Royal Speaks

As Dad got older I remember him often saying, "It's better to ware out than rust out." It often comes me even though I am getting rusty in places and maybe not as worn as I should be.

I also remember his verbalizing, "The Lord helps those who help themselves." Then I think about how there are times we need help and support and we can not do it all ourselves and I can hear Mom saying, "Many hands make light work." And I think about family moves when many hands made light work.

There are times I might want to shake a member of a younger generation and just say, "lighten up, the world gives back what you give out."

So it rambles around in my head. So what words do you have buzzing around in your head from your parents?

I just finished reading a book called "Chief YellowHorse Lives On!" written by Lisa Schnebly Heidinger. It is a book that would mostly appeal to residents of Arizona. Sedona Schnebly was Lisa's great-grandmother and the town of Sedona, Az was named for her. Her husband ran the Post Office and they needed a short and unique name for the place.

Three weeks ago Anita & I were in Sedona, one of the most beautiful places in AZ. I know Mom (Martha) visited there a few years back during one of her elder hostel classes. I would like to quote from the chapter written about Sedona the woman.

"When I speak at schools about Sedona, I tell the students that when she was their age, she would have had no reason to believe anyone would ever want to know about her life. She left no journals. The closest I can get to her is to walk down to the creek where she did her laundry and try to picture her there on the bank, which is now part of Los Abrigados Resort, and see what she saw (some of the same trees, I know.)

Then I say that, someday, we will all be ancestors, either through our children or those of relatives, and someone may be very interested in us.

So write things down. Maybe no one will name a town after you, but your great-grandchild may be curious about you as I am about my forebears. A journal from any one of them would be priceless beyond measure. It doesn't have to be a novel. A page, or a paragraph, would be more than I have from Sedona.

Run off a few emails you've sent. Print out a letter you've saved in a correspondence file. Stick a note in your Bible. If we can learn from the past, it is to record the present. For in the future someone will find it fascinating."

So for me that is what the Blog is all about. Just a bunch of notes.

Next time I will tell you about how lost Anita can really get.

Another Look at being misplaced by: Anita Rutherford

My story begins in Fairfield, California when I was about 5 or 6 years old. It was a Sunday afternoon in the fall. The day was warm, with just that hint of crispness in the air that early fall brings. My family was attending some sort of gathering at the Methodist Church. I loved that old church, a big old brown-shingle on a corner about 3 blocks from home. It had stained glass windows and faded purple seat cushions on the pews. There was an enormous old pipe organ in one corner of the dais and its tall pipes glowed a soft gold color in the gloom of the sanctuary. There was a social hall with long tables for hospitality hour where coffee and tea were served after services. (My very first cup of Lipton's tea was served there, more sugar than tea.) There was a stage in the social hall where the community teens held talent shows and various kinds of skits. That room was also the scene of many delicious potluck suppers. Those Methodist ladies could surely cook. I think I was a "Foodie" even at 5 years old.

This particular Sunday afternoon my Dad and Mom and my big brother, Ralph, who was at least 16 0r 17, were busy visiting and chatting with friends and church members. I began to feel tired and restless, and since I was almost a grown-up in my eyes, anyhow, I decided to walk home. I simply left, walking home. I knew my family would know where I had gone. After all, I knew the way and I knew not to talk to strangers or accept a ride from anyone. I sauntered along, looking at the sights and when I reached home, I dragged a bench under the living room window and climbed in, not being quite grown-up enough to have my own key! I got my crayons and paper and sat down in the living room to draw and wait for my family to come home.

Meanwhile, back at the church my mom had discovered I was not in sight. She looked around a bit, then asked my Dad if he had seen me. Then they began to all search in earnest. Soon everyone in the church was searching. They looked in the bell tower, in the Sunday school rooms, behind the organ, in the attic, everywhere. Nowhere was there a little girl with red "sausage" curls and a ruffled dress. My mom began to cry. My Dad and the minister called the police, who arrived to gather information for a missing child, possibly kid-napped.
My brother, who had only recently begun to drive on his own after receiving his driver's license, decided to look at home, just on the slight chance I was there, somehow. (Several people had driven by, but no one thought to see if I was inside.)

By now I was bored at home and when I heard our car pull up I was so happy my family had come home. My brother opened the door and I saw his face! I knew that somehow I had made an error in judgment and I was in really hot water! He grabbed my arm, dragged me to the car, stuffed me in the seat, all the while grumbling and gritting his teeth like he wanted to kill me. He drove us back to church where we were greeted by my tearful and relieved parents, and the rest of the congregation. They were all so relieved that I was safe that I only got a fierce scolding from my parents and several other people besides. I was sure I was in for a spanking but I escaped that. However, my brother was mad at me for a month and I had plenty of time to reflect on the fact that parents really can't read your mind.

Fix Social Security

I have a feeling this Blog is becoming the R L Rutherford Blog rather than the RF Rutherford Family Blog. That was not my original intent but it is moving that way. I have attached a letter I recently sent to my Senators and Representative with copies to the President and Vice President.

Senator John McCain (R):
Senator Jon Kyl (R):
Representative Jim Kolbe (R - Arizona District 8):
President George W. Bush:
Vice President Richard Cheney:

Subject: Social Security
Richard L. Rutherford
18267 S Via Del Minero
Vail, AZ 85641

Dear Sirs:
I am contacting my members of Congress regarding an issue of concern to me. I am very concerned about what the partial privatization of SS will do to the nation.

There are several ways to fix SS without private accounts. Greenspan's committee under President Reagan in the 1980's did it by raising taxes and raising the tax ceiling. Something very similar can be done now. In my local paper and several national publications I have seen many proposals that will work. Among these are:

- Raise the cap on taxable earnings (Make this adjustable based on inflation)

- Increase the SS tax rate. I like this the least.

- Raise income taxes on benefits (use a sliding scale based on adjusted gross income so that the more income you make the more of your SS income is taxable). Use a progressive approach.

- Preserve taxes on estates over a set amount say (10 million). Adjust this ceiling based upon inflation.

- Extent coverage to new state & local employees. I think this is questionable.

- Invest a portion of trust funds in indexed funds. I also think this is questionable. Currently the government spends all of the money collected and writes a note to SS.

One or more of these together would fix the SS trust fund.

If you still want private accounts allow individuals to set aside a portion of their income in private accounts that will supplement their SS but are in addition to their SS. Let the government collect and administer these accounts. These would be like IRA's but government collected and administered. There would be a limit on how much and it would have to be decided when the proceeds would be taxable.

It’s a win win situation. SS stays the same with minor adjustments for solvency and Individuals get private accounts via payroll deduction. Funds flow through normal tax channels into government channels or into administrative accounts. It's a government 401K on top of SS.

Sincerely,
Richard L. Rutherford

Gene, Gene made a machine

Gene, Gene made a machine.
Joe, Joe made it go..
Frank, Frank turned the crank.
Art, Art…
Childhood ditty

When I started in grade school my class had about 20 kids. There were probably at most 40 kids my age in the whole town and there was another 15 - 20 that lived out on farms and came to school in buses. There were 3 grade schools in town and I went to Johnson Grade School. It wasn’t named after LBJ so I am not sure who it was named after. My history tells me that the president Johnson who came after Lincoln was not a popular president but it had to be him or some State personality. The other schools were Morgan and Northside. Northside being the newest they must have chosen a less political name.

I was born in March of 1942 about 4 months after the start of World War II so it was before the big bulge of kids born during and after the war we now call the Baby Boomers. I think class sizes had remained steady during the depression and through the start of the war, but now the war was over and everything was on the march.

My class had twin boys Gene and Jimmy. Gene was about normal size but his brother Jimmy was small, very thin, and not very strong. They always said Jimmy was born two minutes after Gene. I lived about six blocks from school and Gene & Jimmy lived about 3 blocks away on the path I usually took on the way home. I remember they had a Houseboat their dad was working on that sat right outside their garage. It wasn’t finished yet but someday they would take that boat and go float it on a lake and spend whole summers.

Gene and Jimmy and I all became good friends. I used to stop and play at their house on the way home. I don’t recall what we played but I do recall their mother was very nice and they had a little sister maybe 3-4 years younger. Everyone had a little sister or brother in those days. They were the baby boomers.

Jimmy just never seemed to fill out his clothes. He was the smallest kid my age I had every met, but he and Gene were both smart and we competed for top grades in many subjects. When we reached the later half of the third grade they took Jimmy out of school and took him to Denver for an operation. This would have been 1950 or 1951. The teacher explained the process they were going to use. They would put him in a tub of ice and cool his body way down, which would slow his body functions. Then they would perform the surgery and repair his heart. Jimmy didn’t make it. Within a couple of days they told us that Jimmy had died during the operation.

There was a memorial service for Jimmy at the Methodist church. I don’t remember any of the words spoken that day all I remember is a 9x6 picture of Jimmy in a frame sitting up near the alter. It was the strangest feeling I had never known anyone who had died. I looked at the picture and tried to remember Jimmy and understand where he was and what had happened. I couldn't do it. Jimmy was gone and I couldn’t wrap my mind around the whole thing.

It had to be worse for Gene. His brother who had always been a part of him was gone. Gene is gone from my memories for a year or two. Maybe my inability to cope with Jimmy’s death affected my relationship with Gene. Maybe Genes coping affected his relationship with everyone. I don’t know. I do know, as Gene comes back into my memory over the next few years he is a different kid. I could almost say he was mean Gene. Maybe he had something to prove, maybe it was anger that he was there and Jimmy was gone. Gene didn’t turn bad. In those days there were few bad boys. He just lost some of his wholesome goodness. He got bigger and a little sadistic.

My next major interaction with Gene came a few years later. I got my first paper route in the fifth grade and by the sixth grade I had a fairly big route (around 50 customers) that meant $15-20 a month in my pocket if I managed it well. We used to get our papers from a warehouse dock down by the train station. About 8 of us would arrive early in the morning, fold, and rubber band our papers, load up our bikes and take off on our routes. During school I had arranged my route to end close to the school and I would arrive well before the final bell rang. During the summer occasionally I would arrive late after all the others had left and quickly fold my papers and go.

One day I was late and when I arrived to get my papers and Gene was there getting his papers. We sat and talked while we folded the papers. Gene had a water pistol with him. This was not unusual for boys our age. We went through weapon fads (Peashooters, water guns, match guns, bows& arrows, homemade swords & shields, etc.). For some reason I hated to be shot with a water gun. As we worked every once in a while Gene would shoot me with his gun. I kept getting madder and madder. I asked him to stop but that just seemed to make him enjoy it and do it more.

At this point Gene was bigger and stronger that me. I knew that he knew that. Finally I could take it no more I grabbed Gene’s gun threw it on the concrete dock and stomped on it till it broke. He wasn’t going to squirt me again. Gene grabbed me and wrestled me down to the dock and straddled me. There was no one else around. He pinned my arms under his legs. I was trapped. He began to torture me. That meant the Chinese water torture (a slow steady hard tap on the chest). He kept saying, "Give up". I kept twisting in agony but I wouldn’t give up. After about what seemed like 30 minutes a man came out of the warehouse looked at us and said to us, "You boys get out of here and get those papers delivered. Slowly Gene got up, looked at the broken gun in a pool of water, loaded up his papers, and rode off on his bicycle. I got up and did my route. I was thinking, "He can’t squirt me now".

Rollins Family Tree

The following is from a letter from L. (Lois) Long of Alexandria, Virginia to Mrs. Horace Retherford, LA, Ca Dated May 23, 1951.

Husband: Moses Rollins
Born: 10/9/1787 in N. Gloucester, MO Married 12/15/1807 by J. J. Rice in Minot
Died: ?
Father:
Mother:

Wife: Olive Verrill
Born: 5/18/1783 in Minot
Died:
Father:
Mother:

Children:
Maria Rollins
Born: 4/18/1809 N. Gloucester
Married: 1/7/1834 by C. C. Cobb N. Gloucester
Spouse:

Betsy V. Rollins
Born: 7/4/1810 N. Gloucester
Married: 9/6/1852 by C. C. Cobb N. Gloucester
Spouse:

Sylvanus G. Rollins
Born: 5/18/1813 N. Gloucester
Married:
Spouse:

Almon Rollins
Born: 5/10/1816 N. Gloucester
Married: 4/26/1843 by R. R. Bond in MO.
Spouse:

Alpheus Rollins
Born: 7/14/1820 N. Gloucester
Married: 3/10/1846 by R. B. Foster in Nury
Spouse:

Lucy V. Rollins
Born: 2/14/1822 N. Gloucester
Married: 12/6/1845 by O. A. Skinels in Boston
Spouse:

Sumner W. Rollins
Born: 4/15/1823 N. Gloucester
Married:
Spouse:

John R. Rollins
Born: 4/6/1825 N. Gloucester
Married:
Spouse:

Hannah D. Rollins
Born: 5/1/1828 N. Gloucester
Married: 2/20/1845 by D. T. Stevens in N. Gloucester
Spouse:

Olive V. Rollins
Born: 11/1/1831 N. Gloucester Died: 11/10/1831
Married:
Spouse:

Note: The above, as best I can gather, was copied from an old record (Bible, I suppose) but I do not know in whose possession it was. Essie Kern, (Mother’s Cousin) and her Brother, Lake Oliver had some old records from which Mother got her information, I think. And the above is the family of our Great, Great-Grandfather Rollins.

The following is from the family record of Almon Rollins and Margaret M. Harris, (our Great-Grandparents), who were married in Montgomery, MO. Apr 26, 1843.

Husband: Almon Rollins
Born: 5/16/1816 in N. Gloucester, MO Married 4/26/1843 by Richard Bond
Died: 4/13/1875 in Columbia, MO.
Father: Moses Rollins
Mother: Olive (Verrill) Rollins

Wife: Margaret M. Harris
Born: 9/19/1821 in Albemarle, VA.
Died: 3/9/1882 in Columbia, MO.
Father:
Mother:

Children:
Olive J. Rollins
Born: 4/7/1844 Randh, MO.
Married: 10/26/1869 in Pike Co., MO.
Spouse:

William A. Rollins
Born: 8/26/1845 in Montg. MO.
Married: 5/21/1867 in Pike Co, MO
Spouse:
Died: Fort Worth, Tex

Margaret A. Rollins
Born: 4/30/1847 Randh, MO.
Married: 12/31/1873 in Pike Co., MO.
Spouse:
Died: 4/9/1880 New Haven, MO.

Alpheus D. Rollins
Born: 12/9/1851 in Montg. MO.
Married: St Louis, MO
Spouse:

Waty Verrill Rollins
Born: 1/2/1854 Montg. MO.
Married:
Spouse:

Jarrot L. Rollins
Born: 8/26/1858 in Montg. MO.
Married: 5/21/1867 in Pike Co, MO
Spouse:

I'm not sure what the abbreviation Randh means unless it is Randolph.
(At this point the letter deals with the History of the Harris Family from Robert Harris of Wales through several generation to the youngest daughter of Jarrot Harris and Jane Ramey named Margaret Harris the wife of Almon Rollins above and mother of William A. Rollins.)

The next piece of paper I have is typed is typed in a different sized type and was very likely folded around the above letter. As follows:

From The Family Bible of Wm. A. Rollins

Wm. A. Rollins was born in the year of 1845, August 26th.

Elisabeth F. Richards:
First wife of Wm. A. Rollins was born May __, 1846.

Lelia C. Hatcher:
Second wife of Wm. A. Rollins was born October 8th, 1853.

Mary Martin Rollins:
First child of Wm. A. Rollins was born February 16, 1868.

Annie Verrell Rollins:
Second daughter of Wm. A. Rollins was born February 24, 1872.

Lelia Catherine Rollins:
Third daughter of Wm. A. Rollins was born March 31st, 1875,

FLY LEAF:
THE HOLY BIBLE: containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated out of the original Tonges and with the former Translations diligently compared and revised.

NEW YORK AMERICAN BIBLE Society; Instited in year MDCCCXVL.
PRINTED: 1870
Wm. A. Rollins Book, February 8176.

THE NEW TESTAMENT OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST: Translated out of the orginal Greek and with the formers translations diligently compared and Revised.

THIS IS A COPY OF INFORMATIN FROM THE FAMILY BIBLE OF: WM. A. Rollins (deceased)

(On the back document the following is typed)
Affidavit
State of Oklahoma
County of Washita

Before me, the undersigned authority, a Notary Public, in and for Washita County, State of Oklahoma, on this day personally appeared Mrs. Waty V. Bell, known to me to be a credible person and the person whose name is subscribed hereto, and on oath deposes and says:

That she has personally known (Annie Verrell Rollins) Rutherford, since her birth: that she was born on February 24th, 1872 in Pike County Missouri, about two and one half miles East or Southeast of Paynesville, Missouri:

That on December 25th, 1889, she (Annie Verrell Rollins) was married to James Griffith Rutherford (now deceased) in Wilbarger County, Texas, the ceremony being performed by a christian minister named Fowler, who at that time lived in or near Veron, Texas.

Signed by: Waty V. Bell

Sworn to and subscribed before me under my official hand and seal, this 23th, day of March, A.D. 1938.
Signed by: G.A. W. Herrier
Washita County Oklahoma.
My Commission Expires: 11-1-1940 "Copy of Original"

What's in a name

When I first met Sandra, my second wife, her name was Sandra Biles; Martin Biles had been her first husband. When we got married she didn’t really like the name Rutherford so she kept the name Biles. Later, this was in the 70’s she decided she wanted to pick her own name. The judge at her earlier divorce had told her she could use any name as long as there was no intention to do illegal things. Her maiden name was Stipelkovich. I think I have that right. She wasn’t exactly in love with that name either so she looked around for a name. Her parents often used the name Stipel when getting reservations or meeting someone they would never meet again. She felt her maiden name was too complicated. She finally hit upon the name Lee, Sandra Lee. So she became Sandra Lee and started to change her name everywhere. She really enjoyed it. "Sandra Lee, AKA … AKA … AKA Sandra Rutherford.

In the late 70’s our relationship was having lots of problems. We went through a couple of separations. The last one was over a year and a half. I was gone. Except for our son Corey I wanted nothing to do with Sandra Lee. She would not let me see Corey and I struggled with that. Corey was only 4. After about a year she was saved, became a Christian, and joined the local neighborhood church. She became a changed woman. She changed her name to "Sandra Rutherford". She wanted me back. Slowly I was drawn back. Maybe all of the problems were resolved. Finally I decided to return and it worked for a while.

Ten years later it was worse. Sandra was the unhappiest woman I have ever been around. It was not working. I was loosing my health. I had heart rhythm problems; my teeth were about to fall out. I couldn’t hold it together. We had gone to counseling several times, but it never worked. The last one had said to Sandra, "Did you ever think that maybe you take up too much room in this relationship?" I knew we wouldn’t go there again. I left Sandra Rutherford. I went to see a counselor on my own. My health improved and my life got better. Of course I couldn’t see Corey. Ultimately even that worked out. Before his senior year of high school she kicked him out and he came to live with us (Anita & I).

So Anita is my third wife. Her name when we got together was Lankford. When we married I decided we would take the first part of my last name and the last part of her last name and we became Richard & Anita Rutherford. What’s in a name?

Where have I been

I haven't posted anything for a while for several reasons. I had to go to western Virginia for a week to teach a class; when I returned I had just a few days to get ready for visitors and vacation; we took a vacation in northern Arizona for a week; and finally when I got back I had a tooth pulled. Each of these is a story in its self but maybe I will get the tooth story ready for here.

I do have a couple of stories. I will post the short one next. Anyone who knows Sandra might get a kick out of this story.

I also have a Rollins family tree. Annie Verrell Rollins (my grandmother on my father's side) married James Griffith Rutherford (my grandfather on my father's side) on December 25, 1889 in Wilbarger County, Texas. Very few stories are know of these folks but I can dig up a few given a chance.

I hope everyone is OK. I sure would like to see some other people active on this blog. Thanks, Richard.