Miss Julia

Well, I had a chance to talk to Mr. Kenneth the other night about Miss Julia. I had gone out to enjoy his gazebo and watch the kids play and he came to join me. This is what I found out about the long, full and rich life of Miss Julia...(For those of you who didn't read, I mentioned her in an earlier post, 'Walks with Daniel') She was a child during the depression. She lived on one side of town, while her future husband lived on the other. Her husbands family were farmers during the depression. A local general/hardware store claimed the family farm as payment for a balance the family owed to the store. Mr. Kenneth said this was done often, although his family owned a similar type of store yet never took any one's land or home. So the family worked some land and repaired and lived in a home that belonged to the same family who took their land during the depression... with the promise to be able to purchase the land and home. Well, the promise never happened and they had to give a percentage of what they earned farming every year to the land owners. Mr. Kenneth said this was also very common. I believe this was her husbands family that Mr. Kenneth was talking about... it may have been Julia and her husband who was promised.. I got a little confused and didn't want to pester him! He didn't say much about Julia's family before she married. After Julia was married she had three sons. Her husband served in the military during the war and made it safely home. Well, at some point in her life, Miss Julia became a nurse and worked for many many years at the hospital, about 20 miles away. They moved to a home that belonged to her aunt... this is the same house that burned, she had lived there for several years with her husband. She stayed on there after his death. She had a hard life, but I get the impression that she really enjoyed her nursing and afterwards keeping the garden going that her husband had worked. I wish I could have known her more, I only met her once. Ms. Lossie seemed to hint that she wasn't very talkative, sort of to herself, though. I asked Mr. Kenneth what became of the sons and he wasn't sure. I would hope that they learned good work habits and are nice respectable citizens now, and supportive of America in this time of war. If you ever want to see beautiful patriotism in a pure sense, talk to a War World II vet while there are still some around. If all Americans were as courageous and appreciative as those men, well.... just imagine!