My Grandparents and Great Grandparents

The images in my mind of my great grandparents are like video visits to their homes. And to my great grandfather's office. I was a little girl, but I remember it was neat and clean, and my great grandmother's two story house in Farmer City, Illinois had this wrap around porch. In my mind, the kitchen and dining rooms were huge...full of glass and china, and she had a coo-coo clock. These images are mixed with photos of us spending Christmas there. Huge Christmas feasts.

My Mother's Mom's folks were also in Farmer City at a house across town. They had to all know each other.

Most of my memories are of the grandparents and their houses. My Mother's folks lived on the same farm all their lives. My Dad's folks lived near Rochester for a time when we also lived there. And then my Dad's father built their dream home in Farmer City. Wooden floors, a staircase with spare rooms upstairs where we got to stay...a house built with us in mind.

So, my siblings and I got to experience farm life and city life. With one grandmother, we went with her to the grocery store to buy chicken and vegetables. With the other grandma, we watched her raise her own chickens and vegetables. She only went to town to purchase what they could not make or grown, and she would cluck over the price of chicken in the store.

My grandpa even set aside an acre to grow popcorn. Every year. I did not dare tell the UPS man that the heavy box contained a twenty pound sack of popcorn kernels. We enjoyed popcorn from grandpa's farm