Keeping track of memories

By SUSAN DOAK

SW Nebraska Genealogy Society

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Genealogy takes a back seat in my life during the summer months. Our Society of genealogists takes a break by suspending monthly meetings until September. The library is still open on the third Saturday for those who wish to do research.

Even so, I still manage to squeeze some family genealogy time in between ball games, gardening, marina duties and summer guests. Last week was a perfect example.

My daughter, Michelle, accompanied me to Loveland, Colorado, to a small family reunion of my last living aunt on my mother's side, her granddaughter and one of her great-grandsons.

At 92, Aunt Doris was touring the western part of the US, attending a brother-in-law's 100th birthday party and visiting her childhood home in Lodgepole, Nebraska. My cousin, Barbara, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren hosted the reunion.

As I have mentioned before, my mother had four siblings and the resulting cousins were split almost down the middle by a 13-year hiatus. Consequently, the oldest cousins were having children at the same time my age group were young. We had a mosaic of first and second cousins that didn't know the difference.

When my family gets together, memories of the years spent at grandma's house in Dalton always take a front seat.

The strangest things come to mind, such as the fact that I never saw my grandmother Flora in anything but a dress. She had dresses that were for housework or gardening, plus dresses for going downtown and church, but in my memory, it was her shoes that stood out.

Grandma always had nylons on (the garter belt kind) and when she worked in the garden, she would roll them down to the tops of her shoes so they wouldn't get runs in them. Her shoes were always black, laced shoes with sensible high heels that added a bit of height to her 5' frame.

My cousin, Barbara, and her husband are downsizing. They have made the conscience decision to move out of their four-level home while they are still able to do so. Barbara's mother was the genealogist of that generation. She gathered information the hard way, by traveling to the East Coast to search the graves and records. When she passed away at 97, Barbara ended up with the boxes of history and portraits of all of my great-grandparents: James K. Polk Davison with his wife Mary (Eckert) Davison plus William Goding and his wife Jessie Fremont (Hurd) Goding.

I won't even try and pretend that I didn't want those portraits! Silhouetted against the floral wallpaper of my grandmother's middle bedroom, they were displayed. Because of the generosity of my cousin, they were loaded into my car when I traveled back to McCook. The boxes will follow when their storage unit is emptied. I assured my cousin that these family memories will be preserved.

So this column is just a lesson in expressing your interest or lack thereof in family treasures. If you truly desire that piece of history, say so. If you don't, be honest about the fact that they should be passed onto someone who does want them.