52 Ancestors - week 4 - education

 Just a note first - I missed week 3.  It was "out of place" and I just couldn't think of any ancestors that are out of place.  Closest I could come is my dad, whose ashes are (at least supposedly) in my stepmother's closet instead of buried with his parents as they should have been.  I digress....

This week, the topic is education.  Many directions that I could take this.  Education is important to me, as my career focus has been teaching.  The picture I chose was a typical picture for the early 20th century, all the students in a one-room schoolhouse lined up outside the building.  The posted picture is of my grandmother, Lillian Stilwell, and her siblings included in the class.  Schoolhouse unknown, somewhere in the Bartholomew or Jackson County, Indiana area.  I recently colorized the picture through ancestry.com, since of course color film had not yet been invented in the early 1900's.

Could I have taught in a one-room schoolhouse?  I would like to think so.  There would be a lot of organization necessary to meet the needs of a diverse group of students.  Anywhere from teaching the young ones to read to advanced learning for the older ones.

52 Ancestors - week 2 - Favorite Photo

 This week we are to choose a favorite photo.  I am enclosing two. The first is of my son, Scott Clayton Cooper (born 1985.) The second photo is of my husband's grand uncle, Arthur Emil Lindenman (1902 - 1983.)  

What puts these photos on my favorite list is the way that they look alike.  I have shown Uncle Art's picture to others, and they truly think that it is Scott.  Uncle Art is in his army uniform, and Scott is in his Air Force uniform. 

Genetics are amazing!

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 1 - I'd Like to Meet

I was browsing Facebook and saw a post about #52 Ancestors.  Idea being you pick one of your ancestors each week and write a little more in depth about that person.  Weekly themes each week.  Sounds cool.  Going back to my old blog to post these.

Week 1 is "I'd Like to Meet."    The first ancestor that comes to mind is my great-grandmother, Ella Josephine Cox Stobo Brockman.  There are several parts of her life that I'd like to explore more.

First would be the circumstances of her birth.  From what I've been able to find, her adoptive mother may well have actually been her grandmother.  Ella was born in 1879, and was adopted by Ellen Cox Stobo and her husband, Thomas Stobo.  Ellen's oldest daughter, Henrietta Cox, died in 1884 and her will mentions the five year old girl, Ella, and part of Henrietta's estate went towards Ella's care and benefit.  I suspect that Henrietta was actually Ella's mother.  No records exist of a marriage for Henrietta, so perhaps the potential stigma of an out of wedlock child caused Ellen to adopt her own grandchild.  Not sure.  Maybe it'd be just as beneficial to meet Ellen or even Henrietta?

Second would be her life after she became a widow.  Ella married William Franklin Brockman in 1899 and they had three children.  One of those children was my grandfather, William Thomas "Tom" Brockman.  William Franklin died in 1918.  By 1921, Ella was named as the "other woman" in a lawsuit from the wife of a local businessman in her town.

From a contemporary newspaper article:  Margaret Crump charged that her husband Charley, a wealthy sportsman and air pilot, drove his airplane thru the skies more than convention permitted with Mrs. Ella Brockman, a wealthy widow and that he used the widow's cow pasture for a landing field.  At the same time, Mrs. Crump asked $25,000 alimony and $25,000 for alienation of affections from Mrs. Brockman.  

The court fight was to have developed over whether a couple could love in approved manner in the clouds while an airplane propeller drowned all conversation and prevented the driver from turning around and whispering into the lady's ear.  The divorce suit was withdrawn by both Mr. and Mrs. Crump before it went to trial.  The newspaper article claimed that it was the first airplane divorce suit in the United States.

Ella sounds like a very interesting lady and I would have loved to have met her.

Hi from Max - I sure miss my Grandma

Hi, this is Max.  It's been a long time since Mama has let me write on her blog, but here I am.  I'm getting older and don't have quite the energy that I used to, but I still have fun when I can.   Things have changed around here lately.  There was this lady that Mama and Daddy referred to as "Grandma" that came to live with us a while back.  She was really nice; she gave me treats, let me lick her dishes after she ate good stuff from them, and took me for LOTS of walks.   She let me come up on her bed when Mama would leave for work (and Mama works really long days!) and look out her window at all the deer and bunnies and squirrels.  She has a dog, too, only Missy just stays in one place and doesn't say anything.  Mama says it's because Missy is "stuffed."  Maybe she shouldn't eat so much then!

So last week her room started getting more crowded.  Lots of boxes and totes - I could tell something was up.  On Sunday, Mama and Daddy started carrying the boxes and totes out to the garage.  Daddy filled up his big blue trailer, and on Monday they pulled the trailer away and that was the last I saw of Grandma.

Mama says she lives in her own apartment again.  She has lots more room for all her stuff and is making lots of new friends.  The only bad thing is that dogs like me aren't allowed to come visit.  Mama says she'll take me over there and we can pick her up and go on an adventure like we did a couple of times this summer.   We still have to be a little careful of this virus thing that everybody talks about.  They even have to cover up their faces!  Glad I don't have to have my face covered up!

I sure miss my Grandma.

rediscovering an old friend

At work and between patients the other day.  Googled "RedhedMary" just for fun.  The link for my old blog came up, I'd pretty much forgotten about it.  It was way cool to go back to the beginning and read again about my two trips to Europe, my trip to Japan, and other fun things.  Also stuff that wasn't so fun but good reminders.

I'm thinking I may just start writing in the blog again.

Quick re-introduction:   I've been working at Spectrum Health's Beltline Integrated Care Center (hereafter in the blog known as the BICC) since 2017, registering Urgent Care patients.  These last six months have been quite the journey, though, as the world is in the midst of a pandemic due to the COVID-19 virus.  I can truthfully say that working in health care during a pandemic was NOT on my bucket list!

Steve retired a few years back, but is not taking retirement well, especially after the pandemic started.  He is the typical grumpy old man....

My stepdad died in July 2017, just after I started at Spectrum Health.  Hurricane Irma hit Florida that fall, and did quite the number on her trailer.  She eventually moved to Indiana, lived near Indianapolis for about a year, and then moved to Michigan to be near me.  She was living in a place called Pilgrim Manor, assisted living but at zero level of car (basically independent.)  When COVID hit, she was confined to her room as were the other residents.  When a new resident was admitted, COVID positive, after the lockdown began, she wanted out - who could blame her?  She moved in with Steve and I, and will move back into her own place next week, in a senior retirement apartment community.

Scott is still in the Air Force, after Japan he was back to Korea for a year, this time at Osan AB.  Then came a move to Lakenheath, England, where he was reunited with Marty and they have lived off base in Beck Row.

Eric and Trina were married in June, 2017, and are doing well (but no grandbabies yet...)   Eric is a critical care nurse for Spectrum Health at Blodgett Hospital, and Trina is still working part time at Pine Rest while studying for her Medical College Admission Test retake (MCAT.)

Max is 11 now, slowing down some but still a lively and loved companion to us both.

Pink Arrow IX

Yesterday, I was privileged to be part of Pink Arrow 9, the Lowell community's annual event to raise funds to support those on a cancer journey.  My participation was via representing Gilda's Club as their mascot, Sparkle the Dog.  My first stop was at the high school gym for their pep rally.  Ali, a new Gilda's staff member, spoke about Gilda's Club and I just made an appearance.  Introduced by Tommy & Brook from Star-105.  That was pretty cool...   Nice to watch all the goings-on as the student body got fired up for the game.

After the pep rally, I headed down the road to Meijer for a break, then returned to the stadium.  Hadn't been to a high school football game for many years, and this one was definitely over the top, in a good way.  Most of Lowell's restaurants had booths there, and you could buy just about any kind of food you wanted to eat.  Price of admission was a Pink Arrow T-Shirt, all proceeds going to the Pink Arrow fund which helps those in the Lowell community that are on a cancer journey, by meeting some of their financial needs.  The Pink Arrow fund also is a major supporter of Gilda's Club in Lowell, hence our support of Pink Arrow in return.   After wandering around for a while, waiting for other Gilda's staff to arrive, decided to go back to my car and just change in the parking lot, so my costume bags could just go in the car.

I'd put on everything but the "head" when a staff member finally came by on a golf cart.  They picked me up (after I put the head on) and we headed for the Gilda's booth.  I spent the next three hours "Sparkling" which meant that I was giving high fives, fist bumps, hugs, posing for pictures, and just generally being an ambassador for Gilda's Club and Pink Arrow.  I had a Pink Arrow shirt on over the costume, so it got pretty warm in there!  It's lots of fun being a mascot, even if I did get warm.  And just the incredible experience of being at Pink Arrow - they have each football player and cheerleader play in honor or memory of someone on a cancer journey, and there is a walk around the track (which surrounds the football field) with the players and honorees.   The entire stadium is a sea of pink shirts.  Just incredible.   I left at halftime, three hours is the longest I've ever stayed in the costume without a break and I was done, even though I was having a great time.

Sunday, September 4 - our 36 hour day

We woke up at 5 am in Tokyo so that we could check out by 5:45, giving Scott time to go get his car and get us on the road to Zama by 6 am.  Woke to steady rain which we were glad wasn't happening the prior two days.  Got on the road by 6 am as planned, and arrived at Camp Zama by about 7:30.  Filled up the car with gas on base, use the bathroom, then picked up Marty at the kennel.  He was really excited to see Scott, less excited to go back into his box for the trip to Narita.

Got to Narita in good time, didn't have to go back into the concrete underground jungle.  Our first stop was the animal quarantine office.  More paperwork, another exam, and then Marty was cleared to leave the country.  Then on to the Asiana check in desk where there was more paperwork, and Scott paying 300 yen with the taxes for Marty to be added to my ticket as excess baggage.  Scott was ok with that because he'd been quoted 2000 yen to ship him unaccompanied.  Judging by the friendly reception he got from all the female gate agents oohing and aahing over him, he was treated well on his trip.

Then on to security for us and a farewell to Scott.  We won't see him again until he comes back to Michigan for Eric's wedding next June...I'm very thankful we got this chance to visit with him here in Japan.  Scott made it back to Misawa after a 7 hour drive and two five hour energy drinks.... I'm sure it's very quiet around his house now without all his house guests and especially without Marty.

We shopped a bit in the duty free shops after security.  Got to try lots of expensive samples but only ended up buying some hokkaido melon flavored kit-kats.  Had to keep them under the duty-free seal until we were home which was probably a good thing.  They tasted good...

Once on the plane, we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes.  Unsure of the delay, but we finally took off and had a pleasant flight to Incheon.  We were served a meal in a box along the way, not remembering exactly what it was.

Got to Incheon.  I had been debating whether or not to leave the terminal to go caching while we were on layover.  I think if I'd been by myself I would have.  But leaving Steve with all the luggage, and having him fall asleep...no.  Spent an uneventful layover there.  Had a nice conversation with a young Korean-American man and got to talk about Gilda's Club with him for a while, among other topics.  Bought a pretzel from the Auntie Anne's store, paid in US dollars and got change in Korean won...so have a bit of a souvenir.  Will probably pass them on to Scott when he gets back to Korea.

On to our 13 hour flight back to Chicago.  Long, uneventful, didn't get a whole lot of sleep but what I did get was thanks to the pillow, footrest, and eye mask.  Served a meal not too long after take off, chose the Korean option again which was Sisimbop this time.  This was beef bulgogi and rice, wrapped in lettuce leaves.  There was some sort of a bean paste that I was supposed to add as well but opted out of that.

After that it was pretty much lights out for the majority of the flight - literally - as the flight attendants made sure that all the shades were closed and the lights were dimmed, left enough so you could see to get to the bathroom, etc.  Slippers on the plane as well as toothbrushes and tiny tubes of toothpaste, little tubes of mouthwash, combs, were all available in the bathrooms (except for the slippers that were at our seats.)  I have a few new travel toothbrushes now...

Lights were turned back on over the Dakotas and we were served another meal.  Not sure whether you want to call it breakfast (if you based it on when we left) or dinner (by US standards) but it tasted good.  I chose the chicken and pasta this time as the second meal coming over had been fish and rice.  It was that again so glad I chose the chicken and pasta.  Not too long after that, we were landing in Chicago.

I had downloaded an app before leaving that was from customs and promised to cut the time in line.  Well, it didn't work out so we waited in a very long line to get through customs.  We sure wouldn't have made the connection to the flight to Grand Rapids!  This line literally went down three different hallways, took us about 45 minutes to get to the front then there were a few other lines before we actually saw a customs agent.  No questions for me but Steve was asked why he had been in Japan.

Finally we were allowed to enter the US officially, then on to baggage claim and Marty.  He survived the trip amazingly well, had not even messed in his box in almost 24 hours.  Once we had him, we had to go through one more stop to get him cleared.  The officer asked if he was in good health and up to date on shots.  We answered yes and he was cleared to enter.  Didn't even look at his papers.  So much easier than leaving Japan with him.

Finally - out into the waiting area.  Didn't see Eric and Trina right away, but saw the signs for the animal relief area so I was going to head that way while Steve looked for them and then joined us.  We caught up to Eric and Trina soon after so we all headed for the relief area together.  Got there and realized that the box was zip tied shut in about 4 places (had been done after we'd dropped him off, we didn't do it...) and a few minutes of confusion before I remembered that I had a small clippers in my luggage.  Soon had him out and he peed like a racehorse, imagine that!  Then off to where Eric had parked my car and we were headed home.

Stopped at an oasis along the tollway for a pit stop then back on the road.  With all the delays at the airport, it was 2:20 am Monday when we arrived home, 7 hours after we'd landed in Chicago.  Made for a very long day!

This has been a wonderful trip for me.  Got to see a new part of the world that has been a part of our oldest son's world for the last two years.  New culture, new experiences.

Steve was less than thrilled overall - seeing Scott was good for him, but he says he'll never leave the US again.  His choice.  We'll see.  Passports expire next year.

Now that I've rediscovered my blog, hope to be writing in it more often.  It was great to go back and read posts from years past.