Decoration Day

Decoration Day

One by one, we abandon traditions, leaving the past behind. It’s sad, because, although we shouldn’t live in the past, we need a sense of continuity. There is something comforting about following patterns, about observing practices that have been carried down through generations. It gives me a connection to my ancestors. Decoration Day, always the […]

Wild Onions

Wild Onions

    The following is by my mother, Susie Latty Day. She tells about hunting for wild onions when she was a girl at Etta, many years ago. “On a farm, each season brings its celebration of particular events. When my sisters and I were young girls, we particularly looked forward to the coming of […]

That Special Person

A renowned evangelist once said that within each person is a God-shaped space. Although we may try to fill that space with other things, nothing but God brings satisfaction.  I believe the same is true of mothers. A mother is the person who gives birth to a child or adopts the child and loves her as her own. Love and selfless dedication define […]

The Merciless Wind, Part II

The Merciless Wind, Part II

  This is the second and final installment of my May 5, 1985 Daily Press article about the tornado which destroyed Peggs, Oklahoma on May 2, 1920. In 1920, Walter Neel lived with his parents, brothers and sisters on the Gid Morgan farm, two and a fourth miles southeast of Peggs. The storm went a […]

The Merciless Wind, Part I

The Merciless Wind, Part I

Since this is the 100 year anniversary of the Peggs tornado, and although I re-published it last year at this time, I do so again today. For a time, I wrote feature stories for The Tahlequah Daily Press. On May 5, 1985, The Press published an article I wrote about the tornado that destroyed Peggs, […]

The Birthday of a Master

The Birthday of a Master

  For goodness sake, it is not a foregone conclusion that all is doom and gloom. I refuse to budge an inch from my belief that all will be well.  All the phrases in italics are attributed to William Shakespeare, that great master of words, who was born on this day in 1564 and died on this day […]