The year was nineteen hundred thirty six. The great depression and the drought on drouth was coming to an end. Did you know this word has two ways to spell it? Recovery was slow and times were hard. I was seventeen and if I had a dollar to spend, I was rich. In fact I was a fair skunk and gopher trapper. We sold the skunk hides and the county paid a nickel bounty on gopher scalps. This was my only income. Dad worked away from home and I did the farm work. In spite of the financial problems and the travel involved the whole family was together. The boys from the Hills, as we called them, came down with their wives. Julius and Stella had no children. Robert and Mildred brought their son, Jim. Irene and Frank Richards lived on a small farm nearby. They had one child, Nancy Jo Ann. Winnie came from Denver. She was still single. Wallace, my brother, and my sister, Rosa came from Colorado. He was employed on the Turkey Track Ranch located east of Fountain and Rosa kept house and went to high school. She received her diploma from the Squirrel Creek School in El Paso County. Vera was teaching at the Prairie Flower School, located six miles south of where we lived. I, of course was still at home. My younger sister, Lucille (Cille) and brother, Arthur were still going to the Tasco Grade School. There is a picture of that gathering floating around somewhere in the family. As I remember, it was a beautiful, shirt sleeve weather day. The picture referred to includes Mom and Dad and their ten children. Memory fails me, I cannot remember if the two grandchildren were included in the picture. The dog, I might add answered to the name of Buck. He and I claimed each other. We spent many days together herding cattle. He is the same dog who survived a snake bite by a rattler. It is proper to note at this time that my own grandson, Jay Rietcheck, who has a severe hearing loss, witnessed an incident on his folks' front lawn. One of the dogs received a snake bite but no harm came to him Gay). He was a very excited boy when he came running into the house to ask his mother to come look, I killed the rattler and with prompt action by the vet, the dog was good as ever the next day. The years, how quick they pass. A few months later Dad was gone, killed by asthma. It was probably made worse by living in the dust storms of the Dirty Thirties. Soon we will celebrate a holiday together with my family. I and my six children together with the thirteen grandchildren. But!! There will be an empty chair at the table. Mary, the grandmother, will not be physically present but I shall insist on an empty chair. She was always careful to include all thirteen as her grandchildren but just for the record only ten could she claim as blood descendants. You see, Melissa Bohr, Neal Draper and Nolan Draper are step children of my son, Sam and daughter, Susan Draper. This may have been a Thanksgiving day event. Memory is sometimes faulty after sixty years.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Dec. 1996 THE LAST CHRISTMAS OF THE FRANK MORGAN FAMILY
The year was nineteen hundred thirty six. The great depression and the drought on drouth was coming to an end. Did you know this word has two ways to spell it? Recovery was slow and times were hard. I was seventeen and if I had a dollar to spend, I was rich. In fact I was a fair skunk and gopher trapper. We sold the skunk hides and the county paid a nickel bounty on gopher scalps. This was my only income. Dad worked away from home and I did the farm work. In spite of the financial problems and the travel involved the whole family was together. The boys from the Hills, as we called them, came down with their wives. Julius and Stella had no children. Robert and Mildred brought their son, Jim. Irene and Frank Richards lived on a small farm nearby. They had one child, Nancy Jo Ann. Winnie came from Denver. She was still single. Wallace, my brother, and my sister, Rosa came from Colorado. He was employed on the Turkey Track Ranch located east of Fountain and Rosa kept house and went to high school. She received her diploma from the Squirrel Creek School in El Paso County. Vera was teaching at the Prairie Flower School, located six miles south of where we lived. I, of course was still at home. My younger sister, Lucille (Cille) and brother, Arthur were still going to the Tasco Grade School. There is a picture of that gathering floating around somewhere in the family. As I remember, it was a beautiful, shirt sleeve weather day. The picture referred to includes Mom and Dad and their ten children. Memory fails me, I cannot remember if the two grandchildren were included in the picture. The dog, I might add answered to the name of Buck. He and I claimed each other. We spent many days together herding cattle. He is the same dog who survived a snake bite by a rattler. It is proper to note at this time that my own grandson, Jay Rietcheck, who has a severe hearing loss, witnessed an incident on his folks' front lawn. One of the dogs received a snake bite but no harm came to him Gay). He was a very excited boy when he came running into the house to ask his mother to come look, I killed the rattler and with prompt action by the vet, the dog was good as ever the next day. The years, how quick they pass. A few months later Dad was gone, killed by asthma. It was probably made worse by living in the dust storms of the Dirty Thirties. Soon we will celebrate a holiday together with my family. I and my six children together with the thirteen grandchildren. But!! There will be an empty chair at the table. Mary, the grandmother, will not be physically present but I shall insist on an empty chair. She was always careful to include all thirteen as her grandchildren but just for the record only ten could she claim as blood descendants. You see, Melissa Bohr, Neal Draper and Nolan Draper are step children of my son, Sam and daughter, Susan Draper. This may have been a Thanksgiving day event. Memory is sometimes faulty after sixty years.
The year was nineteen hundred thirty six. The great depression and the drought on drouth was coming to an end. Did you know this word has two ways to spell it? Recovery was slow and times were hard. I was seventeen and if I had a dollar to spend, I was rich. In fact I was a fair skunk and gopher trapper. We sold the skunk hides and the county paid a nickel bounty on gopher scalps. This was my only income. Dad worked away from home and I did the farm work. In spite of the financial problems and the travel involved the whole family was together. The boys from the Hills, as we called them, came down with their wives. Julius and Stella had no children. Robert and Mildred brought their son, Jim. Irene and Frank Richards lived on a small farm nearby. They had one child, Nancy Jo Ann. Winnie came from Denver. She was still single. Wallace, my brother, and my sister, Rosa came from Colorado. He was employed on the Turkey Track Ranch located east of Fountain and Rosa kept house and went to high school. She received her diploma from the Squirrel Creek School in El Paso County. Vera was teaching at the Prairie Flower School, located six miles south of where we lived. I, of course was still at home. My younger sister, Lucille (Cille) and brother, Arthur were still going to the Tasco Grade School. There is a picture of that gathering floating around somewhere in the family. As I remember, it was a beautiful, shirt sleeve weather day. The picture referred to includes Mom and Dad and their ten children. Memory fails me, I cannot remember if the two grandchildren were included in the picture. The dog, I might add answered to the name of Buck. He and I claimed each other. We spent many days together herding cattle. He is the same dog who survived a snake bite by a rattler. It is proper to note at this time that my own grandson, Jay Rietcheck, who has a severe hearing loss, witnessed an incident on his folks' front lawn. One of the dogs received a snake bite but no harm came to him Gay). He was a very excited boy when he came running into the house to ask his mother to come look, I killed the rattler and with prompt action by the vet, the dog was good as ever the next day. The years, how quick they pass. A few months later Dad was gone, killed by asthma. It was probably made worse by living in the dust storms of the Dirty Thirties. Soon we will celebrate a holiday together with my family. I and my six children together with the thirteen grandchildren. But!! There will be an empty chair at the table. Mary, the grandmother, will not be physically present but I shall insist on an empty chair. She was always careful to include all thirteen as her grandchildren but just for the record only ten could she claim as blood descendants. You see, Melissa Bohr, Neal Draper and Nolan Draper are step children of my son, Sam and daughter, Susan Draper. This may have been a Thanksgiving day event. Memory is sometimes faulty after sixty years.
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