WANDERINGS FROM YOUR PRESIDENT
BY GAYLE STUART
Time to write a column. What should it be?
This summer Leo and I took 3 weeks to travel west. We had a few things on our mind that we wanted to do and see.
We went to Minnesota to see my family first, which is always a good time of catching up and laughing. We visited the cemetery where our great-grandparents are buried and was able to take some pictures of the written records of one lot of family that is all unmarked. It is a sister of my grandfather and her two husbands and four children are there also. She did not want any markers. Also found that a child (not theirs) is with our great-grandparents. I had seen these records before, but did not copy them.
I got a big box of pictures from a 98-year-old cousin. They needed sorting and a number of them were not labeled. I was lucky to recognize some of them. The photos came from my cousin’s parents’ house; most of them are from the late 1890’s to 1920.
This happened to be the weekend that a cousin, who died a year ago, (Her body was donated to research.) was brought back to Little Falls to be buried with her parents. More cousins were around that I had not seen for some time. We then spent more time with my sister and her family before going on to Fargo N.D. to join a tour group of Eastern N.D. (Saw more relatives on this tour.) This was a good tour of things we did not know that were in N.D. What was called a Bonanza farm was very interesting. It was 20,000 acres and had a huge house for the workers. Several of the buildings had been restored. We were able to go down into a missile control center 40 feet underground. Went to the International Peace Gardens on the border of Canada and N.D. They had a memorial display of steel beams from the Twin Towers. Huge! Visited a winery that made sweet wines from several different fruits. Saw the white buffalo that is sacred to the Native Indians. Saw lots more, too many things to mention here.
We traveled on to Billings, Montana and saw some Stuart relatives; they took us out to Pompeys Pillar where W. Clark left his name carved in the rock. On to Glacier Nat’l Park, this was before the fire. On to northern Idaho to see my oldest brother and some of his family.
When we left there, we followed more Lewis and Clark trails. We went over Lolo Pass; this is in the Bitter Root Mountains. This was 100 miles up the west slope to the top on very twisted road, lots of traffic and down the other side only 30 miles.
When we came across Nebraska closer to home we stopped in Holdrege to see our oldest granddaughter and see where she works for Ag Valley Co-op. It was a very good trip. Have a good fall.
gbs