I also felt the urge to return to my Grandparent's Missouri Farm. The only thing that remained was the Catalpa trees, the same ones that had shaded my family on hot summer days. I went to the cemetery and found the family plot, amazed at how small the church was compared to my memory. The school was gone, but the cemetery was worth the trip. I'm trying to imagine what it would have been like to give birth in November with a husband out hunting and two little girls tending the fire. Thanks for reminding me to be grateful for my warm house.
I tried to go back to the farm where my father grew up. But because a tornado tore out a trees that lined the long gravel driveway and because the new owners changed the entrance to another direction, I could t recognize it. I drove
right past. Tornadoes ripped out all the out-buildings also. I used to drive by and think about my dad’s nuclear family living on their idyllic farmyard, a farmyard I played in as a child. Now I realize that nothing stays the same. Human existence can be fleeting.
The one-room school my father attended is used as a grainary.
Thank, Jill for taking me down memory lane with your story.
Isn't it interesting we all look to the trees to guide us back to our parental homesteads? When the tornado took out the trees, it took history with it! The trees hold our history, too. While time marches on, the trees stand still. Yet even the trees teach us how fragile and ephemeral life can be.
You've got the woodstove going and a warm dog at your feet, I hope. What a great memory of the Catalpa trees on your grandparents' farm in Missouri. The trees. There is a cypress grove on the old Kling farm your note brought to mind. Thanks for reading, Elaine.
These places from our family's pasts are so compelling! My dad rode a pony across his dad's farm to get to the one room schoolhouse he attended when he was a small child. Thanks for this!
I'm so glad this piece elicited good memories about your dad and the stories he told you about his childhood. It's as though the place where our parents grew up gets wired into our own stories of who we are and what we are made of. Thanks for reading!
Yes, I think red was a pretty common color for one-room schoolhouses. I volunteered for a living history program in Ithaca at an octagonal one-room (Eight Square Schoolhouse, History Center of Tompkins County) and the building was red brick. I don't know if this schoolhouse was originally painted red or not. I took photos of inside the schoolhouse and had fantasies I could remodel it as a residence, but beyond my budget.
Thanks for your expertise! I looked up all the one-room schoolhouses in Winnebago County recently for my ALICE project, and I did see quite a few brick ones. So many black-and-white photos, though. Maybe what strikes me about your photo is the IN VIBRANT COLOR part. I also love the family photo above it.
There is still a one-room schoolhouse open in the Warroad School District. It's on the Northwest Angle. CBS Sunday Morning did a segment on it a few years back.
I have been working on the book about my mother, and your writing has inspired me to finish it. It has been 2 years in the making and each time I write I get overcome with emotions and I put it aside. I must consciously finish it as a gift to her memory and her life and what she imparted to us. Thank you so much!
I also felt the urge to return to my Grandparent's Missouri Farm. The only thing that remained was the Catalpa trees, the same ones that had shaded my family on hot summer days. I went to the cemetery and found the family plot, amazed at how small the church was compared to my memory. The school was gone, but the cemetery was worth the trip. I'm trying to imagine what it would have been like to give birth in November with a husband out hunting and two little girls tending the fire. Thanks for reminding me to be grateful for my warm house.
I tried to go back to the farm where my father grew up. But because a tornado tore out a trees that lined the long gravel driveway and because the new owners changed the entrance to another direction, I could t recognize it. I drove
right past. Tornadoes ripped out all the out-buildings also. I used to drive by and think about my dad’s nuclear family living on their idyllic farmyard, a farmyard I played in as a child. Now I realize that nothing stays the same. Human existence can be fleeting.
The one-room school my father attended is used as a grainary.
Thank, Jill for taking me down memory lane with your story.
Isn't it interesting we all look to the trees to guide us back to our parental homesteads? When the tornado took out the trees, it took history with it! The trees hold our history, too. While time marches on, the trees stand still. Yet even the trees teach us how fragile and ephemeral life can be.
You've got the woodstove going and a warm dog at your feet, I hope. What a great memory of the Catalpa trees on your grandparents' farm in Missouri. The trees. There is a cypress grove on the old Kling farm your note brought to mind. Thanks for reading, Elaine.
These places from our family's pasts are so compelling! My dad rode a pony across his dad's farm to get to the one room schoolhouse he attended when he was a small child. Thanks for this!
I'm so glad this piece elicited good memories about your dad and the stories he told you about his childhood. It's as though the place where our parents grew up gets wired into our own stories of who we are and what we are made of. Thanks for reading!
So true!
Your writing is always so lovely Jill. You've nudged me to want to know more about my mother's early years.
Thanks, Leanne, for reading and I'm delighted it made you more curious about your mother's childhood.
I can’t stop studying these photos, especially the one-room schoolhouse. I’ve never seen one painted red before. Is this an important detail?
Yes, I think red was a pretty common color for one-room schoolhouses. I volunteered for a living history program in Ithaca at an octagonal one-room (Eight Square Schoolhouse, History Center of Tompkins County) and the building was red brick. I don't know if this schoolhouse was originally painted red or not. I took photos of inside the schoolhouse and had fantasies I could remodel it as a residence, but beyond my budget.
Thanks for your expertise! I looked up all the one-room schoolhouses in Winnebago County recently for my ALICE project, and I did see quite a few brick ones. So many black-and-white photos, though. Maybe what strikes me about your photo is the IN VIBRANT COLOR part. I also love the family photo above it.
There is still a one-room schoolhouse open in the Warroad School District. It's on the Northwest Angle. CBS Sunday Morning did a segment on it a few years back.
I have been working on the book about my mother, and your writing has inspired me to finish it. It has been 2 years in the making and each time I write I get overcome with emotions and I put it aside. I must consciously finish it as a gift to her memory and her life and what she imparted to us. Thank you so much!
So glad you are inspired to write more about your mother. Finishing your book might be her gift to you.