Heads up everyone - we will be having our Hurley Family Reunion in June of 2016.
If you would like more details as to where and when, just email me at bjhurley@aol.com.
Sure hope you can make it. See you there!
Brenda
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Poems by Richard Gold
ON TURNING 90 (Aunt May)
Many years have passed
Many memories you have
The precious moments past
The joy that these give
Remember when as a child
You wondered what you'd be
Life was so long and full
You could hardly wait to see
Then you went to school
You wondered why all the stuff
Sometimes you felt like you'd drown
There were times you said "enough"
Then you graduated from school
You discovered that the world was strife
All the stuff you had to learn
Was what prepared you for life
Then you met the one you loved
The one you wanted for life
It was fun to be around him
Then you knew there'd be no strife
The wedding day, the wedding day
That you looked forward to
You entered a new life
So much different to do
Then came the kids
It seemed that life really changed
Diapers and formula and 2 a.m. feedings
Your world was rearranged
But the kids grew up
Made you so proud
But sometimes their music
Did it have to be so loud
Then they left home
One by one by one
You could settle down
And life was more fun
But you missed them
The house seemed so still
With no one about
Their visit was a thrill
It seemed the years flew by
You could not make them stop
So much happened
Made you so tired you thought you'd drop
Now you have the memories
Memories of yesterday
You wish that you had youth again
But there is no other way
Memories, memories, memories
It is so good to have
The future is coming down the road
Yet you have so much yet to give
Many years have passed
Many memories you have
The precious moments past
The joy that these give
Remember when as a child
You wondered what you'd be
Life was so long and full
You could hardly wait to see
Then you went to school
You wondered why all the stuff
Sometimes you felt like you'd drown
There were times you said "enough"
Then you graduated from school
You discovered that the world was strife
All the stuff you had to learn
Was what prepared you for life
Then you met the one you loved
The one you wanted for life
It was fun to be around him
Then you knew there'd be no strife
The wedding day, the wedding day
That you looked forward to
You entered a new life
So much different to do
Then came the kids
It seemed that life really changed
Diapers and formula and 2 a.m. feedings
Your world was rearranged
But the kids grew up
Made you so proud
But sometimes their music
Did it have to be so loud
Then they left home
One by one by one
You could settle down
And life was more fun
But you missed them
The house seemed so still
With no one about
Their visit was a thrill
It seemed the years flew by
You could not make them stop
So much happened
Made you so tired you thought you'd drop
Now you have the memories
Memories of yesterday
You wish that you had youth again
But there is no other way
Memories, memories, memories
It is so good to have
The future is coming down the road
Yet you have so much yet to give
MY LAST DAY (Uncle Dee)
Soon I shall be going
My soul will leave this earth
I've had a long and good life
From when my mother gave me birth
I hope that I will be missed
By those for whom I care and love
But do not grieve for me
My soul will be with God above
I've done many things
Have memories both bad and good
Sorry for some things I've done
Wish I had done others that I could
Now this world of worry and pain
Will be a thing I have had
I will be here no more
For this I shall be glad
Soon I shall leave you
My body will be beneath the sod
And through the grace of His son
I will see the face of God
When we're young
There's something about turning sixteen
We feel we're almost grown
No matter the years between
We call this sweet sixteen
We like to celebrate
Our parents and friends
Think this is really great
When we turn 21
We realize that we're really grown
We find responsibilities
We never had known
Then it's 30, 40, 50, and 60
Life really goes by so fast
Suddenly it seems old age
We feel lucky we're here at last
Sweet 70, sweet 70, sweet 70
Many years that we've known
How many years have passed
How many relatives have gone
It's good to be here
To have known the past
To really be alive
The future comes so fast
MORE BLESSED
It is more blessed to give than to receive
Says the word of God
It is when disaster hits
That all people give us the nod
But we truly know as we go out to others
Their disasters to relieve
It is far better to be able to give
Than to have to receive
THE
GIFT OF NATURE
In the corridors of time
The body of nature has come to be
Come either by direction or chance
It is here for us to see
We, people of the earth
Have inherited many things
To use or to abuse or to destroy
This is the choice the future brings
But once the bridge of time is crossed
Once we've taken a thing out
There can be no return
No matter what effort we mount
So tread lightly my friend
For we, the rulers of the earth
Once all is gone
There can be no rebirth
In the corridors of time
The body of nature has come to be
Come either by direction or chance
It is here for us to see
We, people of the earth
Have inherited many things
To use or to abuse or to destroy
This is the choice the future brings
But once the bridge of time is crossed
Once we've taken a thing out
There can be no return
No matter what effort we mount
So tread lightly my friend
For we, the rulers of the earth
Once all is gone
There can be no rebirth
THERE WERE 12 MEN
There were 12 men
Who spread the word
Through the work of these
The world has heard
The word of truth
The word of love
Was given by the Son
From the God above
If we follow His teachings
If we live and love Him
We will find the way of peace
We shall live to be His kin
THE GOOD TEACHER
A good teacher is well prepared
But a good teacher doesn't teach a thing
They inspire the students to learn
To use the intelligence they bring
Though students cannot know
The reason for what they learn
In the future they will need to know
If they do not, money they will not earn
A teacher must give the test
To find what the students know
Have they comprehended what was said
Can the teacher make it so
It is hard to kick start some
Into the knowledge, into the way
For if the student can but does not try
In the future they will have to pay
But the greatest thing that can happen
For the student to say in years to come
It was you who inspired me
My education had just begun
A good teacher is well prepared
But a good teacher doesn't teach a thing
They inspire the students to learn
To use the intelligence they bring
Though students cannot know
The reason for what they learn
In the future they will need to know
If they do not, money they will not earn
A teacher must give the test
To find what the students know
Have they comprehended what was said
Can the teacher make it so
It is hard to kick start some
Into the knowledge, into the way
For if the student can but does not try
In the future they will have to pay
But the greatest thing that can happen
For the student to say in years to come
It was you who inspired me
My education had just begun
Retirement is the time of life
When you think your work is done
There is nothing else to do
Now you think you'll have some fun
But before you know it
There's so much to do
"How did I have time to work?"
Is a saying you find true
Now you have all the free time
So others seem to think
Now they ask you to volunteer
Free time has become a blank
People are always busy
Always much to do
Do not sit and vegetate
Or your spirit will get blue
When you think your work is done
There is nothing else to do
Now you think you'll have some fun
But before you know it
There's so much to do
"How did I have time to work?"
Is a saying you find true
Now you have all the free time
So others seem to think
Now they ask you to volunteer
Free time has become a blank
People are always busy
Always much to do
Do not sit and vegetate
Or your spirit will get blue
GETTING OLD
Some say I'm getting old
My hair is turning white
Has turned lose on the top
But I don't think that's right
My mind is young and spry
My hope is for tomorrow
Where I will live my life
And not have to borrow
Some wish to shuttle me away
To put me in a home
Would you wish it done to you
I like freedom to roam
I want the respect that comes with age
Because I believe I know
Through painful experiences
The path in life you should go
As long as my body is whole
As long as I have my mind
Years do not make me old
I will be in my prime
My mind says "I'm young
I can be whatever I want to be"
My body sits and looks in the mirror
And says, "He, he, he"
GOD'S AGENDA
God has an agenda
Just like you and me
We must find His agenda
If His face we would see
God has an agenda
For people both great and small
If we ignore His agenda
We're in for an eternal fall
God has an eternal agenda
Changing not through time and space
God has the eternal power
And eternal grace
God has an agenda
Just like you and me
We must find His agenda
If His face we would see
God has an agenda
For people both great and small
If we ignore His agenda
We're in for an eternal fall
God has an eternal agenda
Changing not through time and space
God has the eternal power
And eternal grace
ODE TO A TEENAGER
O you who are young
But old in many ways
You think you are wise
But in hope, not in days
You were but a child
When yesterday dawned
But now your think you know all
The past, present, future drawn
Wisdom comes from knowledge
Knowledge from those who lived before
Although they lived so long ago
Their knowledge is not a bore
It's true that things have changed
New inventions are the rage
But some things remain the same
From age to age
The human wants and needs
Are always the same
The human spirit is wild
Impossible to tame
We must deal with others
As through life we go
So listen to your elders
Who the solutions to the problems know
How does the man of God
Improve his daily life
To worship to the end
In life's ongoing strife
The way, plain may be
For everyone to go
But t'is the holy one
Who the way does truly know
We lift up our hands
To our holy God
For when life's end does come
We'll meet beneath the sod
But while we're here on earth
In this world of toil
Do not from any good deed
Your very being recoil
I HAVE A LITTLE CAT
I have a little cat
Who knows that she
The center of the world
And wants obedience from me
I have a little cat
So soft and so serene
Whenever she gets on the table
She thinks I am mean
I have a little cat
Her fur is soft as silk
She expects from me
Her food and milk
I have a little cat
She sleeps all day
Except when she's awake
Then she wants to play
I have a little cat
Her fur is black as night
Whenever I yell at her
She runs away in fright
I have a little cat
Since she's come to live with me
How I lived before
I cannot now seem to see
FAITH AND WORKS
Salvation is by the grace of God
Faith with a foundation in love
The hope that Christians hold
For the eternal home above
But faith in the grace of God
Must be something we show
That by our words and by our deeds
We let the sinful world know
For by grace we are saved
Through God's holy Son
That in the end and in the now
Life's race we must run
For faith is our rock, our hope
Works of goodness we must do
For by these two, not by one
We show our faith is true
I have a little cat
Who knows that she
The center of the world
And wants obedience from me
I have a little cat
So soft and so serene
Whenever she gets on the table
She thinks I am mean
I have a little cat
Her fur is soft as silk
She expects from me
Her food and milk
I have a little cat
She sleeps all day
Except when she's awake
Then she wants to play
I have a little cat
Her fur is black as night
Whenever I yell at her
She runs away in fright
I have a little cat
Since she's come to live with me
How I lived before
I cannot now seem to see
FAITH AND WORKS
Salvation is by the grace of God
Faith with a foundation in love
The hope that Christians hold
For the eternal home above
But faith in the grace of God
Must be something we show
That by our words and by our deeds
We let the sinful world know
For by grace we are saved
Through God's holy Son
That in the end and in the now
Life's race we must run
For faith is our rock, our hope
Works of goodness we must do
For by these two, not by one
We show our faith is true
FOR NEVER AND A DAY
The Son of God came down to earth
God's will to impart
That by His teachings and by His life
Gives salvation for every heart
It was not before
It'll never be done again
For God gave His Son but once
To woo the hearts of men
It is but for us to believe
We can do naught else in faith
But live our life that by His will
He sets for us the pace
So we must live from day to day
Walk in God's holy path
That when the end of life doth come
We shall not know his wrath
SOME BELIEVE
Some believe to cheat is wrong
Some believe that it is right
Some believe that what we do
Is governed by our own insight
For we follow what we know
What is within our mind
Be it either bad or good
Either cruel or kind
So does it matter what a man believes
Or yet a woman too
It does not change the facts
But changes what we do
WHO IS GOD
Who is God
What is His name
His name is YAHWEH
From age to age the same
By His holy love
He sent His Son to earth
So that all who believe
Can have the second birth
Today in the world He works
Through the Holy Spirit's desire
That all may know His comfort
And gives the Church His power
These three are one
In purpose, in love, in power
Their eternal will for mankind
Is God's eternal desire
THE FINAL FOE
There is one final foe
That all of us must face
The grave will swallow whole
All the human race
But one has passed beyond
Was raised by God's own hand
It is Jesus our Lord
The One, the holy Man
By His life and by His death
And that He was raised to live
We may, by faith, walk
Through this world of strife
Remember to the end
Remember God's holy word
An abode of praise
Promised by our Lord
So let us so live here and now
That when the end doth come
We will pass from life to life eternal
When our race we've run
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
History of our Family Reunions
Family Reunions
1975 – 2010
written by May (Mary) Flynn
1) 1975 - While Wallis (Mont) Hurley was serving the Methodist Church at Wakulla – Woodville, Florida, they were planning a family get together for a weekend in 1975. Lori (better known in our family as Aunt swampy) decided it would be fun if our family, The Flynn Family, could come too. She wrote to us and the plans were expanded. We were living in Atlanta, Georgia, at that time and agreed that it would indeed be lots of fun. It was such a success, we all had a wonderful time and it was decided that we would have to plan another family get together and get the Ott Family to join us to make it a real family reunion.
2) 1978 – Lake Marion, South Carolina. The Otts decided that was a great idea also. So it was decided we would have our first real reunion at Lake Marion, South Carolina, over the 4th of July weekend in 1978. It was everything we expected, with two exceptions; the first was the “bumper to bumper traffic” for the Ott family driving down from Baltimore, Maryland, which made them hours later arriving than expected; and the second was that shortly after they arrived, Adel Duitscher (Grace and Buddy’s oldest Granddaughter) was sick and soon broke out with chicken pox and had to be isolated from the other children. I’m sure she doesn’t remember it as the wonderful happy reunion the rest of us experienced.
3) 1981 – Newport, Tennessee. To avoid the traffic jam which was experienced over the 4th of July weekend, we decided the next reunions would be on the last weekend in July so we could celebrate Grandmother’s and Aunt Grace’s birthdays which were on July 29th and 30th. It was also decided that the three family groups (Ott’s, Hurley’s, and Flynn’s) would take turns being responsible for the reunions. Such as finding the place, making reservations, and being responsible for other planning.
4) 1983 - Cherokee, North Carolina. This was a nice campground with lots of places to go and things to do, but the one special thing about this reunion was that Thelma and Herschel Primm along with Pernie and Gilbert Woodend were able to visit with us while we were there. Thelma and Pernie were the two girls who became members of the Hurley family when they entered High School and remained with us until they married.
5) 1985 - Jamestown, Virginia. This was, of course, right next to Williamsburg, so we had lots of things to do and see in the area. It was the one where we had much more rain than we really wanted. The management of the campground had a storage building; he let us use this building to have our reunion dinner in, but we had to clean it out, and wade through a rain made lake to get into it. But, we were together and that made it all fun. We also had some visitors at this reunion. Longtime friends of the Hurley family, Mary Reville and her husband, Mary was the daughter of “Aunt Kitty” who was an attendant at the wedding of Granddad and Grandmother Hurley on May 31, 1916, they came from Norfolk, VA, to have dinner with us. It was a bright spot during this reunion, in that storage room on a rainy afternoon.
6) 1987 – Helen, Georgia. Helen is always a fun place to visit. It is a small town in the North Georgia Mountains that has been remodeled to look like a Swiss town in the Alps. You could spend several days there and still not see all of the lovely little shops, restaurants, outlet malls, etc.
7) 1988 - Simpsonwood, Conference and Retreat Center, Norcross, Georgia.
This location and date was chosen because our Flynn reunion was being held in the same year so we wanted to change it to the off years. Also, Grandmother was living with us at that time and was not able to travel. Therefore, we decided to have it close to where we lived in hopes the attendees could at least come see her. However, it didn’t turn out that way; she died just a few weeks before the reunion. It was a lovely place to have a reunion. As it says in the title, it is a retreat center located just outside of Atlanta in a lovely wooded area.
8) 1990 – Eldersburg, Maryland, this was, at that time, Butch and Dollye Ott’s home. This was something new for us, to have the reunion at someone’s home. But, they had a lovely home with plenty of room for four or five campers in the back yard. Also it had a very large deck all across the back of the house where we could all eat together. It also was a convenient location, so we had several friends come to visit us for a day.
9) 1992 – Campground on Highway 27 in Central Florida. This campground was convenient to all the attractions in the Orlando area. But, it was a hot week in Florida, so the big swimming pool seemed to be the main attraction of this reunion.
10) 1994 - Unicoi Conference and Retreat Center, North Georgia. This was a Conference and Retreat Center which meant it was convenient with rooms, campground and a very nice cafeteria as well as “gathering rooms“ all in one place as well as the Unicoi Springs Campground that two of the Flynn families are members of, located just up the road.
11) 1996 – Salisbury, Maryland. This was, of course, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. This was a very nice place to visit and the home of Dave and Millie Duitscher and Avery and Emily Saulsbury, two of the Ott family daughters. The reunion dinner was held at the College where Dave and Avery both worked for many years.
12) 1998 – St Augustine, Florida. We were staying in an old Motel that was about to be closed, but they were very accommodating. It was an extremely interesting place to visit, as the Oldest City in Florida, it was full of historic places to see. This was a few months before Morgan Flynn was born so we had a fun Baby Shower for Tony and Vicky Flynn.
13) 2000 - Sevierville, Tennessee. This is in the area better known as the Gatlinburg Tourist Area. This is always a great place to visit and we had wonderful accommodations at the Hidden Mountain Resorts in Sevierville, Tennessee. This will always be remembered as the Reunion where Bob Flynn and Linda were married. Several of us stayed at a nearby campground while the rest were housed in a lovely section of 2 bedroom villas. Needless to say, there were lots of places to go and things to do at this reunion.
14) 2002 – Bird-in-Hand near Intercourse, Pennsylvania. This was Amish Country. Those of us with motorhomes stayed in a nearby campground and the others in a motel/hotel in Bird-in-Hand and that was where we had our reunion dinner. I don’t remember too much about this reunion except that while we were there Dee was quite sick and I finally got him to agree to go to the hospital in Lancaster. Since he still wasn’t well enough to drive the motorhome back to Florida, Butch and Dolly helped me drive back home.
15) 2004 – Annapolis, Maryland. We thought this would be like going back home. However, everything had changed so much in the years since we lived in that area we had to really look hard to find anything that looked familiar. We did take a few side trips and went to Cape Loch Haven to see the house that our family had lovingly built so many years ago.
16) 2006 – Tampa, Florida. Near the end of 2005 Dee’s Parkinson disease had reached the point that I could not take care of him at home any longer. We were fortunate to be able to get him into the Veteran’s Administration Hospital’s long-term care unit called “Haley’s Cove”, which is located just a few blocks from where we were living. It was decided to have the reunion in Tampa so those who came would be able to go see him while there. There are many places to go and things to do in the Tampa area.
17) 2008 – Tampa, Florida. The same thinking carried over to the next reunion.
18) 2010 – Tampa, Florida. As the saying goes – “Three strikes and you’re out!”
We have decided that this isn’t helping our reunions. Since it is our Flynn family’s turn to make the arrangements for reunion #19, we are looking for a different location to go to in 2012.
1975 – 2010
written by May (Mary) Flynn
1) 1975 - While Wallis (Mont) Hurley was serving the Methodist Church at Wakulla – Woodville, Florida, they were planning a family get together for a weekend in 1975. Lori (better known in our family as Aunt swampy) decided it would be fun if our family, The Flynn Family, could come too. She wrote to us and the plans were expanded. We were living in Atlanta, Georgia, at that time and agreed that it would indeed be lots of fun. It was such a success, we all had a wonderful time and it was decided that we would have to plan another family get together and get the Ott Family to join us to make it a real family reunion.
2) 1978 – Lake Marion, South Carolina. The Otts decided that was a great idea also. So it was decided we would have our first real reunion at Lake Marion, South Carolina, over the 4th of July weekend in 1978. It was everything we expected, with two exceptions; the first was the “bumper to bumper traffic” for the Ott family driving down from Baltimore, Maryland, which made them hours later arriving than expected; and the second was that shortly after they arrived, Adel Duitscher (Grace and Buddy’s oldest Granddaughter) was sick and soon broke out with chicken pox and had to be isolated from the other children. I’m sure she doesn’t remember it as the wonderful happy reunion the rest of us experienced.
3) 1981 – Newport, Tennessee. To avoid the traffic jam which was experienced over the 4th of July weekend, we decided the next reunions would be on the last weekend in July so we could celebrate Grandmother’s and Aunt Grace’s birthdays which were on July 29th and 30th. It was also decided that the three family groups (Ott’s, Hurley’s, and Flynn’s) would take turns being responsible for the reunions. Such as finding the place, making reservations, and being responsible for other planning.
4) 1983 - Cherokee, North Carolina. This was a nice campground with lots of places to go and things to do, but the one special thing about this reunion was that Thelma and Herschel Primm along with Pernie and Gilbert Woodend were able to visit with us while we were there. Thelma and Pernie were the two girls who became members of the Hurley family when they entered High School and remained with us until they married.
5) 1985 - Jamestown, Virginia. This was, of course, right next to Williamsburg, so we had lots of things to do and see in the area. It was the one where we had much more rain than we really wanted. The management of the campground had a storage building; he let us use this building to have our reunion dinner in, but we had to clean it out, and wade through a rain made lake to get into it. But, we were together and that made it all fun. We also had some visitors at this reunion. Longtime friends of the Hurley family, Mary Reville and her husband, Mary was the daughter of “Aunt Kitty” who was an attendant at the wedding of Granddad and Grandmother Hurley on May 31, 1916, they came from Norfolk, VA, to have dinner with us. It was a bright spot during this reunion, in that storage room on a rainy afternoon.
6) 1987 – Helen, Georgia. Helen is always a fun place to visit. It is a small town in the North Georgia Mountains that has been remodeled to look like a Swiss town in the Alps. You could spend several days there and still not see all of the lovely little shops, restaurants, outlet malls, etc.
7) 1988 - Simpsonwood, Conference and Retreat Center, Norcross, Georgia.
This location and date was chosen because our Flynn reunion was being held in the same year so we wanted to change it to the off years. Also, Grandmother was living with us at that time and was not able to travel. Therefore, we decided to have it close to where we lived in hopes the attendees could at least come see her. However, it didn’t turn out that way; she died just a few weeks before the reunion. It was a lovely place to have a reunion. As it says in the title, it is a retreat center located just outside of Atlanta in a lovely wooded area.
8) 1990 – Eldersburg, Maryland, this was, at that time, Butch and Dollye Ott’s home. This was something new for us, to have the reunion at someone’s home. But, they had a lovely home with plenty of room for four or five campers in the back yard. Also it had a very large deck all across the back of the house where we could all eat together. It also was a convenient location, so we had several friends come to visit us for a day.
9) 1992 – Campground on Highway 27 in Central Florida. This campground was convenient to all the attractions in the Orlando area. But, it was a hot week in Florida, so the big swimming pool seemed to be the main attraction of this reunion.
10) 1994 - Unicoi Conference and Retreat Center, North Georgia. This was a Conference and Retreat Center which meant it was convenient with rooms, campground and a very nice cafeteria as well as “gathering rooms“ all in one place as well as the Unicoi Springs Campground that two of the Flynn families are members of, located just up the road.
11) 1996 – Salisbury, Maryland. This was, of course, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. This was a very nice place to visit and the home of Dave and Millie Duitscher and Avery and Emily Saulsbury, two of the Ott family daughters. The reunion dinner was held at the College where Dave and Avery both worked for many years.
12) 1998 – St Augustine, Florida. We were staying in an old Motel that was about to be closed, but they were very accommodating. It was an extremely interesting place to visit, as the Oldest City in Florida, it was full of historic places to see. This was a few months before Morgan Flynn was born so we had a fun Baby Shower for Tony and Vicky Flynn.
13) 2000 - Sevierville, Tennessee. This is in the area better known as the Gatlinburg Tourist Area. This is always a great place to visit and we had wonderful accommodations at the Hidden Mountain Resorts in Sevierville, Tennessee. This will always be remembered as the Reunion where Bob Flynn and Linda were married. Several of us stayed at a nearby campground while the rest were housed in a lovely section of 2 bedroom villas. Needless to say, there were lots of places to go and things to do at this reunion.
14) 2002 – Bird-in-Hand near Intercourse, Pennsylvania. This was Amish Country. Those of us with motorhomes stayed in a nearby campground and the others in a motel/hotel in Bird-in-Hand and that was where we had our reunion dinner. I don’t remember too much about this reunion except that while we were there Dee was quite sick and I finally got him to agree to go to the hospital in Lancaster. Since he still wasn’t well enough to drive the motorhome back to Florida, Butch and Dolly helped me drive back home.
15) 2004 – Annapolis, Maryland. We thought this would be like going back home. However, everything had changed so much in the years since we lived in that area we had to really look hard to find anything that looked familiar. We did take a few side trips and went to Cape Loch Haven to see the house that our family had lovingly built so many years ago.
16) 2006 – Tampa, Florida. Near the end of 2005 Dee’s Parkinson disease had reached the point that I could not take care of him at home any longer. We were fortunate to be able to get him into the Veteran’s Administration Hospital’s long-term care unit called “Haley’s Cove”, which is located just a few blocks from where we were living. It was decided to have the reunion in Tampa so those who came would be able to go see him while there. There are many places to go and things to do in the Tampa area.
17) 2008 – Tampa, Florida. The same thinking carried over to the next reunion.
18) 2010 – Tampa, Florida. As the saying goes – “Three strikes and you’re out!”
We have decided that this isn’t helping our reunions. Since it is our Flynn family’s turn to make the arrangements for reunion #19, we are looking for a different location to go to in 2012.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Working for the USA by Mary L. Flynn
Not long before we were married, my husband Dee, and I went to a “Fair” with my parents. It was held in the Grange Hall in Beltsville, Maryland. There were many booths, but I only remember one of them. In it was a lady who read Tarot Cards, to tell your future. We decided it would be fun to have her tell ours. There was only one thing she told Dee that I remember. She said he “would see lots of water”. She explained, that probably meant he would travel the ocean in a large ship. We were not surprised at that, he would be 21 on his next birthday, and he would be eligible for the draft, as it was at the beginning of World War II. Likewise, there was only one thing I remember from my reading. She said, I would always have enough money, but I would have to work for it. At that time neither of us realized how generic those prophesies were, or they would not have made such an impression on me that I would have remembered them this long.
My first job with the U.S. Government was in 1942, just 2 weeks before we were married. It was with the Army Finance Office, Allotment Division. Since it was shortly after the United States had entered into World War II, they were hiring as fast as they could. However, we were still working 10 hour days, 6 days a week, trying to keep up with the allotments for the steady stream of men joining the Army. This was not an easy job, and just a few months later it became much harder when I realized I was pregnant. This meant dealing with morning sickness while going to work. I was riding to work with several other employees, and a few times I had to ask the driver to please pull over and let me out of the car. He was happy to oblige, he certainly didn’t want me to throw up in his car.
About 6 months into my pregnancy my husband was drafted into the Army. He was sent for training, to Camp Croft, South Carolina. I knew I would have to give up our apartment, and didn’t know where I would be living, so I decided it was a good time to quit my job. I spent a couple of months with my sister in Baltimore, while my parents moved back to Hyattsville. They couldn’t continue driving back and forth to work from their home on the South River, due to the rationing of gasoline and tires. Once they were settled, I moved back home with them.
This “home” was a strange arrangement; they rented the first floor of a big old house, along with one room on the second floor for my Aunt’s bedroom. The elderly couple taking care of the house used the rest of the second floor. During the last months of my pregnancy, I spent many hours sitting in one of rocking chairs on the big front porch at night, because I couldn’t breathe while lying down. I had suffered with asthma since I was twelve, and my condition at that time made it much worse.
During our stay in this house, our first child was born; we named her Grace Louise, after my Mother. Dee was not able to be with me for her birth, but was able to get a 3 day pass to come to see us when she was 3 days old. In those days, new mothers were required to stay in bed for 10 days. But, I finally convinced my doctor to let me go home. Otherwise, Dee would have only been able to visit me in the hospital twice a day during visiting hours for those 3 days. The doctor did require me to get an ambulance to take me home, and stay in bed for the full 10 days. My Dad drove to Baltimore and brought my sister and her baby son back, so we would have someone to take care of us while Dee was home for that very short visit. Soon after Louise was born, my folks were able to find a house for us to move into. It was on the same street we had lived on when I was a teenager. Since it was on the bus route into Washington, Mom and Dad could ride the bus to work.
While we lived there, Dee received orders to join the 29th Division in Europe. After he was on the front lines for several months I received one of those dreaded telegrams from the army. I was relieved when I read that he was wounded, but it gave no indication as to how badly he was wounded. I finally started receiving mail from him. After several months he wrote that he was going back on duty, and was headed back to Germany. He was to manage a hotel that housed the USO entertainers as they traveled to entertain the troops.
About 6 months later, my mother and I were sitting in the living room. I was at my sewing machine altering some clothes, and mother was reading, when the front door was opened. Neither of us even looked up as we had heard the bus go by, and were expecting my Aunt to come home from work at that time. However, when no one came into the room, we both looked up and saw Dee standing there waiting for us to see him. Needless to say, both of us were extremely surprised! We had no idea that he was even on his way back.
Louise was still awake, since I had been going in and out of the bedroom, getting and putting away the clothes I had been altering. We went upstairs to see her. I was a bit apprehensive, I had heard so many stories of fathers returning home to children who did not remember them, or were even afraid of them, and he had been gone for more than a year. But, when she saw him the only worry I had was that she would collapse the crib she was jumping up and down in, and trying to climb out of at the same time. After we had calmed Louise down a bit, I asked Dee if he had had any dinner. “No,” he said, “I didn’t take time to even clean up or shave, much less eat. So we went to the kitchen and before I started to get some leftovers out to warm up, I turned to Louise and said, “Talk to Daddy and entertain him while I fix him something to eat. You didn’t even know how to talk, when he saw you the last time.” That was like pulling a plug. She started to talk, telling him everything she could think of to say.
Although it was after 10 o’clock by that time, Dee called his brother, Walter, on the phone to let him know he was back in the states. Walter told him that his son, Dick, was at Fort Meade and was to ship out in the morning. Next thing I knew, we were in the back seat of Walter’s car and were heading to Fort Meade, in Laurel, Maryland. Walter knew which barrack Dick was in so he went right to it. Dee got out and went into the barrack to find Dick. He came back in a few minutes, with Dick hobbling along beside him. Dick said, “I don’t think they gave me the right size shoes.” We all looked at his shoes, and realized as he fumbled in the dark trying to get them on quietly, he had managed to put them on the wrong feet. After a short visit with Dick and a quick “goodbye,” we hurried Dee to the barrack he had been assigned to when he got off of the bus earlier that day as he arrived in Fort Meade. He had thrown his duffle bag on a cot as he went out the back door, to catch the bus to take him home to us. In a few days Dee was mustered out, and home with us to stay.
In a few weeks Dee had accepted a position as a clerk with the Internal Revenue Service. This was the beginning of his 33 year career with the U.S. Government. We then started the job of hunting for the first house for us to live in. That took longer than we expected it would, but we finally found one that we liked. It was in Landover Hills, Maryland. Shortly after we moved in, our first Son was born (our baby boomer). We named him Robert Lawrence. When Dee was taking me to the hospital, he stopped at a card shop and bought a package of Baby Announcements saying that we had a son. He was so sure this would be the son he wanted.
When Bobby was three, we decided that if we could hire a live-in babysitter, it was time for me to go back to work. I heard the Bureau of Mines was looking for help at their offices housed in one of the buildings on the campus of the University of Maryland. This was closer than having to go back into Washington, and it wouldn’t take me away from home quite as long each day. I decided I would try it. It didn’t take very long for me to realize that it wasn’t going to work out. The job was in the key punch section. By the time I had learned what I was to do, and how to do it, I had also learned it was not a job I wanted to do. It was way too boring and monotonous to suit me. Furthermore, the basement just under our office was being used to raise chickens for experiments. This was before the days when all big offices were air conditioned, and it was summertime. The odor coming from the windows just below ours, and blowing right back into ours, was more than I could live with. I began immediately to search the postings of other job openings I could transfer to. I found a listing for jobs available in the Navel Ordinance Laboratory, housed at their new building complex in Silver Springs, Maryland.
This was great, the building I was in was air conditioned, and the work was interesting. It was here that I first learned to transcribe: letters, memos, reports, etc., from little green plastic discs. But wouldn’t you know. In less than a year I was pregnant again. We were having trouble at home also. We had to fire our latest baby sitter. When she came in from the country, she brought a suitcase full of bed bugs with her. We didn’t know this right away, but by the time we found out, the bedroom she was using was full of them. We discovered this the hard way. My 10-year-old niece, Millie, came from Baltimore to visit with Louise. The only bed available for her use was the other half of the studio couch in the room the baby sitter was using. Millie spent a very uncomfortable night, and when she got up, she was covered with red itchy welts.
After Millie was taken care of, Dee took the day off from work. He carried all the furniture from the room down to the back yard. There he soaked it with bug killer. He then sprayed the room. We learned that although they were called “Bed Bugs,” they didn’t confine their habitat to the beds. He even found them on the backs of the pictures hanging on the wall.
All things being considered, it was decided that perhaps it was time for me to resign from this job, and stay at home.
Our third child was born in 1950, we named her Rebecca. When she was 2 years old Dee was transferred to Raleigh, North Carolina. This was quite an experience for all of us. We missed being in close contact with the rest of my family. I had lived in Maryland all of my life. It was a new experience for Dee also. This new job required him to be on the road at least 3 or 4 days a week.
We had only been living in North Carolina a couple of years when our second son was born in 1954. This son we named Theodore. The day after we came home from the hospital, Hurricane Hazel came in from the ocean and headed north right through our area. We were 4 days without power, and had to prepare Ted’s formula in the fireplace. This was no easy task, but thankfully he was strong enough to survive.
By the time Ted started school we had been transferred once again. This time we moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Louise, our oldest Daughter, was going to college in North Georgia, and I had found a good maid. We decided it was time for me to join the work force once again.
My fourth job with the government was in the Department of Agriculture. I was the receptionist for a room full of women who took care of the office needs for the State’s Veterinarians. This was an interesting job and I liked the people I was working with, especially at Christmas time when the Veterinarian from Southwest Georgia always came into the office with a large suit box full of spiced pecan halves his wife had sent to us. They were so good they never lasted very long.
After a few years, the Internal Revenue Service opened a Regional office in Chamblee, a suburb of Atlanta. They sent out a plea for tax examiners to staff the office. It was an opportunity for a step up with an increase in salary, so I decided to give it a try. I left the Agriculture Department with the assurance that I could return if I decided, after one tax season, it wasn’t what I wanted to do. The work wasn’t too hard, and we were trained well. We were trained to work fast, and had a quota that we had to complete each day. Because of this, we were told to not worry about accuracy, just turn them out. This was so against all I had been taught, such as, “A job worth doing is worth doing well,” or, “If you don’t do it right the first time, you’ll have to do I over.” Also, we didn’t have desks to use; we sat at long tables, 2 or 3 to a table. We could not leave our seats at any time, for anything, even to go to the rest room, except during our 15-minute break or 30-minute lunch time. When the tax season was over, that was enough for me, I returned to the job at the Agriculture Department.
I was happy to be back, and became best friends with one of the women working in the Records Department, where I was assigned this time. Some years later a friend of ours, who was the Chief Personnel Officer at the Center for Disease Control, was trying to convince me, and my friend, to transfer to the Center. We finally took a couple hours off from work and went to talk with him. We were both offered a better job and decided to transfer to the Center for Disease Control.
I was to be trained for a travel Clerk’s position. It was a very interesting job, although I had to learn the job without the help of the girl who was supposed to be training me. She was leaving to get married, and that was all she had on her mind. Every time I would ask why something was done a certain way, her stock answer was, “I don’t know, we just always do it that way.” I thoroughly enjoyed this job, Instead of working with Veterinarians; I was now working with Medical Doctors. They did a lot of traveling, and the Travel Clerk was an important part of their job experience.
Even going to the cafeteria was interesting, you never knew who or what you would see there. There were usually several ladies from India dressed in their beautiful Saris, who were taking courses in the Labs. One day we saw an African Chief, I can’t really describe his outfit, except to say that it left no doubt in our minds that he was an important Chief. This was, without a doubt, the best job I had ever had. I worked there for quite a few years. My final job there was as a Staff Assistant in the Venereal Disease Division. The job really kept me busy; however, when an opportunity came along for an early retirement, I took it. I retired from this, my last job, in 1982.
My first job with the U.S. Government was in 1942, just 2 weeks before we were married. It was with the Army Finance Office, Allotment Division. Since it was shortly after the United States had entered into World War II, they were hiring as fast as they could. However, we were still working 10 hour days, 6 days a week, trying to keep up with the allotments for the steady stream of men joining the Army. This was not an easy job, and just a few months later it became much harder when I realized I was pregnant. This meant dealing with morning sickness while going to work. I was riding to work with several other employees, and a few times I had to ask the driver to please pull over and let me out of the car. He was happy to oblige, he certainly didn’t want me to throw up in his car.
About 6 months into my pregnancy my husband was drafted into the Army. He was sent for training, to Camp Croft, South Carolina. I knew I would have to give up our apartment, and didn’t know where I would be living, so I decided it was a good time to quit my job. I spent a couple of months with my sister in Baltimore, while my parents moved back to Hyattsville. They couldn’t continue driving back and forth to work from their home on the South River, due to the rationing of gasoline and tires. Once they were settled, I moved back home with them.
This “home” was a strange arrangement; they rented the first floor of a big old house, along with one room on the second floor for my Aunt’s bedroom. The elderly couple taking care of the house used the rest of the second floor. During the last months of my pregnancy, I spent many hours sitting in one of rocking chairs on the big front porch at night, because I couldn’t breathe while lying down. I had suffered with asthma since I was twelve, and my condition at that time made it much worse.
During our stay in this house, our first child was born; we named her Grace Louise, after my Mother. Dee was not able to be with me for her birth, but was able to get a 3 day pass to come to see us when she was 3 days old. In those days, new mothers were required to stay in bed for 10 days. But, I finally convinced my doctor to let me go home. Otherwise, Dee would have only been able to visit me in the hospital twice a day during visiting hours for those 3 days. The doctor did require me to get an ambulance to take me home, and stay in bed for the full 10 days. My Dad drove to Baltimore and brought my sister and her baby son back, so we would have someone to take care of us while Dee was home for that very short visit. Soon after Louise was born, my folks were able to find a house for us to move into. It was on the same street we had lived on when I was a teenager. Since it was on the bus route into Washington, Mom and Dad could ride the bus to work.
While we lived there, Dee received orders to join the 29th Division in Europe. After he was on the front lines for several months I received one of those dreaded telegrams from the army. I was relieved when I read that he was wounded, but it gave no indication as to how badly he was wounded. I finally started receiving mail from him. After several months he wrote that he was going back on duty, and was headed back to Germany. He was to manage a hotel that housed the USO entertainers as they traveled to entertain the troops.
About 6 months later, my mother and I were sitting in the living room. I was at my sewing machine altering some clothes, and mother was reading, when the front door was opened. Neither of us even looked up as we had heard the bus go by, and were expecting my Aunt to come home from work at that time. However, when no one came into the room, we both looked up and saw Dee standing there waiting for us to see him. Needless to say, both of us were extremely surprised! We had no idea that he was even on his way back.
Louise was still awake, since I had been going in and out of the bedroom, getting and putting away the clothes I had been altering. We went upstairs to see her. I was a bit apprehensive, I had heard so many stories of fathers returning home to children who did not remember them, or were even afraid of them, and he had been gone for more than a year. But, when she saw him the only worry I had was that she would collapse the crib she was jumping up and down in, and trying to climb out of at the same time. After we had calmed Louise down a bit, I asked Dee if he had had any dinner. “No,” he said, “I didn’t take time to even clean up or shave, much less eat. So we went to the kitchen and before I started to get some leftovers out to warm up, I turned to Louise and said, “Talk to Daddy and entertain him while I fix him something to eat. You didn’t even know how to talk, when he saw you the last time.” That was like pulling a plug. She started to talk, telling him everything she could think of to say.
Although it was after 10 o’clock by that time, Dee called his brother, Walter, on the phone to let him know he was back in the states. Walter told him that his son, Dick, was at Fort Meade and was to ship out in the morning. Next thing I knew, we were in the back seat of Walter’s car and were heading to Fort Meade, in Laurel, Maryland. Walter knew which barrack Dick was in so he went right to it. Dee got out and went into the barrack to find Dick. He came back in a few minutes, with Dick hobbling along beside him. Dick said, “I don’t think they gave me the right size shoes.” We all looked at his shoes, and realized as he fumbled in the dark trying to get them on quietly, he had managed to put them on the wrong feet. After a short visit with Dick and a quick “goodbye,” we hurried Dee to the barrack he had been assigned to when he got off of the bus earlier that day as he arrived in Fort Meade. He had thrown his duffle bag on a cot as he went out the back door, to catch the bus to take him home to us. In a few days Dee was mustered out, and home with us to stay.
In a few weeks Dee had accepted a position as a clerk with the Internal Revenue Service. This was the beginning of his 33 year career with the U.S. Government. We then started the job of hunting for the first house for us to live in. That took longer than we expected it would, but we finally found one that we liked. It was in Landover Hills, Maryland. Shortly after we moved in, our first Son was born (our baby boomer). We named him Robert Lawrence. When Dee was taking me to the hospital, he stopped at a card shop and bought a package of Baby Announcements saying that we had a son. He was so sure this would be the son he wanted.
When Bobby was three, we decided that if we could hire a live-in babysitter, it was time for me to go back to work. I heard the Bureau of Mines was looking for help at their offices housed in one of the buildings on the campus of the University of Maryland. This was closer than having to go back into Washington, and it wouldn’t take me away from home quite as long each day. I decided I would try it. It didn’t take very long for me to realize that it wasn’t going to work out. The job was in the key punch section. By the time I had learned what I was to do, and how to do it, I had also learned it was not a job I wanted to do. It was way too boring and monotonous to suit me. Furthermore, the basement just under our office was being used to raise chickens for experiments. This was before the days when all big offices were air conditioned, and it was summertime. The odor coming from the windows just below ours, and blowing right back into ours, was more than I could live with. I began immediately to search the postings of other job openings I could transfer to. I found a listing for jobs available in the Navel Ordinance Laboratory, housed at their new building complex in Silver Springs, Maryland.
This was great, the building I was in was air conditioned, and the work was interesting. It was here that I first learned to transcribe: letters, memos, reports, etc., from little green plastic discs. But wouldn’t you know. In less than a year I was pregnant again. We were having trouble at home also. We had to fire our latest baby sitter. When she came in from the country, she brought a suitcase full of bed bugs with her. We didn’t know this right away, but by the time we found out, the bedroom she was using was full of them. We discovered this the hard way. My 10-year-old niece, Millie, came from Baltimore to visit with Louise. The only bed available for her use was the other half of the studio couch in the room the baby sitter was using. Millie spent a very uncomfortable night, and when she got up, she was covered with red itchy welts.
After Millie was taken care of, Dee took the day off from work. He carried all the furniture from the room down to the back yard. There he soaked it with bug killer. He then sprayed the room. We learned that although they were called “Bed Bugs,” they didn’t confine their habitat to the beds. He even found them on the backs of the pictures hanging on the wall.
All things being considered, it was decided that perhaps it was time for me to resign from this job, and stay at home.
Our third child was born in 1950, we named her Rebecca. When she was 2 years old Dee was transferred to Raleigh, North Carolina. This was quite an experience for all of us. We missed being in close contact with the rest of my family. I had lived in Maryland all of my life. It was a new experience for Dee also. This new job required him to be on the road at least 3 or 4 days a week.
We had only been living in North Carolina a couple of years when our second son was born in 1954. This son we named Theodore. The day after we came home from the hospital, Hurricane Hazel came in from the ocean and headed north right through our area. We were 4 days without power, and had to prepare Ted’s formula in the fireplace. This was no easy task, but thankfully he was strong enough to survive.
By the time Ted started school we had been transferred once again. This time we moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Louise, our oldest Daughter, was going to college in North Georgia, and I had found a good maid. We decided it was time for me to join the work force once again.
My fourth job with the government was in the Department of Agriculture. I was the receptionist for a room full of women who took care of the office needs for the State’s Veterinarians. This was an interesting job and I liked the people I was working with, especially at Christmas time when the Veterinarian from Southwest Georgia always came into the office with a large suit box full of spiced pecan halves his wife had sent to us. They were so good they never lasted very long.
After a few years, the Internal Revenue Service opened a Regional office in Chamblee, a suburb of Atlanta. They sent out a plea for tax examiners to staff the office. It was an opportunity for a step up with an increase in salary, so I decided to give it a try. I left the Agriculture Department with the assurance that I could return if I decided, after one tax season, it wasn’t what I wanted to do. The work wasn’t too hard, and we were trained well. We were trained to work fast, and had a quota that we had to complete each day. Because of this, we were told to not worry about accuracy, just turn them out. This was so against all I had been taught, such as, “A job worth doing is worth doing well,” or, “If you don’t do it right the first time, you’ll have to do I over.” Also, we didn’t have desks to use; we sat at long tables, 2 or 3 to a table. We could not leave our seats at any time, for anything, even to go to the rest room, except during our 15-minute break or 30-minute lunch time. When the tax season was over, that was enough for me, I returned to the job at the Agriculture Department.
I was happy to be back, and became best friends with one of the women working in the Records Department, where I was assigned this time. Some years later a friend of ours, who was the Chief Personnel Officer at the Center for Disease Control, was trying to convince me, and my friend, to transfer to the Center. We finally took a couple hours off from work and went to talk with him. We were both offered a better job and decided to transfer to the Center for Disease Control.
I was to be trained for a travel Clerk’s position. It was a very interesting job, although I had to learn the job without the help of the girl who was supposed to be training me. She was leaving to get married, and that was all she had on her mind. Every time I would ask why something was done a certain way, her stock answer was, “I don’t know, we just always do it that way.” I thoroughly enjoyed this job, Instead of working with Veterinarians; I was now working with Medical Doctors. They did a lot of traveling, and the Travel Clerk was an important part of their job experience.
Even going to the cafeteria was interesting, you never knew who or what you would see there. There were usually several ladies from India dressed in their beautiful Saris, who were taking courses in the Labs. One day we saw an African Chief, I can’t really describe his outfit, except to say that it left no doubt in our minds that he was an important Chief. This was, without a doubt, the best job I had ever had. I worked there for quite a few years. My final job there was as a Staff Assistant in the Venereal Disease Division. The job really kept me busy; however, when an opportunity came along for an early retirement, I took it. I retired from this, my last job, in 1982.
My Story of Rebecca by Mary L. Flynn
The date set for the arrival of my third child was April 26, 1950; it was also my father’s birthday. I had an appointment with my doctor the day before she was due. He said the baby didn’t seem to be ready, and it might be as much as two weeks yet. The next morning I woke up with labor pains. I called the doctor and said “Oh yea, meet me at the hospital!” After she was born I told him “she knew her granddaddy was expecting her and she was anxious to see him.”
As she grew, we found that she had inherited her Granddad’s natural curly hair, but she was having a problem with a condition called “Cradle Cap” which meant I had to scrape her scalp and wash her hair each morning to keep it under control until the problem was eliminated. I also had to keep her hair cut very short. This resulted in her having a head full of tight golden curls. One day, while I was cutting her hair, a friend came by to see us and complained loudly, when she saw the curls blowing across the floor, as the breeze blew in the door. She said, “They are just too pretty to be cutting them off!”
Rebecca, or “Becky”, as we called her then, was only two years old when her Daddy was transferred to Raleigh, North Carolina. Since his job required him to travel most of the time, he would take a week off and drive the family to Maryland, and leave us with my Mom and Dad until it was time to go back to school. Then he would take another week off and come back, pack us all up, and head back to North Carolina. A few years later we were transferred once again. This time we moved to Atlanta, Georgia.
When Becky reached High School she decided that “Becky” was a baby’s nick name and asked us to call her “Becca”. While in High School Becca met a girl who was born on the same day she was, and they became best friends. During her last year there she also met a boy who invited her to a dance at VMI (Virginia Military Institute) in Virginia, where he was going to school. After much discussion we decided she could go for the weekend.
She was so excited, but she still had to go through one more week of school, and one more rehearsal for the school play that she had a part in. Her best friend’s mother was picking her up from the rehearsal, and bringing her home. As Becca got out of the car in our driveway, her foot slipped on a stone and she went head first to the ground. When she got up she had a big “goose egg” just above one of her eyes. The result was that she had a very black eye that would, if anything, look much worse in the few days left before the weekend, and dance at VMI.
Becca had a very big decision to make! Did she go to the big weekend at VMI, or did she call John and tell him she couldn’t make it? After much thought, and a telephone call to John, she finally decided she would go -- black eye and all. John was not able to meet her at the airport, because he had a very important test scheduled at the same time. He had asked his roommate to pick her up at the airport for him. Of course, his roommate had never met Becca, so John told him, “Just look for a girl about my height, with a very black eye”. This must have been the right decision, because she had a very good time over the weekend, and John DuBose was the young man she married.
As she grew, we found that she had inherited her Granddad’s natural curly hair, but she was having a problem with a condition called “Cradle Cap” which meant I had to scrape her scalp and wash her hair each morning to keep it under control until the problem was eliminated. I also had to keep her hair cut very short. This resulted in her having a head full of tight golden curls. One day, while I was cutting her hair, a friend came by to see us and complained loudly, when she saw the curls blowing across the floor, as the breeze blew in the door. She said, “They are just too pretty to be cutting them off!”
Rebecca, or “Becky”, as we called her then, was only two years old when her Daddy was transferred to Raleigh, North Carolina. Since his job required him to travel most of the time, he would take a week off and drive the family to Maryland, and leave us with my Mom and Dad until it was time to go back to school. Then he would take another week off and come back, pack us all up, and head back to North Carolina. A few years later we were transferred once again. This time we moved to Atlanta, Georgia.
When Becky reached High School she decided that “Becky” was a baby’s nick name and asked us to call her “Becca”. While in High School Becca met a girl who was born on the same day she was, and they became best friends. During her last year there she also met a boy who invited her to a dance at VMI (Virginia Military Institute) in Virginia, where he was going to school. After much discussion we decided she could go for the weekend.
She was so excited, but she still had to go through one more week of school, and one more rehearsal for the school play that she had a part in. Her best friend’s mother was picking her up from the rehearsal, and bringing her home. As Becca got out of the car in our driveway, her foot slipped on a stone and she went head first to the ground. When she got up she had a big “goose egg” just above one of her eyes. The result was that she had a very black eye that would, if anything, look much worse in the few days left before the weekend, and dance at VMI.
Becca had a very big decision to make! Did she go to the big weekend at VMI, or did she call John and tell him she couldn’t make it? After much thought, and a telephone call to John, she finally decided she would go -- black eye and all. John was not able to meet her at the airport, because he had a very important test scheduled at the same time. He had asked his roommate to pick her up at the airport for him. Of course, his roommate had never met Becca, so John told him, “Just look for a girl about my height, with a very black eye”. This must have been the right decision, because she had a very good time over the weekend, and John DuBose was the young man she married.
The Story of my Papa* by Mary L. Flynn
The only ancestor I knew was my maternal Grandfather. All of the others had finished their span of time on the earth before I was born. His name was Alfred Thomson, but all the family called him Papa. Papa often entertained me, and my siblings, by telling us stories about his childhood and his father.
He often reminded us that his name was “THOM ‘p’ SON - without the P”. Papa’s father came to America from the coal mining area of Wales, therefore when Great-grandfather Thomson arrived in America he went to the coal mining region of Pennsylvania and Ohio. When my Grandfather, was born his mother died, either of child birth or shortly after, and Papa was cared for by the Matthews family. After that his father went out west, and was known to have been a friend of Wild Bill Hickock. It was also recorded that he was a writer and reporter and that his book, “The Early History of the Methodist Church in America” is in the Library of Congress, but this has never been checked out as far as I know.
Papa was never adopted by the Matthews family. However, when the west opened up, and many families were going there to claim their offer of free land, the Matthews went to Oregon to claim their homestead. Like many others, they got 2 Conestoga Wagons and loaded everything they could take and Papa signed on as a driver for one of the family wagons even though he was only in his late teens.
They took the Oregon Trail (some of that route is still evident today). When their wagon train arrived in Denver, Colorado, it was late in the year so they wintered next to the Old Fort, both for protection from the winds and the Indians. It was a rough winter. One day, during a blizzard, when everyone was in the canvas shelter eating, ten Indians cut slits in the canvas and stepped in, ready to do battle if necessary. Papa was about to take a bite of his sourdough flapjack. He turned to look at the young brave who had stepped in beside him, and said “Do you want a bite?” The Brave looked to his father, who was the Chief, the Chief nodded slightly, and the rest of their group passed flapjacks out to the other Indians, and a peaceful meal was continued. While they were eating some of the women sewed up the cuts in the canvas, to keep the cold wind and snow out. After the blizzard was over, Papa and Mrs. Matthews went with them to teach their women how to make flapjacks.
Papa was made a “Blood Brother” to the Chief’s Son and was given an Indian name. He was also given an Indian Pony. After that, every morning the Matthews would find fresh meat; a deer, antelope, goat or buffalo, hung outside their wagon. Even though they never saw who had delivered them, they knew it was their new friends – the Indians. Somehow word gets around, and though others had problems with the Indians, the Matthews party and those with them never did. Once they reached their planned destination, and got settled in, Papa returned to visit the Blackfoot Indian tribe in North Dakota.
He then went on to Missouri where he boarded a train for Washington, D.C. By this time Papa had grown up quite a bit. He was 6’ 2” tall and had not an ounce of fat on his frame; he could shoot a chicken hawk in flight, and work from dawn to dark every day of the week. When he arrived in Washington the muddy ruts on Pennsylvania Ave. were so bad he had to walk his horse instead of riding him. When he met his father there, his eye level was at the top of Great-Grandfather’s stove top hat. The first thing his father said to him was, “How is the weather up there?”
About that time Papa learned that an uncle had just completed the first successful transatlantic cable. When the Queen of England knighted him and changed his name to Lord Calvert, the entire Thomson family disassociated themselves from him forever and never spoke his name again.
Papa stayed in Washington and got a job at the Government Printing Office. He had married and had a son, Henry, and two daughters, Grace Louise and Mildred Ross (Auntie), who was not well and was under a doctor’s care. Grace Louise was my mother, and our family was living in Cherrydale, Virginia, when both my Sister and Brother were born. When my brother was four years old and my mother was expecting me, they moved to Hyattsville, Maryland. When I was born it was not an easy delivery. I was fine, but Mother had lost so much blood the doctor prescribed a medication for her, to build up her blood. The medication was “German Black Beer”. Since it was during prohibition, Papa had to arrange with some Old German folks he knew to provide it for her.
Through it all God provides for our every need. At this time there was a black preacher in Georgetown who died. He was Rev. Jackson, and his wonderful wife prayed for help from the Lord, and asked, “What am I to do?” She knew she was led by the Lord to come to our house, and knock on the door. Papa answered the door and this Black Angel (Papa said that was what she looked like to him) said “Mister, God has sent me here. What am I to do?” Papa said, “Come in, we need you, and she did. She stayed with Mother and nursed her back to health. She helped Auntie with the housework and took care of my brother, sister, and me, and I had to be bottle fed, which was not done very often in those days. The Black Angel’s name was Vivian Jackson and she stayed with us as long as she was needed. Then one day she simply said “Goodbye, it’s time I went home,” and she left. Papa knew she was dearly loved by her people. They would often come to see if she needed anything even though she only had to ask for anything she wanted, and Papa would see to it that she got whatever it was. Papa liked to tease her about all her boyfriends and she would say “Now Mr. Thomson I’ gonna starch your shirttail,” and one time she really did. Some years later we heard that Vivian was sick, and we went to Georgetown to look for her. Her address had changed, so we went to the church to inquire, and were told that we could do nothing, they were attending to her needs and that was the way they wanted it to be.
When I was 2 years old, we moved to Beltsville, Maryland. Papa was very busy doing all the farm work, as my Dad worked the night shift at the Evening Star newspaper, and had to sleep in the daytime.
Ten years later we moved back to Hyattsville, Maryland. When my brother finished High School, Dad got him a job at the Evening Star Newspaper, in the Composing room, as a printer’s devil. My brother said it was hard work, but he was making $10 a week working 6 nights. This meant he had to sleep in the afternoon and evening. I’m sure that wasn’t easy, since he and Papa had to share the “sun room” which had windows all across the back of the house. One evening he woke up and was just lying there waiting for Papa to call him, when he heard him praying. He was saying, “Please Lord let me come home, I hurt so bad, and I’m not good for anything anymore,” My brother said, right then the room got so bright that he knew the Lord was standing right there, and he squinted to keep from being blinded by His presence. Then he heard Papa say, “Thank you Lord, thank you.” After a few minutes Papa took hold of my brother’s big toe and said, “It’s time to get up and get going to work”. He got up, dressed, and got his lunch. Then went back to kiss Papa on his high forehead (not quite bald yet) and said “Good bye Papa” instead of ‘Good Night’ as he had always done, and Papa looked up and said, “Good bye, be a good boy.”
That night my brother didn’t tell anyone what was on his mind, but at 6 a.m. when the telephone rang, in the composing room, he knew Papa had died. He walked toward his boss as he hung the phone up, and his boss said, “You go on home, I’ll check you out at 7”. So he left early for home that morning.
The funeral service was at Gashes Funeral Home in Hyattsville, MD, and burial was in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. When we all returned home from the service, we gathered in the living room and just thanked God for Papa’s life, which he had shared with us.
*Much of the information in this story was from a paper written by my Brother, Wallis Montgomery Hurley, which he entitled, “The Way it was 1919 to 1999”. He wrote the paper when his Great-Grandson, Justin Gold, asked him what it was like having his Grandfather living with him while he was growing up.
He often reminded us that his name was “THOM ‘p’ SON - without the P”. Papa’s father came to America from the coal mining area of Wales, therefore when Great-grandfather Thomson arrived in America he went to the coal mining region of Pennsylvania and Ohio. When my Grandfather, was born his mother died, either of child birth or shortly after, and Papa was cared for by the Matthews family. After that his father went out west, and was known to have been a friend of Wild Bill Hickock. It was also recorded that he was a writer and reporter and that his book, “The Early History of the Methodist Church in America” is in the Library of Congress, but this has never been checked out as far as I know.
Papa was never adopted by the Matthews family. However, when the west opened up, and many families were going there to claim their offer of free land, the Matthews went to Oregon to claim their homestead. Like many others, they got 2 Conestoga Wagons and loaded everything they could take and Papa signed on as a driver for one of the family wagons even though he was only in his late teens.
They took the Oregon Trail (some of that route is still evident today). When their wagon train arrived in Denver, Colorado, it was late in the year so they wintered next to the Old Fort, both for protection from the winds and the Indians. It was a rough winter. One day, during a blizzard, when everyone was in the canvas shelter eating, ten Indians cut slits in the canvas and stepped in, ready to do battle if necessary. Papa was about to take a bite of his sourdough flapjack. He turned to look at the young brave who had stepped in beside him, and said “Do you want a bite?” The Brave looked to his father, who was the Chief, the Chief nodded slightly, and the rest of their group passed flapjacks out to the other Indians, and a peaceful meal was continued. While they were eating some of the women sewed up the cuts in the canvas, to keep the cold wind and snow out. After the blizzard was over, Papa and Mrs. Matthews went with them to teach their women how to make flapjacks.
Papa was made a “Blood Brother” to the Chief’s Son and was given an Indian name. He was also given an Indian Pony. After that, every morning the Matthews would find fresh meat; a deer, antelope, goat or buffalo, hung outside their wagon. Even though they never saw who had delivered them, they knew it was their new friends – the Indians. Somehow word gets around, and though others had problems with the Indians, the Matthews party and those with them never did. Once they reached their planned destination, and got settled in, Papa returned to visit the Blackfoot Indian tribe in North Dakota.
He then went on to Missouri where he boarded a train for Washington, D.C. By this time Papa had grown up quite a bit. He was 6’ 2” tall and had not an ounce of fat on his frame; he could shoot a chicken hawk in flight, and work from dawn to dark every day of the week. When he arrived in Washington the muddy ruts on Pennsylvania Ave. were so bad he had to walk his horse instead of riding him. When he met his father there, his eye level was at the top of Great-Grandfather’s stove top hat. The first thing his father said to him was, “How is the weather up there?”
About that time Papa learned that an uncle had just completed the first successful transatlantic cable. When the Queen of England knighted him and changed his name to Lord Calvert, the entire Thomson family disassociated themselves from him forever and never spoke his name again.
Papa stayed in Washington and got a job at the Government Printing Office. He had married and had a son, Henry, and two daughters, Grace Louise and Mildred Ross (Auntie), who was not well and was under a doctor’s care. Grace Louise was my mother, and our family was living in Cherrydale, Virginia, when both my Sister and Brother were born. When my brother was four years old and my mother was expecting me, they moved to Hyattsville, Maryland. When I was born it was not an easy delivery. I was fine, but Mother had lost so much blood the doctor prescribed a medication for her, to build up her blood. The medication was “German Black Beer”. Since it was during prohibition, Papa had to arrange with some Old German folks he knew to provide it for her.
Through it all God provides for our every need. At this time there was a black preacher in Georgetown who died. He was Rev. Jackson, and his wonderful wife prayed for help from the Lord, and asked, “What am I to do?” She knew she was led by the Lord to come to our house, and knock on the door. Papa answered the door and this Black Angel (Papa said that was what she looked like to him) said “Mister, God has sent me here. What am I to do?” Papa said, “Come in, we need you, and she did. She stayed with Mother and nursed her back to health. She helped Auntie with the housework and took care of my brother, sister, and me, and I had to be bottle fed, which was not done very often in those days. The Black Angel’s name was Vivian Jackson and she stayed with us as long as she was needed. Then one day she simply said “Goodbye, it’s time I went home,” and she left. Papa knew she was dearly loved by her people. They would often come to see if she needed anything even though she only had to ask for anything she wanted, and Papa would see to it that she got whatever it was. Papa liked to tease her about all her boyfriends and she would say “Now Mr. Thomson I’ gonna starch your shirttail,” and one time she really did. Some years later we heard that Vivian was sick, and we went to Georgetown to look for her. Her address had changed, so we went to the church to inquire, and were told that we could do nothing, they were attending to her needs and that was the way they wanted it to be.
When I was 2 years old, we moved to Beltsville, Maryland. Papa was very busy doing all the farm work, as my Dad worked the night shift at the Evening Star newspaper, and had to sleep in the daytime.
Ten years later we moved back to Hyattsville, Maryland. When my brother finished High School, Dad got him a job at the Evening Star Newspaper, in the Composing room, as a printer’s devil. My brother said it was hard work, but he was making $10 a week working 6 nights. This meant he had to sleep in the afternoon and evening. I’m sure that wasn’t easy, since he and Papa had to share the “sun room” which had windows all across the back of the house. One evening he woke up and was just lying there waiting for Papa to call him, when he heard him praying. He was saying, “Please Lord let me come home, I hurt so bad, and I’m not good for anything anymore,” My brother said, right then the room got so bright that he knew the Lord was standing right there, and he squinted to keep from being blinded by His presence. Then he heard Papa say, “Thank you Lord, thank you.” After a few minutes Papa took hold of my brother’s big toe and said, “It’s time to get up and get going to work”. He got up, dressed, and got his lunch. Then went back to kiss Papa on his high forehead (not quite bald yet) and said “Good bye Papa” instead of ‘Good Night’ as he had always done, and Papa looked up and said, “Good bye, be a good boy.”
That night my brother didn’t tell anyone what was on his mind, but at 6 a.m. when the telephone rang, in the composing room, he knew Papa had died. He walked toward his boss as he hung the phone up, and his boss said, “You go on home, I’ll check you out at 7”. So he left early for home that morning.
The funeral service was at Gashes Funeral Home in Hyattsville, MD, and burial was in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. When we all returned home from the service, we gathered in the living room and just thanked God for Papa’s life, which he had shared with us.
*Much of the information in this story was from a paper written by my Brother, Wallis Montgomery Hurley, which he entitled, “The Way it was 1919 to 1999”. He wrote the paper when his Great-Grandson, Justin Gold, asked him what it was like having his Grandfather living with him while he was growing up.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
The Hurricane of 1933
The Event
The Hurricane of 1933
by Mary (May) Flynn
“Mama, can Mont and I go swimming now, we’ve finished our chores?” “Yes, but don’t stay in the sun too long, and be back in time for lunch.” I knew that’s what she would say, if she didn’t have anything else for us to do, we always spent the morning in the water. But, before we left I asked her if she had heard Mr. Riddick had told Bob, he would let him take the boat to the gulf sometime soon. “Yes, the girls did mention it this morning. I suppose that means they will be gathering here this evening to make plans,” Mama said. “Mont, you’d better go down under the house and make sure we have plenty of the homemade root beer ready for drinking. I’ll check the pretzel supply: those kids can make them disappear in a hurry”.
The Hurricane of 1933
by Mary (May) Flynn
“Mama, can Mont and I go swimming now, we’ve finished our chores?” “Yes, but don’t stay in the sun too long, and be back in time for lunch.” I knew that’s what she would say, if she didn’t have anything else for us to do, we always spent the morning in the water. But, before we left I asked her if she had heard Mr. Riddick had told Bob, he would let him take the boat to the gulf sometime soon. “Yes, the girls did mention it this morning. I suppose that means they will be gathering here this evening to make plans,” Mama said. “Mont, you’d better go down under the house and make sure we have plenty of the homemade root beer ready for drinking. I’ll check the pretzel supply: those kids can make them disappear in a hurry”.
No sooner than supper was over the bunch of teenagers began arriving at the cottage to make their plans for the boat ride. I was so excited when Bob said his mother wouldn’t let him go unless he could take his little sister, Janie, along, cause I knew that meant he would ask if I could go to keep her entertained. She was a year younger than me, and I had just turned 10 a month ago; I held my breath until Mama said I could go along with them.
It wasn’t very long before she told me it was time to get to bed. I really wanted to stay and hear the rest of their plans for the boat ride, but I was getting tired, so I went to the bedroom and got ready for bed. Trying to be as quiet as I could, I climbed up the head of the old iron bed and slid over onto the folding cot, that was stored on top of the closet between the two bedrooms, and settled down to listen to what was going on in the living room. I don’t know how much of the plans I heard, but when my sisters came to bed they woke me up and said I had better hurry and get down in the bed before Mama or Daddy found me up there.
The day of the trip dawned bright and clear, and it didn’t take long to get lunches packed, put bathing suits on, get other gear gathered up, and take off for Mr. Riddick’s pier. The water seemed to be a little rougher than usual but that didn’t bother Bob and the others in the group. However, by the time we got down the South River and headed into the Chesapeake Bay the waves were much bigger than they had been in the river. Bob found some rope and tied Janie and me to the bow of the boat and we were having a great time. As long as we were headed into the waves it was fine, but Bob decided it was time we turned around and headed back home. That was when it got really scary. When the waves began to hit the side of the boat, it felt like it was going to turn over and dump all of us right into the bay.
Bob did a great job of getting the boat turned around and headed back home. Going in the same direction as the waves had us back to Mr. Riddick’s pier in record time, and we were all mighty glad to get back on solid ground once again. Our parents were glad when we got back safe and sound, too. They had heard on the radio there was a hurricane heading right up the Chesapeake Bay.
When we woke up the next morning we found out what a hurricane was! It was raining so hard, and the wind blowing so hard we could barely see what was going on outside. It wasn’t long before our electricity went off, and it was a kind of weird color outside. Mama said this would be a good time to put a big pot of vegetable soup on the old oil stove that we had just for such occasions as this.
About mid-morning a couple of boys came by to see if we were doing okay. When they realized we had an oil stove, they asked if they could bring a coffee pot over to put on it. Of course Mama said that would be fine, and the next thing we knew they were going door to door to see if anyone else in the neighborhood had something they wanted heated up. Later that afternoon most of the teenagers were gathered in our cottage playing a game of “Pig” at the big table, and taking turns mopping up the water that was coming in at the base of each window and door. Mama had put a big galvanized tub in the middle of the floor and old towels at each window to mop up the water as it came in. Before it got dark that afternoon, the guys took any extra candles anyone had around the area to make sure everyone had something to see by when it got dark.
My Dad never did get home from work that evening. He worked at the “Washington Evening Star” Newspaper, and when he found there were several bridges washed completely off the road and down the streams, he turned around, and went back to the place where he worked, and spent the night on a couch in the room they called the “Club Room”. The next day was Saturday so he started out once again, and found a longer way to bypass the washed out bridges and finally made it home.
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