Old Photos - 1970s

Well, FY2008 is finally over. I've been plenty busy at work so I haven't posted much. Tomorrow, I'll be singing in Ridgecrest for the Child Evangelism Fellowship international conference with our music ministry from church. I've also been putting together a video, which I'll post on later. On to the photos from the 70s...

LEt's start with a school photo from South Elementary School in Greenville, Oh:


We had four neighbor girls next door. These were the oldest two, Charlotte and Gerri Enicks. I don't have any photos of their younger two sisters, Jo Anne and Kelly. If I was Charlie Brown, Gerri was my Lucy van Pelt. She's the one sitting at the top of the slide. She's the one that let go of the bike when I was coasting down the small hill between our houses. I learned to ride then, but I crashed and burned big-time.


This is the front of our house. It was a duplex and we rented out the other side of it until the mid-70s. Then mom tore out a few walls and build doorways to the other side. I got a piano room out of the deal. Dad got a ham radio room. Mom got a washroom and me and my brother got a spare bedroom and bathroom to play in during the summer. During the winter, the upstairs of the other side was closed off. I remember goin up there and seeing the water in the toilet frozen. That was weird.


This was when Happy Days was the rage. The Fonz was cool!


My cat, Tasha, liked to have kittens. She's being held by my brother, Mark. Another girl, Julie, from across the neighborhood is holding the other kitten.


In the summer of 1976 we took a fishing trip with my aunt Wilma and her family to Bemidji, Minnesota. That's me trying to climb up Paul Bunyan's leg. My brother is squatting in the front. Cousin Marie has found herself a boyfriend there and cousin Eric fancies himself a junior giant.


Back at the lake we fished. I'm at the bow. Is that great-grandpa Oaks? There's dad in his Bocephus look with Uncle Jerold at the motor.


After Wilma and Jerold had moved to North Carolina, we came to visit and went camping at the beach. That's one reason why almost all the guys are shirtless. Here I am reading and practicing poor posture.


My brother was sleeping on cousin Bill. I'm not sure who the guy behind us is, but he and some other people hung around us while we were there.


Whenever we camped, we hoed down. (That's easier to type than to say.)


We also stopped and saw some historical sites. This is me with my Gilligan hat, jeans jacket, clod-hoppers and stripey jeans. This is very 70s.


The winter of '78 we had a blizzard. The front of the house wasn't too bad.


This was our church after the parking lot was grated. I was baptized here that February.


We moved to North Carolina after that because my mom had been diagnosed with cancer and dad already had a job in Statesville, NC. At my aunt and uncle's house in Lexington, NC, the hoe-downs didn't stop. I'd say "pickin' and grinnin'" but I don't see anyone grinnin'. They're just pickin' hard.


Later that year we moved to Statesville and mom died. We buried her back in Ohio.

Old Photos: Late 1960s

Here's another interesting photo from the wedding. Mom and Dad were married at Middle District Church of the Brethren in Tipp City Ohio. I can't remember the name of Dad's best man, but you can see my grandparents in the right of the photograph, my mom's parents flanking my dad's parents. Just behind my dad is Mom's sister, my aunt Wilma, the Matron of Honor. Then the best man and his wife. Then Wilma's husband, Uncle Jerold Brewer. Beside Jerold is my mom's brother and his wife, Norman and Betty Reeder. The last couple is my mom's youngest sister, Ann, with her husband, Norman Weaver. The kids, from left to right are Marie Brewer, Jeanette Reeder, Bill Brewer and Sheila Brewer, who are my four oldest cousins and whose parents are also all in the photo.


The Church of the Brethren is an offshoot of the Mennonites. I can't say their distinction is great theology. As it is, the most I can come away with is that they are pacifistic and practice "trine immersion". Otherwise, they don't seem to really push theology as a denomination. This seems rather wishy-washy to me. Nevertheless, while some in the denomination have gone wrong in their teaching, most that I have seen have managed to keep it pretty close to center, although I can't say that it's a very deep center.

I do recall some in the church I grew up in still wearing the older style clothing. This is a gathering of the Brethren of some sort:


Here is my dad directing one of his high school bands:


My family always enjoyed camping and we often camped with our extended family. From right to left: cousin Bill, Uncle Norman Reeder, cousin Marie, cousin Jeanette and Aunt Betty:


At the other angle (with cousin Bill again in the foreground) from right to left: Uncle Jerold, Aunt Wilma, Cousin Sheila, Cousin Eric (being entertaining), and my little face being fed by my dad:


It seems I may have jumped ahead slightly. I had to come into this world at some point:


For some reason everyone always commented on my hair. Yes, it's standing straight up on it's own. It'll curl some if I let it, but it's too easily unkempt that way:


My little brother, Mark, also came along right at the end of the 60s. Hi, bro!


I think I take after my Ma-maw.

I remember always liking to play on the farm equipment, much to the chagrin of my parents. Not always, though. Mom was pleased enough to snap this photo of me on grandpa's tractor:


I showed this photo to my kids and asked them who it was. They thought it was my yongest son, Paul.

Here's an Easter photo of the kids for comparison:


God is good!

Old Photos - When Mom met Dad: 1961-1965

You may notice that most of the photos lately feature my mom. That's because she enjoyed photography throughout her early adulthood. She was an artist of both sight and sound with photography and painting as well as music. She was also adept at all the crafts associated with growing up on a small Midwestern farm such as growing vegetables and other plants, canning and the culinary arts as well as sewing and quilting.

One story of my mom was that the dress she wore to her senior prom in high school was made by she and her mom. They did such a great job that the more well-to-do girls marveled at her and wondered where she acquired such a fine dress. While Mom was a farm girl and no stranger to soil and hard work, she was also elegant and very intelligent.

Born Ruth Arlene Reeder, this was my mom in college:


She majored in Music Education and English:


She went to college at Cumberland College in my dad's hometown of Williamsburg, KY. My dad also majored in Music Education. Mom is the flautist and Dad is the bassoonist. Those white socks are classic.


I most remember Mom playing the piano and singing. She even directed the choir at our church in Ohio for a time. Dad has played the guitar and sang primarily although I've known him to play the piano for his own enjoyment. Here he is on my grandparent's porch when he and my mom were courting. I have no idea who the girl behind him is. She's either a cousin or a fellow student.


Of course they spent a lot of time together:


They also enjoyed the outdoors:


They both graduated. Dad taught as a high school band director for a time and mom became an English teacher. Dad later went back to school to earn his degree in a brand new medical field: that of the Physician's Assistant.


I've seen the graduation photo above countless times and have only just noticed the engagement ring. Of course they were married soon after graduation. I have all kinds of the classic wedding photos of them at the church, but this isn't one you see very often:


A happy ending, perhaps, but happy endings are the beginnings of new stages in life.

Old Photos - Road Trip West to the Youth Gathering: 1961

The summer after my mom returned from serving as a missionary and before she left for college, there was a big gathering of youth from the Church of the Bretheren out west. My grandparents took the opportunity to take my mom and aunt Ann on a road trip and see some great American sights.

This one should be familiar:


Yellowstone Park was also on the agenda:


I've always been fascinated by these pools:


The Badlands were also on the agenda:


Farmers could not afford to spend a week or more living in hotels. They camped along the way.


This nice family from Indiana also had the same idea. Yes, in those days a family of seven could share the space of a pickup camper and be happy about it:


Did I say this was a big gathering? How do you get all those people to stand in such orderly lines?


...and they gathered:

Old Photos - Mission in Caney Valley: 1959-1961

I had earlier made mention of my mom having spent a couple of years as a missionary in the Appalacians. This is Caney Valley, Tennessee, circa 1960:

At the bend in the road you can see a small cabin. This was where my mom and the girl who partnered with her as a missionary lived. Here's a closer shot of the cabin during the winter:

This is a closer shot of the cabin with my grandparents and aunt Ann. She's younger than mom was and was still in high school at the time.


Here's a picture of my mom and the kids she taught Bible to:

Mom was always thin, but she gained a few pounds these couple of years. Perhaps it was because the people of the valley ate well as is evidenced by this photo taken next to the cabin:

Such a sight didn't bother mom. She was raised on a small midwestern farm and was well acquainted with agrarian food production. Besides, you have to slaughter the hogs if you want the barbecue:

Actually, that looks like it might be cake, but you can't have your cake untill you've polished off your lunch. These kids were my mom's kids as they sat in front of the church on what may have been a special Sunday. It didn't have to be a special Sunday for ball games. I've been told that many summer Sunday afternoons the people of the valley gathered to play ball: