The Youngest on Either Side

The youngest uncles on either side are Ernest Raymond Balk and Milton Harley Phillips.  Ernie was in school when his Dad died of a massive heart attack.  He helped Grandma Balk farm until he left for the Navy after graduation.  He met his wife while traveling across country with his mother and she with her mother in another car.  They flirted by notes until they both stopped.  They were married in a big Catholic wedding.  When their 3 children were teens they joined the Church of Latter Day Saints, now they are of no denomination.  They lived in California most of his adult life and had a top secret job with the government.  We didn`t see alot of them. 

Milton was 8 years older than Mother but their children and the folk`s children were close in age so we spent the most time with them.  He married a dear lady named Delsa, had 3 daughters, and worked for Tinker Air Force Base.  Altho Delsa was a staunch Baptist she observed the Catholic tradition of meatless Fridays by serving salmon when we visited on Friday.  I remember the time I attended Sunday School with them.  The teacher was taken aback when I told her I was Catholic.  Like it was the shock of the day.  Milton battled alcoholism but we didn`t suspect until his parents both died.  It was a well kept secret.  Grandpa was a strict teetotaler.

The Eldest

My eldest aunt and uncle on either side were Meddie May Phillips Howerton Shipley and Lloyd Peter Balk.  Meddie was 21 years older than Mother.  Grandma couldn`t go to their wedding because she was due with Mother any day.  She was always such a youthful looking lady up into her 80`s.  She was a firm believer in Merle Norman cosmetics and sold them for years.  She was married twice 1st to Charley Howerton of the area in Arkansas the Phillips were from and had 2 sons.  They homesteaded in Wyoming early 1920`s.  He died there of a massive heart attack.  It was quite sometime later she married Frank Shipley.  He was a friendly guy.  We lived with them for a time when we first moved to Wyoming.

Lloyd left home young and lived away most of his adult life.  He served time in Big Mac for helping 2 other men rob a service station probably during the Depression.  The other 2 let him take the rap and he was the only one to serve time.  I remember him as a prodgical son who only returned  periodically.  His 5 sisters cleaned him up, filled his prescriptions, and he was off again.  He kept up with family happenings.  The $2 bill in my shadow box was a gift when I was born.  He walked the Florida beaches early in the mornings to collect shells as gifts for family members.  The shells from Mother`s apartment were some of those.  He was legally married 3 times, lived to be 100 but left no children.  Nephews went to Florida to move him to Guthrie when people kept stealing his SS checks.  He was not pleased with the move( they wouldn`t let him keep his junk at the apartment they found him) but made friends.  During one of Guthrie`s many floods Karen saw him on TV news hanging onto a barbed wire fence to keep from washing away.  He always thought of himself as a ladies man.  He could see or hear very little in his last days but enjoyed his beer and the company of a 30 something mentally handicapped girl that looked after him.

Christmas 2007

Even tho the weather wasn`t great and I was a little under the weather Christmas is always a good time to see family and their differences in life styles.  Makes me proud to see that my kids all picked perfect mates and seem to be well adjusted.  Those grandkids are precious and growing up so fast.  Time, gifts, cards, calls are all so appreciated.  My favorite memories were attending Mass as a family and watching the little ones admire and play with my ornament collection.

Dad`s and I`s first Christmas in a little basement apartment in Alva was a special time.  He showered me with several things-mostly clothes that included a pair of red penny loafers and a red and blue pants suit.  I worked at T.G.andY until late on Christmas Eve and we headed to Mooreland for dinner and the night.  I probably had to work on Dec. 26.  As I recall I worked that season with something similar to what I got this year.  The customers were offering me cough drops.

The Christmas before we married Dad shopped for Becky make-up mirror, Mike toy gun (he and his room mates had a ball with that before he wrapped it), and the folks set of hostess dishes and spent it in Mooreland with us.  Seems like he caught a ride with someone after the last basketball practice.

My childhood Christmases were a little one sided.  Christmas Eve Santa left toys on the porch and rang the doorbell and we spent every Christmas Day with Grandma Balk in Enid.  As I look back she always attended Mass on that day by herself.  Everyone had gone at another time.  Adults were served first in the living room and the kids begged for whatever on the backporch.  She bought every person a gift even tho everyone else drew names.  I guess it was probably about 40 people.  In later years I often wondered what Grandma Phillips did for the day.  I`m sure she never complained but was a bit lonesome her children were in California, Washington state and Wyoming.