My Portfolio

George  Edward Bebermeyer His Story        George Edward Bebermeyer was born to parents Henry Conrad Bebermeyer and Mary Lucy (Ullner) Bebermeyer on June 25,1883, in Missouri.  At this point the family was still residing in Warren County, Missouri. George was the oldest son, and third child born to this...

Flora E. Bebermeyer Her Story       Flora E. Bebermeyer was born to parents Henry Conrad Bebermeyer and Lucy Mary (Ullner) Bebermeyer in 1878 in Missouri.  The family are living in Elkhorn, Warren Co. Missouri in the census of 1880.       In the census of 1900 the family ,Henry C. ,...

Ella Bebermeyer Her Story        Ella Bebermeyer was born to parents Henry Conrad Bebermeyer and Lucy Mary (Ullmer) Bebermeyer in 1875-76 in Missouri.  She was the oldest of the children.  In the census of 1880 the family lived in Elkhorn, Warren Co., Missouri.  She has a sister named Flora age...

The Old Cherry Tree             When I was eight years old we moved into the house that my father’s grandparents had built in 1882.  Many of the plants and trees they’d put in over the years were still thriving.  There was an abundance of hollyhocks, peonies, lily of the valley, tea...

Today as I do almost every day, I stopped in my daughter's room to check the blossoms on her African Violet. They are huge, a rich purple and bloom frequently and fully.  They remind me of the luxury of walking behind my grandparents home and marveling at the carpet of wild...

Shades of Proust [Proost]             I bit into the store-bought apple and experienced an instant recall.  I was six years old, standing knee-deep in weeds and biting into the apple Grandpa Kunschke had pulled off of a tree. This wasn’t a déjà vu moment where one experiences a sudden feeling of...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   On Ignorance   This is likely to be the most personal, contentious, insulting, and embarrassing chronicle that the Footloose Forester has ever penned. It is all about my ignorance, your ignorance and the general ignorance that...

  On the road…. again!!!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Recycle Trees, Too   Not everyone gets to recycle a dying sugar maple tree and convert it into a magnificent sculpture like the one shown below. But we are happy that Ray Langer knew what to do...

After our failed attempt to hike up to Trail Canyon Falls in the rain, we came back a week later and found our waterfall!We are on the right track. Still good!Still some crazy creek crossings.Stay away from me.We found the hill side trail and are on the right path now, but...

  On the road…. again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Newsletters from 2003 and 2004   Rather than viewing the past through the rose colored glasses of a selective set of fond and cherished memories,  the Footloose Forester chose to retrieve a few of...

  It was the age of family entertainment through variety shows: Ed Sullivan, Carol Burnett, Lawrence Welk. Dad purchased replacement tubes when one blew on our television, which he called: "the idiot box." We were a family of eleven, and we always had an idiot box. The screen protruded from a...

I always enjoyed watching the Beatle’s on TV, listening to their music on the radio, and keeping up with news of them via entertainment news.  One year I gave each of my teenaged children a record (those old 45’s) “And So This Is Christmas” for Christmas.  I thought the message in...

My grandmother, Em Turner Merritt Nickinson, with her three children, Betty, the oldest, Ted, far right and Em, my mother, as a toddler. My grandmother, Em Turner Merritt Nickinson, was not your typical grandmother by any stretch of the imagination. When my family came to Pensacola each summer for a two...

This month we would like to spotlight Reo and Janice Carson.  When Reo was born his parents lived in Salem.  He is the youngest with two older sisters, Mary Jo (Tervort) and Karen.  Reo's parents were Clifton and Ruth Carson.  At one time Clifton was the City "Cop" and Justice of...

Back in the '30s a highlight to the summer for my mother and her sisters was visiting their Aunt Beulah, who lived with her family in Southwest Virginia in the village of Mud Fork near the West Virginia border.  To reach Mud Fork they would take the train from Roanoke, about...

Rain or shine, true hikers get out and hike!We decided to hike up to Trail Canyon Falls for the first time, in the rain, hoping to find the waterfall overflowing!My mapping skills were off that day because we missed the cut off up the side of the mountain to the falls....

Sorting through family papers recently, I came across two separate newspaper clippings that described my parent’s wedding in 1949. I was first struck by how detailed the reports were, in contrast to what might get into the newspaper these days. Secondly I was impressed that both articles, apparently by different people,...

My grandfather loved to work in his shop repairing antique furniture and creating new things on his lathe. My aunt told me about walking into his shop one day; the radio was on and he was listening to opera. “How can you listen to that?” she asked. “Oh, but if you...

“Do you have a compost pile?” the man on the phone asked me. I thought this was odd—a survey about composting? Buying time, I responded, “Excuse me?” The disembodied voice repeated the question, then, for clarification explained, “It’s your neighbor.” Ah, the man who lived behind the wall, next door to...

I wrote this story for  my dad in his words several years before he died. Reading it again brings back memories of time we spent visiting together, both in person and during our daily phone calls. I can still hear his voice and the pleasure he received in recalling this, and...