Tag Archives: oswald

60th Anniversary

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June 27th, 1959 – 60 years ago – how can this be?

We grew up in the 40s and 50s, (just previous to the hippie era), coming from simular backgrounds,ie:

  • rural farming communities
  • sheltered
  • influenced much by family and extended family, learning traditional values from our Mennonite heritage and
  • somewhat by the secular surrounding which really wasn’t that much different.

We chose to be married, have a home and family of our own. We thought, from observation of parents and extended family, that we would “live happily ever after”. We did not have an “instruction” or a “how to” book to guide us. It never occurred to us that the marriage relationship and day to day living was something that you had to work at to be successful and no idea how to how to go about that, so we learned as we went – on the job so to speak.

We learned that a good marriage takes some thought and restraint. Some things need to be excluded –

  • prejudice
  • intolerance
  • preconceived ideas
  • social conventions

It is what we made of things that mattered. We chose to put into our marriage a willingness to listen to each other, our ability to admit our mistakes, our abiding faith that we were in every sense partners in making our marriage work. We expressed our disappointments as well as our joys, frustrations as well as triumphs.. With these things included the dull matters of everyday living, over the course of time, became something quite unique to both of us. We learned to nurture our relationship, to bring to the surface things that had become hidden and suppressed. We learned to look for the extraordinary in the ordinary. And we are still learning.

So, here we are 60 years later, still learning, and wondering how did we get here so fast.

Thank-You For Loving Us

Ray and Betty Good

One is Not True

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Listed are three things that I am telling you about myself; 2 are true, one is not. Can you identify to false statement?

  1. Ray and I spent the night in Beatty Memorial Mental Hospital in Westville, Indiana.
  2. I conned my astute father-in-law out of $20.00 for a box of chocolates.
  3. I walked – not ran – in the 40th BMO Marathon in Vancouver, BC, May of 2011.

Ray and Betty Good

Ice Tea Can

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October 2018

On my daily walks shiny things always catch my eye. I am careful to look the object over very carefully before I pick it up as I cannot in good conscience throw an object back down again after I have picked it up to have a closer look. I have found a few coins – one time I dug 30 pennies out of the snow after pennies were no longer used as currency – a couple of times a $10 bill -(buys two visits to McDonalds for Ray and I) – but mostly nickles, dimes or quarters. Amost every day I come home with a can or two of aluminum beer cans or glass beer bottles, they are worth .20 at the recycle depot. A couple of times the beer cans were actually unopened.

Recently I got a glimpse of a can, walked over to it, a can of iced tea – not opened. I shook it, it rattled simular to the sound of a spray paint can that has a ball in it. Nearby was a plastic grocery bag. Well how convenient is that – an unopened can and a bag to carry it in. I brought it home and set in on the counter where it sat until several days later when it was really hot and I thought, “This would be a good time to have that iced tea”. So I preceeded to open the pop top can – the ring came off! Well, I should be able to just press the lip down but better use a screw driver to push it down, I don’t want to cut my finger. H-m-m-m-, it’s not moving, feels like something solid underneath. Maybe the can opener will give me access to the tea. The can opener did not want to cut where it should have, but the lid just came off by itself – (evidently it had been glued back on). Now the lid is off and I can see inside, it doesn’t seem to be tea. There is a layer of plaster of paris encircling a glass jar with a white screw on lid. By now I am really curious so I unscrewed the lid. I turned the can up side down and out fell a – I had no idea what it was. I will try to describe it, see if you know. It was metal about 4 inches long in total x 2 inches wide. There were 2 small cylinders at the top and a separate metal cap with a hole in it. Well, what in the world have I found? I showed it to Ray, he put it up to his nose for a smell, smelled a little oily, but we still did not have a clue. So what shall we do? Dispose of it? We don’t think so because it could be dangerous, besides we are curious. Shall we phone the RCMP? Yes, let’s do. We talked briefly with the receptionist, her suggestions were; just throw it out, or have a member come and pick it up, however there were no members at the station at the present or we could bring it down to the station. We chose to bring it down mainly because we’re still wondering what this thing is. We chatted with the receptionists, they had no idea, (or at least they claimed), or explaination. They just, again, advised to get rid of it and don’t drink from anything that you find on your daily walks. Duh! As we were talking a constable appeared, looked the object over and told us it was a vaporizer. Apparently e-cigarettes and vaporizers are very much the same – liquid is heated via a battery to produce vapor to inhale. He informed us that the appliance costs about $200. that kids google information to find out how to create hiding places that parents do not know about. Really! why would you go to such lenghts to keep informtion from adults? So we left the can and contents with the RCMP and walked away shaking our heads, thinking we learned something today, but did we really need that information? And just in case some younger generations out there – beware, we are not totally unaware.

Now it is your turn – tell us a story

Betty Good

Hello Family

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Hello Family;

Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving annually the 1st Monday in October – October 8th this year. Ray and I savor every moment and are grateful for every new day with whatever it brings. We will be sharing dinner – turkey with all the trimings – with our daughter Sharon and Dale Sexsmith at their house. Some of you will remember being at their home at the 2009 W.Oswald reunion when we went 4 wheeling and Merna bought the rock sign at the auction to add to her collection of rocks. It will just be the 4 of us, the Sexsmith children have all left the nest; Jena in Calgary, Kalvin and Tyler in southern BC. We are looking forward to the wedding of Jena and Dillon Rampp on the 20th of October – fun time with the family and meeting the rest of the Rampp family.

I am updating William and Mattie Oswald genealogy. If you have recent information (additions, omissions, or corrections) that you want me to include, please let me know.

I am encouraging the family of William and Mattie Oswald to write stories. I believe our stories leaves our grandchildren, great-grandchildren, all of those that come after us that had no opportunity to meet us in person, an insight into our lives; the information they will not find on the genealogy websites. What we were like, the things that made us happy or sad, how we spent our days, how the world was different from what they experience. An awesome legacy to leave the family that comes after us. Remember what Art said, “The story doesn’t have to be long.  It doesn’t have to be funny, It doesn’t have to recount a traumatic experience.  It is information about us that if we don’t write down, will be forgotten.” (I would add: but it should be true.)

Thank-You for Loving Us.

Ray and Betty Good