March cemetery post

We took a trip to this cemetery, just north of Pretty Prairie a couple of miles.

 It was just a little weird seeing these 2 graves.  Alan (not the same spelling) Graber and Oliver Smith.  Two pretty special people in my life who are still very much alive.

We found the grave of a kid we went to school with.  He was a missionary and died in Africa.  Accidentally electrocuted while working on some appliance.  It was such a shock.  But God knows our days and times.

Hmmmm.  Interesting last name - I believe the Bible is pretty clear that none of us is good enough.
"He saved us because of his mercy, not because of any good things we did." Titus 3:5

These next 2 tombstones tell it like it is!

The names given children in the days past were interesting.  I've also seen Patience, Constance, Prudence, Charity, Humility... 

My grandmother's sister and husband.  Uncle Ernest and Aunt Bertha lived a couple houses down from us when we lived in Pretty Prairie.

 My Dad's sister and her husband, Aunt Mary and Uncle Lee.  They lived on the family farm.

Aunt Mary and Uncle Lee

The Collingwoods are the ones who founded Pretty Prairie.  Mrs. Collingwood was a widow with 9 children.  Attracted by "free land", Mary Collingwood sold her boot and shoe factory in Indiana, bought 2 prairie schooners and headed for Kansas.  There were fears of Indian attacks, but she chose to take a chance.  When she reached this area, she said "My, what a pretty prairie!" and the name stuck.

Mrs. Collingwood's mother did not want her daughter to live in a soddy or dugout, so gave them $250 to build a house.  The first house was 14' by 16'.  Covers off the wagons were used to line the small structure to keep out the cold.  There wasn't another house between Collingwood's and Texas at that time in 1872.

The stage route went by the Collingwood house and this became a regular stopping place where horses could rest, be watered and fed.  They also served as the post office, cafe and grocery store.

Some other interesting gravestones.

Here are some of the older ones.

 Very good friends of our parents.  They were in the singing group "The Quiet Place Singers" that Al's mother played the piano for.  Tammy went to school K-12 with Al.  And yes, not so distant relatives.






After walking through the cemetery, we took off through the country.

We drove by the family farm where my Dad grew up.  It has been sold to someone we don't know.

My grandparents.

We went on down Whiteside road until we got to highway 61 and stopped in at the Dutch Kitchen.

Good Amish cooking!!  We hadn't had fried chicken for so long!  Al's mom used to make it all the time and taught me how to cut up a whole chicken and to fry it.  But it isn't the healthiest food to eat - pretty greasy, so I don't fix it any more.  But every once in a while, there is nothing like good old fashioned home cookin'!  Fresh baked bread and pie from scratch to boot!