Bmeandering

Bmeandering

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Corner View: Replace

These are sermons of my dad's.
Some are handwritten. 
Then there are those that came after he got the word processor.
That was the transitional 'tool' between the electric type write
and the computer.
Since we just celebrated the 4th of July,
I am showing the first pages of three written
about  Freedom, Faith, and America.
There is another big box like the one below and also a smaller one
full of Dad's sermons.
They are precious and
we cannot replace them.


We also found letters from my mom to my dad
and from him to her
when he was overseas.
These cannot be replaced either.
This one tells him that she now knows  he was in the Battle of the Bulge.
Berlin had reported that the Germans had virtually wiped out the 106th division,
which was what my dad was part of
except for 212 who were left wandering in the high snow.
He had told her to never assume he was dead if he went missing in action.
Instead, she was to believe he had been captured.
That is what she did,,
and he had been one of the 212,
who were captured and taken to POW camps.
Mother's letter was never sent.
These are letters from my dad to mom.
Below shows the dates of Dec. 5, 6, 10, 12, and 13.
That last letter was written about a week before he was captured.

These are two that were written after his camp was liberated.

Here are photos of my parents before he left for the war in Europe.
She quit nursing school to marry him.
The schools later eased up on the single status for nurses
because there was a shortage, 
probably due to many marrying their sweethearts
before they were shipped overseas
and also because of a greater demand.
However, Mom was packing to go back to Cleveland to school,
when she got the telegrams -- 2 of them in a row.
1st - Missing in Action
2nd - German POW
 She stayed home to be near her family
as she was devastated.


Here is my family shortly after I was born.
Dad was in seminary after graduating from Asbury College
near Lexington, KY.
He had promised the Lord he'd do whatever God wanted,
if God would just get him home alive.
God did.

In gratitude for his life 
and in response to God's 'call',
Dad left his machinist job at a steel mill
(which he returned to after the war)
and went to school to become a Methodist minister,
which he was for almost 50 years.

As I've already stated,
 I cannot replace these.
Instead I will put them in scrapbooks
specially designed to keep them from deteriorating.
Some of the letters will go in the POW scrapbook
I made for my dad's 80th birthday.

For more on replace, please go to Francesca's.




13 comments:

  1. How very precious! I have some of my parents' sermon notes [Dad was a Pastor, but Mum preached too] and just one of his love letters to her,sent just after WW2. There were very few letters during the war, because she was doing secret codebreaking work, and could not easily communicate with her family. But how I love reading the sermon notes, I can hear their voices and remember their strong faith. What a privilege we have, to have known these men and women of faith, may we too pass that on to future generations. Thank you for this post - God bless you x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful treasures; not only the memories they represent, but also the way they look. Must be intersting to go through the sermons and letters!

    ReplyDelete
  3. some things are never replaceable!! i hope your father's stuff will keep into your family! it's really assume to see all this, the letters and pictures.....

    ReplyDelete
  4. So beautiful, my eyes are teary. Also I took out my bible to read Psalm 33 inspired by your Dad`s sermon. Its such a beautiful Psalm, and I will keep it in my heart today, thinking about your Dad and how he continues to inspire with his words and faith in the Lord. Thank you. Have a blessed day!♡

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree... you can't replace all this treasures!

    ReplyDelete
  6. These are such special treasures.

    ReplyDelete
  7. irreplaceable, and so lucky to have them!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What an amazing story and what a wonderful collection of letters to have in your family.

    ReplyDelete
  9. replacing these would be impossible if you tried... wonderous post. n♥

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sorry! forgot to answer your question about what food i showed in my post. it was a courgette/pepper/aubergine kind of terrine, with basil oil to 'glue' it all together, left overnight in the fridge, and voila! n♥

      Delete
  10. What beautiful memories! Letters from your father to his mother. The must necessarily take many years. These are historical documents.

    ReplyDelete
  11. somethings you don't replace. the memories are forever there but to have something tangible is so precious.
    thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

I welcome your thoughts. Please let me know you stopped by.