Historical year for family, organizations and nation

1915 will probably not get into the history books as a historic year. Of course every year is a historic year for some people if there has been a birth, death, anniversary or big achievement of some type. But 1915 has been an historic year for me.

Two anniversaries of 100 years each were meaningful to me because of my parents. The Missouri Farm Bureau Federation reached 100 years of existence this year. That fact has probably made more of an effect on my life than any of the other things I will mention later.

That happening 100 years ago led to my being educated in the public schools of Washington, D.C. It caused all of our family to start living a divided life -- partly in Washington, D.C., and partly at our beloved Wayside farm in Vernon County. It also caused me to be comfortable being introduced to men I saw on the newsreels in movie theaters. In fact, it caused me to be able to see first run movies on F Street in Washington almost any Saturday during the school year.

It also caused me to be reasonably knowledgeable about the geography between western Missouri and the eastern shores, comfortable entering large hotels with a red Persian cat on a leash, and equally comfortable, but not too happy about, staying in highway tourist courts with one light bulb, two beds and a path to an outhouse.

In other words since my father was very much involved in forming Farm Bureau organizations in Vernon County, Mo., and finally nationally, he was hired to be the Washington Representative of the American Farm Bureau Federation. The local group gave me a plaque for being the last surviving child of my father who made these changes in our lives and in farmer's lives nationwide.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, my mother was working to form a rural woman's club, the Ellis Domestic Science Club that also celebrated its 100th year of providing social life, information, feelings of community, service to the community, and fun. I grew up attending these meetings with Mama and Ellen, and when we moved here for Lester's work with Extension I joined myself, and after a break of 20-some years while he was a minister, I joined again and was proudly one of the members who had an Open House to celebrate this occasion. It is still going strong and will probably outlive me at this point. This has given me a real feeling of history in this area, as many of us are second, or third generation members who share our experiences.

In my personal life I have been scared, fulfilled, honored, made fun of, and enjoyed our four children, two in-law children, seven grandchildren, with five in-laws there, 13 great-grandchildren with two in-laws, and two great-great-granddaughters. Oh yes, I have a relative healthy 91 year old husband, a home that we strive to make look "lived in," and a Gray family with whom we are in constant contact, a Thornton family that makes Lester and me look old, a farm I love, our daughter's cats to love, and our own two outdoor "strays" that have been with us for at least 12 or 13 years.

And church families are still a big part of our life. The present church is very good to us, individuals from past churches are Facebook friends, and email buddies. Then I have former work related friends that are special "family" from our years of working and living together for a week at a time for about 20 years being Road Scholar Instructors. They are like the former Conference and National United Methodist Women Mission teams that became like sisters in our travels and presentations.

The hardest thing about this year was it was the first year that I had no sisters, or brothers. Daily I want to know something that Ellen could tell me, or Vernon would have shown me. Being the baby of a large family is a wonderful life -- until you become the only one left -- except one cousin in Georgia. This gets harder for me instead of easier as the months go by.

Thanks to my readers for being still another type of family.