SUNDAY MORNING AT SANDY CHURCHLeaAnn dressed the family in black and white & I "Just Happened" to coordinate!
DOGWOOD ACRES, 05/26/08, ELANE CRUM
“Hello folks. I will just set down and visit you all on this fine summer like day.
With crops and gardens well on their way, we are looking to the good Lord to send us rain and sunshine to make them grow.
Everything looks so pretty and green, the trees have all leaved out so full of pretty leaves. We have almost forgot about the long cold winter days and bare trees, just seems like a new world.”
So, does that sound like me or not? That was the opening lines from Granny Nettie Bilyeu’s 1966 Pine Ridge news. Being Memorial Day, it just seems fitting to go back a few years.
As I mentioned last week she told us that Ricky Crum was leaving for the service. By the beginning of the next year, he was an infantryman in the 3rd/47th, 9th Infantry Division, wading the rice paddies of the Mekong Delta and chopping his way through the jungles of South Vietnam.
She spoke of several other young men from our community who were serving their country at that time. Richard Younge, son of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Younge was stationed at Ft. Rucker, AL.
Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Bilyeu’s son, Gary Bilyeu, was stationed in Germany.
Mr. and Mrs. George Morgan’s son, Donald, had just finished basic training at Ft. Sill, OK.
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Bilyeu had stopped in to chat for a while. Their son, Delbert, was stationed in Saigon.
As Rick and I visited cemeteries this weekend there were flags flying high in tribute to those who served our country. Going from Bull Creek to Swan Creek and Chadwick to Lone Star it was a long day. Perhaps seeming more so simply because of the emotions that pulled at us as we walked the rows of graves , read the names and remembered.
On our way home we stopped at the old house to see the progress there. Bill, Sean and Jim were busy tearing out the old floor and Dawn was setting in the shade with her leg propped up and an icepack on the injured foot.
Dawn has had a pretty rough week with the injured foot. I don't think anyone ever dreamed it could be so painful and inconvenient although it is getting better. Jimmie is such a sweet man, hates to see her in such pain and has waited on her literally hand and foot. They have had some help from good neighbors; Mike Stenger BBQ'D and brought dinner one evening and Friday evening they went down to Richard and Kelly Michaels for elk stew and cobbler. Jim called Saturday to tell me that Kelly had sent leftover stew home with them, but not enough to share so I just stayed home and ate hot dogs.
Good memories were made last week as granddaughters graduated from the eighth grade. Ashton Crum graduated with honors at Plainview. She was Co-Valedictorian with her best friend, Katie Pellham.
Christie’s granddaughter, Makaylee Tilley, graduated from Forsyth Jr. High. Ashton and Makaylee are both turning 14 this week and we are proud of the sweet young ladies they are.
We were at Bill and Mary Lou’s Sunday afternoon when storm clouds rolled in and the trees began to weave back and forth. It did not take long until Bill decided the basement was where we needed to be so down the stairs we went. Soon the wind settled down and we crawled out and went on to church. By the time we headed home, the sun was shining and it appeared there had not been much rain or wind in our neighborhood.
Much to our surprise though, the electricity was out and stayed that way until almost 11:00 p.m. I began lighting candles, Rick lit a kerosene lamp and we brought in the solar lights from outside. Our little TV had batteries in it so he was able to watch a movie while I used his hunting light to read the Sunday paper. Christie said Bill grilled steak and veggie-bobs before dark and they ate by candlelight on the back porch. We really did not have it bad at all, but were still glad when everything kicked back on.
Rick and I went to see Big Smith perform at Branson Landing Friday night and what a fun time it was. It was a little like a Bilyeu Reunion with a lot of neighbors and friends joining us.
There is another family concert coming up on June 12, 7:00 p.m. at Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Springfield. This one features Hosea Bilyeu and Big Smith who will back their Uncle Hosea for his CD release. Little Hosea and Big Smith is an album nine generations in the making and I am so looking forward to it!
…and…Granny Nettie said: “So long until another day”.
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