An Arkies Musings

                                           JE'SUS VEGA Je'sus mother died when he was born. He was mostly raised by Alicia and Anna (sisters). His stepmother was very young and had a baby just eleven months younger than Je'sus. His father died when he was twelve. He lived with Chinto and Juanita and their five children. A neighbor brought the Adventist message and about one half of the children accepted. He then stayed with Anna and family and went to academy in San Juan. The principle told him about Madison. Chinto helped him some, Alberto gave him an old suit and he arrived at Madison with three dollars. He could read English but couldn't speak it. That's all the help he ever got. He graduated with lab and x-ray credits. When he returned, I took the train from Oregon where Teresa, David and I had been staying with my parents.  We got to spend a lot of time with Vi...

My Grandpa Lawry loved to tell stories,and jokes.  He loved to sing songs and recite poetry.  He knew many poems that he could quote from memory including The Song of Hiawatha by Longfellow.  One of the poems that he would often recite was "And So Did I".  In my memory I can still hear him reciting the poem with a twinkle in his eye. And So Did I That long lank dude that sparks our Sue Was at our house last night And talk about having fun, Well I thought I'd die outright! Laugh, I am laughing yet, I only have to think and then I go into a fit! We went to supper and of course, We had a dandy spread. Sue trotted out the chocolate cake, And Ma her fancy bread. That long lank dude he stuffed himself With cake, preserves, and pie, Then drank sixteen cups of tea. And so did I! Most folks in love don't eat at all But Jim ain't one of such. He says that being in love made him eat Just twice as much. Up from his chair he staggered, You could alm...

G is for Gearheads.  This weekend Gearheads from all over came to Mena, Arkansas for the annual Wilhelmina Rod Run.  This years Rod Run marked the 38th anniversary. The Wilhelmina Rod Run is always well received by the local population and is looked forward to each year.  Although the Rod Run is held at Queen Wilhelmina State Park, many of the vehicles are displayed in Mena on Friday and Saturday night. These pictures were taken at the Friday night show held around the restored Mena Depot. Each year Daddy drives one of his cars to the Friday night show. This year he took his 1963 Chevrolet Impala. What a great show. I'm looking forward to the Wilhelmina Rod Run again next year. The  ABC Wednesday Meme  is a fun way to see some great blogs.

This story was written by Shannon Welch and posted on Ancestry .com My Great Great Grandpa Reeve died when my mom was 17, but I heard a lot about him from my mom. He was tall and very handsome, and he was married to Edith Lewis when they were both very young. She was a maid in a "RICH HOUSE" in Chicago, and he delivered milk there with a horse. Prior to that Grandpa Reeve's parents worked for the railroad and had a boarding house for railroad men. His mom used to make great noodles and pies--and a lot of them. When he was a kid, she made pies and put them on the pie safe for lunch and she never used to figure how she would have missing pies. The mystery was finally solved when she caught my Grandpa and his friends and cousins stealing pies from the pie safe and running into the woods with them! As an older man, Grandpa was a little grumpy with the boys. They used to borrow his dominoes and they'd tell him they lost his Double 6 and he would holler an...

F is for Folk Music. I have always loved folk music. As a young kid in the 60's I grew up listening to Peter, Paul and Mary, The Kingston Trio, Trini Lopez, Judy Collins, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and Arlo Guthrie. Some of the earliest records that I owned were by The Wedgwood who were a Christian folk group. I still love to listen to their music. It takes me back to my childhood. For those of you who have never heard The Wedgwood; here is the song, There's A Light, from their Country Church LP. For the last few years, my favorite folk music group has been 3 Penny Acre . Their name comes from the fact that the price of the Louisiana Purchase was three cents an acre. 3 Penny Acre is Bayard Blain, Bernice Hembree, and Bryan Hembree. They are all wonderful musicians, vocalists and songwriters. Their sound is acoustic, and has been labled as Folk, Bluegrass, Roots and Americana. I first heard 3 Penny Acre when they came to Mena, Arkansas and gave a concert at The ...

This is my article as published in the August 22, 2013 issue of The Mena Star You have probably heard the term Zion, but what does it mean?  The first time Zion is mentioned in the Bible is in 2 Sam. 5:6,7.  "When the king and his men went to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites who lived there, the Jebusites taunted David, saying, “You’ll never get in here! Even the blind and lame could keep you out!” For the Jebusites thought they were safe.  But David captured the fortress of Zion, which is now called the City of David." In the New Testament, Zion also refers to New Jerusalem. Heb. 12:22 says,  "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels." Zion starts out in the Bible referring to a particular rocky outcropping with a fortress on top of it protecting the city of Jerusalem.  It was later used to refer to the entire city of Jerusalem and then the entire nation of Judah....

In winter we got books from the library and Mom would read to us in the evening.  Daddy worked at the alfalfa mill. Mom and the boys raised lots of vegetables and we sold them door to door. Mom picked four hundred quarts of wild blackberries one summer; we canned some and sold some. We lived in a tiny two-room house and a screened in back porch. I had my cot there during the summer. That year we lived in the two rooms. Delbert, Bob, and I slept in one bed and Daddy and Mom in the other. I was in the eighth grade. Next year I went to Enterprise Academy with Vera and Viola. Grandpa Reeve built another room on the house. Daddy worked at the alfalfa mill. We couldn't get the 1933 Pontiac over those muddy roads so had to trade it for another Model A Ford. We didn't have a radio until Delbert bought them a battery operated one in the late forties. We got electricity just before I was married; in fact Je'sus Vega put in extra outlets for them. We had a pump and an outhouse ...