OLD AGE IS NOT FOR SISSIES

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A Family History Book Review: The Smallest Tadpole’s War

by Filed Under: Books, Genealogy 8 Comments

Writing one’s family history so one’s family reads it? Now there’s a quandary.

 

Like most amateur genealogists I have boxes of family research and a fear that when I die they may as well bury the boxes of family history with me. Who would take the time to read through it?

This is a sponsored post that contains affiliate links. I received compensation in exchange for writing this review.

Then again I didn’t want to do one of those genealogy books full of only names, dates, and places. Boring!  Most people won’t take the time to learn about their family heritage this way either.

 

A Family History Book Done the Right Way

Diane Swearingen, though, solved that problem for her husband’s family. Her book “The Smallest Tadpole’s War in the Land of Mysterious Waters ” is historical fiction based on the life of his great-grandfather Thomas Swearingen.

Even better, though, is how she told the story. It is told in a way that benefits those of us not in her family because Thomas Swearingen’s story is symbolic of the settlers who first came to the state of Florida seeking better opportunities for themselves and their families.

The story begins with a marriage, a big move, and an adoption. Its point of view is through the eyes of Thomas’s adopted son. It follows through the lifetime of Thomas which includes territorial Florida, the Civil War, and reconstruction. Most of the story is set in Wakulla County with brief encounters in Gadsden, Leon and Jefferson Counties, all in North Florida, where Florida grew the fastest during this era.

The Wakulla County Courthouse, which was built during Thomas’s lifetime. It is standing today in Crawfordville, Florida,, Wakulla’s county seat. From the Florida Memory Collection.

The story is well documented and a page-turner. Also, I could not put the book down. I wanted to know what was happening to the characters as much as what happened in these areas during this time period. I grew up one county over, and my family goes back several generations there, too.

The book is a quick read, and I believe suited perfectly for middle schoolers as well as adults. It is good family reading.  Purchase a copy through Amazon using the link below.

The title itself, though long and tortuous is interesting. The smallest little tadpole is Florida, as described by a Civil War-era politician as being the ‘least important state swimming in the cesspool of secession’. It has double meaning because it is Thomas, too, who started out small himself, as a young man trying to make his way in life.

Mysterious waters is a translation of the name Wakulla, the county where most of the story took place. Wakulla County, located south of Tallahassee, is on the Gulf of Mexico.

From the Florida Memory Collection.

Do yourself a favor? If you want to know a little more about Florida’s history, read this book. This family history story does a great job of describing Florida when Florida was a little backwater tadpole in our great nation.

Wakulla’s beautiful Wakulla River is a spring fed clear water river that runs eventually into the Gulf of Mexico.  Today, manatees swim up to winter in its spring. From the Florida Memory Collection.

Learning to Die in Miami: A Book Review

by Filed Under: Books 6 Comments

The book “Learning to Die in Miami” is about the thousands of Cuban children airlifted to the USA during the early Castro years. Called the Pedro Pan Airlift, the story is a memoir told by the same author of “Waiting for Snow in Havana,” a National Book Award recipient.

Photo of Cuban Exiles in display at the Freedom Tower in Miami

Old Age Is Not for Sissies Blog (oldageisnotforsissiesblog.com) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

I just finished reading “Learning to Die in Miami”. The true story, written by Carlos Eire, who was one of over 14,000 Cuban orphans sent here by their parents in the early 1960s, captivated me. Their parents, desperate to get their children out, hoping to follow as soon as possible; and most thought they could get out within a few months. For many, though, it was years.

Once in the US the authorities placed these children, some as young as three in foster homes, orphanages, with relatives, and sometimes even with distant relatives. Not all stayed in Miami, moving all across the country.  I cannot imagine what it was like for the children, let alone the parents.

The Freedom Tower, former home of The Miami News was used as a facility to process, document, and provide medical and dental services for the Cuban exile newcomers.

Waiting for Snow in Havana

I read Eire’s earlier book “Waiting for Snow in Havana” about beautiful cosmopolitan Havana and Cuba before the revolution and immediately afterward.  Below are two pictures I found that compare the two cities of Havana and Miami.

Havana, Cuba before the Revolution

Miami in the early 1960s

 

 

This second book about his boyhood picks up where “Waiting for Snow…” leaves off; though it isn’t imperative that you read one before the other. Both provided an amazing history lesson into this time period.

For most of “Waiting for Snow” you get a child’s hopeful outlook to a beautiful future, and in “Learning to Die” you get a scary, disappointed wake-up call to what life is like for an immigrant, especially one without a parent to guide and protect them. Sadly, Carlos learns that in America the streets are not littered with cash as expected by a child. Still, there are hopeful and even comedic moments in the book.

A street scene in Havana, Cuba

A Street Scene in Miami

Other Reviews

In reading the reviews I noticed that many didn’t like the book. The author did jump around, and his little “whoosh” cue was used repeatedly to take you back and forth from one time period to another. But I thought it fit into a boy’s story. After all, this was written from a boy’s point of view, because it happened when he was a boy. It didn’t bother me, and I really liked the book.

I also wondered if some reviewers were put out by some of his more conservative views, such as his chastisement for those who want to protect the Spanish language as an intangible cultural tradition at the expense of Spanish-speaking immigrants. He thinks that this holds Spanish speaking people back from achieving their full potential in the American marketplace.

I know that protecting the Spanish language as an intangible cultural tradition created a small problem in my family. My aunt married a Cuban American or so it seemed. Both she and my uncle are now in their 80s; and because his mother required all the children and grandchildren to speak Spanish in her home which I visited on occasion, I made the mistake of asking Uncle Mario when was it that he got to the United States.

I thought it must have been when he was young because he spoke perfect English. Well, I upset Uncle Mario, because his family came to the Keys in Florida from Cuba in the late 1800s. His mother simply tried to make sure the grandchildren hung on to their language as her mother and mother’s mother did for her. Regardless, though, thanks to her my cousins speak two languages.

Wikipedia Map

Growing Up in Florida

Being from Florida I grew up with this Cuban-American uncle, the Cuban Missile Crisis, hearing about the Bay of Pigs, and several aunts and uncles who lived in Miami, all providing me with a picture of the refugee crisis down there in the early 1960s. These two books plus another one written by a dear friend, who also had to flee Cuba with her parents, helped me tie all these events together in context with the history of Cuba.

 

My friend’s book “The Front Row” by Silvia Morell Alderman, is the story of her parents as seen from the perspective of her mother. Silvia’s father, a justice of the Cuban Supreme Court for 10 years, the last two during the Castro regime, was the first justice to resign upon finding that Castro would not uphold the rule of law. Previously, he served in high government positions for two presidents. He and Silvia’s mother Rosa were student revolutionaries in the 1930s and indeed had a front row seat to the various revolutions down there.

So if you are like me and interested in Cuba and its history, these three books will give you an excellent picture.

 

What do you remember about Cuba in the early 1960’s?  Do you remember the Cuban Missile Crisis?  If so, how did your school prepare you for a possible nuclear war with Russia?

Hidden Figures:  A Movie Review

by Filed Under: Entertainment Reviews, Movies 2 Comments

Last Thursday night Chuck, his sister Susan, and I went to see the movie “Hidden Figures.”   I loved this movie. It captured all the excitement of NASA during  the Mercury program, and it also captured the stories of three special women who worked at NASA during that time–three African-American women.

Events in the story stayed pretty true to what actually happened with the exception of some of the characters such as the director played by Kevin Costner. His character is fictitious, a compilation of several directors at Langley. Also the main character’s boss is a fictitious person. His character represents the segregation issues they faced.

The movie is based on a book of the same name.


One character in particular is amazing, especially in real life. Katherine Johnson is truly the real thing. Her story alone is worth the movie. She is a mathematician, otherwise known as a “computer”. In real life she was a freshmen in high school by the age of ten, and she graduated from college by her eighteenth birthday.

Katherine Johnson

There is a scene in the movie where John Glenn told them that he wanted the math for his re-entry trajectory checked by the ‘girl’. He was talking about Katherine. He actually said that in real life. She was that good at what she did.

I wondered how much of the movie stayed true to actual events, so I went online and found a very good comparison at a website called History vs. Hollywood. You can read it here.

This is a great movie for children older than toddlers. It does a wonderful job of demonstrating the importance of science and math in a life and death situation. It also does a good job of showing the civil rights issues facing African Americans and women in the 1950s and 60s.

The only fault I can find with this film is when the women speak defiantly to their bosses. I was a woman in the workplace in the 1970s, and I cannot believe anyone who kept their job got away with that type of behavior. That is the way people today talk to each other.

I told Chuck that the best I could tell, that is what these women wanted to say…not what they actually said. If I had spoken to my boss like that, I wouldn’t have had much of a chance for promotion. Also, the same applied for junior men in the workplace, too. They couldn’t have gotten away with it either.

Back then there was a rigid pecking order in most workplaces. Stepping out of it usually got you nowhere. Some of us finally learned that the best way to overcome it was to leave…to change jobs.

Finally, I read in the History vs. Hollywood article about Katherine’s father. This man was a true hero. What he did to make sure all his children got a full education was absolutely wonderful and above and beyond. What a great example he set for his children.

So go see this movie and take the kids. It is a comedy drama, based on true events–one of the best I’ve seen in years.  It is a true family movie.

Memorial Day: A Forgotten Hero

by Filed Under: Books, This & That 8 Comments

Did you know that Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day? In the old days, it was the day when people decorated the graves of those who died in service for our country. Those graves were decorated with flowers, wreaths, and flags. Today we call it Memorial Day to remember those who lost their lives fighting for our freedom.

 

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Florida Memory Collection

There is a grave in my hometown. All of us kids raised there heard “his” story. He grew up there just like we did. He went to the same school. He played football and ran track and played ball on the high school mound. He lettered in numerous sports.

His classmates, though, said that he was a class star. My Uncle told me the other day that he could out debate the teachers. He said, “We thought he was smarter than the teachers.” He went on to be the Monticello High School Class of 1941 President and Captain of the football team.

He was a natural leader. He wouldn’t prove it, though, until on a remote Pacific Island seven hundred miles off the coast of Japan.

Today, only a few people who personally knew our hometown hero are still living. If he were still alive, he would be 92; but when he was young and running the streets of Monticello, he had blond curly hair and blue eyes. His name was Ernest Ivy Thomas, Jr. His friends called him “Boots”.

 

By the time Pearl Harbor happened, he had graduated from high school and was studying aeronautical engineering at a small Midwestern college. My Uncle James Roe was also away at Jones Business College in Jacksonville, but he was close enough to come back home for weekend visits.  Home was Monticello, Florida, 26 miles northeast of Tallahassee.  Below is a picture of Boots in college.

Boots Thomas

Boots Thomas

In December my Uncle was home visiting his family.  Uncle James said that he went downtown that Sunday before returning to school and stopped at a service station on the southwest corner of Waukeenah and Washington Streets. There was a group of men listening to a radio, and they told him that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. None of them knew where that was. In that moment, Monticello, if not America, was never the same again.

As America’s war machine built, Boots tried to continue with his studies, until he could stand it no longer. He already asked his Mother to sign so he could go, but she refused.  He was still only 17.

That summer in 1942, just before his 18th birthday, he talked to his Mother again.  His Father passed away when he was fifteen.  Boots told his Mother, “I’ve got to go…I’ve got to fight.”

Like so many other young people all across our nation, Boots followed his heart and walked away from his hopes and dreams for his future, his family, his friends. He was listening to a higher calling, a gut pull to give of himself to protect all that we were.

He joined the Marines and boarded a train in Orlando headed for Parris Island, SC.  He promoted quickly and became a drill instructor.  Later, the Marines asked him to become a drill instructors’ instructor.  He was that good at leading men, and the military was short of men that could do the job.

Boots kept asking his superiors, though, to be sent into combat duty; and he finally got his wish.

By the time Boots was 20 years old, his leadership skills were put to a final test on a desolate Pacific island called Iwo Jima, a Japanese-held fortress teaming with over 20,000 dug-in enemy combatants. The enemy was below ground in mazes of bunkers and tunnels, some as deep as seven stories below.  As a platoon sergeant Boots came ashore with the Fifth Amphibious Division.

The island was vital to the war for both Japan and America.  Our bombers could not get to Japan without the radar on Iwo Jima picking up their positions.  On the island were two runways for Japanese Zeros and other planes. On February 19, 1945, the Marines came ashore.

When his lieutenant was wounded, Boots assumed command of his platoon. Their mission was to move forward against the interconnecting defense positions surrounding the base of Mt. Suribachi.  In that second day of heavy fighting, the day ended with the 3rd platoon receiving two Navy Crosses, a Silver Star, seven Bronze Stars, and 17 Purple Hearts.

One of the Navy Crosses went to Boots.  Thomas realized that the tanks needed help in maneuvering the unevenness and brokenness of the terrain and finding the pillboxes. Throughout the battle, Thomas left his men always in a protected position and raced back and forth between the tanks and his men, standing in front of the tank and pointing out the enemy pillboxes that hindered his platoon’s advances.

He was constantly exposed to enemy fire, so much so that they shot his rifle out of his hand which he has been using to point to the pillboxes.  He simply pulled out his knife and used it instead.  He survived the day to fight again.

His and his men’s actions and advances on those bloody slopes had been so great that they had by-passed the Japaneseforces and spent the night cut off from their Battalion.  It was a battle, though, that would continue for five more weeks.

Unfortunately, Iwo Jima was far from over. The prize, they thought, was Mt. Suribachi, the highest point on the island; and it would take three bloody days to take it. Boots and his platoon were chosen to plant the American flag on its peak. He and his men succeeded.

first flag raising on Iwo Jima

First Flag Raising on Iwo Jima, Boots Thomas is sitting in front of the flag pole.

That flag-raising was immortalized later in the great Rosenthal Pulitzer Prize-winning photo which was snapped when they took down the smaller flag that Boots and his platoon had planted and raised a second larger flag.

The first flag raised there on top of that volcanic crater stirred the hearts of the thousands of Marines who were down below still fighting.  The men below cheered, and the ships and carriers blew their horns.  It gave them hope. It gave them resolve to finish the job, which was important because there was still much work to be done.

Boots Thomas quickly found himself in the limelight. He became famous overnight. His photo instantly appeared in newspapers across the nation. He told the reporters, “The honor belongs to every man in my platoon.”

He quickly broke away and returned to his men; and three days later while still trying to finish the job on Iwo Jima, a sniper took Boots’s life as he led his men against another enemy stronghold.  He was certainly not alone, though, as over 6,800 other Americans were killed on the island before it was over.

I found an old newsreel about Iwo Jima.  You can see it here.

His body was not returned to Monticello until the spring of 1948, three years after the war ended. He was laid to rest in the city cemetery.   There is a plaque over his grave placed there by the US Marine Corp. At the western edge of Monticello on US 90 is also a monument raised in his honor.

Two years before he was brought home, the high school football stadium was named Memorial Stadium to commemorate the 18 local boys killed in WWII, most of which had played football on that field and one of which had been Boots Thomas.  Little Monticello and Jefferson County  (populations approximately 2,000 and 13,000 respectively) sent over 550 men and women into WWII.

One of Boots’s childhood friends Dr. Jim Sledge, who most of his life kept the memory of Boots alive in so many ways, led an effort to write a book about the life of Boots Thomas–from his childhood in Monticello to boot camp to combat and his return home.

I just got my 95-year old Uncle James a copy of the book, and last week I called him to see how far he had read. He said, “I already finished it.  I couldn’t put it down.  I didn’t turn on the TV for almost two whole days.”

The book is entitled “Call Me No Hero:  Two Ordinary Boys and a Tale of Honor and Valor” by R. A. Sheats.  It is well researched and well written.  You can find a hard copy here.  Or you can get a Kindle edition in the link at the end of this post.  Several of the photos in this post come from the book.

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I plan to sit down and watch “The Sands of Iwo Jima” again this weekend.  If I remember correctly, it mentions Boots Thomas in the opening or closing credits.   It is a very good movie.  It is about a platoon Sargent, who leads his men to do the impossible and then takes a fatal bullet from a sniper.   If any of the grandbabies are around to watch the movie with me, I’ll tell them about Boots Thomas and what he did for his country.

Today as we gather around our TVs, let’s remember the generation that gathered around their radios when there was no tv, no Facebook, no internet. Let’s remember the men and women who never got back home. Let’s tell their stories because they were silenced and cannot tell their stories themselves.

For the men and women who died during WWII, almost all of their friends and family have too since passed.   Both my Uncle and Dr. Sledge are in their 90s.

I cannot think of a better way to honor the memory of those who gave their all than to tell their stories to the next generation.  That is what we Americans should do on Memorial Day.

 

Movie Review: “The Way We Were” 43 Years Later

by Filed Under: Movies, Opinion 6 Comments

As a young woman of 19 in the 1973, this classic movie was one of my favorites.  I lusted after Robert Redford anyway, after all he was already the Sundance Kid; but nothing quite quickened my senses like Robert Redford in a Naval uniform sitting in a bar.  You just had to see the scene.

I saw the movie several times; but not in the past 15-20 years, so I decided to order it on Netflix.  Many see this movie as a chick flick, but I believe they overlook its depth.

My feelings about the movie are still the same, but they have deepened as now I’m a later middle-aged, if not a younger  elderly woman with different feelings and emotions.  My dear ladies, this movie is far deeper than I remembered.

I remembered that it was a classic romance of boy meets girl, boy marries girl and…well the rest would be a spoiler so I’ll leave it out in case you never saw the movie.  I was most moved by the difference in their look on life and the fact that they looked beyond this and became soul mates.

The real difference, though, is how I look at this movie now.  I now feel that it is right up there with some of the older classics such as “Casablanca” or “Gone With The Wind”. Surrounding this romance is college before WWII, the war itself (though it plays a very small roll), and those halcyon years after the war.

You get a peak at McCarthyism, and the role it played in the lives of those in Hollywood.  You get a peak at those moments before the war, when young people on America’s college campuses were either swimming easily through college or swimming upstream against war sentiment.

The backdrop, though, plays second fiddle to the magnanimity of the two stars, Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand.  They are cast perfectly, and there are some wonderful tender moments as well as strident breakups that they both play perfectly.  He’s a beautiful, good looking WASP; and she initially plays the part of a wall flower Jewish girl with bad hair. She’s strong, though; and he is never sure how to handle it, though that is what attracted him to her, initially.

I also have to admit that I’m much more conservative now than I was in the 1970s.  I still get on my soapbox about issues that I feel important and some of them are social, but there is a part of me that realizes that life is too short to argue all the time.  I also realize that sometimes we need to relax and enjoy each other and life in general.  Barbra’s character is the flip side of this.

I didn’t notice it as much then, but I do now.  I guess as I matured I realized that there is always a cause for negotiating and pushing, but one can overdo it.  I think Ronald Reagan may have helped me understand this better than anyone.  

I was afraid to vote for him in the late 1970s, but I did it anyway.  I was so tired of seeing the entire country bickering over so much.  I felt that we needed a change in leadership though I was a Democrat and didn’t think President Carter was that bad.  

But Reagan had a simple message that said quit worrying about everything and just live.  Boy did we ever in the 1980s.  It seemed like the whole country just lowered their heads and went to work. 

This movie made me remember all that.  I think this may be one of the best movies of the 1970s.  Do yourself a favor and see it again.  And besides ladies, you get to gaze upon that blonde hunk that we all lusted after so many years ago.

Can a Princess Become an Ordinary Person?

by Filed Under: Movies Leave a Comment

We ladies love the fairy tale about Cinderella becoming a princess, but do princesses dream about becoming a commoner?  Surely, not, I would have thought; but after seeing the movie, “A Royal Night Out,” I’m not so sure.

This is billed as the “untold story of Queen Elizabeth on VE Day,” when she and her younger sister Princess Margaret were allowed out of Buckingham Palace for a chance to watch the city celebrate the end of World War II.  They had permission from their father the King.

 

I adored the movie and its fictionalized story.  It was light, entertaining and became comedic in places to the point of slap stick.  We found it an uplifting, slightly romantic story.

 

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The movie is rated PG-13 for a brief scene when the girls find themselves in a seamy back alley brothel where drugs are part of the culture.  I even augmented my vocabulary when Margaret asked her parents, the King and Queen, “What is a knocking shop?”  I had to look it up to be sure.

I guess you could call this film a dramedy, but Chuck and I both left the movie in great spirits.  It was that type of movie.

I couldn’t wait to get home to look up the story about the two princesses and VE Day.  Did it happen at all?  Did it happen like in the movie?

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I was surprised to find out that parts of it did.  You can read about it here,  but you must see the movie to learn about the rest.

It was a fairy tale in reverse!

The Movie “Youth” & Our Trip to Switzerland

by Filed Under: Movies, Travel Leave a Comment

Years ago, Chuck and I had an opportunity to visit our son while he was stationed in Stuttgart, Germany.  The three of us took a trip down into Switzerland and hiked around a village called Gimmelwald.  The village was high upon a cliff, and we got there by loading our luggage into a lift which rose 1,500 feet from the floor of the valley.    Rick Steves suggested this area.

Our Bed and Breakfast in Gimmelvald

Our Bed and Breakfast in Gimmelvald

Gimmelwald then was a tiny farming village of approximately 130 residents.  The year was 1999, and I was a young 45 years old.  The quaint village had traditional log cabin architecture, no cars, no television, and lots of blond-haired children and livestock.  The lift was also used by bungy jumpers, and we watched one jump over 500′.    I remember thinking 100′ or 500′, what is the difference?  You would be just as dead if it broke.

For the next several days we hiked from village to village and sometimes we caught the train to places higher so we could hike back down.  We were especially awed by the scenic views, the pastures, the mountains, and valley.  I felt like twirling around and breaking out in a song–something like “The hills are alive….”.

Sometimes we would hear a crack and get to watch an avalanche in the far distance on the other side of the valley.  We crossed meadows and pastures.  We were told that in Switzerland the pedestrian has the right of way even through private property.  You’re allowed to cross any pasture or any fence, and we did.

So this past weekend while I was in Atlanta, I saw this preview of the movie “Youth”.   Michael Caine, who plays a composer, sits and conducts the cattle with their bells to a melody that only he hears.

 

This scene reminded me of one afternoon while we were hiking near Gimmelwald.  Chuck, Jeff and I followed this trail to the next village and hiked even higher when all of a sudden we heard what sounded like hundreds of tinkling chimes.   There was a breeze, and we weren’t exactly sure from where the sound came.

 

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We looked all around for the source, but all we could see down in the distance was one lonely log cabin and a barn.  There appeared to be no chimes, so we hiked farther finally walking over a hill and up to a meadow where there were dozens of cattle.  Each had a bell around its neck, and then we knew from where the sounds had come.

The sounds floated through the cool mountain air, and the moment was magical.

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My friend Sylvia Alderman and her husband hiked in Galacia, Spain last September and heard the same sounds.  She videoed the experience.  It is linked below.

  
I think I will like the movie “Youth”.

Life After Losing to Georgia Tech

by Filed Under: Entertainment Reviews Leave a Comment

Five takeaways from the big game between Georgia Tech and Florida State this weekend in Atlanta.
1. Yes, the sun did come up the next day after FSU lost to Ga. Tech. I was crushed, but life does go on.
2. Though I hated to lose, I have to admit that it was fun watching all the Ga. Tech fans, students and alumni celebrate their well-earned victory after the game.

First, the fans flooded the field at the end of the game; and later when we walked back to our cars, the fraternity houses and dorms were awash with loud music and screaming, celebrating students. The whole place was rocking.  I’m sure there were many hangovers the next morning… on both sides.

The end of the game made it all the sweeter for our foes.

See the video of the ending here.

3. Speaking of the Georgia Tech fans, I have nothing but good things to say about them. I saw no taunting of our fans, and I’m happy to report that our FSU fans seemed to exhibit good sportsmanlike behavior, too.  I did hear a few Ga. Tech fans grouse about how many Noles fans came to Atlanta.  We were well represented.

My husband went to Ga. Tech, and we met up with some of his fraternity brothers and spouses before the game while tailgating and after the game in a local lounge. The lounge was full of rejoicing Tech fans, who were all very respectful of my position as an FSU alum and fan.

In turn they and several other Ga. Tech people told me that the FSU fans near where they sat during the game were on their best behavior. They said that the FSU fans took the loss with a good sportsmanlike attitude.

Makes me proud to be a Nole!

4. Before the game, Chuck bemoaned the fact that it seemed ludicrous that they were playing FSU for their homecoming. I said, “Well, if you win, it will be the best Homecoming ever,” never once thinking that Tech would beat my beloved ninth-ranked Seminoles.

Well, they did and it was an upset and a Tech Homecoming to be remembered. Chuck’s head is still in the clouds.

5. I saw something at the game that I haven’t seen in years–the students dressed up for a football game. Since this was their homecoming, many of the Tech female students came to the game wearing white dresses; and they were dressed to the 9s.

They reminded me of when I was in school. We always dressed up extra for Homecoming with heels, hose, and a large yellow football mum for a corsage.

6. Tech’s colors are gold, white, and black, and sometimes dark navy. This was a “white out” game with everyone in the stands wearing white.

The Noles showed up in garnet, so it was easy to see both in the stands.  The white was a nice contrast to the garnet.

I didn’t realize how dressed up the young women were until Chuck and I stopped by before the game to visit the Alpha Xi Delta house, my sorority’s chapter house on the Tech campus. All my sisters there were wearing white dresses, and at first I thought it was just an Alpha Xi thing until later walking on to the game I noticed many more young women wearing white.

By the way the Tech Alpha Xi house is beautiful inside and out. You can tell that my sisters there take great pride in their sorority.

7.  Georgia Tech, did you have to put our band up in the nosebleed section of the northeast end zone corner?  Sorry, but we could still hear them anyway.  The Marching Chiefs are loud, proud and many; and I guess that is why you put them where you did.

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All in all, though, this was southern college football at its best.

I just can’t help wishing, though, that Tallahassee were celebrating today instead of Atlanta!

A Book Update on “The Palmetto Pioneers”

by Filed Under: Books, Genealogy, Palmetto Pioneers 2 Comments

I keep plugging away at the book. Here are five things I did this week.

1. I spend two days a week working in two separate libraries. One is the Genealogy Room of the Jefferson County Library in Monticello, Florida, where most of the story takes place. The second library is the State of Florida Archives and Library in the R. A. Gray Building, Tallahassee.  

For the last several weeks I’ve been working on Civil War camp life and the building of the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad, specifically the railroad line that ran from Tallahassee to Alligator, Florida. Alligator’s name was later changed to Lake City.

2. The reason I’ve been studying this railroad line is because Mary’s husband William listed his occupation in 1860 as railroad agent. I went into this thinking that he was probably something like the head of a depot, but I found later that these positions were called depot agents. I thought he may have run a depot in either Jefferson County’s towns of Aucilla or Drifton, which was at one time called Walker Mill. Remember that Mary’s maiden name was Walker. 

 I found, though, that former territorial Congressman Edward Cabell was president of this railroad line at the time; and according to his 1845 railroad company minutes, he asked the Board of Directors if he could hire a railroad agent. He described this person’s job as someone who would handle all of the paperwork that was mounting as they were getting closer to building the railroad. They had not begun to build this railroad yet in 1855, and they wouldn’t begin building it until 1858. They finished it in 1861.

I’m beginning to think that William might have been this railroad agent. Here’s why. 

3. I discovered that this same Edward Cable was also the census enumerator for the state of Florida in 1850. In a newspaper article in Jacksonville in 1853, he asked Congress to do a memorial commemorating his six Florida Deputy Census Enumerators. The newspaper listed one of these men as William H. Andrews, so we know that William and Edward Cable had worked together before. I’m still looking for confirmation, though.

4. Also this week I developed a Pic Collage of photographs of William and Mary’s children. I still do not have a clear enough picture of what William and Mary looked like. Here is the collage of four of their children.  They are full siblings.

  
5. I attended an Andrews Reunion in Madison, Florida last Sunday, where I received the picture of Valentine Andrews. I also recently got two more pictures from a Texas relative. One picture was Henry Andrews as a young man and Florida Andrews, who later changed her name to Mary Elizabeth, renaming herself after her mother and stepmother. So here is a collage of William’s children from both Mary and his first wife Elizabeth, including Florida mentioned above.

  
That’s all for now!

Watch Out Boys, Here Come the Astronaut Wives

by Filed Under: TV Leave a Comment

Don’t you just love these retro-inspired TV series and movies?

Whereas “Mad Men” was a sixties drama centered around men, the latest TV news is about a coming series entitled “The Astronaut Wives Club”, which is a sixties drama centered around seven women.  One of the first trailers I saw showed the actresses in a press conference mostly dressed in pastel shirtdresses.

From the TV Series

From the TV Series

The shirtdresses quickly took me down memory lane.  I remember well the first time my mother took me shopping in a retail store in Tallahassee called “The Vogue”, a boutique located on the west side of Monroe Street between College and Park.  She bought me a Ladybug shirtdress, which was a junior line from The Villager label.  Both Ladybug and The Villager was very tony at the time; and the size 3 dress came with a little ladybug stickpin, which was akin to wearing a designer label.  I cannot remember if the dress was pastel, but I do believe it had a tiny print on it.

None of this mattered, though, at the time; because what was really important was the fact that I was finally big and old enough to shop in a women’s dress store.   All we girls wanted was to be grown up!

And poor dad.  Those dresses were not cheap.

Click here> Who What Wear to see their latest blog post entitled “Exclusive!  Behind the Swinging 60’s Wardrobe of The Astronaut Wives Club”.  “Who What Wear” says that Emmy-winning costume designer Eric Daman is the talent behind the gorgeous swinging sixties wardrobe. In this blog he shares an inside look into how he launched the signature styles of the women behind America’s first astronauts.

By the way many of the characters in this new series have last names that we baby boomers can identify –names like Louise Shepard, Rene Carpenter, Betty Grissom, Trudy Cooper, and Annie Glenn.  The series is based on the best-selling novel by Lily Koppel. The novel is said to be a true story.  These everyday families were thrust into American history and became a big part of our sixties culture.  These women quickly went from anonymity to ticker tape parades in New York City.

The Book Cover

The Book Cover

 

Click Here for a teaser trailer of the new show.  Unfortunately, it took my computer a little while to load, so please be patient.  It is worth it.

I also noticed that many of the TV scenes look like the Cape area in Florida.  That should be fun for those of us who grew up here in the Sunshine State.

Below are more photos to compare, the top one showing the actresses and the bottom photo showing some of the real astronaut wives at a party in Virginia.

The TV Series

The TV Series

The Real Astronaut Wives

The Real Astronaut Wives

I guess you know where I’ll be on June the 18th.  I’ll be watching “The Astronaut Wives Club” on ABC.  The ten episodes begin on June 18 on a Thursday at 8/7c.