My Life ‘As I Remember it’
by Sylvia Mae Lanning Smith
written 1994 transcribed 12/30/1999

born: July 29th, 1907

I give thanks for good parents, for good neighbors and aunts and uncles and good friends who influenced me.
I give thanks for my good husband and father of my children who loved his family and worked very hard for them and who came from a good honest God fearing mother and father honest as the day was long (who worked very hard for everything they had).

Paternal Grandmother: Phoebe Hopkinson
She was the daughter of a schoolteacher (which in those days was a noble profession). Her father was a wealthy landowner; a great uncle was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. They were not pleased that their only child, their daughter, married a dreamer and traveler who never made a home for Phoebe and their two children, James Walter. and Emma. When my father was 7 years old, his mother Phoebe died of T.B. and grandma and grandpa Hopkinson raised the two children. They disinherited grandpa (he ended up being buried in pauper’s part of cemetery). They buried grandma in their family burial plot (Burlington Cemetery).

Paternal Grandfather: Joseph Alexander Lanning
Grandpa was a wanderer. If he heard of people who might have been related he would always look them up and indulge upon them. I can only remember him visiting us once (but he must have been there more than that since he died when I was seven). The Rhine kids and Madge and myself bought a marker for his grave.

Maternal Grandmother: Ida Mae Sheets
My grandmother’s maiden name was Sheets and they were farmers. She married James Laughner. Grandmother died in childbirth in a mental hospital.

Paternal Grandfather: James Laughner
He had a threshing machine and was known for making great straw stacks. They had 8 living children. Grandpa just floated from one child to another in his later years.

Mother: Lula Mae Laughner Father: James Walter Lanning
Sometime during the summer of 1906, Mom and Dad met at an old settlers meeting (that’s like a fair) and started going together. It wasn’t long before she became pregnant (she was only 16). Well my did didn’t act very good about it and he decided he’d go to Michigan with some boys he knew. My Aunt Emma Rhine took my mother in and looked after her. Finally my Dad came home and they were married the last of March 1907. I was born on July 29, 1907 at Aunt Emma and Uncle Charley’s home somewhere near Meckersburg, Indiana.

Sister of Madge Yvonne (born July 2, 1918) and Gayle Alexander (born February 15, 1910 and died February 13, 1926)


Places I lived: Michigantown, Bolyston, Kirklin, Indianapolis, Noblesville, Hillisburg

Schools I went to: Boylston, Kirklin, King’s Corner (1 room school house), Kirklin HS
Places I’ve worked: Kirklin Canning Factory, Housework when I first came to Indianapolis, Telephone Company, Child Care, Cleaning Lady, Woolworth Lunchroom, took in roomers, Did washing & ironing, cleaned homes, cleaned office buildings, School Lunch Room cook at Cincinnati Price Hill high School and Cincinnati Grade Schools, Indianapolis Keystone Middle School and Indiana Central College.

People who roomed (or lived) with us: Mary Kaytherine Henry, Mary Lonies, Bob Smith, Uncle John Henry, a jeweler from Fountain Square, Helen Brandenburg, Margie Martin, Don Martin, Frieda Martin, Bill and Betty and Bobby McAdams, Mrs. Dis and her son Kenney, Basil and Nola Mayhew, Faye and Bob Smith, Gladys La Master, Mary and Don Dewey

Houses I lived before I was married: North Gayle Street in Indianapolis, 1414 N. Tuxedo, 1101 North Dearborn (both in Indianapolis)

Houses we lived in after we were married: Jefferson, 2200 Block East 10th Street, Middle Drive Woodruff Place, Lexington Avenue Indianapolis, Laurel Street , Noblesville, Lincoln and Alabama Street, 1515 South New Jersey Street, 349 Lincoln Street, and Cincinnati (1956 through 1967 before returning to Lincoln Street house).

I think I had a very good childhood. I didn’t get everything I wanted or thought I couldn’t get along without but we had enough to eat, clothes to keep up warm, we were disciplined and taught right from wrong, my parents were strict but fair. I was taught that family was very important and that there would be disappointments in life but the important thing was how you dealt with them. To never let anyone influence me to do anything I knew inmy own mind was wrong. That work was important and to always do the best you could.
My Dad was a firm believer in education and we were never kept home to work while school was in session (But we sure had to work on weekends before and after school and the summertime). We carried in water on Sunday night to a broiler that sat on the stove. When this water was very hot we washed our clothes. The washing machine had to be turned by hand (maybe you don’t think 15 minutes by hand isn’t a long time) then the clothes were hung on a clothes line out in the yard (they smelled so good when they were dry. After the clothes were washed we used the soapy water to scrub the Privey that was the bath room (outhouse) out from the house and we used the Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs for toilet paper. We would use some of the water to scrub the porches and walks. All this was done on Monday. On Tuesday, the clothes were dampened by sprinkling water on them and rolled up real tight. When we ironed, we had to have a very hot fire (the irons were hot enough when we touched them with a wet finger and it sizzled). Ironing was a very hot job. Wednesday was a day for mending, sewing and cleaning and maybe churning butter and baking bread. There was lots of cooking because my Dad and Mother got up at 4am in the summer and they worked very hard putting in the crops. It was all done with horses that had to be fed and covered and harnessed before breakfast. The cows had to be fed and milked. The pigs and sows had to be fed and watered. The chickens had to be fed and watered. This had to be done both morning and evening, before breakfast and again before supper. So we ate big meals because they worked very hard. I had chores that I was responsible for. We baked all the break we ate. We had eggs from the chickens and killed our own chickens. We had a very big garden growing everything we could and in the winter would dig a hole about 2 feet deep: one for each vegetable. For apples they put them in the hole and covered it all over with about a foot of straw then about a foot of dirt and when we wanted potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, carrots or whatever, we would make a hole on the southside of the mound (get what we wanted then covered it back up). We took wheat to the mill and got our flour. We churned our butter, made cottage cheese (My mother took butter and eggs to the store and traded them for the groceries we needed).

When I was one year old, my Dad went to work for a man named Mark Blyston and we lived in an old house just west of Bolyston. We lived near a railroad and my mother was afraid of the old tramps that would get off the train and come over to our house for a hand out.
When I was three years old, we moved west of Michigantown and my Dad worked for another farmer (by the day). My brother Gayle was born while we lived there. We moved from here to an old dilapidated house on Road 28 and our neighbors were Jessie and Alan Brant (and they had a boy named Warren, he was my brother’s age). They were a lot older than Mom and Dad and they were so good to us. After we moved way we visited back and forth until they died (I remember Alan for his beautiful prayers at meal time). My father worked for a farmer named Bruce Brant for $1.00 a day when I was six years old. Then we moved to a house west of Bolyston and Dad worked for a couple named Charley and Florida Sheets. They had two boys Marvin and Melvin and a girl named Belvia (she could really play the piano). We lived their two years. These people were very good to us too and my Grandpa Lanning died while we lived there.
In March of 1914, My Dad went to farming for himself and we moved west of Kirklin (close to where Madge and Dorsel now live). I can remember my Dad going to raise hogs and they got Cholera and most of them died (that was quite a set back). Our neighbors here was the Petersons. Jessie was the woman’s name. They came from Minnesota and were Norwegian. They had three boys and a girl (we lived there during World War One and they lost a boy named Cliff in that war).
Our neighbors on the other side was Newt and Minnie Vandevort. They had a daughter Madge (my sister Madge was named for her). They were all very good people. Newt was a minister and they went to church every Sunday and they took my brother and me along. I had never been to church before. While we lived here my brother Gayle had pneumonia and almost died. Then in 1918 came the great Flu epidemic and every one at our house had it but me (I was 11 years old then). I grew up in a hurry taking care of the sick, doing chores with the help of our neighbor Newt. On top of this Mom was pregnant and she was so sick and so depressed but we got through it and in March of 1919 we moved to a farm 2 miles South of Hillisburg.
Our neighbors were Elden and Fern Dunn and they had two children: Mary and Charles. It was here I went to a one room schoolhouse. Our teacher was Truman Stowers. We had a lot of fun at recess and lunch (and I felt I learned a lot). On July 2nd, 1919, Madge was born. Fern Dun and her mother-in-law was with Mom. Mom had a real hard time but got through it and I really enjoyed our new sister. The Damm’s were church-going people and they belonged to the Methodist church of Hillisburg and they took my brother and me to church. Sometimes we got to go to Kirklin Christian Church and on one of those times I went forward and was baptized when I was 15. We lived here for four years and the last year I started Kirklin High School as a Freshman. That was a big step from a one room school house to a big school that Kirklin seemed to me to be. Some of my school chums went along: Gayle Bond and Mildred Pruitt was in my class at King’s Corner.
My first year I took Algebra, Latin, English, Music and Art. I was never a real good student but I would hope I was average in my four years: 3 years of Algebra, 3 years of Latin, 4 years of English and some minor subjects; I graduated with 36 credits. Oh yes, I was in the Senior play where I played the part of a maid and I think I spoke about 3 words. I helped edit the yearbook when I was a Junior. I am getting ahead of the story, though.
I wasn’t allowed to date until I was 16 years old and only in the summer, one night a week. I had to be in by 10 o’clock and no sitting in the car when we got home. My date and I had to go to church every other night. The first date I had was with a cousin of my girlfriend Mabel. He was going to Indiana University and his name was Herman Graham. The next one she fixed me up with was Hershel Gibbs. I went with him one whole summer. (He told my friend he liked me a lot but he couldn’t stand my Dad-he thought my Dad was too strict). So that was over and it was a lucky break for me because the next summer after I graduated from high school I met Gordon.
We moved from Hillisburg to a farm 2 miles Northeast of Kirklin but we only lived there one year then we moved South and East of Kirklin to Dr. Bower’s place and my folks lived here for a long time (In April of 1925 I graduated from Kirklin and got a job at the Canning Factory in Kirklin). On May the 10th, 1925, a girl friend Audry Matthews and her boyfriend Vivian Utter came to see me and said they had a friend in Thorntown that had been laid off from the the Railroad and would I consider a blind date so they fixed me up (I was afraid my Dad wouldn’t let me go if he knew it was a blind date). So I planned to stay all night with Audry. Well I couldn’t believe it when I saw him. I thought he was so handsome and he made me feel so comfortable (I thought I was dreaming){Harry Gordon Smith in future years would embellish the story of their meeting: “ On one side was this big Farmer’s daughter and I thought for sure that was my date. They they introduced me to the girl sitting on the other side. I was speechless, there she was with such beautiful long black bangs.”}. He was so good looking, so polite, was a good conversationalist (he was good for me since I was always shy. I had never been anywhere but Kirklin and Frankfort and hadn’t dated much). (When we had our first date I didn’t think he’d ever be back--thank goodness he did.) We continued to date the next three months. [ One day it stormed so much in Kirklin that a highway worker came in from the rain at the Lannings. When they found out he was from Thorntown they quizzed him about this Smith fellow. “Fine Folks. Fine Folks,” he said, “But can’t say much for the boy, though.”] Eventually Gordon won over my folks with his winning ways. He was so good to my mother and did everything he could to make things easier for her. My sister liked him too (she told my Mom it was because he gave her candy and chewing gum--”If sis won’t marry him, I will.”) Gordon always said he took me to my first movie, bought me my first Ice Cream Soda, and I hadn’t wore shoes until I met him (he was almost right!).
The last of August another girl friend Mabel West told me her mother’s cousin in Indianapolis was trying to find someone to come and live in as a house helper (she had had a major operation) and so I took the job. They came out after me and I was off to a new adventure. Mr. Kern was the President of the Pipefitter’s Union and quite a character (I was a little afraid of him). There was Mr. and Mrs. Kern and they had an adopted daughter and Mrs. Kern’s mother lived with them. I stayed there 6 weeks and it was time to move on. Mrs. Kern took me to the Telephone Company and I applied for a job and got it on the spot. Well this meant that I had to find a place to room. Mrs. Kern knew a lady (widowed with a daughter) that had a room to rent . I went to see her and rented a room at 1414 N. Tuxedo Street. I shared the room with a girl Erestane Reapmaker and she married about three months later. I worked with a girl named Heloise Cooper. She was looking for a room and we roomed for a while until she got married. [During this time she was dating Gordon. He had made advances which she had repulsed. “You’re going to be the only old maid on Tuxedo Street.” He told her. To which she replied,”At least this old maid won’t be pushing a baby buggy.”] On February 13, 1926, my brother Gayle died in a farming accident; he was only 15 years old.
Gordon proposed to me on the porch swing on the front porch. I don’t remember the date. I had lived with Mrs. Fowler and G.G. about 1 1/2 years and Mrs. Fowler was going to marry. So my friend Anna Brown told me her neighbor had a room at 1101 N. Dearborn for rent. I went to see about it and rented it. The man here was a retired Policeman (Mr. Sandman) and his wife and their daughter and her husband lived with them. They were a nice Catholic family. I could walk to work at both of these places. Gordon and I planned to wait a year before we married. We decided since he was rooming and I was rooming we would marry on Christmas Day 1927. So about a month before this date we rented an efficiency apartment at 2209 East 10th Street. We had a large living room with a hideaway bed, a bath, and a good sized furnished kitchen (we had fun buying what little furniture we needed: a living room rug and the things we needed for the kitchen. I had already bought a living room set.
When it came time for the wedding I asked for a week off and Gordon asked for a week off and wouldn’t you know I had to work until Saturday noon and we were to be married at Kirklin by my preacher friend Newt Vandervort at 2pm. Well on the way out there the car cut up and we had to stop at a garage and they worked on it for 2 hours at Ralston. Well needless to say, we didn’t get there at 2 o’clock and when we did get there Newt was milking his cows (they lived East of Kirklin on a farm). Well by the time he got cleaned up it was 7 o’clock and he then tied the knot.
We stopped back by my home the Old Brick house (Dad was in a sanitarium in Martinsville taking mineral baths for his back). So Mom had all the work to do. Grandpa Laughner was there because he was going to take Mom and Madge to Martinsville on Christmas Day to spend the day with Dad and he was adamant that we stay all night and go with them to see Dad. Nothing we could do or say could convince him otherwise. And of course that’s what we did. (Dad always said Gordon took advantage of him and married his daughter while he was in the hospital).
Mom had fixed a big lunch for us to take and share with Dad. Mom, Madge, Grandpa, Gordon and myself took off for Martinsville in a car with side curtains and it was cold a billy be durn but we made it and ate and visited with Dad and when we came back, they let us off in Indianapolis and we spend our second night in our love nest. I had to go back to work on Monday and Gordon was off for a week. I had a split shift and had to walk about a mile 4 times a day. Being married and having to keep up with housework over four months I went from 150 to 119 but it was good and we had established a home.
We lived here until just a week before Patsy was born. There was an older couple that had a variety store in the basement of the apartment (They were old enough to be our Mom and Dad). Gordon spent time talking to them and loafing with them and They had sorta took us under their wing. So Cookie and Reuben Neveling (he was a retired marine and she had worked in the Civil Service in Washington D.C.) Nicer people you could never know. Of course they knew we were expecting and needed more room. They asked us if we would like to move to an upstairs apartment next to them in Woodruff Place (a Methodist Minister, Reverend Birminger, and his wife owned the house and lived downstairs). Our address was 875 Midale. Our apartment was partially furnished and we had to buy bedroom furniture. Gordon had a desk he had bought so we were pretty well fixed. The Nevelings treated us like we were their own kids and they really enjoyed Patsy. I would have supper ready when they came home from the store. They were really good people.
Patricia Ann Smith was born August 21, 1929 at 7 o’clock. (I worked at the Telephone Company until June before she was born.) Dr. Hatfield was the Dr. They kept you in the hospital for 10 days.
Gordon was working on what they called a work train. The Railroad was putting in double tracks between Lebanon and Lafayette. He was only home on Sundays but he was making big money (at that time) and in 6 months saved $1500.00. It was a good thing because in November 1929, the bottom bell out of everything. Wall Street Collapsed. Gordon went back on the extra board and finally was laid off the railroad. Of course, we knew we couldn’t continue to live in Woodruff Place. Meanwhile we had bought our first car in January 1930 for $629.00, brand new.
I had worked with Betty McAdams at the Telephone Company and Gordon had worked with her husband Bill on the railroad. They lived in an upstairs apartment at the corner of Laurel and Lexington. Bill had been laid off before Gordon and he and Betty had jobs at the Washington Hotel. She was a PBX operator and he was a bellhop. They told us about a house next to theirs on Lexington that was for rent (the landlady lived in a room and shared the bathroom (She was some character). And the house was terrible but we took it because it was cheap. We moved here in April 1930. Mary K had just graduated from high school and she worked at real silk so she came to live with us. She had two girlfriends that had graduated with her so they came to live with us too.
When Patsy was nine months old, she was in her walker (I had been out to Mom’s and she had given me some glass jars). She leaned over trying to touch the jars and the walker upset and she fell on a jar, broke it and cut her cheek real bad. We, Betty McAdams and me, tried to find a Doctor to sew her up (it was Saturday Afternoon and we had a time finding one; we finally found one on Prospect Street and he sewed her up--she still has a bad scar). I guess we lived here about two years when a nice 6 room Double around the corner was for rent so we moved there. I was watching Bob while Betty worked (we had an extra bedroom so Bill, Betty and Bob moved in with us). I also took care of a little boy named Richard. Gordon tried so hard to find a job because by now he was laid off the railroad and he didn’t get any runs at all. This lasted from 1932 until 1939.
In 1933, a man named Cub Bear (who also had been laid off the railroad) had gotten a job with Metro Life Insurance at Anderson and had worked his way up to area supervisor. He came over to our house and talked Gordon into moving to Noblesville (where he would work a debit). He really made it sound good: the harder you worked the more he would make. I was against it as I didn’t think it was the thing to do. And we had to put up a $500.00 bond. Gordon went and asked Uncle Charley for the money and of course Uncle Charley did it even though he didn’t think it was a good move either. We had a moving bill to pay. We lost our income from the roomers. It didn’t take long to find out that instead of buying insurance, everybody was cashing in their insurance policies and it was all we could do to pay our bills. (The only good that came out of it was the good people we met: The Shermanns, the librarian Audrey Haworth and her father and a school teacher and her father). In January or February 1934, Gordon couldn’t take it any longer so we came back to Indianapolis.
We didn’t have money to move our furniture so we had to move in with Aunt Maude and Mary K. They lived on Fletcher and had an extra room. Gordon finally got a job at the A&P at Fountain Square. I don’t know hoe long he worked there (not long) when he got a regular job at the A&P at South East and Lincoln. He made $16.00 a week (he worked 70 hours a week) and was the highest paid clerk south of Washington Street. Since he had a regular job, we took a furnished room with a widow lady Mrs. Kenney. We lived here about 6 months (at Lincoln and Alabama) until we could get enough money to get our furniture from Noblesville. We got it and rented a 5 room house (1517 South New Jersey). Bob, Bill and Betty moved in with us again and helped with the expenses (I took care of Bobby while Betty worked for a whopping 2.00 a week). That fall in 1935, Patsy and Bobby started school at School 31 (on Lincoln Street). The A&P closed (I can’t remember when) and Gordon did all kinds of things. He worked 3 months in the spring house cleaning at the Roosevelt Building (an office building); he washed walls and Venetian Blinds. He worked for a remodeling company. He worked repairing and delivering and pulling out slot machines (I wasn’t in favor of this job). In the summer of 1936, we decided we should have another child (because things were getting better and Gordon would get a run on the railroad every once in a while and we weren’t getting any younger).
In November 1936, I got pregnant and the next August 12, 1937 we had another little girl and we named her Beverly Lou (Dr. Ebert delivered her). (We didn’t know what it would be a boy or a girl but your Dad kept saying “I hope it’s a girl since you get more sugar from girls” and you know how your Daddy liked sugar.) While we were in the hospital, Fordon found a house at 349 Lincoln Stree and bought it without my seeig it (We borrowed $500.00 from Aunt Orpha for the downpayment--the price of the house was $2900 and our payments were $12 per month). The McAdams enjoyed Beverly very much; they would wheel her out to the kitchen and play with you while they ate Breakfast. She was the second grandchild on my side of the family but six months later my sister gave birth to a little girl and they named her Linda so Patsy was no longer the only grandchild. We made an apartment across the back of our home with a living room/bedroom combination, a cooking and eating area and we shared the bath (we still had a large living and dining room and large kitchen and bath with an attic and 2 bedrooms upstairs. Faye and Bob (Gordon’s brother) stayed with us in the back apartment for several years until they moved to California. They spoiled Beverly and Patsy while they lived with us. We rented the apartment to other couples.
The economy was still in bad shape. Gordon was doing odd jobs and I was babysitting (Bill and Betty McAdams lived with us and I took care of Bob; I also worked at the Architect and Builder’s building cleaning offices from 5 pm to 11pm. I worked there about 6 months and decided my place was at home.) Eventually the McAdams moved out because I couldn’t stnd the way Bill treated Betty and I was never good at hiding my feelings. Gordon was making a trip on the railroad more often now. We had bought the house at 349 Lincoln Street. We had borrowed $500.00 from Mom and Dad Smith and we paid $2900.00 for the house. Our payments were $12.00 a month. In 1942, with the war, the railroad picked up Gordon on a full-time basis. We were remodeling our new house. We laid hardwood floors, we papered the walls and we were able to pay off our house in just 6 years. When the depression started we had $1500.00 in the bank and we only touched this money when we really had to. It was in the Railroad bank and at the end the only way we could get our own money out was to pay on our cemetery lot so we paid that off (we struggled but these were good times and we had friends that were in the same boat). We would meet in each others’ homes. We would all each bring a little food. The adults would play cards while the kids played.
We lived 4 houses down from School 31 where the girls went to school. Beverly started grade school when Patsy started high school. By the time Beverly started to school, we were back on our feet and I got involved in PTA. This got me out of the house and helped me to know the other mothers and their children in the school. And when Beverly was in the 6th grade, I was elected President of the PTA. (I think this was good because until that time I was a little timid and withdrawn; this helped me overcome this and I made many lasting friendships.) I was also the leader of a Blue Bird Pack. Patsy was in high school and very active (Gordon was gone a lot so that left me to see that the girls got to take part in their school activities; don’t get me wrong, their Daddy was just as interested but he just wasn’t able to take part. He loved his girls very much and he let them know it.) Everyone had their own jobs. Patsy walked a lawyer’s dogs, she babysit and she worked in the Physical Education department at Old Manual (for 30.00 a month). Both girls were very high in their class making the honor roll regularly. Beverly baby sit, delivered papers, worked at the drug store and her senior year she worked at the Telephone Company. This was in addition to the chores they had at home. Beverly’s class was the first to graduate from the new Manual. I had a part in planning the new Manual High School.
In December, 1947, Patsy met a young man at church, Mike Herbig. They went together for several months and in March he proposed {Gordon at first could bear the thought of his little girl getting married; he could not commit to giving Patsy away. Patsy talked to Henry Herbig, Mike’s dad, who said he would. Patsy said , “If you don’t want to give me away, Dad Herbig said he would.” Gordon roared up and said, “No one’s giving you away except me.” And from then on, he helped with the wedding arrangements; it is said that he had the most fun of anyone at the reception.} On November 24, 1948, they were married at Olive Branch Christian Church. It was a beautiful wedding and Patsy’s little sister was a Junior bridesmaid. They lived on Tabor in a small furnished apartment until another apartment on Lincoln Street across the street from us became available for Rent. We gathered together some old and new furniture and helped set them up.
In the summer of 1950 we bought a brand new Red Chevy and we took off for California (Gordon, Beverly, and I) to visit Gordon’s brother Bob who lived in Los Angeles. We had never been further than 100 miles from home so it was our first real vacation. Everything went fine and we really enjoyed the mountains, rivers,lakes, large cities, and prairies (flatlands). We spend over a week with Faye and Bob and they really showed us all around L.A. While we were there, Patsy called to tell us she was pregnant. We started home right after that so we cold watch our first grandchild grow [Patsy said Gordon took 5 days to get to California and 2 days to get back so he could stare at her for the next 9 months]. We really looked forward to the big event. We all went to good Friday service at Olive Branch when Patsy decided it was time and our first grandchild was born in St. Francis Hospital (Beech Grove, Indiana) on Saturday, March 24, 1951 between Good Friday and Easter. Grandpa was partial to girls and he wished for a girl and he got his wish, a beautiful little girl that they named Merrie Alice.
When mother and baby were ready to come home, they stayed with us and Gordon, Aunt Beverly, and Grandma Sylvia were all on cloud nine. {Gordon drove the new mother and baby home. He went all of 5 mph and very slowly went over railroad tracks, all the time checking to see if she was alright]. She was also the first great grandchild on my side of the family and we sure enjoyed having the new family living across the street and we almost wore out Lincoln street going back and forth. The house they lived in was small, very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer so Patsy and Mike looked for a better house. They found a house for sale at 2254 South Pennsylvania and they made an offer on it. (I wasn’t very nice about it since I didn’t want them to move. But it wasn’t long before I realized it was the best thing for them and for us too because they were becoming more independent and that was good.) The house was a double. They moved in on July of 1952. They had 4 1/2 rooms and a bath. The house needed a lot done to it and Grandpa Smith helped a lot with it. It was in this house that Merrie, Paul, Phillip, and Martha all grew up. Paul was born July 7, 1953. [ Patsy had 18 hours of labor before giving birth to Merrie. Sylvia took Patsy to the hospital about 9 o’clock remarking “There’s no hurry, he won’t be born until evening.” Paul came at noon. Sylvia later said, “He could have been born in the car!] He was such a little boy and didn’t gain weight like he should have. (When told his second Grandchild was a boy, Gordon, who was partial to girls, said, “Well I don’t know if I can love him as much as Merrie.” The first time he laid eyes on Paul Allen, Paul smiled a big grin at his new grandfather. Gordon remarked, “He is kinda cute isn’t he?”] Dr. Joseph got him in the Riley for tests and they found he had a small hole in his heart. [ To say the least this was a blow to the whole family especially Patsy whom they gave slight hope that Paul would outgrow it; Thank God he bucked the odds and that’s exactly what happened!] Beverly and Aunt Freida and I decided to go to New York. We wanted Gordon to come along but he said, “I hadn’t lost anything in New York.” When he realized we were going with or without him, he went with us. I think he had more fun than any of us. In January 1956, Gordon and myself moved out to take care of Dad (his house was in such a bad shape and he wasn’t eating right) Gordon bid on a job and drove back and forth from Kirklin. On May 12, 1956, Phillip Andrew was born [Phillip was called ‘Little Gordy’ due to his resemblance to his grandfather]. In June 1956, Gordon had a chance to bid on a job on the Riley. He got the job and we decided to move to Cincinnati. Patsy had just had Phillip and Beverly was expecting Bob at any time. We loaded all we could in our car and took off. We found a light housekeeping apartment in Price Hill with a retired Engineer named Samuel. We lived there about 3 years and I found an ad in the paper that a retired man needed someone to share his home for his care. We went and looked at it. The old man was a retired engineer named Grizer. It was a very nice house on Prosperity Street. So we moved in with him. He was a very unhappy man who had lost his wife and missed her very much. He was a little hard to please because he didn’t want me to go anywhere (while we lived there I had a chance to go to work in the lunch room of a high school and hence to work for Grace Daugherty at a grade school lunch room. We had been going to a church in Price Hill and I had joined the Eastern Star. I met so many nice people there: Grace Daugherty, Hatti Rice, Ruby Murkid and many more. I worked for Grace for about 2 years than I got a job at a school in Price Hill full time. One day I came home from work and found Mr. Grizer had died in bed, he had died in his sleep. He had two daughters and when they settled the estate we had to find another place (4 rooms and a bath on the second floor on Ralph with a mother, daughter and son-in-law living down stairs). We lived there four years. Then Gordon had a chance for a regular job back in Indianapolis and since he was closer to retirement it would be good for us to get back in our own house on Lincoln Street. [We missed being close to our daughters and grandchildren. Gordon when conducting the James Whitcomb Riley--the New York Central Railroad’s Chicago to Cincinnati express--would announce the arrival into Indianapolis as “Crossroads of America, Site of the Indianapolis 500, and Home of my 2 beautiful daughters and {Current number} of Grandchildren.” A reporter heard his cry and wrote it up in the paper. The railroad was not pleased and commanded him to stop the extra dialogue.] We moved back in May 1967. It was a good thing we did because Gordon started having his seizures about then. My husband Gordon died June 1st, 1970 with an aneurysm of the brain. He was born with it but it didn’t show up until June 1967. We were planning to go to Florida with Fanchon and Emory Eaton (our best of friends). He had gone out of the garage to get something and he was gone a long time. When he came in the house he looked different.. He told me he had passed out in the yard. He kept having these spells and not very often and they didn’t last very long until he was in his railroad run coming back from Chicago. He had a bad seizure. They took him off the train at Kankakee Illinois and put him in the hospital where he stayed 3 days. Then he was brought to St. Francis Hospital (Beech Grove, Indiana). He underwent many tests and they found he had a weak vessel in the brain and these seizures were caused by the ballooning of an artery there (this was a congenital defect that most people die before they reach 20 years of age so we are thankful he lived as long as he did). They told me he shouldn’t get upset and that he could die at any time. Of course, he couldn’t work on the railroad any more so he took disability until he was 65. On June 1, 1970 in the afternoon, he walked to the bank to get his check cashed. When he got back, he laid down on the glider on the front porch and took a nap. he asked me to wake him when our soapys came on. He came into the dining room and sat in his recliner and started into a seizure. He never regained consciousness. He died about 2 o’clock. You do what you have to. On the second day a still small voice whispered to me “everything is alright.” My family and friends helped, especially Patsy and Beverly for I knew their loss was as great as mine (and the grandchildren too.) It seemed to me Merrie and Bob seemed to feel the loss more than, that is not to say the others didn’t. Patsy and Mike and Bev and Harold went to the funeral home to make the arrangements. We had visiting two evenings and the funeral home was crowded each night. Somehow I felt comfortable staying in our house but Beverly stayed with me for a couple of nights. Then I was by myself. The neighbors, my family, and Olive Branch members made sure I was safe. I was checked on and besides two of my best friends had also lost their husbands (Elmer Link and Emory Eaton)[Emory died before Gordon. They are both buried in Washington Cemetery in Eastern Marion County. One day Gordon paced off the distance between his gravestone and Em’s, “I want to know how far I will be away from Em.” he remarked). I continued to live on Lincoln Street until May 1 of 1978 when I moved out to live with my daughter Beverly Johnson and her family. They had remodeled their single story home into a two story and had fixed up for me a very nice apartment on the remodeled first floor. I had a nice big living room and bedroom and even my very own bathroom. And I was happy to be out in the country and around my family. Ruth Ann, Beverly’s second child and only daughter, married in July 15, 1978 so I got to help and get ready for that. She was married in the Smith Valley Church in a beautiful white dress (I believe it was the hottest night of the summer). The reception was at the house. Martha was a bridesmaid. A year before, the oldest of my grandchildren, Merrie Alice Herbig, was also the first to get married, on May 28, 1977 in Dayton Ohio. All of us stayed in a motel. Helen and Carl Binninger went with me and we enjoyed the rehearsal dinner. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was held around the Pool. They left for Europe right afterwards. Paul and Rachel were married May 16, 1981 in San Antonio. I drove down with Beverly and Harold in my old Pontiac. It was a delightful time. We attended the rehearsal dinner. The wedding was beautiful. Rachel wore a beautiful off-white dress. The reception was exotic at the Randolph Air Force Base Officers’ Club. Bobby (Robert) Johnson was married to Debbie on May 24, 1980 in the Smith Valley Church and the reception was held at Beverly and Harold’s; it was very nice (Short and my sister helped with the reception). The next to marry was Martha Ann Herbig and Dan. they were married in a Catholic Church in Lafayette, Indiana on June 16, 1984 and it was a beautiful ceremony. Phil played a large role in the wedding. We went to a quaint little restaurant for the reception then we all went to Lake Monroe for their honeymoon (they had rented a Condo where we all stayed except Dan and Martha. I really enjoyed being with the family. We ate, swam and boated on Lake Monroe for a whole week. It was a really good time (I had never been on a honeymoon before since I didn’t have one myself.) Next came Phillip. He was married to Cheryl on November 1, 1986 near Fresno California in a large church. The ceremony was beautiful and the church was beautiful. It was so nice to see Cheryl’s family especially her grandma and grandpa on her mother’s side. The church had a beautiful reception room and plenty of good food was served. The church was filled and Phillip’s side of the family was well represented. The out of town guests all stayed at a hotel in Fresno (we took up several rooms and had a good time by all) (Patsy, Mike, Martha and Dan, Merrie Alice and myself rented a large car and we toured the Northern section of California. This was a very enjoyable experience and it was good to be with them. The next and last to be married was my youngest grandchild, Glen. He and Amy were married in the Smith Valley Baptist Church on September 7, 1986. Theirs was beautiful also. Amy is such a sweet little girl. Now I start having great grandchildren. It is 1994 as I write this and so far I have 16: John Edward Rockwell IV (the first great grandchild born October 27, 1979), Maria, Josh, Gabriella, Lydia, Leah, Robert, Aaron, Sylvia, Nicholas, Grace, Emily, William, Alyssa, Garrett, and Olivia. If I have any more I believe it will be Amy and Glen since they are the youngest and I think they want more children (note one more did arrive). I am so pleased with my family. They have brought me such joy and they are all so loving and treat me with so much respect and love. My only regret is that Gordon didn’t live to know any of his great-grandchildren for he sure was proud and loved his grandchildren. He didn’t even get to see any of his grandchildren married. I can see a lot of his traits in their humor, their good looks and they are all workers. He would sure be proud of them. In December 1973, Grace Daugherty and I went to Hawaii on a tour the Eastern Star organized. We had such a good time we always enjoyed each other’s company and we had a lot in common. In 1974 Fanchon Eaton asked me how I would like to go to Europe with her on a tour (I never dreamed I’d ever go to Hawaii or Europe but I said OK so we planned on going. We were gone two weeks. We landed in Brussels. We tour Holland and the Zeider Zee with window boxes in every window filled with flowers. On to Amsterdam then on to Milan and Venice in Italy (where we saw the gondolas). In Switzerland we toured Bern and Zurich and saw the Alps. We stayed at a beautiful chateau. We saw a beautiful cathedral. We visited Paris, France and saw the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the Arch de Triumph. I saw many castles and took a trip on the Rhine. We went to Calais and across the English Channel to Dover (I saw the white cliffs of Dover) and hence to London. We stayed two nights and toured the city. We visited the House of Commons. We saw the Palace and the changing of the guard. When we flew back to New York and went through customs, would you believe Fanchon was the only one they stopped. It was good to be back home after living out of a suit case for two weeks (I was a little homesick to see my family too). Since then I haven’t taken any long trips only to see my grandchildren get married or to visit them at their homes in Phoenix, California, Colorado or Albuquerque. The summer of 1986, Bev, Bill, Chuck (Bill’s son) took off for North Dakota for a Henry Reunion at Mary and Ford Simms’ ranch. We was gone about a week. There were about 70 people, all relatives of Great Grandma Smith (Henry) and Uncle Harry Henry. They really showed us a good time (Took us to see the Badlands and lots of other places and we ate all the time such good food.) Bev had never been to North Dakota and I think she really enjoyed the trip. On May 9th, 1987, Beverly and Bill Thompson were married at Patsy and Mike’s house with me and Patsy and Mike and Bill’s son Chuck and two of Beverly’s friends present. With a reception afterwards given by Pat and Mike. Reverend Miller married them. That same year was my 80th birthday and the girls planned a celebration for me. There was around 50 to 100 people present. It was wonderful to have so many of my friends from church, lodge and lots of family there. It was great. I received around 100 cards. I believe it was the hottest day of the summer and there was a real bad electric storm in the evening. It was a very good day for me and I thank my girls for it. In 1991, Merrie Alice organized a family reunion (She had a cabin at Angel Fire Mountains and we all flew into Albuquerque and from there drove up to the Mountains). All the Herbigs were there as well as Bobby, Debbie and the girls and Bev and Bill were invited. We all came on the same flight. Bill was the only one who had ever flown. Bev vowed she’d never fly (and she loved it). It was a wonderful time. I loved the times with the family on Birthdays and Holidays (we are really close and they are all so good to me. I only wish Gordon cold be here to enjoy his wonderful family.) In August 1992, Patsy was carrying communion trays and glasses down the church steps and missed a step and fell into a concrete wall and broke her wrist and crushed her left shoulder. We rushed her to the hospital and the next day or so she had major surgery . They almost redid her whole shoulder down to her elbow. She was in the hospital for at least a week. In April of 1993, Beverly was going to work on a very rainy day and a car hydroplaned into her car, totaling her car. She had some chest injuries and a bad whiplash (it could have been lots worse). But it was bad enough she was in the hospital one day for all kinds of X rays and tests before she insisted on going home. In May of 1994, I woke up not feeling well. I called the Doctor for an appointment and I had had a light stroke. He put me in the hospital for a week. It affected my left side. I was released from the hospital after 6 days and went to Patsy and Mike’s for a while then Beverly took a week’s vacation and I was with her and Bill for a week then back to Patsy and Mike’s for another week until the Doctor thought I was well enough to stay by myself. My neighbors Mrs. Fears and Patsy brought in food and fixed freezer meals. Patsy does my laundry and Patsy and Mike cleaned my house. But now a year later, I am able to take pretty good care of myself. I even passed my driver’s test and can drive to church to lodge to the grocery (I’m thankful for that). I have to be careful though. I belong to several organizations, the church, 2 retirees groups, the Eastern Star, Ta-Wa-si auxiliary, a travel study club, a home maker’s club. The tragedies and sad times in my life 1) The death of my only brother Gayle who met with a tragic accident at the age of 15 and died February 13, 1926 and was buried February 16, one day after he would have been 16. 2) The death of my mother who died November 4, 1953. She had been sick for a good while and died of Leukemia. She loved her family so much and she took pride in her grandchildren. She was very frugal and worked very hard. 3) The death of my husband who was a very good man who loved life and people. He read everything he could get his hands on. He loved movies especially Westerns, remembered everything he read or saw. His two girls and grandchildren were very dear to him and he loved me in spite of my faults. He was devoted to his family and he had a great sense of humor. 4) My father who died August 4th 1975 who lived to be 93 years old. He was in goodhealth until the least 5 years of his life (my niece lived with him most of her life and took care of him after my mother died. I have always been thankful that I was able to be with my mother and father and nurse them the last part of their lives. I miss my father but I missed my mother much more. They were both hard working people and a lot of whatever I am I owe to them. (His sister died about 6 weeks later) 5) The death of my youngest daughter, Beverly Lou Smith Johnson Thompson, who died November 1995. She was not yet 60. To My daughters: I couldn’t ask for better daughters. You have always been so good to your Daddy and me and I guessed I worried too much about you. I should have known you wouldn’t do anything you shouldn’t have (Oh you of little faith). Thanks so much for your love and understanding and patience and loving care. you are both hard working and talented and have been a joy for your Mom and Dad. To my Granddaughters: You have been so good to me and Grandpa. I was so thankful for you. I got to see you go off to school for the first time. I got to enjoy all the things you were involved in . I saw you graduate from grade school and high school and college. I got to see you all married and you have given me lovely great-grand children. You are all talented good workers and good mothers and I thank God for you. To my Grandsons: I have watched you grow to be good citizens, good husbands, and good fathers. I was able to follow you through grade school and see you graduate from high school and see you to go out in the world and see that you are such good workers. I am proud of what you have accomplished and most of all I thank you for being so good and concerned about your grandmother. I love each one of you for what you are and for giving me lovely great-grandchildren (and for raising them up in the way they should grow). Never forget we are all family when one of us is hurt, we all hurt. When one celebrates, we all celebrate. Your Grandma Smith Special Inscriptions To Phillip: You have come a long way. It was so interesting to watch you grow up, go to school, graduate from High school, take your music lessons, get your first real job and then you went intothe service and kept on learning and traveling and seeing the other parts of the world. Thank goodness you didn’t have to fight. You came home older and wiser. You went ot work for IRS and there you met a lovely girl name Cheryl. I am so glad I was able to see you married. We had such a good time and now you have two beautiful children: Nicholas and Emily and you are bringing them up in the way they should be . I am so thankful for your love and concerns. . S