A day of rest, a life remembered

She loved it. Formally it was a funeral, but for us it was a family gathering to celebrate a long life well lived. The celebration was for my sister Margaret Trail Nielsen, and I’ve known her for some 88 years. Margaret, nicknamed Maggie, was the eldest of four children and loved stepping in to take over during any temporary absence of our mother.

We all attended Country School District 8. When she and my other older sister, Virginia, walked home, it was time for them to teach me, six years younger brother Dick. Consequently, I learned to read, write and use numbers by the age of five. Our folks decreed that none of us could start school at less than six years of age, so I started kindergarten, a new concept at that time, at six years of age. In about two weeks, my teacher told my folks that I already knew all the things I’d learn in kindergarten, so she promoted me to first grade.

Graduating from McCook Junior College, Margaret earned a teaching certificate and then taught one year in a country school and two years in McCook grade schools. Several of her former students have approached me to inform me that she was the best teacher that they ever had. Babies and being a wife to her career Air Force husband led her to live in Puerto Rico and Kwajalein Island (in the South Pacific, the target for ICBM practice launches from California), plus other stations across the United States.

Her ashes were interred in the Columbarium at Fort McPherson with appropriate ceremony. Grannie Annie loved it when the craftsman closed the door of her small vault and was expertly securing it with special screws. One of her great-grandsons, age about four, exclaimed “Lock her up”! Oh, from the mouths of babes. Family.

Karma: Someone suggested that ICE agents, paid into the future, be temporarily assigned to fill in with our presently short-staffed, unpaid TSA agents. Evidently, President Trump liked the idea and is running with it. For sure, the traveler’s lines will shrink as those immigrants with fraudulent or no papers at all will no longer appear at airports for fear of being deported by ICE. Then too, lines will move more expeditiously due to more agents working. Thankfully, the TSA agents assigned here to McCook are working without pay and are as thorough and friendly as ever. Bless them all!

The bulletin in the Gazette requested personnel to volunteer to help “clean up” our downtown area. All were to report to the Norris Alley at 10:30 AM on a Sunday. The date and time create frustration for this old guy because for me, Sunday is a day of rest. In my youth, stores were nearly all closed, organized athletic programs weren’t scheduled, and there were no school activities. People were expected to go to church and then relax together as families. Of course, my dad cheated a little because he always wanted to purchase a Sunday World Herald, and many times, during the summer, we would buy a 25-pound block of ice to make ice cream when we got home. Baseball teams would also gather to play at locations like the field at the Quick church, competing with each other and relaxing together with family, all on a volunteer basis.

Do like my mom taught. When you see a bit of trash, pick it up and put it in a trash container. There are plenty of them in our public areas. I still think the “old way” was a better way of life. Note: The Lord must have agreed because our Sunday was windy and a bit cool to attend the scheduled clean-up event!

For a real treat, tomorrow (Wednesday 25th at 10:00 AM), you are invited to “Coffee Talk”, no speeches, just conversation and free coffee, at Citta Deli to visit with Molly Smith. She is taller and better looking than most of us, but a delightful and interesting “Director of Communications” at our Community Hospital. We are so fortunate to have that skilled modern healthcare operation here in McCook, and Molly can speak to it all, current and upcoming plans for improvement. Guaranteed that you will enjoy.

That is how I saw it.