family who had to do the same thing and he would get in touch with them.   It turned out that the family had moved to Fort Myers Florida and told him there was Riverside School for the retarded there, so it was decided that we would pack just what was needed for the winter and move down there.   We found a house on Braman Ave, in Fort Myers and as the doctors had said, Arthur got well in the warm climate and we stayed all winter.

     By the time Arthur was 18 years old; he needed to be put on medication and needed more care than I could give him.    Arthur started in a special school for the retarded.  One day Arthur got off the bus screaming and running down the street.   He went to his room, threw clothes and towels around and I couldn’t get in, while he kept on screaming.   My neighbor helped until I could calm him down.   The next day I called his school and they said a man, named Stanley, had come in off the street and molested some of the boys in the bathroom, including Arthur.   I called for help from Lyle, my pastor, and the police, since Arthur was tearing up the house, so rough we couldn’t handle him.   He was taken to a hospital in Arcadia Florida, where he was evaluated for 6 weeks and medicated.   Then, after getting him adjusted on medication for paranoid schizophrenic disorder, he was transferred to Ft. Myers, to Sun Coast Center for the Retarded, where he lived, heavily medicated, until it was closed down.   He stayed there until he was 54.   He was transferred to Georgia, near Donna's home, when she became his legal guardian, in May 2008, just before his 55th birthday.  He went into a foster adult home run by Wanda Stamey.  She slowly got him off all his medications so he could live a full life.   He is all smiles and is so happy now, living the good life he had missed out on.

     Donna had also gotten the same virus Arthur had in Onekama but she still had it in Ft. Myers.   She became so ill that the doctors put her in the hospital.  Tests showed her illness had affected her bladder valve, so they replaced her valve right away.   This was when Bob called and we rushed to Michigan with Donna just out of the hospital.

 

Our short summer in California - 1964

     After Bob’s divorce from Helen, he married Shirley, who he met in Manistee.   She was young with 2 young sons.   They moved to Pacific Grove, California near Monterey, where he built a home on Presidio Dr.   (Later Helen died from cirrhosis of the liver, because she was an alcoholic).  

     Bob was building homes.  He became interested in flying so he took flying lessons and bought a small Cessna plane.  When Shirley took flying lessons from a young man her age, she fell in love with him and left Bob.

     One day, Bob called me and he was lonesome and begged me to come to California and remarry him.   He told me he was a different person now and would take good care of me and the children.   I so wanted to have the children to be able to have their father back, I flew out there.   At that time, I could see that Bob was trying to be the father that the children needed.   He came to Ft. Myers, where we got married a second time.   We put the house up for sale and packed the van and car, and headed for California.

     Bob had an unfinished house on a hillside in Pacific Grove.   I helped paint and varnish to finish the inside of the house we lived in while Bob built other houses.

     Bob had a Cessna plane and he had a call that his friend had crashed his plane on the mountain side at Carmel.   The friend had been injured but managed to get out of the plane and get part way down the mountain where friends found him and took him to the hospital.   When Bob went to visit him, he asked Bob to try to find his plane and get out all the expensive equipment that was in the plane.

     We flew over the area where he crashed and I spotted the shining of the sun on the wing so I marked the spot on a small map of the area.   The next day we climbed up the mountain to the top and there we split up and started down the mountain to look for the crash.   As I slid down under the bushes which covered the hill, I was glad I had taken time to wrap my legs with thick heavy material because all the bushes were covered with sharp thorns.  You could not climb over them; you had to slide under them.   After hours had passed, I finally came to the ridge that I remembered from up in the plane as we flew over the site.   There ahead a few yards was the plane.   I climbed in and took the key and saw that all the equipment was still in good shape.   I climbed on down the rest of the way to the bottom of the mountain to where a house was.   The people there drove me back to where our car was parked and I waited for Bob to get back.

     Finally Bob came and we drove home.   I could let Bob’s friend know that everything in the plane was in good shape.   Later two men went up and got all that expensive equipment out.   The one thing that stands out in my mind is that when we first climbed to the top of the mountain, we came to a place that was flat and the grass was so long, it was yellow like long hair blowing in the breeze.   As you looked out to the ocean, it seemed like there was nothing that would keep you from walking right from that beautiful yellow grassy area out onto the blue ocean.   It made me think of heaven and as I stood there, I asked God to help me find the plane.   I never doubted that I would find it.   When you pray trusting in the Lord, then He will answer your prayers.

     If you think about it, life is like climbing down under all those sharp bramble bushes but trusting always in the Lord, you came come through all the rough times life seems to put you through, but still the end will be good and it is God’s will for you.

Return to Florida from California 1964

     I noticed that when Arthur would want Bob to read to him or just give him some attention, he would push Arthur away.   Then Bob started not coming home nights and when I asked him where he was, he would tell me that he was at a single’s club down the beach.   That is not good, I had to leave him.

     He found me reading the Bible several times because I was becoming quite confused.   He did not like that.   Finally, I began to feel I shouldn’t be out there in California as the church we went to was not a good church, the preacher attempted to give a message but it was not from the Bible.   They invited people to come to a beer party in the basement on Tuesday night.   I tried to find a good church but none seemed to be a place where I could grow in the word or even want our children to attend Sunday school.   Bob knew I didn't want to stay any longer so helped me pack the van.   I drove the van and told Carolyn she could drive the other car.   It was a relief for us to get to North Fort Myers and find that our house was not sold.   We got up the next morning glad we could attend a good church.   The children were back in Ft. Myers in time to go back to their same schools.   It was like California was an evil place.   Since then, I have heard in the news how it has become very worldly and not a good place to raise a family.

My car accident that hurt my back - 1966

     I was coming home from bringing Mary to her friend’s house and was going to turn onto Landsdale St., off from Pondella Rd.   I was in my little Opal car.   I was stopped with my blinker on, waiting for a chance to turn.   A car came speeding up behind me and didn’t see me stopped.   They hit my car from behind at full speed.   My little car was thrown over a ditch and into the middle of a field.   I was crushed in the middle of it all.   I was pulled out of the car and taken by ambulance to the hospital.   I had a broken big toe and hurt my back.   I knew I had left Donna with my mother with a very high fever and she was so sick.   She was only 7.  That is all I could think of, to get home and take care of her.   I told my doctor I couldn’t stay at the hospital so my friend brought me home.   Later I had to have traction for many months.   Years later my back still gave me a lot of pain.   As I write this, at age 92, I still have a very painful back.

Driving through the swamp at night - 1971

     When the family was living in North Fort Myers, we always drove to Michigan for the summer.   We had a house that was built like a cottage that we could just lock the door and leave on our trip north.  But, first we had a pool that needed to be drained, as Florida summers were very rainy and it would over flow the pool.   Also, the water would get stale if no one was there to put the chemicals in.   So it did take some preparation before we could leave.   It was worth it to get up to Michigan.   At the time, John and Evelyn and family lived in a spectacular house near Fort Mills, SC, on the south side of Charlotte NC.   John was project manager for a company that was building homes in a very ritzy subdivision.   Their home was later owned by evangelist, Jim and Tami Baker.   John invited our family to stop for a few days on our way north.

     As we left Florida, we traveled north of Jacksonville on a big highway.  We were all relaxed and enjoying the trip, when we came up behind a car following a camper.   They were traveling at a slow speed.  Not wanting to drive that slow, I decided to pass them both.   I honked the horn to let them know I was passing, but the driver in the car pulled far to the right, causing their tires to leave the pavement into a rut.   It caused the driver to pull hard to the left and her car came across suddenly and hit our right fender hard.  It caused our car to change course and pointed us straight down a steep embankment at full speed.  At the bottom was a ditch full of water and across the ditch were 2 trees.   Our car was headed straight toward those trees at about 55 MPH.   I tried to turn the wheels to the right to avoid them but we kept heading straight for the 2 trees.   Then I prayed and asked the Lord to keep us safe and that we wouldn’t hit the trees.   At that moment our front wheels went into the ditch full of water and it was deep enough to turn the car enough to point it upstream.   When the car stopped, we had to climb out of the car onto the roof.   The elderly lady who was driving the car that hit us and the driver of the camper both came and said they would go and get help for us.   The lady had good insurance that covered the damage to our car.

     It took a long time before a wrecker arrived to get us out of the ditch and it was getting late, the sun was setting.   While waiting for repairs to get done, I asked several people what the quickest way was to get to Charlotte SC, to the subdivision where John and Evelyn lived and was told about a short cut.   We turned off the main road on the short cut as it was getting late by then.    As we drove, the road got narrower and finally it was a two tire track with water on both sides of the road.   I began to worry by then so I prayed and asked the Lord to direct us to a place where we could use a phone to call John.   As we drove along we kept meeting people walking and I told the children to shut the windows and lock the doors.   We just kept driving on the narrow spooky road.   Finally we saw a light in a house on a small raised area to the right, so we turned up to the house.   I got out and, still praying, went to the door and knocked.   The door opened and there were some very nice people.   They answered my questions and let me use their phone.   John said they would keep dinner for us.   The people drew a map to get us back on the main road.   We were so happy to finally get to John’s house and sit down to a wonderful meal.

     After telling them what happened, they could hardly believe we had driven all that way through the huge swamp in the dark.   We slept in late the next morning and, after breakfast, they showed us their huge 5 floor mansion.   The front was all glass and looked out over a man-made lake.   The whole experience seemed like a bad dream to me.   This was the only accident we had on our trips back and forth from Florida to Michigan, which we made for many years.

The children grow up

      In Ft Myers, I took the children to a Methodist church but they had different teachings than I was used to, so we started going to a church out in the country, called Bayshore Community Chapel.    The pastor had Baptist training and gave wonderful Bible messages.   Ann and Donna were teenagers then, and even sang in a group there.   We were all happy there for many years while the girls grew up and graduated.

     Donna decided to go to airlines school near Orlando and when she finished, she went to work at a bigger airlines in Ft. Lauderdale, American Airlines and Northwest.

     Ann attended Community College in Ft. Myers, so she could live at home while taking college classes.   She later moved to Michigan.

My kidney stone operation - 1978

   While Ann was still living at home, I had an attack of kidney stones.   Ann was at work so a friend came over and took me to the hospital.   I had x-rays that showed a huge stone which was coming out of the kidney, so I was admitted.   In the evening, I was in such pain; I was given a morphine control button to administer my own meds, as needed.   I was pretty much out of it most the time, but as I would awake, I noticed two men standing by my bed.   One was the associate pastor and the other one was the head deacon of Riverside Baptist church, which I attended faithfully.   They bowed their heads and were praying for me.

     In the morning, I was taken to the operating room and soon was put to sleep.   When I awoke, the doctor stood by me.   He was very upset and frustrated.   He told me that he had gone in to take out the stone, but it wasn’t there.   He thought it must be moving down the urinary tract, so he started cutting all the way down but didn’t find the stone.   Then I realized that the men praying must have prayed the stone out of me.   I’m sure the doctor thought I would sue him, so he went on vacation and I was given another doctor.    There I was being sent home with drainage tubes sticking out of me all the way down the tract and no nurse to take care of me at home.   Ann would do what she could before she went to work and Donna came in between her work hours to change the bandages and give me clean clothes.  

     After a few days, when I was still very weak, Donna went out to the mailbox and came in and handed me a yellow envelope from Social Security, telling me I hadn’t sent them a report I should have, so I wouldn’t receive my benefits from now on.   I guess, because my body was still in a state of shock from the surgery, my hand would shake and I couldn’t write them an answer.   The worry of all this caused my body to tighten up.   When I tried to go to sleep, my chest muscles would tighten so I couldn’t breathe.   Many nights and days passed when I couldn’t sleep or eat and I thought I would die.   The third night, at 3:00 AM, I turned to the Bible and prayed and trusted in God’s strength to help me.   The moment I prayed, I fell into a deep peaceful sleep and didn’t awake until 10:00 AM the next morning.   All the tight nerves and muscles were calm and good.   My hand that had been shaking was calm now, so I wrote to Social Security why I hadn’t sent the report.   They replied that I would not lose my benefits.   I healed up from that point on, so I could get back to my regular living.

     Many times in my life I have gone through valleys when it seemed that I could never go on or ever regain a happy healthy life again, but I have, with God’s help.

Hurricane Charlie – August 2004

      When hurricane Charlie came, I opened my house to Mary and Gene, and Dendy and Chris, since they all lived in mobile homes which weren’t safe in storms.   As the storm was approaching, I kept getting calls from my children, all worried about us and all praying.    I felt that God had millions of Angels surrounding our property to keep us safe.   It gave me such peace.   The neighbors on the south side of us lost 5 huge trees in their back yard.   The branches and trash all came across our back yard.   I was worried about our fences and the screened in back porch, but it withstood the storm.   Our huge oak tree in our back yard stood strong.   When the wind let up after 3 ½ hours, Gene dared to open the front door without it being torn off.     He saw a huge tree lying on top of his new SUV in our driveway.   It blew from the neighbor’s yard.   He gasped in disbelief but went to work cutting limbs away from leaning on the car until it left a tunnel for him to drive out from under.   He came in and said there wasn’t even a scratch on his car.   The Angels held the storm back from destroying anything on our property.   My neighbor cleaned up the trash that had piled up along the fence.   Both the mobile homes were in good shape, so they could move right back in them.

The last years of Bob’s life - 2002

    All those years, Bob never wanted anything Christian to be done in our home because he said people who attended church were hypocrites.   Later when his mother came and lived with me in her later years, she said Bob got saved when he was just a little boy and she believed that he would go to heaven.   Bob and I wrote back and forth in the last few years that he was alive and I explained exactly how to be saved and know for sure that you would go to heaven when you died and not to hell.   I want all our family to be together in heaven.   That is why I am writing this letter.

     Bob passed away in November 2002.   He had very high blood pressure and stopped taking his medicine.   He also had Alzheimer’s disease toward the last.  

My move back to Michigan in 2005

     After living in Fort Myers for 45 years, here I was back in Michigan.   In January of 2005, I woke up and found I couldn’t walk.   I called senior assistance companies to get someone to come and help me, but each of them needed paperwork filled out before getting me on their schedule.   I called friends from church but they were all busy or working.   I finally called my son, Carl, and he said he would get on a plane and fly down that same day.   He did come, and he and Joyce packed me up and I was flown to Carl’s house in Farmington Hills, Michigan.  Carl went back down to Fort Myers and, with Joyce’s help; put my house in the hands of a realtor. It sold immediately.   My life changed so fast.   I was very glad to be in Michigan living with my son, Carl and Shirley.  

     On the first Wednesday evening, they wheeled me into church, in a wheelchair.   I asked for prayers that I would walk again.   After the prayer meeting was over, a man came from the back of the church and asked me to tell him about my problem.  He said he was a chiropractor and thought he could help me.   I told him that I have spinal stenosis (severe arthritis).   He said he believed he could help me walk again, but couldn’t help the arthritis.   He gave me a treatment right then and every Wednesday after that.   I got so I could walk with a walker, then after more treatments I could walk to the church (just across the parking lot) using a cane.   I even joined the church choir and sang soprano, imagine that!  

     Finally I was able to walk alone again, first just around inside the house, then outside in the yard.   Carl and Shirley both worked so I tried to help a little around the house, like washing dishes and cleaning the bathroom.   I was feeling so good that I even did some yard work and a little raking.   Shirley lost her job and decided to retire, since she had Addison’s disease and diabetes.   She took over the housework, since she was at home.

My move back to Saranac – June 2007

     I wasn’t needed around the house anymore, so I looked at some senior apartments in the area.   I did not like any of them so I called Carolyn.   She said I could move to Saranac and live with them.   Now, I was really back home, in the town I was born and grew up in.   The whole packing and moving seemed to take its toll on me and I got shingles.   I noticed the burning and itching and thought it might be shingles, so we called the doctor.   He prescribed pills and creams.   It all made me very sleepy.