Many of you will remember the name Stella Lawton Smith who is probably Plymouth’s best known artist. Her daughter, Rachel Lorentz, recently celebrated her 96th birthday. Rachel’s daughter made donuts from Stella’s recipe for her birthday. Rachel’s son and daughter, Janet and Carl, and their children attended the celebration. Congratulations on 96 years Rachel!
While speaking of former Plymouth residents-items for Virginia Metzger’s estate are still coming to me. Last evening, I was given the bill of sale for my home when it passed from the Metzger family to the Wireback family. The house was purchased by BF and Fannie Wireback on the 22nd of July 1940. The selling price was $1200 and the payments were an astounding $29.38 per month. That was for 2 ½ lots plus the house which was built in 1905 for a much greater cost than $1200. The document was signed by John and Mae (May she signed) Metzger and Hattie and James Hall as well as the Wirebacks. The Metzgers were to pay the insurance on the property until the deed was passed to the new owners. This gives us some idea of the state of the economy in 1940.
The Hancock County Historic Society met in Carthage on Saturday evening. The program was given by Don Gee and it was on some bank robberies which took place in Hancock County in 1933 and 34. Most of the robbers were from Chicago and were caught by an very dedicated Sheriff. This lead me to another thought. When we bought the former Metzger Bank building, one of the original walls of the original vault was still standing. There was a repaired hole in the vault wall. There fore I would assume that this bank was also robbed. Possibly another program!?
My VW is a 2002 model. It has key fobs. I could neither lock or unlock my car last Sunday. Last time that happened the van battery was completely dead. Though I feared the worst, it was just the battery in the key fob that was dead. Can you even imagine any battery lasting 18 years. Incredible. I took the fob to a locksmith and a new battery cost one dollar.
Our weather has been very interesting. Wednesday it snowed. While it was still above freezing, I scraped two tire tracks into the garage because I knew that snow would freeze and make ice. It did! It continued to snow after I scraped the drive but it was not nearly as bad as it would have been. Sometimes I have to back up and take a running shot toward the garage which is not really a good idea as the garage is heated and if I run through a garage door, that would not be good. Then some kind soul came and scraped the snow off my drive. A big thank you.
John Carson, the person who has put many great photos of the wind farm construction on face book, stopped by the antique store this week. Was happy to see him so that I could tell him how much I appreciated the photos and the videos of the construction.
The snow and the resulting frost has been very pretty BUT I am still ready for spring. It seems that each snow is followed by a really cold spell and I am just not a fan of temperatures in the negative numbers.
Have a great week. Pray for your neighbors and for our country and its leaders. Scatter Kindness.