Elizabeth’s Journal

Kansas Trip was Wonderful

Jonathan and I had a glorious time in Kansas. He recovered overnight from his illness the night before our departure and we had a great time on the airplanes (had to switch in DFW). He was most pleased to arrive at the farm (and to ride in his Boppa’s truck) and recognizes now when we are getting close. There was a combine harvester that Butch had on Mom and Dad’s property, and Jonathan was pretty fascinated with that. I think Daddy even got him up in the cab of it one time when they were out riding around on the Gator.

I managed to catch Jonathan’s tummy bug, unfortunately. It exploded in me two days after he had it, so I spent my second day at the farm alternately in the bathroom and lying in bed wondering if it was ever going to stop—I got it about 10 times as severe as he did. Mom even got me coke syrup from a soda fountain in Atchison (primary ingredient: high fructose corn syrup). In the evening I ran a low-grade fever, but in the morning I was okay. It was very, very nice indeed to be sick at one’s parents’ house and be taken care of and also not to have to worry about my little fella.

The first weekend was quite busy with everyone arriving for the memorial service for Grama Sprong (otherwise known as Elene Ensign Sprong). Dale came in Thursday afternoon, and my cousins Carol & Bill, along with Carol’s oldest son Trevor, arrived in the early evening. I hadn’t seen Bill since I was in third grade (about 9 years old), and it was good to see him again. He has a nice smile. On Friday Margaret and Tim arrived after some flying travails and miscommunications of their own, and the house was full.

The memorial service went off without a hitch. On the previous Wednesday, Mom and I had gone up to the funeral home and put a whole bunch of pictures of Grama (going from age 3 to 95) as well as an ancestor and descendant chart on bulletin boards that stood on easels. We also displayed the beautiful tree of life quilt that she made for me, which now graces my guest bed (or will when I upack it). There were about 15 people there, and Mom spoke a bit (choked up at the beginning, much to her surprise), then the minister, then I did. A little choked up myself at points.

After that we went to the cemetery where Carol, Bill, and I planted mums around the headstone. Luckily the three of us had gone up there the day before to neaten it up (Grandpa just barely made it in there in time—he arrived there Wednesday morning from Houston, and the grave certainly looked fresh, much to our surprise when we checked on it Wednesday afternoon). We raked a bunch of the dirt up that had been off to the side, and Bill did a good job of centering it a bit more on the stone. We also discovered that the ground was harder than it looked and went ahead and used the shovel to dig the holes for the mums ahead of time; otherwise we’d have been there for half an hour trying to do it with little hand trowels.

After the mum planting, we all trooped down the road to the farm for a great luncheon prepared by Mom. Appetizers and drinks were set up in the old house, and many of the attendees enjoyed being in the house as they remembered it from their childhoods, and I think they all quite enjoyed seeing how nicely Mom has fixed it up.

After it was all over late that afternoon, we were all kind of partied out. And eaten out, since we’d been eating quite well ever since Thursday evening. I believe we all had popcorn for dinner, with the exception of Trevor and Jonathan, who had macaroni & cheese. I even watched an episode of Monster House—I didn’t have much more brain function than that.

Sunday everyone was gone by lunchtime, and you can guess when the rest of us did. Daddy slept through phone calls in his chair downstairs in front of the television, Mom went out to the little old house to sleep and was out there nearly three hours, and I slept upstairs while Jonathan cuddled up to me and watched television. Thank heavens for the kids channels on satellite!

Monday Daddy and I visited the Mid-Continent Library again (went there in June as well). Got some more documentation, nothing earthshattering—did find one very nice obituary about my great-great-great-grandfather of whom I had previously known only his last name. His full name was John Jeffrey; his daughter Sarah Jane married Charles John McCullough, and their son John Jeffrey McCullough was Kitty Lou’s father.

John Jeffrey was apparently born in Brooke County, West Virginia, on 8 Oct 1812. He was a tinner by trade but was entirely a self-made man as his father died at an early age and he was the sole support for his mother and seven siblings; this deprived him of the opportunity for formal education. On 19 Nov 1834 he married Jane Weaver (in Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, I think). He served as a Justice of the Peace for ten years, and the obit says that “his love for peace made it possible for all difficulties to be settled without the aid of law”—I’m not sure I fully understand that statement (I thought a JP and the law were on the same side??), but it certainly offers opportunities for further research into records from that time. He was “in his eighty-second year” when he died from pleuro-pneumonia, and was ill only five days before he died.

Wednesday Mom & I took Jonathan back to Science City at Union Station in Kansas City, and he had an absolute ball (Mom wrote about it already in her blog). We were there a little more than two hours, and we didn’t even come close to running out of things that he wanted to do. Then we ate at a quite nice restaurant in Union Station (Pierpont’s) and headed back to the farm.

The trip home last Friday afternoon also went without a hitch except for when Jonathan spilled apple juice all over his shirt about 20 minutes off the ground from Kansas City. In an inspired fit of maternal improvisation, I took his shirt off and dried it on the air vents in the ceiling. Worked great!

Posted by elizabeth at October 15, 2003 11:59 AM