Author	[Modern View]
Bob Bancroft 09-29-2012 17:27:45 97.73.64.147 Report to Moderator	Went to a 94 year old neighbor/farmer/distant relatives funeral yesterday.(Those of us who can trace our roots back several generations in one place all end up related eventually!) He had asked not to be eulogized. So his younger brother, the last of five siblings, spoke about the family. He started by saying this was a lot harder than he anticipated. But he choked it out. Their mother died at age 36, in 1933. He emphasized a couple of points, several times- how HARD life was. Everyone was poor. Electricity didn't come through until 1939, etc., and, how GRATEFUL he was, for extended family, community, this country, etc. The family stayed together on the farm. Four of the five went on to earn four year college degrees. He closed with a rhetorical question- where else in the world could this have happened? He didn't say it,(and being the gentleman I know, wouldn't) but there was a message there loud and clear to me- many don't have a clue how well off they are. [Reply]   [No Email]
LAA 09-30-2012 08:53:36 86.51.147.113 Report to Moderator	Re: A Different Time in reply to Bob Bancroft, 09-29-2012 17:27:45   How right you are, it is truly amazing to me when I think about all the things that most people take for granted these days. My grandparents on both sides hard scrabble farmed their whole lives to earn a basic living and never had much in the way of free time or anything to be considered a luxory but they bowed their heads at every meal and thanked the good lord for what they did have and they all died ''land rich'' and cash poor. My Momma did not own any shoes until she was 6 years old because there were no sisters or girl cousins close enough in age to hand down from, winter time they wrapped her feet in news paper and rags until she started school, my Dad used to tell me about the depression but he said it did not really affect anyone around his comminity very much because nobody had ever had any money to speak of anyway. Hard to imagine we are just one generation removed from those times and I figure it could easily wind up that way again in the near future. [Reply]  [No Email]
Northval - PA 09-30-2012 03:59:35 71.114.144.7 Report to Moderator	Re: A Different Time in reply to Bob Bancroft, 09-29-2012 17:27:45   some of our older family folks have passed away recently, and the biggest issue I feel is the loss with their understanding of the past. They lived it, and they in turn lived in a way that gave us visible guidance. They were much more steadfast and we need a huge helping of that these days. [Reply]  [No Email]
farmerjohn 09-29-2012 19:51:57 72.77.61.152 Report to Moderator	Re: A Different Time in reply to Bob Bancroft, 09-29-2012 17:27:45   I think if we studied about how life was years ago and in other countries, we would realize that we today HAVEN'T A CLUE about what poverty, persecution, and work is. [Reply]  [No Email]
Walt Davies 09-29-2012 18:43:10 70.199.224.115 Report to Moderator	Re: A Different Time in reply to Bob Bancroft, 09-29-2012 17:27:45   My wife has everything all decided and payed for. I guess I wll just do what she has layed out for me. We both grew up poor she a lot more so than me. Didnt know I was poor till I grew up funny how life is. Walt [Reply]  [No Email]
atlarge54 09-29-2012 18:04:25 75.106.96.59 Report to Moderator	Re: A Different Time in reply to dave2, 09-29-2012 17:27:45   I just turned 61, when I was in elementary school my great grandfather spent the last few years of his life in our home. My aunt gave him a typewriter and he wrote a 100 page autobiography. It's been a while since I've read it but a few points were easy to remember. Seems his dad had the power rights on the Eel River near Laketon,IN. When they were building the dam his father got a hernia which turned out to be fatal. At that point his life was flipped upside down. The family was broken up and I believe he was sent to "The Johnson Farm" which according to him wasn't much above slave labor. It's hard to describe how happy he was when Effie came to bring some of the family back together and take him off that farm. Most of us today have no idea what a bad day is. [Reply]  [No Email]
Adirondack case guy 09-29-2012 17:57:15 74.69.160.79 Report to Moderator	Re: A Different Time in reply to Bob Bancroft, 09-29-2012 17:27:45   Bob, As you well know, it's the same here in our town, and I,m pretty proud of it, however we now have a new group of newbies who want to change everything we stand for. They will be very rudely escorted off my land if they lay step on it to tell me what I am going to do with it. Loren [Reply]  [No Email]
NY 986 09-29-2012 17:41:50 67.142.178.21 Report to Moderator	Re: A Different Time in reply to Bob Bancroft, 09-29-2012 17:27:45   Very true. Interesting you mention that as I had to hear about the trials and tribulations of a few of the area's BTO's today. Even "this town is not big enough for the two of us" for the Mennonites now. If I have to hear one more whine that amounts to I am disinvited from existing here........... [Reply]  [No Email]