Christie's Diary

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7-9 Effie went to WKZO to the throat specialist for her throat, to see if she needs an operation 

[I forgot to mention this in yesterday's post -- Grandma always wrote WKZO for the word Kalamazoo. I don't know if she just didn't know how to spell it, or maybe she just thought it was an abbreviation. (People do sometimes shorten it to "K'zoo") 

WKZO was a local TV channel based in Kalamazoo.]

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7-9-64 Bill started tarring* down building up to Graft Young's 7-8-64 

(* I assume she meant 'tearing')

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I don't know why Grandpa was tearing down a building, but it was probably to salvage the lumber and building materials. He built their house from the ground up -- the one they lived in while I was growing up, a few miles south of Bangor. I guess that's where my dad got his love for woodworking. He never built a whole house, but he did build some cupboards and things like that in the houses where we lived.

PHOTO: Red, Ricky, Dianne

This is the house Mom & Dad bought in Bangor in 1956. We lived there for 6 years. The room divider that we're standing in front of was built by Dad, to separate the living room from the dining room. 

This picture was taken in the living room, looking toward the dining room and the kitchen.

This picture was taken in the dining room, looking toward the living room. The bottom part of the room divider had doors that opened on this side and shelves inside which gave us a lot of storage space.

Christie's Diary

7-9 Went got Ethel Kime to visit us

Effie went to WKZO to the throat specialist for her throat, to see if she needs an operation

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PHOTO: Ethel Kime

Mrs. Kime was a friend of Grandma and Grandpa's. Her son, Russell, was a friend of Uncle Bernarde (my dad's older brother). In her old age she was nearly blind, so she didn't drive. That's why the diary entry says they went and got her.

PHOTO: Mom (Wathada) and Aunt Effie

Effie Wieland was Grandpa Thomas' sister.

Christie's Diary

1964

7-6 faun called me at 6 o'clock PM to see if we were going to Ohio

7-7 it rained this A.M.

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PHOTO: Bob & Faun McDonald, Bill & Christie Thomas

Faun was Grandma's cousin. She and her husband Bob lived in a big farmhouse a few miles outside of London, Ohio. 

 

(These pictures are from Google Earth)

Every summer Grandma and Grandpa made a trip to Ohio to visit Grandma's relatives, and they usually took me with them. We always stayed at Faun & Bob's house a few nights. I loved it there. Bob McDonald was a gentle giant of a man, very calm and soft-spoken, and it always fascinated me that he was actually a prison guard. Aunt Faun and I had the same birthday, and we exchanged birthday cards every year until she died in 2002. 

Christie's Diary

1964

7-6 Bernarde was over after dinner to have Dad help him fix a steps for raft

7-6 We had sort of a electric storm about noon rained some

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PHOTO: Lake of the Woods, Decatur, Michigan.

PHOTO: Bernarde & Eileen's house on the lake.

In 1964 Bernarde & Eileen lived across the street from the area that would later become a subdivision on the lake shore. They did own a lot on the lake where they built a new house in 1967. I don't have a picture of the old house where they were living in 1964 when this journal entry was written. The raft they built was anchored several yards off the shore in front of their lot. It would be just off the frame to the right in the photo of the lake above.

Christie's Diary

7-6-64 went to Benton Harbor in forenoon

7-5-64 had Madge & Leonard, John & Mable out for Sunday dinner on Bills birthday.

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Madge was Christie's sister. John was their brother.

PHOTO: Christie, John, Madge

PHOTO: Madge and Leonard

PHOTO: John and Mabel, 1950

PHOTO: Mabel, John, Christie, and Massie Treat (mother of Christie, John, and Madge)

This picture was taken in front of John & Mabel's house, I think.

This picture was taken on the front porch of Madge & Leonard's house in Bangor. This would have been about 1958. Madge & Leonard and John & Mabel all lived in Bangor when I was a small child. (We lived in Bangor, too.)

Christie's Diary

 

7-3-64 went to Bernardes to help him make a raft to have for the 4. had supper got home 10 mins to 11 oclock PM. Bill was feeding his pigs at 11pm. tempture got down to 62 at eleven oclock nice & comfortable to sleep

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Well, it happened again -- I found a picture I don't remember ever seeing before.

This is Grandpa Thomas with his pigs. He looks pretty young here -- must have been before I came along. Grandpa always raised pigs, and he sold some every year to have butchered, and used the money for a trip to Ohio every summer to visit Grandma's relatives. (I usually went with them.)

Christie's Diary

7-3-64 Bought me a table  model second handed singer electric sewing machine

Bernardes wanted us to come over there for the 4th, but are going to Mells I guess (went)

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PHOTO L-R: Me, Dad, Grandpa Thomas, Eileen, Kim, Ricky, Mick, Greg. 

(Actually, Grandma is in the picture, too. She was sitting back a little on the other side of Mick.) This picture was taken in 1958. It is the only picture I have that I know was taken in Bernarde and Eileen's old house in Decatur.

PHOTO L-R: Grandma, Grandpa, my brother John in front of Grandpa, Mom, Eileen, Bernarde.

 

This picture was taken Christmas Eve 1967. Bernarde and Eileen had just moved into their new house on Lake of the Woods in Decatur. (Their old house was near Lake of the Woods, too -- across the street from what would become the subdivision where they built their new house on the lake front.)

PHOTO L-R: Jean, Jerry, Alta, Mel, Bill, Christie (picture was probably taken by Roger)

This picture was taken at Mel and Alta's house in 1977. Mel was Grandpa's brother, Jerry was Mel and Alta's daughter, Roger was their son, Jean was his wife.

Happy Birthday, Rick

How it started... 

How it's going...

Christie's Diary

7-3-64 went to Benton Harbor to have them start Social Security Aug 1 -64. Bill retired July 2nd-64 2 days before his 65th birthday - 64 it's muggy & cloudy 7-3-64

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Grandpa Thomas worked for the Van Buren County Road Commission for 33 years. In the winter he ran a snowplow, and in the summer drove the tar truck. 

Here is what my brother Rick recently wrote:

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This picture of Grandpa and Grandma reminds me of a story I only halfway remember... 

Seems that after Grandpa retired, some of the family suggested that they should start spending winters in Florida. So they decided they would try it. If memory serves me, they went to Florida (where I believe this picture was taken), and after a couple of weeks they came back to Michigan, said they hated Florida. And that was the end of that. 

Christie's Diary

Welp, I spent all day yesterday trying to get the entries in Christie's Diary organized. Keep in mind that it's a huge ledger book, not a diary. There are only a few places, though, where they (either Grandma or Grandpa) recorded some business transactions. 

Most of the pages were blank. But then, sporadically, Grandma decided to use it as a diary. She made some entries in 1959, and then no more until 1964. Then again, briefly, in 1968. And then 1970, 1977, and 1978. 

As if that's not random enough, once I got all the dates verified, their distribution through the book is kind of nuts. The 1959 entries are on page 196 and 195 (in that order). The 1964 entries are on pages 190, 189, 188, 193, 187, and 184. On these, she helpfully (?) wrote the numbers 1,2,3,4,5, at the tops of the pages. Then in the middle of one page she wrote "over to page 4 - then back to this page / should have been here". 

At the top of that page there is an entry that seems to start in mid-sentence, and I couldn't find a previous entry leading up to it.

There is one page with entries from 1964 and 1977 on the same page.

The 1968 diary entries are on page 13. 

The 1970 entries are on page 15, 

1977 on page 22, also page 184

1978 on page 14

Now you see why it took me all day.