It’s a Wonderful Life
We recently had an opportunity to attend the play “It’s a Wonderful Life”. The stage presentation involved a radio broadcast of the famous 1946 Christmas movie starring Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey. George is despondent because he has given up his dreams in order to help others, so Clarence, his guardian angel intervenes. Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched, and how much worse life in his community of Bedford Falls would be if he had never been born. By the end of the movie, George feels better and shouts out on Christmas eve that he’s had a wonderful life.
Speaking of a “wonderful life”, coincidentally, we also recently celebrated the 90th birthday of my mother-in-law Hilda. She’s one of my favorite people in the whole world. I’ve written about her and her family many times in this blog.
Hilda grew up on a farm west of Ft. Loramie next to my grandparents, so to this day, every time we visit, Hilda always has a story or two to tell about those long-ago years involving her old neighbors. For example, my Dad happened to be at their farm with Hilda and her family on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941 when the radio blasted the news about the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor. Several of her brothers enlisted the very next day.
Hilda was born in 1929, just months after the start of the Great Depression. What a way to come into the world? But that was just the beginning, as her mother Emma died three years later during childbirth and then her father died from heart disease when Hilda was only 14.
During the war, Hilda and her 3 sisters did most of the farm work while all her brothers were in the service. She recalls milking the cows every morning, going to school, then milking them again that evening. Supper was typically bread and milk. It was during this period that she vowed to someday move off the farm!
As a senior in high school, Hilda's ticket off the farm magically appeared on April 19, 1947 when she met the man of her life while attended the wedding of my Dad’s sister Mary, whom I had written about in this previous blogpost. The wedding was held in the cleaned out Chevrolet dealership in Russia. Now it’s the Gathering Place where Hilda and many other seniors from around town meet for lunch and activites every week.
At the wedding, Hilda met Delbert, nicknamed Doc by his parents because they wanted him to be a doctor. Doc instead was an "oil baron", with a one-truck fuel oil business that he eventually sold to Elmer Schafer, of Schafer Oil fame in Ft. Loramie.
In January of 1951, Doc & Hilda were married just before Doc was deployed into the Army, serving for three years in Germany as part of NATO forces counteracting a potential Soviet invasion of Europe at the start of the Cold War.
No surprise, nine months later, little Debby (eventually to become my loving wife) was born while Doc was in the service. During that time, Hilda lived with Doc’s parents and his sister, Rita, in Russia, finally accomplishing her goal to “get off the farm”. Here are the two pictures Doc had mounted inside the lid of his footlocker during his deployment.
Once Doc returned, little Debby was scared of her “new father” and cried profusely. The scowl is surely evident on this photo from the era.
But Hilda was happy to have Doc finally home. Ironically, the couple and little Debby moved into an old farmhouse outside of Russia that Doc’s father owned, which meant Hilda was “back on the farm”. But she made the best of it, nicely fixing up the place and having three more kids (and a dog) as pictured here. Debby’s siblings claim there are more photos of little Debby in the family albums than the rest combined!
Doc worked as the local rural delivery postman in Russia & Houston, a position he held for more than 30 years. After delivering the mail, he would also work at his father’s door business in Piqua so the growing family could save money to build the new house pictured below just east of Russia.
Doc & Hilda raised six kids in their home and Hilda still lives there. Other than Debby & me, the rest of the family members reside in the area, so they really do a superb job caring for their mother., which we greatly appreciate. Hilda enjoys living in the home the couple build some 65 years ago, documented in this past blogpost.
After his father died, Doc retired from the post office to run the family door business along with his sister Rita. Soon they outgrew the Piqua location, so a new plant was built on the site of their original farmhouse home. Unfortunately, the plant was almost totally destroyed by fire a number of years later, but was rebuilt and is still operated very successfully today by their youngest son, Ken, the third generation to run the company. Literally, the entire family except Debby (since we lived in Michigan) spent their working careers at the company.
Hilda now has 19 grandkids and 33 great grandkids, with two more on the way. She loves going to family weddings and always enjoys being seated at the head table with the wedding party as pictured here.
Her first family wedding was ours in 1972. When I first saw Hilda back then, I thought she looked just like movie star Doris Day!
Hilda is a 20 year cancer survivor, while also enduring three joint replacements, a broken arm and arthritic ankles. But she’s amazingly resilient, likely from the farm girl upbringing that she never really liked!
Sadly Doc passed away 10 years ago. Hilda and the family were at his bedside to say goodbye. Every time back in Russia, we pay our respects and pray at his grave site.
Indeed, Hilda has lived “a wonderful life”, for which we are eternally grateful. To get some idea of the ramification if Hilda had not been born, ala George Bailey, picture this recent family photo with only the grass and trees!
From Hilda's family to yours, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
PS: Check out this thought-provoking message to the children and grandchildren of the Greatest Generation, of which Hilda is a long time member in good standing.
~~~~~~~~
Receive a weekly email whenever there is a new blog post. Just enter your email address in the designated spot below the blog and follow instructions to set up the notification.
A wonderful, fact filled biography!❤️đŸŒŸ❤️
ReplyDeleteGreat write up Dave…
ReplyDelete