Gary called last night to tell me Aunt Shirley died in the nursing home. It was long expected. She wanted to die so it was a blessing. She was 92.
She was the last of that generation. Her brothers George and Dwight (Gary's father) went before her.
This week Gary told me about rural postal delivery which began 110 years ago. Before that farmers had to take their horses and buggies into the nearest town to get their mail. The Harms family have been on the farm for around 150 years, so they were among those who were first getting that rural delivery and have been postal customers all those years. Until Thursday, that is, when Gary and his sister suspended their delivery. Mail will now be forwarded to Kathe.
The telephone was cut off earlier in the week. The only calls lately were from telemarketers who like to prey on the elderly.
So now Gary has finished his work on the farm. When the funeral service is done, he is done. The farm will be watched over by the Reevers, the farmers who have been renting the land for so long. In time, the farm will be sold.
At one time, Gary's father thought that Gary should go back to the farm and carry on the Harms tradition, but I told him to do that, he would have to procreate and at his age, that is probably not something he wants to do. I certainly wouldn't be in that equation!
Gary has wonderful memories of time spent on that farm, but these days he loves Wisconsin more, especially the wild north woods. Flat Illinois farms no longer charm him.
So I leave tomorrow to spend a week there, to walk the fields with him, to look at his boyhood haunts.
After the funeral we'll head north. At the welcome center at the Illinois/Wisconsin border, he'll get out of his van, kneel down and kiss the ground. Then we will come home, because this house is now his home. This state is where he belongs.
She was the last of that generation. Her brothers George and Dwight (Gary's father) went before her.
This week Gary told me about rural postal delivery which began 110 years ago. Before that farmers had to take their horses and buggies into the nearest town to get their mail. The Harms family have been on the farm for around 150 years, so they were among those who were first getting that rural delivery and have been postal customers all those years. Until Thursday, that is, when Gary and his sister suspended their delivery. Mail will now be forwarded to Kathe.
The telephone was cut off earlier in the week. The only calls lately were from telemarketers who like to prey on the elderly.
So now Gary has finished his work on the farm. When the funeral service is done, he is done. The farm will be watched over by the Reevers, the farmers who have been renting the land for so long. In time, the farm will be sold.
At one time, Gary's father thought that Gary should go back to the farm and carry on the Harms tradition, but I told him to do that, he would have to procreate and at his age, that is probably not something he wants to do. I certainly wouldn't be in that equation!
Gary has wonderful memories of time spent on that farm, but these days he loves Wisconsin more, especially the wild north woods. Flat Illinois farms no longer charm him.
So I leave tomorrow to spend a week there, to walk the fields with him, to look at his boyhood haunts.
After the funeral we'll head north. At the welcome center at the Illinois/Wisconsin border, he'll get out of his van, kneel down and kiss the ground. Then we will come home, because this house is now his home. This state is where he belongs.
No comments:
Post a Comment