Bulletin Board

The Permanent Family Record
Or: What’s in a name?

DebK of Rosemount: “Cousin Linda and I have been attempting to account for the odd names sometimes bestowed on children. Early in this effort, I trotted out a well-worn story of acquaintances who named their children after automobiles: Ford, Mercedes, Porsche, and Edsel. After expressing particular sympathy for the kid named for one of the great duds in car-making history, Cousin Linda confessed that her branch — the Bailey/Ware branch — of the family has a twig called ‘Nash,’ whose naming led Cousin Linda down one of her trademark ‘scenic routes,’ the deliciousness of which must be shared:

Gee, our old LaSalle ran rough?
Or: You’ve come a long way, baby!

Waldo Windmill: “My mother-in-law told the story many times of how she and my father-in-law secretly exchanged marriage vows while each held a teaching position in the same small-town school. They did their best to conceal their union for fear that she would lose her job should the nuptials become public. Adding intrigue to this ‘web of deceit’ was the fact that my father-in-law’s father was the chair of the school board at the time.

Then & Now

Waldo Windmill writes: “Growing up in rural Wisconsin meant that I attended one-room country schools. Such schools dotted the landscape until the middle of the 20th century, when school-district consolidation brought about massive closings of these iconic temples of learning.