Where's the Silver Lining?

A visit to the past

From the time the letter arrived the first of May, Robert planned on attending his high school reunion one last time. He had gone one year right after graduation, but never again - until now. The Adams High School closed in 1968, remaining a dependent school district, having classes through the eighth grade, until about ten years ago. Now it is an empty building in a dying town.

Once Robert decided to go, he then decided he wanted to take our antique motor home and visit places in the Panhandle that were important parts of his younger life. He appointed me official photographer.

Of course in May, gasoline prices ranged from $1.49 to $1.69 here. By the time we left, prices hit $2.15 or higher, but that's a different, and expensive, story. Let's just say we could have saved money by driving the van and staying in a motel.

Robert enjoyed the reunion as he saw several old friends but missed others not there. I sat and watched some of the "old" women try to look younger, not a few years, but many years younger. When I say old, I mean at least ten years older than I.

We visited the ranch where Robert worked from the time he was twelve or thirteen, the Mayer Ranch. From Lewis and Anna Mayer and from Lewis' parents, Robert learned about love and about 'normal' family life, lessons he never received at home.

We knew Lewis and Anna lived in Guymon rather than on the ranch because we visited them about two years ago. Each of their three children lived on a different portion of the family holdings which are spread over a large portion of Texas County. Driving to the original home ranch, we found their youngest son and his wife. The last time we had seen Jim, he was fifteen or sixteen. Now he's in his forties, a tall, lean, handsome cowboy. We discovered his wife is someone we also knew many years ago. Dalls was a member of the junior high Sunday School class I taught at the Hooker Nazarene Church, where I also directed the choir. She remembered us and Rene, who also remembers Dallas.

They showed us over the ranch and visited as if we were long lost favorite relatives. Jim enjoyed Robert's stories. Dallas was a gracious hostess whose smile I remembered. She loaned us pictures of buildings no longer standing so that I could copy them. I took shot after shot for Robert's memory book.

Sunday, after going to Guymon to mke photo copies at Wal Mart, we visted the Hooker cemetary. We found robert's great-grandparents' grave stones, Caroline and Gotlib Robert, and his grandfather's, August Zabel. His father's mother, Augusta, was a Robert. His grandfather from his mother's side, LeRoy Morford, is also buried there. I took pictures for genealogy records.

I also took shots of another marker, one of pink marble with an angel engraved beside the name and date: Regina Louise Zabel. How strange, she lived and died over thirty-six years ago, and the loss seems so, so fresh still.

As I walked back toward the van, with my left foot I stepped into a hole that wasn't apparent at all. I thought I would fall, but wonder of wonders, my right leg didn't buckle as I stumbled around. The pain was severe, and I couldn't walk at all for about ten minutes, but then I could. I twisted my back, hip, leg, ankle, and foot. They bother me some and tend to buckle once in a while, but a few months ago, I would have fallen and been completely messed up. Whew! Miracles do happen.

We drove to the small, dying town where Adams School sits empty, took a few pictures. Returned the borrowed pictures, although Jim and Dallas weren't home. When we returned to Hooker, we had all the pictures Robert wanted taken, and we were finished before Monday. Robert decided he wanted to spend the 4th of July with Randy and his family and Janelle's parents as we have for the past nine or ten years. So we loaded everything we could Sunday night, and we left Monday morning. We then had hamburgers and home made ice cream that night and watched the fireworks from surrounding towns and the ones Randy set off. We were with family, the really good place to be.