I have heard often that in order to know where you are going, you must first know where you came from.
I wonder if the person who first coined this phrase was perpetually lost?
Because I know a little of where I came from. Enough to pique my interest in family history and such, but outside of some goals, hopes and dreams the only place I know for sure I want to go is Heaven!
Throw back Thursdays have become popular on Facebook and I know that more than likely some of my readers shrink away from them for that very fact of their popularity. I happen to enjoy seeing pictures of school friends how I remember them, and vintage and retro pics of family members gone but not forgotten.
I had some very important people in my life and the fact is that very few are alive that knew them, remember their funny stories or recall what they did in life. I feel it's important to make sure future generations starting with my children know these special people and if that means that cyberspace becomes a method of preserving some of those facts and memories than so be it.
Meet Grandma and Grandpa Conover or to the world Herbert Lawrence Conover and JoAnn Hodson Conover.
As a little girl, I honestly thought this was the most beautiful wedding dress in the world. I loved the fifties shortness (meaning not floor length) of the dress and the neckline. Let's just say that I have spent many a you tube video on how to get my hair in that pin curl style my grandma is sporting to no avail and some honest, good natured embarrassment. My grandpa standing tall, handsome and accomplished. WWII veteran and college graduate (first one in family and only until I graduated!). It embodies vintage perfection in my mind.
My worry and concern comes from what I see during one of my favorite past times. I love to browse antique shops. One of the dime a dozen items is old photographs. They collect in old enamelware bowls and old sewing boxes and become part of the landscape of a vendor's booth. They have no identity and no purpose outside of scrapbooking, and people's moderate interest of days gone by. It would hurt a part of my soul for this above photo to end up in a miss mash of old photos and relics of no body knows who. It would be hard to know that these two extraordinary people were glanced at but not appreciated or remembered.
Herbert a.ka. "Herb" a.k.a "Gopher" spent most of his childhood years growing up in this building that at first glance appears picturesque and cozy:
This is the Highland County Children's Home in Hillsboro, Ohio. It apparently burned sometime in the 1960's or 70's and is no longer there.
My grandpa started out life as a baby with two parents in a home. But when my grandpa was just an infant his father was holding him on his lap one day and bent to put on his shoes. Grandpa's mom told him to put Herbert on the sofa or you could topple and fall and crush him. So my great grandfather did just that and in a twist of fate when he went to put his shoes on, he collapsed out of the chair onto the floor and immediately died. Apparently, or was thought from an aneurysm. Poor great grandma Conover was soon after in an asylum and apparently was never recovered enough to interact with her children much after. So this orphanage was where Herb grew up. He never talked about it much. He had some woman who maternally helped him in life and I am so glad because what I know of early 20th century orphanages made me upset to think he spent his childhood in one. Whatever happened in this house, made my grandfather, loving toward children to the point where spoiling was just a norm.
Fast forward a bit he enlisted during WWII and fought on the Pacific front, managed to be demoted in rank at one time (rascal he was), won a purple heart and survived! Even was able to see this while he was there:
Here is the rascal (as he would often call himself) in a battalion photo I found online. He was a Marine, through and through!
Fast forward again and my grandpa married my grandma and they had my daddy. My grandfather worked for the Air Force as a civilian and went to Viet Nam and Korea several times. He was made of tough stuff and myself and my sisters were his pride and joy. There is not a day that goes by that I do not miss this man and wish I had just maybe an hour more to ask the questions I never thought to ask as a child. But until I meet him again, I will remember him like this:
Grandma Conover has always fascinated me. I would stay up late with her and ask her questions about family history and old family stories. She greatly loved family heritage and history and I suppose she was able to pass that on to me. There were some things she did not discuss one was a mysterious love interest that was rumored to have passed away before she met my grandfather. But again this was just a story to me. The other is why she stopped flying. Yes! This pretty woman:
....at one time piloted her father's plane. Apparently was ready to go solo when friends of her's crashed and were badly injured and paralyzed. She never flew as a pilot again. The above picture has "JoAnn Hodson in Columbus" written on the back. I liked that because it had to have been taken before her marriage somewhere in Columbus, OH where I was living at the time I found the picture.
My grandmother was the first born child of my great grandparents, Wilbur and Cleda Hodson. Cleda had had a miscarriage the year before and my great grandma was pregnant with grandma in fall of the following year. It apparently was scary at one point. Listen to Cleda's words as she explains how my grandma almost didn't make it into the world.
"The next fall, Wilbur said, "it's going to frost tonight, so we better get the pumpkins out of the garden." He (Wilbur) told me to stay on the outside of the fence and he would hand them to me over the fence. He let one slip out of his hands and it hit me on the stomach. 'Oh', he said, 'now I've done it.' But December 14th JoAnn was born and she was the pride of the Hodsons." ~an excerpt from "Bits of Remembrance of Little Things in My Life" by Cleda Hodson
This woman (JoAnn) apparently was notorious for teasing and annoying her little brother. Once when they were getting ready to go somewhere one evening she would act like she was coming out of the bathroom from getting ready and as soon as her brother (Dale) would get up to go and dress she would dash back in. Finally, Dale tired of this and he grabbed her and promptly put her over his knee and spanked her. My great grandmother felt she deserved it and did not intervene! This story which I had not recalled for many years gave me a chuckle today and showed my grandmother's ornery side.
I do remember very clearly the love she showed me and the pride she had that I was her first grandchild.
I'm the cutie in the lap of the lady in the chair. That is my great, great grandma Murphy. I have been a very privileged little girl in that I have known and can remember a great, great grandmother, two great grandmothers and two grandmothers. What a blessing! I had two great and two grandfathers in my life and their memories as well.
Why do I feel compelled to put this on my blog? Because, even though as a child you are tempted to almost canonize into sainthood these grandparents, I would not be here without them. They inspired me, they challenged me, they at times angered me and through it all I have a clearer path for my future.
While I realize that this all may have been a bit deeper than your normal "Throw Back Thursday," don't you also have those saint like people in your life who you in your childlike innocence never imagined did anything ever wrong?
Keep their memory going......
I would love to hear about them! In the comments tell me about your special Throw Back Thursday person or persons! They are a part of your timeline and if you read this then I think you are special so share with me and together we can make sure none of our special people end up as decor in some antique lovers home!
Speaking of.....grandma Conover loved antiques.
