Another Great Loss!

This past Saturday morning we received word that Lightnin's Grandmother (Ida Schelp) passed away. This coming June she would have been 100 years old! This was a severe loss for Lightnin and our children because Ida had been so much a part of their lives. She lost her husband many years ago, and yet survived to see her Great Grandchildren and Great, Great Grandchildren.

Humorous Note (Hey you know I can only stay serious for short periods of time): I say Lightnin and our children, and not me because you see they are all Lutheran and I am Catholic which was always the source of a bit of tension between us! Understand that this was mainly in fun, but I always felt like she was keeping an eye on me to make sure I didn't corrupt the others! I also used to joke that she knew Matin Luther personally and had been the one to suggest to him to break away from the Catholic Church. ;-)

Ida was a strong German/American woman who commanded and deserved respect. When you were at her house, you knew who was in charge. This was a good thing because man could she cook! She definitely made the best fried chicken I had ever tasted, but I think the "Old Brick Tavern" gave her some good competition. She also baked some of the best rolls, bread, and cinnamon buns!

I was just thinking about all of the things she had witnessed during her life, so I thought that I'd Google 1908 just to see what happened during the year she was born. It pretty fascinating to see the events, and the famous people that she out lived!

Here's a bit of history that took place in 1908:

• It was the first year that the ball was dropped at Times Square on New Years Eve
• New York city passes a regulation making it illegal for women to smoke in public
• The 1st railway tunnel under the Hudson River opened
• The 46th star was added to the US flag for Oklahoma
• Cincinnati Mayor (Mark Breith) announces to city council that "women are not physically fit to operate automobiles" (At the risk of reprise from my friends, I contest that most Cincinnatians don't know how to drive!) ;-)
• Natural Bridges Monument forms near Lake Powell, Utah
• The 4th modern day Olympic Games were held in London
• A giant fireball impacts in Siberia (Tunguska Event)
• Bulgaria declaired independence from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey)
• Henry Ford introduced the Model T

She had been on earth for every modern day war that the US has been a part of WWI/WWII/Korea/Vietnam/Iraq, she witnessed passenger air flight morph into aerospace and manned space flight, and the invention of tv/color tv/digital HD tv. Not to mention computers to PC's to the new Notebooks and the I-phone!

She out lived the following people, who were all born that same year:
Amy Vanderbilt
Bette Davis
Edward R. Murrow
Jimmy Stewart
Lawrence Welk
Louis L'Amour
L.B.J.
Milton Berle
Rex Harrison
Robert Morley
Thurgood Marshall
Paul Brown (for you Bengals and Browns fans)
Ethel Merman
Greer Garson
Carole Lombard
Grover Cleveland (He died in 1908, but I thought it was worth noting)

This afternoon we'll be flying back to Missouri to attend the service.

Although we morn her passing, given all that she was a witness to I think we should also celebrate her life!

God speed Ida, I know they've been holding a place in Heaven for you!