Category: 5 Roads
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Hanging with Lefty Bryant and the Black Panthers
I was a Panther in high school because that was our school’s mascot. But that’s not what this is about. In early 1960s the nightly news brought reports of freedom rides, sit ins, boycotts, marches, civil rights demonstrations, and voter registration. In high aschool I thought if I had been a year or two older,…
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The Life of John Hennessy (1883-1962)
Beginnings In the Book of Hebrews it’s mentioned that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. Who are these witnesses and what do they do? I imagine them as angels and ancestors. The angels are mostly God’s messengers. As for ancestors, I think they belong to us and are in the cloud of witnesses…
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Luck of the Irish
Spring was always time to plant the garden in the home of my parents. My father said that having food from garden was necessary during the Great Depression of the 1930s. His father was cut to only occational work at the steel mill in Canton, Ohio, and they needed the garden to have enough to…
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Ancestors in Ancient Ireland
I know at least the names of almost all my great great grandparents but almost no ancestors beyond those with the exception of the people in this story who lived in ancient Ireland. My Aunt Marie and Grandmother Letitia told me that red hair and freckles ran in the family, but they both spoke of…
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March Forth – Lockton Lane
For almost 40 years March has become a month where many of the days have special memories for me. There is, of course, our wedding anniversary, but for many years this became the occasion for Mel to remind me, because of my regular teaching duties, regional and state academic contests, and tennis coaching, that she…
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Witness to Black History – University Avenue
In early 1960s the nightly news brought reports of freedom rides, sit ins, boycotts, marches, and voter registration. In high school I thought if I had been a year or two older, it would have been wonderful to spend the summer in the South registering black voters in 1964 or 1965. Of course, in a…
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The Last Gospel –Road to Emmaus
When I was about 12 my mother made a banner for Advent and Christmas. It had a red felt background with gold piping and her calligraphy on it. It started, “In the beginning was the Word…” This was at a time when the only other banners that I knew of were the ones at the…
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Veterans’ Day – Hill Street
My father never tried to discuss his military service with his children. Nor did he ever condemn or condone my status as a conscientious objector. Though I think he was proud to have served, he didn’t think any special virtue should be ascribed to him because he did. I feel similarly about being a conscientious…
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Waking Up on Hill Street
Hill Street was my first world. There was a big field across the street that once belonged to the Hill family. Across the field was a friend to play with and pretty soon twins my age moved in next door. Mrs. Hill, a widow, lived next door to us on well kept and completely fenced…
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Introduction
I am a child of God and so are you, and I am a child of a small town of the Pacific Northwest. I have ancestors who were Irish, Welsh, and Scots with a little Polish and French and an even smaller part Native American. I am Catholic and Protestant and pagan. I grew up…