I, Glenn Herbert Ray, was born in 1934….a depression child with an older sister. I was school raised in World War time by strict, well educated, God fearing, very American elderly old maid Christians, kindergarten through sixth grade…..40 kids per class.
I was born curious to a fault and dyslexic, a disorder neither invented nor understood until I was married with children. My Mother was from German background and loved my Dad more than anything in the world. My dad, who loved his wife more than anything in the world, was a farm boy from Hope, North Dakota, whose father, Frank Ray, left Cherryfield, Maine in 1876 at age 17. His well-to-do Maine family practiced primogeniture, that is, the law that the first born male would receive the family’s wealth upon the death of the father. My grandfather, Frank, was the youngest of three boys. He had bought homestead land somewhere west of Fargo, North Dakota. And so he left Maine alone on horseback. I have a postcard with a picture of him standing next to his horse. He had sent it to his mother back in Maine from Chillicothe, Ohio on his way West. “Mother, I am fine, Frank.”
Four years or so later, he met my grandmother-to-be, Anna Williams, whose family was trekking with all of their kin and possessions to settle just west of the Sheyenne River, not far from Hope. Their wagons got stuck while they were trying to cross the river. It happened Grandfather Frank and friends were meant to show up at the right time to solve the problem. He and Anna were married about three years later…and bore five children. Two boys served in World War I. Two younger boys stayed home to farm.
I never met my Grandfather Ray. He died of throat cancer in 1917. His wife however, at 4’11” and 98 pounds, whom I dearly loved, became ruling queen of all of our Rays until she died of a stroke in 1947 at age, 80. Three of the four boys, one of them my dad, were very close brothers.
My Mother’s kin were hard working farmers, builders, and carpenters, some with German accents, who had settled in the German “west side” of St. Paul. These were churched folks of the German-Lutheran variety, as was my mom. We all went to Church…..or else….but the “Or Else” was a joy for me and my curiosity drive.
I loved my old maid school teachers whether the church variety or those at school. They were so dedicated, so well educated. Once, after school when I was in 3rd grade in early fall, I sneaked into the school milk room after school so in privacy I could go to my third grade teacher, Mrs. Lucille Jaeger, and ask her:
“Mrs. Jaeger. How did you get to learn so much?” She showed me her own National Geographics….the late 1920 to 1942 variety, filled with pictures of people at home and abroad, animals, maps with cutlines I could read without trouble. “Stop by any time after school you want”, she told me…. And so I did until real winter arrived.
They governed student behavior making learning the high light throughout the day. Every kid had a dad at work, and a mom at home. I never heard a swear word of any kind until I was in public high school in Spring, 1947, my freshman year when a new boy in school, David Martin rather loudly used the word “damn” as we boys were going outside for gym class. Gym instructor, Mr. Colin Kelly apparently heard the word as well as I did. David Martin disappeared from school for the rest of the week, as I recall.
Human males in my boyhood experience in the city where I lived, were expected to become men, fathers, workers, problem solvers, protectors, earners, knowledgeable, reliable, honest and Christian setting examples like my Dad. Some had to go to War. Fathers in our neighborhood worked six days a week. Sunday was for Church and family.
Human females in my boyhood were exceptionally respected. Moms set the rules of the day. They were or were to be Mothers, to be home in charge of house, garden, and children. It was in the 1960s the Grave New World of public vulgarity and Godlessness began to reek its stench.
Our American culture as been sliding downhill ever since the Reagan Age……except…..except maybe, ironically, almost unbelievably, UNTIL TODAY’S ARRIVAL OF A NEW AMERICAN ERA OF SALVATION LED BY OUR PRESENT PRESIDENT, DONALD J. TRUMP!
Are we conservatives good enough, wise enough, determined enough, tolerant enough, JudeoChristian enough, family oriented enough, and in love of Our America enough to back and guide the President to rally the country to save the nation from Socialism’s poisons and ditsies?
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