The Simple Lives We Live
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The Simple Lives We Live
Someday I'll Marry a Rancher | Irene Wolf
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In eighth grade, Irene Wolf wrote down her dream: someday she'd marry a rancher. She did. Irene grew up on a small farm west of Killdeer, ND, sleeping in tents all summer because the house was too small, and was on her own at 15. She and George ranched for 38 years and were married for 69. He never bought her flowers, but wait until you hear about the Mother's Day rock. "I never got flowers," she laughs, "but I got rocks."
Welcome to The Simple Lives We Live, where we capture the extraordinary stories hidden inside ordinary lives. I'm your host, Kylie Simiano, and each week we sit down to share memories of love, family, hardship, joy, and the moments that shaped us. If these stories mean something to you, you can help support the podcast by subscribing, leaving a review, sharing episodes with family and friends, or donating through the links in our website and social media bios. Your support helps keep these stories alive. Now let's settle in and listen back together. All right, everyone, we are back for another episode of The Simple Lives We Live. My quote today, and I love quotes, so I always start off with a quote is Joy is prayer, joy is strength, joy is love. And that is from Saint Teresa of Calcutta. So Mother Teresa, I still call her. Um today, my guest, I'm so excited. I have the lovely, the beautiful, I feel like very young, Irene Wolf. So thank you, Irene, for being here.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Yes, Irene and I, we do not, we just met a couple minutes ago. Correct. So um I will be learning about you along with everybody else. So can we start with how old are you? 87. 87. And you drove here today. You drive, you get along, you get around amazing. I if people were, you said 87. 87, almost 88. If people saw you walking around, they'd be surprised, I think, that you are 87.
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm very blessed, very blessed. I've been really very, very healthy. Um just about all my life. I've got a few issues, but they're age, age issues. But I feel so blessed, so thankful that I can still drive. I can take care of a big yard. It's getting a little smaller. But um, no, I I do feel very, very blessed with my health. Awesome. Very well, well. Yes, I sure do. So, where were you born? Uh, west of Kildere, North Dakota. Did you grow up in Kildare then? Uh on the farm. On the farm? Yes. Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Did you guys ranch as well or just farm? A farm. Just farm. It was just a farm. Farm, yeah. Small farm and a big family. Big family. Okay, so how many? That's my next question. How many siblings do you have? And where let's I want you to list them and where you fall in line as well.
SPEAKER_00Okay. There was eight children, and my sister, Brunelle. Okay. Um, okay. And then I have a uh or had a brother, uh, Eddie, he's deceased. Um, and then I'm the third one.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00And then I've got a brother, Roger, that's 86. And then I have a a sister, or had a sister that she's deceased, Betty. And Mary is 82. Linda is um Linda. So let me see. Linda is 82. Linda is 87. I don't know. 77. 77. 77. Okay. Bobby would be 77. Probably 70. Okay.
SPEAKER_01So that would be is Bobby boy or girl?
SPEAKER_00Oh boy.
SPEAKER_01Boy. Yeah. So five girls? Five girls. And three boys. Yeah. Okay. And I'm just going through here. So do we only have two that are deceased? Correct. Two are deceased. Okay. Yes. Okay.
SPEAKER_00So small farm. And we kids grew up like Indians. We slept outside in the in the summertime because the house was so tiny. We only had one small bedroom. And uh so in the summertime we built tents outside and we slept outside. And um who were your parents? Uh uh Wisdom and Katie Her and Co. Wisdom? Wisdom. Let's see. W-I-S-T-E-M.
unknownWisdom.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01What were they like as parents?
SPEAKER_00Well, to be truthful, they were not real good parents. They were not real good, but they done the best that they could under the circumstance.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00And so we we went without, which didn't hurt us one bit. Um they never had time to uh love us, hug us, you know, or you know, that kind of thing. They were not affectional. And um, so we kids kind of grew up not a close family, not not a close family at all. Um, in fact, today I can't really say that I have uh well, I do have a brother, Roger. Myself and Roger were pretty close. But uh other than that, my family is not close. Both my parents are gone, and um like I said, we're we're not a very close family at all. But I think you would think with us being poor and everything, we would have gotten real close, but we were not a close family, and that's kind of the way we grew up.
SPEAKER_01And um so you saying they weren't very loving. What did the okay, so then what did they do during the day? Well, they were farmers.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so did they both work really hard farming or mom would have rather been outside than in the house. Okay, so that left the house for us girls to look after. And of course, we were pretty small, but um mom would have rather been outside taking and she just wasn't very affectionate.
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely not. Really? Even with eight kid eight kids, she wasn't.
SPEAKER_00So there were no um nursery rhymes, no, no singing, no hugging, no, and Christmas. We kids hung up our stockings every year and we never got a thing in our stocking. You would have thought that we could have got a pack, they could have got a pack of gum and split it, you know, in amongst all of us. But uh no, I grew up pretty unloved, you could say.
SPEAKER_01And so you eight siblings didn't really show each other the love that you didn't get from your parents, even.
SPEAKER_00My oldest sister, Brunelle, she married when she was 16 just to get away from home. And uh she married well, she married an older gentleman, a neighbor, and done well. She had six children and uh nice kids. In fact, I'm very close to my nieces and nephews. Yeah, that that one batch.
SPEAKER_01Any particular memories that you have of your parents, of your mom or your dad?
SPEAKER_00Well, I can't really think of anything in particular. Um we never really got to go anyplace. Well, you know, take uh there there was um not eight of us at one time. The most of us, there was six of us home. Two of them were gone. Okay. And my brother left home when he graduated the eighth grade. Eddie? Is that the one that left home after? Eddie. Okay. He left home and uh got a job uh on a ranch, uh, you know, and um then as time went on, he joined the service. Okay, yeah. So what chores did you all have growing up? Chores. Yeah. We had a lot of chores. That's what it sounds like. We were little, I can remember my brother Roger. I can't remember just how old we were, but we had uh we had a cook stove and then we had a heater. And Roger had the heater and I had the cook stove. And every evening we had to make sure that the ashes were carried out and we were like seven and eight years old, and make sure there was wood in a house and coal in the house.
SPEAKER_01So no electricity.
SPEAKER_00Oh no, no, no running water, no, no, no bathroom, you know, none of that. I often think now when we had to go potty, and I don't remember having a bucket, I you know, I just don't remember that. And the toilet was not real close to the house, an outdoor toilet. So even in the winter.
SPEAKER_02In the winter, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But you know, we never knew no different. Yeah. We didn't. We never, you know, the neighbor kids were the same way, everybody was poor, and um, you know, uh yeah, we never got electricity till um in 52, 19. And how old were you by then? Well, uh, let's see, I think I was in the eighth grade. So I would have been uh 14. Yeah, I graduated when I was 14. From the eighth grade? Yeah. Okay. No, it was 15. I was 15 when I graduated. But uh the last year of the eighth grade, I went to school in Dickinson because our country schools closed. So I went to school in Dickinson, and that is where I met my husband. Okay, I was only 14 years old, and we didn't really date, we just kind of knew each other. But when I oh, and then I went back out to the farm after I graduated eighth grade and was there till the end of June, and then my mom took me to Dickinson and got me a job and a place to stay, and she said, then you're on your own now. Behave.
SPEAKER_01So did you all only go till eighth grade? Yeah, so everybody would go to school till eighth grade, and graduation was basically eighth grade, it wasn't.
SPEAKER_00Every one of us, there wasn't anybody that went to high school. Okay, and uh then I moved to Dickinson, and of course I already knew my husband, and we dated for three years and then we got married.
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah, so school was a one-room schoolhouse, yes, right? So, how many kids were in your class? Well, uh uh I was probably the only one. Okay, yeah. Was it just like a few of the families from around that area? Yeah, it was just the family and the neighbors. Okay. And you already said Christmas is what you didn't get anything. Did you did you did you have any traditions around Christmas? Did you make was Christmas still special?
SPEAKER_00Even though well, we I remember mom used to make divinity. Okay, yeah. Yeah, she'd make divinity, and I can just see her stirring that stuff, and there was about six spoons trying to get a little bit of it done. Yeah. Uh well that we did, but we never had uh peanuts or no. Did you guys go to church at all? No for Christmas? Didn't grow didn't grow up going to church? Nope. Nope. Okay, my mom was a 70 Advent, and dad was a Ukrainian Catholic, and so neither one of them went to church, you know. Yeah, how did that work between the two? Did they get along? Your parents? Well, they must have because there was eight of us. They're great, there was eight of us.
SPEAKER_01Um, yes, and um it's in just an interesting dynamic, I would think. Pardon? It's it would be an interesting dynamic with those two. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, they never went to, and of course, his family didn't like my mother, and mom's family didn't like my dad. So, really, we never did go and visit the relatives or anything, and I'm sure they were probably glad not to have all these kids show up. But um so weren't you even close with your grandparents? Uh no, I never really got to see them that much. Okay, yeah, never really got because we never got to go any place. We had you know, vehicles were old, and you only went to town probably once every two months, you know. Just to get what you needed. There you go. How about birthdays? Oh, birthdays were just another day. No cake. No, oh no, no cake, no gifts, no cakes, no cakes, no. Um for for Thanksgiving. I remember there was a few years we got a case of orange crush. You probably don't remember that, but it came in a wooden case, and it was 24 bottles, and we each got two bottles or three maybe, but we diluted it with water so it could go further, so it last longer, yeah. But it was okay, it was fine, you know. We we didn't know any different. Yeah, did you always have food to eat? We did. Okay. Did your mom was she a good cook? Mom was a wonderful cook. She hated it. She hated it, and I inherited it. The hate of cooking. I don't like to cook, but um, yeah, mom was a very good cook and she canned a lot. You know, back then they canned meat and you know, chicken and corn and um so big garden. Oh, and we had to hold that garden. Oh yeah, so that was another big chore for you guys was was the garden. Right. But you know, that's what you did. That's what you did. How about winters?
SPEAKER_01When when you only have the one tiny house, basically one room, right? So in the winters, how did you all sleep?
SPEAKER_00Well, it was five of us slept in one bed. Okay, next to a wood heater, okay. Coal, colon wood heater, and then mom and dad had a bedroom uh that the little ones I think slept in there. With that. There was always a little one. And um, yeah, it was and then of course we went to country school. We went to a country school and how far away was that from the house? About three miles. Did you walk? Uh yeah, when the weather was nice and we got a little older, then we did walk, you know. But in the wintertime, dad took us with uh sled and horses. Oh, sled and horses. Yeah, sled and horses, yeah. He'd take us to school, and then he'd come home and then he'd come and get us, you know. And as we got a little older, where you could handle the horses, we went ourselves. Okay. And we just unhitched the horses and um put them in the barn. There was always a barn at the school, you know. And um then the last recess, we would go out there and get them ready so we were ready to go home. Once school was out. Yeah, okay. School was out.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01You smiled when you talk about that. Did you like school? Uh, not really.
SPEAKER_00You didn't really like school? I didn't. Uh school was really hard for me. Okay. In fact, when I went to uh graduated from the eighth grade, uh, I wanted to go to high school, but I was not real good in school, and but I had to have a job. You know, I had to pay for my room, and you know. Uh so I didn't not go to high school. I worked in this little restaurant, it was just the nicest little country restaurant. And the man that was there was so good to me. Oh, he was just just so so good to me. And uh I worked there for almost three years before I got married. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Three years serving, or were you like waitressing tables or yep? Yeah, I started out as a dishwasher. Dishwasher, okay.
SPEAKER_00And then I graduated, and then he wanted to promote me to cooking, and that lasted about four hours. And that and that was all these orders hamburger steak, hamburger this, hamburger that, you know, and this that I said, no, Frankie, you take it over. It's not for me. So anyhow.
SPEAKER_01Is it a when you you were smiling a lot when you were talking about the going to school and the horses and stuff, did you enjoy the horses then?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I've always liked um, I've always liked ranching. Uh, in fact, I wrote um, I had to write up something about my life when I was in the eighth grade. I think I still have it. And uh I always put different things down, and I said, someday I want to marry a rancher. I want to marry a rancher and live on a ranch and raise a bunch of kids. I always said I wanted eight girls and I was gonna name them with boys' names. That didn't that didn't work out, but uh anyhow, um like I said, I I worked for them three years and then we got married.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. What are some of your favorite childhood memories? Do you have any favorite ones?
SPEAKER_00Oh, you know, not really. Not really. Um we got into a few things that we shouldn't have had. Those are not favorites.
SPEAKER_01What did you okay? You and your siblings not being very close, and your mom and dad kind of sounds like maybe you guys were just left to roam and do things whatever you wanted on the farm. I mean, if it wasn't chores, what then did you do for fun? Were you doing things together, or did you were you just kind of roaming the land by yourself in a sense?
SPEAKER_00We uh we had a swing and we in the summertime, and we swang uh with this swing, and then we'd fall into a crick. We'd go real fast and we'd jump off the swing, and oh, that was somebody broke their arm. Ooh, yeah, that was not good. Um, we just kind of made our own fun. We'd bury stuff, and then a few days later we'd dig it up and just kids stuff, yeah. Just just kid kids stuff. Other than that, I can't you know pin anything down for sure.
SPEAKER_01Do you ever yeah, go ahead. Do you ever look back on your childhood and think, do you ever feel like you didn't have much of a childhood?
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, I didn't know any different.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Now, knowing what you know, do you look back and go? Now I wish I wish my parents were more loving and uh uh that kind of thing. So when I had a family, they had plenty of love. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um you learn from that and it it changes you, it changes the trajectory of how you treat other people, right?
SPEAKER_00Like when how we were treated from when you're right, right, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I you know, I'm sure I grew up like a lot of people did. You know, years back, the parents must have had a terrible time. There didn't have enough clothes and that kind of thing. Mom was a seamstress, so that kind of helped. And uh um, you know, uh when you grow up like we did with very, but of course, you don't know the difference. Well, we we didn't know the difference because we were like everybody else around there, real poor. And um so you didn't take any vacations?
SPEAKER_01No, like you said rarely even saw like grandparents and raids?
SPEAKER_00Uh well I did. Uh my uh my grandfather lived about a mile from where we did, so we kids would go over there, and every time we went over there, which wasn't very often, we got a nickel. Ooh, yeah, I can just see him opening that little purse. Yes, the little coin. Yes. Oh, cute. But the mom's uh parents, um, I never did get to know her parents, they died her. Her dad died and her mom died. My mom's and uh oh my grandfather on my mother's side, he married a witch. Not a witch.
SPEAKER_02I hope that name no, just not very kind.
SPEAKER_00Oh she was not very, very nice at all. So we never never went over there, you know. We were never welcome over there.
SPEAKER_01Um your mom was one of how many? Pardon? How many siblings did your mom have?
SPEAKER_00Oh, uh there was seven from her real parents, and then her mom died, and grandfather married again and had seven more. So she had seven brothers and sisters, their uh stepsisters.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, per half, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay, interesting. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01What were your favorite subjects in school? You said you weren't very good at school, but did you have a favorite subject? Like was it math or reading?
SPEAKER_00I like to read. Okay I like to read. Um, that's probably probably my favorite, but figures, uh spelling was bad. Spelling was very bad. And even to this day, I have to have my dictionary. See how to spell it and everything. Yeah. Yeah. Anyhow, it's um any favorite teachers? I'm assuming you just had the one. I had uh my um eighth grade teacher, no, my seventh grade teacher. I went to school, my the eighth in Deccans, but the seventh grade. I had uh one of the neighbors, she had never taught school before, but then they back then you could do that. And she graduated high school, and she was a nice lady. Oh she kind of helped me with feminine things to know feminine things, you know. You know what I mean? You know, stuff like that. Very nice lady, very, very nice lady. But the others, I think the one lady was my teacher. I had two teachers, and uh, and that first one, she was pretty nice, a pretty nice lady, but the last one, she really was a good teacher. She really, really was a good teacher. She only had high school, but back then you could do that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, she probably had the energy being so young.
unknownThere you go.
SPEAKER_01There you go. Do you do you remember what your ambitions were when you were younger? When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up? Oh, ranch wife. Just the ranch wife. Oh my gosh. And I just said just the ranch wife. That's not what I meant.
SPEAKER_00You know what I mean. That was not my thing. And when I met George, of course, he was a cowboy, you know. And um we always talked as we dated, you know, that someday, someday we're gonna have a ranch. Someday, and we did. We were able to buy a ranch.
SPEAKER_01And now, George, you met in school? Uh well, I was in uh eighth grade, yes. In eighth grade, you said. Yeah. And then you came to Dickinson, and your mom was like, you need to fend for yourself, basically, right? There you go. So you worked at a restaurant or cafe, like for three years. Were you dating George during that time? You were dating him. So you guys dated for about three years or so? Two and a half, two and a half, yeah. What was your first date?
SPEAKER_00On Halloween, October, um, October of 1953.
SPEAKER_01And you guys went to retreating? Pardon? What did you do for your first date? We went to the show. Went to like a movie? Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think it was 25 cents. How did he ask you out? Oh, yeah, yeah. He asked if we if I would care to go to the movie. I said, Yes, I would go, you know.
SPEAKER_01Did he come into the cafe and ask you? Or did he find out where you were looking?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we we didn't go out to eat till But did he find you at the cafe? Is that where he asked you? No, see, I was still in the eighth grade when I met him. When when he asked you all for the first time. Okay. And then see, then I graduated when I was 15. And then we really started dating, you know. Uh, and of course, I was I got an apartment, had a little apartment. How did you get an apartment at that age? You know, back then you could do that. And I had the most wonderful landlady, and I didn't have the money to, I got the apartment, but I told her, I said, I don't have the money. Oh, she says, my dear, she says, when you get paid, you can pay me when you can, you know. It was $20 a month. Yeah, it was just a sleeping room.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But and I had to share the bathroom with two other ladies. But um, and that, and my pay at this little restaurant was $18.50 a week. That was my pay. Wow. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I it it's it's a little mind-boggling. Yeah. You know, when you think about the age that you were at and had to so how old were you when you got married?
SPEAKER_0017. You were 17. Okay. I was 17. Yeah, I got married. I would have been 18 in uh January, but uh yeah. What month did you guys get married?
SPEAKER_01October. October. Okay. Now you got married in October. When you were 17, how old was he?
SPEAKER_00Oh, George was five years older than me. So whatever that would have been. 22.
SPEAKER_01So about 22, 23, yeah. I think 20.
SPEAKER_00It seemed like he was 22 and it got married.
SPEAKER_01What was your wedding like?
SPEAKER_00Wedding? What was it like? Oh, very small. There was probably about 35 guests there. Um did your parents make it? Did you my dad did? Okay, your dad made it to but your mom didn't. Yeah, see, I he had to sign for me because I couldn't get a marriage license. Okay. Yeah. And um, yeah, my dad was there, and my oldest sister was there, and that's of the relatives, that's all that was. Oh, my brother Roger was there. Yeah. But it was uh as it was a small wedding. Did you have a wedding dress or did you wear just no? I had a wedding dress. I bought it on sale for seven dollars.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_00And um, I had a lady kind of redo it a little bit, and uh, it was pretty. Yeah, you know, sticking out, you know, and then you put a can can. Oh, under can can? I know what they are, yeah. And it stuck out real big, and um we got married at the church in Deckinson, you know, it was it was nice, nice, and then see George was already working in Fargo. He worked uh West Fargo, he was a brand inspector, okay, and so then we went from there to West Fargo.
SPEAKER_01To West Fargo. Did you guys do like a wedding dance or a wedding reception or anything?
SPEAKER_00Well, we had uh a dinner, a lot, yeah. Okay, yeah, the meal cost $1.50 a piece. All you could eat.
SPEAKER_01But at that time, probably was all you could eat.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, oh geez.
SPEAKER_01Was it at the church or where was the where was they had a nightclub there? Okay, okay. So then from Dickinson, you guys get you get married and you move to West Fargo. How long did you live in West Fargo for?
SPEAKER_00We were there. We were there probably six months, and then we moved back to Dickinson. We done a lot of moving, a lot of moving, and worked for ranchers for about oh, for another like couple years we worked for ranchers, and then um we moved back to Fargo when Rodney was two years old, I think. Because Rodney was born in July, the end of July. Yeah, and we worked for some ranchers till he was about two years old, and then we moved back to Fargo, to the West Fargo, and we were there what two years, I think, and we moved back and started ranching. And that's when you guys started ranching, okay.
SPEAKER_01That's when we started ranching, yeah. So you married George, was his name, right? Yeah. I want you to take a little bit of time, if this is okay, and I want you just to tell me about him.
SPEAKER_00How much time have you gotten?
SPEAKER_01I we I want you to tell me some maybe some of your favorite memories with him. Well, what kind of a guy he was?
SPEAKER_00Well, he was just a really um not really real compassionate, but a very uh gentlemanlike person, uh very kind to other people. He was very generous. So if we had a little money, somebody else had it too, you know. But George was uh very nice man, a very good person, like I said, not real, real compassionate, loving, you know, all the time. But he was a very nice man. You know, well, I could go on and on and on. But uh yes, he was uh and I was very lucky to have you we were married sixty-nine years.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And he just recently passed away, yeah, is what I hear. Yeah. In September.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so you know.
SPEAKER_00Um I really miss him, of course, but you know, I couldn't wish him back in the condition he had surgery, and surgery did not go well, not go well at all. And uh so he he just said, let me go, just let me go. He did. Can I ask what the surgery was for? Pardon what was the surgery for? Uh well, he had uh uh ruptured colon and it got infected, okay, and they uh tried antibiotics, but it uh didn't really touch it. But he uh it was his choice. They could have kept up the antibiotics, but it wasn't doing him no good. And uh so he just said, get rid of all that. Get rid of it. Really hard for you, probably. Well, it was, but uh I understood, and it was him I'm thinking about, not myself. And um that went on for like three days, yeah. But like I said, sad, yes, very sad, but I couldn't wish him back for his sake. Yeah, uh, he was gonna be in a lot of pain, a lot of pain. And uh the doctor told him, even if he did live, maybe a couple weeks, oh, you know, so it was it was uh a blessing. Um a hard one though. Yeah, yes, there you go. Um, but like I said, I oh I miss him so much, just uh crappy. Yeah, yeah. That's okay. Um but uh I I just yeah. I I just I could not wish him back in the condition that he was in. Like I said, he uh he was not a real compassionate kind of person, but um he would kind of went into a coma in a way, and uh that was like Tuesday, he had the surgery, and Wednesday he kind of went into a coma, and uh on Friday I stayed with him all the time, but uh he kind of come too, you know, and he kind of smiled at me, and so I went over and I held his hands and his eyes kind of opened up and he kind of had a little grim, a little grin on his face, and he said, He said, You know, I love you so much, yeah, and then he just closed his eyes, and that was it. Yeah, that was my goodbye to him.
SPEAKER_02I told him I loved him, but you have yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I just I just just um just am so glad that we got to say something because he uh he really had gone into a coma and I knew that he would never wake up, but he did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So are you married? I am.
SPEAKER_01Oh yes, yes, a good husband, yes, one of the best for sure.
SPEAKER_00That's wonderful, yeah, that's wonderful.
SPEAKER_01Is it okay if we talk about your kids right now? Yeah, okay, yeah. I'm gonna but I don't even know you.
SPEAKER_03That's okay.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so your first child was a girl. Is that your first one?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the little girl.
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah. So can you tell me what happened with her?
SPEAKER_00Um, okay, let me see. She was born with a very severe uh heart problem, just as perfect a little girl, a chubber like her mother. She had a round face like that, you know, she was no hair. But and when I had her when Rodney, uh when Rodney was born, uh Rodney was born first. Oh, Rodney was the older, okay. Yeah, Rodney was born first. And uh he was a punious little little thing. He weighed four and a half pounds, and and he was breached. Oh, geez. And needless to say, it was a nightmare. My first baby. But then Jodie was born nine years later, and okay, and she had a severe heart, uh uh deformed heart. Very, very today, they could do something about it, but not back then. And so she lived uh, I think five, four or five days, and uh, and they're again uh so sad, but um it was a blessing, you know. She would have been uh just a weakling had she, you know, lived. So and and she no, the doctor said that they told us right away that uh she would not live. I think she lived five days, you know.
SPEAKER_01So how do you process something like that? Wow how do you tell Rodney? How do you right? You said nine years between the two. Yeah, so how did how was his reaction?
SPEAKER_00How did you well at that time um at that time kids couldn't go up to the hospital? Okay, so he never he never got to see her. Yeah, he never got to see her, and um um, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Was that hard on him?
SPEAKER_00Was he where is my sister? You know, he was nine years old. And uh, you know, I'm sure you know he felt bad and everything. Uh but uh you know, it just you you just deal with it.
SPEAKER_01How did you and George deal with it? Was that hard for you guys to together?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because we we wanted kids, you know. I always said I wanted eight kids, you know, eight girls. But um, yeah, it was very difficult, very difficult. But you know, when I think now, um I'm sure you know it took me or took us a long time, but we weren't around her very long. You know what I mean? Yeah, we we didn't have her uh for very, very many days, and it was a little easier to get over that. But uh like with Rodney, he was uh 23, and uh so that was kind of like a bad deal, but uh some of it so was self-inflicted, he done drugs, and they think that that's what weakened his heart, you know.
SPEAKER_01How did so with Rodney? You said he was 23 when he passed away, right? When he did he pass away? Yeah, Rodney. What were the circumstances around his his death?
SPEAKER_00Okay, he had what they call cardiomyopathy, okay. And that is the deterioration of the heart muscles. And uh at one time he'd done drugs. Uh the doctor said that's part of it, but he had uh a bad cold, a really bad cold, and should have gone to the doctor, but he didn't, and it settled in his heart, and that caused his heart muscles to deteriorate. And um so he was scheduled, he was gonna be the first transplant heart patient in Rochester, Minnesota. Really? Yeah, but uh he uh he was too far gone, you know. It was just um uh it just wasn't meant to be. Yeah, you know, how when was he born? Uh Rodney was born in um let's see, uh let me see, uh 57. 57. July of 57. Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And this is a time when there's no counselors, or there really wasn't counselors for you. Like when you dealt with you said what was your daughter's name? Jody. Jody. So there was no counselors to go to to help you deal with that. Yeah, you just deal with it. And and how about Rodney?
SPEAKER_00Same thing. Well, the same thing, you know. Okay, um, I stayed with him for two months in Rochester, and uh, but you know, you you really don't have a choice, you just deal with it. And George was such a uh supportive man. I was of course, I stayed in Fargo or uh Rochester with Rodney for um two months, and George was still ranching, trying to ranch.
SPEAKER_01But uh no it's hard to leave a ranch. It's hard to leave a ranch for two months, you know, and go help. And did he did he ever regret that he couldn't go help with Rodney? Rodney?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh George got to go to Rochester a couple times. He did get to go a couple times. He took the bus and um went up there a couple times to see him. And he was, yeah. When when the doctor told us that it wouldn't be long, he came and I think he was there about three days before Rodney died. Okay, so he was able to be there. Yeah, oh yes, okay, yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Did that did that change the dynamic of your marriage at all?
SPEAKER_00No, I think we got closer. Closer because of that. I think so. Yeah, we yes, I'm sure that that made our life, you know. And not to say that it was perfect. I I tell people, you know, George was he was he was such a nice guy, and and we had a really good marriage. A lot of uh we have a lot of faith, a lot of faith. But I always say, you know, there was days when I wanted to crown him and it was not queen for a day. And I'm sure vice versa. Yeah, yeah. I'm sure vice versa. Yeah. But yes.
SPEAKER_01What do you think? What was it between you and George that led to you guys having such a successful marriage for that 69 years, you said. Yeah. And you went through some pretty hard times. Well, what kept you guys successful?
SPEAKER_00Well, I I think just faith, believing in God. I wasn't raised that way. So I was gonna that's what I was gonna ask then next. So yeah. But George was. Okay. He was a very, very good church church person. And uh then he instilled it on me. And uh though I think faith, faith, um, and even like today, when things happen, you know, I always think it was supposed to be that way, it was meant to be that way, uh, and it makes it easier to accept this these trials if you know that for some reason, some some reason, uh this had to happen.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But we have been so blessed, so blessed with so many, I call them pretend kids.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I call because I was gonna ask you about Troy because Troy Tesher, he did talk about you and George in his interview. And when I was talking with Joanne, we she had mentioned that um Troy's parents had left Troy with you and George when he was little. Yes. So how old was he and how long did you guys have him for?
SPEAKER_00Well, I don't know if I'll say this right. Troy probably remembered, well, he was pretty little. Troy was born in August, and Jim and Loretta went rodeoing, I think, in November. Now, I I think in November, and they come back after the finals, and the finals are like the front part of December. So, but I'm not sure of that. I'm I'm not sure when how long he was there. It seemed like it was quite a bit longer, but you know, I honestly can't remember how long Troy was there, but it was quite a while. Like months, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And because when Joanne said that to me, I don't know that I could do that with my like a newborn. I mean, pretty much very little, very little, you know.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, um, yeah, and and he he was such a good looking baby. I mean, he he was actually kind of pretty.
unknownYou know, I couldn't tell him that.
SPEAKER_00But anyhow, whenever we went someplace, somebody would say, Oh, have you got a lovely baby? And uh, anyhow, um, that name kind of stuck with Troy, with me. So every once in a while I will say lovely baby to him, you know.
SPEAKER_01Oh. Was that hard? Was that well, I would imagine it would be very wonderful to have a little baby, but then was it really hard when they came back to the yes?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was hard. It was to give him up uh and he was such a good baby, you know. I hadn't had a baby, you know, for years. And um, yeah, he was um so like I said, I then I took care of Gary. Do you know Gary? I don't know. Troy's brother. I don't know Gary. I mean, yeah, I know of him, but yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I took care of Gary, or we took care of Gary, because Jim and Loretta were rodeoing, and um, and I can't remember just how long, and I also took care of Cindy. Well, you know, I know Cindy. Yeah, I also took care of Cindy. The only ones I didn't take care of was uh uh Barry. And was there a Bonnie? And and Bonnie. I didn't take care of Bonnie and Barry, but the other three, you know, I took care of for quite a while? Some of them. I'm sure Loretta went with Jimmy because um, you know, I can't remember all that, but she was there quite a while and she wasn't in school yet. Okay, yeah, she Rodney was in school because Rodney was a year older than her, and um yeah, yeah. So, you know, we just kind of adopted adopted them kids, and then then there's a whole bunch of other ones that we kind of we call them our pretend kids, and you know, they have been so good to us, so good to us, they remember us at Christmas, and you know, just um yeah, just uh a good relationship that we had. Yeah, yeah. Got a lot of people that love you. Well, I I hope so. You do, you do.
SPEAKER_01So you did not spend any part of your life, it doesn't sound like traveling much.
SPEAKER_00Oh we never uh well I should say never. We after we quit ranching, we did go on a couple trips. Okay, so how long did you ranch for?
SPEAKER_01Uh we ranched for 38 years. 38 years. You finished ranching, and where did you where did you travel to?
SPEAKER_00We went to uh uh we went to Alaska. Okay, could you imagine? Awesome. Was it wonderful? Oh oh boy. If I'd ever want to live someplace, that would be the place, but but it's uh very secluded. There's only 90 acres, no, no, no, no, 90 miles a road on this island. It's an island. Wow, Kodiak Island, beautiful, but very secluded, very, very secluded. And that's not always a bad thing. Yeah, it's uh I don't think I could hack that. Um the only way out of there is with a boat or air. Oh, okay. That's the only way out of there, you know. Yeah, and we did, we did get to go to Alaska, and uh, that was a nice trip. Yeah, very, very nice trip.
SPEAKER_01Is there anywhere else that you ha haven't been but want would or used to want to travel to?
SPEAKER_00Like well, you know, I like the ocean. And uh I I did see the ocean. We did go to see my sister in Oregon, and we did go to the ocean. And I'd like to go back to the ocean before I can drive anymore. Or not I well, I wouldn't drive before you could you can't travel anymore, yeah. Yeah, but I would like to go back to the ocean, and I'd like to go back to South Dakota because that's where we spent our honeymoon two years after we got married. Yes. So um, yeah, but I I I'm really quite content now, uh you know, lonesome, of course, but um I've got a big yard, a big yard, maybe too big for me.
SPEAKER_01Keeps you busy, keeps you busy, yeah, and that's good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's good, that's good to be busy because you know, uh, I tell the worst for me is to come in a house. Yeah, but uh I leave the TV going to have some noise, yeah. To have a little bit of no, there's somebody there, yeah. But uh yeah, but you know, honey, there's thousands of people just like widows. I know and I'm sure you know uh Sally Aber. Do you know Sally Aber?
SPEAKER_01I have I just interviewed her last week, you know.
SPEAKER_00She lost her husband very sadly, yeah, very sadly, and then her sister. Uh uh bet you you know her sister. Uh she was a yes insurance agent. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And she lost her husband oh many years ago, many, many years ago. Um they were kind of young, two younger people. And and you know, I'm sure you know a lot of people that lost their husbands or wives or uh some, and I think losing a husband is maybe easier than losing a wife. You know, no, no, losing a wife would be harder than losing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So why why do you say that?
SPEAKER_00Well, I hate to say, but men aren't as handy as women are, you know. Uh going by myself, you know, I can well, I don't know if I could fix a tire, but I know enough to put gas in the car and you know, pay the insurance bills, where a husband, unless he has been doing that all their married life, wouldn't know what to do. But oh, here's a bill. What do I do with it? What do I you know what I mean? Cooking? Yeah. Well, you're in that generation, and I don't know if uh if he takes part in everything that you do, um, you know, the shopping and that kind of thing. But uh women, as a rule, not always, are little handier than men are in in certain areas. Yeah. And so I think when a wife dies in a marriage and they're still, you know, younger, and and I'm sure you know some and I do too, uh, there it's hard. Yeah, it's very, very hard if there's little ones or even teenage, you know, that kind of thing. Um, so it's uh yeah, it it's a little easier, yeah. I think for uh when a man dies on the wife, and especially and then there are some wives they don't know up from down. Yeah. I've got a really good friend, uh he was uh a coach in Dickinson, and just like that, he died. She didn't know where the bank was, she didn't know how to make a checkout, she was just lost, completely lost. But she learned slowly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. People around her to teach her and kind of help her through, and yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's uh do you have any unique talents that people would be surprised to hear about? Pardon? Do you have any unique talents? Talent? Talents, yeah. Like do you play play musical instrument? Do you sing? Do you anything?
SPEAKER_00Can't sing worth an hour. No, um, no, I never never really had the chance to um to to learn and pick up. To learn to pick up any kind of music. No. George played the guitar. And Rodney did too, but I I never I never did learn to um. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01What's an important life lesson that you've learned? Okay, say that again. What's an important life lesson that you have learned?
SPEAKER_00Well, probably the most important uh I think is being kind to people. You know, if you can help out, you know, we never had the we never had money where we could give somebody $300 here, $500 there, or anything. But we helped out a lot of people. Well, take care of the kids, you know. And um I think just just trying to be kind to people and um help where you can, you know. Oh, you know, I can't right now, I you know, I can't do a whole lot, but you know, if you just do a little something for somebody, take some cookies. I've got a neighbor lady, she's 97, and she does pretty doggone good. So I try to get over there at least once a week and take some cookies, which she hates, you know. Oh, she said just put them in the freezer, just put them in the freezer. Um, but I I try to visit her quite often because we were friends at the ranch when we were still ranch. We were friends with them, neighbored good. And now her husband is gone. And uh, so I I try to get over there at least once a week, you know.
SPEAKER_01Have you found that that um connection, that human connection, has been so huge for you, um, even as you've gotten older, like to actually talk face to face with people or going to visit them. Yeah, sometimes that does more for a person, yeah. Right. And maybe even the money.
SPEAKER_00Yes, you know, yeah. Yes, yeah. I try to visit uh and I I need to do more. I'm not just quite ready yet to get out, and um, but I've got quite a few uh friends that have uh lost husbands or wives or something, and uh so I try to stop in and visit them a little bit.
SPEAKER_01What would you consider your greatest accomplishment?
SPEAKER_00I don't know. I I couldn't probably just being friendly. I uh I guess I haven't accomplished a whole lot. No, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um well you've kept an amazing positive attitude for all the things that you've been through. Well that would break a lot of people. Yeah, you have this amazing, it's it's a beautiful positive attitude.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's that's one thing that I try to keep up with, you know, believing what what what's in the past, and you know, just leave that go. You can't do nothing about it, and um just stay positive, yeah. You know, just stay positive and um and like I say, I will, we were both so blessed to have made so many friends at the funeral. There was over 300 people at the funeral. Yeah, I was I was just shocked, absolutely shocked that so many people took the time to count. Yeah, but it means a lot. Oh boy, just the pastor when when it came time for for the sermon, he said, how he said, how many 90-year-old ones can draw such a crowd?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, and uh knowing that so many family and friends have probably already passed away, and you still have this many here.
SPEAKER_00There was just a lot of younger people, you know, a lot of younger people. I just couldn't believe all the people. And we've got, well, all of our friends are special, but we've got these this one batch, and they're kind of looking, looking, they've been looking after us. We need a little something here or there. And they set up the chairs, you know, for the at the community center.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Well, he said uh the the mortuary said, well, set up 150 chairs, you know, that would be good. No, Dean said, I think we better put 175. And then they talked and talked, and no, they said, How about if we go to 200? You know, that's a lot of chairs. Yeah, yeah. Well, they ended up putting in almost 300 chairs. It was pretty tight. Yeah. But how awesome! Pretty tight, and I think somebody said there was four empty chairs.
SPEAKER_01It was easy to count them.
SPEAKER_00It was just just wonderful, just wonderful. And we've got some really super, we've got a lot of super great kids. They're singers, they're gospel singers. And they said right away when George died, they said, We're coming to the funeral with our music, and they did, and it was it was just beautiful, cowboy music, you know, and uh the old songs, and that George liked music, yeah, and he liked those old songs, and that's what they sang. It was uh yeah, a great tribute to him. Oh my, oh my, just uh yeah, that was really really nice, very, very nice of them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, who do you feel like influenced you the most in your life? George. George.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Do you feel like after hearing you talk about him, almost like he was, in a sense, your savior. You met him when you were in eighth grade, he knew you, you know, and just you guys seem to kind of have grown. You grew together, you went through everything together, and he was a little bit older than you, but you having that childhood that you did, you got to have like such a better life moving forward, it seems like, because of him, a little bit because of him.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, and he uh he uh he taught me the Lord. Yeah, I I went I joined the church uh and um he uh he helped me with that, you know, and uh so I I still keep that faith, you know. Faith to some people is just a church, but to me, it has helped me through so much difficulty, but I have let God do that for me. You know, some people shut God out and say, Well, you're if God, everything's supposed to be perfect, it's not, it's not a perfect world.
SPEAKER_01Sometimes it causes you to lean on him more, to trust him more. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, hopefully, that's what you know and uh and I can sure vouch for that, you know. Uh that if I wouldn't have the Lord in my life, somebody to talk to, well, I think I'd I'd be goofy, you know. So but not everybody believes that. I know I've got dear friends, they just think that that's just uh yeah, yeah, but whatever, everybody is different, their journey is gonna be different, yeah. Everybody is different, and now now, like our son, he uh was baptized into the church and he had the confirmation and all that stuff, but he didn't believe in going to church. He didn't, and uh we tried, you know, we tried to instill that in him, but uh he he he was not, you know, and he wasn't crooked or anything or mean or anything like that, but he did not uh believe in going to church, and that's okay. That was his thing. Yep, that was his thing, yeah. At the funeral, we had, of course, the funeral, and uh um I'm sure you never ever got to know Father Fahnlander.
unknownI did.
SPEAKER_00You did?
SPEAKER_01He was my priest when I was little little, and I used to color pictures for him and take them to him after church. And I love Father Fahnlander, he was such a great man.
SPEAKER_00When we uh when we had the funeral, uh we didn't have a mass, we just had um, I forget what they call it, and uh and I well I told Father that he was not a didn't go to church or anything, and father said to me, he said, you know, Irene, how do you know? He said, What we believe, how do you know that that's right? He said, Rodney's God was riding his motorcycle up and down the Badlands and around the he had the nicest uh uh low-keyed service. It really was uh yeah, it was very, very um very fitting for Rodney. Yeah, yeah, but he didn't have the masks, we didn't have you know all this stuff.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, that's so funny that you would bring up Father Bob after love that man. Um it could go back to a particular stage or day or memory from your past, what would it be and why?
SPEAKER_00Okay, say that again.
SPEAKER_01So if you could go back to an another like a uh particular stage of life or a day or a certain memory from your past what would it be and why?
SPEAKER_00Well I would say I would say probably the last two years of our life together.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00And why is that? Yeah. Well I think we got closer than we'd ever been, you know?
SPEAKER_01And um even after 67 years at that point, because you were married for 69. Yeah. So what in those last two years? Two years yeah what what do you feel like brought you even closer?
SPEAKER_00What what did you do that brought well really we were very hobsbound. We we just really didn't get out very much but we just appreciated each other so much.
SPEAKER_01And like I said George was never real uh compassion loving you know what I mean he loved me very I know he did but he just wasn't very affectionate outwardly there you go that's the word but those two years he I couldn't hardly do anything thank you thank you thank you thank you honey you don't have to say thank you yes he said I do I do and whenever we um I helped him to the bathroom or wherever you know he'd put his arms around me and he was really did get uh very compassionate and um yeah he was really a nice um appreciative man yeah yeah and I would say the last two years of our uh life together that would be I'd live them over yeah a lot of times what is the thing don't marry somebody you can have fun with marry somebody who's gonna like be there for you in the hard times and things like that that you know like help you through that and yeah because it's easy to get along when things are easy and when they're fun yeah but when the hard times come that's when you really know yeah yeah is there anything you always wished you did but never got around to doing oh boy not really um nothing that I can really think of that I didn't do I wish we could have traveled a little more uh but uh you know we never had the money to go any place but we were always just so content to be home you know we were we were just so content to be home um and then when we sold the ranch of course we weren't as tied down as we were but uh we uh got a little acreage where we live where we live now and we were able to put it together the way we wanted if you want to see rocks just come to our place you got plenty of them he'd leave in the morning and come back with a pickup full of rocks and I tell you we've got rocks if somebody ever buys that place which they will someday they're gonna get a bulldozer in there and uh why did he come with so much rock?
SPEAKER_00Oh he just loved rocks oh just okay I didn't know if he built with them and talk about a rock um rocks or rock when we first moved there when we first moved there it was Mother's Day or getting close to Mother's Day and this one day I come home from town or wherever and I looked across the road from where we live in this pasture and I said sweetheart that rock that's never been there oh he said Irene you just never seen it you've just never seen that and I thought well yeah I'm sure it is because I didn't see everything. Well on Mother's Day he went over to the neighbors and got this huge tractor I mean it was humongous and drove into the yard with that rock he went over and picked up that rock and brought it he says happy Mother's Day I never got candy or flowers or anything but I got rocks but that was super thoughtful I tell you she remembered what rock it's uh it's beautiful it's a beautiful it's pretty big it's uh one that petrified yeah it's big it's big and then he uh had gone to town by himself and picked up this angel she's about she's about that tall and he cemented her into this rock it's even better it's still there it's still there and um yeah that was uh that was quite a gift quite a gift yeah uh George never ever gave me flowers never he he had never when I was in a hospital a couple times and this kind of thing he'd never given me flowers but I have got rocks bless his heart oh golly yeah that was but they kind of take the place of grass and hey those rocks last lasted a lot longer than the flowers would have if you could go back and give yourself a piece of advice what would it be I don't know um boy honey I can't think of anything um yeah I I just can't think of anything uh what would you give somebody this is not on my questions what would you give somebody like me my age 40s what would you what advice would you give me be nice to your husband no you know my husband cannot listen to this now no just kidding no I think just be kind to people and especially your husband um you know I I I have I have a hard time answering that um um just do what whatever you think is right you know whatever whatever you think uh you have a family oh good love those little kids two or three five five oh bless your heart they're the best kids are they're just how old is the oldest 19 19 years old yeah yeah oh you gotta be kidding so we got 19 17 14 11 well you don't look like you're 19 years old thank you thank you i appreciate that good heavens you know it's it's so interesting because you talking about your husband it's just it's it's very heartwarming it's wonderful to see the emotion even on your face that I I hope that the people who listen to this can they can hear that in your voice and that they can feel it because there is so much love there. And I feel like so many people that has just been the biggest thing for them is the their family the connection even though you did not have that when you were little and I feel like that is more rare for what I've heard from everybody especially with the big family but it's beautiful that you kind of created that closeness with your husband and you you know that didn't have to be what your whole life was about and it I love that you're so content um with the hand that God gave you and accepting just like happy for what you have that's kind of why I am doing this it's just been so refreshing to hear from everybody but the the the relationships that's probably the word that I should use more is the relationships especially with those that really do matter most well today um there's as you know so many divorces you know there's just so many divorces and and and there's there's that uh and I I'm not glad but some of them have to be there I I I understand that very good but I think that today people uh seem like they want more out of life and I'm I talk money going places doing things and maybe not spending enough time at home with each other and be content with it being content with what and I I'm sure you know and I I I know a lot of people that they're so far in debt with them stupid credit cards and and and I and I think they're one of I don't have one but uh it's just some but they just think they have to have everything and they get themselves in debt and then the fighting starts the arguing starts so don't get into that easy life thing showing off thing be content with what you can afford. Yeah be content and and and every once in a while you have to splurge a little bit you have to splurge another I got a hundred dollars from some friends of mine well my niece and her husband she said Irene go and buy yourself something I'm not much on buying I buy a lot of my clothes at the thrift store she said Irene go and buy yourself something with this hundred dollars you know what I did with it I had to have the oil changed in the car. Oh my gosh I had to have the oil changed in the car and that cost 80 some bucks you know well that was money I didn't have to take out of my account you know and uh so and with ball well I live I was born and raised that way where you make every dime count and then when we got married that's the way our life was you know you you had to really save and that's the way I am today and really I don't need a lot at my age I don't need curtain rods anymore I don't need you know that that that that kind of towels well maybe my towels I should get towels um you just realize what's important and what's not so much there you go yeah yeah yeah very very much so and um really it's kind of sad to say that but for the last two years of Georgia's life which is you know uh my grocery bill was right at $250 I went in about every two weeks to three weeks you know um and now when I go in for groceries it's probably $50 but I don't really need Georgia's list was always that long buy this buy that you know you wanted all these little things so in a way my income has dropped not a real lot but it has uh but my spending has really is come down yeah yeah yeah my spending has come down and so that way you know it's things are a little bit different but I think I think if you've got a lot of money a lot of money and there are people that do we've got some dear dear dear dear friends and they're not afraid to buy somebody something yeah and yeah they're to spend a little on somebody else and then I've got another dear friend she's the one 89 or 80 no no 97 if you go I used to do a little volunteering for the Cancer Society and if you got two three dollars you got a lot of money and she's a millionaire wow yeah yeah I I wish I had a lot of money I could help out different people we've got a really sad case and you maybe know them people um come on Irene does somebody Madeira or no uh they live south of Saint Lomute um come on Irene he works for the foundation and his wife is dying they're pretty young people she has brain cancer that's so sad uh he works for the foundation um they live south and they just got a new house they lived in this crappy old house for years and now they have a new house the last couple years I'd like to help them out and I've been trying to help a little here and there because I'm sure their bills are yeah terrible yeah but life has been good to me and I've had a very very good life I don't know how many more years I have lord willing it'll be a few more but um I'm very very content lonesome it's pretty lonesome yeah you know yeah uh but little by little it's I don't know if it's better but um you're getting more used to it yeah yeah yeah what's your all-time favorite song The Old Rugged Cross oh that's a beautiful song that is a beautiful song well you came up with that fast yeah yeah that's that was both both of ours and these kids they they them same kids there's uh eight of them in this family and five of them come up to the hospital to see George and they sang that song to him at the hospital beautiful we shut the door but they sang a little bit loud so after they were gone I asked the nurses the nurses were so wonderful in there I said could you hear them they said we could but they said it was so beautiful you know how quiet it is in the hospital you can sort of hear them yeah yeah the old rugged cross that's such a beautiful um well they're all beautiful yeah yeah what's one thing you want people to remember about you pardon what is something you want people to remember about you well I hope people think that I was a good friend to them and um that I tried to help out as much as I could you know when I was younger I had done a lot of babysitting a lot of babysitting for kids and uh and now those kids are very good to me very very very good to me I had a Mother's Day not too long ago last Sunday and oh my goodness chocolates you guys chocolates but then I was invited out twice for a meal and I had five cards a beautiful big bouquet of flowers and quite a few telephone calls nice so I had a nice Mother's day yeah yeah are there any other memories that you would like to share well you know not really um if they would be I'd say that would be with things that I done with Rodney when he was younger Rodney left home when he was 16 years old he didn't want to go to school anymore and so he got a job and um but before then well we just done the ranching cowboy things riding together and um you know that kind of thing a memory well probably when George brought the rock down yeah that's a great one yeah I can't think of anything in particular I'm sure there is some but I can't think of anything right now well thank you so much for taking the time you're welcome and talking about all these things.
SPEAKER_01That's that's it you did wonderful yeah thanks for spending a little time with us today on the Simple Lives We Live. If these stories mean something to you one of the best ways to support the podcast is to follow, share an episode with someone you love or leave a review. You can also support the show through the links in our website or social media bios. Until next time don't forget ordinary lives often hold the most extraordinary stories