July 27, 2009

Country Gal by Vanita Blundell
We said our final good-bye to John Deewall Sunday afternoon- I have several good memories of John. One of my favorite memories is he was one of the only men besides Warren Branson who tipped their hats when they met a woman. Well, actually what I remember is that when John greeted my grandma- He would call her Mrs. Cary and he always tipped his hat. I appreciated that he showed respect toward her. I thought that she was a wonderful woman and it was nice to see that others thought of her as respectable. I think that we have all been so informal for so long that we have lost something. I think that Mom calls it - finesse.
John was so proud to have been part of the war effort during World War II. He took his VFW duties very seriously. He would bring Dad papers to sign and would stay and talk for a while. Dad always enjoyed his visits with John. They had been neighbors for years. One time John drove in the yard and informed Dad that we were out of water at the Eighty. When we got there the cows were in bad shape. We knew that the water there was not good but did not realize that the little pond had dried up. John told dad that he needed to go the Soil Conservation office and get some help to build a better watering hole for the cattle. Dad was a little hesitant but John insisted that they could help him out- John even went with Dad to the Soil Conservation Office and they got the job done. It was not long before we had a nice little pond. I always thought that if John had not helped Dad out things might have gone a little differently.
John and his step-son Bob Currier was our neighbors for many years. Between the two of them they really took good care of us. In the winter when it snowed our lane would blow shut. It would not be long before we heard the sound of a tractor and Bob would be there opening up our lane- we appreciated all of his efforts.
John and Bob always kept up more than their share of the fence. They could stretch a tight fence and a tight gate. I could tell that they did not have a lot of girls to open gates as I always glad to have a cheater attached to the gate post, as I needed help to get the gate open.
We bought some of our Hereford bulls from John and Bob- Dad thought that if we bought our neighbors bulls and the bulls got out- it might not be so bad since was the kind of bull that the neighbor was using. At least, it would be the same breed. I do not think that Dad ever picked out the bull; he trusted that John and Bob would choose a good one and they always did.
John and Jane gave Jim his first job washing dishes at the Branding Iron - Donna, Jim’s mom, loved working for Jane and John. She waited tables at the café before she went into nursing.
We will miss John telling us his war stories and seeing him drive around in his buggy. We will not forget him. The neat thing about memories is that our loved ones are never really gone as long as we can think about them and remember all of the good times that we have had in the past. So I guess that we should spend our time making good memories and remember to tell our children and grandchildren about the good ole’ days.