NEBRASKA NOSTALGIA

GRANDMA RITA’S RAMBLINGS



June, 2009

To my Grandkids with Love


Kathy Murphy, my niece wrote a response when I announced that I would be attending a party for a lady, a distant cousin of mine, celebrating 100 years of life. It was a valid question! She asked, What does one do at a 100th Birthday Party? That is a good question that I will attempt to answer in the next page or so.

Before I tell you all about it I want to explain to you who the honored guest was. Her name is Leona Paustien and she lives in Wauneta, Nebraska, a small prairie town in southwest Nebraska. She has a nice home there, mows her sizeable lawn, keeps her Buick in good shape, (washing and cleaning it) and drives it in the area when the occasion arises that she needs to. Otherwise, if it’s a trip downtown and a good day she might walk!

Leona has very firm convictions and believes in speaking up and expressing them when it seems necessary to do so. Leona writes with beautiful handwriting, her letters are long and newsy. She always gives thanks to the Lord for all her blessings. She has outlived three husbands!

It was in one of those letters that I received from her that she mentioned that on May 4,2009 she would reach her 100th Birthday! This was a surprise to me and I soon got on the phone to sister Ila in California. After discussing the letter we agreed that this was a big event and it would sure be fun to be a part of it.

Ila is always ready to go back to our home town. In fact she still takes the “Wauneta Breeze” just to keep up on people and what they are doing. She especially enjoys the "Forty Years Ago" column.


Anyway, she said she was quite sure that brother Ed in Denver area would like to go. Well, from there things developed fast as she found some fabulous airline tickets to Denver that we just “couldn’t pass up”. Ed said he would drive his car to Wauneta so things just seemed to make sense that we should make this trip to our home town where we grew up, and help Leona celebrate her birthday. We found out that her daughter Joan, was planning a big party at the Senior Center in Wauneta and that everyone that knew Leona was invited. (That would be the whole town of 8 or 900.)


We arrived on Saturday. It was 2 p.m.-good timing! And here is where plans took an unexpected turn. We were told that Leona had fallen just two days before the party and broke her hip, injured her shoulder and was in the hospital! They said they decided to go ahead with the party as everything had been purchased and so many had been invited.

Joan’s daughter is a professional Party Planner. Thanks to her expertise the room was so beautiful-I can’t describe it. If I did try it just wouldn’t do it justice. Best of all there were hundreds of pictures we could look through. Each one told stories of the past. Since we were distantly related we were able to identify many. It seems that our Grandma,- Maude Morrison Nesmith, was a sister to Carrie Morrison Buffington, Leona‘s mom. If I have it figured right that made Leona our mom,Nellie Miller’s cousin and she would be our second cousin, right?! Don’t waste a lot of time trying to figure that one out!J


The most interesting album was one that had several pictures of my brother Dale, that died when he was eight months old. Leona says that she helped my mom at the time of his death. He died with some kind of stomach disorder which I’m sure would not have been fatal in our day.


Even though we didn’t see Leona that day we did see many old friends, neighbors of my Grandma Miller, and people from our high school classes. Lois, Vara, Ed, Ila and myself all went to high school there. It was the closest high school from where we lived, nine miles south. That night we were invited to the delightful meal that only Nebraska cooks can come up with.

However, we all had to admit that we were disappointed that we hadn’t seen the honored birthday girl that we came to see! Leona had been taken to the North Platte hospital, some 100 miles away where the doctors could more adequately care for her. As we drove back to the Bed and Breakfast where we were to stay, (no motels in Wauneta) we decided that even though it was a long way we were going to see Leona before we left. It was a good decision! Early the next morning we were on our way.


We didn’t know whether Leona would be able to see us or talk to us but when we went
in to her room, our concerns vanished. This spunky lady was so wide awake in her hospital bed and so alert and happy to see us. For over an hour we talked, took pictures, remembered old times and enjoyed her usual sense of humor cracking jokes about her age and her fall etc. What a special time we had together. In fact, for us it was probably more quality time spent with her than if we had seen her at the party. The Picture: Ed, Ila, Leona, and Rita

I looked up the word nostalgia in the dictionary to be sure I was spelling it right and found it interesting that the basic meaning is from a Greek word that means “return home”. Thus the reason for the title of this story. There was one more thing I wanted so to do. It was to drive out on the south divide where our farm was, go past the Mt. Zion Church and visit the old cemetery called “Mt Zion Cemetery”. If we timed it right on Monday we could do all this and still arrive back at the Denver Airport by 6 p.m.


As you view the pictures you can see the deterioration. This was the church where I grew up, learned the stories about Jesus, went to Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, sang in the choir, observed people who truly loved the Lord and some who didn’t. But they were good hard working farmers who were our friends and neighbors. The building itself is only a shell--been vandalized, but some of the people I remember were a godly influence in my life and my siblings, and in many ways their beliefs and good moral values still live in me. I’m so grateful for this kind of exposure to life that I had growing up!

The same could be said of the small cemetery where our brother Dale was buried. We found it after quite a search. A small marker barely seen for the tall grass. It was alongside names of many whose gravestones revealed people we had known in the past. I was glad to havfe Ed and Ila with me to help me remember. It is always a sobering experience, but one that we all should have -to remember the brevity of life and that only eternal things are important when it comes right down to it.

Well, this is a rather sobering note to end up on but maybe that’s OK! I think I’d like to dedicate this blog to the memory of my brother Dale Miller, who passed away at 8 months. I never saw him but found myself returning home grieving that I had never had that chance. Another reason to look forward to our heavenly hope!
The picture: Lois, Dale, and Vara.




Much love to all,
Grandma Rita