Today would have been Grammer Rose's 104th birthday, but she passed away a week ago, on May 30th. It was a sad ending to our Memorial Day Weekend, but she was blessed with a long, healthy life, and we were all blessed to have her in ours. Frances Converse Rose is Allen's great-grandmother, my children's great-great-grandma. I am so lucky to have gotten to know her for almost half my life, and I was super-lucky to have gotten to work on a project that we made for her 100th birthday.
Grammer Rose wrote an autobiography that she shared with family when we celebrated her 95th birthday. When she turned 100, we presented her with a hard-back book of an updated (to age 100) life-story, complete with photos. I enjoyed assembling this project since it meant I really got to know her perspective of life. Another project I worked on for the same birthday was a scrapbook of over 100 birthday greetings. They came from the U.S. President; the New Mexico governor; several friends; and family, ranging in ages from 6-month olds' scribbles (great-great-grandkids) to centenarian siblings-in-law. What I loved about working on the two books (I am the scrapbooker, after all) was that I got to know Grammer from her perspective and from everyone else's. Is there any better way to learn about someone?
As her passing happened Memorial Day weekend, I was already thinking over loved ones who have passed. When we said a dinner blessing Sunday evening, we prayed thanksgiving for the new life that has just started (our nephew, Beckham) just as we prayed for a peaceful passing for Grammer's tired body. My own grandmother passed away at about the time the triplets were born -- it's interesting that God seems to bring us sadness and joy at the same times, but as a way to remind us that life is a cycle.
Since I still enjoy reading Grammer's Life Story, I thought I'd share it on here. If you have some time, grab a cup of coffee or a glass of lemonade. Send the kids outside, and read a story that started more than a hundred years ago . . .
My father, Edward Converse, lived on a farm in Illinois not far from the farm on which my mother, Maude McCannon, lived. They met at what was called a Box Social, held at their country school house. Each girl would bring supper in a box, neatly wrapped, with her name enclosed. Each boy would choose a box and that girl was his partner for the evening. My father picked my mother’s box. Eventually they became engaged but did not marry right away as my father wanted to go to college. He was graduated from the University of Illinois and they were married in 1905.
My father had obtained his first teaching position in a high school in Elgin, Illinois. That first summer, after their first winter in Elgin, they went back to Illinois to visit my mother’s parents. I was born in their farm home in Kane County near Aurora, June 6, 1906. Then, after our second winter in Elgin, we went by train to Kansas to visit my father’s parents – Charles and Harriet Converse – who lived on a ranch near Eskridge. Here my brother Charles was born June 12, 1907.We lived in Elgin until I was 4 years old. My father had obtained a teaching position at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. I remember our moving – furniture on the porch ready to go – a go-cart in which I would push Charles. I cried to have the cart go with us, but mother said, “No.” Mother verified this years later.
I remember riding the streetcar the two miles from town to the University, getting off in a snow-shower, walking two blocks to the end of the street to our house, the last one on the block. The land is very flat here. During our years here the wheat fields extended for miles, north and east of us – a beautiful sight. We got several feet of snow each winter and my brother and I had great fun sliding down the snow banks on snow shovels. When the weather got to 3- degrees below zero of course we did not go out.
Until I was in the 7th grade children of the professors were taught in one of the University’s classrooms, all grades together. We had a classroom teacher but all the extras – painting, music, pottery – were taught by University teachers. I still have a little cup and saucer that I made in the first grade. In 1912 my sister Mildred was born. What a surprise to me, at age six!! We were still living in Grand Forks.
When Charles and I were ready for 7th grade we walked a mile to the city school. One winter morning as the teacher was watching the children come into the building she took me aside. I had frozen spots on my cheeks. She rubbed snow on the spots. That is what was done for frost bite in those days.
Each summer my father had a big garden, raising a lot of potatoes, corn and other vegetables. He allowed my brother and me to take out little wagon full of sweet corn and sell it up and down the street to our neighbors for 10-cents a dozen ears. Of course we got to keep the money. My father sold potatoes to the University cafeteria for one dollar a bushel.
After eight years of cold and snowy winters my folks decided to make a change. My father applied for a job at Kansas State University in Manhattan and was accepted by had to wait a year. My Converse grandparents owned a large home in Eskridge, Kansas, 13 miles from their ranch and it was arranged that we go there and live with them for that year. My father was superintendent of schools in Eskridge that year of 1918. We drove from Grand Forks to Eskridge, camping all the way.
This was the time of the First World War While we were living here my father’s youngest brother, Merle, came home from the service, all splendid in his army uniform. There was a lot of excitement in out household. The war was over. That was the highlight of our year in Eskridge.
In the summer of 1919 we moved to Manhattan, renting a house near the campus. That winter was the year of the terrible flu epidemic. My mother came down with it and it was worse for her as she was pregnant with my sister Bernice. My brother Charles had an ear infection and was in bed at the same time. The epidemic was so extensive that we could not get a nurse or help of any kind. So my father took me out of high school to help at home. My sister was born that fall of 1919.
About 1921 my folks bought a lovely old colonial home, built not long after the Civil War. It was on five acres near the campus with a cherry orchard in back. My father used to let the neighbors pick for 8 cents a pound. When built, the house had no bathroom. Later the back of one of the large bedrooms had been taken for one. And there was a back stairway that led to servants’ quarter. But, as my sister Mildred wrote in her autobiography, “We had no servants.”
High school days were fine. I had two miles to go to school so my father bought a bicycle for me. There were not school busses. I worked hard at my studies as I did not want to take the final exams at the end of each semester. It paid off as I was third in the 1923 graduating class 42 students. I have my commencement program stating that this was only the 9th graduating class for that school.
The one day of my life that I have been employed outside of my home was one Saturday at the Woolworths 5 &10 cent store. A friend of mine wanted to be off that day and asked me to take her place. I did not ask my parents as they were a little protective. It was great!! I liked working there. And I got $13.00 for that day in the pay envelope.
One summer evening a friend of mine suggested we go for a swim in the city’s outdoor pool. As we were playing around in the water she spied two young men leaning against the cable dividing the shallow from the deep. She suggested that we go back of them and push them off the cable. Bold? They were much surprised. We got to talking and found out that they were University students. They offered to “walk us home.” The one that walked with me was Herbert Rose. Some time after that he suggested we go for a walk and he would take some pictures. A year later he gave me a diamond ring.
Herbert helped to earn his way through college doing electrical work for the college. He received degrees in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. Upon graduation he signed a contract with Westinghouse Corporation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to work with them. My then I had completed two years of college work. Now, Herbert had to report to Pittsburgh but did not want to go without me. So we were married.
Friends of Herb’s, man and wife, were driving east about this time and offered to drive us to Pittsburgh. The highway across Missouri was not paved so the trip was not easy.
Our first home was a two room apartment on the 3rd floor of a nice brick home in Wilkensburg, a suburb. Rent -- $35.00 a month. Herb’s first wages were $97.00 a month as he was on a training course for nine months. Then he went on salary for $135.00.
After several months in Wilkensburg we had the opportunity to get a better apartment in Forest Hills, nearer to Herb’s work. Margaret was born in the McGee Hospital in Pittsburgh just before we moved.
We moved several times, all in the same neighborhood, to small homes that rented their second floors. One landlady wanted me to scrub the hall “in my turn.” Herb said, “No!” We moved. Another place had only one bathroom, on the second floor, for their family as well as us. That got to be too much so we moved. Another landlady found out that she did not like a baby upstairs. We moved. The local ice man moved us for $5.00.
In 1927 my father passed away with cancer at age 47. I took baby Margaret and went back to Manhattan to his funeral. My two sisters, Mildred and Bernice, were still at home. Charles was on his own. This left quite a responsibility for my mother at age 44. About a year later she married into the Converse family again – Ira Converse – and she and the girls moved to his home in Sandwich, Illinois.
Finally we bought our first home on what was called the Westinghouse Plan. We moved. Again, just before we moved, we had another baby – Gordon Converse Rose. While living here we experienced the Great Depression of 1929. Herb’s working days were reduced to three days a week but Westinghouse was kind and reduced our house payments to what we could afford. The ladies on the Plan were friendly. The taught me to play bridge and it has been one of my pastimes ever since.
In 1936 Westinghouse transferred Herb to their New York City offices. He went on ahead and I made all the arrangements to move. We rented a house in Leonia, New Jersey, at the west end of the George Washington Bridge. Herb would take a bus – 10 cents – across the bridge and then the subway – 5 cents – to the offices at 150 Broadway.
We attended the Methodist Church in Leonia and I became acquainted with some very nice ladies. The church had a gymnasium in the basement and a teacher for the game of badminton. I joined. And there was a group of ladies that invited me to play bridge. I joined.
We did not stay long in Leonia. Herb got interested in a place near Blackwell Mills, New Jersey, along the old Delaware Raritan Canal. Two of his Westinghouse friends each owned a beautiful old home along the canal. Our place consisted of an old barn, old store building and some other buildings about ready to fall down, and the house. The setup seemed to be a “wayside stop” for people traveling along the canal many years before. The house contained no modern conveniences. Herb began to modernize the house – central hearing, plumbing, and painting. Was a lot of work but he enjoyed it!
To get to the office Herb drove 8 miles to New Brunswick, took the train across the Hudson River and walked a couple of blocks to the office.We did not live in Blackwell Mills long either. Westinghouse transferred us back to Pittsburgh about 1941. We rented a house in Forest Hills, in about the same neighborhood we had lived before.
We thought that we were settled for awhile but about two years later Herb was leased by the Kellex Corporation to work on the Manhattan Project of the atomic bomb. This was during the Second World War and we had no idea how long he would be working in New York City so we did not move. Margaret was to start at Pennsylvania State University, and Gordon, junior high. However, we did visit him while he was living at the old Pennsylvania Hotel. He was there about a year and a half.
When Herb’s duties with the Kellex Corporation were over he returned to Pittsburgh but decided he wanted a change – a move to the west coast. Westinghouse found an opening for home in their Seattle office. This was still war time and everything was rationed but we managed to get enough gasoline coupons to drive to Seattle. It was a very nice trip. We stopped along the way to visit interesting placed. While in Yellowstone Park – August, 1, 1945, we heard that the bomb had been dropped on the mainland of Japan and that the war was over.
We bought a house in Ballard, a suburb of Seattle. Gordon started high school (football and track) and Marge entered Washington State University as a junior. I found a place to play badminton – the YMCA in Seattle. Eventually there were twelve of us women who played every Wednesday morning. After playing we went to a nice restaurant for lunch. Then the ladies decided that badminton was too strenuous and we took up golf. I really enjoyed that also.
In her senior year in college Marge met Ralph Vail. They were married in the late summer of 1947 in our Methodist Church. At the end of his four years at Washington State University Gordon was drafted into the Korean War. He was trained as a paratrooper but did not go overseas. He went back to Washington State University for one more year where he met Judith Davis. They were married that fall of 1954.
In the fall of 1953 we made plans to drive up to Alaska. Our friends the Crawfords, from our Pittsburgh days, went with us. We drove a Dodge station wagon and camped all the way – tent, sleeping bags, Coleman stove. Very little of the highway was paved at that time so there was dust and slow going at times. But the scenery was beautiful and we saw many wild animals. Marge and Ralph were living in Fairbanks at this time. Ralph’s company had sent him to Fairbanks as a supervising engineer to work on their utilities, the most important of which was the water system. They were putting in a system that would withstand the freezing winters. We went as far as Fairbanks and visited them. We took eight days driving up, enjoying every day, and six days back home.
We lived eleven years in Ballard and now I was ready for a change. We bought a 1 ¼ acre lot in Bellevue overlooking Lake Washington, and built our home. Eventually there were twenty-eight families in the development called Sibleywood. A tennis court and swimming pool were built on two large lots. Neighbors got together twice a year for clean up and repair. Herb was engineer on the job. Lunch was served at noon.
Highlights while we lived in Bellevue were the three hunting trips we took into British Columbia, Canada. Herb contacted the owner of the ranch who organized the hunts.
On our first trip in 1965 we invited our friends, the Crawfords, to go with us as Henry was a hunter, also. We owned a large Airstream trailer and we pulled that to live in for the three days it took to drive to the ranch. On this trip I did not hunt. Ruby and I stayed in the trailer near the ranch house. The hunt was successful for Herb; he got a moose, a caribou, and a nice goat. But Henry had a problem with his gun.
On the second trip in 1967 Herb and I went by ourselves. We pulled the trailer as before. At the ranch the pack horses were ready with tents and food. Herb and I each had a guide and there was a cook and a wrangler. Riding the horse was tough for me as I had never ridden before. Finally I asked the guide whether or not I could ride with one leg over the saddle horn. “Yes.” The problem was solved. A large tent was set up for the kitchen and one of the men. There was a cabin for us and one for the cook.
On the first day of hunting I stayed in camp and rested. Herb and guide rode out and Herb shot a caribou and saw a bear. One the second day Herb saw the bear again. On the third day he shot the bear. Early in the morning of the fifth day the guide called me from my cabin – there was a huge moose close by that had come down to the lake to drink. We walked quietly into the “bush” and I shot him. That same day Herb shot a moose. On the eighth day my guide and I rode out and hunted all day for caribou. Toward evening I show a caribou with a very nice rack. It was 8 o’clock before we got back to camp, the guide carrying the rack on the front of his saddle. On the ninth day the guide spotted a grizzly bear. He and Herb hunted for two days as Herb really wanted it. No luck. On the twelfth day we packed up and went home.
In 1968 Westinghouse Corp. sent Herb to the Philippines to oversee the installations of lathe drive that cuts fine sheets of wood for furniture called veneer. Ho took me with him. We went to one of the southern islands, very remote, where we lived in a “compound: surrounded by a high fence. Only the plant manager and the workmen lived here. The guest house was built up on posts, just a two story rectangular building, with guest quarters on the second floor over the kitchen. Chickens and a few pigs roamed under the building. Herb would go each morning to watch the workmen put together the lathe drive. By no means was I to walk anyplace by myself. One day I was asked to give a little talk to a class of school children who were studying English. Then I was escorted around the little town. It was interesting. The stores were very close together and each merchant lived above his store. We were in the Philippines about ten days.
We did not go right home from here. Herb had arranged an extensive tour to follow. Our first stop – Thailand was so different. There were many beautiful mosques, many priests in orange-colored robes roaming the streets. And, at one of the restaurants where we ate Herb remarked that the hostess was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. (From Herb??) Next, we made stops at Singapore; Jakarta; Perth, Australia; Sydney; Honolulu; and home.
One of our most fun times was duck hunting at Red Rock Lake in Montana with Judy and Gordon. It was one of Gordon’s favorite little spots. There were no city accommodations there, just an open parking space fenced in with barbed wire to keep the cattle out. However, there was a large outdoor cooking arrangement which was nice to sit next to in the evening when it was cold. And there was one good-sized camp table and an “outhouse” somewhat away, near the fence. Gordon had a trailer and we had one, which took care of sleeping and food. On one of the trips with Gordon and Judy, Herb’s brother Ben and his wife, Alice, were with us. Herb and Gordon owned their boats so each morning we would go out duck hunting, three in each boat. The lake was very shallow with lots of bunches or rushes here and there – good for ducks flying south and for hiding places for our boats. We got a lot of ducks but I doubt if I shot one – inexperience. Alice didn’t have a gun. At the end of the day we would hang our ducks on the fence and take pictures. One day, while in our boats, some wild geese flew over us. Each man shot one. How happy they were standing by the fence with geese and holding their guns, having their pictures taken.
Near our outdoor stove was a large pile of dirt (an ant hill?) and inside lived a skunk. He had an entrance facing our camp table and we knew he was in there. One day I though I would tease him so I put a piece of duck on a long string and placed it near his entrance. Well, he came out far enough to grab the meat then run back in, trailing the string. Then I gently pulled on the string bringing him to the entrance again, showing his face. He would run back in again, dragging the string, determined to have the meat. Gordon laughed and laughed over this. But it wasn’t so funny when Gordon’s dog got tangled up with the skunk one night and had to be washed.
About 1969 Gordon had the chance to buy a parcel of land along the Jefferson River in Montana where the fishing was good. He suggested that our families go together, buy the land, and build a cabin for vacations. This we did. We built a nice large log cabin with a large living room, a kitchen-dining room, two bedrooms, and a bunkroom for fishing gear. Herb, Gordon, and Gordon’s boys put the logs together, all to our specifications. It was fun fishing while floating down the river or fishing from the bank near the cabin. We loved sitting around a bonfire in the evenings. Through the years our families had many happy times here.
In October 1971, we made a third trip to the ranch. We invited Herb’s brother Ben to go with us. His wife Alice decided to stay home. On this hunt we hoped to see some Stone sheep. It was 40 miles in to camp, at the foot of the mountains. We rode to an overnight camp by truck then joined our pack train of 18 horses to ride horse-back for 8 more miles. Camp was set up. We had a little stove in our tent as the weather got below freezing most nights.
On the first day we rode out, glassing the mountains for sheep. On the way back to camp Ben shot a moose but had to leave it till morning as he had a two hour ride back to camp. On the second day Herb went out and glassed for sheep again. He saw sheep and other game and a wolverine. The third day Herb and the guide spotted sheep on the side of the mountain and there were sheep in shooting range. Herb shot one with nice horns. They had to wait till morning to bring it to camp as they had a three hour ride back to camp. (The animals are cut up on the spot.) On the fifth day, Ben got his sheep, Herb got the wolverine, and I got a moose. On the seventh day my guide and I went out for caribou. About noon as we were eating our sandwiches next to a little camp fire it began to snow and blow. We had to return to camp but there was no much snow there. On the 8th day Ben shot a caribou. On the 12th day we packed up our meat and trophies and left for home. I had written up there last two trips when I got home so I had the particulars.
Time passed. Before we realized it we had been married for 50 years. Gordon and Judy hosted a reception in their home and Marge and Ralph came from Santa Fe to co-host. It was a lovely party. Seventy-four people signed the guest book. Bernice brought our mother – aged 91, from Sandwich, Illinois. Charles and Kathleen came from Kansas City and Mildred and Paul from Ohio. On Herb’s side were four brothers, a sister, and three of their spouses. And there were several of our grandchildren of the Vail family.
In 1979 Herb retired – aged 79. He had always said that he was saving his money to travel. So for the next six years we did. Our first trip in the fall of 1979 was to South Africa on safari. Then in 1980 we went to South America; 1981 to China; 1982 to New Zealand, Australia, and New Guinea; 1983 to India, Nepal, and Bhutan; 1984 to Russia and Mongolia.
One of the highlights at the cabin was the family gathering for our 60th wedding anniversary. Gordon and Marge hosted this celebration also. Twenty-two relatives were there. On Herb’s side was five brothers, a sister, and their spouses. There were some from the 3rd generation also. We had a great time. Gordon conducted floats down the river. And we played horseshoes, choosing up sides and competing. And we loved the evenings around the bonfire, catching up on family events.
Five years later Herb’s 90th birthday and our 65th wedding anniversary were celebrated together at our home in Bellevue. Marge and Gordon planned the party. This time only our children and grandchildren were present, twenty-four in all.
In 1992 Herb’s heath began to fail and he had to go into a nursing home. He was there only a few months, however, before he passed away at age 93. Marge and Gordon came right away to help me. Herb wanted to be cremated and the urn placed in the Rose family plot in the cemetery in Kiowa, Kansas. This was done. Some day my urn will be placed beside Herb’s in the Kiowa cemetery.
Grandchildren? Yes. Marge and Ralph gave us four – Scott, Carrie, Shelley, and Robert; six great-grandchildren; three great-great grandchildren*. Gordon and Judy gave us four also – Douglas, Steven, Michael, and Dan, and seven great-grandchildren.
It was planned that I move to a retirement home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to be near Marge and Ralph. We had visited there many times in the past. So, in the fall of 1994, I came to Santa Fe and Ponce de Leon. I have been here almost twelve years at the present time – 2006. It has been just the right place for me – many friends, lots of activities, and the care of Marge and Ralph.
About the year 2003 Marge and I flew to Portland, across the Columbia River at Vancouver and Washington. Ralph’s Aunt Edith was to have her 100th birthday party. About 100 relatives and friends gathered in her church to celebrate. At age 100, Aunt Edith was active and taking care of herself.
On the 3rd day of September, 2004, my great-granddaughter Jennifer, was married to Josh Wisniowski. I flew to the wedding with Robert and Barbara to Fresno, California. As the wedding was at 5 o’clock in the evening we would fly one day and come back the next which is what we wanted to do. The wedding ceremony took place on the grounds of a lovely golf course. After the ceremony dinner was served in the clubhouse dining room. The meal was served buffet style, which accommodated the many invited guests. The next morning, arriving at the Fresno airport, we found out that our plane to Phoenix was three hours late. That made out plane out of Phoenix to Albuquerque three hours late. Then there was the one hour drive home. But it was a lovely wedding!
Gordon and Judy’s 50th wedding anniversary was September, 2004. Ralph, Marge, and I attended. We flew to Medford, Oregon, then we drove to Gold Hill. All of Judy and Gordon’s children and grandchildren had gathered the day before enjoying two days of togetherness. On the evening of the second day, Judy and Gordon’s friends were invited. The lovely cake was cut and served. It was a lovely party.
For the 2004 Thanksgiving Day Holiday, Shelley and Randy invited us to their new house in Texas. Ralph decided to drive the trip. It took exactly ten hours including a nice rest stop half way. There was no scenery in that part of New Mexico and Texas – just mile after mile of low desert plants. But I did not mind as I enjoy riding in a car. As I remember, Carrie and Jim were there (in Texas) and Caroline, Scott, and the twins were here (in New Mexico). The dinner was delicious and Shelly showed us through the new house and grounds.
*SARAH’S NOTES: In the last four years, five more great-grandchildren were born on Marge’s side of the family. Frances got to meet all but the last one who is just now one-month old. She was excited to get to see the sonogram pictures of little Beckham.
Grammer travelled to Texas again the summer of 2007 (when she was 101) so she could meet Ben, Maddie, and Jon. It was a mini-family reunion for Shelley's side of the family, and I am so glad all my little ones can at least say they've met Grammer! Five generations of our family are shown in the photo above. Grammer is seated in the middle holding Maddie. Seat on the left is Margaret (Allen's grandmother/Grammer's daughter) holding Ben, on the right is Shelley (Allen's mom/Margaret's daughter) holding Jon. Allen is next to his mom, and Will is the little guy peeking over the back of the couch.
