I want to tell you about my Mom and Dad.  These are happy things about them and my family.  That's better than thinking about unhappy things that life changes bring about.  

Mom and Dad met when they were kids in Michigan, where my whole family was born.  Their families had cabins on a lake and so all the young people swam and had fun together in the summer.  Dad says he decided Mom was special when she agreed to go down in a diving bell that he had made out of an old water heater.  Sounds iffy to me!

Dad was always "inventing" things, even as a kid and he still does make things like parts he needs to repair for motor cycles and antique cars.  Mom and Dad were married long about time for the 2nd world war and as you all probably know, that tended to complicate things for all families.  Dad went into the Navy and was on a ship in the middle of a typhoon about the time my Mom was giving birth to my sister Pam, who is 3 years younger than I am.  The Dr. showed up drunk to give her a cesarean, so Mom had to deliver her very large baby without the help she needed, that gave her a nervous breakdown.  She stayed in the hospital quite a while after the baby came home.  My grandma took care of my brother, myself, and our new baby sister, and she also worked a job until my Dad was released from the Navy.  He had lost 40 pounds from seasickness and had been put in a hospital in Guan to recuperate.  Grandma had to be in touch with the Salvation Army to find him.
After the war my Dad and his Father were working for the auto industry at Fisher Body in Detroit until the unions  began abusing their own members.  Dad and Grandpa decided they wanted to live in a right-to-work state.  That is how we all ended up in Texas.  They moved everything we owned in a large truck and a house trailer that Dad and Grandpa made from aluminum.  The house trailer earned the name of "Rodgers Hodge-Podge Lodge" because of the mess we found when we opened the door every evening after a day's drive.  Grandpa had some property in El Paso on a hog ranch.  So we moved into a little house on the ranch.  That was an adventure after living in the beautiful state of Michigan.  

The ranch was in the middle of the desert, in the shadow of the Franklin mountains and I thought it was the ugliest lace I ever saw.  Of course the ground was dry, there was hardly ever any rain.  Evidently someone else thought the same thing as someone in El Paso rented a helicopter or small plane every year and sprinkled poppy seeds all over the foothills so there would be golden poppies blooming in the spring -- now that was a lovely sight to see!

There were all kinds of animals, many head of hogs, cattle, milk cows, horses, sheep, poultry and even a goat that had been owned by a circus.  It was a smart animal that felt responsible for the sheep and stood with all four feet on the top of a four foot post to warn us when there were coyotes or bob cats in the area.  We kids had such new adventures on the ranch!  The hogs were fed with garbage brought in by trucks that would visit hotels and restaurants in the downtown area.  My brother (age 10 or 11) was trying to make some money to buy himself a bike.  He & I sorted through the garbage and took out all the extraneous thing like silverware, sugar and creamers, and cups and saucers that had been thrown away with the garbage.  The hogs shouldn't eat these things, but would if they could.  There were also soda bottles that could be "cashed in" for a nickel a bottle.  We cleaned up the silverware & dishes that we found and our family used them -- there were usually better quality than what we had.  Sometimes my sister and I played house with the dishes.  There were many Mexican workers on the ranch and there were two Mexican families who had children that we played with.  There were no other kids for miles around!  These families lived in small adobe houses heated with cast iron cooking stoves that had iron plates on the top covering the wood fire inside them.  On these plates the Ma Mas mad fresh flour or corn tortillas every day to go with their meals, usually beans -- This was the first Mexican food we ever  had experienced.  My parents got a kick out of my little sister after she had been playing with Conchita, when she  opened her play purse and took out a huge folded up flour tortilla & she began to eat it like a native!  She was about 4.

There were dangerous things on the ranch that we kids were warned to stay away from.  We were not allowed to go around the pig pens because the mother sows were very mean -- often they killed their left over piggy's if they had more babies than teets.  One time there was such an instance when there were three extra piglets.  My Mom took pity on them and we had them in a box in our kitchen for a while.  We found out in a hurry why piglets don't make good roommates.  In the first place, they stink!  And they don't care if they walk all over & poop in their food -- just so the other piglets don't get any food.  Mom took to trying to bathe them and soon found out they don't like that either!  Thankfully, they grew pretty fast and could be put back in the pens with the other pigs.  Yuck!

My brother and I were school age and so we had to catch the school bus and go in town several miles to school.  Somebody would drive us the mile to the highway in the morning where the bus would pick us up.  Then when we came home in the bus, someone would pick us up again and drive up the dirt road to the ranch.  One afternoon when the bus left us, my brother and I were beginning to cross the cattle guard and we spotted  a bob cat not far away!  He was very skinny and I am sure we looked like something yummy to him.

Bob and I were thinking of what we could do to protect ourselves.  I remember thinking maybe we could get under the side of the cattle guard or something.  Just about then our ride showed up, thank goodness!  We would have had nothing to protect ourselves  but empty lunch boxes!

We kids were allowed to wade around in the stock ponds to cool off on hot days, with adults present.  If I remember correctly, there was no air conditioning in our ranch house.  In fact, our little house had an outhouse out back, but thank goodness there was also an inside bathroom, too.  My little sister took to locking the bathroom door when she came out sometimes.  It was a nuisance and so my folks told her if she did it again, she would have to use the outhouse  -- She cried "But I will fall down the howa!"  It never happened, but it was a good threat!  Having to use the outhouse was a fate worse than death!

Two more places were forbidden for the kids to roam.  One was the barn -- too many possibilities of danger there.  The bales of hay were stacked high and could roll over.  And there were "creatures" in there.  You can imagine what they might be.  But sometimes momma cats would hide their kittens there and sometimes the chickens would leave eggs -- all sorts of treasures to find!  One other place was forbidden and that was the cotton "crib".  It was an open slotted wagon that picked the cotton was piled in,  to take it to the cotton gin.  We kids couldn't imagine what could be dangerous in there -- it was so much fun to jump around i!.  But the rattle snakes and tarantulas also liked the warmth of the cotton crib!

It only took about a year and a half for my Dad and Granddad to figure out that hog ranching was not for them.  Granddad had another piece of property in North-east El Paso, not far from the ranch, and they decided to move us there.  We were very much out in the middle of the desert and this Michigan raised family really missed the water!  Granddad's property was about 15 acres and it had a deep water well on it.  Dad and Granddad decided to build a pool and so they designed it and had it built  -- they called it Crystal Pool.  The pool didn't have a filtration system on it and so it had to be drained and cleaned every week.  Water is the precious commodity in El Paso and so they used the water to irrigate crops that were planted on the rest of the acreage.  Sometimes we grew tomatoes for Ashleys' to can.  Sometimes we grew water melons, black-eyed peas, cantaloupe or evergreen bushes for nurseries.  That useless looking soil will grow great crops if it only has water.  The chlorine in the pool acted as fertilizer to help the crops grow!

For eight years the family ran this very large circular pool (110 feet in diameter) and had a diving platform in the middle.  It was a membership club for families.  Mom managed the pool and taught swimming and we kids helped.  We sold sodas & candy in the concession stand and my Brother was a lifeguard, along with Mom.  Dad had jobs in town, working for the city one time as superintendent of the maintenance fleet of the city.

When I was about 15 my brother had a party at the pool and invited his friends from school.  My future husband Sandy was invited but his date had to back out of their date at the last minute.  My brother said "Why don't you be my sister's date?"  So that's when we met and now it's about 57 years later.  I found out later that Mom suggested to Bob that Sandy would be a good date for me!

About a year later when I was 16, we had a 16th birthday Luau for my friends at the pool.  Sandy had become a permanent fixture by then, helping to clean the pool every week.  Mom was so wise to pick him out for me!  Years later my Dad asked Sandy to be their executor for them and he takes really good care of the whole family!

JUST LIKE ANY KID, I WAS IGNORANT OF THE COMPLEX SPLENDOR OF MY GRANDPARENTS, AND THE WONDERFULNESS OF THEIR HAND-BUILT HOUSE - THE PRISTINE MODELS A AND T ON THEIR FRONT DRIVE, THE GORGEOUS CARVED DOOR INVITING ONE INTO THEIR HOME, THE MULTI-STONE FLOOR, ORNATE IRON SCROLLING, HOUSE-LENGTH PORCH, SENSIBLE LAYOUT, AND THAT GREAT SMELL  SORT OF PART GRAHAM CRACKER, PART GRAMPA WORKSHOP.  AND THE BIG MUSIC BOX - I WOULD SIT IN FRONT OF IT, PRESSING THE LEVER SO IT'D SHIFT THE STUDDED BARREL OVER TO THE NEXT BOOM-TINKLING TUNE, WATCHING IT PLINK THE SMALL STUDS GOING AROUND, THE WONDROUS MUSIC FILLING THE AIR, AND EVEN THE FLOOR.
AND MOST OF ALL, GRAMMA'S STORIES AND CHUCKLE, AND GRAMPA FAT HAIR BUD.
WE ALWAYS LIVED FAR AWAY, SO I DIDN'T GET TO KNOW THEM AS WELL AS I WOULD'VE LIKED.  BUT A COUPLE SUMMERS AGO, MOLLY AND I HAD A CHANCE TO INTERROGATE GRAMPA (ALTHOUGH I SUSPECT IT WASN'T A HARDSHIP FOR HIM TO TELL STORIES) AND WE LEARNED A GOLDMINE OF INFORMATION ABOUT HIM, MY GRANDMA, AND OUR MANY RELATIVES, THEIR HOUSE, AND A TON OF OTHER THINGS.  WE LOVED HIS STORIES AND WATCHING HIM EXPLAIN MANY OF THE MACHINES AND EQUIPMENT THAT HE HAD TINKERED WITH AND/OR BUILT OVER ALL THOSE YEARS.
AND I REMEMBER WHEN GRAMMA AND US KIDS SAT DOWN TO A SPAGHETTI DINNER DURING THE SUMMER OF '78. I CLUMSILY TIPPED THE PLATE DOWN MY FRONT, AND SHE GRABBED ME UP QUICKLY.  I STARTED CRYING, THINKING I WAS IN TROUBLE. BUT OF COURSE, SHE WAS JUST TRYING TO KEEP ME FROM GETTING BURNED.  THAT WAS ONE OF THE STORIES SHE WOULD LAUGH ABOUT MANY TIMES, ALONG WITH ONE ABOUT JEAN MARGARET'S NAUGHTY CAT, WHO ONCE JEALOUSLY PLOWED SPREAD PAWS FIRST THROUGH THEIR CARD GAME.
IT'S SO HARD TO SAY GOODBYE TO THEM; IT'S THE END OF A GREAT ERA  
BUT I FEEL SO BLESSED TO HAVE BEEN A PART OF THAT ERA, 
AND I WILL ALWAYS TREASURE ALL THE MEMORIES.

-BETH MARTINEZ (MCCLESKEY), GRANDDAUGHTER

One of my fondest memories of my favorite Aunt Ginny and JM together was the time that they conspired to have Ginny baptized in California in  the church which Steve and I got married.  This was a few years after our marriage in 1971 but before we had kids starting in 1978.  They went and had an interview with the jovial minister in the United Methodist Church in San Jose on Friday and were scheduled for the baptism on Sunday after the services.  Steve and I were to come over for early dinner to help celebrate the blessing and accomplishment that took so many years to complete.  When we got to moms house there was a high hilarity albeit slightly inebriated sounding noise from the kitchen as they prepared the last of the dinner for the celebration as we entered the house.  Upon reaching the kitchen we asked how it went and the laughter started all over again.  It turns out that the minister has completely forgotten the appointment after the services and although the three of them JM, Ginny and Howie all sat patiently waiting it was when the janitor turned out the lights in the sanctuary that they realized it was time to go, without the baptism.  Being optimistic was the order of the day so they created the saying "she can't get saved for love nor money" and laughed it off with a delicious dinner.  Called the minister on Monday and he was so embarrassed that he had them come over that evening and did the blessings right then and there.  Which triggered another celebration!!
Sue VanStrom

OBITUARY

Vaun & Virginia Rodgers

24 August, 2015 – 12 December, 2015

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