Phone Call

I got a call last night from Aunt Merldine. She and Harvey have been married for 53 years. I remember as a kid in the mid 50's them pulling up to Grandma and Grandpa's ranch in Oregon in their Austin Healey. They had a really cool speed boat too. She's now 80 and Harvey is 78. They still are energetic and involved. She's involved in everything in Pendleton. I think they lived there since 1946, with a few brief moves in between. Everybody knows them. A few years ago I was visiting, and there was a street fair. We went downtown, and I don't think there was a person out of the hundreds that didn't greet them by name. I went on a tour of the underground city where the Chinese laborers and their families lived back in the old days, and the young woman that was the tour guide often got interrupted by Merldine with some obscure bit of history. The guide just took it in stride. She probably knew Merldine too. Merldine was a member of the Pendleton Historical Society and every other civic group in town, and volunteers for everything.

With a little of that background, the reason she called. She has some pictures and other family items that she wanted me to take. I'm more than glad to, and let her know that a project I had set for myself next year was to go on Ancestry.com and get the family entered. Of course she hasn't heard of the website; she said all she knows about computers is that there's a power button. She got all excited when I explained it to her, and that I needed all the names and locations of what she can remember. I'm expecting a box...she remembers everything. A story she told me was she was sent back to Nebraska while still in elementary school, and had to ride a horse with the sisters to and from school. She has pictures of them then. In those days, girls couldn't wear pants, so they had to wear dresses and ride, even in the winter. Their pony was a Shetland, and she said they are just plain mean, and would just as soon kick and bite as anything. The pony's name was Cupie. The pictures were taken with a Browning, and in those days, the whole camera had to be sent in so the film could be taken out and processed.

I'm looking forward to delving into the family's past. I've looked up my Dad's side of the family, the Rafalowskis, on the Ellis Island website, and I think it must be the equivalent of Smith. A huge number of people came from Poland with that name. Dad is passed, so I'll have to find some other resources. A new historical and mental adventure coming up!!