Joy Neal Kidney's Blog, page 63

Gold Star Mothers

When an active-duty service member dies, his or her mother automatically becomes a Gold Star Mother. It’s a distinction that no mother wants, but it’s one they wear proudly.

The tradition of the Gold Star began during World War II. Even during World War I, a blue star was used on service flags and hung in homes and businesses to represent each living active-duty member. If a son or daughter were killed in combat, the gold star was superimposed on the blue star to honor the person for his ultimate sacrifice to the country. Eventually, the mothers of those fallen service members became known as Gold Star Mothers, and their families Gold Star Families.

Gold Star Mother’s Day is observed in the United States on the last Sunday of September each year.

Leora Wilson, probably late 1940s

I grew up with a Gold Star Grandma, Leora Goff Wilson. She wore that pin often. Three Gold Stars had been pasted over the five blue ones in the service flag that hung in her rural home.

It’s hard to realize the loss of one son, but she lost all three three within two years.

Guthrie Center Gold Star Mothers. Leora Wilson is second from the left.

These mothers lived with their terrible losses the rest of their lives, remembering long-ago details and dates of those heart-rending telegrams.

Leora’s Early Stories–Need Help With Working Title and Cover Photo

I’ve been thinking about Leora’s early stories, even about what it might be called and an iconic photo for the cover. It will be the first in the “Leora’s Stories” series, even though it’s being written last.

That WWII story, well, it needed to be first.

Some of the episodes in the book will include having Indians (Santee Sioux) come to trade when Leora’s father Sherd wasn’t home (Leora was about 5)–NE Nebraska. Sherd “went bust” there and also at Key West, in NW Minnesota.

Riding a horse to piano lessons (Audubon County, Iowa), graduating from 8th grade (Sherd wouldn’t let his older children go to high school), and attending sewing school in Exira.

The rest of the book is set in Guthrie County, Iowa, where both Clabe and Leora were born and grew up. And eventually met.

I plan to weave Clabe’s growing up years with hers. Their childhoods and personalities were so different. I’m just going to have to imagine their first meeting. (I do know where and when it occurred.)

Taken in front of Clabe’s mother’s house, Panora, Iowa, 1914 or 1915

It’ll also include their marriage, births of the first six children, taking care of the popcorn farm of Leora’s brothers when they were drafted and sent off to fight in France, the misery of the influenza pandemic, Clabe’s job as a night watchman after the one before him was killed in a bank robbery attempt.

Clabe and Leora, 1917, with Donald and Delbert

Also the Victorian house Leora’s parents and siblings lived in in Guthrie Center, and traveling there and back on the Liza Jane branch train.

It will end on a farm SW of Dexter, tenant farmers, where Junior is born and things are at least more secure.

Back: Doris, Donald, and Delbert. Twins Dale and Darlene are in front. Stuart, Iowa 1922Doris, Donald, and Delbert Wilson is Mrs. Knox’s ferns, next door. Stuart, Iowa, about 1921Delbert, Doris, and Donald ready for Sunday School (Presbyterian Church in those days), Easter Sunday 1925, SE of Dexter Iowa. Leora made Doris’s pale green pongee dress. She lost the cherries on her hat when she wore them on the giant strides at school recess.

 

Too many people for the cover, but I like it that Clabe is holding baby Junior, born in early July. Clabe was good with his kids, especially his sons. August 30, 1925, Doris Wilson’s birthday.

Do you have a favorite photo for the cover?

I want the title to begin with the name Leora, but can’t decide on a working title:

Leora’s Guthrie County Years: Childhood and Meeting Clabe

Leora’s Early Years: Meeting Clabe in Monteith

Leora’s Early History: Clabe Joins the Story

Help!

 

Mom’s Black Walnut Chocolate Drop Cookies

My mother loved black walnuts. Whenever she got to Des Moines, this farmwife liked to shop at Campbell’s Nutrition. She knew they’d have bold-flavored black walnuts. Most local stores only carried the more bland English walnuts.

Mom often baked and frosted dozens of her soft black walnut chocolate cookies. She’d freeze cakepans full of them.

I couldn’t find the recipe in her own handwriting, but she often used recipes from the Meta Given’s Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking, first published in 1947. Baking cookies in those days was certainly labor-intensive!

Sift flour, measure, resift four times with salt and soda. Put brown sugar through coarse sieve to remove lumps. Put chocolate in large custard cup in hot water to melt, then cool. Cream shortening, add sugar gradually and cream well together. Stir in vanilla. Beat in egg until fluffy, then beat in cooled chocolate.

Add flour mixture and milk alternately in 3 or 4 portions, beating smooth after each addition. Stir in nuts. Drop from dessert spoon into neat mounds on lightly-greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees about 10 minutes. Don’t overbake. Let stand on sheet a minute before removing to cake racks to cool.

When barely cool, swirl chocolate icing over tops. Let stand until icing is firm. Store 1-layer deep in a covered container. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Measure butter into 2-quart mixing bowl and let stand over hot water to melt. Put chocolate in large custard cup and set in hot water to melt, then cool. Add xxxx (powdered) sugar alternately with cream to melted butter, beating until smooth after each addition. Beat in vanilla, then chocolate, egg yolk, and syrup until smooth and shiny. Enough for 3 dozen cookies. 

—–

Mom’s taste for black walnuts went back to the Great Depression, maybe earlier. The Wilson family would gather them in the timber in Guthrie or Dallas County, then dry them outside. Her dad, Clabe, would run the Model T truck over the green husks to loosen them, making them easier to shuck. Under those husks, which would leave dark stains on their skin, were the hard shells that still needed cracked to pick out the earthy bittersweet nutmeats.

When Doris (Mom) was in high school, the family had a pet squirrel one summer. In the fall, Rusty began to spend less time with them, but he’d show up when Doris cracked walnuts on the back step. He was smart enough to help himself to the ones she’d already managed to open.

Leora’s Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression

Rusty is on the fender of the Wilsons’ Model T roaster, featured on the cover of the book. Junior, the youngest brother, is looking down at him.

 

Five Surprising Things about Author Lee Warren

Lee Warren’s surprising answers:

I’m not a fan of summer. In fact, on the first day of spring, I start the countdown to fall. Fall is my favorite season. Winter is a close second.I accidentally put pepper on pudding once and discovered I really like it!Speaking of food, I prefer to refrigerate everything, including bread, chips, peanut butter and Pop-Tarts.In the late 1980s, I had long hair with bleached tips on the end. But don’t refer to it as a mullet! Those are fighting words. I like chick flicks. Yes, they are sappy and sometimes cheesy. But I like a little cheese on my sappiness.

—–

Well, this pepper-pudding fan who loves autumn is an observant and prolific writer. He writes contemplative essays and Christian devotional books, as well as inspirational Christmas novellas. I’ve especially enjoyed his “Finding Common Grounds” essays (yes, set in coffee shops) and devotional called Finishing Well, but I’m featuring his winsome and thought-provoking Mercy Inn Series.

Mercy Inn is a sweet Christmas story, set in southern Colorado during a snowstorm. Three individuals are stranded at an inn, whose owners love having “stragglers” at Christmas time. One tradition is asking each other a series of compelling questions from a set of cards used from year to year. Of course, they lose electricity and all have to stay in the lodge, deepening friendships and gleaning insights into their own lives. Sometimes you just need to slow down enough to find truth and a more positive way forward.

The short story Comeback follows the career of one of the characters from Mercy Inn. It provides a satisfying conclusion to her narrative.

Since it’s about a class reunion, The Reunion has several characters to keep track of. The ex-husband with a gun was off-putting at first, but I eventually bought into his character as well. I enjoyed getting reacquainted with the proprietors of the inn, who are more than just inn-keepers, as well as their “Nicebreaker” game.

The Revelation is the last of the charming Mercy Inn stories. There are fewer characters in this one, each with a unique and compelling backstory. They choose to spend Christmas with total strangers. The fascinating innkeepers are back, along with their “Nicebreaker” game. Tempers flare when generations clash, but each individual comes to terms with the idea that when heaven shows up, you pay attention. A website that only some people can view? Really? What if angels really are real?

You may find all of Lee’s books on his Amazon Author Page.

And you might like to have a look at his website. His looked-forward-to newsletter is always thoughtful and includes ideas from other sources.

Um, Lee, what would you call that hair style if not a mullet?

The Goff Kids wear William Jennings Bryan Campaign Caps to School

Milton Sheridan “Sherd” and Laura Goff of Guthrie County, Iowa, moved to Nebraska, about 1893, with three small children– Leora, Merl, and Wayne. Extensive newspaper flyers promised plentiful land near the new town of Bloomfield.

Wayne, Leora, and Merl Goff, about 1893

Georgia Goff was born there in 1894, the same year that William Jennings Bryan became editor of the Omaha World Herald.

Jennings Bryan Goff was born in 1896.

“In Nebraska, I remember when brother Jennings was born,” Leora Wilson wrote in her memoir. “We were sent to the neighbor’s, a quarter mile away, to play. We were returning home in the evening and we met an aunt of Pa’s, Emma Barnes. She told us to hurry on home, we had a baby brother. It was a nice day, the 21st of January, 1896. I remember it was warm and there was no snow in Nebraska then.”

Baby Jennings Bryan Goff was indeed named for the lawyer and “golden-tongued orator.” This man with a heart for farmers and free silver, and against the greed of the railroads, had moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1887, at age 27. Interested in politics, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1890 (the year Leora was born), and reelected two years later.

Goff’s “went bust” after only two years, but so did the Bloomfield Bank. Drought. The Goffs moved back to Iowa with five children.

Leora attended first grade in the town of Stuart. Her father was still a fan of the Nebraska politician. More from her memoirs: “In 1896, William Jennings Bryan was nominated on the Democratic ticket for President. He was nominated 3 times but never won election. He was a good orator and statesman. . . . When Bryan campaigned, Merl, Wayne, and I wore Bryan caps. My father was a Democrat and he bought the caps. I remember wearing my Bryan cap to school.”

A folded-paper Bryan capCampaign ad

It’s interesting to note that as an adult, Jennings Bryan Goff went by J.B. Goff.

J.B. Goff, March 12, 1919, still in France after the Great War

 

My five best books of surprising stories about the Great Depression

Shepherd.com is a fairly new website and an exciting new way to share books–for readers as well as for a way for authors to share their own books.

The concept is for an author to feature his/her book, and also recommend five related books. Since I featured Leora’s Dexter Stories, I chose books of surprising stories about the Great Depression.

Here are the ones I recommended:

Joe Dew: A Glorious Life by Elaine Briggs

This is Grant Wood Country by Joan Liffrug-Zug

Cinderella Man: James J. Braddock, Max Baer, and the Greatest Upset in Boxing History by Jeremy Schaap

The WPA Guide to 1930s Iowa by Federal Writers Project

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown

Here’s the link to the post on Shepherd.com, where I explain why I chose those specific books.

If you’re an avid reader, check out their website. If you’re also an author, you’ll want to know about their author page.

September 11, 2001

September 11, 2001. An email from Jorja alerted me to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I turned on TV and watched in horror, with a heating pad against my right side.

Shingles.

The doctor didn’t change his mind when I informed him that I wasn’t old enough for shingles. I endured the misery nevertheless.

My husband Guy was an air traffic controller at the Des Moines tower. He covered his shift, even though airports were closed across the nation. The control towers were manned, just in case.

That afternoon I stepped out on the front porch. Our suburban neighborhood was eerily still. Even freeway traffic was faint on that Tuesday, and there was no aircraft at all.

I noticed one large plane to the north headed east. Later I learned it was Air Force One, with the president on his way from U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base (STRATCOM) in Omaha, Nebraska, to Washington, DC, to address the nation.

It was such an uncertain time, nationally and personally.

Remembering the 3000 lives lost and their families still in mourning.

 

My Third Anniversary with Our American Stories

Our American Stories was launched in Oxford, Mississippi, in 2016. Two years later, WHO Newsradio 1040 in Des Moines began broadcasting it from 10 p.m. to midnight.

I wasn’t happy at first because it was replacing a program that had included author interviews. (If they were talking politics instead, I switched it off.)

But this new program promised stories with out politics. Hmm, I had to give it a listen. I was a fan from the very first broadcast. Then I heard, “Send a picture and a paragraph and we’ll put your story on the air.”

Sure they would.

But I pitched my first story, about the central Iowa family who lost three sons during WWII. They asked me to record it for them!

I panicked. I contacted Mike Dorwart, WHO’s Program Director, about how to accomplish that. Download an app, he said. So I downloaded my first app and got the story recorded.

Three years ago, on September 10, 2018, Mike sent a note that my story, “Family Sends Five Sons to War” would be aired that evening.

My second story was broadcast that November, about how surprised at learning my Uncle Don was WWII hero. I struggled with fibromyalgia and did only one for them in all of 2019, about “Reconciling Dad.”

Then in 2020, Montie Montgomery produced five of them. Working with this young man has been a delight! He’s done four of them this year.

We got to meet OAS founder Lee Habeeb (on the left) and producer Montie Montgomery (right) in July when they held an Our Iowa Stories evening here in Iowa!

There’s an Our American Stories category here on my website.

If you have a story you’d like to share with OAS, check them out. Here’s where to submit your idea. (The link at the top leads you to a short compelling video that shows what they’re about.)

 

Kansas City Quartermaster Depot

Dale Wilson

A few days after Clabe and Leora Wilson got a telegram notifying them that their son Dale was Missing in Action in New Guinea, this letter from his squadron arrived at the Minburn farm:

“One of the saddest duties that I have been called on to perform during my Army service is to notify you that your son, 2nd Lieutenant DALE R. WILSON, has been missing in action since November 27, 1943. The aircraft in which he was Co-pilot was engaged by the enemy and forced down over enemy territory somewhere in the Southwest Pacific Area after having accomplished its Mission in an excellent manner. . . . 

“You, no doubt will desire Dale’s effects. These have been inventoried and will be retained here for a period of ninety days, after which they will be sent to the Effects Quartermaster, Kansas City Quartermaster Depot, Kansas City, Missouri, for forwarding to you. For further information regarding his effects, you are advised to communicate directly with the Effects Quartermaster.”

Those “personal effects” were turned over the end of January 1944 to the Graves Registration Officer in New Guinea, for forwarding to the Kansas City Quartermaster Depot.

Finally that August, a carton containing Dale Wilson’s things arrived at the Quartermaster Depot, assigned to Warehouse Space 306X.

They contacted the Wilsons to fill out forms so they could distribute their son’s belongings from New Guinea. “Thank you for the information furnished the Army Effects Bureau to enable disposition of personal effects belonging to your son, Second Lieutenant Dale. R. Wilson.

“I am enclosing a will and power of attorney received here with your son’s effects. The reminder of the property is being forwarded and should reach you in the near future.”

This was necessary so Dale’s parents would act as “gratuitous bailee in caring for them, pending the return of the owner,” and asked them to sign and return a copy of a receipt, indicating they would act in that capacity. 

Danny Wilson

After the Wilsons had moved to an acreage near Perry, they learned that son Danny was Missing in Action in early 1945. They received similar letters from the KCQM Depot. When the carton with Danny’s effects eventually arrived, they found clothes, his watch, a testament, and some souvenirs from Danny’s trip to the Army Air Force rest camp in Rome. And a small bell charm stamped “Capri” which his mother would wear it fastened to her watchband for decades.

Each person who served in the armed forces was given a New Testament. In the front is an inscription by President Roosevelt. The American flag is pictured on the opposite page. Danny had drawn an arrow pointing to the flag, and added in his neat bold handwriting, “I give everything for the country it stands for.”

KCQM Depot

Kansas City Quartermaster Depot building

At the end of 1940, Army Quartermaster activities formerly centered at the St. Louis Arsenal had been transferred to Kansas City. To this end the Government purchased a multi-story building at 601 Hardesty Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri. Formally opened on December 4, 1940, the Kansas City Quartermaster Depot purchased, inspected, and stored such standard Army Quartermaster supplies as clothing and foodstuffs.

It also served as a reception point for American war dead and operated an Effects Division, a Chemical Warfare Renovation Division, and an American Graves Registration Division.

I hunted for information about the KCQM Depot, without much luck. On a Kansas City history Facebook page, one person noted, “My grandmother worked there worked there, she was part of the team that would receive personal items and prepare them for return to the families. She said it was very depressing, but also very important that the items were cleaned and presentable, also that nothing that would cause embarrassment.”

Dale’s Diary

The copy has faded this inventory, dated September 25, 1944, lists a leather file case with stationary and letters, underwear, swimsuit, khaki shorts, a tie, 2 trousers, raincoat, ____, handkerchiefs, caps with visor and cover, socks, Red Cross kit, toilet apron with articles, sewing kit, case with misc. articles, pair of wings, zipper bag with misc. articles, 1 billfold with cards, papers, identification folder,  *1 diary (removed), briefcase with photos.

At the bottom is listed *1 Diary removed for duration.

Not listed was his Pilot’s Logbook. It was sent to his parents. If the officials had known that Dale had listed his combat missions in it, they likely would have also removed it “for the duration.”

Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II

Review of “Leora’s Dexter Stories” by Author D. C. Gilbert

BOOK REVIEWSAugust 29, 2021A Bit of Joy in Troubled Times Book Description

The undertow of the Great Depression becomes poignantly personal as we experience the travails of Leora and Clabe Wilson, a displaced Iowa farm family. Gritty determination fuels this family’s journey of loss and hope, a reflection of what many American families endured during those challenging times.

In this true story the Wilsons slowly slide into unemployment and poverty. Leora must find ways to keep her dreams alive while making a haven for her flock of seven children in one run-down house after another.

My Thoughts …

Author Joy Neal Kidney has done it again.

After enjoying her first book, Leora’s Letters, I ordered a signed copy from the author when Leora’s Dexter Stories was released. I was not disappointed.

In this amazing second book, Author Joy Neal Kidney shares the struggles, trials, and heartbreaks her family experienced during the Great Depression while living in rural small-town Iowa. Leora’s Dexter Stories is a touching and enlightening story of family, struggle, pain, perseverance, and success.

Joy is the oldest granddaughter of Leora Wilson, who in this true story, faces the daily challenges of keeping a roof over her family’s head, putting food on the table, dealing with tragic losses, and ensuring her seven children’s dreams of success remain in focus. Along with her husband, Clabe, Leora Wilson exemplify what so many American families endured during this difficult period in American history.

However, it was not all gloom and despair. There were also times of fellowship, caring friends and family; and yes, moments of joy. Family trips to the fair, children’s school sports activities and other accomplishments are recounted, as well as moments of humor and laughter (I loved Rusty the Squirrel). Leora’s Dexter Stories is a book that will touch your heart.

While not a collection of short stories, each chapter is short enough and so well crafted, the reader can easily read a them one at a time, and return later to continue with no trouble picking up where they left off. Because of vacation and a crisis at work, this is exactly how I read this book. However, at the same time, it is a book you will not want to put down.

I highly recommend this wonderful book. It is my opinion that this book should be required reading in America’s school systems. I can’t help but think that learning and remembering a bit of what the parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents of this current generation endured and sacrificed to provide them with the freedoms they take for granted, and a country they often misunderstand, would be a good thing.

About the Author

Joy Neal Kidney, is the oldest granddaughter of the book’s heroine, and is the author of Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss For an Iowa Family During World War II. She is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa and married to a Vietnam War Air Force veteran. Joy lives in central Iowa and is a regular storyteller for “Our American Stories.”

Review is by author D.C. Gilbert

DC Gilbert was born in Ilion, NY, but grew up in North Adams, Massachusetts, nestled in the heart of the Berkshire Mountains.

An avid reader, he particularly enjoys military history, epic sagas, spy novels, and historical fiction. In addition to serving in the U.S. Army from 1979 to 1983, Darren has over 33 years of martial arts training, including managing his own karate dojo for 12 years.

He has earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Tennessee and Western Governors University, respectively. Darren is also a graduate of Executive Security International’s Executive Protection Program and is a Certified Protection Specialist.

Author

As well as being an avid reader, DC Gilbert loves to write. His novels, Serpents Underfoot, and Montagnard, as well as a collection of true short stories, Adirondack Bear Tales, are all available from Amazon.com and are receiving great reviews.

Kirkus Reviews gave both Serpents Underfoot and Montagnard excellent reviews, and Montagnard received the Literary Titan Gold Book Award for August 2020. You can click on the title to read the review. Kirkus Reviews is the industry gold standard for book reviews.

Darren is a member of the Military Writers Society of America and the Knoxville Writers Guild.

Writing and Blogging

In addition to writing novels, Darren enjoys blogging and has been doing so for about 10 years. He posts information about his books and related activities, book reviews, food reviews, stuff about German Shepherds, short stories, pro-military stories, and occasional political musings on his blog.

Upcoming book …

Darren is currently working on the third installment in the JD Cordell action series called Reciprocity. This exciting third adventure will center around human trafficking and include a return to Thailand, a visit to the Philippines and Mexico, and of course, more thrilling action and martial arts!