Memorial Day 2013

Memorial Day 2013.  I always remember that when we were still home, Mother cut a bouquet of lilacs and iris, if either were blooming and took them to the cemetery.  I don't ever remember going with them.  One of the difficulties for us in honoring our parents on Memorial Day is that we all live so far away and some of us aren't quite as mobile as we used to be.  So, much as we would like to go to the cemetery and have a moment of solitude and thankfulness for their lives, the best we can do is to offer these photos so we can all remember.  

We also honor all who have served and those who have lost their lives in the service of our country on this Memorial Day.  We give special thanks to those in our extended families who have served or who are now serving in the military.  We all welcome Ross back to civilian life, we thank Cliff (Kim's husband) for his various tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we pray for Aaron's (Kim and Cliff's son) safety (Afghanistan) while he is gone.  Please add others in your comments I have omitted.

And so we pause these brief moments and look to the distant clouds and the tiny sliver of Heart Mountain in the distance and we remember the good life and the good years we had in Penrose with our parents.  We forever remain grateful to them for learning how to work, how to survive, and how to persevere just by following their example.  We were, and are, truly blessed.

We remember the Wasdens: Cindy, Minnie (Mother) Grandpa Wasden, Grandma Wasden, Orvil, and Elna (who became our stepmother in Dad's last years).

To Mom and Dad, we say thank you once again for your hard work, exemplary lives, and for the love that still binds those of us who are left together.  We may not all have too long left in mortality, but not a day goes by that I don't think of home, of Dad, of Mom, of my Wasden grandparents.  We honor all of you on this Memorial Day of 2013.  

Another Classic: Dad, Mom, Louise, Dwight 1933

Happy Birthday to Louise

Here it is July 14.  Velna told me a week ago to send a card, but my busy itinerary intervened.  Maybe this will do until I get a card sent, and it's always better to string one's birthday out just as long as possible.  Dear oldest sister and sibling, we all share this day with you and send our love and best wishes. Thank you for making grade school so boring by being my teacher.

Memorial Day 2012

 Our grandmother, Louise Blood

 Our grandfather, Roscoe Blood

 Our parents, Minnie and Russell Blood

 I'm not certain, but I think Dad is kneeling by his Mother's grave in Nebraska, 1988

 Classic picture of our parents, Minnie and Russell Blood, baby Louise, Sunlight, 1931

Our grandparents, Tilda and James Wasden

Memorial Day 2012.  Today we honor our parents and grandparents and all those who have gone before us.  Since we cannot travel to the Penrose cemetery, we make the best of it by remembering them here.  If these photos are too large for your hard drive, let me know and I'll shrink them, but I wanted to see them in a large enough size so I could feel their presence.  We never knew our Blood grandparents, since Dad was an orphan at an early age.  We grew up with our Wasden grandparents and we children were close to them all of their lives.  Never a day goes by that I still do not think of my parents in some way or another, and continue to miss them after all these years.  And so we pay tribute to all of them this Memorial Day 2012.

We would be remiss if we did not honor service men and women, and particularly the members of our family who have served, and are now serving, in the armed forces of our country.  We especially pay tribute to those who have served in harm's way.  So, be assured that we are thinking of you, that we are aware of the sacrifices you have made and our now making in our behalf.

Happy Easter

I know, it's been posted before.  But here's a reminder of Easter egg decorating.  As I recall, some times it was more like the Easter egg wars.  But then I was a mere small boy confronted with four sisters and I had to stick up for my Easter egg rights.

Letter to My Siblings: December 15 2011

I told Judy last night that I have a theory about why we six have always managed to stick together despite some being fabric store fanatics, some being spendthrifts, and the like.  My theory is this: We were isolated. We had no other playmates.  Mother built a safe haven for us and Dad protected us.  We had to depend on each other, look after each other.  Like the time the schoolbus driver kicked Louise (Louise? are you kidding?) off the bus for something she didn't do, and we all dutifully and loyally trooped off with her.  The girls had no choice but to be close since they shared a room, all crammed cozily together, while I luxuriated in my private room, until Steve came along and started annoying me.  I never had a male playmate.  I had four sisters for playmates.  I never learned sports, how to throw a ball.  But I learned to make up fantastic tales in my imagination, to invent games with my sisters, to lead Liz astray who believed everything, to play annie-annie over the house, to throw rocks on the galvanized metal outhouse roof when someone was in there, to play school, road, build forts out of sagebrush, to haul Mother's Children's Literature book around the yard, to dig holes in the orchard to hide from Mother, to play our imaginary family sagas. Louise taught me to read, I tried to teach Liz how to read but she couldn't understand ditto marks.  Sad.

It wasn't just that we were isolated and had no other playmates.  Our home was a safe haven.  We never felt threatened.  We were never hungry.  We stayed warm in the winter with coal and cottonwood.  We were lonesome for Dad and watched for the little Model A roadster on Saturday nights when he would come bearing the Denver Post funnies and maybe make a kite and fly it for us. We ran in the country lanes, climbed on the snowdrifts in winter, played in the leaves in autumn.  We lived in close proximity to one another.  We pretty much knew everything there was to know about each other.  My sisters tattled on me.  Other than little spats, I don't every remember any serious animosity that ever existed among any of us. We teased, we played pranks.  We never talked about fairness, how tough life was, or why we had so little.  We grew up together, and we have continued to live life together, no matter how far apart or how much our lives diverged.  We have never, any of us, ever really left Penrose.

Happy Birthday, Brother Dear

Dwight was the picture taker in our family - pictures of him in his youth are few and far between, but I always liked this one, probably taken by a buddy - note the FFA jacket.
This is sort of a professor-type picture - family reunion in Orem.
And, we're only missing Steve - Sweet memories of laughter and tears shared over the years.
Love this picture from the past. We always look forward on our birthdays - sometimes the scenery looks a little uncertain, sometimes we know the path. Life is always throwing us a curve, and we often go into uncharted waters, but it's important to know that family is always there to support and love us on.

Letter To Liz

June 28 2011

Dear Liz:

I recorded the movie "Lili" with Leslie Caron and Velna and I entertained ourselves by watching it last night.  Do you remember when you went with us to see Lili at the Wyo Theater in Laramie a week before we all went to Penrose together in August 1953 when Velna and I were on our way to Bozeman where I would start my master's degree studies in agricultural economics?  I hadn't seen that movie for 58 years if my arithmetic is approximate, yet it brought back so many memories of that summer with flashbacks of scenes I still remembered from the movie.  And who can forget the lyrics to the lilting "Hi Lili"?

That was the summer I rescued you from hoeing beets with your siblings so you could move to the big city and tend the wonderful children at this home, which I took a photo of when I went back to Laramie for my 50th college graduation reunion.

You may even have wished for a return to the previous summer when I celebrated my high school graduation and my past tenure as state president of the Future Farmers of America by hoeing beets with you for weeks in the hot sun, swatting deerflies, horseflies, and gnats.  What did we talk about all that summer, up and down those rows, waiting for the water jug by the ditch at the end of the row?

You remember the trip to Penrose from Laramie.  We had our 1948 black 2-dr. Chevy we bought with a down payment from Velna's savings.  Velna was very pregnant, the day was hot.  We had a flat tire about 15 miles south of Lovell on the Greybull highway.  I hitchhiked into Lovell and got my brother in law Phil Reasch, who married Velna's sister Joyce, to come rescue us while you and Velna suffered by the side of the road for an eternity.  Finally, we made it home to Penrose.  Velna and I stayed for a week since I was supposed to be the substitute teacher in vocational agriculture at Powell High School while the two regular ag teachers went to the state fair in Douglas.  I had completed all of the courses necessary for a life certificate in vocational ag teaching at the University, but I had forgotten what ag students were like.  They put someone's arm in the power hack saw to see how close to the skin they could get without breaking it.  I passed out rope for knot tying, a skill which I had demonstrated in high school by making the most outstanding knot board in the history of the Wyoming State Fair.  After about 10 years of winning the blue ribbon at the fair, my teachers were told it was illegal to keep entering it.  I never did get the knot board back. And the rotten kids had lost track of what they did with the rope pieces to practice tying knots.  So after a week of treading water with juvenile delinquents, we were happy to be on our way to Bozeman to begin an unknown future to get a master's degre in ag econ.  I was 20, soon to turn 21, when we started that year.  We were expecting our first baby in November.  My assistantship paid about $70 per month.  Rent was about $17.  Velna worked part time.  We covered our new baby with Velna's coat when she came home from work since we couldn't afford a blanket.

So, Liz, how did you get back to Laramie?  I never thought I would ever go back there, but go back there I did, for another nine years of teaching.  The University Stock Farm sheep barn, where I lived the first year I was at Wyoming while working there as a student, and Old Main remain icons of my life.  Whatever happened after that, you and I had an opportunity siblings rarely have, even if we were spending our time in forced slave labor, to get well enough acquainted to stand us in good stead for the rest of our lives.  I find it difficult to insult you or make you angry, since you always agree with all of my insults.  But all of these memories came flowing back while watching sweet little Leslie Caron sing "The song of love is a sad song. . ."

My home was in a room fixed for student workers in the second floor of this sheep barn.  If you are wondering what you smell like after your clothes, your hair, everything you have is reeking with sheep lanolin, I can refresh your memory.

Old Main where, among all the other buildings on the UW campus, I was student janitor one summer.



So that about sums it up for this letter.  Love, Dwight.  (sorry you never understood the word ditto, or you could have learned to read even sooner than you did).

More Family in Olympia 1981

 Lorraine and Brooks

 Lorraine and Cindy

 Louise and Verne

Dwight, doing what he was trained to do

The Gift of Family

On Penrose Mornings, over the past few years, it has become an undeclared tradition to acknowledge a brother's or a sister's birthday with fun comments, sharing of memories, and expressions of love, all with a little humor tucked here and there. This has become one of my favorite things on my birthday, never knowing what might be written but anticipating that only the good things will be remembered. The writing has been a source of encouragement to keep trying, as well as a comfort when there are challenges or unexpected twists and turns to be dealt with.

Because there appears to be challenges ahead, some unknown, some known, I decided there was something I wanted to do this year. This post isn't really an attempt to change our undeclared tradition, but, perhaps, to add a new dimension to that tradition. On the eve of my 68th birthday, I wanted to tell each of you how much I love you, and how thankful I am for your goodness, for your example to me, for the laughter shared, for the complete acceptance of me and mine regardless of faults and flaws, and for being willing to share your lives with me. I am thankful to be part of an eternal family.

When I look at this photo I can hear Dad's laugh, Mother's encouragement to get with it, Dwight's teasing, yodeling, "intellectual speak" and concern for each of us, Louise's gentle strength and smile, Elizabeth's enthusiasm for a new project, Judy's perfection of Mother's skill of answering a question with a question, and Steve's love of creating beautiful "things". Then there are those who are not in the photo, spouses, children, grandchildren and now, for some, great grandchildren. What a wonderful life we have been blessed with, and that I get to be a little piece of this family is incredible. I am truly blessed, even though I am not excited about the increase in my age.

If I could have a birthday wish this year (it is impossible to cover the important things with just one wish) for our Penrose clan and all those who help make our family complete, it would be that we will find something good in each new day, that we will continue to have faith in eternal principles, that we will give a hug to someone we love daily, and that we will look for one thing to laugh about each day, even if no one else sees the humor.

May we always be there for each other in the good times, as well as when the times are most difficult, and may we always remember that whatever this next year brings, we will not go through it alone. I love you all. Ann

The "Teacherage" Where Mom Stayed at Valley School

Think: Long, lonely, cold nights; Correspondence courses; Lessons.

The Minnie Wasden Blood Scholarship Fund at Northwest College in Powell WY

I am happy to tell all of our family that the initial $5000 donation for the Minnie Wasden Blood Scholarship in elementary education at Northwest College in Powell WY has been completed.  The State of Wyoming has matched with another $5000, so we have a $10,000 endowment with which to begin the scholarship.  The first scholarship will be awarded this fall, and we will be informed about the recipient when it is awarded.

I think Mothers Day is an appropriate day to share this news.  I love the idea that one young person each year will receive a few hundred dollars to help him or her prepare to be an elementary school teacher.  The elementary ed program at Powell has expanded greatly, according to Shelby Wetzel, director of the NW College Foundation.  I think Mother would look on with approval.

Shelby Wetzel informs me that the College has some remaining state matching funds available if we want to continue adding to the scholarship.  Each $1, therefore, is expanded to $2.  The earnings from $10,000 are not munificent, but I know from my own experience how much an extra hundred dollars (or five, or ten) would have meant to me in college, and Shelby confirms this from her experience in working with so many students at the college. 

I do not want to put any pressure on anyone, whatsoever.  I intend to continue making modest contributions as time goes along.  If anyone else wishes to share in expanding this scholarship opportunity, I invite you to do so.  Even $50 now and then would add up.  I do need to let the College know about how much we think we might add to the scholarship over the next several years so they can earmark the matching funds for us, thus enabling a doubling of the effect of our contributions.  Please let me know if you think you would like to continue to participate.  I thank all who have donated $50, $100, or more up to this point.  If you would rather not participate, you need not reply and that will be fine.  But I would like to let Shelby know whether we think we can raise an additional thousand or two in the next two or three years to add to the scholarship.  I intend to leave something in my will for a modest increment to the scholarship.  Again, thank you.  I think we will all feel good about seeing this scholarship in operation.

Donations can be sent to Shelby Wetzel, Director Northwest College Foundation, 231 West Sixth St., Powell WY 82435.  They are tax deductible.

D & V visit Penrose

This may have been posted before.  Look at the sweet innocence?

Trip to Penrose in 1961

Family Outing

This photo is one of the only two photos of which I am aware of our entire family during the second Penrose period except me, the photographer, thus meaning that almost no photos of me for most of my later years at home exist except for a few Liz took my last year there. Before Mom became a Sunday School teacher, our only outing day was on Sunday, which meant that we usually went to North Fork, and those times were very rare. As you can see, Steve is misbehaving. I absolutely remember taking this picture.

More Fun in Layton

Ann seems to be reacting to a tall story - possibly one that Dwight toldl????

Love this picture - it's so wonderful to still be able to laugh - even if it's at ourselves!

Louise looking very thoughtful and states'woman' like. After all, this meeting was at her house.

Another good round laugh. We've read that a good laugh every day is good medicine. If so, the four of us will feel well after this get-together for a long time. Louise's house did prove to be a sort of central place for us.

The Other Three Graces

This picture seems appropriate for this day - we just needed Judy to be included. Remember the photo of Ann, Judy, and Elizabeth (me) in Judy's kitchen. Where and when was this picture taken? It must be quite old, because I'm wearing earrings, and I haven't been able to do that for years because of allergies. To get back to why this picture is appropriate, it is because tomorrow is the day for Louise's knee replacement surgery, and we want her to know that her sisters (and brothers) want to provide her with all the support we can muster. We hope that all will go well, and that recovery will be quick.

Steve, Ann, Black Cat, Basketball

They Look So Innocent

Picnic: Next Installment