decoration weekend 2012 day 1

Jo and I first thought we would make a long days outing and try to visit all grave sites of our kin.  We had planned to make that trip on Monday the 28 and if we started early the trip was possible but we would be getting home late that evening.  Yesterday we decided to stretch the trip to two days and so we left the house this morning and headed for the Bethlehem Cemetery which is on the Shannon/Oregon county line near Thomasville where Jo was raised.  Both sets of her grandparents, Ledgerwood and Ledbetter, are here along with a few of her uncles and aunts.  We took pictures of each marker and have posted them in our webshots albums.

Bethlehem and Greenlawn

Since we have made this a two day event that gave us some additional time to explore today.  Starting around 1967, I believe, we began an annual tradition of joining Jo's folks at a forest service campground near Willow Springs for the memorial weekend camp out.  From the campground Jo and her folks could then go visit the graves at Bethlehem cemetery and for several years Jo, the kids, and I also got to visit with Neva in West Plains.  During this weekend is where both Kenneth and Phyllis learned to fish and the rule that "the one that catches them is the one that cleans them.  Their grandmother was the one that taught them to clean the little sun perch and bluegill that they caught.  Each year the keepers kept getting a little bit bigger but even the small ones seasoned the campfire skillet quite well.  The fish were always hungry and it seemed like there wasn't even any need to bait the hook, but grandpa always made sure that we had a good supply of worms.  Both kiddos learned that beside cleaning their catches they also had to be able to thread a worm onto the hook..  This campground was called Noblett Lake and the dam with facilities was built by the CCC many years ago.  There was one of the camp sites that we tried to get each year but it was first come first served so it was not always possible.  That preferred site was near the creek below the dam plus there was always a wild strawberry patch nearby that made for sweet pick'ns.  Today when we left the cemetery we headed back to Noblett lake to revisit those memories.  We were disappointed that the campground road was closed so we couldn't drive through or stop to hunt for wild strawberries.  There still was a picnic area along the upper body of the small lake and today several folks were making use of the picnic tables under the shade trees along the banks.

After our visit to Noblett lake we then headed for Springfield and a visit with Lola, Jo's mom.  After that visit we picked up Wilma and took her with us to the Greenlawn cemetery in North Springfield to visit the graves of Jo's dad and Wilma's husband.  Then the three of us had a nice dinner out before taking Wilma home.  Jo and I are now settled in to our motel room and will head north to Humansville tomorrow morning.