Reddick Family Web

Nobility, Humility, Loyalty

A glorious celebration

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JJ just looked great. I spent almost all of Friday, March 25 with her (it was flurrying Friday, not spring at all). I spent much of Saturday with her, Peter and Yvonne, Mike and Lynette, Sister Faith Margaret, and a few close friends before the 2 p.m. party.

Julia Jane Nehls at birthday cake with Sister Faith Margaret
Julia Jane Nehls at birthday cake with Sister Faith Margaret

During our visit, JJ gave me some photos, and I recorded almost two hours of her talking about them and the people in them. She remembers our great grandma (her “Grandma Daly”) well. She confirmed for the record Mom’s account of the 1933 trip to the World’s Fair. On that occasion, Ed and Goldie drove a ’32 Ford coupe. They picked up cousin Ruth before leaving Ohio. The girls rode in the rumble seat all the way to California where they picked up Dottie, then 15. Ruth would have been about 13, and Julia 12 in the summer of ’33.

The five of them then drove from California to Chicago, the girls in the rumble seat the entire way. Julia said, “we had a lot of fun.” When she was alive, Mom described with great relish this adventure. The morning they got to the World’s Fair, Ed lined the girls up and gave each one of them a twenty dollar bill, and said “we’ll see you right here at three this afternoon.” Then Ed and Goldie went their way, and the girls went theirs. Chicago. Three girls off on their own.

After the fair, they all went back to Ohio where many people in South Charleston remarked how much Dottie looked like Goldie. Some even mistook Mom for her aunt.

It was great to hear Julia confirm the story. She also gave me about 20-30 pages of Daly family history stuff that I hope to work on this summer.

Julia still has one dog (named “Cats”) and an assortment of feline companions.

At the end of the party Saturday, I bid my farewells, and drove back to Columbus joyous I had had time to spend with cousin Julia.

Nipped in the bud

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Saint Patty’s Day is just around the corner, and we have been enjoying a lot of greening up around here – not just on the family Web site.

If you believe the weather forecasters (and generally they are fairly reliable on the South Plains), a lot of trees are going to get nipped in the bud this week. We’ve been basking in spring-like weather so long that redbud trees, apples, even some elms are out in full bloom.

Crabapple tree in bloom
Crabapple tree in bloom

Why, even the Bermuda grass is starting to green up a little. We had the first wave of weather come through earlier today – with some rain – and then some wind this evening.

The real chill is yet to come. The weather folk say we will have a high Wednesday of about 39. Then Thursday and Friday they are forecasting “mix.”

What they mean by “mix” is that we will have rain mixed with freezing rain and sleet and maybe even some snow. Just for fun, we could throw in some severe weather, and with things as warm as they have been we may have a good chance for cold to clash with warm.

As they say around here, if you don’t like the weather, stick around a minute.

Riley breaks a leg – really!

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Riley Daly Lane, 3, broke her right femur (thigh bone) Thursday, Oct. 16, at her home in Goose Creek, South Carolina. Riley, her sister Jenna, mother Heather and dad David rushed to an emergency facility in Moncks Corner for X-rays and triage before being taken by ambulance to the MUSC Children’s Hospital in Charleston where Riley and Heather spent the night.

Riley poses for Grandma Nancy in the park near her home.
Riley poses for Grandma Nancy in the park near her home.

Doctors were studying Friday morning whether it would be necessary to pin  the bone back together or whether a cast would be adequate to stabilize the bone. Either way, prognosis is that Riley will be immobile for about eight weeks and have to be carried everywhere she goes.

Heather said the girls were watching The Invincibles on television and got into the spirit of the video. They had stripped down to their “My Little Pony” underwear and were pretending to be superheroes. In that company, they were jumping off various parts of the sofa in the den onto pillows on the floor while mother worked in the adjoining kitchen.

Mom said she heard a “slap” and at first thought one sister had slapped the other. However, she quickly realized that slapping was out of character for these two sisters, and she said the “slap”  didn’t sound exactly like flesh on flesh. “When I heard the screams that followed, I knew something was wrong.”

Riley whooshes down a slide in the park.

The family did a last minute reassignment to get David relieved of duty on base, and then they raced to the Monck’s Corner emergency room attached to Trident Hospital. Preliminary reports indicated the fracture was complete, and that raised fears an operation and pinning would be necessary.

Friday, Dr. Hooker, whom Heather compares to her own sister Laura (soft spoken, sweet), placed a half-body cast on Riley. On her left side it extends from ankle to waist. Then it goes down to the knee on the left side.

Grandpa Randy was pondering Friday morning whether this is an example of media effects, uses and gratifications or some other mass communication theory.