Looking through the Fence

When I saw the picture of my granddaughter Lily looking through the fence, I immediately thought of this picture.  Unfortunately I do not have the original photograph to post.. This is picture of a painting done by Margaret Fisher Brooks.  Family oral history says that the toddler with the sagging diaper is Margaret or Margie.  The oldest child is a cousin. Arthur Grussendorf.  The small boy to his right is Muriel's oldest child Ted (James Edward Fisher).  He and Margaret were only 14 months apart in age.

Lily Katherine Neeves watching her father through the fence. Lily is the great granddaughter of Muriel. She is the daughter of Kimberly Anne Fry Neves who is the daughter of Katherine Elaine Fisher Fry.

Rationing

During World War II all of the nations at war were short of food and resources. Gasoline and metal were in such high demand. Even food items were rationed. England probably had more restrictions than any other Allied nation. However, rationing occurred in both Canada and the United States.

Last fall a friend told me about an incident in his life and his mother's during WW II. Ted Crowther grew up in Alexandria, Virginia. One day his mother noticed that the man delivering the local paper, the Washington Post, had new tires on his car. She asked him about the tires since the ones on her car were badly worn. Where did he get his tires? He explained to Mrs. Crowther that because he had a job with a high priority, he was able to get tires. She responded, "If there is ever an opening for delivering papers, would you let me know?"

Not long after that Ted's mother got a call saying that the Washington Post needed someone to deliver papers going south along the Potomac River. Her route took her past Mount Vernon and down to Fort Belvoir. Ted went with her on her drives to deliver papers. I assume that they always had suitable tires from then on.

At the end of their journey there were frequently military personal who hoped to catch a ride back towards Washington, D.C. with Ted and his mother. One day they picked up two Marines who climbed into the back seat. As they were driving along, one of them said to Mrs Crowther, "I'll just take that money box that is sitting next to you on the seat." Because it was war time both of the Marines had side arms. Ted told me that his mother did not hesitate. She pulled over to the side of the road and told the two soldiers to get out. She said, "I can read the names on your uniforms and I won't hesitate to report you." The two Marines quietly got out of the car and the Crowthers continued on their trip back to Alexandria.

There are always details that I wish I had asked more closely about in stories like this. For example, I have no idea how old Ted was. Preschool I assume. Did they ever pick up soldiers looking for a ride again?

There are so many questions that I wish that I could ask Muriel. I grew up hearing a few stories about Muriel's and Bob's wedding on November 19, 1942. I knew that everyone in their neighborhood saved their allotment of sugar so that Muriel's family could make a wedding cake. She had a beautiful soft flowing wedding gown. And her mother, Ruby, wore a black dress.

Even when I was a child black dresses were not the usual color for the mother of the bride to wear. In fact I can remember my father making jokes about the fact that my grandmother Ruby Harkness Toole was born on Hallowe'en and wore a black dress to their wedding. Of course, I chuckled along with everyone else in the family.

It was not until I was an older person that I realized that in a war stricken country, probably the only good dress that Grandma Toole owned was this one black dress. She wore the best that she had to celebrate the wedding of her dearly loved daughter.

There are a few benefits of age and experience. I love and appreciate my extended family more as the years go by.

Musings

When I started this blog about Muriel Isabel Toole, I imagined that other people would write about their memories of her. Much to my disappointment, that has not happened.

I have moments when I feel inspired to write something but suddenly realize that I am really thinking about something in my life.

I have not forgotten Muriel, but I do wish that some other person besides myself would contribute her or his memories.

This winter two new great grandchildren were born to Muriel and Bob and both of them have the middle name Isabel. Both of them were named after Muriel. Angelene had a baby girl in Idaho at the beginning of February and my daughter Kristi had a daughter on March 5th. Kristi's daughter is Gemma Isabel Furner and she lives with her family in Utah. This is a picture of Gemma when she was only a few days old.

Extraction Program

In 1978, LDS Church President Spencer W Kimball introduced the extraction program to members of the Church. President Kimball said: "(W)e are introducing a Church-wide program of extracting names from genealogical records. Church members may now render second-mile service through participating in this regard in extracting these names in this program supervised by the priesthood leaders at the local level, where you will receive further details."

Muriel became actively involved in the extraction program. As far as I can remember, she would look at reels of film in the Stake library and would record the names and information so that it would be readable for others looking for the information. She became very expert at reading and transcribing Swedish records. Probably she did extraction from other records, but I remember her talking about learning to read the archaic writing in the Swedish records. She also had enough command of the language to translate the information into English. Before she died in 1982, she became a worker in the temple in the Seattle area. Although she continued to work at the railroad company, she found time in her free time to serve in the temple.

Last March our bishop challenged our ward to become involved in the indexing program that has replaced the extraction program. I tenatively started working on the computer and learning how to read Scandinavian and Germanic names in unreadable handwriting. And fortunately some that is much easier to read such as this draft registration card. Currently cards are available from both New York and New Jersey.

No longer do people wishing to contribute to the work of Family Research need to go to a library. I can open my laptop computer wherever there is the internet available. Whether I am at home or traveling, it is convenient to spend a few minutes or an hour doing some indexing work for the Family Search website.

Today I received this email from the Family Search newsletter:

Good-bye to Family Record Extraction

This month’s newsletter is dedicated to the thousands of workers who participated in family record extraction since it was introduced by Spencer W. Kimball in 1978. Some extractors participated early in the program, transferring the information from paper or microfilm to printed forms. Later extractors typed the information directly into a computer program. The workforce continues to grow, and the use of technology continues to accelerate as we transition from family record extraction to the online FamilySearch indexing program.

FamilySearch is deeply grateful to all who were dedicated to making family record extraction so successful. Some workers have moved on, others have served faithfully for years, and some are newcomers. Regardless of experience or position, each participant labored to accomplish this great task of sharing family history information.

Over 100 groups, including six correctional facilities who devoted themselves to the extraction program, have now made the switch to FamilySearch indexing. We know this was not an easy change for some and we thank you for your patience and dedication to this extraction, and now indexing, initiative. If you or someone you know worked with the extraction program and need help to make this transition, please contact FamilySearch.

Sitting at the Front of the Bus

In September of 1966 Muriel and Bob and their two younger children moved to Columbus, Georgia. Bob took early retirement from the Royal Canadian Air Force and accepted a job as the seminary teacher and custodian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints building in Columbus. Muriel was a smart and talented woman and it was a pretty good bet that she could find a pink-collar job wherever she went.

I was seventeen and in my last year of high school in a new school and a new city. There is no doubt that I was about as self-absorbed as most teenagers are, if not more so. I do remember Muriel/Mom telling us about a language challenge in her new job. She told her boss, "When I answer the telephone, I cannot tell if the caller is saying that she is Mrs or Miss Soandso." Her boss didn't hesitate. He told her to go ahead and just write a note that Ms Soandso had called. In 1966 Ms was not in common use. We all laughed at his answer probably not realizing that shortly his solution would become a banner word of the growing woman's movement.

I don't remember ever wondering how Muriel got to and from work every day. We owned one car. A small VW beetle. Recently my brother John came to visit and he mentioned that Muriel had ridden the bus to work every day. She sat in the front of the bus and was the only white person on the Columbus, Georgia bus.

We had just moved from the Montreal area where traveling by bus was part of every day life for most people. The only practical way to go from The South Shore where we lived to the the island of Montreal was by bus. Today the subway and bus system are crowded with commuters in Montreal. The subway system stops in Longueuil on the south shore of the St Lawrence and from there you hop on the bus to travel further. Big city traffic is so often snarled that public transportation is an asset.

However, in Columbus it apparently was the transportation of only the Black population. I can easily see my 'mum' sitting at the front of the bus being carefully watched by the dark eyes behind her. John commented that she always sat at the front. I assured him that was where any sensible female traveling alone would sit. That is where I sit if I can when I am alone - close to the bus driver. It had nothing to do with being white in the south where Muriel was concerned.

As I learn more about Muriel, my admiration grows. What an incredible woman she was. How fortunate I am to have been her daughter.

Chinese Food

When Muriel was about thirty she went to work for a sales company. She had four young children and was looking for ways so supplement the family income. At one time she demonstrated the use of a sewing machine in the homes of new owners. Another job was selling stainless steel cookware, Rena Ware. At that time the big selling point was that it was 'waterless' cookware. You could cook your vegetables with a lot less water than most pans on the market and thereby retain the vitamins instead of boiling them away.

As her youngest child, I have memories of going with her when she demonstrated the sewing machine. However, the pots and pans are only the stuff of stories brought home by Mom.

On one occasion Muriel drove to Toronto for a sales meeting with other people marketing Rena Ware. Although I was very young, I had the impression that the group consisted of men, most of whom had served on missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now that I am older, I can easily visualize a group of returned missionaries who were looking for a way to put their door-to-door experiences from the mission field into a means of supporting themselves and their young families.

The group went out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant. I am not sure if the Asian food was a new experience for Muriel, but she readily related a story about being the center of jokes. The other salespeople tried to persuade her that the unique spoon that came with the soup was not used in the traditional way. Instead of drinking out of the bowl, you filled it up and then drank the soup from the small grove in the handle.

Muriel's account of the lunch brought vivid pictures to my mind and still today I can easily imagine her being gently teased by this eager group of young men. I recall being so concerned about her as she told the story. I didn't want her to do anything that would embarrass her or make her look foolish. I didn't realize at the grand old age of five years, that Muriel could carry most situations off with grace and could laugh at herself.

History or Legends

Tomorrow morning Eldon and Diana Neves are going to fly to Africa to serve on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They will be serving in Sierra Leon. It will be a very different world from their ranch in Utah. Eldon is the other grandfather of my tiny granddaughter Lily Katherine Neves. Eldon usually wears boots, a hat for shade and a graying moustache. Lily has adored her grandpa and his moustache. He would get down on the floor to talk to her and she would immediately reach out to touch his moustache.

A week ago he shaved his moustache off, in preparation for serving as a missionary. The first time that Lily saw him she was a little frightened because she did not know who he was. Even after seeing him several times without his facial hair, she still reached out looking for his moustache today when she said good-bye.

My little granddaughter's attachment to her other grandfather reminded me of a story that Muriel/Mom used to tell about her grandfather Will Harkness. Will was a tall handsome man who served for awhile as a sheriff. He reminds me a lot of Eldon Neves.
If I remember the story correctly, Will Harkness had lots of brown hair but as sometimes occurs he had a contrasting moustache. One day Will decided that he was going to have his red moustache dyed brown to match his hair. When he got home from the barbershop with his brown moustache, instead of running to meet their dad, his children fled in terror. They cried and wanted to know where their real father was. The next day Will returned to the barbershop to have his facial hair returned to its original color.

Several years ago, I had a chance to visit with Muriel's brother Archie. He was the last surviving sibling of her family. Since it had been years since Mom had told me about the moustache, I asked him about his memories and he told me he didn't recognize the story. I have a feeling though that my vague memory of this story of Will Harkness is true. His tiny dark haired wife always said that he was the most handsome man in the world.