Most of the older photos which have been added to the journals were found in boxes in my Mimi's garage. When Trixie moved out of her house in Avant, everyone in the family who was interested in taking anything from her house that she wouldn't be using had already met and taken what they wanted or needed. There was a storage building in her backyard that was full of boxes and "junk". My Mimi (Mildred) and Aunt Geraldine (and my Pop and Uncle Mart) had the task of cleaning out the storage building. They were on a tight deadline as the new owners were to take over the property the following morning. It was getting late and dark as they were trying to sort through the boxes and determine what should be kept and what should be thrown out. My Mimi and Aunt Gerry weren't sure what to do with all of it. They knew that quite a bit of it was "family history" and would be important to keep. Plus, both being very sentimental type people, just couldn't throw out most of their precious Mother's belongings. So, my Mimi took them and put them in an old farm house that sat next to her house on Mimi's property in Skiatook. They sat there for quite a long time.
Mimi and my Pop (Orves Bowman) had talked about having the old farm house torn down. It was beginning to become quite an eyesore. I remember loving to "nose" around in it. It was small and wasn't much to it but it had an old smell, faded patterned wall paper and creaky wood floors. Time passed and they just never got around to having it demolished. Pop had used it to store saddles, tack and other things a resourceful horseman would find fit so it had a purpose along with storing boxes of junk that my mom and I now call "Trixie's treasures". A few years passed and after my Pop (Grandfather) passed away, my Mimi decided to have the house bulldozed and buried as she and Pop had discussed in the past. She and my Mom worked to clean out the house which a lot of the contents were the boxes from Trixie's house and just the things a family accumulates throughout life. Most of it was moved into Mimi's garage. My Mom and Mimi had been out for the day buying a "Roadrunner" storage building to put the remaining boxes and"junk" in. My Mom dropped her off at her house and much to their dismay, the old house had been demolished several days before it was scheduled. The man they had hired to demolish it said he had some extra time that day and decided to just go ahead with it. Some things were buried and some things had made it to the garage. Once the new storage building arrived, some boxes stayed in the garage and some were put inside the new building.
The "junk" sat for a few years. Mimi decided to downsize and move into a smaller home. She was going to rent out her house and wanted to move her storage building to my parents property (which adjoined hers). My Dad told her he would help her move it. He was always happy to help my Mimi in anything she needed. He started up the old tractor which looked like it came straight from the television series,
Green Acres. It putted along and my Dad was on a mission. My Mom, Mimi, Sister and I watched and to be quite honest were very nervous. I think I was about nine years-old and remember it very well. He tied chains around the storage building and started to pull it across Mimi's backyard, then through the pasture to my parent's house. The old tractor didn't move at first. He gave it more gas and it reared up on the back two wheels. I just remember the reaction of my Mom and Mimi. I think they were speechless. They both just stood with a look of sheer panic. My Dad is not one to give up on anything so he kept giving the old tractor gas and the tractor finally started to pull the storage building. I think he pulled it to my parents house on two wheels most of the time. I am pretty sure my Mom was a nervous wreck by the time the building reached its destination. Once my Dad got off of the tractor, Mimi told him, "Ed Barnaby, you just keep that building. After all of that, it is yours now." I remember my Dad laughed. I am not sure if he really wanted to "keep" the building or not but it still sits next to a barn at my parent's home.
After Mimi's passing, my kind and sweet Mother cleaned out the garage. For those of you who knew the garage and the contents, that was not an easy task! ha. Some of the advice to her was to just throw away all of it as the boxes were mildewed and just not a pleasant sight or smell (as things stored in garages for many years become). My Mom (just like my Mimi and Aunt Gerry many years ago) couldn't do that. So, she and my Dad cleaned out the garage and she took boxes to her own garage. My Mom and I went through the pictures and letters. We cleaned all the photos,letters, etc. It was a lot of hard work which took almost a year of doing. My Mimi didn't even know what was in some of the boxes- which makes us sad when we think about it. We would have loved to sit with her and look at all of it.
Trixie was really good about labeling most of the photos with names, etc. Some of the photos and letters have taken a little research to figure out who the person is and their relation to the Jones or Gideon family. Once we had most of the photos sorted or identified, I matched the entries of the diaries with the photos. It has been a lot of hard work but we were so glad to do it. Even though the early journals are not any earth shattering news since they are about a teenage girls life in the early 1900's, my Mom and I thought they were still interesting and showed what a good and happy life Trixie had when she was a young lady. After the journals are added, I will add letters we have been reading which chronicle a large majority of Trixie's life. Some are happy and some are heart wrenching due to several tragedies which occurred within our family. I may at that time make this a private blog or start a separate private "letters" blog and will ask for email addresses of any family interested in continuing reading. So, now you know the story of the pictures. Thanks for reading and I hope you are enjoying the blog.
