Reclaimed Memories

roy had the lawn nicely graded and ready to begin the construction of the house before we left to go back to Virginia in the spring of 1984. Just before we planned to leave we had such a hard dashing rain that the grading he had done was a mess! We decided to lay sod to prevent the terrible washing of the soil. We both laid sod on April 9th until noon. Marion said he would lay the remainder and we left in the afternoon so tired we could scarcely hold our heads up. Hilda Calley prepared lunch for us that day and we stayed all night with Tut and Lyn in Palatka.

We spent the next night with the Harrises and the night of the 12th with Zylpha and Dan. We went on to Bland and Helen's for an overnight stay, and then on to Singers Glen after a visit with Virginia Thrash Chapman and her husband in Johnstown. This is the last place my Grandfather Thrash lived and Virginia lives on that farm, but in a different house.

On June 7th we took a bus tour to Washington with a senior citizens group. We had time to tour the capitol building before going to the Ford Theater, where Lincoln was shot, to see the play, 'Shiloh Hill." We got back home at 10:30 that night.

Gertrude Lytton and her daughter came from Staunton for the noon meal on the 13th. Rob and Lib Harris came on the weekend of June 16th. Bill Winfree was on vacation and Troy preached at both Singers Glen and Cherry Grove Churches on Sunday. Libby and Rob went with no to both services.

We left home early on Sept. 16th to attend the 100th anniversary of the Methodist Church in Johnstown, West Virginia. My grandfather had helped to build this nice brick church in the small settlement. The town was named for him and three other Johns who aided in its establishment and in the erection of the church. He and his second wife are buried in the church cemetery. My great-grandmother was the first wife and the mother of his first ten children. She is buried in Oldfield Cemetery, located on route 57 southwest of Philippi, West Virginia. Virginia Chapman is a descendant of the second marriage. The letter I have was written by my grandfather, Michael Thrash, to his half-brother who is Virginia's ancestor. We stayed overnight with the Chapmans that night.

The next morning we went to Fairmont to visit my first cousin, Amy Wilson, and from there to Bland's on September 18th. The next day Bland and Troy drove to Parkersburg to attend Stark Shoran's funeral. They got to see Stark's siblings, with whom they both had grown up.

On this trip we seemed to have visited all our close friends in that area of West Virginia and Troy preached at the home church in Vienna on September 23rd.

We were very anxious to get back to Florida this year, to get started on the house. We could see that the Harrises were failing in their health and had written and insisted that we take them out for the evening meal. This we did. The next morning at the breakfast table Rob had some sort of a seizure and we thought he had had a stroke. It did not prove to be that and he seemed normal before we went on our way.

Bill and Dorothy Good arrived on November 6th and work on our house was begun the next day. Bill was so fast and so thorough. We could not have found a better carpenter to build the house! Marion and Joy let them live in their guest duplex and we paid $200 a month to cover the cost. Bill accomplished twice as much work as the average carpenter ordinarily would have done. He did not want to charge us for the labor because they wanted a winter in Florida, but we insisted on paying him $100.00 a week plus the apartment and all utilities. We will always be grateful to them. They are members of the Mt. Valley Church. Before they left to go home for Christmas the house was under temporary roof and all the framing was done.

Dan Perdue died in November 27, of '84, but is was impossible for us to go back for his funeral. He had been in failing health for two or three years.

Jim and Beulah Grandle, also from the Mt. Valley Church, came Dec. 10th and brought the rolled metal roofing for our new house. He helped put the roof on. How very much our ministry at that little church has paid off financially for us, in addition to the spiritual blessings we received! While the Grandles were in Florida we slept at Hilda's and they used our bedroom at the apartment.

The Brady Trilogy  I  Reclaimed Memories - (1991)  I  Pop Troy's Anthology - ( 1992)  I  Kinfolk - (1994)