An Arkies Musings

This story of my Grandmother was written by my Uncle Lloyd Lawry and included in a collection of family stories and writings that he put together.  I was blessed to have been given a copy of his collection MEMORIES OF HAZEL by Lloyd Lawry My relationship with Hazel got off to a poor start. Daddy had brought her to Wichita where I lived with my mother and step-father. Daddy said, "this is your new Mama," which of course, was the wrong thing to say to a little boy who loved his mother as much as I did. The other thing I remember about their visit didn't mean much to me at the time, but it certainly touches my heart today. I can still see in my memory Hazel sitting at my mother's bedside crying because they both knew that mama was on her deathbed. I'm sure mama must have known Hazel would be good to me, because in a letter to Grandma Lawry in January 1928 she said, "of course I want to stay with Lloyd, but if I can't I know his Daddy will care f...

This story was written by my daughter Cynda when she was in high school.  My Uncle Lloyd Lawry saved the story and included it in a collection of family stories and writings of his own. Strawberries and Rugs by Cynda Lawry When I go to the back of my mind I can only remember two things about Great-Grandma Lawry. Her strawberries are my most pleasant memory about her. They were mashed and full of sugar. She had to satisfy the Lawry sweet tooth. Dad tells a story about Grandma Lawry and one of her sisters. They were bickering over whose strawberries were the best. He would always laugh and say that mixing a pint of each would make the best strawberries ever. My second memory of Grandma Lawry endears me to her even though I hardly knew her. She was dying. I didn't know that then. She had been admitted into St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Smith. Her condition was absolutely hopeless. The doctor said she was going to die and might as well die at home rather than in a lonely...

At a recent cousins reunion I was given a copy of this story that was written by Ivan Reeve about my Uncle Delbert. I REMEMBER DELBERT by Ivan Reeve For as long as I can recall, I remember Delbert. He was certainly a "best friend cousin" that everyone should be blessed with. We were nourished together, first in the "home church," at the Cowan's home, then in Neodesha, Kansas, at the Adventist Church. It certainly was an incentive to go to church; one, because we'd get to see all our cousins; two, we didn't have to work that day; and three, we could check out all the girls! Family gatherings were especially fun. Since we were close in age, we hung around together. One of the highlights of our youth was we attended the same school, Star School. For awhile, Uncle Ben owned and farmed 20 acres of our home place, which gave Delbert and I a chance to work and play together. For some time, he and his family moved to Missouri, then to Michigan, fo...

The winter day was cold, and even though it was freezing outside, a crowd was gathering. You could feel the anticipation in the air.  A young man named Louis was standing in the crowd.   He was so excited that he could hardly contain himself. He thought that he just might witness history in the making. The newspapers had been speculating about the event. They questioned whether a man could really go that fast on land and survive.  They wondered if the vehicle could really go that fast without falling to pieces. Everybody seemed to have an opinion; engineers, scientists, doctors, and the man in the street.  Today was the day that the questions would all be answered.  Louis was excited that he was going to see it. A gasp rose from the crowd when the machine was introduced. Louis had never seen such an incredible machine. It looked like it was from the future. With admiration mixed with fear, he watched the driver, get into the machine. Louis felt the ground...

Every year when September 11th comes again, emotions of Americans are heightened as we remember September 11, 2001. Most Americans can remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the awful news that airplanes had crashed into the World Trade Center. I was at work when my wife called me to tell me what she was seeing on TV. I turned my radio on, and listened all day as the news reports came in.  I first wrote about my feelings of this terrible event in 2008 shortly after I started writing on this blog.   You can read that post by clicking here. I revisited the topic in 2010 in a post titled 9/11 and Hope .  The post highlighted two organizations that give me hope, The American Cancer Society and The New Your Says Thank You Foundation. Recently as my wife and I have been studying our family histories I came across a historical event that I had never heard about before.  A couple of things struck me about this event.  It happened on Sep...

Thursday night Gina and I went to the Polk County Fair. In a small community like Mena, the County Fair is one of the highlights of the year. Everybody attends the fair. The kids are all excited for the carnival to come to town. There are animals, exhibits, booths rides and lots of fun. We enjoyed looking at all of the exhibits, the handicrafts, the vegetables, the quilts, the photography. One of our favorite things to do is go to the animal barn. The kids work so hard at displaying their animals. As the sun began to go down the midway and carnival rides started getting busy. It was really pretty to see the rides against the colorful sunset sky. As night fell the rides with all of their brightly colored lights created a magical atmosphere. If you have never experienced a small county fair you have really missed out on one of life's little pleasures!

Many years ago I was asked by my neighbor to be a coach on a Little League baseball team.  The kids on the team were 6 to 8 years old. Most of the kids were not great at hitting and catching.  Some of them had the attention span of a goldfish.  I really enjoyed working with the kids. This age group of Little League had special rules to help tone down the competition and give everyone an equal chance.  It was supposed to be about learning the game and having fun.  Each inning every player was allowed to bat.  We didn’t keep score on the field, but everyone knew the score, especially the parents.  But of course, no one was keeping score; well not officially. That little league experience taught me how powerful comparison and competition can be.  Even when I didn’t want to compare and keep score I couldn’t help it.  And neither could anyone else.  We all knew. The real problem wasn’t with our comparison; it was what we did with tha...