Easter Memories Past and Present with Pictures

Larry, Bobby, Carl Williams, Gary
Larry, Bobby, Carl Williams, Gary
Gary, Carl Williams, Bobby, Martha, Vickie – Easter 1960 (I used to love making clothes for the girls.  Here they are in blue coats I made in 1960 – Linkhart house.)
Vickie, Myrtle, Martha - Easter 1965
Vickie, Myrtle, Martha – 1965, in their Easter clothes made by Myrtle.
Martha, Jeff, Myrtle, Vickie – 1966

Martha, Jeff, Myrtle, Vickie - 1966

(Here is that white dress I originally made for me and passed to Vickie when she got to wear hose instead of anklets.  I don’t remember that issue, but I remember the dress and there is little Jeff – so cute in his little plaid jacket and knee socks. I think this was at the Ferguson house.)

 Hope everyone really did have a memorable Easter 2009.  Yes, the memories are good.  I remember as a young girl always helping Mommy make Easter baskets for the kids.  We built them from scratch.  We would, of course, color eggs with the kids.  Every kid had their own egg or eggs they had colored with their own name on it.  Then Mommy would buy a few bags of jelly beans, yellow chicks, chocolate eggs, and some candy kisses, and usually a little bigger chocolate bunny for each basket.  Then after the kids went to bed we would put the eggs with the names into the baskets and add the goodies.  After all the baskets were put together we would hide them someplace in the house. 

Then, on Easter morning the kids went looking for their basket.  Then most of us kids got all dressed up and went to church.  There was always an Easter Egg hunt at church.  I remember most of these were related to the Fairborn Enterprise Baptist Church.  Someplace I do have pictures of Martha and Vickie and Mrs. Jean Bates, a Sunday School teacher and family friend, out in the field looking for eggs.  I must find those pictures and add them later. 

Then after the whole Church thing, we would go back home for one of those big Sunday dinners, pretty much as Carla Jo describes.  We usually had another egg hunt.  Daddy found great pleasure in hiding those eggs so those kids would have to work to find them.  That was a lot of fun. 

This year, 2009, I did a couple of Easter activities just because my Mother-in-law is with us.  Usually the Italians make special things at Easter.  Pat and I took Mrs. Sorge over to John and Nancy’s where there were about 20 people gathered to watch Johnny, Donny and Cheryl make the Easter Ham Pies.  They made 10 of them so every family took one home.  We talked and ate.  It was fun – but oh what a heart attack waiting to happen – eggs, cheese, and more cheese in those pies. 

Then I helped Mrs. Sorge make what they call Easter Spinach pies.  Basically, it is a delicious spinach mixture of cured olives, garlic and spinach in a pie dough piece folded over.  That really is good and not too bad for the heart.  Then we made these orange ricotta cheese pies which are more of a dessert.  Again, very good but oh so bad for the heart.

Then on Easter, we went to Pat’s cousin Dickie, the judge’s house for Easter Brunch which is more eggs, sausage, etc.  Then later in the day, we went to Barbara Fratto’s for Easter dinner which was more of the same with some added on ham, shells, meatballs, salads, etc.  I would venture to guess this would not be a good week to check cholesterol levels.

Well, I have so many more old memories to write too, but I must get going.  Easter is a little sad for me because I would love to be home when Kim and Martha and Shirley and whoever else gets together to color the eggs.

Jayden, Daphne, Madelyn 2009

Jayden, Daphne, Madelyn Easter 2009

Abbie Easter 2009

Abbie Easter 2009

Roller Skating with Dad and Jeff, my Fractured Coccyx – such pain!

Daddy used to take us roller skating at the Fairborn Skating Rink. I remember him whizzing around the rink whistling. My goodness, he could do all kinds of fancy things on those skates – going backwards, turning around and all that stuff. Dad would often take us by the hand and try to help us get better or at least more confident. He did seem to love all that. Wonder where on earth he learned to do that.
I remember the different skating sessions being called out over the loud speaker – “all boys skate”, “all girls skate”, “couples only”, etc, etc.  The lights were often dimmed and the lighted ball changed colors as we skated around or… some of us tried.

Well.. being the Aunt, I thought it would be fun helping little 3 year old Jeff skate. We got the tiny little skates on him and stood him up. I thought it would be a good idea to put him in front of me, with me kind of bending over and holding him under the arms so we could teach him to skate. I think we got about 5 or 6 feet oozing along the edge when all of a sudden my feet went straight out in front of me strattling around Jeff and kerplunk right on to my butt. Oh my goodness!

Don’t ask me if Jeff skated on out in front of me!  Lordee, who knows. I remember Daddy coming along to help me up, but I don’t recall what happened to Jeff.  Maybe he went on to skate the whole way around!

I had pain I couldn’t believe. Found out I had fractured my coccyx (tail bone). Nothing much could be done about it, but try not to sit flat down, and in those days, one never much thought of taking pain meds. But I had pain for about a year.

So, here’s what I learned about my fractured tail bone. (Remember I was going to be a nurse, so these things interested me.)

Causes of coccyx fracture include:

Falling on the buttocks—Skating and other activities that lead to falls in the seated position often contribute – Yes that fit the scenario! 

(I think Martha might recall a fractured coccyx from childbirth – but that wasn’t my cause.)

Sitting can be very uncomfortable after a coccyx fracture.

Suggestions to make sitting less painful include:

Sit on an air cushion or doughnut pad.
Alternate between sitting on one side of the buttock or the other.
Try sitting on a hard chair. Sinking into a soft chair sometimes increases the pressure on the coccyx.  (Maybe that is the reason to this day I prefer hard chairs and I tend to sit straight up almost on the front edge of a wooden chair.) 
Slouch to move your weight forward and off the coccyx. Note: This advice holds only until you are well enough to sit properly again.
Sit on a telephone book, with the area of the coccyx hanging off the posterior portion of the phone book.

Yes that all fit the picture – but that pain is still a memory – but did Jeff learn to skate?  If so, I guess it was all worth it.  I thought it was fun at the time.  Now, I think if I fell on my tail bone, I might die! “Not really”.

My Young and a Little Less Young Pictures

Jeff Cox 1967
Jeff Cox 1967
Jeff Cox 9-17-06
Jeff Cox 9-17-06

Comment from jeffc6549 | [e]
Time December 11, 2008 at 11:02 pm

Mom and Dad both working for Sarah Childers in some fashion-dad as a butcher and mom taking care of the house for her

Comment from jeffc6549 | [e]
Time December 11, 2008 at 11:04 pm

Dad taking me to work in a seat setting on the butcher counter(i do not remember but have seen pictures)
how times change and what people would think of a baby on a butcher counter at Krogers today-wow-what would the health dept say

Comment from jeffc6549 | [e]
Time December 11, 2008 at 11:05 pm

Dad as a butcher with all his hunter deer friends cutting them up in the garage and so cold-they all were having a good time-and our house was where they came-

Comment from jeffc6549 | [e]
Time December 11, 2008 at 11:07 pm

I loved the house on 42 (still do)-when Shirley and Gilbert or even Myrtle was in town I always was at Mama and Papa’s

Otha would bring pizza from Cassanos after she got off work at 3-4am and bring donuts to us-what aunts do for favorite nephews

Comment from jeffc6549 | [e]
Time December 11, 2008 at 11:10 pm

As Vickie and Martha aged (driving age) we wanted to go with them-but if they were bad we could not tell or we would not go-we should have told—-:)
And the skating parties we went to and then you two went out with— and doors at mom and dads neeeded wd-40-and you know who you are :)

    

Hello Gang!

Myrtle in better hair do
Myrtle - good Hair days.

Well, here we go guys!  Remember, this is just one means for us to record our memories, history, pictures and whatever….  This is definitely a work in progress.

As I said in the email, after talking and reminiscing on Thanksgiving Day with Gary and then Vickie, about our family fun and tragedies, somehow or other we came up with the idea of making a book.  That led to this blog to be used as one means of putting our memories here in any old way you want.  Then at some point, I will collect all the thoughts and information and put it together to make up our book.  Then the blog can just keep on going and we can keep adding current life, ie., new kids, their activities, new happenings, etc.

Of course this will require all of us contributing memories and history.  I asked each one to vote on the blog title or offer another suggestion.  No one gave a suggestion, but I had five votes for CoxFamilyMemories.com and one vote for CoxCantrellFamily.com.  That’s how we came up with this blog domain and title.

So after chatting with some of you, it seems we will need a deadline for the content for the book.  I think the book itself should probably start with some history of Goldie and Robert family backgrounds with as much genealogy as possible through their life as we can describe or remember or get information.  Then the book could go on through with all of our lives and memories through memories related to Mom’s (Goldie) demise and funeral.  What do you think?

What do you think should be the deadline?  Is January 30, 2009 too soon or too late?

For the book, remember anybody can give their information in any format and in any order they want.  So if some would prefer to just send emails to me, I will add them to the blog for others to see and maybe add extra input on that memory.  Also, if some would prefer to just write their memories on paper and send them to me, I will transcribe them.  Or.. if some want to record them on audio tape or on their computer, that is ok too.

I think I will set a page or category for everyone who contributes and a tag for everyone we mention.  Does that sound reasonable.  Or do you think it is better to put a page for everyone mentioned.  These things can be adjusted.

My last thought and plea is that everyone have fun with this.  Please don’t take this as Myrtle’s book.  Please don’t find offense if it looks like some body or some incident is not covered.  It is up to all of us to make a comment and let me know if I miss something or forget something.  It is all in fun and family spirit and no one will be slighted, intentionally.  So if anyone has a thought or desire about what or how the book or blog should unfold, or you think I am doing something wrong, PLEASE let me know.  It will not hurt my feelings.  If it affects everyone, I will get a concensus.