The Simple Lives We Live
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The Simple Lives We Live
I Count My Blessings Every Day | Barb Stedman
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Barb Stedman got engaged twice in her life, both times on Christmas Eve, and the second husband had no idea about the first. Many in Beach, ND know Barb from her 30 years running the produce department at the Beach Food Center. Listen for her leaving first grade at recess because she thought the bell meant go home, darning socks over a light bulb, and Christmas toys bought with Green Stamps. Her plan now? Live to 100 and move in with each of her kids for a month.
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, we are back for another episode of the Simple Lives We Live. Today's quote: Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty, and that is by Socrates. So today I have I've got the beautiful Barb Stedman with me. So thank you for being here. You are sure welcome. I'm so glad it worked out. I do too. It's a hot day. When we release this, it'll probably be September, but it's mid-July right now, and it is very hot. I agree. So, Barb, as I start with everybody, how old are you? I am just turned 79. Just turned 79 in June. Okay. So where where were you born?
SPEAKER_03I was born in Spokane, Washington. Okay. On June the 28th in 1947.
SPEAKER_011947. Okay. So at what point did you move to this area? Uh when I was six years old. Moved when you were six, okay. So how many siblings did you have? Do you have? And where do you fall in line?
SPEAKER_03Okay, I am the oldest. Okay. The oldest. There was just two of us. My sister lives in Lendife. Her name is Katherine Hagel. Okay. And then I do have a second family. Okay, talking about it. Okay, my dad remarried. So I have three brothers. Uh, first one is Robert Campbell.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_03And my second one was Keith Campbell. And the third one was Ronnie. They are my half-brothers from the second marriage.
SPEAKER_01So all younger than you, are they also with us? No, two were gone. Which ones are gone? Have both passed away. I passed away. Okay. Any sisters from that second marriage? No. Just three just three brothers. So tell me about your parents. Who were they? What were their names? What were they like?
SPEAKER_03Okay, my mother's name was Alice Campbell, but her maiden name was Navotney. Okay. Alice Navotne. And then she married Frances Leo Campbell. And they were married in Spokane, Washington.
SPEAKER_01Okay. And did your mom, was she a stay-at-home mom? Yes. Okay. And what did your dad do for work?
SPEAKER_03Uh he worked at the Loggy Mail in Idaho.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Any particular memories that you have of them growing up?
SPEAKER_03My mother, she worked hard because uh she had to raise two girls on her own. Our dad just kind of left us behind.
SPEAKER_01So tell can you tell me about that a little bit? How old were you?
SPEAKER_03I was six when we moved back from Spokane, Washington. Mom and Dad had gotten a divorce.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03And so then shortly after that, then my father remarried to Josie. Okay.
SPEAKER_01And then had the three three sons. Okay. Do you remember much about your dad?
SPEAKER_03No, I don't, I'll be honest. I've got a picture of him, but that's about as much.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So when he left you, you guys did not have any more contact? No Christmas, no birthday, nothing. Did you have contact with the three brothers? Yes. So how did that how did you have contact with them and not your dad?
SPEAKER_03Well, my grandmother, uh Bertie Converse, was from my whole country. She is my dad's mother. And she made sure that us two girls had Christmas, birthdays, Easter. She thought a lot of us two girls. So if there's anything that uh when the two boys passed away, we were in contact through grandma. Okay. She was she was a blessing. If I wish we would have been closer.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Can I ask how how did Keith and Ronnie pass away?
SPEAKER_03Uh Keith had a heart attack.
SPEAKER_01How old was he?
SPEAKER_03Uh 40, I believe 43. Okay, so young. Yeah, very young. And how about Ronnie? Ronnie was two, he drowned it in the bathtub. He was in the bathtub, and mommy went to answer the door. But we went to. So anyway, then we gotta call that. He drowned it. So he's buried in California, and Keith is buried in Orfino, Idaho. That was where my dad's family's from. Okay. But had Keith had he married and had family and everything?
SPEAKER_01Uh they didn't have any children. Okay.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_03Bob was just, even though he was a half-brother, he was more of a real brother. I call him my baby brother, but he stands super tell way above you. I love him to death. He comes every year and says, I love you, sis, or what he calls. I love you, sis. And so beautiful. Yeah, he is a blessing to my life.
SPEAKER_01Um, how do you think that that upbringing affected you in how, say, you went into marriage and bringing up your kids and stuff like that? Did that really affect you having your dad leave and kind of not have any contact with you?
SPEAKER_03Well, when I was growing up, when we were going to school, I just had this feeling because everybody had two parents would come to a Christmas program or something that we had at the school, or we just had mother. Yeah. So I give my mother credit for what she done for us girls, got us through school, and she was there for when I got married to Larry in 1965, May 1. And um yeah, blessed her heart. And then she passed away about three days before East for Thanksgiving. Okay, yeah. We were going to do family pictures for um Thanksgiving because we haven't really had a group picture in a while, yeah. And my sister Kathy was taking her to church on Sunday because mom never drove, and she was talking about my daughter Teresa, and she just went, she was gone. She that's that's the way I would love to go. Yeah, right. Oh yes.
SPEAKER_01So let's go back to your childhood when you were little and you guys were in Spokane, you said, right? Did you live on a farm? Did you live in town?
SPEAKER_03We lived in town.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03I can remember going to first grade, and I left at recess. Because I said we always had a standing joke on that one because I well, I heard when the bell rings, you know, you could go home. So the so the principal came and says, uh, your daughter left, she's right here. So you would go home at recess? Yes, I went home at recess because the bell rang. So we have little stories all in life, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01When when you were going to school, and was kindergarten every day, was it every other day? Was it half days? Do you remember? I we every day. It was every day. Just like in the morning shift. Okay, just morning, but like half days. Okay, okay. Yes. What kind of chores did you have growing up?
SPEAKER_03Well, when my husband, well, in in town here, because we lived across from the courthouse.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you're six years old because you guys moved. We moved here. Moved here, to beach. Two beach. Okay. Yes. Okay.
SPEAKER_03So I would help mother. We always had to make sure our bed was made in the morning, and then we could have breakfast, and then we went on to school. But we would help mother and stuff. And um I remembered my first paycheck I'd gotten because I worked at the show house, and I would give her some money. She said, No, I don't want your money. I said, Mom, you're keeping us, you know, just for what you're getting and stuff, and I want to help you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And then when my dad passed away, us two girls got his social security, and we turned it over to mother to help her. To help her.
SPEAKER_01So what did your mom have say an eighth-grade education? Did she go just eighth grade? Just eighth grade education. So when your dad left, you guys moved out here, what did she do here to make ends meet?
SPEAKER_03Well, she well, we went to welfare. Okay. Yeah, she was in welfare, but she also cooked for the lions. Okay. Yeah, on Monday night, a bunch of ladies, Mary Thorston, Elma Hendrickson, uh, and a bunch of the ladies would cook a meal at where the Legion is now. They had a bigger kitchen. The old Legion. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Downstairs. Right on the main floor. Oh, right on the main floor. Okay. Right on the main floor. So she would help out with that. What else did she do?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's just about, and then she would do some mining and stuff, but she just that checked that she got and told us girls.
SPEAKER_01So you worked at the movie, the movie theater, and and how about your sister Kathy? Where did she work at all? She didn't work at all. Okay. Um, how was school for you growing up?
SPEAKER_03It was a little hard for me.
SPEAKER_01Hard in what way? Was it like the academic aspect or was it the social aspect that was hard?
SPEAKER_03The reading. I had to really learn to read more of the bigger letters and stuff. But yeah, I did good. And then seventh and eighth grade, uh, bunch of us girls got together and we did a jump roping uh for during the basketball halftime.
SPEAKER_01Oh neat!
SPEAKER_03So it's just kind of fun. So we did that in seventh and eighth grade.
SPEAKER_01Jump roping double dutch. Very cool.
SPEAKER_03Yes, we had a little outfits, and we went out there and jump rope and yes, and a lot of good friends, and we all grew up together. We still see one another. Well, hi, how are you? We're doing fine.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. Yes, we need to go back to double dutching. So, what are some of your earliest memories of growing up?
SPEAKER_03Uh well, my good friends, and then uh one of my good friends, I met her brother that was on leave from the military, and a couple years later I became Mrs. Larry Stadman.
SPEAKER_01So who was who was your good friend? Mostly. Okay. And how old were you when you met? You said Larry.
SPEAKER_03Larry. How old were you when you met him? Uh 18. Yeah. Well, I should say about 17, but we were married when I was 18.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Can you tell me what Christmases were like growing up? I know you said you didn't get anything from your dad, but from your dad's mom. Did you get something from your mom? How did how were Christmases celebrated?
SPEAKER_03My grandmother would always send us money. And then her sister blessed her heart. Her name, you always called her Grandma Beat. Grandma Beat. Grandma Beat was her name. And she'd make sure we always got a Christmas gift. And the first week of August, her and her husband would pack up the trunk and bring clothes from her daughters. So us two girls would have clothes and coats for the winter. That's awesome. Oh, that's great.
SPEAKER_01Which one do you get? And which ones did Kathy get? Who fits into what? Oh, yes.
SPEAKER_03Then we'd work tan cans underneath our skirts so they would be fluffy and oh yes, the good old days.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01And then yeah. Any other like special traditions around Christmas?
SPEAKER_03Christmas, we always have a family to get together.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_03Even when Larry and I were married, we always had Christmas at my house. And I own the old town of Yates, Montana, which is a little town between Beach and Little. Matter of fact, I, Dewey, my son, we call him Dewey, and Kyson live there now. Okay. And stuff. We raised three kids there. Wow. And stuff, and now Dewey has it because I got married for the second time. Because Larry passed away in. Okay. That's okay. Okay. Well, Larry. Okay. Larry passed away in um, well, we were blessed 47 years.
SPEAKER_01Wow, 47 years. Okay. 47 years. And you said you had three kids? Yes, three kids. Okay.
SPEAKER_03Delane, Darwin, and Teresa. And Larry passed away August the 12th of 2012. 2012. So we were blessed. We had our anniversary first in May, and he died in August. Glendike Hospital with lung and throat cancer.
SPEAKER_01We're gonna jump around if that's okay. We'll talk about this. Um, how was it seeing him? Somebody you've been married to, you said 47 years, having him go through that, watching him go. I would imagine that's not uh painless it was hard.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because somebody that you spent your life with, we did everything together, we raised our family, and when we went through Sydney, Montana, and the doctors had came out and said, Um, I got some bad news for you. Yeah, you got lung and throat cancer, and my husband would say, Why me? Why me?
SPEAKER_01Never smoked?
SPEAKER_03Oh yes, he was a smoker. He did. Okay. Yeah, so then we did everything in Sydney. He had all those treatments. Once in a while we had to go to Billings, but everything was between Glenn Dike and Sydney.
SPEAKER_01How old was he when he passed away? Um around there, 60s. He was in his 60s. Yeah, he was in his 60s. Okay. No, yeah, you're good. We'll come back to that too. Okay. Um, we're gonna go back to um any because we were talking kind of about Christmas. Any favorite Christmas gifts that you got growing up? Do you remember any?
SPEAKER_03Well, I remembered grandma and my mother one year. Uh, first, like I said, money was kind of short, grandma would make me a nightgown out of flannel, and mom would make me pajamas. Okay. Then one year I got the Catholic missile. And then one year Kathy and I each got a doll from Grandma.
SPEAKER_01I love that you can remember those gifts. Yes, I still even though they're very simple gifts.
SPEAKER_03There were simple gifts, but I still remember them. Did you do the whole stocking? Yes, we did. We did the stockings. Even when after I got married, my kids and their spouses said, Does your mother do this all the time? They said, Yes. I even did for my kids and their spouses. I love that. Yeah, I go through the Avon lady, which was my sister-in-law. Oh, then when it was my sister-in-law, so I would go to her and she'd always have Christmas specials and little things, so and I could stick them in the stock. And it's yeah, just wonderful things.
SPEAKER_01I miss those days. Yeah. How about birthdays growing up? Did you do anything special for birthdays? Special cake or were they extravagant birthdays?
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna guess no, but well, the three, the Larry and the two boys, like German chocolate cake with pecan frosting.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03Teresa, we always called it the speckle cake. That was the graffiti angel food.
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_03That was hers.
SPEAKER_01How about for you when you were growing up? Did you guys do any? You and Kathy, did you get much for we got things?
SPEAKER_03We got cake, you know, and maybe a little gift and and stuff. But and I look back at those days and I thought, you know, we very blessed. There is people out in this world that don't get what we got. And the best part was the love.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01We got a lot of love and tension and because and you still had the excitement of Christmas. Oh, yes. Yeah. Even without all the gifts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you growing up, did you have a TV? Yes. We did. Okay. Do you remember, were there Christmas specials that you looked forward to watching at all?
SPEAKER_03I don't think I always liked to watch on Saturday with the Westerns and Dick Dick Dick Van Dyke. Oh my music. Yeah. That was my favorite on Saturday. The Saturday mornings.
SPEAKER_01See, I grew up in the time of Saturday morning cartoons. You had family or Saturday morning westerns and Dick Van Dyke. Oh yes. Any any favorite childhood memories? What did you do for fun?
SPEAKER_03Well, we well, they had more things back then, you know, when we were in junior high, we had sock hops. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Uh we had uh I've not heard that term in so long. No, just in so long. It's been a long time since I've heard that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Down below uh where the show um show house is now, right on the corner, yes, was the U.S. post office. Yes. We had the stockhop in the basement. You took your shoes off and we danced, Catholic Church. We danced in the basement there. And then I was invited to a Boy Scout Christmas party with uh a young man, it wasn't Larry. This was, I would say, probably my junior year. Okay. Croissage croissant.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. When it came to dances and things like, did you have prom? Did you have a promo?
SPEAKER_03You didn't go to prom. We had two young ladies that worked at the show house with me, and they had dates, and I said, Okay, nobody asked me, so I stayed and worked, and I told they could go to prom. Do you ever regret that? Not going? Uh I do in a way, but yet, yeah, my little mom couldn't afford a prom dress.
SPEAKER_01So do you remember during that time were most of the dresses made by a mother? They made their own type thing versus going out and buying really expensive ones. Okay, yeah. They're super fun to look at. Some of those pictures of the dresses that they would make themselves or moms would make, and yeah, those are really special.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Mom made you a lot of our clothes. Yeah, stuff by material, and she loved to sew.
SPEAKER_01Well, and you said she would kind of like a seamstress. Um she just kind of did it at home. She just made sure us girls had clothes and and stuff. But did you say, did she hen for others? Did she do stuff any of that for others? No. Okay.
SPEAKER_03Just kind of kept just for you for us guys and stuff. I remembered my first paycheck. I got 75 cents an hour at the show house. So when I got my yeah, so when I got my first paycheck, we had a store in Beach that was called Dickinson Store.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_03It was on the corner. So I went down and I bought two pairs of white tennis shoes for school with my paycheck, and then I put the rest into savings. Wow. And then they like the little kids shoes. Yeah, my pair was good. Yeah, the red was perfect. Yeah. Yes, those were the days. And then uh grandma had called one day I was a junior in high school that our father had passed away, and she would like us two girls to come out. So I mom said I can't afford it. So, mom, I would go and take money on my savings. So we caught the train here and went to Missoula. And where my hometown is, you've got to go through Lowell Pass. And we're uh Orfino, Idaho is the was the hometown of where my dad, grandma, everybody lived. Okay. And stuff. So um we went out, but you know, it was like picking up a Dickinson press or a newspaper, going to a few note that you had no clue who it was. But we did it for grandma.
SPEAKER_01Which is hard to think that you worked so much to save up that money, and then you spent it to help your grandma in a sense, because it wasn't for your dad.
SPEAKER_03No, it wasn't for dad. Yeah, it was for grandma. She asked if us girls could come and stuff. So I went and got my money from my savings. And we did it, but it was just like there's a man laying in the casket with a soup, white shirt, but no clue. Yeah. Just like sad. Yeah, it was sad. Just with no tears because they know him.
SPEAKER_01Did he ever, do you know, did he ever regret that?
SPEAKER_03I you know, I don't know. Grandma really didn't really say.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03But I know grandma and then her sister, I mean, there's nothing they wouldn't have done for us. Yeah. We always got birthdays. Grandma every Easter, well, both, I would say both grandmas, because that one was just like every Easter or every holiday, we got a five-dollar bill in a car.
SPEAKER_01Which is a lot. It was a lot like that. If you consider you were making 75 cents an hour.
SPEAKER_03Yes, those were the days. My family's all gone now, except for maybe I call them my baby brother. Because with for Robert. For Robert, yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01So Kathy has passed away. No, Kathy. Okay. Okay, that's right. That's right. Okay. And now when you and Kathy were little and growing up, was there certain things that you did for fun? Did you guys go to the swimming pool? What'd you do in the summers?
SPEAKER_03We went swimming and stuff. And then just kind of hung around with the girls. We walked to the Dairy Queen. We had a Dairy Queen then go get an ice cream cool. Miss the Dairy Queen. Miss it tremendously. So but um when Larry and I were married uh in 65, and then I had my first son, Delane. Darwin was born in 66, and then he was uh Delane was born in 65 too.
SPEAKER_01Okay, that was 65, 66, okay.
SPEAKER_03Wow, yeah. I had my so anyway, in 66, Darwin was three weeks old, and we moved to Idaho because my cousin uh had bought a gas station. So here we were, little little Delane and Darwin just barely knew, so we moved out there and they had a place for us, and so we lived out there. My daughter is born in Idaho in '67 and stuff, and she was just about a year old, and we moved back, and we bought the farm for my grandparents, Joe and Emma Navotney. Okay.
SPEAKER_01How long did you live out in Idaho?
SPEAKER_03I would say, say, we went out in 66 and we moved back in 68.
SPEAKER_01Because I said So just a couple years. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Yeah, because I bought here Larry and I bought the old town of Yates for my grandparents.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you had a high school education. Yes. Did you go to college at all? No, because you guys got married at eight. You were 18. How old was Larry when you got married? He was four years older than me. Okay, so he was 22. Yeah. Ish. Okay. Did he did he go to college? No. He was in the military. He was in military. That's right. How long was he in the army for?
SPEAKER_03I think three years. Three years, he did. Matter of fact, I have a military family. Larry was army, Delane was Army. Darwin, my second son, is the Army. Uh Jared Daniel. Uh he was in the Marine Corps. My daughter, uh, son that was just home on relief is in the Air Force, stationed in Arkansas, and then my half-brother was in the army. So I have a military family.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, pretty extended. Yes.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So after those three years in the military, what did what did Larry do?
SPEAKER_03Well, we came, then we moved back from Idaho, and you worked at the cheese plant.
SPEAKER_01He worked at the cheese plant, okay. What did he do there? Made cheese. Oh, he was one of the like working in the production. Yeah. Okay. How long did he do that for? Well, did he do that along with having that farm? Yes, we didn't have to.
SPEAKER_03Because a lot with supplement with then he went to work for farmers union oil and drove the propane truck. Hmm.
SPEAKER_01But I can't remember what so worked in the cheese plant, farmers union. What other jobs did he have? That was about five. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But Larry was uh everything, handyman. Yep, jack of all trades. Jack of all trades. He could fix your stove or refrigerator, your air conditions, uh, washers and jars, and you name it, you you call him up and he'd be right there to fix it, and plus all of that. And then when he got terribly sick, and um we did all of our treatments in Sydney, Montana. And I remember the last week, uh I should say the week before, because we went to do his one treatment, and they said, Oh, sorry, but his blood work didn't come out good. So we couldn't do it. So that was Wednesday. Sunday we rushed him to ER and when I they admitted him. And then uh Sunday morning, a week later, she came in and core denied the nurse and say, call the family because it'd be a matter of time. The last one got there and went home at noon.
SPEAKER_01So I stayed there right at the hospital with him. Do you consider that a really um how blessed you were to be there with him?
SPEAKER_03I was, matter of fact, I had the strength to give him a kiss and said you could go home. Because we watched him all those months going through treatments, getting sick, and then watching him and Gwendive couldn't eat, and then they had pills all the way around him for like a support, I guess you call it, because he kept sliding over to the railing. So they just put him in there and it just kept him comfortable. And then Saturday night, uh young chaplain came in and we gave him his last rights. And Sunday I went in there alone after the nurse had said that and I gave him a kiss and I said, You've got my blessings to go home. And he did by now. So but Saturday night I still picture him. Larry's little brother, Sydney, lived in Glendale. So he came over Saturday night and he said, Larry liked country and western music. So the nurse came in and turned the music on, and Doctor Sydney like this, and stuff. So we were watching. And all of a sudden, Larry sit up in bed like this. First time since Wednesday. He turned his head like this and he looked at us, turned his head, looked this way at the TV, and he turned his head and looked just straight ahead, like he seen somebody that we couldn't see. And then he lay back Sunday morning with him.
SPEAKER_01Don't you wish you could ask him what he saw?
SPEAKER_03You do, yeah. But he wasn't speaking, but uh and I books and I said, Did you see that? He said, Yeah. He said he could say too. He said, I bet he's seen something we didn't. The dear Lord was at the foot of the bed.
SPEAKER_01How cool to witness that.
SPEAKER_03You know, yeah, it's kind of give you the supply. Oh, that's yeah. Because all of a sudden he's looking ahead. First time since Wednesday, sitting up in bed just staring.
SPEAKER_01And really focused.
SPEAKER_03And really focused. Yeah, yeah. And then all of a sudden he lay back and put it creepy in a way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. But yeah, I said thank heavens for Sydney and Glendack, because he was there every day. That was his Larry's little brother. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, now, how did you and you said you met through Larry's um sister, but how did he ask you all? Like, how did you actually meet and what were you doing? Give me all the details, Barb.
SPEAKER_03Um Rosalie, we had asked us girls to come out to the farm for the weekend.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_03Well, Larry was out there and stuff, and so uh he was getting ready to pack and stuff, and then he happened to come into our room, all three of us, and stuff, and so we were all talking, and he said, Well, I wish you girls would write to us, you know, because Lot must don't give me all of these in the service. So he gave me his address, and all of a sudden it just So you wrote him?
SPEAKER_01I wrote to him uh during my school years. How was it just for a year that you wrote for it to him? About two years. About two years. Did he reply? Did you write back and forth?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we wrote back and forth. And I got it such a I still can remember this. We were home on leave and we did a makeup class at Home Mac. Verona Leckler was our homec teacher. Okay, so we had our makeup on, just was all fixed up. So he picked a bunch of us girls up and was taking us home. He turned his head and he said, And what's that on your face? I said, We did makeup today in class. Oh, for funny. He said, The whole wash out.
SPEAKER_01He didn't like that too well and stuff, but yeah. So you said you struggled with the reading in school. Yeah, were there some classes that you really enjoyed? Yeah, fine in music. Are you pretty musically talented?
SPEAKER_03Oh I had always loved to sang in the choir.
SPEAKER_01Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, even in the Catholic chair. Yeah, I sang every Sunday at Catholic Church and Midnight Mass.
SPEAKER_01So who who were some of your favorite teachers then?
SPEAKER_03Uh see I had Verona Lagwood.
SPEAKER_01So you liked Homack.
SPEAKER_03Home Mac too. Yes, I really enjoyed Homec. Then we had Dick Schroeder for our science teacher. We had Charlotte Cohen for uh English and Literature. Uh we had Nick Roster for U.S. history, and then we had uh Woods. I can't think of his first name, but he was our math teacher.
SPEAKER_01I love that you remember all of these. Yeah, it's a lot of teachers that you were able to school. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Any vacations that you took as a kid?
SPEAKER_03Not really. Just the one to go to your dad's funeral. Yeah, about that, because mom didn't drive. Okay. Never drove. Never drove. Oh wow. So how did you get anywhere? We well, we walked from our house was across from the courthouse. Yep. We would go to the post office and meet Rosalie and her mom.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03We would walk over, you know where the grocery store is, across the street. Larry's mom would be cleaning the house, and then we'd walk to school. But fortunately, there was people during the winter months that would pick us up. Okay.
SPEAKER_01So who taught you how to drive?
SPEAKER_03Like Larry. Your husband. Yes. How about your sister? Yeah, she's who taught her? I thought it was her, probably her family. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And so when did you when did you first drive? I didn't drive till after my daughter was born. And I was a home mom. We lived on the farm. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So did you ever um because you didn't go to college, you got married, you had your three kids, you guys had moved to Idaho, and then two years later moved back. You're on the farm. At what point did you work outside of the home?
SPEAKER_03I started working after my daughter went to first grade. When she was in school, first grade. Yeah, because otherwise I was a home mom. We had the cows, we milked the cows, we had the chickens, we had the garden. Did you make cheese? Did you sell milk? Did you do any of that stuff? You did. We sold eggs. Matter of fact, uh remember those days. We matter of fact, my second son, he was brought his girlfriend out to the farm, and he was telling her what mom does. She washes clothes, she mends the socks. I darn the socks. So I always had one laundry basket when I got done. Put the light bulb in there and darn the socks. And Larry was the only one working, so so they could wear their socks a little longer. My kids just they just what mom did, I canned. We have our wood cellar, so we put food in the the root cellar for the winter. So big garden. Big garden.
SPEAKER_01Can you explain to me a little bit more? The light bulb in the sock? Yes, you take a light bulb. I've never heard of this, so I am like no. Okay, so you take a light bulb. Yeah, well, just like a classic light bulb.
SPEAKER_03Okay, just a regular light bulb, but you would put a socket, yeah, you put it in there, take it to the end, and then you get your needle and thread, and then you would that's how you would sew it up, like together. Yeah, turn it inside out. Yeah, and then I yeah, I did it over. I did not know that you used a light bulb to do that. Yeah, you stick a light bulb in there, and that's what you used to. That's my mother taught me that.
SPEAKER_01I love that. I I've never heard of that. Yeah, uh maybe somebody it probably is like uh one of those people just assume you know that. I I ne I never knew that. You would put light bulb in there.
SPEAKER_03My kids remember that too. Wow. Mom would always have one laundry basket and she'd sit there and she would darn socks so they could finish wearing out their socks. Wow.
SPEAKER_01When you we'll get to what you did first when you went to uh work, but what when you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up? What what were your ambitions when you were younger?
SPEAKER_03Well, I wanted to work with people.
SPEAKER_01So you wanted to work? I wanted to work. Okay. I mean you had worked all through high school at the the show hall. Okay. But you still had an ambitions to to work, to get a job and to work.
SPEAKER_03Okay. So my first job was uh working at the old service center cafe. Homer Madison had the gas station where Marmi's got their shop right now. Okay, Larry worked there for a while. And then um I was offered uh a job working at the uh Beach Food Center. Well, I had a serious accident the night before I was to work, so I was out of commission for three or four months. And um Can I ask you what the accident was?
SPEAKER_02Lawnmower toes.
SPEAKER_03I got it. You were mowing? Yeah, well, I I hit a tree stump. I had this old-fashioned lawnmower that was open, and I hit a tree stump when I didn't see it, and the foot, so the doctor said if I would have nicked more my big toe off, that's your balance control toe. So my second, third, and the fourth one, they're no toenails, they're they're a little short. The little one they had to show come sew back on.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_03So it's it's at a slant. Okay, but after I learned to walk, you would never know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, but a lawnmower accident. Okay. So you were at the service center, were you a server? Yes. Okay, how how many years did you do that?
SPEAKER_00I think probably a year.
SPEAKER_01One year. One year.
SPEAKER_03Then I worked 30 years at the beach food center, which is now we worked with uh this is where I know you from.
SPEAKER_01Because when we would go into the beach food center, at the time at least, when I was little, what I remember is you always our fruit was always wonderful, but you were in charge of that. I don't know if you ended up having different um parts to the store if you controlled other parts, managed other parts, but that is where I remember you from when I was really little. So you worked there for 30 years. And what did you all do while you were there?
SPEAKER_03Well, I also run the till and then on uh during the week we have a corner in the back room where if you can't get it all on the shelf, we took and put it in the corner. So one day in the week we take grocery cart and go back and take stuff off the back and bring it to the floor and fill up our shelves again. So then I did that. Then we push our stuff toward the front. Monday and Thursday was truck day, so we'd done that. Uh on Wednesday afternoon with my produce lady. I took one section, I would say about like this, the bottom of the produce department, and I'd clean everything out of there. I'd take it to the back. So if I had an orange and an apple and a pear, I'd put it together and maybe put 75 cents. Everything that was getting down. Uh, I remembered putting a case of lettuce out because it had three days left for it to be expired. And a lady came in and bought them all. What I had. But I marked them a dollar because the date was getting so close. Yeah. Anything that I thought that needed, because I even had green peppers, I put three together, maybe for 50 cents, so somebody could get them, chop them up, put them in the freezer, or make something. But that was my Wednesday afternoon. So when I told them that I was retiring from the store, well, who's gonna run the produce department?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because we've done it for so How many days a week did you work? We worked Monday through Friday. Friday? Friday. Okay. And we had our weekends on your 40 hours. Like a normal work week is what you worked. And you did that for 30 years, so you had to have been well very young. Yes. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And then I went to work at the Golden Valley Manor.
SPEAKER_01Okay. What caused you to retire from the food center and then work at the manor?
SPEAKER_03It was well, I got an opportunity to go up there, and I thought, you know, I did the grocery store for this many years. And I thought I'd like to just try something different. Yeah. And I loved it. You did? Yes. So what did you do up at the manor? Uh we did uh sister living. Okay. We give uh some people their showers, give them their meds. A few um we had to help go down to the dining room twice a week. I work the night, so you go in at 11 at night and work till seven in the morning.
SPEAKER_01How did you like that?
SPEAKER_03Well, four o'clock, you found the coffee box. But we got to be family and I went on vacation. Usually the end of June, we went for the leaching conventions. Okay. Because I'm I'm associated with the leech and stuff. And the boss, Vicky Braden, would say, I'm glad you're back because they were asking when you were coming back to her. But we became family.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and so nice to be remembered and wanted and yeah, needed, really, truly.
SPEAKER_03I've known since I was a little girl, and I would always wear my name type, but to her, I was Betty. I thought, you know, if she wanted to call me Betty, let her. Yeah. But isn't that so sweet? Yeah, I even told her family that. She said, Where'd you get? I said, I have no idea, but but she went, she called, I thought, you know, sweetheart, if you want to call me Betty, and then she went to the nursing home. I visited her, and she still called me Betty. I thought, you know, so that's nothing I remember of her, but we became family. We became family. Then I met my second husband, which is Janice Deadman's brother, Buzz Fulton.
SPEAKER_01We were married in uh so you were married for 40 seven years. Yeah. How long before you got remarried? After Larry passed away, how long before you met Buzz?
SPEAKER_03Well, let's see. Larry passed away in 12. And let's see, Buzz passed away in 18. So I would say we were only married two years.
SPEAKER_01So you so your first husband passes away, you meet Buzz. Yeah, because I've known him because with Janice, she's my sister-in-law.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I've known all her brothers and sisters. Well, they he lost his wife and he had six kids. Of course, I said they were all growed up, so I didn't handle. Yeah. But uh so he was lonely and I was lonely, and we just got together, and we were married in uh 60 years.
SPEAKER_01Is it 2016 maybe? About 2016, I think. So how was that to lose two husbands really in a short amount of time? And then I lost a daughter-in-law, and then you lost a daughter.
SPEAKER_02Okay, and what year she passed away after she was dead. So she's been gone two years because he was just little. Okay.
SPEAKER_03Wow. And I said, oh, and then we lost two new babies. That was hard. Grandbabies or you grandbabies. Okay, yeah. I remembered Jared's because they called me from the Glendale Hospital, and um so I went down there. He was born brain dead, but he still had a little heart.
SPEAKER_01Did they have any idea?
SPEAKER_03No, because she just went for a checkup and she wasn't feeling good, and he said, We're gonna meet you. Well, she ended up having it, and of course, he was very dead, and then I got to hold his little fingers and play with his little toes, and so of course they were all crying in there, and then John Foster and little John, he had to come in with the blanket. Yeah, we all lost it, yeah, because we knew he'd just going to take it in. So right now he is on the map in Weeble on the fireplace, little Logan. Logan, okay, yeah, and the other one, um, he was, yeah, she couldn't carry a full chart. He was a little boy. So I said, in those few years, I lost two husbands, a daughter-in-law, and two babies. I said, I thought your share. I did my share. Somebody said you're gonna try for number three, and I said no. I said, I was blessed twice, they were real good husbands, they provided for me. Um I couldn't have asked for a better life.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Okay, so I want you to talk about you talked about how you guys, you and Larry met and sending the letters back and forth. How did he propose?
SPEAKER_03Well, it was Christmas Eve. Okay. I was getting of Christmas, we always mom Kathy and I would go to midnight mass. And he came over about eight o'clock, round in there, and he says, Come on and sit in the car because I'd like to talk to you for a minute. So he asked, would you do the honors of becoming my wife? So he put the ring on my finger. So then uh then I went through school, and so then we got married, and I says, crazy thing, Buzz did the same thing as Christmas Eve.
SPEAKER_01No way, did he know that? Did he know that you got married got engaged Christmas Eve with Larry? Oh no, well, I don't think I even mentioned it.
SPEAKER_03But we were together. Well, it was so funny because he asked me to, we were going shopping and Glenn and I at the jewelry stop. He says, Well, pick out a ring. And of course, it was in this one section. I thought, okay, I think I have an idea what this is. Sold him. We got it and paid for it. So Christmas Eve before the family came, he said, Would you do me the honors of being my wife? So both rings, Christmas Eve.
SPEAKER_01Christmas Eve. So you got engaged to both of your husbands on Christmas Eve with your first husband. How was the wedding? Was it a big wedding? Did you do uh bridal shower, honeymoon, all the the whole nine yards, or how was that?
SPEAKER_03Well, we um got married. There were 13 of us at the wedding. Oh, we just small one, yeah, of the Catholic Church at the foot of the altar because Larry would join the Catholic Church. Okay, I was Catholic.
SPEAKER_01Who was the priest? Did you have Fodman? Was it Father Fodmin Durch? Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh so we're just yeah, so there's just a few of us. And you were seven. White suit. So yeah. Did you buy it? Did you make it? Mom bought it. Your mom bought it, and Roy Margaret Waltz that owned the theater where our stand-up. No, she bought my flowers and stuff, and then she had a uh a bouquet for herself and then Larry and and Roy then had to do Whitney and and stuff. So we just had a small wedding and yeah. No reception after or date. Yeah, well, we uh yeah, we went to Jack's Club.
SPEAKER_01Okay, for a nice little meal, yeah, yeah. We had a reception at my mother's house. Okay. Any any honeymoon? No, no, because you went back to it was okay, yeah, absolutely. It didn't mean your your marriage was gonna last, less or be, you know, nowadays it's a huge thing.
SPEAKER_03So that's why we got married still than what we planned.
SPEAKER_01So but that's that's why we didn't have the honeymoon 47 years, yeah.
SPEAKER_0347 years, and I had a thing in my mind. I said I knew how I grew up, and I didn't want my children to grow up like I did.
SPEAKER_01Without a dad.
SPEAKER_03Without a dad, yep, yep, yeah, I can totally understand that. Yeah, yeah, but we we made it through once as well. He said I threatened to trade you out for 220s, but I'm not doing for 220s.
SPEAKER_01It's really funny. Yeah, it was good. So tell me about Larry, tell me about your first husband. How would you describe him? Tell me about any fun stories that you want to tell me.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01He loved to dance.
SPEAKER_03Anytime there was a dance, we had to go. And I just loved it. And of course, he used to say, You have to work tomorrow morning, don't you? I promise I won't keep you out too late. And then we close tomorrow. Then it might get to be four hours of sleep, they'd have to give go to work at the manor at seven.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah. My kids just, yeah, they worship their dad. Matter of fact, my second son, when he walked in the hospital and they called him to Racus. He says, Yeah. He says, I wanted my dad to go to Billy's. I said, There was no vote. So we used to send him up there, and you guys, a lot of these guys wouldn't have been there because the whole family was there in the waiting room and stuff.
SPEAKER_01So a people person?
SPEAKER_03Yes. Yeah. He was. Was he he would stop and also if he's like down in the uh station down there, somebody would walk in, needed help. He was there to help. He would stop whatever he's doing and help you. He would go up to the truck stop, somebody put the wrong fuel in his truck. So then they had to drain it. He was right there to do all that and make sure that those people had good fuel in there and got on the road. He'd go out on the highway and fix flat tires, get the tires off and stuff. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01Did he enjoy doing all of that? Yes, he did.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And then toward the end, uh, I could tell he was getting a little worse because Friday he wouldn't eat. I said, You gotta eat something. No, I've just got hungry. Well, then Saturday he was doing the same thing, and then Sunday morning Jolene came out. I said, We're calling 911. So we brought the ambulance, and of course, people on the highway, of course. Later on, we had seen him and says, We kind of figured it was Larry. So then he made it in, he lasted one more week. But he he was he was about like me. We just go out and just help people. That's one thing I missed about Buszy's Cafe.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I missed the people.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I said if I was 20 years younger, I think I'd still have it.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, yeah, it's so sad that it's that it just closed and it's yeah, it was such a staple for so many people to go and like have coffee and visit, and yeah, yeah. That good breakfast.
SPEAKER_03And I went out and I said, Well, my family we'll start crying. I said, Well, this is goodbye. And they said, Barb, this isn't goodbye. We just won't be seeing you as often as we do with that smiley face.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But I would go out in the morning, and they always got a kick on me because if somebody would walk in, Barb, go out and ask them where they're from and what their name is, I would do it. I would do it.
SPEAKER_01But you know, in North or in Beach, you notice the people who are not from here. And it's like exciting, where are you from? Who do you know? What brought you there?
SPEAKER_03I used to have some hunters would come in, and they were just as friendly, and uh just nice you know you'd be talking to him, and I went back to go get something, and a few minutes later he followed me back there, and I thought, Did I say something wrong? And he said, I'm gonna give you a tip. I said, I can't take it. I I'm an employee. And he said, No, I want you because you are so nice and polite. Oh and then you come and visit with all of us. I said, Well, thank you, and I give him a hug and stuff, you know, it's just the warmth of the people. Out-of-town people, local town people, I'd go out in the morning and pour coffee for all of our coffee drinkers and stuff, and they would just, yeah. We all became family, yeah. So it was hard to say goodbye. Oh, absolutely. We still see them, but yeah, it's just not the same, yeah. And stuff.
SPEAKER_01Who do you feel like in your family influenced you the most while you were growing up?
SPEAKER_03I had an uncle Ed, my mom's oldest brother. He always called me his sweetie pie. And if I ever needed a question answered or something, he was always there for me.
SPEAKER_01Did he have his own family too? Was he married? Never married. No. So you were kind of like his own. Like his own daughter. Treated you like his own daughter. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he just, if I needed something, or just even talk. Just about anything, and even right there. Well, if it isn't my sweetie pie, how are you doing today? I miss a sweetie pie. I love it. I love it. Oh good. I sit down every once in a while and just count my blessings for what I have. Yeah. You know, you look around this world, there's a lot of people that have it rough.
SPEAKER_01Do you feel like that's what's kept you so positive? I mean, you have a wonderfully positive attitude. Even even with everything that you've been through, you know, is that do you feel like it's the gratitude of looking around and just being like, I could have it so much worse?
SPEAKER_03I think so, because there's people out there that didn't have what I had. We might not have much because I was a home mom, so Larry would be out working and bringing in the money to pay the bills and and you know, and stuff. And I look around even to this day, you know how blessed I am. I am with my kids, my grandkids, yeah, my great-grandkids, and yeah, and I have a son this year for Mother's Day. He gave me a dozen long stem roses, Darwin and Glendike. I was I just had tears because my kid keeps never giving me flowers.
SPEAKER_01But this year something different, something different, yeah, yeah. How many grandkids do you have?
SPEAKER_03Okay, I wrote that all down. Yes. Okay, with Larry, I had uh seven grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren. Okay, and then I have four stepchildren because I have Sheila's kids. Okay, and those were four there. There was Sean, Travis, Brittany, and Ashley, and they had it, it's eight, ten or three, ten. I would say fifteen. Uh great grandkids from this uh stepchildren.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03And then with uh, of course that's the first marriage, the second one. I have six stepchildren, and then I have twenty-five grandchildren from the second marriage. Okay, so we got little peoples, and big people's, but I you know I do. I I look around and think how blessed I am.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely about my health, I feel and all these wonderful family and even friends that are more like family too. They are, yeah, yeah, they are. Barb, did you spend any of your part of your life traveling, doing much traveling?
SPEAKER_03Not until I um I think Larry was in the XGI down here, and I think about the third year, then I joined the ladies' auxiliary. Okay, and so then I went to the state conventions.
SPEAKER_01And where were those usually at? Like a minot cargo more within the state?
SPEAKER_03More in the state. Uh, we got to go to National twice. I got to go to Hawaii and Salt Lake City.
SPEAKER_01Hawaii and Salt Lake, okay.
SPEAKER_03To National.
SPEAKER_01Nice to get away, but always good to be home. Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER_03No place like home. Yep.
SPEAKER_01No place like home. Do you have any unique talents that people would be surprised to hear about you?
SPEAKER_03Well, of course, I haven't danced in many years. I always like that. Um, I like to visit with people. Um my kids get a kick out of me because I keep telling them I'm cleaning or doing stuff. Mother, your house ain't dirty. I said, leave me alone.
SPEAKER_00I'm cleaning it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I I I'm a knee freak. Yeah. I I've got to have things. Like I get up in the morning and my bed gets made before I even go take a shower. Yep. And then I can take a shower, get dressed, and then go have breakfast. But that bed is kind of I'd have to tell you a good story about that big, the bed. Because when we were first married, of course, Larry was from a big family and stuff. So I was making the bed. He said, What are you doing? I said, I'm making the bed, like I always did, at home, you know, and stuff. And he said, Well, you just call in a few hours later, so why? I said, he said, I'll leave it alone. I said, You better leave it alone. But he got a kick on me because even when I got married, the bed had to be made.
SPEAKER_01Now, Barb, did it have to be made a certain way?
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_01Because I'm like that as well. And my husband says that I'm weird. Larry and mostly. Let me let me do it because it has to be done the right way, or I'm gonna redo it anyway.
SPEAKER_03I'm the same way. Somebody else say, Oh, I'll make the bed, and I said, Well, let me just do it because I'm gonna end up redoing it anyway. So when they leave, I go and redo it. I've always made sure we had our bed made in the morning before we went to school. Yeah, and I think you always kind of get that.
SPEAKER_01So I've done that all my life, and there's just something about like that area is organized and as it should be.
SPEAKER_03My pet peeve is an on-made bed, journey dishes, and garbage. I can totally relate. Yes, very much so. Very much so. So I I feed himself before he goes home. And I said, Well, I'll do the dishes. Oh, don't you leave until morning? Oh no, I don't like waking up in the morning to dirty dishes. I will do the dishes. Yes. And rather than just labor time. We can just clean the table off and put the dirty dishes in the sink. So then I just have to wash. But I know that's my good thing. I love that.
SPEAKER_01What's an important life lesson that you've learned?
SPEAKER_03Well, I learned that there is good people in the world. God has blessed me in every way I could think. I had two wonderful husbands, a good family and stuff, and I just count my blessings every day. That's what I have.
SPEAKER_01If you could go back to any stage of your life, maybe it's a particular memory, a particular day or like a season of life, what would it be in life?
SPEAKER_03Be Christmas when my kids were growing up. We couldn't afford much. So Larry's brother Edmund would bring us a live Christmas tree from the farm. So we set it up, and we really couldn't afford when we got Larry would buy some whites, put them on. But kids made homemade ornaments and we decorate, and then I made popcorn and bought a sack of cranberries and we threaded them and we used that for our garden. So you did that on Christmas Eve? Christmas Eve. And then I would find little things and stuff and make little stockings. And we used to get Govern stamps and green stamps from the grocery stores here in town. Oh, okay. So about October, a bunch of us would go to Dickerson and cash them in, and that's what I bought the kids' Christmas toys with. Or there's a well, there's a way. The kids even remembered that how they used to just make little ornaments and put them on the tree. But if I could go back to when they were little and do a Christmas like that, super yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02A lot of good memories.
SPEAKER_01Is there anything you always wished you had done but never got around to doing?
SPEAKER_03Well, not really. I got to just do some traveling. Uh had jobs and met a lot of people that I guess would have never known in the town. Um I got to help the residents at the manor, you know, help them with their showers. Uh there was a one uh Dory Clem was my trainee. She says it's two-week training, so I followed her. So the second week she says, Come on, Bart, you can you can do it. You you can go ahead and do it. I thought, so I had to go give a lady an insulin shot. I was to the honest, I was scared because I was afraid because it was just me. Yeah, yeah, it's on you. Yes, and then when I was all done, the lady said, Bart, you did a very good job. So, you know, I can really count my blessings for the training I got. Yeah, the wonderful people in beach. Somebody said, Wouldn't you like to move to a bigger city? I said, No, this has been home. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And of course, my kids know. Um, I made my funeral arrangements already. Uh, I said I don't want uh my family to have a bill. So my money now is in the first aid bank or Golva and is drawing interest. So uh just be prepared. I said, I'm gonna live a hundred. And then I move with each one of you for one little jokey. I said, no, I'm not I'm gonna live to be a hundred. So yeah, right now I've been to the heart doctor, and she doesn't want to see me for a year unless something happens. I take my meds, I walk every morning. So, where can you just take off and walk it in beach, North Dakota? I know. You can't do that in a big city, you probably feel like you're gonna get kidnapped or run over or in beach, you don't got any traffic really.
SPEAKER_01I mean, it's it's it is a really great place just to go and walk. It's very calming. My favorite time, I always think of walking in the fall in Beach. It's there's something about the smell of the leaves and beach when you walk in the fall coast. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I walk on the second house from Jackie Farr, well, next door to Jackie Fire Street.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_03So I walked down there to their house, and then I walk to the second house on the uh other side of me every morning. What time do you get up? Before six. Okay. Because this one comes at 7:30.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So I can get up and get everything, and I did my walk-in this morning. He was there and stuff, and so he was playing and yeah, so Bradley went for a walk.
SPEAKER_01Yep, he can ride bike, he can do all that.
SPEAKER_03He's got a scooter, yeah. Yeah, he's bike. Santa Claus brought him a bike. Nice Santa Claus, right? It was so cheap two years ago I had to tell you about this. So, anyway, we got him a bike. I told Dewey about it. But I said, I don't know how we're gonna get it just from Santa Claus. So they went to midnight and asked at the UCC church with Janice in Delbert. So after church, Janice said, Well, let's just drive around. Kaisen, you and Grandma and I were gonna go see the Christmas lights. So that way, Delaney got the bike and got it underneath the tree. And so when he came and he ran in to see his dad, and he said, Delaney said, Well, God, I came here before you guys did, and look at Santa Claus rock. His eyes just because it's something he wanted. That's so sweet. He is such a precious because when I first got sick, I said, just make me a promise, you don't take him away from me because he is my my rock.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh does he have a lot of fun? He does. This morning we go over to the Margaret Shopping Center and we play in the dirt. We got moat controlled vehicles, so we run him up on the little dirt piles and just see who could race through or yeah, just yeah, just little different things together. I take some swimming every day. Yeah, so we get done today. We're going to we both do swimming.
SPEAKER_01And he is your grandson. Yeah. So that's people are wondering who we're talking about. Because you you get him, you said how many days a week?
SPEAKER_03Four days a week. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 7:30 in the morning until do we just done. Wow.
SPEAKER_01But who better to take care of him? Yes, you know. If you could go back and give yourself a piece of advice, what would it be?
SPEAKER_02What would I?
SPEAKER_03Well, I don't know, I'm outgoing. Uh, I love the people. I wish I could help my kids more with the money situation, but I'm on a fixed income, but I try, I help my kids as much as I can. Um, yeah, I'm proud of all three of my children. My daughter works at the Weeble Nursing Home. Uh Darwin, my second son, he owns Robin service in Glendype, Darwin, and then Julie works for the city of Webow. So proud of all three of the kids and for what they've become.
SPEAKER_00And yeah.
SPEAKER_03It builds character to struggle.
SPEAKER_00It does.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. It does because we didn't have much. My mother worked at the attic in Glendype, and I'd go up every two weeks, and she would have gone to the food pantry, and I would get dried milk and raisins and stuff that she she just would pick up, and then when I came, then I got it. And then she would get clothes and stuff the winter months, she got snowsuits, she got stuff for coats, gloves, caps, and stuff for the whole family and stuff. And then I had a clothes rack. Remember the old I don't know if you know what a clothes rack is. Yeah, okay. Yeah. We had those, so when they got wet from doing the chores, I just put them in the anteway and just set them on there so they drop. Oh. Yeah. We just, you know, I'm just thankful for what I had because I know what my mother went through and stuff. But grandparents were good, Uncle Ed was good, George Devonny was good. That's mom's brother. He lived in that corner house, kitty corners from the post office. Yeah, yeah. Claris has got it now. Wow. Yeah. Matter of fact, there was uh me, Kathy, Barry, Lori, and Barry. There was five of us. One one boy and four girls from Grandma Nobotany. The rest of the family, Gladys didn't have any children. Emma Gene had the two, Barry and Lori. And George had two. So he had six. Wow. Six and Nabotany family.
SPEAKER_01Were they all, did they all stay around in this area for the year? Yeah, they went to school here. Yeah. There was some Veronica.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_03Uh Emogene lived in Glendype. Okay. She was married to married to Bruce Barthonier. Okay. Okay. And stuff all close together. Uncle Ed lived in Glendype. George lived here. Gladys lived in California. Joel lived in California. And Uncle Ray lived in Glendike. So I just came around in the area. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. What is your all-time favorite song?
SPEAKER_02Uh Crystal Chandelier.
SPEAKER_01Who's that by?
SPEAKER_02I don't know. But that was Larry's favorite. Crystal Chandelier. Banging on the wall. That was Larry's.
SPEAKER_01What is one thing you would want people to remember about you when you're gone?
SPEAKER_03How outgoing I am. I'm a people person.
SPEAKER_02I'm a people person.
SPEAKER_01Are there any other memories that you want to share?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I think I kind of want to hit it all. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I was just going to say, did we hit up everything on your list here? I got the five generation. Okay, list the five generations.
SPEAKER_03Okay. I got a five-generation picture at home. Emma Navotney was my grandmother. It was my mother's mother. Alice Campbell was my mother. And then myself is Barbara Stedman. And then Delaine Stedman. He is my firstborn. And then Jerry Stedman was my first great-grandson. How old is he now? Grandson. Grandson, yeah. Grandson. He'll have a birthday Saturday.
SPEAKER_02He will be 30.
SPEAKER_01Isn't that just crazy though? 30s, even at your grandma.
SPEAKER_03I'm going to say late 30s. Yeah. Yeah, so, but I remember going to the nursing home and Glenn Dyke, because grandma Emma we went up there to have our five-generation picture. So that's where the picture's taken out. Okay. Yeah, I should have bought it. I'm not just seen it. And uh so they had her in the activity room, and then this mother and me and uh Delane and Jarrett and or not Jarrett, because he was grandma, but had brought in the room. Grandma says, Where'd you get this? This is your great grandson. So I said I was blessed to have a five-generation picture.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, that is really special. You don't do that very often. Very often, yes.
SPEAKER_03So I am blessed. I can count my blessings, and it's unfortunate when I got sick, but I guess at least it wasn't cancer.
SPEAKER_01And you said you are dealing with aphibic congestive heart failure. Okay.
SPEAKER_03So far, so good. So far, so good. I didn't have to see the doctor for a year unless something pops up. But I count my blessings every day.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I can get up, take care of a little one, yeah, go place, win, just a day for him. Yeah. Because things that he'll remember grandma with. Absolutely. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, thank you so much for doing the interview. I do really appreciate it.
unknownThank you.
SPEAKER_01Thanks 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.