Old Glory

A hush fell over the sanctuary where 300 gathered to memorialize Walter Gonska, someone I only briefly knew, a friend's father. Two Navy men in dress whites approached the front of the sanctuary with slow deliberate steps. Then the reverent unfolding with white gloved hands, and finally the display of those glorious stars and stripes, held precisely in place to the mournful sound of taps. In the stillness that followed all that could be heard was the quiet snap of fabric against fabric as it was once again returned to its triangular shape.

It seemed as if time stood still as I watched, captivated by the profound meaning of that solemn moment. And I considered, yet in vain, all that this grand flag signifies for our great nation. And in her honor the thousands upon thousands who fell on battlefields around the world for the sake of our freedom.

From where I sat several rows from the front I had a straight line of vision to see the face of the officer as he kneeled in front of Walter's surviving wife, Carole. Someone next to her had their arm around her shoulder. As I since have learned, what he conveyed to her was this official message: "On behalf of the President of the United States and the Chief of Naval Operations, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one's service to this Country and a grateful Navy."

O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Many mothers

I've been considering ideas for a Mother's Day blog all week and, out of no where the idea came to me tonight to honor my maternal heritage with these photos and names of grandmothers on my mother's side of the family. (I have photos of 4 grandmothers on my father's side but for the sake of space will save those for another post). I first went about the process of inserting all the photos and accompanying text first then began fishing for the introductory text. It wasn't until just a moment ago that it dawned on me, the idea for this post came to me when I was looking in the mirror. And what I see in the mirror is derived from genetic information passed down through all those generations.

Being able to associate names and even photos with so many of my grandparents (my family roots trace back 14 generations) is incredible enough but I also have more detailed information and stories about each one pictured here. Stories that make them come alive in my imagination. Stories that make me stand up straighter. Stories that compel me to live my life in such as way as to honor them.

I have even taken the time to list names of additional known grandmothers, just names but each name represents flesh and blood, joys, fears, hardships, beliefs, values and hope... hope against hope that their lives would count for something of great value beyond themselves.

My Mother
Elizabeth Ann (Hester) Phillips

Date of birth: September 20, 1923
Mother: Mary (Sullivan) Hester
Father: Webb Hester
Spouse: Vinton Phillips
Date of Marriage: July 15, 1946
Children: John Robert, Deborah Mary and Daniel Lee

Served in the armed forces in World War II. A woman devoted to her family, teaching her children the virtues of honesty, hard work and concern for others, while also finding joy in the simple pleasures of life.

My Mother's Mother

Mary (Sullivan) Hester

Born: September 26, 1891
Married: Webb Hester, December 23, 1915
Children: James, Finlay, Jane, Maybelle, Mary, Elizabeth, Robert
Died: January 27, 1931 at the age of forty years
Parents: Margaret Curtin and James Sullivan

A nurse by profession, a devoted wife and mother who left us too soon.

My Mother's Paternal Grandmother
Mabelle Lorena (Webb) Hester (with son, Webb Hester)

Date of birth: November 27, 1867 in Canton, Connecticut
Mother: Francis Hannah (Holmes) Webb
Father: Reverend Loren Webb
Spouse: Finlay Hester
Married: November 22, 1892
Children: Webb and Loren
Date of death: December 26, 1940 at the age of seventy-three years
Place of death: Huron County, Ohio

My Great-Great Grandmother

Mary (Finlay) Hester
Born: October 2, 1824 in Ireland

Married: Martin Mason Hester, May 21, 1850
Children: William J.., Catharine Eliza, Finlay

Died: July 5, 1906 at the age of eighty-two years
Parents: Margaret Beatty and John Finlay
A “helper indeed” for her husband of fifty-five years, and an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for sixty-eight years.

My Great Great Grandmother

Frances Hannah Holmes Webb
Born 1842, Danbury, Connecticut

Married: Loren Webb December 12, 1866
Children: Mabelle Lorena Webb and Clara Laurilla and unnamed son who lived only a few hours
Died: October 21, 1877
Parents: Mary E. Taylor and Steven Holmes





My Great Great Great Grandmother
Mary (Stough) Hester
Date of birth: February 15, 1789 in the Glades of West Virginia
Married: Martin Hester, November 30, 1809
Children: John, Eliza, Samuel, Matthias and Martin Mason Parents: Elizabeth (Hogmire) Stough and Reverend John Stough
Died: June 15, 1863 at the age of seventy four years, in Huron County, Ohio

“A pioneer woman, having commenced life in unbroken forest seven times.”


Additional Grandmothers in the Webb branch

• Mary E. Taylor, wife of Steven Holmes, parents of Frances Hannah Holmes (pictured above)
• Louisa Ellis, wife of Oliver Webb, parents of Loren Webb
• Lydia Parmalee, wife of David Webb, parents of Oliver Webb
• Deborah Palmer, wife of Darius Webb, parents of David Webb
• Ruth Crane, wife of Ebenezer Webb, parents of Darius Webb
• Hannah Ripley, wife of Samuel Webb (II), parents of Ebenezer Webb
• Mary Adams, wife of Samuel Webb (I), parents of Samuel Webb
• Hanna Scott, wife of Christopher Webb (II), parents of Samuel Webb
• Humility Wheaton, wife of Christopher Webb (I), parents of Christopher Webb
• Hannah Bradford, wife of Joshua Ripley, parents of Hannah Ripley
• Alice Richards, wife of William Bradford (II), parents of Hannah Bradford
• Allice Carpenter, wife of William Bradford (I), parents of William Bradford
• Welthian Loring, wife of Thomas Richards, parents of Alice Richards
• Elizabeth Hobart-Hubbard, wife of John Ripley, parents of Joshua Ripley

Additional Grandmothers in the Hester branch

• Mary Finlay, wife of Martin Mason Hester, parents of Finlay Hester
• Margaret Beattty, wife of John Finlay, parents of Mary Finlay (pictured above)
• Elizabeth Hogmire, wife of John Stough, parents of Mary Stough (pictured above)
• Charlotte Kessler, wife of Godfrey Stough, parents of John Stough
• Elizabeth Mason, wife of John Hester, Sr., parents of Martin Hester
• Christina Waite, wife of Martin Mason, parents of Elizabeth Mason
• Mary Margaret, wife of John Lawrence Hester, parents of John Hester, Sr.

May all who come behind us find us faithful.

Preserving the past, investing in the future

This week I have touched down in the world of professional archivists, people who preserve historical documents and artifacts for posterity. They work for museums, libraries and large organizations like universities and the national offices of church denominations. With thanks to my cousin Jon who is doing work for the National Archives I located this group's web site and signed up for their online discussion forum. I was looking for an efficient route towards developing some basic archival policies and procedures for The City Mission where I work.

One of my many roles at the Mission is to assist our contracted historian who is compiling a small book about our 100 years of service to Cleveland. (I locate documents and bits of information she needs to piece the puzzle together). Our organization has sent several boxes of materials to the Western Reserve Historical Society archives which we can rest assured are safely preserved. In the meantime, we continue to amass materials that will need to be archived in the future but we could benefit from having some guidelines in place now that will assure that important materials don't get lost or misplaced or mishandled in the shuffle of daily life in a busy organization. I posted a query on the discussion forum of the archivists late Friday afternoon and by Monday morning I had several helpful responses in my in-box, from archivists at places like Wheaton College, Dallas Theological Seminary and the national offices of the United Church of Christ which happens to be in Cleveland. I have a lunch date with someone who has offered to share some materials and pointers with me.

Meanwhile I have remained on their discussion forum so I get to hear their exchange of queries and answers. Most of them aren't of direct interest to me but this week someone decided to do an informal survey of the most unusual or strange items that had been donated to their institution. One person replied simply, "eye balls, with green irises and blue irises..." and that's all she wrote. Quickly others replied, were they real eye balls? Were they floating in liquid? She kept everyone in suspense awhile and finally replied they were glass eyeballs, marbles, from a collection of an optometrist. One person found in the basement of a university professor who had been at the Nuremberg trials, a brand new German pistol, still in the box with a swastika in it. It makes me curious as to what other interesting items might be tucked away in basements or attics around town. I guess the archivists all enjoyed the discussion as a diversion from their days filled primarily with handling important historical documents.

Thinking about all those folks who spend their days preserving the past, I was disappointed to hear this morning of a dismal future forecasted for Parma schools after having had a levy turned down for the third time in a row and by a very wide margin. The school system already has made significant cuts valued at millions of dollars. Meanwhile many other school levies in northeast Ohio passed. The new levy would have amounted to increased taxes of $168 a year (just $14 a month) for every $100,000 of property value. I wonder what we will sacrifice in the long run by not investing now in our greatest resource for the future, our children. As they say, you pay now or pay later and usually the "pay later" ends up being more costly.

Media hype

I read an article today about the decline in sales tax revenue which nationally fell about 6% in the last quarter of 2008. In Ohio sales tax revenue was down .7% compared to 2007, but adjusted for inflation that figures out to be about 4%.

Newsprint journalists write in the "inverted pyramid" format with the most important information in the first sentence or two with each sentence thereafter of decreasing importance. Presumably that's because most readers don't have the attention span or time to read the whole article. In the first sentence of this article the writer described consumer spending as "screeching to a halt." And in the same sentence the claim is made that governments are watching a major revenue source "dry up."

While there is cause for concern in declining sales tax revenue, the terms are exaggerated and perhaps intended to elicit response that keeps readers coming back for more. Then again, a lot of journalists are losing their jobs these days to the declining market for print media so maybe they themselves are writing out of fear. So much for objective journalism.

I'm thinking of the last few businesses where I shopped and it would be difficult to confirm a recession by the number of cars in the lot. On the upside of declining sales revenue, maybe that means people are saving more of their earnings, and getting better at living within their budget. That's a good thing.

Then there's the issue of swine flu. The U.S. Center for Disease Control reports that every year 36,000 people die from "flu-related causes." When was the last time you heard the annual flu season described as an "epidemic," but that's how this swine flu outbreak is being described. So far I have not heard of one death in the U.S. But just about every news web page has a photo of people wearing masks.

If you know where to look you can find a sane approach to this issue in learning to take better care of ourselves, specifically in supporting the incredible immune system that we come ready-made with. That's a subject for another time.

No child left inside

Never in my growing up years could I have imagined that it would literally take an act of Congress to get kids to re-connect with the natural world in a meaningful way. The legislation was introduced Apr 22 (Earth Day) by Senator Jack Reed and Congressman John Sarbanes. It's called the No Child Left Inside Act of 2009. The goal is to ensure that students have a "high quality" environmental education.

How about this for a summer lesson plan: unplug the TV, join the library's summer reading club, check out a book or two on something pertaining to the natural world, plunk down under the apple tree in the back yard, feel the cool ground and the ants crawling over your legs as you read. Keep checking out books at least until you've completed the required number of books for the reading program. Make sure to get a sticker to adhere to your certificate for each book you've read. (I distinctly remember one summer, each sticker I got was another segment of a caterpillar.)

Here's another: provided you've finished the school year with passing grades pitch a tent in the backyard and lay out there every night with a friend or sibling and after you're done telling stories to one another, listen to the crickets chirping, watch the magic of lightning bugs, and look up at the expanse of stars above, and wonder.

Here's another: help your Mom and Dad and grandparents with gardening and lawn care, and the "putting up" of vegetables and fruit for the winter. Enjoy the fruits of your labors. I remember visits to my Grandparents' farm with a garden alongside the house that extended from the road to the back of the house. Dinner consisted of corn and tomatoes and raspberries picked less than an hour before with a side of homemade biscuits (and raspberry jam) and topped off with fresh pie.

Here's another: Find some adoptive grandparents who have a farm and spend a week getting a glimpse of what life on a farm can be like. At Grandma and Grandpa Phillips' farm I remember drinking fresh milk, feeding the chickens, gathering eggs and walking through the troughs of a freshly plowed field to take a bottle of cold water to my Grandpa, with Brownie dog alongside.

Here's another: Go to the county fair every fall and make sure to visit the swine and cow barns then check out the prize-winning produce and flowers in the 4-H barn.

Here's another: Family trips every summer (some in a pop-up camper) to places like the Smokey Mountains, Mammoth Cave, Niagara Falls and the Wisconsin Dells.

Here's another: Figure out a way to go to "camp" every summer for at least one week. (I was at camp usually two weeks every summer for Girl Scouts, 4-H or church. I distinctly remember one week of primitive camping with the Girls Scouts, constructing our own latrine and lean-toos.)

Then there was the week-long canoe trip venture with the Girl Scouts my final year in high school. It took three of those days to traverse 90 miles of the AuSable River, bringing all our food and supplies with us in the canoes. We floated down the river for hours without seeing signs of humans (and especially no litter).

Here's one I don't recommend but it was a lesson: Get lost in a large national forest in the twilight hours and find your way out (Yes I did, I was high school age and had with me my younger brother).

It's no wonder then, that I took the "long way" to visit friends in North Carolina, traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway and then returned via the Shenandoah National Park byway. It's no wonder then, that on my way back from a car trip to Maine I bypassed the highway for a scenic excursion through the White Mountains in Vermont and New Hampshire (in October). It's no wonder that this past Saturday I took the Parkway route to get to a destination.

If nothing else, check out the book, Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv:
http://www.childrenandnature.org/book/

And most of all don't ever get too old or too cynical too experience wonder.

As I go on in life, day by day,
I become more of a bewildered child;
I cannot get used to this world....
I could wish my days
to be bound each to each
by the same open-mouthed wonder.
-Robert Louis Stevenson

America, The Beautiful
O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
- lyrics by Katherine Lee Bates

What am I doing?! It's time to sign off and go outside to play!

earth - the movie

Go see the movie at the theatre if at all possible. The breathtaking photography and amazing sound recordings are best on the big screen with surround sound. It will most certainly deepen your appreciation and admiration for the rich diversity, complexity and creativity of the only known planet to sustain life as we know it.

The tilt of the earth on its axis at 23 1/2 degrees is what results in our seasons and sets into motion billions of migrating creatures in search of water, food and suitable climates for raising their young. Three animal families play lead roles in the film, accompanied by 39 other species. Filming took place at over 200 locations and 64 countries, under the daring and dedicated work of 60 expert photographers.

Some of the most memorable scenes for me...

• the first "flight" of mandarin ducklings from the nest 30 feet up in a tree. Called by their mother from the ground below none of them hesitate to plunge into air. They land and sometimes bounce off the ground unhurt and immediately head for the nearest feeding ground
• traffic jam on the high seas, hundreds of dolphins in what appear to be synchronized leaps from the water
• a one-ton great-white shark hoisting its entire body into the air, teeth gleaming, clamped on a dolphin
• a pride of 30 hungry lions closing in on a herd of elephants at night (filmed with infrared film), the adult elephants forming a protective circle around their young, and the sound of the lions' roar all around.

Go to http://disney.go.com/disneynature/earth/ for lots of cool photos, footage and fascinating details.

Earth Day 2009

For Earth Day 2009, some things to consider:

How many trees are killed each year for junk mail?
http://privacycouncil.org/how-many-trees-does-your-junk-mail-kill/

To get your name off direct mail lists:
http://www.directmail.com/directory/mail_preference/

As a follow up to my previous post about litter (America's dirty laundry):
In 2008 Ohio road crews collected 7 million pounds (350,000 bags) of trash at a cost of $3.6 million:
http://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D12/Deputy%20Director/News/Pages/ODOTandRecordNumberofVolunteerspartnertopickuplitter“ClearAcrossOhio”.aspx

Here are some fun interactives about earth, provided by National Geographic:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/earth-the-biography#tab-interactive