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Marvalene McKinnon was buried today.
Pretty well all my memories of Marvalene go back to more than fifty
years ago, as I grew up in Wing. I know she has had some hard health
issues in recent years. I have only met her son Johnny recently. But
I do know he must be like the son we all hope we will have someday,
when the hard times hit. He has stayed by her side, and helped her
navigate those troubled waters.
All my memories of Marvalene are
memories of a young woman. A really nice, fun young woman. Blonde.
Beautiful. With a personality as big as all outdoors.
Her son, Don, I only knew as a
very small boy, beginning school, just starting to ride my school bus
as I was finishing up at Fourche Valley School. Or, maybe, as Fourche
Valley School was finishing up with me. I forget the exact wording on
my diploma. Right before I was spreading wing and moving on to the
rest of my life. I did, sadly, hear when he passed away some time
back, way too early.
The Mckinnons were my next door
neighbors in Wing. In fact, everyone in this story was my next door
neighbor. Every single one. In Wing, if you can walk as the crow
flies from my house to one of those neighbor's houses, never having
to walk across another house, they were next door neighbors. Even if
you have to walk a mile or two.
Marvalene had twin girls. Blonde.
They were just babes when I left Wing. I did hear progress reports as
they grew up. I'd heard they are smart. Very smart. I only recently
met them as adults. Turns out they are beautiful, also. Just like
Marvalene.
I was visiting brother Harold in
the hospital at Danville recently. Seems Marvalene was in there at
the same time. One of the twins, Jane, came in to see Harold. I got
to quizzing her about her work. I knew she was a heart surgeon. But,
it seems she now does heart surgery from next door, by means of a
robot! Good grief! I remember my Mom washing our clothes in a big
black pot down by the creek, using lye soap made from hog fat, and a
rub board. Now something like this comes along. I must be getting
really, really old. All I remember about surgery deals with when Dad
hauled all us kids over to Russellville in our 1947 cattle truck, and
got all our tonsils taken out at one time. Mom and Dad were about
sick of tonsillitis.
I had my first proof of my book,
Spreading Wing, with me that day. I had brought it up for family to
glance at, only, because I wanted to keep the content pretty well
secret, until Book Launching Day at Wing. But, I saw no problem with
letting Jane just glance at it. A few minutes later, Jane handed it
back. Said I was a good writer, she liked the content, which she
discussed in detail, and wanted one when it came out. She asked me
how many countries Barbara and I traveled through, in our world
travels. I proudly answered nineteen. I asked her if she had traveled
much. She said through thirty some odd countries, many on a bicycle.
I shut up talking about OUR world travels. Anyway, I was shocked. She
knew all that about my book, from a five minute glance. I had to quiz
her about that. “I'm a speed reader. I read a pretty good bit of
your book.” Good grief! My nephew Big Dan got a little miffed at me
today, when he found out Jane had read a good part of it, and he
hasn't even got a peek. Big Dan is not someone I want to have miffed
at me. But, I'm preparing myself regarding miffed people. I know
everybody is always excited about being written up in a book. I hope
that excitement does not cool when they find out it's a true book, as
best I can remember. But, I'm sixty eight years old. What have I got
to lose? A few months, or years, at most.:) Let's just all keep a
good sense of humor. Please. Most of my fun-poking is aimed right at
me.
I met the other half of that
matching pair, June, after the short part of the service, at
graveside. And she matched Jane well, right down to the brains. Seems
she's an attorney. Not just any attorney, but a really good one, I've
been told.
Blonde Flossy Wheeler and brunette
Mary Wheeler, sisters, married brothers, Sam and “Tuck” Hull.
Guess which sister became Marvalene's mother? They also were my next
door neighbors. Tuck Hull taught me how to catch catfish, big time,
and often brought my family many messes of fish he had caught. We
greatly appreciated being able to get off salt pork for a day. He was
also the best hunter around. Bob Campbell, the local Game Warden,
shadowed Tuck for years. Tuck was just way too successful at hunting
and fishing, to Bob's way of thinking, and he suspected something had
to be amiss. I'm not really sure how Bob and Tuck's relationship
played out, in the long run. That was all still playing out when I
left Wing.
Mary and Flossie were both big
leaders in the church at Wing. Flossie played the piano, and led the
singing. Once she decided the church youth should take over those
jobs for awhile. Well, we only had two youth at that time. Annette
Person had just begun playing, so I grabbed the song book. Flossie
was a good sport, and let us stay in that position a long time.
Seemed like forever to us all. It never happened again. I do remember
Flossie singing at Dad's funeral.
I know that young version of
Marvalene McKinnon is just really perking things up in heaven
tonight. That larger-than-life personality would just tend to do
that. Just like she perked up everyone's life at Wing, when I was a
small child.
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I'm very close to being able to set a date for my book opening for Spreading Wing at Wing. But not quite yet. I have to look at yet one more proof this week to make sure it's right. I'm sorry about the delay!
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I'm very close to being able to set a date for my book opening for Spreading Wing at Wing. But not quite yet. I have to look at yet one more proof this week to make sure it's right. I'm sorry about the delay!
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