Tecumseh news: May 23, 2018

It’s always great to have spring and summer arrive with their new growth of vegetation. Our winter was agreeable, which was nicer than in past years.
Master Sgt. Jonathan Mitchell, with his family, recently transferred from Japan to Ogden Air Force Base in Utah. He is my step-great-grandson. His stepfather was the late Larry Davis, my grandson.
Jayden Miller had his 14th birthday on May 12. He is my granddaughter Tara’s son.
Chantelle Davis, granddaughter of Dean Davis of Lawrence, Kansas, had her birthday on May 18. She is a niece of Dave and Karen Davis of Udall.
Thanks to my daughter Karen for my new home perm that she gave me on Mother’s Day.
How many folks enjoyed the recent school graduates’ photos and list of accomplishments as I did in the local newspapers? Thanks to the publishers.
I’m remembering joyous times we had in years past on club days at the homes of our friends who lived along the river, never thinking back then of those places being underwater in years to come. One special family, the Senftens, had strawberries that furnished all of us with the best berries, and they let us pick as many as we needed. What a treat! The rows were free of weeds and only large berries were seen. Babe Albright, who lived alongside the Senftens, also shared her strawberries. It was certainly a blessing to have known those generous friends who are no longer with us. How treacherous the floods have been, especially in the Dawt and Tecumseh areas. Sympathy to the people who built very nice homes that are now destroyed.
I am still being pestered by a squirrel – or maybe two squirrels – who are busy eating my bird seed outside my kitchen window. They climb on my mesh screen over and over. It seems I will have to give up the birdfeeder by that window.
My cousin Ivonne Hillhouse Bowers lost her husband Gene Bowers on April 12 in Koshkonong. They had been married 33 years. He kept busy in his ministry assisted by Ivonne, who is the daughter of Willie and Chloe Hillhouse, another Baptist ministry family.
The death of my nephew, Leslie Edward Breeding Jr., was also a loss to my family as he was the grandson of my stepmother, Ollie Sowards Crawford. He stayed in our home as he grew up and his mother taught school here. He was always a pleasure to be with. He was buried recently in Oxford, Mississippi.
Among other recent deaths was Marjorie Callahan, 90, of Pottersville, a cousin of my stepsister, the late Venita Johnson.
I was thinking of another friend who died not too long ago, Harry Davidson, and was glad that I shared my large gooseberries from the freezer with him before he was hospitalized. When I gave him the ones out of my freezer, he said, “I’d like one good gooseberry gobbler.” A few years ago I had him come down, and I helped him dig up sprouts to set out in his garden, where his wife Loretta now has them.
The anniversary of my 1939 marriage to Eldon Pitcock comes on June 10. It would have been our 79th. Cancer and heart attacks take their toll; our four children lost their father on May 3, 1971. He was the only child in his family and served with the Army medics and with the Army Corps of Engineers out of Little Rock and Seattle. We traveled somewhat in those days as we raised our family. Our first two children were delivered in our home by Dr. Prentice Bushong. Lyndon was delivered by Dr. Hoerman in his office. Kris was the only one delivered in a hospital – Asbury Hospital in Salina, Kansas.
Although I love music and participated in singing at parties and in church, Eldon couldn’t carry a tune. He was sorry about that, I know.
A thought to remember: Poison plants we should avoid include holly berries, mistletoe, oleandra and Korean mint (which smells like licorice).

Ozark County Times

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