Good Morning, Class of '64
Grandpa's Farm - Patience - http://www.ebsqart.com |
the family and the home that
all the greatest virtues, the
most dominating virtues of
human society, are created,
strengthened and maintained.
Winston Churchill
Another
Day with Larry
Legacy of Ware's Ridge
Part Two - Conclusion
Abandoned Farm House - Robert Lafond |
Life on the Farm - Anne Bridge |
- I learned to read, and more important, I learned to love to read - Thanks, Mom!
- I learned to be independent and self-reliant.
- I learned to be responsible and to earn my keep.
- I learned to work and to respect work and workers.
- I learned about integrity and honor.
- I learned to treat people with courtesy, a practical application of the Golden Rule.
- I learned about God from the teaching of my parents and in that tiny Methodist church, but
- I learned much more about God from the example my parents and the others in the community set. Many of those lessons I didn’t learn very well - in my ‘60’s, I’m still trying and still have a way to go.
The Bible Tells Me So - Charles Freitag |
An indication of this influence is found in the people now living there. Many of the few people now living there are descendants of the original settlers. A reunion is held each summer with three or four generations coming back. Something pulls them back. People only come back to a place when there is a powerful attraction that comes from some very special memories.
April Fresh - Rollie Brandt |
The Old Oaken Bucket - Grandma Moses |
Most of the people who built the community are still there, in the little cemetery across the road from the site of the schoolhouse/church. The names from the community are all there - Beckwith, Beal, Gay, Ramsey, See, Wood, and, of course, Ware. An interesting monument reads simply “Mary Ambrose, Black Mary, 1829 - 1891, A Freed Slave.” She was a midwife and practical nurse in Valley Head but was buried at Ware’s Ridge. Some objected to burying her in the Valley Head Cemetery. I am proud of my community that they let her be buried there.
Thunderstorm - Grandma Moses |
This little community, Ware’s Ridge, at the top of the Logan Run Road, near Valley Head, West Virginia, won’t be in many history books. It will never be as well known as Lake Woebegone, Bedford Falls, or Mitford. It really wasn’t much - a few subsistence farms perched precariously on the top of some rocky ridges, a few people whose stories will only be recorded in the “short and simple annals of the poor.” But it was really so much more.
Out to Pasture - Charles Freitag |
Youngsters at Family Reunion Ware's Ridge |
I am richly blessed.
The most extraordinary
thing in the world is...
an ordinary man
and an ordinary woman
and their ordinary children.
Gilbert Chesterton
The most extraordinary
thing in the world is...
an ordinary man
and an ordinary woman
and their ordinary children.
Gilbert Chesterton
A Beautiful World - Grandma Moses |
In 1945 Sentimental Journey was Doris Day's
first hit song. The song's release coincided with
the end of WWII in Europe and became the
unofficial homecoming theme for many veterans.
It lasted 23 weeks on the chart, peaking at #1.
The Platters covered it in 1963.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentimental_Journey_%28song%29
The Platters - 1963
Gonna take a sentimental journey
Gonna set my heart at ease
Gonna make a sentimental journey
To renew old memories
Got my bag, got my reservation
Spent each dime I could afford
Like a child in wild anticipation
Long to hear that 'All aboard'
Seven, that's the time we leave, at seven
I'll be waiting up for heaven
Counting every mile of railroad track
That takes me back
Never thought my heart could be so yearny
Why did I decide to roam?
Gotta take that sentimental journey
Sentimental journey home
Sentimental journey home
Gonna set my heart at ease
Gonna make a sentimental journey
To renew old memories
Got my bag, got my reservation
Spent each dime I could afford
Like a child in wild anticipation
Long to hear that 'All aboard'
Seven, that's the time we leave, at seven
I'll be waiting up for heaven
Counting every mile of railroad track
That takes me back
Never thought my heart could be so yearny
Why did I decide to roam?
Gotta take that sentimental journey
Sentimental journey home
Sentimental journey home
Farm - Rollie Brandt |
The Water is Wide
A folk song of English (Irish? Scottish?)
origin that dates to the 1600s.
It remains popular today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Water_Is_Wide_%28song%29
http://www.justanothertune.com/html/wateriswide.html
The Irish Tenors
A folk song of English (Irish? Scottish?)
origin that dates to the 1600s.
It remains popular today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Water_Is_Wide_%28song%29
http://www.justanothertune.com/html/wateriswide.html
The Irish Tenors
A family is a place where
principles are hammered
and honed on the anvil
of everyday living.
Charles R. Swindoll
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