U is for…

…Uncle Don (and Aunt Ruth). They were my great-uncle and aunt, and had no children of their own. When Dearest Sister and I came along, several other generations of nieces and nephews had already passed in and through their lives. We may have been about the last to really spend time with them at their place. And, for us, at least, they were like grandparents.

Their place was the house built by my great grandfather, the family homestead, a four story Victorian, about 4 miles outside Greensburg, in Kiowa County, Kansas. I don’t remember calling it anything but Aunt Ruth and Uncle Don’s. All my friends called it Aunt Ruth and Uncle Don’s! (It’s completely gone now.)

My mother was widowed at 41, in 1959. She returned to her hometown, with her five kids, ranging in age from 2 to 18. The older three, teenagers mostly, made their way through high school, and left home, shortly thereafter. Dearest Sister and I were only 2 and 4. We took more work. Looking back…I would say considerably more work!

Enter Uncle Don and Aunt Ruth. They were there to help Momma out in many, many ways. We stayed with them in the big, old farmhouse while the little house Momma purchased was made habitable. Uncle Don picked me up and took me to school almost every morning, after dropping off Aunt Ruth at the high school cafeteria, where she worked. There were many weekends Dearest Sister and I spent at the farm, with Uncle Don and Aunt Ruth, giving Momma a much needed break. And every Sunday noon, there was dinner at Aunt Ruth and Uncle Don’s. Every. Sunday. (‘Mom, can’t we just stay home this once? Pleeeeeeease?’ What would I give for one of those afternoons now.)

Dearest Sister and I both remember Uncle Don taking us for grilled cheese sandwiches at a local eatery, called Daisy’s. We never had to clean up our plate for Uncle Don, and he would still buy us Butterfingers!

Uncle Don was a champion domino player! He could add those spots up faster than anyone I knew. Of course, I really didn’t know very many people who added up spots on dominoes, because I was not allowed in the snooker parlor, where he played. Dearest Sister has told me, however, she was. She has stories!!

He also loved professional baseball. However, living in southwestern Kansas, on a farm, waaaaaaaay before cable, their TV received only one station. Two, if the weather was just right. None, if someone was vacuuming or running the mixer in the kitchen. In short, there was precious little baseball to be watched on TV. I remember Uncle Don, in his rocker, listening to baseball on the radio. And wondering how in the world he knew what they were talking about! It sounded like so much gibberish to me.

Uncle Don was born in 1900, so it was always easy to figure out exactly how old he was.

He was also a diabetic, diagnosed as a child, before insulin. Diabetics were not expected to live much past adulthood before the use of insulin to treat diabetes. In 1923, insulin became available for use. As with many drugs, it was a little rugged at first to use insulin. He gave himself the daily injections, and his black case with glass syringe fascinated me. His eyes became very sensitive to light, and he always wore tinted glasses. There were other prices paid, but the bottom line was he lived to see age 76. That was a miracle for the diagnosis he received as a child in the early 1900’s.

Some of my very best memories growing up come from Uncle Don and Aunt Ruth, and their house.