How the Gasts enhanced our family.

.Marge and Bob with friends around the time of their wedding.

The person who had the most influence on my teen years outside the immediate family was my wonderful first cousin, Marge Gast. I have published several of her writings here starting with her account of growing up at Angleton. I have always been amazed about all the ways our family have connected with the Gast family which I will record after some background on how they got here. I found this description doing research at the Old Jail Museum.

Maria and Andrew Halbeisan came from Switzerland with two children. They moved to Freemont, Ohio before coming to Akron, In. Andrew was a shoemaker and often walked to Peru for supplies. In September,1855, twins were born, Andrew Almondo and Mary Helen. Nine children reached maturity and attended school with Indian children. 
Andrew Almondo, called Double A, married Laura Bell in 1879, but she died in 1884 after having two sons,Estil A. (Marge's father-in -law) and Thomas.
In 1886 Double A. married Flora Etta Bitters. They had Karl B (Brick)1887 and Whitney Kline 1885,Marie Kathleen (Talbot)1900 and Robert Purcell(R.P.) 1904.

Double A grew up and became a building contractor, road builder, and extensive land owner. Elected sheriff of Fulton county in 1888, he served two terms then became Postmaster in Akron. He also built, owned and operated the Opera House there. His brick mills supplied material for the high school in 1914 and for many homes and churches. (but wait, there's more)..Double A helped form the telephone utility plus Akron Heat, Light and Power Co. Both he and his wife "Ettie" lived 101 years.

Here is where we come into the picture. Many years before our Marge and their Bob (Double A's grandson) met and married, Gaylord Long (my husband, Glen's dad,) got a job with Gast Construction Co. working close to where Gaylord lived in Morocco, In. He stayed on with them when they won a construction job around Warsaw. During that time he met and married Glen's mom, Martha Hoover.

Fast forward to the early 1950s when I am living and working with Marge...kind of a live in nanny. (She stayed in my bedroom on Washington St. when I was a child and she was in her early twenties.)  I could not count how many times Marge and Bob were a beacon to me and a boon to this community.  

I heard a spring heralding robin's sweet clear song this morning. Yesterday was St. Patrick's day. When Chris' family left about 5:30, snow that resembled fine Styrofoam beads was coating the porch. That is Indiana for you.

Rapp
I thought 17 year old  Aunt Anna might have something to say about Valentines but ..no.
This time in her life is all about boys and school.
Farmed out to family friends and neighbors to care for kids, she made the best of it. Her dad was remarried to a Ft. Wayne woman and Count was not married and settled so she could live there, yet. Her typical Sunday was like this:" Up at 8:00. Mary Alice (friend) and I went to  Sunday School. Ate dinner. Went to Kiefers then Cochrans. Then to Mary Alice's..was there most of the afternoon..we made candy (fudge),  We ate toasted cheese sanswitches + " and fruit salad. Stopped to see Count and ate supper. Listened to the radio then Count came up to get the catalogue ( probably Sears & Roebuck) to take home.Roy and Nora (where she was staying ) and I played Rum, I studied from 9:45 to 11:30. To bed at 11:45.

Best Valentine ever, I wish I still had..
Memories of my seventh year are pretty scant but I remember a valentine party I was honored to attend. 
We did not have the money for commercial valentine cards and the invitation said " bring one". My father was a commercial artist so he made a big bright valentine to take. I was not yet worried about being different. I just wanted cake. 
See the Feb. 17, 2014 post for early president's attempts at romance.

February is a short but big month in my life. I was married in February, my only son was born in this month ect. Youngest daughter's first son was b0rn in on this date,  February 11th.  Happy Birthday Nick!!

The dreded report card

People of a certain age like me remember them with chagrin. Mine were most likely discarded but somehow, Glen's survived.
I was cleaning out a desk drawer yesterday and found several from his celebrated years at East Wayne elementary. That school had eight grades in his day. Several years ago it was rebuilt in the same location. Now named Jefferson, it has six grades and a kindergarten, plus a pre-k. There are multiples of several grades. Some of the luckier kids have my lovely daughter-in-law for their teacher.
Anyway, when Glen attended first through eighth grade graduation, the report cards were somewhat different. There were no kindergartens in the school system then. His first grade card had 1938-39 penciled in. He was 5, so not six until November, and pretty small for his age, they still took him. 
The first declaration to parents
 was : On or before the first Wednesday of each school month this report will be filled out and sent to you. The eighth grade one 
stated the same including..if this student is failing you should try to find the cause and co-operate in correcting the difficulty. Your signature indicates that you have examined this report. It does not 
necessarily mean that you approve. Glen did ok in elementary but he excelled in High School and finished second in his class ..after the guy who became one of the first presidents of Grace College.

Christmas calls for something special.
So i am taking this time to copy a little essay I wrote years ago honoring my wonderful Anglin
grandmother.: 
               GRANDMA GRACE
My grandmother, Grace Kitch Anglin, played a huge roll in my early formation as well as my older brother, K. Donn's.
She gave us a solid grounding that probably kept us out of trouble more than a few times. She is still sorely missed in her community and family.

Gracie Mae Kitch was born at Sandridge, a small farming area six miles west of what used to be known as Community Center where road nineteen turns north toward Nappanee.

She was the last child in her father's second marriage. His first wife had died a young woman. He remarried in mid-life and had two boys and three girls, including Grandma Grace.

According to Uncle Jack's records, the family moved to an area around Plymouth, In., named Twin Lakes when Grandma Grace was about six months old. Sometime after she was ten, the family moved to a farm outside Bourbon, In. where she grew to womanhood. 
When G.G. was in her late teens she worked in Fribley's hardware store there in Bourbon. This is where our grandfather, who we always knew as 
Daddy Wash, met her. He was two years younger so she did not take him too seriously. She had another beau, then....a Stackhouse..but she felt that he was too vain about his horses.( i remember her telling me this) Being rigidly brought up, this clouded their friendship, and she lost interest.
She told me that about that time , she had an offer from a "good" family,( a Doctor they knew,) at Culver, to come care for their young children...sort of a live-in nanny. She took the job and moved to Culver. Having previously known the doctor's wife and the area, it was a lovely situation. Adding to that, the house and grounds had beach-front on Lake Maxinkuckie, not far from Culver Military Academy.
Then she told me why she had a change of heart and, in fact, became a farmer's wife.
Daddy Wash, being a very persistant young suitor, hitched up a horse and buggy and drove all the way (about 30 miles...around 2 hours...probably at night..) to see her on her day off. 
I don't remember how many times this happened, but she was impressed enough to drop her long held view, ignore the age difference, and join the Anglin family at Angleton.