Happy New Year!

Here is a wish for you from me for a healthy, happy 2010 and for many years beyond that. May you and yours be able to stay reasonably stress free and relax and enjoy the simple wonders of life.

I was able to find a picture of a long ago New Year's Eve after a square dance. This was in our basement in Ft. Madison back in the late 50's or early 60's. I am sure Ray took this picture. Two of the couples are with the Santa Fe. Also there was the principal of the junior high there in Ft. M., and as I understand it he was one great principal and stood for no shenanigans. Probably could not do his job that way anymore - of course, I am sure he would have been retired a long time ago anyway. One of the fellows is Ray's cousin and the one behind me was a guy who was absolutely the salt of the earth. His wife is in front of me. What a great group of people. Many of New Year Eves were spent at square dances - such fun and such nice people! Wow, time has really flown by! (Click to enlarge)

My Maternal Great Grandparents

Thanks to my cousin Ken in California, I have this copy of an old picture of my great grandfather, Eugene Owen Carroll, who must have been a foundary worker. He was born in Cork County, Ireland. The arrow points to Owen, which is what he preferred being called.

And this is a picture of my great grandmother, Anna Reynolds Carroll. They were married in 1866. They had six children and my grandmother, Maggie, was the third child. I will later post a copy of a tintype showing Anna with three of her children. In an earlier post, there is a picture of the casket in which Anna was lying in state in the living room of the Pearce home in 1917. Almost all of the pictures that I have in this blog are in a book I did on both my family and Ray's that I finished in 2001. It's not geneology in the true sense of the word, but it does record what I knew and who was who in pictures. There are surely lots of errors, but it is much better than nothing at all. Ask questions of your parents and grandparents - I wish I had asked more! I think you enjoy learning about your ancestors more as you get older. I so enjoy looking at all the pictures and wondering what they were doing and where they were going. Hope you also enjoy these little peeks into the past. (Click to enlarge)

Little Girls from Rome, Illinois

This picture was taken on a Sunday morning probably in 1942 before or after going to Sunday School at the grade school in Rome. A young couple from Chillicothe had a little non-denominational Sunday School for the Rome kids and lots of us attended the little service. Two sets of sisters are in this picture and I don't remember why my sister isn't there - could be she wasn't feeling well. I am the girl in the cool white majorette boots - although I wasn't a majorette. The second girl in the front row is Fern Davis - my paper doll playing buddy. Looks as if hats were in fashion - and if no hat, a hairbow! (Click to enlarge)

A Christmas Card

Here is a picture of our little family in 1956, just before we were transferred away from Chillicothe to Ft. Madison by the Santa Fe. Billy was just three and Sherry 5 1/2. I thought this looked like it would have been a good picture for a Christmas card, so I will use it here on Pieces of the Past to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010. I so enjoy this blogging and love the fact that there are people who seem to enjoy the pictures and what I have to say. Thanks so much for logging on and for comments. Take good care and God bless. Carol

A Christmas Hi to My Brother and Mike

Back in October, I put in a picture of my brother and Dot, his wife, and Michael, their son. I think this one was taken on the same day. Just thought he might like to see it here on my blog - it is a great picture of the two of them. Merry Christmas, all of you!! (Click to enlarge)

Neighborhood Kids in Ft. Madison

When we moved to Ft. Madison, many of the families that were transferred there both from Chillicothe and from Marceline, Missouri, bought homes in a newer subdivision that was on the edge of town. We were mostly young with families and there were plenty of kids to play with. Our house was on a dead end street which is really great. On one side of us was a family with five children - four girls and one older boy. Sherry played mostly with the two older girls and especially Melinda, the one closest to her in age. Pictured above are Melinda, Jan, Sherry and Toni the next to the youngest. There was one more little girl, Kathy.

On the other side of us was a family with one child - a little boy about a year older than Bill. What a pair of little boys! They were such good buddies and funny little guys. Also in the neighborhood were many other kids and lots of them congregated on the dead end street to play. Back in those days, the kids spent most of the day outside playing. If it was too hot sometimes they would play in our basements. The soil in Ft. Madison was very sandy and at the end of our patio was kind of a sand pile where they could play with their trucks and cars.

The little girls did a lot of sewing for little dolls they got at the dimestore. Sherry and Melinda had all kinds of boxes of things they carried around and would sit under the shade of our one little tree in the front yard to sew - then later on would be on the patio at the back of the house when the shade got around there. One day a little whirlywind came along and scooped up fabric and all kinds of things and swirled it down across the creek behind our house. What a surprise. Nice memories of the neighborhood in Ft. Madison, Iowa - a very good time in our lives. (Click to enlarge)

Christmas Time in Topeka

Sherry by the fireplace at Christmas time in Topeka in the late 60's. She is wearing a dress I made her and I am sure the spots are on the picture, not the dress. This was our bottle brush tree - the branches were just like green bottlebrushes. I can spot some of the ornaments that have been on our trees for years - especially the little chenille candy canes which we bought for our very first tree. You will notice the candlesticks on the mantel - actually there are four of them. They are chair legs or the pieces between the legs covered in gold gift wrap that you wrinkle up, paint with antiquing glaze, tear it all in pieces and glue to the wood. After it's all glued, you lightly rub on some gold paste like stuff to cover the seams. It actually looked quite good. What a crafty person I was. I also made a big toothpick tree by sticking toothpicks into white styrofoam balls and piling them on top of each other. However, I did not put glue on the toothpicks so it didn't last very long.

Bill built a snow girl in our little front yard. I am sure he was an eighth grader at the time. She had a lovely flip hairdo and was very well endowed. Grinch Mom made him knock off the excess snow. Don't you love his short jeans? That was the style in Topeka. All the guys wore Flag Jackets, too. Fun time in our lives. (Click to enlarge)