It was an ordinary day. Just about finished going through my mother's boxes and boxes of old memories that have accumulated over her lifetime. Donated her clothes to Goodwill and to the clothing bank in Elizabethtown. About all I have left are her paintings that she did later in her life and a box or two of "stuff" that I found hiding in a closet in my house, remnants from when she moved from her house on Janet Ave. in Lancaster to Moravian Manor in Lititz. Found a small white Bible that was given to mom and dad when they were married at St. Paul's Methodist Church at 6:30 PM on March 27, 1943 by Reverand Roberts. Pretty neat! Also found an old book titled "Only The Governess" by Rosa N. Carey that I was just about to discard when I found an inscription inside the cover that read: Presented to Cleo N. Cochran for perfect attendance by her teacher Mary A. Crawford and dated March 1910. I'm sure that Cleo is a relative of moms, since her maiden name was Cochran, but I have no idea what to do with the book. Hate to throw it away being that it survived over 100 years already. Must have a reason for being in my basement. Guess I'll have to read it! Also found quite a few small photo albums that had photos of my dad and his two sisters as well as my mom and her two sisters. The photos of my mom and her two sisters I will pass on to her younger sister Lois because I'm sure see will cherish having them. Found an old pin that had to belong to my mom's father Bill, known as Grandpap to me. It is a small gold Armstrong Cork Company pin with a diamond in it and marked with a 35. My guess is it was for 35 years of service to the company. Found quite a few memories marked with the JP McCaskey High School logo, some from mom and some from dad. Dad's card that certifies that he has been graduated from JP McCaskey High School class of Mid-1938 is one of the items. Also mom's pin from her class of 1940. These will also go to Lois, since she is a graduate of the same school, but not until the late 1950s. Yep, she was a surprise baby into mom's household years ago. Found a neat Elgin pocket watch that runs and carries the inscription on the inside rear panel: Jos. H. Woods, Coatesville, Penna. Dec. 7, 1901. Pretty neat and one that I will keep, since I believe it belonged to my dad's father who died when my dad was a young boy. And perhaps the neatest item that I found, besides all my baby teeth, was a photo of a house at 106 Sherman St. in Lancaster that was taken in 1946. It was the first house, actually an apartment, that my mom and dad shared as husband and wife and my first home as a young boy having been born in 1944. For the first two years of my life mom and I lived with her parent's at 617 South Prince Street in Lancaster while my dad was in the Army. I heard many stories about the place on Sherman St., but never saw what it looked like until this photo fell out of another book I had picked up. Guess it was just meant to be. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - the first photo shows my first childhood home while the second one shows some of the memories I found amongst mom's boxes of remembrances. Remember, you can click on the photo to enlarge it.
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