Stories from Mimi

I recently came across a card from Mimi Collier where I had asked her to send me some family stories from the past. This is what I received



I thought I would send you the things I could think of but it takes so long to write them down. Well here are three I wrote down.



When my grandson Steve was at our house he said he was hungry so I put a toaster and one loaf of bread and oleo on the bar in the kitchen. Well after 12 slices of toast he had finished and was not hungry any more.



When my son took us fishing at a lake in Indiana I threw in my line and right away I had a bite and my fishing pole went down. I thought I had a big fish but I brought in a 17 lb. turtle. Sonny and Frank took it where they had a turtle soup dinner once a year.



This one is a classic



One day my sink stopped up and I plunged all day trying to get it open. Dad went to a meeting and said he would get it open when he came home. I heard him at the door and I leaned over the sink and said "please Jesus open my sink and there was a loud sucking noise and it was all gone. Frank said I was white as a sheet.



For the great, great grandchildren of Mimi Collier for whom this is written great great grandma Mimi was a woman who belived in prayer. May she rest in peace.

Another happy and joyful Christmas Eve filled with many memories at the Collier Home.

Once again the family and friends gathered at our home to celebrate on Christmas Eve. This has been the tradition for many years. Friends of our children and grandchildren are always welcome and it has been more of an open house than a family gathering.

This year we were blessed with a surprise visit by our Granddaughter Bridget Underwood. She flew into Columbus Ohio to visit with a girl friend and contacted another Granddaughter Valerie who also lives in Ohio and rode with them to Indianapolis and came to Brownsburg with our daughter Teri for the evening. It was a great Christmas present to see her.

We also had as our guest Brett's relatives Leonard and Sherril Berry. They are a delightful couple and we were honored to have them with us.. I believe Sherril is the sister of Brett's grandmother but not positive about that.

We missed Mike and Renae and Kris and Earl. Perhaps next year.

The evening is always filled with visiting, stories, some gift exchanging and lots of good food and some singing.

Already looking forward to next year.

Right now on Christmas night we are awaiting the birth of Brett and Laura's second child. Another Greatgrandson to add to the list. It is now ten p.m. and Laura is at the hospital. Questionable as to whether or not he will be a Christmas baby.

Remember to Love much, Laugh often and Live happy

Friday December 3, 2010

Rejoined the New Horizons Band today. I had started with this band in 1994 and learned to be a percussionist. Played with the band until 2006 and left because of taking a job driving for Link, a public transportation system here in Hendricks County. I have missed the band and decided to go back now that I am no longer employed. This is the first time since I retired as an Air Traffic Controller in 1982 that I have not had a job or been looking for one

THANKSGIVING 2010

Once again part of the family gathered for the Thanksgiving holiday. It has been a tradition for many years for those who age able to gather together for this holiday. In past years beside meeting in various homes we have gathered in Gatlinburg Tn on two occasions. In the earlier years when the grandchildren were young there were times when the whole family was present. When they got older , went to school and had jobs it became impossible for 100% attendance. Who ever could make it did.

This year we decided to go to a restaurant in Indianapolis. Our daughter Teri made the reservations for six. It was going to be Grandma and I, our son Scott, Teri and two of her friends. As it turned out our son Mike from Long Beach Ms called and asked what we were doing for Thanksgiving. I told him what was planned. He then told me that the two friends of Teri's was actually he and his lovely wife were the two friends of Teri's. There showing up was supposed to be a surprise but he wanted to know if our bed in the family room where they always stayed was going to be available. He thought he better call ahead. I had to tell him that we no longer had the couch that made into a bed as we had given it to Steve, our son who lives in Metamora. They have a shop there and when Grandma and I go down to visit we use that for our sleeping quarters. He said that was ok and they would stay with Teri. As it turned out they stayed with our son Dan who had an apartment in his home that had been used by his mother-in-law who had passed away several weeks before. Mike and Renae came to our house upon arriving in Brownsburg and we visited for the evening before they went to Dan's

Thursday we went to dinner at one p.m. As we sat down at our table for eight (remember it was supposed to be six) We were wondering what was going on when who should appear, our son Steve and his lovely wife Brenda. We were all surprised except Teri who had planned the whole thing

We enjoyed a very nice Thanksgiving dinner and visited for several hours. After dinner Steve an Brenda had to return to Metamora to their shop because the next day was the first day of the Christmas shopping experience and they had to open up.

The rest of us went to our granddaughter's house. She and her husband had fixed dinned for her her family and Bretts family. She had asked us to come over after dinner for dessert. We had a very happy visit and it made for the end of a very enjoyable day.

The following day , Friday some of the family women were going shopping and Grandma and I and Mike and Renae decided That we would drive to Metamora and surprise Steve and Brenda with a visit. Turnaround is fair play and Mike and Renae had not seen their new shop.

On the way down we decided to make a stop at the casino. Good decision I won some money which was enough to offset Grandma's loss with a little left over. Mike and Renae left a little richer too.

We travelled to Metamora and visited for about an hour, Visiting was difficult because Steve and Brenda had to work taking care of business.

We drove back to Indianapolis as we had been invited to Teri"s for supper. We had turkey enchiladas and black beans. Had a nice visit and returned to Brownsburg about eight o'clock. Visited with Mike and Renae for another hour or so and then retired

Mike and Renae came over about eight thirty the next (Sat) morning and we had breakfast. Visited about an hour and they departed for Long Beach Ms.

This was just the latest in a long line of holiday vacations our family has had. Everyone has memories. It is my hope that down the years in the future this side of the Collier clan will be gathering somewhere to celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas. I know that sometimes it has been a real sacrifice to attend a family gathering from a distance but I hope you have found it as much of a blessing as I have. Looking forward to next time. A wedding I believe. Yep we celebrate those to.

IRAQ THE MODEL

IRAQ THE MODEL

To all the GGK's (Great great grandkids.

As I write this there are none of you GGK's are old enough to read it. It is my hope that someday you will.

I have been thinking of my Great grand father recently. His name was John Wesley Collier. He would be your GGGG grandfather. He was born in March 1855 in southern Missouri. I have been thinking how great it would be to read something he wrote when he was my age (74). That would have been written in 1929 which was quite a historic year in U.S. history. What would he have said about his life, about the kind of work he did or what did he enjoy doing just for fun

He would have been 6 years old at the start of the civil war so he probably would not have known much about that. I was 6 years old at the beginning of WWII. I don't remember much about the war but I do remember selling newspapers on the corner of Page Ave. and Pennsylvania Ave. in Pagedale Mo. and shouting out something like "War ends, Japan surrenders". I would have been 10 years old. Thats the way you sold newspapers at that time. You shouted out the headlines and people would stop their car and buy a newspaper.

Anyway back to GGP John. I have done some genealogy work but I do not know when he died. I believe he lived in Maries County MO. Some material I have gathered from the Library at St. James MO. I have more info for anyone who is reading this now and would like to pursue the Collier family line.

John was married to Louise Crabtree who I believe was at least part Cherokee Indian if not full blooded. I can remember many years ago seeing a picture belonging to one of my aunts and uncles of a full blooded Indian who was a member of the family.

It really is to bad that I did not get to know my GGF. I did not know my GF either as he was killed when I was one year old. Right now all 10 of you are very young. Do to the distance we live apart from one another it is likely we will not see much of each other. I hope that if the good Lord should see fit for me to hang around for another 15 or 20 years we can have some time together. There will be so many changes that I do not have any idea how you receive this information

If GGP John had did what I am doing right now he would probably have written it by hand, then it would have been typed on a typewriter. transferred to a 8 or 16mm film, then to a cassette tape, then to a CD then to a computer. There are probably some steps in between that I have missed.

It has always been my intention to pass some things along for you to know what it was like during the last half of the 20Th century. I am going to make a serious effort to continue to do this. In the meantime remember to

LAUGH OFTEN, LIVE LONG and LOVE MUCH.

They guard our home each Christmas. Who is going to fool with this crew around ?

Today I am going to give you a tip on how to feel 20-25 years younger. If you are 40 yr. old or younger you probably will not be interested so you can go on to something else.

The only thing you will need is a chair. Probably a recliner would be best. For several years now, when I get up out of my recliner I do a little grunting and groaning as I try to get all the pieces working right. I am 74 yr.old and it's almost like I am practicing on how I will be able to get out of this chair when I am 75.

The other day I was thinking "I wonder if I could get out of this chair without making any noises". I thought I would give it a try. I psyched myself up and told myself I was 50 years old and I was going to do what I called a "no grunt getup"

Guess what! I hopped out of that chair in no time at all just like I did when I was 50. Maybe 40!!!
It really felt good. Now I just make each one a no grunt getup and it feels great. I am also working on no grunt sit downs. You see I was also grunting and making noises when I sat down.

Now I will say that occasionally I regress and maybe make a small grunt when sitting or standing. but probably in time I will be making no grunt sits and stands 100% of the time.

I don't know what the moral of this story is but what comes to mind is "it's all in your head"

Have a great morning, afternoon or evening depending when you are reading this.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN ?

It has been a long time since my last post. My intentions are always good, but we all know about good intentions ! There has been a lot of things happening since my last time here

Probably the most important thing has been the election of a new president. You are probably all aware of the fact that I did not vote for President Obama. I have had many thoughts both before and after the election. I have meant to share these thoughts here in this publication. I know there are some in the family who do not share my thoughts and while I have sent a few emails over the past year I did not want to burden these family members with having to wear out the DEL button on there computers.

As I said I have meant to put these thoughts here where you could go if you wanted to , did not gettoit. (why do we have to bother separating words with spaces).

Anyway I have had fears of what this President is going to do us. Not me so much as my grand children and those who come after.

I believe their lives are going to be very much controlled by the government. I believe they are going to be told how they are to live, how much energy they can use, what doctors to use, what medical procedures they can have, how much they can travel and maybe where they can go. This may seem beyond our imagination now and we may question how it can be done. How about if you have to have a card to buy gas and you are only allowed 10 gal.per week. T his would make it very hard for us to visit Mike and Kris and their families

I forsee a day , maybe in my lifetime when I may need an expensive medical procedure and be told "Frank you are 80 yr. old and not eligible for this heart surgery". I transport many people now to and from dialysis treatments. Most of these people would die within 7-10 days without this procedure. This will probably be covered in the 1990 page medical before the senate. It already has been passed by the house of representatives.

I have already typed to long and my butt is ready to get out of this chair. Hope to be back in something less than a year.

Pre Hospital

Monday morning the day before going to the hospital for eye surgery. After the eye surgery I will have to remain in a face down position for 24 hr. per day for eight days. I have been practicing this for several days now (part time) qnd I can tell this aint going to be no picnic. My main worry is that I will forget and raise my head and do something that will hurt the healing process.

They will remove all of the fluid in my eye, I forget what they call this fluid, and replace it with a gas bubble. This gas bubble will exert pressure against the back inside wall of the eyeball which will cover the hole that is causing the problem. This is called a macular hole if you want to look it up in Google. The healing process takes the first eight days, Complete healing over the next 5-6 months. As gas rises to the top it is necessary to keep the head down for the entire eight days to keep the bubble in place. Thats it in a nutshell. Will write abuot it after it's over.

Passing on

My friend who I wrote about last Tuesday passed on to be with the Lord on Thursday. I am thankful for the time I had with him on Wed. to pray the Rosary with him. I hope this was as good for him as it was for me. RIP good friend.

Breakfast with Dan

Had breakfast with Dan on Friday morning. Always an enjoyable time. We don't get to do it often enough do to the difficulty of getting our schedules together. We met at 6am which was a good time for both of us. I always hate it when Dan calls about getting together and I have something else scheduled. It makes me think of the song "The cats in the cradle". How many times over the years have I said no to the kids because of having to do something else ?

Sat. morning I picked up the visiting priest who is coming in to help for the weekend. His name is Fr. Bob White and he comes to speak for "Food for the Poor" We took him out for supper after 5;30 mass and had a nice visit. I will be taking him back to the airport after noon mass.
LIVE HAPPY, LAUGH OFTEN, LOVE a BUNCH

Sad Day

Today has been a sad day for me. I visited a friend of mine who I have known for 40 + years. I kind of lost touch with him only seeing him occasionally in church. About a year ago I started a driving job and came back in touch with him. He was going to dialysis treatments 3 times a week.

He was living in a nursing home along with his wife who was suffering from alzimiers. He and his wife were in separate rooms. Recently he was diagnosed with cancer. I drove him to dialysis last week and we had a good conversation. Yesterday I heard he had decided to take himself off of dialysis. I have seen this happen four times in the last year and no one has lived longer that 1 week.

I went to visit him today and it was impossible to communicate with him. He was trying to but his words were unintelligible. He was sitting in his wheelchair, not facing his TV. His wife was in his room in the other bed in a comatose state. He was able to indicate to me that he was not in pain. I asked him if he wanted to say a prayer and he took both of my hands with a great deal of strength.

I will be suprised if he is alive longer than 3 more days, but who knows what the Lord's plan is. God bless you and keep you brother.

Saw the movie "Charlie Wilson's War" today. Excllent movie especially since it is basically a true story with some liberties taken I suppose. Charlie is a congressman from Texas who is responsible for securing funding from congress to provide weapons to the Afgan army to allow them to shoot down helicopters and destroy tanks to defeat the Russians in the early 1980's.

If you think one man and one woman cannot make a difference see this movie. We all make fun of our politicians and their tactics during the elections. We ,in many instinces, do not recognize that they are running the country and it is in pretty good shape right now. Maybe this is in spite of them rather than because of them . I don't know but nevertheless it is a fact.

I hope you have seen or can see the movie.

Quiet three days

It has been a pretty quiet three days since last post. Friday I did music at the senior center. This is a regular Friday night gig. Me and my drums and six guitars. We play from 6 to 9 pm.

Saturday worked on some music and got a haircut. Spent the rest of the day relaxing. Today went to Mass and had an enjoyable lunch with Dan & Susan.

Have to work tomorrow the last day of the year. We are having Ray & Linda Smith over for New Years Eve. Will probably play pinocle and have some shrimp , pizza and BBQ chicken wings. Pretty low key but we will feel great on New Years Day.

So much for 2007. We will see you next year. Meanwhile

Live Long, Laugh often and Love a Whole Bunch

Where have I been ?

Christmas has passed and it is now Dec 27. It has been almost 2 months since my last post. I am sure a lot has happened since then but most of it has probably skipped my mind. We have just celebrated another great gathering of much of the Collier family. Those who were not here were sorely missed. It has not been that long since the gathering at Thanksgiving but each one is special.
We have had an addition to the family. Valerie and Nick presented us with the first great, great granddaughter joining Ethan in the Great Great category. How long will it be until they can both join us at the family get togethers along with number 3 great who will be another great great granddaughter, daughter of Amanda and Erik. The 4th generation is off to a fine start.

Once again I promise to try and be more faithful to my publishing. I suppose that could be a New Years resolution.

This is where I attended K and 1st grade. It is on Robbins Ave just down the street where all the Colliers lived

This is where I had my first job. I think I was about 12 or 13 and this was a drive in restaurant. This is not the original however. It burned down and was rebuilt. It is actually next to the garage Dad owned seoarated by a creek where we used to shoot rats with BB guns.

This is where the family moved after I went is the Air Force. The house was built by my Grandfather with the root celler in the front being dug by hand. Grandma Collier (Margaret) lived upstairs until she died. I was 14 then and that is the only place she lived during my childhood. My grandfather died when I was one year old so I never knew him. Immediately to the right of this house was another small house separated by a eight foot driveway. This house was rented by my Aunt Regina and Uncle Teak.