Exploring the Past to Improve the Future
Week 50: #52 Ancestors – Tradition By Eilene Lyon I can’t think of too many traditions that have survived down to my generation, but one of them is age-old and nearly universal: marriage. When I look back through my ancestry, I find a surprising number of winter weddings. I think people were always looking for... Continue Reading →
By Eilene Lyon The Slide Years is a series in which I select an image my dad took from 1957-1982 with Kodachrome slide film, then I write a stream-of-consciousness essay – a sort of mini-memoir. The year is 1967 and we’re celebrating Christmas at my Smith grandparents’ home in Little Rock, Arkansas, the city I’d... Continue Reading →
By Eilene Lyon -- December 10, 2019 On this date 168 years ago, Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey (later shortened to Melvil Dewey) was born in Adams Center, New York, to Joel and Eliza (Greene) Dewey. He is credited with inventing the book-cataloging system that bears his name: the Dewey Decimal System. There’s a bit more... Continue Reading →
Week 49: #52 Ancestors – Craft By Eilene Lyon My maternal grandfather, Laurence M. Smith, was a crafty man in more than one way. He loved to play practical jokes. He used his wit in a cunning, sneaky way. But he also like to make things, especially in his retirement years. It isn’t surprising that... Continue Reading →
By Eilene Lyon The Slide Years is a series in which I select an image my dad took from 1957-1982 with Kodachrome slide film, then I write a stream-of-consciousness essay – a sort of mini-memoir. When we were living in Guatemala in the 1970s, we would sometimes head to the coast for a vacation. The... Continue Reading →
By Eilene Lyon -- November 12, 2019 On this date 55 years ago, drag racer Paula Murphy broke her own land speed record at Bonneville Salt Flats, with a two-run average speed of 227.36 miles per hour, to become “the fastest woman on wheels.” The previous year, 1963, she hit over 160 mph in a... Continue Reading →
Week 45: #52 Ancestors – Rich Man By Eilene Lyon This really isn’t about a rich man, or even a poor one, or actually, even about a man, though it starts out with one. Robert J. Halse was born in Highland Township, Winneshiek County, Iowa, in 1860.1 Along with most of his family, he relocated... Continue Reading →
By Eilene Lyon The Slide Years is a series in which I select an image my dad took from 1957-1982 with Kodachrome slide film, then I write a stream-of-consciousness essay – a sort of mini-memoir. The French must have had a little influence on Mom's style during the time we lived there in the early... Continue Reading →
Week 37: #52 Ancestors – Mistake By Eilene Lyon Thomas Harvey Ransom, the only son of Dr. William C. Ransom to reach adulthood, emulated his father quite readily. Unfortunately, W. C. Ransom was not a good role model. Harvey (as he was known) took the mimicry a step too far, and it cost him dearly.... Continue Reading →
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