We had Thanksgiving dinner this year at the Howard Senior Citizen Center.
It was a very good dinner with Ham, Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, dressing, green beans, a huge roll, etc. All huge helpings and this year service was at the table rather than in a cafeteria line. It was a smooth transition from the high school.
Eighty-nine people registered.
My wife and I sat with my mother, Rosie Gray, her brother, Johnnie Miller, Buena Taylor, Mary Ellen Edwards, Sachiko (I hope that is spelled right) Edwards, and Maurice Marion.
Buena, Mary Ellen, and Sachiko all admitted to knowing Ron of the Jarhead Clan (this comment may not make sense unless one has seen Avatar).
Maurice Marion lived on the next quarter-section over from my mother when she was a teenager. She said he was just as talkative then as he is now.
Spoke with Neva Walter who is hobbling on a cane. She has had a hip replaced. Missed six weeks of work but is back and is now waiting until she can have the other one replaced.
Good to hear Maurice is doing good.
Waldo,
I hope my Aunt's Buena & Mary Ellen spoke highly of their nephew.
They should have had answers to your "Upola questions" and early day schools of Elk county. Sachiko's late husband, my oldest brother, was from the "Jarhead clan" also.
Maurice is a hoot and a wealth of information on the old days. Many moons ago I tore a barn down on the Benny Beau (sp) farm, north of Moline. Barn had 2x6 tongue & grove lumber that were 33 feet in length and not a knot the entire length. Maurice said they were from stave silos that had been tore down back when he was a pup, and then used to build the barn.If my memory is right I think he said in 1933
Waldo, I was in Howard last week to attend Mary Stark's services and I got a big hug from my favorite Rosie. Your Mother is always a pleasure to visit with. I know she enjoyed having Thanksgiving with you and your wife and her brother. I always enjoy seeing Johnnnie and having a visit with him.
I am wondering how they managed to get 89 people into the senior center.
Twirldoggy,
We arrived early anticipating a possible seating problem.
There is another seating area on the other side of the kitchen. I did not go back there, so I don't know how many that area might hold.
I heard a number of folks saying they would take out.
Meals were also taken to shut ins and I don't know if they were included on the register.
Frank,
Thanks for the kind words. Johnnie is recovering from surgery and he is not as sharp as he used to to be but he still has a sense of humor.
Glad to hear Maurice is doing so well. I have not met him but he is my grandmother's nephew.
Well Ron, when I inquired as to whether they knew you, there was this long silence......
Just Joking!
They all smiled.
Jarhead, of course my Aunts spoke highly of you because that is the kind of good ladies they are.
They don't do Thanksgiving dinner at the High School anymore??? When did it stop??? I loved to do dinner there because it was less work and the food was always wonderful.
This was the first year at the Senior Citizens Center.
It was just as comparable to the school and seemed a little more intimate sitting at the long tables rather than the round ones at the school cafeteria.
Based on this experience, I may try eating at the Senior Center next time I am in Howard. I ate lunch there a number of years ago, possibility in the late seventies, and did not care for the food. This was the first time I had been back.
This was the same Thanksgiving, done by the same people, just in another location. I am sure everything else was unchanged.
You are correct, Wilma. the only thing different was the location.
Ruth Watts and her volunteers are to be commended for this act of love, performed year after year.