Memorial Day 2015

Because we remember.

Because we visit when we can. 

Because we need to learn their stories.

But because the stories are lost to time

we wear the reminder NOT to forget 

every day.

For our family's Army, Air Force, and Navy veterans,

lost in service

or bearing the scars for years to come.

Family Trees: So Many (Broken) Branches

This will be a series of family genealogy posts all circulating around an obituary... so, I'm warning you.

You can skip ahead if not interesting to you. But as the family library/archivist/documentarian, I'm going to post these, so they are SOMEWHERE for future generations.

You know how people always make a list of things they would do if they won the lottery?

A new car!

A new house!

Vacations!

Cruises!

College funds!

Endowments Funds!

But more realistically, debt reduction!

Yes, to all of the above, but I would LOVE to have the resources to employ a team from "Who Do You Think You Are?" to  track down the information on a particular line of my family tree. That of my Grandpa Jack.

Maternal Grandma Ollie did such a good job back-tracing her family lines, back in the day before the Internet. My paternal lines are starting to come together - thanks to unique family surnames.

But my mother's father's side of the family?

Well, therein lies the mystery - and really only three to four generations back.

Bear with me ...

This is Grandmary (on a beach!)

photo c. Grumpa, this summer, Oregon Coast

 This on the left is her father's headstone, Grandpa Jack aka Jasper, and

 (right) a picture of a picture of Grandpa Jack. I don't have an actual copy of a photo, and this is a lousy one at that. This original is in Grandmary's possession. There aren't that many photos of Grandpa Jack. This is 8 years before I came along. He's holding up some of his tobacco crop; he was a farmer. The "Agrico" logo on the matte is for a fertilizer company.

 
This is the headstone for my great-grandmother Mary Ann, Jack's mother.

Here's where things get interesting.

Grandpa Jack had a brother, Ira -- pronounced in Southern as "Ory." You try taking an oral history thinking you hear Ory and it's written IRA! Not at all confusing. And the nicknames --- a curse for future genealogists.

Grandpa Jack and Great-Uncle Ira had the same mother, Mary Ann, but different fathers. Half-siblings, yes, AND different surnames. Ira's family used Mary Ann's surname of Bass. So very "interesting......." Something is up there, no?!

Anyway ...

Uncle Ira had children, Grandmary's cousins.

This is a picture of Uncle Ira with his wife Flossie.

taken at Cousin Ida's house in NC, 2010

This is Grandmary on the left with her cousin Ida on the right, c. the North Carolina road-trip of 2010.

See a similarity? (Reminds me: I need glasses - like last decade.)

That genetic legacy is on two sides of a branch of the family tree, and traces down to me, to my brother J, and to his daughter Amber. We can trace it back to great-grandmother Mary Ann. We'd like to trace it further back, but the family history is murky. So many questions, like: Why weren't Ira and Jack raised together? Who were the fathers? Who were Mary Ann's people? What was the story? Must have been a doozy. It's not been told. Also, where is the rumor-family connection to a possible Southern Native American tribe? SOME people in the family can tan like you can't believe. Others of us -- so, so, so, pale to the point of ghost-like.

Sadly, the connections to the past are being lost to time.

We learned this summer that another North Carolina relative, Grandmary's cousin and Cousin Ida's sister, Pauline - aka Ms. Polly - also died in July.

I had only visited Ms. Polly a few times, but Grandma Ollie made a point to keep in contact with Grandpa Jack's side of the family once he passed, and Grandmary continued/continues to do so. I am glad I got to visit back in 2010 and see Ms. Polly for the last time. She was frail even then, and you could see the decline, but she still made an effort for our quick visit.

I had to shoot these surreptitiously.  You need to be discreet when on a proper Southern "rock and talk" with the older generation of relatives.

I much prefer this picture from her obit. That's really how I remember her from when I was much younger.

Obits - for genealogical purposes 

Pauline “Ms. Polly” Bass Gardner

 

Goldsboro Daily News (N.C.)

July 19, 2014

July 19, 94, Pikeville (N.C.)

Pauline “Ms. Polly” Bass Gardner, 94, passed away on Saturday, July 19, 2014 at Wayne Memorial Hospital surrounded by her loving family.

Pauline was born in Johnston County on January 19, 1920, to the late Ira and Flossie Mitchell Bass. She was married to the late Grover Gardner. Pauline was a member of Pleasant Grove Free Will Baptist Church. Although Pauline leaves a vacant place in our hearts, we know she truly earned her special place in heaven. Pauline will always be remembered as a loyal woman of faith, love and respect for everyone who touched her life.

Funeral services will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 20, 2014 in the chapel of Seymour Funeral Home with the Rev. Barry Stallings and Rev. Anderson Barnes officiating. Interment will be on Monday, July 21, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. in the Pikeville Cemetery.

Pauline is survived by her daughter Pat and husband Nick Sutton of Pikeville; sons, Jimmy Gardner and wife Joan of Pikeville, Kenneth Gardner and wife Mary of Pikeville; sisters, Helen Thorn of Goldsboro, and Ida Padgett of Goldsboro; seven grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.

In addition to her parents and her husband she was preceded in death by her sisters, Hilda McManus and Maebelle White and brothers, Ira D. Bass and Eurice Bass.

The family will receive friends following the service at Seymour Funeral Home and at other times at the home.

The family request memorials be made to Lancaster Bryan Sunday School Class, % Pleasant Grove FWB Church, P. O. Box 36, Pikeville, N. C. 27863

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.seymourfuneralhome.com

The Goldsboro News-Argus (N.C.)

Published in Obituaries on July 20, 2014 12:39 PM

Pauline Bass Gardner

Jan. 19, 1920-July 19, 2014

Pauline "Ms. Polly" Bass Gardner, 94, passed away on Saturday, July 19, 2014, at Wayne Memorial Hospital surrounded by her loving family.

Pauline was born in Johnston County on Jan. 19, 1920, to the late Ira and Flossie Mitchell Bass. She was married to the late Grover Gardner. Pauline was a member of Pleasant Grove Free Will Baptist Church.

Although Pauline leaves a vacant place in our hearts, we know she truly earned her special place in heaven. Pauline will always be remembered as a loyal woman of faith, love and respect for everyone who touched her life.
Funeral services will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday, July 20, 2014, in the chapel of Seymour Funeral Home, with the Rev. Barry Stallings and Rev. Anderson Barnes officiating. Interment will be on Monday, July 21, 2014 at 10 a.m. at the Pikeville Cemetery.

Pauline is survived by her daughter, Pat, and husband Nick Sutton of Pikeville; sons, Jimmy Gardner and wife, Joan, of Pikeville, Kenneth Gardner and wife, Mary, of Pikeville; sisters, Helen Thorn of Goldsboro and Ida Padgett of Goldsboro; seven grandchildren,10 great-grandchildren; and three great-great grandchildren.

In addition to her parents and her husband, she was preceded in death by her sisters, Hilda McManus and Maebelle White, and brothers, Ira D. Bass and Eurice Bass.

The family will receive friends following the service at Seymour Funeral Home and at other times at the home.
The family requests memorials be made to Lancaster Bryan Sunday School Class, Pleasant Grove FWB Church,
P. O. Box 36, Pikeville, N. C. 27863

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.seymourfuneralhome.com.
(Pd)

WEB-CAST VIDEO CLIPS

There was even a 36 minute recording made of the web-cast of Ms. Polly's funeral service/sermon. Now, that's a first! My Grandma Ollie would NOT know what to do about that.

For the link, please go to: http://webcast.funeralrecording.com/events/viewer/6234/hash:86115587E8FF0965

So much Southern twang, but some stories and preaching bring her to life beyond the words of a printed notice.

Obituaries contain a wealth of family history information. When you can, always include them - and all versions you can find. You may think it's redundant, but sometimes, a slight variation in an obit will have a clue that another version will not. 

40 Diamonds for 40: Valentine from Daddy

It is said that a girl's first true love is her father, so it's only appropriate that my first love's entry for this project be posted on Valentine's Day.

Despite the nasty face shown below, I know this is exactly where Grumpa diligently spent hours uploading photos and text for this project. He's been my rock for years, through adolescence angst, auto-mechanical adventures, and employment exhaustion, and by staying steadfast in navigating the rapids of sibling and mother/daughter relationships.

I love you Daddy.

In the beginning

The beginning came on a early morning in Logan, Utah, February 1972 with this little bundle arrived with lots of dark hair. (Something that has not changed over the past 40 years. She shares those locks where ever she visits for weeks after she departs.)

It was not until April 2, 1972 that this little girl received a proper name and father's blessing.

The picture was taken that afternoon.

If I remember right the name given had been selected even before she was a gleam in her mother’s eye; a name that goes way back into family history. A name, it was later to be discovered, was 100 years earlier given to another little girl. (AN: That little girl’s headstone still hasn’t been found, poor tyke. RIP 1872-1878).

A better addition to a family could never be found for a first child. Warm, willing to be held, and, in spite of the picture, nearly staved for lack of food for the first months of life. Good thing she has grown up with a desire to share her baking with others. Still loving and warm to all she meets.

Yep, that is my little girl. And always will be!!

Sunday morning before Christmas 1975

If I were not so sure this was my three-year-old, I would think we were in Idaho looking at Miss Amber.

This is at the Logan home with Grandma Roa’s bowling ball Santa looking over your day. Those bowling ball holiday items have been back and forth across the country as many times as you have.

My, how you did like to show off for the camera way back then. I wonder what brought on the desire to stay behind the camera lens? (AN: Adolescence)

Five snap shots in the year of 1976

And you didn’t think you got to travel when you were little. This is also a way to show three different generations of women in your life.

January 1976 just before bed time: Could this be Auntie Nettie with Miss Amber last year? No this is mommy Mary and her special, quiet little girl at a time when being close was good for both. (AN: Mommy Mary is probably keeping an eye out on teeny tiny baby Jed most likely just out of view.)

Great Grandma Cora (Grandpa June’s mother) in what I think is her Delta, Utah house. (I don’t believe that Grandma Cora was up in Ogden at Grandma Roa’s house but I may be wrong.) Interesting that a hair cut took place between Jan. and May. (AN: Probably because Grandmary couldn’t deal with the feet of long hair that I would shed all over the house. This was the first of the short hairstyles I now wear. Also, I'm pretty sure that's a stash of yarn by the chair. What do you know: My addiction to acrylic polybends is hereditary!)

May 1976 at the same location as above (maybe), but not the same day!: This is Grandma Roa (my mother) with you and your brother Jed. Seems you liked each other enough then to sit in the same lap, for at least two minutes.

Our Miss Liberty in the summer of 1976, on her way to a Primary activity for the 4th of July: I think that was the last time you were allowed to pound with sticks on a drum. This is in the back yard of the Logan home.

Why we were traveling in October of 1976 to North Carolina, I don’t remember, but there you are sitting with Grandma Ollie and Grandpa Jack in their living room on the Farm. Grandpa Jack was still getting use to the idea of having happy feet in the house. Grandma Ollie was o.k. with the idea though. (Someday we will share the tractor photo with the world.)

So as you see, travel and parties took up a lot of your time for that year. No wonder you like getting out of the City to explore other places.

Note: Some of those same quilts are in the back room here in Utah even now.

Three more photos to complete this part of your life in review

All children should be so excited to attend first grade as you were to go to the Logan City, Wilson School in 1978. That was back when they wanted to get children into school early and teach them lots.

The hair cut and style was one that really made for a pretty girl.

July 8, 1979 Grandma Ollie made a trip to Logan to see her sisters and the grandchildren.

Looks like she still liked having you sit in her lap.

Always looking for a photo op you were.

Just two years later (October 1981) you were in Willimantic, CT playing the piano, and, even though she is not in the picture, Grandma Ollie was in the side room listening to your musical talents. Many an hour you sat there in the “Piano Room” getting ready for the many programs you performed in, not to mention the other piano and organ playing you were asked to do for high school programs and church meetings. Here you are, not yet a ten-year-old and showing great promise in a field that you have never been far away from since. (AN: Grandma Ollie actually gave me that piano for a birthday and I played the heck out of it. Poor keyboard.)

As your dad this review of your first few years of life has been very rewarding. Too many events to share with the world, but a ton of love to feel from the journey.

I really hope you know how proud both your mother and I are of all you have done, are doing, and have the ability to do, as you move forward in a life waiting for you to find the fulfillment you are looking for.