Thanksgiving Traditions

They say if you do something special one time, well that's nice. But if you do something special more than one year in a row it becomes a tradition. Obviously in the Campbell family a big Thanksgiving dinner is tradition. However, there are other activities around this time of the year that have become somewhat of a tradition. Some have lasted a few years only to fade out and be replaced by new traditions. I can't say that in growing up I remember any special family traditions. When our family lived in the Springfield/Lebanon area many Thanksgiving meals were shared on the farm in Strafford. Certainly they were huge meals and many of the family was gathered together. However, huge meals and family gatherings took place throughout the year as well.
When we lived away from Missouri I remember Mom/Grandma Rita fixing a turkey. Seems like she was always up all night cooking it. It may have had something to do with the size of the bird. It seems like pecan and pumpkin pies were a tradition with pecan pies winning out (at least to me)
Since your Mom and I have been married I can think of several traditions that our family has had over the years. One tradition was going to see our family Christmas movie on the friday or saturday after thanksgiving. Some of the movies we have seen include; "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast", "Earnest Saves Christmas" and "Toy Story". As the kids have grown that tradition has somewhat faded with attempts made to rekindle the tradition. For a few years the weekend after thanksgiving began our Pageant season at FBC Raytown. Part of Pageant Prep was the first big rehearsal on sunday afternoon preceded by an Orchestra chili supper at our house.
Speaking of chili, how about some of our family food traditions at thanksgiving. Pecan and Toll House pies would certainly top my list - I bake them. Banana pudding is a tradition from Grandma Brown. We all keep that going but I know Susan has "taken" it to Atlanta and had plenty of practice. Brandy has taken it upon herself to acquaint us with "Brandy's bodacious bon-bons". We'll keep that one too. As part of a college class project Jennifer had to cook the thanksgiving turkey. We were not disappointed. I don't think Andrew is disappointed with any thanksgivng dish as long as there is ketchup around.
There is one "Thanksgiving story" that I remember my Dad telling. All of the Campbell family was at the farm for Thanksgving dinner. After dinner Dad and the other men decided to go hunting. Between all of them they only had one rifle. So they agreed that the one with the rifle would go to the bottom of the hill and the other men would start at the top of the hill "flushing" out any rabbits or other game toward the bottom of the hill. The hunt began only to end when one of the men, trying to scare out some game, killed a rabbit with a rock. The hunt ended with lots of laughter and a good story to tell and remember. Isn't that what traditions help us do? Remember the past and thank God for our blessings over a table of good food and good company. -30-

LETTERS

Several weeks ago my Aunt Veda loaned me her copy of the Wright County Historical Book. It contains family articles, pictures and historical information about Wright county. Very informative and interesting but inside the pages I found a letter that my Mom had written to Grandpa/Grandma Bear and Aunt Betty's family in December 1961. At that time we had recently moved to Springfield, Illinois from Hutchinson, Kansas. Mom tells about the house we lived in, getting settled, the weather, and family matters. There is nothing of real historical value but it does give some insight to the daily lives of the Campbell family at that time. I didn't realize we had no TV at that time.
Several times in this blog post I have quoted from letters that Mom saved or wrote to family members. Finding this latest letter written by Mom reminded me that letter writing is becoming a lost art. Think about it. How many letters have you received in the mailbox the last few weeks? I'm guessing not very many. Today it is much simpler to call on the cell phone, tweet, twitter, face book, e-mail, etc. Those are all very convenient I suppose but in my opinion have very little historical value. We may save our electronic correspondence but how accessible will it be in 25, 40, 50 years? Some time ago I read the book "Truman" by David McCullough. Somewhere in the book it was mentioned that President Truman was in office at the peak time of written correspondence. Family letters written by Truman gave insight to his personality as well as family doings. Memos gave information about decisions made. After his term in office much of the Presidential correspondence began to be replaced by newer, electronic, less accesible media.
So, what does this have to do with anything? As trivial and ho-hum as it may seem there is a value in letters. Right now it may not seem like much, but letters I send to my family will tell my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren a little bit of what life was like, "back in the olden days". Writing about weather, going to ballgames, yardwork, etc. may get boring but somewhere in all of that there may be a spark of information that tells a little bit about who I am. I know I treasure letters, poems, etc. I find written by my Mom or Dad.



I've included in this blog some envelopes/stamps/postmarks from some old envelopes I have. My Grandma Bear gave me her stamp collection when getting rid of some of her things. She had received a lot of her collection from Dr. J.M. Brooks. The postcard is an advertisement he received from a medical company. Dr. Brooks is of no personal importance to me but it does show a little bit of what life was like in the late 1800's and early 1900's.



The special delivery envelope did not contain the letter, but it does show some interesting information.
If you are not into letter writing, let me at least encourage you to save letters that you receive. Many years from now they will remind you of friends, family, things you did and maybe bring a smile to your face or kindle treasured memories. -30-

September 22, 1951

Not many people who read this blog were around on September 22, 1951. I know I certainly was not. However, it is an important date in Campbell family history. You guessed it. It was the day Rita Yvonne Bear married James Glenn Campbell. There is not a whole lot I can say so I'll let these few pictures do the talking.

The first picture is the newspaper wedding announcement. In case the article is not clear...."Mr. and Mrs. F.E. Bear, 903 West Turner, announce the engagement of their daughter, Rita Yvonne, to James G. Campbell, son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter B. Campbell of Strafford. The bride-elect is a graduate of Senior High and Mr. Campbell attended Poteau, Okla., Junior College and SMS. Tentative wedding plans are for September."

This next picture is from the Wedding reception which was held at the home of Grandpa and Grandma Bear, 903 W. Turner. Note the writing around the edge of the picture. I'm guessing Mom wrote it. I'm sorry to say I don't know where the wedding was held. My guess would be at Woodland Heights Presbyterian Church. I should really ask Aunt Betty, Aunt Veda or someone else who was there. I don't remember seeing any pictures of the wedding itself. I do remember seeing a picture of a wedding shower (?) that showed a humpty-dumpty cookie jar with salt and pepper shakers. I can remember getting many cookies out of that jar while I was growing up. Mom gave that set to me several years ago and it is a much treasured family heirloom.




Some people who attended the wedding/reception are shown in this last picture. The original picture shows four people but I only included three here. The woman on the right is Grandma Campbell and the woman on the left is Aunt Colean (uncle Don's wife/Mike's mom) I don't know the woman in the middle, but she was someone who took time to be at this special ocassion.

There are many special dates in our family that give us opportunity to remember those we love, those that have "gone before us" and those we never had ocassion to meet. We mark our lives and family history by those dates. As years go by those dates become less and less important, but the memories of the people they represent never do. Take a few moments to remember special dates and those special people. -30-

Grandpa Bear: My Impressions

Several weeks ago I was speaking to my Aunt Veda about Grandpa Bear, family history stuff and my recent visit to Hartville, Missouri. Part of our discussion dealt with how children perceive their parents. As a child there were a lot of things she didn't know about her dad, Grandpa Bear, until years later. The reason being, as children we are not always privy to adult conversation. We don't know our parents as their friends see them. In the same way my memories and impressions of Grandpa Bear are seen through the eyes of a child who was busy playing with cousins, brothers, etc. and not that interested in being around adults. I might add that Aunt Veda's article from my previous blog was a gold mine of information about Grandpa Bear. That being said, here are some of my memories and impressions of Grandpa Bear.

The main thing that stands out about Grandpa was that he was a pretty quiet man. I don't think I ever heard him yell, shout or raise his voice. He would enter a room with a slow relaxed walk. Sometimes it was accompanied by a slight smile that came mainly by raising his eyebrows, Groucho Marx style. He liked to watch sports on TV, smoke cigars, go fishing and take home movies. I remember Grandpa getting out his projector and screen on several occassions to show his home movies. Set up in the dining room he would run the 8mm projector forward and then, unknown to us, run the movie in reverse. It's easy to go down a slide but HOW did we go up the slide? It was a mystery to me and always great fun to watch.


The pictures show my cousin Mike and I on the swing set/slide and also show us as toddlers with Grandpa. Being the same age and living in Springfield we spent a lot of time together. When our Moms were working we would stay with Grandma Bear. When Mom took me there in the mornings I would cry when she left. Grandma Bear would send me to her closet to cry so the neighbors wouldn't think she was beating me. It wasn't long before I learned to come in to Grandma's house, run to the closet and then start crying. In the afternoon when Grandpa came home from work we would be watching the Mickey Mouse Club. Grandpa would sing along at the end and say "Mickey Rat". If we were at Grandparents on saturday afternoon you could find Grandpa watching "The Game of the Week" hosted by Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese.
Eventually Grandpa & Grandma saved and bought some camping equipment and a boat, motor and trailer. Trips to Table Rock Lake on weekends became more frequent. When our family lived in Illinois my brother Gregg and I came to Missouri and spent some time with both sets of Grandparents. While with Grandpa and Grandma we went to Table Rock Lake with them and some of their friends, the Luttrells and the Boatwrights. It was on this trip Gregg called Grandpa "Fritz-to". We swam, fished, slept, usual camping stuff, nothing real outstanding but it was fun to be with them for several days like that.
Grandpa and Grandma did visit us in Illinois and I can remember going to a K-mart type store that had a small carnival. (few rides, an elephant, etc) I said, "Come on Grandpa, lets go see the circus". I remember him quietly saying there were no real circuses left. Years later when I read Aunt Veda's article it struck me why he had said that, since he had been in a circus as a young man.
In the summer of 1964 our family moved from Illinois back to Missouri. Before we moved into our Lebanon house we stayed a few weeks in Springfield or Strafford with grandparents. We had moved away from Springfield when I was five and had only vacationed back in Missouri on occassions. Gregg, Gary, Scott and Mark were all born while we lived away from Springfield. In fact Mark was born in June of 1964. We had only lived in Lebanon for about 2 months when Grandpa died at age 71 in October. Except for Gregg coming with me for the summer trip my other brothers really didn't get to be around Grandpa very much. Again, I don't know that much about Grandpa Bear except memories and what I've read and heard from Grandma, Mom,Aunts and cousins. As a young man Grandpa was active playing in and directing town bands in the places his family lived. That's probably why Grandma Bear was so encouraging to me in my music studies.
I guess Grandpa Bear must have made some kind of impression on me. My Mom wrote in a letter from Sept. 1963 to Grandpa and Grandma...
" You'll think I'm making this up but I'm not- Jimbo ask me how old I'd like to be - and I told him - then ask him the same question in return - he said 50 or 60. I ask him why - He said so he could be a grandpa and be nice to his grandchildren - so I say he was very pleased to have grandparents."
-30-

Grandpa Bear: aka "Fritz-toe"

This past weekend LaDonna and I took opportunity for a get-away to Springfield, to see a minor league baseball game and visit Mom, Matt & Brandy. We also took a brief side trip to Hartville, MO. It was my plan to visit some gravesites of family members from the Bear side of my heritage. Sites in particular we were looking for included Grandpa Bears parents, Samuel & Sabrina Bear, his first wife Lula Belle, who died in childbirth, and a sister of Mom's, Mary Coleen Bear who died from a ruptured appendix. (so I was told). It was an interesting trip. We found all the gravesites except for Sabrina Bear. Stumbling around in the cemetery we came upon several graves of men who had fought in the Civil War and lived. There was also a memorial for CSA (confederate states of America) soldiers who had fought and died in the Battle of Hartville. (Jan 1863)
With all of this as "prelude" I would like to share with you some background about Fritz Earnest Bear, my Grandpa. He was born November 16, 1892 in Garden City, Kansas and died October 6, 1964. The information I share with you comes from an article written by Veda Rowe, his daughter, my Aunt, contained in a genealogical packet of information I received from my Mom.


Fritz Earnest Bear moved to Hartville in 1907 with his parents, Samuel and Sabrina Glasscock Bear, one brother Frank and two sisters Mable and Blanche. He played on the high school basketball team in Hartville. At one time he was a catcher on the flying trapeze for a circus.
He was a member and director of the Hartville Concert band playing the trumpet and trombone. On Saturday nights they would perform in concerts around the courthouse. In 1916 he married Lou Champion. They had a son Richard, a daughter Kathleen, another son Sammie Paul who died at two years of age and a fourth child who died with mother Lou at childbirth. In 1927 he met and married Bertha Stephens. He was Editor of the Hartville Democrat from the late 20's to the early 30's. He then spent several years in the newspaper business in Mansfield, Marshfield, Lockwood, Golden City, Branson and Crane. The family, then consisting of six new additions; Betty, Rita, Anita, Fritz Jr. and Veda (Mary Coleen died in Hartville 1938) moved to Springfield in the early 1940's, where Fritz worked as a printer for Elkin-Sawyers for 21 years.
He passed away at the age of 72 in October 1964. He loved fishing, camping, listening to marching band music, playing card games, cribbage, smoking cigars, playing jokes on people and his children and was very witty. He also made up his own crossword dictionary.
In future blog posts I'll try to share more with you about Grandpa Bear and the Bear family. Oh yeah, the name "Fritz-toe" comes from my brother Gregg. On a trip to Missouri Grandpa's friends were calling him Fritz. Gregg thought it sounded a lot like Frito corn chips so started calling Grandpa, "Fritz-toe". -30-

ERNIE: A Toy Story

The movie "Toy Story 3" is a current box office hit. As a sequel to "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" this latest version in the Toy Story saga ponders the idea of what happens to toys when kids grow up. From childhood to adulthood toys get lost, destroyed, broken, given away and in some very rare cases; survive. Survival can be a rare thing, even favorite or special toys may not survive very long. Ernie, a stuffed dog, is a survivor and a favorite. His survivability is due in part to my Mom who put him away many years ago and brought it out and to my attention some years later. However, maybe I should introduce you to Ernie, tell you who he is and why he is special.
The b & w picture shows me and my stuffed dog, Scottie. I was about 3 years old when I got Scottie as a present, not sure how or when. All I remember is that I took him to bed with me for many years. The plaid material on his back wore thin and was replaced by my Mom. Before Scottie "faded away" he was joined by Ernie and here's where the story of Ernie begins.
In the early 1960's our family lived in Hutchinson, Kansas. Just like any normal 1st or 2nd grader watching saturday morning television was a favorite pastime. One show in particular to watch was a local "kid's auction" show. Sorry, the name escapes me. It was hosted by Ernie Dade who, we later found out, was the son of a second grade teacher, Mrs. Dade, at Roosevelt Elementary school. Roosevelt was the school I attended. The show was sponsored by Kitty Clover potato chips and originated from a studio in Wichita, about 60 miles away. Children would collect and save points from Kitty Clover potato chip bags and use them to bid on items/toys presented on the show. My friend Walter found out that the show was coming to Hutchinson for a special showing. His parents and mine went through the proper channels to secure invitations for us to be part of the "live" broadcast. Potato chips points were saved and the saturday morning of the show came.
We arrived at the show, points were cashed in, parents went to the viewing room and kids went to the studio set. Lights, camera, action....we were on TV and the show began. Ernie Dade came out, told about the toys/prizes, and the bidding began for the first item, a stuffed gray dog, with a big black nose and two floppy ears. Kids were raising their hands bidding on the dog and my hand went up also, even though I had no idea what I was doing. Soon the bidding stopped..... sold to the young man in the black sweater. That was me?!! I had won!?? Down to the front, give my name and over to the "winners" seats I went for the rest of the show. The auction continued and finally the show was over. Mom & Dad came out to the studio and were saying I had bid more points than I actually had. Should we give the dog back? What were we to do? "No, it's not the first time this has happened. All you need to do is keep eating Kitty Clover potato chips, save the points and send them to us until it's paid for."
So, I had a new gray dog with a big black nose and two floppy ears. What was I going to name him? Ernie, after Ernie Dade of course. Ernie joined Scottie and I in bed at night when I went to sleep. Scottie finally wore out and Ernie hung around for many more years as fur rubbed off, eyes wore out, ears came off and were sewn back on. Obviously Ernie didn't go with me to college and Mom put him away with some boxes of things still left at home.
Years later, when I had three kids of my own, Mom gave me the box of things that contained Ernie. Matthew was still in elementary school and took Ernie to bed with him for a few years. A rip had developed in his side, old stuffing had fallen out to be replaced with new, one ear was gone, eyes and mouth long gone and a lot of fur rubbed off. In some places the material was almost threadbare.


Today Ernie still survives in a special place in my closet. He's been out a few times to be introduced to Julia, Molly, JC and Jetta. I've heard of the book "A Velveteen Rabbit" but not read it. It explores some of the same issues as "Toy Story 3", What happens to old favorite toys when their "kids" grow up? Ernie has been around for almost 50 years. Priceless? You bet. How much longer will he be around? Who knows, but he has served as "man's best friend" for a great many years. -30-

California, there I was

The beautiful buildings comprising the U.S. Naval Hospital are located in Balboa Park. They were constructed at a cost of over two million dollars to provide for the sick and injured officers and men of the U.S. Fleet.

Mom/Grandma Rita enjoys hearing the stories I put out on my blog. I will read a new blog to her and ask if she has any thing to add. On one occassion she asked if I would write a blog about San Diego. Kind of a hard challange. I was born in San Diego but my only memories are from what I've seen in pictures or what Mom has told me. So, I'll give a try at this.

The picture at the top of the blog is on a postcard that Mom sent to Grandma & Grandpa Bear, dated Aug. 22, 1953. It cost 2 cents to send. "Dear Folks, How are you all? Hope fine. Saw this card last night. Thought you might like to see the hospital I go to and some day will spend three or four days. Went to Sally's last night and bought bassinet. Are really proud of it. Really like our apartment too- Loads of love to you all. Jim & Rita."


I've shared with you before that Dad was in the Marine Corps in San Diego. The apartment Mom mentions was 3312 Convair Street and part of the base housing. Mom wrote in my baby book that Dr. Brink was in attendance on Nov. 30, 1953 when I was born at 8:33 pm. I weighed 6 lbs, 91/2 oz. It is interesting to note that Mom mentions spending 3 to 4 days in the hospital. Now days a 2 day hospital stay is considered long. At Mark's birth Mom mentioned that she asked to stay awake when Mark was born. I guess before that women were "asleep" during the delivery process.






Pictures displayed in this blog show our apartment number, 3312, Grandma Bear being there during Mom's recovery, Dad, Mom and I in a family picture, and my first swim. Other pictures I have show some of our neighbors and in the background of one you can see some vintage automobiles. There are also pictures of family trips to Tiajuana, Mexico, (I sat on a zebra) and Knott's Berry Farm. On our move back to Missouri a visit was made to the Grand Canyon.

Dad was in the Marines for at least 2 years. His platoon picture (Platoon 526) shows a date of 1952. A copy of the picture was mailed to his parents Dec. 27, 1952.
I'm not sure when we moved back to Missouri, but I do know my first birthday was celebrated in Springfield with my cousin Mike, born on December 1, 1953 and his mom, Aunt Anita, who's birthday is November 30. Enjoy the pictures and the few memories I was able to share with you. -30-