"DADDY"-RALPH WALDO MILLER

Grandma Rita's Ramblings


November2008

RALPH WALDO MILLER
“Daddy”


To My Grandkids With Love

Daddy was in some ways a bit hard to understand. He was very opposite of my mom in that she openly gave her opinion on her likes or dislikes. She was like an open book as they say. Daddy on the other hand was for the most part quiet and much of the time kept his opinions to himself. He always kept me guessing as to whether I had his approval. I tried hard to please him. Not because I thought he would punish me (only once does the family remember his giving one of his kids a spanking) but more because I so craved his approval. I was his “hired hand” at the time I was in upper grade and high school. I liked outdoor work better than indoor so I got to know him well.

He never showed his temper when I did crazy things such as the time I ran in to a fence post with our old truck when I was twelve. Or the many times we would have an unruly young heifer who didn’t want to be milked. Or if I didn’t keep a straight row when driving the tractor.

The few times I did receive a compliment from him are times I still remember with pride. I don’t ever remember sitting on his lap when young, or hearing him say that he loved me. These things may have happened but I have no memory of outward affection at any time, but I guess I just assumed that he did love me. As I write this, it sounds strange, I know. I think the era in which we lived then people were less likely to show affection, and it was thought if you bragged on your child there might be a danger of him/her getting too proud.


Two times I clearly remember his words of approval:

In the 1930’s when FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) took office, the government offered various programs for the farmers who were struggling from the “Great Depression” and the “Dust Bowl Days“.
One of those programs was to give the farmer enough money to buy a good herd of cows so they would have a steady income from the sale of dairy products, especially cream.

I was the one in the family that helped daddy the most with milking our 8 or10 cows twice daily (by hand of course). I enjoyed this time alone with just daddy and the cows! It was a bit of bonding that took place.

I recall one Sunday afternoon when we had distant relatives, Warren and Hazel Buffington over for Sunday dinner. After the meal we were all sitting in the living room. Adult conversation was going on and daddy starts telling about what a good milker I was! The more he talked the bigger my chest got. From that time on I tried even harder to be a good milker. You have no idea what that did for my self esteem! Of course in that day no one even knew of such a word.

Another time was after the church Christmas Program. Our family had participated in the music area. When it was over and we were all sitting around the pot bellied stove shelling peanuts in the coal bucket, we were discussing the program and daddy comes out with this remark--”well, by golly, I think our kids did better than any of the other kids there“!

I could almost always tell when daddy was in a good or bad mood, especially when he was mad at mom about something. His way of getting back at her was not verbal or physical but just clamming up and not talking. His sulking was obvious to all and could last for quite a while. This hurt mom a lot because she wanted to talk about it.


Things Daddy loved--

MUSIC


Daddy’s good mood times clearly were shown in times relating to music. He loved music and wanted us all to learn to sing and play the piano. He played the guitar and knew enough chords to sing the folk songs of the day. His favorite was ”Red River Valley”. He sometimes played at Box Suppers but more often at family reunions. At their 65th Wedding Anniversary he played and sang to Mom “Have I told You Lately That I Love You?” What a tear jerker that was! I think it was much easier for him to sing it than to say it. He also liked to play the harmonica

Three of daddy’s four girls, Lois, Ila and I played the piano and organ but at times I thought he was a bit disappointed with our style. He really liked more of a honky-tonk swing to it (such as Joan Castle on the Lawrence Welk Show). One time in the rest home

we were all there and a lady there playing the piano and really hitting it with the right kind of down south style and swing He told someone that he wished his girls could play like that!

His love for music seemed to “rub off” on us although none of us adopted that style. Most of us have been involved in various music activities. Ed got his Master Degree in Music at McPhail School of Music in Minneapolis. He made this his profession for many years teaching in the public schools in Colorado, leading church choirs, and singing solos and in groups, and playing his trombone. Ila and husband Don have always been involved in church music playing piano and organ, singing in choirs and small group ensembles. I too have found a ministry in church music and later teaching Elementary Music in the public schools.

One time when my parents went to Colorado Springs to visit daddy’s sister and family they came back with an accordion daddy purchased for $400. A lot of money! I think I was high school age then. When they got home he brought the case in on the dining room floor. Then he took this beautiful 120 Bass Accordion out of the case and showed it off. Then he looked around at the family and told us that the first one to learn to play it was the one who would own it. I don’t recall anyone else that tried it. I took it on as a challenge and worked very hard even though I didn’t have a book or teacher. I learned to play hymns and other songs and when I went to college I took it along and used it to play on various occasions. Carrying it around developed my muscles as well providing many fun times. I still have it but it is not in very good shape and it would cost a lot to get it back in good playing order.

CIRCUS

Another love of daddy’s was the circus. Ringling Brothers would occasionally come to McCook, fifty miles away. There was always time and money to go to a circus. Mom would never go-too many ill clad women!- so he would take one of us kids. What fun!

A FRIENDLY PRANK

He loved to occasionally play a friendly prank on someone. One time he and Ed Buffington were hanging out just talking and killing time on a cool summer evening. They were discussing that the price of skunk hides were a good price-$5 per hide. Daddy said, “I know where there is a den of skunks, It is just over our corral fence in Tieman’s pasture”. Ed said, “Let’s go get ‘em!” Our neighbor Mr. Tieman and daddy seldom spoke. It seemed like Mr. Tieman wanted it that way.

Off they went across two fences. The way you catch a skunk and not get sprayed is to surprise them and catch them before they see you. Things were going well until Tieman caught them at it and told them to get off his property which they did. They couldn’t believe it when they found that Tieman turned them in to the sheriff for trespassing on his property. They actually had to go to court over it! There was no way to settle it until they pleaded guilty (which of course they were) and paid the fine.


Another time he had some fun was at my 9th birthday party. Some of the friends of mine from school and church were there. Lo and behold we had an uninvited guest. It was Frankie Tieman (Mr. Tieman’s young son) who was proving to be a pest every time we wanted to do something. He was ruining the party! Mom tried to get him to leave and go home but it didn’t work. He always worked his way back to the party and became more and more a version of Denise the Menace.


Daddy decided to fix the situation and he took a pail of water, climbed up the stairs and quietly stood at the bedroom window. When Frankie was in just the right place on the ground below, he dumped the pail of water. It was a perfect shot and Frankie never knew what happened. He retreated fast to his house to tell his mama.

DADDY’S BIOGRAPHY-
Seriously, your great grandpa lived and raised a family in some of the most difficult times. We never were hungry but many people were as they struggled through drouth, hail, dust storms such as has never been seen since. Between the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl Days in Nebraska and surrounding States, I sometimes wander how they survived with seven kids.

One thing that saved them was that Mom’s dad was a well established farmer and they were able to take over the home place and rent it. However, that in itself created a few problems. Working for your father-in-law can be testy and he lived only a quarter of a mile away so he had him sort of looking over his shoulder all the time giving his opinion of his farming skills. At the time I was too young to understand all his struggles but as I grew up I heard enough to make me see the picture more plainly.

Daddy was born February 8, 1897 in Moorfield, Nebraska. He attended school about 17 miles away in Angus, Nebraska riding the train each day for 17 cents one way. His dad, Arthur Edward Miller, farmed near the Little Blue River. He had fond memories of swimming in the “Little Blue”.

When he was about eight years old the family packed up there belongings, boarded a train, and went to Washington State to work in the lumber industry. On the way out they heard rumors on the train about the 1906 Historic Fire that almost destroyed San Francisco.

Interestingly, they settled close to the area where Rachel and Chris Vogel, your aunt and uncle now live. The area is called Laurel Washington. However, they didn’t stay there very long and then they headed back to Nebraska. On the way, the train stopped to pick up mail or something and Indians showed up with trinkets and things. They saw daddy with his beautiful curly hair and seriously wanted to trade him for some of their wares! This is a story my grandma told me many times.

I think they went back to the eastern Nebraska area for a time but eventually bought a farm south of Wauneta, Nebraska. Daddy worked for pay on farms around Wauneta. The farm his parents bought was only about two miles south of where the Art Nesmith family lived. Mom was a teenager and daddy three years older.

They met when the Miller family stopped by the Nesmith farm to buy a loaf of the wonderful home made bread that Maude (my grandmother) was famous for. That was the first encounter with the Nesmith kids but there were many later.

It was January 1, 1920 when Ralph and Nellie went to Hastings with daddy’s sister and fiance for a double wedding. I have in other writings told you much about what happened as they raised their family during the years ahead. They farmed on that same place until 1953 when grandpa sold the place to some neighbors. After all the kids were gone except Neal the youngest, they moved to Missouri close to where Lois and Smitty were living. Life continued to be hard as they had nothing to start over with. They finally retired in Nashville, Missouri and later spent time in rest homes in the area.

If money would have made them successful, my parents would have died poor. However, they had wealth in their six living kids and many grandkids who loved them.

Note:There is a video that was filmed a number of years ago before daddy’s death in which he tells much of his life. My brother Ed made it and has now put it in to a DVD. If you think you would like a copy of it for you and/or your kids please let me know. I like it because it is told by him in his natural way of talking.

Love to all,
Grandma Rita

THE DAY OUR BARN GOT A NEW LOOK

THE DAY OUR BARN GOT A NEW LOOK

September, 2008

To my Grandkids with Love

A few months ago I gave you a pretty thorough description of the house on our farm and all the bustle of activities that went on there. Now I want to describe another important building-the barn, where I spent considerable time. I don’t remember that I ever disliked doing chores that much. I would rather do outside stuff than be in the house.

By the time I was 10 years old on up through high school I helped daddy milk and even did field work with the tractor. Lois was in nurses training by then and Vara had health problems so by the time I was in high school I was unofficially daddy’s help.

Since I have no pictures of our barn I will do my best to describe it to you. It was painted red as most barns are. It was not shaped like the ones you see in pictures. It wasn’t that large. Inside on the south end we had 8 or 10 stanchions for our milking cows. Most were Holstein but a few were Jerseys or Guernseys to add richness to the milk.

Daddy was not one to do much talking but I remember how I chatted away while we milked, relating all the happenings of the day at school. It was mostly a one-sided conversation but I didn’t seem to mind. I helped some with morning chores but not as much as I did after school.

One time daddy rigged up a way to have a small radio to listen to while we milked. He heard that music caused the cows to give more milk! :-)

On the north side were rooms for other animals such as pigs, or occasionally a horse. There might be stored wheat in another section that we were holding until we sold it. In the middle was something like a breezeway and at the end was a ladder where we could get up into the haymow. There was never a lot of hay up there but it was a wonderful place for kids to play. When our city cousins came they always wanted to play up in the haymow.

One day, a stranger came to our farm. He said he represented the Ringling Brothers Circus and they were going to have a circus in McCook. They wanted to advertise it and asked permission to put up a sign on the side of our barn. I have often wandered since then if these men were drunk or had just fallen off a turnip wagon. Our farm was 50 miles from McCook and possibly no more than 20 people would have been driving down the road in the front of our property.

I think my dad wasn’t there at the time but my mom gave the man permission. I’m sure she was thinking in terms of a small poster type thing.

Much to everyone’s amazement a crew of men came and pasted up a huge sign that covered the full side of the barn. Yes, I said pasted or glued! It never dawned on anyone what that meant until later. The lettering was huge and very bright colors. You could see it for a long ways. I think my mom was shocked. She probably had some explaining to do when daddy came home. (That part I don’t remember) There were many laughs over this, not only in the family but all the neighbors and visitors had comments.

However, it wasn’t so funny when it came time to tear the sign down! The ones who put it up were long gone and the glue they used was there to stay. Many an hour was spent trying to get that sign torn off the side of our barn. This became a great conversation piece and produced many belly laughs for years to come.

WHEAT HARVEST, JULY 4TH, AND HOMEMADE ICE CREAM

LIFE ON A NEBRASKA FARM



To My Grandkids with Love

Nothing can quite compare to the excitement and joy that comes to a farmer when the anticipated time comes to bring in those beautiful golden colored berries of wheat. On our farm there were other things that kept us working through the year, but our main crop and source of income was wheat.

There were other crops such as, corn, Milo, and occasionally oats, but our land was mostly prepared each fall for winter wheat. The seed was dormant through the winter and then came to new life in the spring. We had a few pigs, cattle, chickens and sometimes a riding pony. All of these kept your great grandpa Ralph pretty busy too. Thanks to a government program for farmers during depression years we did have 8 or 10 cows to provide us with a steady income by way of “cream checks”.

I was proud of the fact that one time my dad told company that I was a very good milker! Since he seldom complemented me I have always remembered that. After bringing the milk in we had what we called a separator dividing the cream from the milk. Once a week we would send the cream in large cream cans via the railroad to a company in eastern Nebraska. They in turn would send us back a check regularly for it’s worth. The pigs and chickens were mostly for our food supply.

When the crops were good we were not so dependent on other sources of income, but since we relied totally on the weather there were years that there would be crop failures due to drought, wind, grasshoppers, or hail. How we dreaded to see those dark clouds looming up from the west. In five minutes, one storm could wipe out a beautiful field of wheat that was almost ready to reap. Hail was probably our worst enemy. Drought and grasshoppers seemed to go together and years went by in the ‘30’s when there was nothing but dust and grasshoppers.

I was too young to sense the pain my father must have experienced with a wife and six children to feed. . He wouldn’t say a lot but I have a mental picture of him sitting by our dining room window watching his topsoil go down the road. These were very hard times and at some time I would like to write about the famous dust bowl years in the Midwest.

However, for the rest I want to focus on the good memories I have of harvest time. It usually came sometime during the month of July. The whole family got in to the whirl of activities that took place. I remember what a good mood my father demonstrated as the wheat rolled in to the combine, then to the big trucks, and then was taken to town and sold. If the prices were unacceptable, the grain would be stored either in the granary or a make-do space in the barn. I was usually awarded a small sum of money when the harvest came to a close for “working so hard”.

One of my fondest memories was after a long day some of us kids liked to lay on our backs on a truck load of wheat that was waiting to be unloaded. It would be late in the evening after the stars were clearly out and the day’s work was finished. I remember the feel of the warm wheat on my back and the smell of the freshly harvested grain. Mostly I remember the brightness of the stars, as they had no competition from electric lights or other distractions that we now have. We would watch the falling stars and try to pick out the constellations. We would just lay there and talk kid talk. It is such a sweet memory that I treasure.

I believe it was my first impression of the reality of God and the vastness and the indescribable beauty of his creation. And I truly believed that “the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament (skies) shows His handiwork”-a verse I had memorized in Sunday School. I think some of these special moments out in nature formed who I am today.
Recently I was so impressed by an author, John Ortberg who wrote, “God is Closer Than You Think”. The title of this particular page was “GOD WAVING HELLO“

He says: “I have been asked by some how I can be so certain in the existence of a good God, and I have asked them in return if they have eyes to see. God. has woven Himself irretrievably into nature. He left His fingerprints behind to show us where He’s been. His presence is smeared into the curls of the Milky Way, forever circling above the rim of the world . . . . .

The entire sum of Creation,- each private and individual act of nature is God WAVING HELLO.”


Your great grandma Nellie, my mom, was always very busy at harvest too. Since she was the chief cook, she not only fed the family but also often extra hired men. The women of our neighborhood would put out their best meals for the extra help. The men hopefully would go back home and tell what good meals they had at the neighbors!

I liked to help with the afternoon lunch that we took out to the field each day. It was a necessity because of the long hours the men kept, usually working from daylight until it was too dark to see. We would go out with iced tea or lemonade, and lots of sandwiches and some kind of dessert such as cake or cookies.

I liked to listen to the men chat about how things were going and how good the yield seemed to be. Or it just might be a lot of jesting, teasing or telling a joke. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. It was a lot of work but oh so gratifying and rewarding.

FOURTH OF JULY

I tend to connect our celebrating this holiday with wheat harvest because often it was near that time that the wheat would be ripe. If it was at the same time the work went on- but usually there was some kind of celebration as my father loved to have a few fireworks. We loved the sparklers and Roman Candles as we were allowed to hold them if we were careful. I guess firecrackers are as old as our country or more. But the most fun were the skyrockets that daddy would shoot using our pig trough This was a long shallow V-shaped receptacle for feeding and watering domestic animals.

Often our relatives on the Nesmith side (my mom) would drive out to our farm and of course my Grandpa and Grandma Nesmith who lived just a quarter of a mile from us were there. Only occasionally were any of the Millers there. Because they all lived further away. Other times friends or a family from the community or our church pastor would come.

HOMEMADE ICE CREAM


Whenever they came in the summer it was expected that there would be homemade ice cream! My dad was famous for his special recipe for it. He loved to be in charge of this operation. He would stand over mom to be sure she had it right as she stirred up the ingredients. It was about eight eggs, a couple of cups of sugar, vanilla, and lots of cream and milk to fill up the gallon container. Very rich but yummy! The old and well-used crank freezer was filled first with the gallon receptacle, then around that he filled in ice that had been crushed from a block. It was layered with rock salt. On goes the top piece that caused the container to turn. It would be placed out in the yard and daddy would sit on it and start cranking.


When it was firm enough, the paddle was taken out and that was the fun part. We usually had an argument on who would get to lick the paddle. Then the lid was replaced, more ice and salt, and it was set in a cool place to get more firm. As company arrived or sometimes while they were already there, when we thought it was hard enough, the feast began! Usually it was prefaced with fried chicken, sweet corn on the cob, potato salad, homemade bread and butter, perhaps garden lettuce or radishes, and other goodies from mom’s kitchen It was no wander that all the relatives and friends loved to come.

A number of years ago, my sister Ila sent me a birthday card with this poem on it and I kept it because it described it just as it was. It was called “Homemade Ice Cream” by Dean Walley.


It seems like only yesterday
When a favorite thing to do
Was find a shady spot in the yard
And make some homemade ice cream

Cranking the freezer and listening
To the sound of rock salt
And ice grinding against the bucket
Is more of a pleasure than a chore,
Because you knew
That when the ice cream was ready
You’d get the first delicious taste.

FYI: This is how you make crushed ice. Take a 10 # block of ice (it was the only form of ice you could buy). Put it in a gunnysack and lay it on cement. Then take an axe and using the back of it start hitting it until it breaks in small pieces. You will have plenty of it for ice cream! :-) Grandma Rita

WHERE'S MURDO?

GRANDMA RITA’S RAMBLINGS

WHERE’S MURDO?

June/July, 2008

To my grandkids with love,

In telling you about Murdo I need to give you both past history and things that have been happening just this summer. In looking back, our experiences as a family were some of our most memorable times. But first let’s give you the setting.

We need to answer the question, “Where’s Murdo” in the context of 1958 to 1963. We are going to be driving on Highway 16. Even before we get to Rapid City, South Dakota we are seeing the familiar billboards advertising WALL DRUG. Now, they are more frequent and larger. This means we are in the middle of the state between Rapid City and Sioux Falls. One of the big things that caught our attention was their offer of FREE ICE WATER.

There was no doubt we would stop for at least ice water and an ice cream cone for it was hot and there was no air conditioning in the car.. Ramona, Howard, Jonathan and Rachel are all putting the pressure on dad. All your grandpa Lynn could say was that it was a giant sized tourist trap.

On down the road we are near Kadoka and more big billboards--”SEE THE WORLD’S LARGEST REPTILE COLLECTION”. No stopping this time! Moving on to Okaton, we finally saw signs for Murdo, South Dakota-the home of the FAMOUS PIONEER AUTO MUSEUM!”

It was August, 1958 when the Manlove family finally arrived. This seemingly sleepy little town in the middle of the state was to be their home. But, alas, it was not such a sleepy little place after all. It seemed to be a good overnight stopping place for tourists either coming or going to the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park or elsewhere. The thriving businesses were motels and restaurants. Surrounding the town for many miles were farmers and ranchers. It is also the County Seat of Jones County.

None of these things attracted us at the moment as we had other reasons for being there. We had been invited to be involved in starting a new church there. Grandpa Lynn was to be the first pastor.


And now, I want to fast forward you to June 27,28, 2008, fifty years later. I found myself to be on the road again to Murdo but taking a different route we didn’t see our famous billboards. However, I learned they are still there, only on Interstate 90 which comes a bit south of the town. I think there was one off-ramp to Murdo.

Ramona and Jonathan and I were going for the week-end to the 50th Anniversary of the Community Bible Church. It was also the 65th Wedding Anniversary for two couples who were in on the beginnings of the church which you will read about later in the information below.

What a great time of celebrating and reminiscing! So many had come for these occasions from different parts of the country. reconnecting with those who were grade school and up and now are fifty-five and beyond. It was such a joyous time.

Our time together that Saturday night was spent mostly in praise singing and many relating how the church had contributed to their lives. That is when I gave this below that I wrote. Please be sure to read it even though it is quite lengthy. I tried to give the beginnings of the church from my perspective. Here it is--

FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF

THE COMMUNITY BIBLE CHURCH
June 28,and 29th, 2008
Murdo, South Dakota


In the very beginning pages of our Bible the work of the Holy Spirit is introduced. We read, “the Spirit of God was moving, (hovering, brooding,) over the face of the waters”. Often we will see or hear of an area or nation or culture of people and it is obvious that the Spirit of God is at work in a special way.

When the Spirit of God began to move in a significant way on Murdo, South Dakota, a small ranching community in the middle of the state, He chose certain people and situations to be a part of His plan. Before any of us were aware, God was preparing those He wished to use to fulfill His purposes.

God saw a people and their offspring whom He chose to be in His Kingdom and was at work to make this happen. Often the way He moves is far different than what we might orchestrate. In this case it was ordinary lives obediently touching the lives of others. A chain reaction.

Take for instance John and Virginia Parker who were a couple of thousand miles from Murdo. They lived in California. John grew up in Murdo. He went to school there from 4th grade through his senior year at Murdo High School.

His brother, George Parker, a few years older than he, was an excellent student and successful leader at Whittier College in California. Because the family background was Quaker, the parents wanted both of their boys to attend Whittier.

It was on George’s success that John was accepted at the College. However, much to everyone’s dismay, John proved not to be acceptable “material” for college and he flunked out after a short time! Although he was not so good at book learning he proved later what a gifted man he was in many other ways.

After his marriage to his wife Virginia, John decided to buy a grocery store in Yorba Linda to support the two of them. He seemed to have enough business ability to know that they needed to become known in the community that they wished to serve. What better way to draw customers than to get in to a church? There were at that time two churches in the area-the Methodist Church and the Friends (Quaker) Church.

They decided to try both of them. Not particularly for spiritual reasons, but after all “it might help our new business”. They would try the Friends Church first. As God would have it they never got to the second church. They went on a Sunday morning and were strangely drawn to the sincerity of the people. They sensed that this was more than a place to socialize. They decided to go back that Sunday evening and then were invited to the Wednesday evening service.

Soon they realized that the answer to the void in their lives was obvious as they studied the Bible with these God-centered Christians. They were pointed to Jesus and came to desire a relationship with the One who said, “ I am the Way, the Truth and the Life“

It is necessary to give you this background to show you how God had been preparing this couple for a ministry in Murdo years before.

Now that they had received Christ as their Savior, they had new priorities. Their business was secondary. To know Christ became a passion. Then he and Virginia had a desire to bring others in to the Kingdom. Unknown to John just why, he began to think back to his hometown of Murdo South Dakota where he grew up.
.
Quite unexpectedly they received a phone call from the owner of a Hardware Store in Murdo. Art, a relative of John’s, wanted to know if John would be interested in coming to Murdo to run his store for two weeks while his family went on vacation.

By this time John’s grocery store had failed to provide for them and he had bought a Hardware Store in Yorba Linda which was also in trouble. Yes! Let’s go to Murdo for two weeks!

The call of God seemed to be on him and he and his family packed up and drove to Murdo. The year was 1951 and when they arrived John made contact with Harold and Pat Thune. Harold was an old schoolmate that John knew. He had not had any communication with him for years.

After high school Harold had gone to the University of Minnesota on a basketball scholarship and became well known both in sports and scholastically. After college he received honors as an officer in the Air Corp in WWII. The town took pride in the fact that he had returned back to Murdo, choosing to help his dad in the Hardware Store, turning down a very comfortable salary in the service.

He had married Pat when he was in Minnesota. By then they had several children. When these two couples got together (the Parkers and Thunes) they found some striking similarities in their lives. Not realizing it, they had married the same month and the same year and their children were similar in age.

As these two couples got together John opened up the Scriptures, planting seeds of thought. The Holy Spirit caused the Thunes to realize they had a deep spiritual need. The more they learned, the hungrier and thirstier they became for truth.


Harold and Pat were very popular in the community, having a good business, leaders in the church. They were popular and accepted in the desirable social circle of friends. You might say they were living on the fast track, but when they came face to face with the reality of God’s Word they realized how destitute they were and wanted to know more.

Eventually, with John and Virginia’s persistent sowing of the Word, they invited Jesus Christ to enter their lives, and to take charge. Jesus came in in a significant way and immediately the Holy Spirit did some rearranging of their priorities. Soon they were touching others in the community. But as is usually the case, some received the truth of the Scriptures with gladness and others strongly opposed it.

The Parkers were supposed to stay for two weeks and it turned out that they had charge of the store for 6 weeks. God had sent the Parkers on a mission and the primary purpose was not to run the store! They were sowing the seed and letting their light shine in that community.

They returned to California and the Thunes started a Bible Study in their home in Murdo. This group grew. John and Virginia would continue to come each summer to encourage and to “fish” as I remember hearing John say. Most Californians were content to go to the beach for a summer vacation. The Parkers chose to return to Murdo for they sensed that God was at work and they were to be involved mentoring and encouraging this small group of believers.

Other ways the Spirit was moving was via radio-- providing a means through the Back to the Bible Broadcast in Lincoln, NE and Theodore Epp who challenged them to live godly lives. It was through Back to the Bible that they learned about Maranatha Bible Camp near North Platte, NE. In the year of 1958 they shared their burden and concern to Ivan Olson, the founder of Maranatha and the Berean Churches that they needed a pastor to shepherd them.

They put this group from Murdo in touch with Lynn Manlove, a pastor of a church in Torrington, WY. When Lynn and Rita visited on a given Sunday to discern if this might be God’s Spirit leading them, there were less than a dozen people who met at the Thune’s home. Inwardly, as the day progressed I could sense my husband’s enthusiasm for this new group of believers. What might have looked to some as a dismal beginning of a church, he saw as a great potential for the area. As we heard their stories we could see that the Spirit of God was indeed moving, hovering, brooding to tie this whole thing together!

We spent from August, 1958-May, 1963 in Murdo, always sensing in so many ways God’s hand on this new church called “Community Bible
Church”. After outgrowing the meeting space in the Thune’s home we fixed up an abandoned store building on Main Street. Smaller meetings were often held either at Thunes or the Manloves.

We were growing- but where? Some of the families that were coming were: Leroy Hoke family, Zella Esmay, Eldon and Margaret Esmay, Chip and Phyllis Peters family, Ellis and Doris Beckwith family, Mary Beckwith, the Broecher family, Everett and Pauline Boyle, and Grace McKillips. Before long others followed.


(All of the family but Howard. He must have been taking the picture)
We as a family were barely making it with a small salary per month for a family of four children. To supplement, ranchers and farmers in the church would bring us eggs, cream, milk, chickens, and stuff from the garden. Lynn would sometimes work for a farmer for a day and I gave piano and accordion lessons.

We learned so much from this precious group. They tenaciously supported us in every way they could. John and Virginia continued to show up at one time or another each summer. It was like this was their baby and they encouraged us and gave us eyes of faith that someday we would have a church building out on Highway 16. At that time it was the main highway through the center of the state.

Before long, John got his friends from his church in Yorba Linda excited about helping to build. Eventually he brought out a whole crew. It was in about June or July of 1960, the work was begun. Volunteers did a large percentage of it. Yes, Pastor Lynn was one of them. I remember well the day he fell off the roof and crushed his heel and had to be taken to Sioux Falls for surgery. But the work went on!


First services in the new building were held in October 1960 and the Dedication Services were held the following Spring, 1961. Ord Morrow from Back to the Bible came to be our speaker. It was truly a time of rejoicing.

Besides drawing families in from the surrounding communities, we often had visitors stop on their way through the state, going to the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park or elsewhere. We always had thriving, inspiring Sunday Evening Services with lots of music, vocal and instrumental in worship. Often friends from the Reformed Church in Okaton would attend. Many of the Daums and Roghair families came.

From this small church God put his hand on an amazing number of young people who went out to Christian colleges and elsewhere to ultimately serve the Lord as pastors, teachers and missionaries, Christian businessmen, as well as John Thune, the present State Senator in our nation‘s capitol. Yes, they continue lifting up Christ in various places.

Just as any church, the church has experienced ups and downs but God continues to hover and brood over this body of believers and the church will be triumphant. Why? Because it is God’s work and not man’s!

HAPPY 50TH ANNIVERSARY AND MAY YOU HAVE MANY MORE YEARS OF FRUITFULNESS “UNTIL HE COMES“. HAPPY 65TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY TO THE PARKERS AND THUNES. WHAT A JOYOUS CELEBRATION THIS IS!

Sincerely, Rita Manlove

PART II SCHOOL DAYS ON A NEBRASKA PRAIRIE
My High School Days
MAY, 2008

To my grandkids with love,

This is the month of school graduations. From Kindergarten, to Elementary School, to High School to College, you name it we are all involved with at least one of these. I attended a graduation and graduation party of a very dear friend of mine who is graduating from High School. I have known her since she was one. Sarah and her family have included me in school functions as well as birthdays and other family functions throughout her 12 years and before. So she seems like one of my grandkids.

It‘s not like I won‘t see her any more as she is going to ASU next year on a full scholarship. Following her so closely again makes me realize how different my high school days were as opposed to hers. There is little to compare educationally.

The closest high school was in Wauneta, Nebraska, a town eight and a half miles from our farm. It was familiar to me as that was where we did our shopping and carried out business transactions. When Mom or Daddy announced they were going in to town, we knew they were going to Wauneta. We often went there on Saturday nights in the summers to get groceries and socialize with neighbors.

Even so, I came in to high school with fear and trembling. I was the opposite of the vivacious outgoing cheerleader type that all the boys wanted to date. I was scared to death the teacher would call on me in class. I had a very poor self-image and never conversed more than necessary with the opposite sex. Francis Fekkers invited me to the freshman initiation party and I accepted. However, I was uncomfortable, being much taller than he was, and every bit as shy. What misery that turned out to be!

The only thing that saved me was that I had three or four girl friends. Two of the girls I had gone through grade school with
were Verla and Darlene Kitt. We also attended the same church. So whenever I could I would hang out with them. The last two years they rode with me and we drove to school and back in an Oldsmobile Coupe that daddy bought for that purpose. If you are good at antiques someone might be able to tell the year. My guess is around 1936

Part of the time my parents let me drive and part of the time I stayed in Wauneta Monday through Friday. with my paternal grandmother, Mildred Miller. They would come get me for the weekend and grandma often would come too.

Grandma Miller was as sweet a grandma as one could have and I loved staying with her. She lived close enough that I could walk to her house for lunch. No such thing as a cafeteria or school lunches on lonely evenings in the winter she would teach me to crochet and embroider. She taught me how to make a rag rug. She taught me love and kindness and accepting others. I don‘t ever recall her saying an unkind. . word to anyone or about anyone. even though my mom sometimes said some rather demeaning things to her.

A neighbor, Mrs. Greer, would come over almost every day and tell us everything that was going on in the neighborhood but none of us ever considered that gossip. Grandma was always kind to any of our friends that we invited in for games. She was very lonely and I think she was glad for me to be there.

When I was a senior I had the lead part in a three-act play that was traditionally called the Senior Play. It was called “Aunt Suzy Shoots the Works”. I think the reason I did so well was that this character was totally opposite of my personality at that time. It gave me a chance to be outgoing, boisterous and obnoxious! There wasn’t a shy bone in her body!


Academically, the subjects that I remember were Math, English, American History, Home Economics and Typing and Shorthand. Anything relating to Math or Science I disliked and struggled with. Most of the other subjects I did quite well. I made several things in Home Economics including my formal for the Junior, Senior Banquet. I liked Typing and Shorthand. I have used those skills throughout College and continue to use them.

There were only 35 in my graduating class. There were a few who bragged about getting drunk on the weekend but drugs was an
unheard of vice. When I went back to one of my class reunions there were quite a few who still lived out on their family farm and that was as far as some of their life experiences went. I was thankful that was not the case with me.

Now you can see that there was not a lot of glamour and glitter to my high school days. But I suppose I was gradually learning to grow socially and academically. even though it was a slow process. I was ready to try my wings and do something different!.

.



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School Days on a Nebraska Prairie

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First Picture:
Back row: Paul Kitt, Rita Miller,Verla Kitt, Teacher, Mrs. Clemmens, Darlene Kitt, Edna Pearl Tieman. Front Row: Franky Tieman, Eddie Miller, Ila Miller, Elaine Kitt

Second Picture: Edna Pearl Tieman, Verla Kitt, Dixie Denton, Virginia DeHart?, Rita Miller, Darlene Kitt. Front Row: Paul Kitt, Eddie Miller



To my grandkids with love.

My experiences in Elementary Grades (then called Grade School) could easily be compared to those of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her writings in “Little House on the Prairie” cause me to relate well to some incidences she writes about. They were typical of life on the prairies in the Midwest. She received her schooling and later became a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse a couple of generations earlier.

However, things hadn’t changed a lot when I started my educational journey. Laura’s parents homesteaded in South Dakota and it was my great grandfather, Cyrus Arthur Nesmith, who homesteaded similarly on the plains of Nebraska. Our family lived on some of that land owned then by my grandfather. His name was also Cyrus Arthur Nesmith.

Obviously father and son were both pretty prosperous and ambitious men. They not only developed good farmland but also a nice house. They were community minded having the vision to see that there was a schoolhouse in close range for their future families. They also set up a the Calvert Post Office in the house where we lived and I think my grandparents and parents helped in building the Mt. Zion Methodist Church on the year that I was born-1927.

The outside buildings around Calvert School were very crude. There was a barn that could house two or three animals as some of the students rode horses for transportation. Two of the students, Clarence and Dixie Denton, had a stubborn old mule they rode to school. I am ashamed to say some of our recesses were spent teasing the poor thing. That is, when the teacher wasn‘t looking. Sorry to say, we didn’t have much supervision during recesses. Understandably, it was his/her only time to get ready for the next lessons.

Our family never really owned a very good riding horse, so I usually walked the mile and one-half to and from school. Some of the students went the same direction toward their homes so we would walk together. I especially liked it when my friend Paul Kitt walked with me. We went through all twelve grades together, grade school and high school, but after that never saw much of each other. .

The other outside building was quite wide and narrow and housed the boys’ outhouse on one side. Next to that was a storage area for coal, and on the other side was the girls’ outhouse. The area for coal was kept well supplied to be sure we kept warm during the cold Nebraska winters.

Inside the school was an entryway where we hung our coats and left our overshoes. There was also a table for the bucket used for drinking water. A wall separated the cloakroom from the main room. A door in the middle then took you into the main room.

Going through that door you would see a pump organ as you looked to the left and looking to the right you would see a small cupboard that kept textbooks and supplies. Before you would be several rows of the old style desks. We always hoped for a seat close to the pot bellied heating stove that stood in the middle of the schoolroom. I guess you could call it central heating!

The teacher’s desk was at the front and the wall behind her was a huge blackboard that went from one side of the room to the other. This was used for homework assignments, math problems, spelling words, and other uses for teaching. Since there was no copying machine the teacher used the blackboard a lot.

There was only one textbook per student for each subject and that was the sole source of information. There was a very small and inadequate library in Wauneta, eight miles away, but I don’t recall ever going there. I don’t remember ever being encouraged to read other books. I read a few of “The Bobbsy Twins” series. The teacher sometimes would read from a storybook after noon recess.


You must realize that the teacher was working with possibly nine to twelve or more students through the day that were in several different grades. She was to teach them all the required curriculum for each subject

Add to that the responsibility for all the custodial care of the room including starting up the fire in the stove in the morning, getting the water bucket filled with drinking water and all the other things that this many students might require.
The teacher usually boarded at Vearl and Eva Kitt's home as it was close by.

While a first grader was being taught reading, the other students were expected to work on their own or wait until the teacher got ready to teach their class of Math or History. How he or she did all this without going crazy is beyond me and how we learned anything at all is also beyond me.

If the teacher was able to play the organ we would stand around the organ in the morning before we started classes and sing. One of the songbooks was “The Little Golden Songbook”. We belted out all of the patriotic songs as well as many hymns and folksongs. There was “Home on the Range”, Workin’ on the Railroad”, “Bill Grogans Goat” and. many more. This time and recess times were the highlights of my day.

We always did the pledge of allegiance under the observation of George Washington, a picture that hung on the back wall.

Everyone brought his or her lunch. My favorite sandwich was peanut butter with sweet pickles in between. My mom baked most of our bread but I envied kids that had “town bread” in their lunch. Sometimes we would have some fruit or a cookie.

Our favorite activity for recesses was baseball. I was a good player especially at bat. We played “Pump, Pump Pull Away“, “Mother May I“, and “Red Rover“. We did all kinds of races. There were sack races, three legged races, and many kinds of relay races. We jumped rope and used the same rope to have Tug of War contests. Oh, what fun we had. This was our main reason for coming to school. You could endure most anything if you knew that in a couple of hours you were going to have games.

One of my most embarrassing moments was when my socks fell down when I was running in “Pump, Pump, Pull Away". I had to wear these long stockings that were held up by garters above the knee. They were heavy texture about as thick as the regular kind of socks that you wear. Girls never wore pants or jeans-only dresses. In order to keep warm in the winter we wore these socks.

Well, when this disaster occurred I was running. They fell down to my ankles. I was right in front of everyone in the school as they were lined up at this game. All their eyes were on me. The game stopped while I was pulling my socks back up. Everyone laughed hilariously. I don’t think I cried but I can still feel the pain of how mortified and embarrassed I was. I don’t think they meant it viciously but it still hurt! Do you suppose it might have done some permanent damage to my psyche? (Websters definition of the word psyche: “To make psychologically uneasy: INTIMIDATE, SCARE”)
Now you know why I am the way I am!

For play equipment we had a teeter-totter and a merry-go-round. Here is a picture of it with all the students that were in school

in that particular year. I think I was in about fourth grade.

Periodically through the winter there would be what was called Box Suppers at the school. Other one-room schools would be invited to come too. Parents and children participated. All the ladies and young girls would prepare a nice lunch and wrap it as beautiful as she could. You never allowed anyone to see your box before it was auctioned off if possible.

Whatever man or boy bought your box you would eat lunch with. If a young single guy was interested in a certain lady he would try hard to find out which was her box. Then if the word got out that he was bidding for that box, others would deviously bid the price up real high. It was a great fundraiser for the school.

They usually had some kind of local entertainment. One time I remember being at a box supper in a school near us. My dad played the guitar and my brother Ed sang. He was very young, maybe five years old. They were asked to play and sing and Ed was singing “Home on the Range”. He got to the phrase "discouragin’ word". He simply couldn’t get it out and started to cry. I felt so sorry for him and still like to remind him of that incident.

Eighth grade graduation took place at our county seat which was Benkelman, NE All eighth graders from rural schools in the whole county were in attendance at this event. The County Superintendent would give out the diplomas. I doubt if there were ever more than twenty graduates. I still remember the dress I wore as I think it was my first “store bought” dress. It was a shiny blue taffeta.

Are the schools of today better? Of course they are. On second thought my response might be “yes” and “no”. When we get together for the next episode I’ll tell you why I say that. For it will be called Part II of “School Days on a Nebraska Prairie”.

Until then, God bless and keep you,
Grandma Rita

The Wedding "'til death do us part" 3/2008

To my Grandkids with love,

MARCH, 2008

THE WEDDING--’TIL DEATH DO US PART
l948 /1949--

Let me give you a few facts about what life was like in 1949 as compared to today? I found a little book that served as a reminder as I was thinking of writing about this. As of June 5, 1949 our President was Harry Truman. Ronald Reagans pictures were on the movie houses promoting the movie, "The Girl from Jones Beach" by Warner Bros. Perry Mason was singing, "Some Enchanted Evening". Bread was 14 cents a loaf. It cost 3 cents to mail a letter- 6 cents if sent airmail. A new car cost $1420; a new home was $7,450. Gas was 17cents per gallon etc., etc.

Continuing on From the February Ramblings--
By fall of 1948 at Rockmont College in Denver, CO your grandpa and me were convinced that we wanted to get serious about marriage. The registrar at the college was doing everything she could to help me complete the needed hours to graduate. All involved wanted me to graduate if possible by June 5th of 1949, the planned time for the wedding. In spite of her noble efforts I still received a blank diploma at graduation with an agreement that I would take classes the summer after we were married at the Lamont School of Music-a branch of Denver University.




Graduation from Rockmont College. June 3, 1949









CHRISTMAS, 1948
Christmas break of 1948 was quite an adventure for me. We decided to make a trip to Minnesota where Grandpa Lynn’s home and family were. Leaving Denver in his little ’39 (or was it ‘40?) Ford, we had no problems at all. The big event and one reason for being there was his sister Juanita's wedding. She would become the bride of Sherwood Olson, a farmer from Iowa whom she met at Bethel College. And of course another reason was so I could get to know the Manlove family. Most of the family was there for the wedding so I got to meet most of them. I felt so welcomed and loved and accepted by all even with the main focus on Nita and Sherwood. Maybe it was because they all felt it was time for their 27-year-old brother and son to find the right mate!

In what seemed such a short time, we realized it was time to get back to college and concentrate on finishing out our last semester at Rockmont. I shall always remember the trip back. We had just left Nebraska after staying overnight at my parents, when it began to snow. The farther west we got, the worse it became. It was turning into serious blizzard conditions. Growing up in that country I knew this was not good. There is a lot of nothingness between Nebraska and Denver. It is very plain flatland without many towns along the way. The combination of snow and high winds had the potential of a blinding blizzard.

We had to go very slow--and finally about two hours outside of Denver it got so bad that we could not see the road hardly at all. Creeping along very slowly and praying for a town to show up we suddenly saw the lights of a big eighteen wheeler coming. I think he knew we were in trouble as he blinked his lights so much as to say, “follow me, I’ll take you on in”. And that is what happened! We immediately got behind him and just followed the lights on the back of the truck! What a feeling of relief and gratefulness to our Protector God as we pulled in to the parking lot of the school.

THE WEDDING
Looking back, I now think that my wedding must have been a big deal for our little Nebraska community. as well as for my family. On the farm our home was recently wired for electricity but it hadn’t yet arrived, so my father borrowed a generator from a neighbor just for our company’s comfort.


We were married in my home church, Mt. Zion Methodist Church, a small country church that was only one and one-half miles from our farm. I was sprinkled --(a baby dedication service Methodist style) there. That was only the beginning. I went to most of the church services from the time they carried me, on up through high school. I attended Sunday School, Epworth League (a youth program), Vacation Bible School, and in high school I sang in the church choir. When I was about ten I knelt at the altar of that little western prairie church and made a commitment to Christ receiving His salvation. This commitment was very meaningful and to this day I am grateful for that decision. So I felt it important that I also be married there.

The reason I think it was probably a bigger event to the community than I realized at the time is that of all six living Miller kids I was the only one that was married in our home church. Being a small community most everyone knew the Miller kids.

I recently got out my old wedding album and was amazed at the listing of all the guests who were there. I don’t think there was anyone in the whole area that wasn’t there as well as relatives from near and far. Lois was my maid of honor. Vara Mae was my bridesmaid. Ila and Marilyn (sister to Grandpa Lynn) were my candlelighters. Kathy Holloway, now Murphy was my flower girl.

Grandpa Lynn had his college roommate and very good friend Tom Graham for best man. I can't remember who else stood up with him. Mrs. T, our piano teacher at Rockmont played the piano and the preacher was a friend of the Manlove family as well as ours. -Palmer Rupp.

Naturally, we had lots of music. We sang a song together called “I Love You So”. Our best man sang a couple of songs and Mrs. T played the traditional Wedding March.

There are always these unplanned things that happen at weddings. The two that I remember was the fact that it poured down rain the day before causing us to wonder if we would ever make it to the church. Nebraska gumbo can be bad and at that time the roads to the church were dirt roads. That part did not prove to be as big a problem as we thought it might.

Flower girls generally steal the show at weddings and Kathy was no exception. She wanted no part of it when the time came for her to do her little thing. The story is that she vehemently refused and then proceeded to crawl under the church pew and go fast asleep! It was no doubt her way of saying "this is all a bunch of to do over nothing". Years later she asked us to sing at her wedding to John Murphy.

My dress was beautiful white satin that is still in pretty good shape after being worn by two brides beside myself. A friend from college borrowed it for her wedding and I was very pleased that Rachel wanted to wear it when she and Chris were married. She looked beautiful in it and the white satin was as shiny and pretty as ever. She recently displayed it at her church Valentine Banquet when some were asked to do that. Did I mention that I got it on sale at a high-class department store in Denver for $14?

Your grandpa Lynn got real extravagant and bought a new Navy Blue suit for the occasion. He was truly a handsome groom!








My "going away" outfit was beautiful as well. It would be right in style in 2008. I don't hear that much about the bride dressing up to go on her honeymoon now, but at that time it was nice to leave the wedding reception for the honeymoon with a nice outfit as well. My dress was a powder blue, with navy blue hat and shoes to match.

Our honeymoon could not have been nicer. It was a gift from a distant relative of mine. They owned a cabin near Bailey, CO and let us use it for a week. That was a time of enjoying the Colorado mountains hiking and just having special restful times together.

At the end of that week we went back to Denver for me to finish up my college degree. At this point I was sick of studying and my interest was not in it, so it was not an easy summer, but we struggled through it and ultimately got my signed diploma.

Well, that pretty much sums it up.

Until next time--
Love and God bless you

AFTER WWII 2/2008

Grandma Rita’s Ramblings

February, 2008

AFTER WWII


A couple of weeks ago Rachel came to visit me for a week. I had read part of your Grandpa Lynn’s letters that I told you about in the January letter but had not finished them all. As Rachel started on this large stack she was quite fascinated. As she read about her father when he was in his early twenties--his values, impressions, likes and dislikes, friendships etc. she felt she knew him better than she ever had. We had fun talking about things he wrote. We had as many questions as answers. Often we wondered just where he was as he wrote certain letters as he was not allowed ever to tell his whereabouts.

Your grandpa was discharged in March 1946 several months after WWII had officially ended. Naturally all the troops were not released immediately. In the Navy they were released according to time spent, time overseas, combat service and other things.

As news came out that the government was going to offer the GI Bill of Rights, many servicemen started thinking of going back to get a college education. What a deal! This was a privilege of a lifetime. And just when they were anticipating what to do in the future. It was an all expense offer--tuition, books, and many other perks. Now these young men were able to get training for good paying jobs and support their future families. As a result the GI‘s flooded the colleges of our land.

Remember that I had just graduated from high school in the spring of 1945. I also was thinking of entering college. When I began the Fall semester 1945 at Ft. Wayne Bible College, Ft Wayne, Indiana the GI's were trickling in but by the next year they were there en masse and the Colleges had more people than space to place them.

I was placed in the basement of a girls dorm with about a dozen other girls. Not ideal for studying. But great for late night partying. Don't get any ideas--it was just cokes and potatoes chips and we did all of our studying in the Library. I came home at Christmas weighing thirty pounds above my average weight! Thankfully, I lost it when summer came.

I was there for two years and then decided to transfer closer to home. I entered Rockmont College (now Colorado Christian University, Denver, CO) the same year (fall 1947) that your Grandpa Lynn appeared at Rockmont.

He was not able to get in to Wheaton College which was his first choice. He attended Bob Jones University one year but did not like it there. He transferred to Rockmont because his doctor was recommending a drier climate for his bronchial problems. That was his ultimate reason for going to Denver.

Let me set the stage so you can get the feel of what was happening--GI's were flooding the colleges. Many had not had much contact with the opposite sex for four years. Their minds were not only on a career but also most importantly on marriage. They were now 24 plus years and READY! The girls who were in college at that time couldn't have been happier!
.
I dated very little in High School so this was a nice situation for me as well. When this tall, dark and handsome with beautiful blue eyes stopped me to ask if I would play the piano for him as he was singing at a Denver church, it was not hard to say yes.

Those two years in College were wonderful times of getting to know each other and finding our common interests. I was the country bumpkin who had dated very little and was just out of high school and he was from the city (St Paul, MN) and had seen the world and dated lots of girls. He was also five years older.


Our commonality though was that we were both Christians with a passion to be in some kind of Christian ministry area. We were both interested at that time in the possibility of missionary work overseas. Another common interest was that we both loved music and were taking piano and voice lessons and were involved with singing in the choirs, small groups such as quartets, trios, duets, piano accompanying etc.

Things we did when we were not studying were double dating with friends, ice skating at Evergreen, CO, and as I said we did many things relating to music together. One of the pictures I have is of our Spring Senior Banquet when we sang that great classic, "Ah, Divine Redeemer".

Coming up at another time I will tell you about Christmas, 1948 just before we were married when we went to Minnesota and got to meet the Manlove family for the first time. O yes, and the blizzard we encountered on the way back! .

We both graduated from Rockmont on June 3rd, 1949 and were married on June 5th, just two days later, at Mt Zion Methodist Church, my home church where I grew up. This small church was located just a mile and a half from out Nebraska farm. .

Including memoirs of our wedding and honeymoon would make this pretty long so that will be my next installment.

My love to all and my prayers for all,
Grandma Rita





"MOM"-NELLIE MAUDE NESMITH MILLER

NELLIE MAUDE NESMITH MILLER

Tribute to a Spunky Lady, Your Great Grandma

To my grandkids with love

October, 2008

October 29, 1900 was the date that my mother was born. Since the 29th of October, 2008 has just passed, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back and see her from my perspective after all these years. If I were writing to you when I was younger my remarks might have been different. Now I see her with more respect and appreciation than before. She didn’t change but I have.

I choose to tell you about the good things that I remember and leave the negatives alone. That is probably what I would prefer someone to do for me! Is there any perfect family? No, and there isn’t any normal family either. Admittedly, there was a lot of tension, especially between my parents but hearing others family experiences I think we, the Miller kids didn’t rate too badly.

Here are some of the things I learned through the years about mom that I didn’t think about when I was younger.

I didn’t realize until Mom was in her late 80’s just the extent of her hurt at having lost her eight month old baby, Dale. He was the third child. The order was like this: Lois, Vara, Dale, Rita, Ed, Ila, and Neal. If Dale had been born in our generation his stomach problems probably would not have been fatal.

It wasn’t until a few years before mom died that she tearfully shared with me the story. She told of how heavy her heart was when after the funeral,family and friends were sitting in her home, supposedly to comfort. They were talking and laughing. She was crying inside. She couldn’t understand how they could be doing that when she was hurting so badly.

Then she told me that some months after when she knew she was to have another child she prayed for a brown eyed girl and God lovingly and graciously answered that prayer. I think I am the only one in the family who has brown eyes!

Caring for home and family on the farm required a lot of energy. Washing the family clothes took a full day for there was no running water. It had to be pumped from the cistern outside and placed in large tubs. The water for the Maytag wash machine (wringer type) had to be heated on the kitchen stove and carried to the porch where the machine was. After about seven or eight loads were washed,they would be carried to the clotheslines to be hung and dried. If the weather was bad in the winter, wet clothes would be dried a little at a time around our pot bellied stove in the dining room. Without electricity every task took much physical energy.

Besides a large family, we often had one or two extra’s. This happened more in the summer. Cousins liked to come to the farm even though cousin Jim said that Aunt Nellie scared the devil out of him!. He always came back for more so it must not have been too scary!

There were often hired men or neighbors at the table. Both of my grandparents lived near and were in and out of the house. My grandpa and grandma Nesmith lived a fourth of a mile from us. My grandma Miller lived in a little house built for her in our yard.

They all loved mom’s cooking. Nothing fancy, just plain old down on the farm cookin‘. Such as fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and in season vegetables. Or it could be freshly butchered pork or beef roast with rich brown gravy. We almost always had meat of some kind. Pies, whipped cream cake or raisin cake was saved more for Sundays. Mom made most of her bread and churned butter from cream from our cows.

The Nebraska winters were cruel, very cold and windy, blizzardy weather. A memory that stands out in my mind is when I would hear mom climb the stairs in the middle of the night to check on us to be sure we were covered and to get us up to the pot before we accidentally wet the bed. Sometimes she would give us a hot water bottle or a jug with hot water in it to warm our beds. Remember there was no heat up there.

Another vivid memory is her consistent “family altar” time. Before we left for school we would go in the living room and she would read from the Bible and a devotional book called “The Upper Room”.

Then we would get on our knees and have prayer time. This and her faithful attendance at church and Wednesday night prayer meetings were things that had a profound affect on my life in later years.


Mom was an excellent seamstress. She had an old treadle Singer sewing machine. Her greatest delight was the challenge of taking an old coat or dress that someone gave her and turning it into a fine looking garment for one of the family. After all of her kids were raised and she and daddy lived in Denver she took a job making drapes.

Fast forward now to the last years:
After daddy was gone and several years before mom’s death, she went to live with Ila in California. It was while there that she got to know Ila’s pastor. He was such a great friend to mom. The following is a part of the eulogy that he gave at her funeral. He only knew her for a short time, but he told her story in such a unique way that I want to include it here. As you will see Greg is a very gifted writer.


At the funeral before Greg gave the eulogy, here is what he said. “I remember when I first met Nellie. She was angry as a wet hen because I had taken her daughter from her. Ila was chairing the worship committee at the time and we had just spent a couple hours in a meeting. I’d heard about grandma Miller who’d come to live with the Gilberts and as I dropped Ila off I asked if I could go in the house and meet her.

I expected a frail and tiny 90 year old on her death bed. I was surprised to meet a tall spunky lady who still had corn on the cob teeth of her own not to mention a mind of her own. After I challenged her grouchy greeting and told her what a pretty mother Ila had, we became fast friends. She was not your typical 90 year old grandma.”



EULOGY FOR NELLIE MAUDE NESMITH MILLER


There was an old woman who lived (here’s a clue)
She had so many children she didn’t know what to do.
This little old lady doesn’t live in a shoe, she lives now in heaven.
And in terms of her children….well she only had seven!
One of those youngins was waiting in glory.
But before I say more let me tell Nellie’s story.

Let me take you back to the windblown prairies of western Nebraska to a sod house owned by a farmer named Cyrus Arthur Nesmith (better known as Art). It was late October, the 29th to be exact. The year was 1900. Pumpkins and corn stalks could be seen everywhere and all around everyone was talking about election day a week away. Would William McKinley and his young upstart running mate Theodore Roosevelt win re-election against the democratic ticket of Bryant and Stevenson.

But election day was not the most important thing on farmer Nesmith’s mind. If you listen hard enough perhaps you can hear that newborn cry. You see, Art’s wife Maude had just delivered their second born child. A girl. They called her Nellie. As she grew, her four siblings and her parents recognized that Nellie was a unique girl. She was a smart girl even though she never finished high school. Her education was confined to that one room little school house on the prairie where her own kids would one day study.

Did I say she was a smart alec? Well that too! She had a good heart and great sense of humor. She received the Lord Jesus as her personal Savior at a tender age. And it took. She rode to church every week with her brother in a horse and buggy. Once the buggy ran over her and boy was she hurt. Feelings mostly. She liked to tell that story and others.

She had an incredible memory for some things. She tended to remember the hardships that anchored at her dock. But her love of God was bigger than her tendency to gripe. Even though she learned to trust the Lord as a little girl, her faith carried her a lifetime.

She also learned to sew at a very young age and that too never left her. She made and remade dresses for all her children and crocheted blankets up until a couple days before she died.

I guess she had a desire to learn about life ever since she was little. Even though she never graduated from high school she did attend a business school in Lincoln for a year to try and better herself. But the only thing she succeeded in was returning home with sore feet from having to walk all over Lincoln Nebraska in second hand shoes too small for her lengthy feet.

About the time she moved home a new family named Miller moved to town. They heard that Maude Nesmith was the best homemade bread baker around and they stopped by Nellie’s folks place to buy a couple of loaves. The Miller family had a son, Ralph who came along. Well, Ralph eyed Nellie and Nellie eyed him and before long they eyed the preacher saying “I do”. As Ila and Rita remember their dad’s version of the story, they “took a notion to get married“. That’s more true than not. Apparently, Ralph’s sister dropped by and said she and her beau were headed to Hastings to tie the knot. Stella invited Ralph and Nellie to go along. They did and decided to be more than witnesses. They had a double wedding.

Ralph and Nellie worked the family farm. They raised wheat and corn and in -between harvests, they raised seven children. One little boy died before he reached his first birthday. Life was hard in the days of the dust bowl and the depression.. But Nellie was a pioneer spirit. She compensated for the lean years with sumptuous home cooked meals. Life in those days stunk, but the smells that came from her kitchen covered a multitude of regrets. She was a great cook! She was able to obtain the ingredients she needed for her famous recipes by trading cream and eggs in lieu of money.

Music was another thing that helped soften their hard life on the prairie. Nellie and Ralph sacrificed to allow their kids the privilege of music lessons, not to mention college education.

In 1953 when all the kids but one were grown and gone, Nellie, Ralph, and Neal moved just north of Joplin, Missouri where they lived until Ralph died in 1987, They survived 67 years together. I say survived because, like most marriages I know, their’s wasn’t perfect. Rather, filled with challenges and change they hung in there in the happy times and the less than happy times, determined to stick together. It’s a disappearing quality in our culture. I think it’s pronounced commitment.

As Nellie grew older her love for her children and their children occupied her time. She was always surrounded by photos and momentos of her offspring. In October 1990 the family put on the dog and celebrated Nellie’s 90th birthday in style. She was pleased. But she was beginning to slow down and could no longer live on her own. She moved out to California in January of 1991 to live with her daughter, Ila and son-in-law, Don. Within a year it was obvious that Nellie needed specialized care and she went to live at Casa San Miguel in Concord. She made her room more than a room. She took pride in belongings, books, and her bulletin board.

Nellie taught adult Sunday School and led Bible studies She loved to study God’s word and gather in worship with His people. Even in the last two years of her life she never missed a Sunday worship service at the nursing home. Her Bible was right next to her bed. When I would visit with her in her room we always would conclude our time together having prayer, and singing a couple of the old gospel hymns she loved. She sang with me. Nellie is in the presence of Jesus having given us an example of a life well lived.

By Greg Asimakoupoulos

History info from Ila Gilbert

World War II 1/2008

GRANDMA RITA’S RAMBLINGS
To my grandkids with love,

JANUARY 2008

WORLD WAR II


A FOUND TREASURE


I am so excited to tell you of the wonderful treasure that I discovered a few weeks ago. I was preparing to write an e-mail to you about WWII. I wanted to relate to you some things that happened during that time that would be interesting to you. It was then that I came across something that was just what I needed to help me.


One day, I was digging around in an old file cabinet in the laundry room. It contained things that I seldom need--old income tax reports, old papers and letters too good to shred. As I was going through some of it, I found it. There behind some file folders was a bunch of old letters that I had totally forgotten that I had!


Looking more closely I realized they were letters written by your grandpa Lynn some sixty-five years ago during WWII. After looking at them and seeing the dates I remembered that his mom had given them to me a number of years ago. Why I never read them or remembered that I had them I don't know.


At any rate, here were hundreds of letters stacked in chronological order from the time your grandpa Lynn boarded the train leaving for Boot Camp in December of 1942 until when he was discharged on March 7, 1946. I was so fascinated with reading them that I almost forgot to go to bed that night! After many hours of careful reading, I just last night finished. Writing was something your grandpa enjoyed and was good at so he wrote sometimes every day or every other day. I imagine he easily averaged every three or four days all through those four years.


He was not able to identify where he was. In a couple of the letters he had given a bit too much information and the censor cut out part of the letter! But he did write a lot about people he met, He carefully maintained his love for the Lord and always enjoyed meeting new people at the various churches and Christian Fellowships--and USO's along the way. .


The following information I write about has been gleaned from those somewhat yellowed and long neglected pages. Yes, I say again that these letters are, I believe, a real treasure and I hope can be preserved in our family for years to come. I hope you will have an opportunity to someday read through some of them.


IMPORTANT PEOPLE AND PLACES
(As Grandpa Lynn saw it) 1942-1946)


I don’t intend to write about events particularly, but about people that I think might be of most interest to you. You can read such facts in other sources. It amazes me how little I knew about the various battles, such as Iwo Jima and Normandy. This was largely because we didn’t have communication like we do today.


For instance, there were newspapers, radios, letters, V-mail, telegrams and word of mouth. Compare that to TV imbedded reporters, very adequate phone lines, e mail, satellites, and many other ways that I don’t know or understand.


So let’s get started. Why don’t you pull up a chair by me and I’ll dust off a few albums that haven’t been looked at for years. As I mentioned I have already gone through my file drawers to get my computer brain to remember.


SEEING THE WORLD

Your Grandpa Lynn had a unique opportunity to see places and meet people that gave him a perspective that he previously had not had. It was December 1942 and this young man of twenty years who loved his home state of Minnesota was about. to see lands and seas he had never before known.


In his letters he was never able to reveal his location, but from pictures in our album we know that he covered lots of places. All were in the Atlantic, European side of our country. But first he must take training in Lawrence, KS, (KU) and Syracuse, NY.


His first time out on the Atlantic was on the USS Pennewill. After a number of months and many ports, he came back to Norfolk, VA for more training in diesel, pumps, evaporation, and refrigeration. His work was down in the engine room where it was hot and smelly.


After completing his further training, he was assigned to a destroyer named the USS Laub. From what I gathered he did not see any serious action. There were some tense times. For the most part he was fortunate enough to see a lot of the world on the Atlantic side at the expense of Uncle Sam.

In the album there are many pictures of Recife, Brazil, Alexander, Egypt, Rock of Gibraltar, Valetta, Malta, Sliema, Malta, Puerto Rico, Trinidad (Island NE of Venezuela), Casablanca, Toulan and Cannes, France, Marseille, France, Algeria, North Africa, and others.

There is more--let’s go on and browse through more of this old album. You will see many newspaper articles that I assume people sent him, of the Yalta Conference when world leaders met with Roosevelt on issues regarding the War. The reason was that the Laub was one of several destroyers that escorted Roosevelt to the area where they met. He said that was pretty exciting.


FOREVER FRIENDSHIPS:

Every place he went he spent his time off, (called Liberty), looking for good churches where there would be people of the same faith that he could connect with and find good Christian fellowship. As a result he developed strong friendships that lasted his lifetime. He was very good at keeping contact with many of them after the War. Also the USO’s were plentiful and treated servicemen with great honor. It was a wonderful place to meet other servicemen and women.


He had one special Christian friend. His name was Willard Nuss. They were close because their assignments were to the same ships. Throughout the War they would be separated for a time, but seemed to always get back together so they could go places together. This was a miracle that they could never have orchestrated themselves.


Even since your grandpa died, I still hear from Willard’s wife who lives in Toronto, Canada. She sent me something she wrote in a senior paper that she edits. Here is a part of what she wrote about these two sailors.

“Willard’s first assignment on the USS Pennewill brought on a life-changing encounter with a fellow sailor Lynn Manlove--a Navigator--who was sitting on his footlocker reading his Bible when Willard went down the ship’s stairs to the sleeping quarters--”

Willard has told us of this a number of times-- how much your grandpa helped him spiritually.


He also had many lady friends he met in these many places. All of them were acquaintances he met when he was on liberty. One special one was Mary who lived in Lawrence, KS. Because of severe opposition from parents, Mary ended the relationship.




BACK ON THE HOME FRONT:
(as Grandma Rita saw it)


As for me, life on the Nebraska farm went on much the same after we heard that famous speech through the crackling and static of our little radio. The voice was that of our President, Franklin D Roosevelt, who informed us that our nation was at war. It was December 7, 1941. The Japanese had just attacked Pearl Harbor.


I was a freshman at Wauneta High School. I usually drove the 8 miles to school in our 1938 Oldsmobile Coupe. However, when gas rationing started I stayed in town more with my Grandma Miller. I only went back to the farm on weekends.


The government saw the importance of farmers continuing to produce crops and it affected us in two ways--less fuel rationing, and young men who were farmers often didn’t get drafted if they could prove themselves essential to the war effort. There was no one of draft age in our family.


I remember only a few of the things that we were rationed, or hard to get. Sugar, gas, -- and you wouldn‘t believe this next item--ladies silk stockings! No such things as nylons in those days. I’m sure there were other things but these are the ones that I remember.


We were very proud when sister Lois became a Navy nurse. She was stationed in Mare Island CA. There she met her future husband, Smitty, who was also from Nebraska. This farmer turned Marine was back in the States and in the hospital from health problems developed in the Pacific with serious health problems. He is one of many who do not want to talk about his war experiences.


One of my heroes in the service was Mason Miller, my cousin, who was in the Infantry. I wrote him faithfully. Below is a bit of a letter that he wrote to me on April 11, 1944 when he was in a foxhole in Italy fighting the Germans.


“Tonight I’m glad I’m in my hole. Jerry seems to think that we have something important parked around here someplace and he’s bound and determined to put it out of commission. The concussion from the shells exploding nearby causes our candle-flames to flicker and jump. Me, too, sometimes! Our home is fairly safe--we have it sandbagged and dug deep----”

This letter reminds me of a saying that I often heard during those four devastating years. “There are no atheists in foxholes”. As was true on 9/11 the seriousness of war turned hearts to God and prayer. We as a country were also united, as I have not seen since.

Now that I’ve started writing about this I don’t know where to stop! There is so much more to tell you. --Like, the many good things that took place during those years, and the after affects of the War. I continue to think of things that I want to include. My next writing will be “After the War”. This will include how your Grandpa Lynn and I met! (No more girlfriends at every port!)

If there is something in here that you would like to ask me about, just let me know and I’ll try to clear it up.

Love to all and God bless,
Grandma Rita



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