Happy Birthday Aunt Pat

For my Aunt Pat Ramer's 80th birthday I researched her family tree on Ancestry.com. Aunt Pat married my mother's brother Dave Ramer. I discovered that her maternal line goes back to the earliest settlers in Connecticut! Aunt Pat is the proud wife and daughter of  Navy men, so I know she will be thrilled to learn that her ancestors served in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and WWII.

Aunt Pat and Uncle Dave

Maternal Family Tree of Patricia Margaret MacDonald Ramer

John Reynolds/Renalls 1637-1702

9th great-grandfather and first generation in America

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Joseph Renalls 1660-1729

Son of John Reynolds

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John Joshua Reynolds 1691-1742

Son of Joseph Reynolds

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John Joseph 1727-1799

Son of John Joshua

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David W. Reynolds 1752-1832

Son of John Joseph

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Samuel Reynolds 1774-1850

Son of David W.

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Samuel Reynolds 1803-1857

Son of Samuel

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Edwin Miles Reynolds 1830-1857

Son of Samuel

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Eugene F. Reynolds 1858-1956

Son of Edwin Miles

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Eugene Heman Reynolds 1883-1971

Son of Eugene F.

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Margaret Veronica Reynolds 1906-2000

Daughter of Eugene Heman

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Patricia Margaret MacDonald

John Reynolds/Renalds/Ranells 

John Reynolds was born about 1637 and arrived in America in 1655. His father was one of three John Reynolds immigrants who came from England to America in 1635 and several who came via the Caribbean. Perhaps his father was John Reynolds of Wethersfield, CT who was in America by 1640.

John first is found in Old Saybrook (Lyme), Hartford County, Ct. on the east side of the Connecticut River now called Lyme.

Saybrook was settled in 1635-6 by John Winthrop, Jr. who built the fort and plantation or township. During the 1638 Pequot War it was a military base and continued in this use until 1647 when the fort burned.

In May 1659 the inhabitants of Saybrook were given permission to found the settlement they names Norwich, perhaps after their birthplace in England. The Mohegan Chief Uncas and his brother Wawequaw were paid for the land by the thirty-five settlers.

On December 3, 1659, John sold his house and land and with other Saybrook settlers moved to the wilderness to found Norwich, CT.

History and Description of early Norwich, CT
Norwichtown was founded in 1659 by settlers from Old Saybrook led by Major John Mason and Reverend James Fitch. They purchased the land "nine miles square" that would become Norwich from the local Native Mohegan Sachem Uncas. The 69 founding families soon divided up the land in the Norwichtown vicinity for farms and businesses. When the settlers arrived, “A few wigwams were scattered here and there, the occasional abodes of wandering Indians...But in every other respect, the land was in its wild natural state.” “The early houses covered a large area, but they were seldom thoroughly finished, and the upper rooms, of course, were cold and comfortless.  The old houses were generally square, heavy buildings with stone chimneys that occupied a large space in the center. The posts and rafters were of great size and solidity, and in the rooms heavy beams stood out from the ceilings overhead and projected like a low, narrow bench around the sides. The floors were made of stout plant, with a trip-door leading to the cellar. The line of shelves in the kitchen, called the dresser, often displayed a superb row of burnished pewter, performed the office of side-board and closet. The best apartment was used for the sleeping room and even the kitchen was often furnished with a bed. The ceilings were low, and the fire-place, running deep into the chimney, gaped like an open cavern. But when the heaped-up logs presented a front of glowing coals and upward rushing flame, when storms were raging without, or the heavy snows obliterate the landscape, such a foundation of warmth not only quickened the blood but cheered the heart, inspired gratitude, and promoted social festivity.”

He was a wheelwright by trade, took the Freeman’s Oath in 1663, and was a selectman (the board in a small town that acted as mayor) in 1669.

John died July 22, 170,2 in Norwich, New London, CT and is buried in the Founder’s Cemetery as an original settler of Norwich.  In his will he left his house, 79 acres, farm implements, and wheelwrights tools to his only living son Joseph.

John married Sarah Backus (1628-1702) whose father was William Backus, born in England and settled in Old Saybrook, CT before 1637 and died in 1661 in Norwich, CT. He arrived on the ship Rainbow. John later Married Judith Palmer (1646-1716)

John’s children included

• John b. 1655 in Saybrook. While spreading flax, he was killed and scalped  by Native Americans during King Philip's War on 1/24/1676
• Sarah b. 1656 married John Post
• Susana b. 1658 married Joseph Kelley
• Mary b. 1664 married Lothrop
• Elizabeth b. 1666 married Lyman
• Stephen b 1669 d 1687
• Lydia b 1671 married Miller
• Joseph  m Sarah Edgerton

King Philip’s War
A trial in Plymouth Colony resulted in the execution of three Wampanoag men. This caused their leader Metacomet to attack the city of Swansea, burning the town to the ground and killing many of the settlers. Over the course of the next year, 600 English colonists were killed and twelve towns completely destroyed. Around 3,000 Native Americans were killed and more were captured and shipped off to slavery. The few Native Americans left were eventually forced off their lands by the expanding colonists.

Headstone for Joseph Renalls

Joseph Renalls/Reynolds

Joseph was born in March 1660 and died in 1729.

In 1688 Joseph married Sarah Edgerton (1667-1714), who was the daughter of Richard (1620-1692) and Mary Sylvester Edgerton (1625-1692), founding settlers in Norwich. Richard served as constable and townsmen.

In 1714, John was licensed to keep a house of entertainment and rented to lodgers. “To be so licensed then, one must be a man of good repute and possessed of comfortable means.” John was a widower at this time. In 1718 he deeded the house to his son John.

Children of Joseph and Sarah

• John 1691-1742
• Mary 1693-1781 who married Robert Warren
• Joseph 1695-1756 who married Hannah Bingham
• Stephen 1698-1731 who married Mary Sanford
• Daniel 1701-1701
• Lydia b. 1702
• Daniel b. 1705-1706
• Sarah b 1707 who married John Calkins

John Joshua Reynolds

John was born Feb. 24 1691 in Norwich, New London, Connecticut and died on August 19, 1742, in Norwich. John inherited a large estate and was quite wealthy.

He married Lydia Lord, daughter of Captain Richard and Elizabeth Hyde Lord of Lyme, CT. Lydia was described as a “remarkable Christian woman” who lived to be 92 years old, 40 years a widow. The Lord family arrived in America in 1635, first settling in Cambridge before removing with Rev. Thomas Hooker and other settlers to found Hartford, CT.

Children of Joseph and Lydia

• John d 1752 when his horse ran against a tree
• Deborah b 1721
• Ann b. 173
• Sarah b. 1725
• Ruth b. 1727
• John b. 1730
• Joseph b. 1732
• Abigail b. 1734
• Lydia b. 1736
• Elizabeth b. 1738

Lt. John Joseph Reynolds

Joseph was born August 27, 1727, in Greenwich, CT and died on November 27, 1779, in Dutchess CO, NY. Joseph married Martha Tibbets.

Children of Joseph and Martha

• Lydia 1752-1804
• Eliphalet 1753-1849
• John b. 1753
• Israel 1753-1812
• Parker 1755-1833
• David Gardner 1756-1833
• Joanna/Hannah 1757-1826
• Asa 1759-1834
• Stephen 1776-1854
• Daniel 1778-1851
• John 1785-1862
• Silas 1786-1855

Joseph served in the Revolutionary War in the 1st Regiment CT Volunteer Artillery, having “joined and enlisted after muster in of battery” on June 28, 1798.

According to an application for Sons of the Revolution, Joseph served under Brigadier Gen. Nathaniel Woodhull during the Battle for Long Island. The soldiers were driving cattle away from Tory farms so they could not be used by the British and they prevented communication between the Tories and the British. Gen. Woodhull was ordered to fall back to Jamaica, NY where he was captured by the British and taken to a prison ship at Gravesend. His arm was amputated and he died Sept. 20, 1776. Gen. Woodhull’s brother Abraham was a spy for Gen. Washington, the story popularized in the television series Turn.

David W. Reynolds

David was born 1752 in Horseneck, Fairfield, CT and died March 31, 1832, in Dennysville, ME.

During the War of 1812 David enlisted in Lyme. CT in April 1777. He served under Capt. Ely for three years then was waiter to Lt. Col. Sills. He was taken prisoner at Tarrytown but escaped from a British prison ship at Passamaquoddy. He received a land grant in Maine for his service. His pension records show in 1818 he received eight allotments a year for a total of 48 pounds a year.

David married Hannah Hastings. Their children are

• Isaac P 1773-1850
• Samuel 1774-1850
• Rhoda 1780-1787
• Eliphalet 1804-1881
• Thirza 1807-1880
• Eliza 1810-1866

Samuel H. Reynolds

Samuel was born in 1774 in Horseneck, Fairfield, CT, moved to Yates Co, NY and then Allegheny Co, NY  then settled near Adrian, MI. He died suddenly in December 1849 in Lenawee County, MI. Samuel served in the War of 1812.

In 1803, Samuel married Abigail Belden or Belding (1777-1852) in CT. Abigail’s father Thomas Belding (1732-1782) was from Wethersfield, Hartford CT. He appears on the 1840 Fairfield CT census.

Children of Samuel and Abigail

• Leonard 1801-1882
• Samuel 1803-1857
• Almira 1805-1881
• Moses 1806-1886
• Mary (Polly) 1809-1893
• Julia Ann 1812-1900 m. St. John
• William Pitt 1816-1900
• Joseph Beldon 1818-1883

Samuel was a veteran of the War of 1812 and veteran records show he is buried in Rome Township, Michigan. Grandson, Wesley Reynolds in Illustrated History and Biographical Record of Lenawee County, Michigan by John I. Knapp states Samuel and family came to Michigan from New York in Sep. 1836. They "were farmers of Greene County, NY, Samuel was a soldier of the War of 1812. He came to Michigan with his wife late in life and died at his son William's at Wolf Creek, this county in 1850 aged 76. His wife died about two years after, aged 75 years.

The 1790 census shows Samuel living in Fairfield, CT.

Samuel Reynolds

Samuel was born December 1803 in Greenfield, NY and died March 22, 1857, in Humphrey, Cattaraugus, NY. He married Elizabeth Ann Hoyt (1812-1853) in 1826. He later married Lovina Slade in 1854 who had children Lucy and Edwin Hollister from her first marriage. Samuel was a farmer.

Children of Samuel and Ann

• Samuel b. 1825
• Cordelia Charlotte 1828-1916
• Lydia Ann b. 1833
• Martin Matillas 1835-1904
• William Hoyt 1837-1907
• Charles Elmer 1840-1848
• Almira C. b. 1845
• John Wesley 1847-1848
• Manly Frank 1849-1902
• Walter Wilden 1853-1941

Children of Samuel and Lovina

• Lucy b. 1846
• Edwin b. 1852
• Parley Hollister b. 1856

The 1850 Humphrey, Cattaraugus census shows Samuel as a farmer. The 1855 New York State census shows Samuel aged 51 and Lovina aged 39. A May 3, 1858 probate record show Samuel’s estate went to Lovina Reynolds and Chase Fuller.

Eugene Miles Reynolds

Eugene M. was born June 1830 in Livingston County, NY and died July 1901 in Salamanca, Cattaraugus, NY. He was a cooper by trade.

Eugene M. married Alzina J. Leonard, daughter of Edwin S. and Lydianne Leonard. Eugene M. and Alzina had children

• Ervine or Irvine M.
• Perry E.
• Mary Jeanette
• Eugene F.
• Lillian Blanche
• Eugene
• William
• Sylvester
• Rosalia

After Alzina’s death, Eugene M. married Lucinda B. Stoddard and they had children

• Ada B.
• Edwin S.
• Frank B.

The 1850 and 1860  Humphrey, Cattaraugus, NY Federal census and the 1855 NY census shows Eugene M. and Alzina farming.  He and Alzina lived next door to her parents. The 1865 Livingston County, New York State census shows Eugene was a cooper. The 1900 Cattaraugus, NY census shows Eugene was a dentist and a widower.

Eugene F. Reynolds

Eugene F. was born February 9, 1858, in Orlean, Cattaraugus, NY and died February 20, 1952, in Buffalo, NY.

Eugene married Margaret Ferrier (b. 1861) whose father was born in Germany and her mother was born in France.

Their children were

• Hettie
• Myrtil
• Sulter
• Eugene H.
• Luther F.
• Arlen Rollin
• Maleska Lillian
• Eleckta

The 1880 Cattaraugus, NY census shows Eugene was a fireman. The 1892 New Y0ok State census and the 1900 Concord, NY Federal census shows Eugene was a sawyer. The 1910 Concord, NY census shows Eugene worked as foreman of a railroad gang and Margaret was a milliner with her own shop. The 1920 Concord, NY census shows Eugene was a derrick engineer on the railroad. The 1930 Springville, NY census shows Eugene was 21 when he married and Margaret was 18. His son Eugene H. supported his parents as a telegrapher at this time. The 1940 Springville, NY census shows he was a laborer on the railroad and had completed high school.

Eugene Reynolds of Springville, photo from ancestry.com family tree

Eugene H. Reynolds

Born August 1883 in Springville, NY and died in 1971 in Tonawanda, NY.

Eugene’s middle name was recorded as Seaman on the Social Security application claims index. But on his WWI Draft registrations, he wrote it as Heaman.

Eugene married Mary A. Larkin, daughter of Adam Ferrier born in Germany, on October 13, 1904. Mary had an older brother named Heman. Heman is a Biblical name from I Kings. Its popularity peaked around 1900.

The 1910 census shows Eugene working as a telegraph operator living with his family in Cattaraugus. The 1915 NY State census shows Eugene living in Concord, Erie Co, NY. and two of Mary’s sisters lived with the family. The 1920 census shows the family living in Concord Twp, Erie County, NY. where Eugene was an operator for the railroad. The 1925 NY State census shows Eugene and Mary living with son Eugene who was now a telegraph operator while his father was a “bridge carpenter.” The family had a servant and Mary’s sister lived with them as well. The 1930 census shows that Eugene was a telegraph operator for the steam railroad.

Children of Eugene and Mary

• Tedman b. 1904
• Densmore b. 1905
• Margaret Veronica 1906-2000
• Irene May b. 1909
• Patricia Ethel 1910-1993
• Irene M. b. 1911

Margaret Reynolds

Margaret Veronica Reynolds MacDonald

Margaret was born January 6, 1906, in Springville, NY and died April 3, 2000, in Tonawanda, NY.
Margaret married Allan Campbell MacDonald on February 7, 1908, in New York and died March 13, 1984, in N. Tonawanda, NY. Allan was a WWII Navy veteran. He enlisted on March 29, 1944, and was released on December 10, 1945. His father may be Allan McDonald born 1882 in Canada and died September 30, 1927, in N. Tonawanda, NY.

Allan MacDonald

Allan MacDonald in his fireman uniform

Children of Allan and Margaret:

• Veronica b. 1934 
• Patricia Margaret b. 1939 
• Michael 

Patricia Margaret MacDonald

Pat married Lynne David Ramer in December 1950. Dave was born on Dec. 24, 193,5 in Kane, PA and died April 29, 1988 in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Children of Pat and Dave

• Debora Ann 1959-2018
• Cynthia Patricia b. 1960
• Linda Mary b, 1964

Aunt Pat and family

Dave served in the Navy.

He was on the crew of a mini-sub in the Chesapeake Bay, the SSX-1. I visited Annapolis twice while he was working on this sub in the 1960s. It was painted a fluorescent orange and patrolled the Chesapeake Bay.
http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08548.htm
http://www.hnsa.org/ships/x1.htm

He also worked on the USS Angler 240.
http://ussangler.com/

Dave Ramer

The sub was declared to be toxic according to this article found at  http://www.maacenter.org/jobsites/navyships/ussanglersub.php

The USS Angler SS 240 has been declared to be toxic, asbestos was used as a construction material in items commonly found on large ships. Asbestos is made up of tiny fibers, so the asbestos on board the USS Angler SS 240 could have been inhaled by the members of her crew, or could have stuck to the items being delivered to other ships. Asbestos can easily cling to most surfaces, and then be released into the air later. This led to the possibility that any person on a ship which received goods from the Angler might also have been exposed to this toxic material and these deadly asbestos fibers were also utilized within the piping duct systems construction. Exposure to asbestos is very dangerous and can lead to potentially deadly diseases such as asbestos cancer otherwise known as mesothelioma.

Operation Pacific (Warner Bros., 1951) Under John Wayne's leadership, the submarine Thunderfish fights the Japanese and rescues nuns and children. This film, the first of a spate of World War II submarine movies released during the 1950s, was loosely based on the true stories of the USS Angler (SS-240) and Growler (SS-215). Admiral Charles Lockwood, the commander of submarine operations in the Pacific, served as technical advisor.

Obituary

Lynn D. Ramer, U.S.N., Retired

Lynne D. Ramer, U.S.N., retired, 52, a 19-year resident of Ferndale, died Friday, April 29, 1988 in William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak. He was born Dec. 24, 1935 in Kane, PA.

Mr. Ramer, who served in the US Navy in EN1 from 1955 to 1974, was a member of Fleet Reserve Association Branch 24 and the Solhin Club of Detroit. An employee of the City of Ferndale Water Department for 11 years, Mr. Ramer served as president of AFSCME Local 3120. he also belonged to the George W. Danuk American Legion Post 330 in Ferndale.

From 'We Notice That' column in Lewistown Sentinel, July 27, 1961. Submitted by Lynne O. Ramer to Ben Meyers: "July 16, 1961 "Arrived in 95-degree weather on the banks of the Severn River, directly across from the complex of our first USN Academy for would-be Admirals. Before the night was was in the innards of the USS-X1, our only four-man, 49-ft. sub, of which our son is a crewmember. Total of eight men in the crew." " July 4-10, Annapolis, MD. Daily jaunts into old Annapolis, around naval academy watching the X-1 crewmen doing aqua lung practices..."

New Project for Crewman Dave Ramer on Tiny Sub
We Notice That Column by Ben Meyers, in the Lewiston Sentinel, Lewiston, PA on May 6, 1968:

Loss of the atomic-powered sub the Scorpion was of special interest to Lynne Ramer. One of his twins sons is a submariner in the U.S. Navy, having been serving on the submersibles for 14 years or from 1954.

Lynne, a native of Milroy and now residing in Berkely, Michigan where he works for General Motors, reminded us about his son David while he (the dad) stopped here on his way to Annapolis to visit the submarine crewman.

Dave Ramer, with a rating of ENI(35), is one of the crewman aboard the Navy's only midget sub. It is based at Annapolis but is being moved from there for some special underwater project. The sub is known as the X-1 (SSX-1).

Now this streamlined midget weighs 30 tons, is 49 1/2 feet long, is diesel-electric powered and has a complement of two officers and six senior enlisted men.

The X-1 was accepted by the Navy and placed in service in October 1955 at New London, Conn. Test runs, extensive trials, and operations were made and then the craft received an availability. Then in December 1957 it was inactivated.

Lynne informs us that the tiny sub in 1960 was brought back into service as a Naval Research laboratory project. It operated in the Chesapeake Bay with a team of scientists watching it from a 10-ton aluminum cradle suspended from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Purpose of the project was to learn more about the basic properties and actions of seawater by direct observation of the Bay's eastern channel. Involved were weather forecasting as well as the fishing industry and military security.

"In 1969 the X-1 crew and families will be transferred to Panama City, FL, so this will be our last trip to Annapolis," Lynne informs us.

Nancy Goes to College: Greeks, Freaks, and GDIs

I have not thought about my freshman year at college for decades. Recreating the year from diaries and photos, and probing a few friends, brought revelations. 

Mr. Botens told my freshman English class in fall of 1966 that we are three people: the person you were in the past, the person you are now this minute, and the person you will and want to become in the future. During my freshman college year I was making very important decisions about the kind of woman I wanted to become.

Adrian Freshman yearbook photo

August, 1970, I arrived at Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan and moved into the second floor of Estes Hall. It was the dorm I had seen on my tour and had liked so well. As I unpacked the floral fabric suitcases I had received as a graduation gift, I was unpacking my past, a wardrobe and mementos from high school.

Carillon tower, Adrian College

The new album Crosby Stills Nash and Young  was blasting out of a men's dorm window near the quad where guys were always playing Frisbee. To this day, that music brings back the heady sounds of late summer, the joy of being young and on the cusp of new adventure. This year was a perpetual roller coaster of new experiences and new people.

Adrian College

Adrian College, with only 1,500 students, was half the size of Kimball High. Greek societies were important on campus, dorms were segregated, and girls had curfews. It was like living in the 50s.

There were four Kimball girls there: Me, Lynn Martin, Nancy Briggs, and Jan McDonald. Except for Lynn I rarely ran into any of them. Also, I knew a boy from my church and Sunday School class.

Lynn Martin

Nancy Briggs

Jan McDonald

Also in Estes Hall was my old friend Lynn Martin who was rooming with Marti from Redford.

My roommate Gloria was an extrovert and quickly made friends. I tagged along. She even organized 'dinner parties' which we jointly prepared in the dorm basement kitchen.

Our dorm room. I see my drawing on the lower left, art by my boyfriend,
 my lighted mirror and my guitar.

Our dorm room. The Love Story poster from my boyfriend.

When Gloria decided to run for class secretary she enlisted everyone in her campaign. She had posters made which we helped to hang in the cafeteria.

Me and Lynn, Adrian cafeteria

Lynn on the right, me on the left. Steve in the center
Working on Gloria's campaign.

I became friends with another Estes Hall girl, Elaine, and her high school boyfriend Tim. Elaine played the violin and mandolin. One night she used her Mary Kay cosmetics and gave me a makeover. Tim was in Phi Mu Alpha, a music fraternity, and I got to know many his brothers. For some reason we called him 'Uncle Tim' and his frat brothers were all 'Uncle' to me.

Gloria and Elaine

Tim and me

I took Eastern Civ because I already had a good basis in Western Civ  from Kimball from my Ancient and Medieval History and Modern History classes. I struggled with Freshman Composition and Lit. because of my lousy spelling and lack of skill in non-creative writing. Introduction to Philosophy was disappointing. It was all logic and not like what we had studied in Mr. Boten's Western Lit class.

I looked forward to Environmental Biology, having enjoyed Mr. Gasiorowski's high school class. Professor Husband was a great teacher. The class was held in a lecture hall for 100 students.

I sat next to Sendy whose father was a professor at Adrian. One day she told me she knew traditional Chinese palm reading and asked to read my palm. She said I had tapered, narrow fingers, which was unusual; I thought it because I had played piano since I was eight. Sendy said I would have a smooth life, have 'love affairs' but fall in love only once, that I would not have much of a career but I would have three children, and I live into my 80s before I had health problems. She also said I was intelligent but not an A student. I never had those three kids. I never had a real career. I did get A grades eventually. I'm still waiting to see about the long life.

Gym was required. I was OK at archery but lousy at volleyball. Then I tried Folk Dancing. My first partner was an artist--my type, I thought. I had a mad crush on him. Over the year we became friendly but not really friends. My second dance partner was a quiet, tall mountain of a man who was light on his feet and a better dancer than me!

Jim with his Smile pin

That fall I saw an ad in a magazine for Smile face pins and ordered them. I gave one to each new friend I made. I called it my 'People Collecting Club.' I gave out twenty pins over the year. By spring, the yellow Smiley face image could be found on sale everywhere. I was ahead of the curve!

The original order form for Smile face stuff

Over the next years people gave me all kinds of Smile face items.

I believe this year Adrian had seven African American students. Adrian was created by Asa Mahan, the first president of Oberlin College. He was an abolitionist involved in the Underground Railroad. Adrian now houses The Sojourner Truth Technical Training Center and digital archive on the Underground Railroad. I thought it was sad there was so little diversity on campus.

Friends finding out how many can fit into the Estes Hall phone booth

My parents' Halloween costumes 

At Thanksgiving break my old boyfriend came to visit my family with his wife and baby. I was very glad to be where I was instead of married with a kid. I went on a date with the boy I sometimes dated.

I am with my old boyfriend's baby.
I am wearing a wig, which were popular, and a peace dove button.

Jim few into town to visit me for a weekend. We had been writing all fall and he hoped to cement our relationship. His folks did not support his coming and I tried to dissuade him from coming. Dad took Jim, Tom, and me to Roselawn Cemetery at 12 MI in Berkley to fed the ducks at the pond there. I bet we are the only family that regularly went to the cemetery for fun!

I sang some Leonard Cohen songs I had learned including "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye." Jim became angry and asked if I was trying to tell him something. He had brought records to share with me. We were sitting on the floor in my living room listening on the high fi, the records scattered across the floor. My brother walked through the room near the records and Jim yelled a warning at him not to step on them. His response seemed unjustified. These flashes of petulance resulted in my realizing we had no future.

That fall The Association and Josh White Jr. performed on campus.

Marti, a lifelong United Methodist, took me to a communion chapel service before Christmas break. I was Episcopal and the United Methodist service was very different; I had a negative 'culture shock' first reaction.

Marti Boynton

At Christmas, I had a party with Kimball friends and my new friends Marti and Sam from Adrian. My friend since Jane Addams Jr High and fellow Girls Choir member Peggy D. and I played guitar. I also went on a date with the boy I sometimes saw.

Playing my guitar at the Christmas party

Second semester brought changes. Girls went out for Rush Week to choose sororities, including my roommate Gloria. She moved out to room with a sorority sister. Lynn and Marti parted ways and Marti became my roommate.

Marti in Estes Hall common area

I had decided to be a GDI--God Damned Independent--and not join a sorority. I did not like the exclusivity. I wanted to have friends from all kinds of backgrounds like I had at Kimball.

second semester ID

I was in the college choir, singing second alto. Marti was also in choir. Our concert piece was The Carmina Burana. We sang the opening piece O Fortuna in chapel!

I am front row center,

I was also was in the required Comp part two, Philosophy of Religion, Historical Geology, and Intro to History.

I loved Historical Geology class. In March the class went to a limestone quarry in Ohio to look for fossils. I loved rock collecting and thought it was great fun. It was a beautiful day. I wrote, "We all separate, diligently, eagerly, clawing at the rocks and crumbling rubble, coming up with brachiopods, trilobites, corals, and dirt, dust, and more dirt." I lost my boot heel in the mud.

That evening a friend, Tom, asked me to walk with him to the Spanish Inn in Adrian. I had never eaten Mexican food before coming to Adrian. The first time I saw tacos on the lunch tray I had no idea how to eat them. We walked across the College Street bridge talking about college and poetry. He ordered new food for me to try.

With Marti I made friends different from those I met through Gloria. George, Jack, Jim, and Dick and Marti and I had a lot of fun together, eating meals together in the cafeteria and hanging at the Pub. I taught lessons in Sugar Drawing. Basically, you pour the sugar out from the packets onto the table, and run your finger through it to draw. What a waste.

Jack, Marti and me at the Pizza Bucket in Adrian

Lynn, George, and Marti at Estes Hall

One day during lunch the guys threw sugar packets at Marti. When we rose to leave, George quietly picked up all the packets and put them back. I was very impressed and declared forever more the day be celebrated in his honor. Marti still remembers to celebrate George Quay Day. On February 21, 1971, George told me about meeting a girl back home, Nancy Hemmings. She would become his wife.

George

Jack

Jim playing in the student lounge

Like many Adrian students, most weekends Marti went home. I spent a lot of time in the library, reading Greek plays and the poetry of T.S. Eliot. I noted reading Art and Reality by Joyce Cary, For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway, The Idiot by Dostoyevsky, Hawaii by Michener, and Beck: A Book by John Updike. I mention seeing the movie Catch 22 on campus. Looking at my grades this year, I should have been studying and not free reading!

I also spent a lot of time at the Pub, drinking coffee and reading. I had the idea that a book would magically attract 'the right sort'. The Pub had barrel chairs and tables, pinball machines, and a jukebox. The soda bar sold light refreshments including the first bagels and cream cheese I had ever seen.

People would sit down at the table with me to talk. One weekend Ed, a 'pinball wizard', sat down with me. He was joined by Chris who had long hair and a maxi coat. Chris invited me to come to his parties at his off-campus pad. Ed shook his head, warning me I would not like it. I was so naive I had no idea that these 'parties' were not like the ones my family held!

Chris was also in my philosophy class. He started calling me and we dated for a while. His friends thought that I was too straight and would pull him away from hosting parties. My friends worried that he would 'corrupt me.'

He took me home to visit and I met his mom. Something in him wanted to be saved, but then he'd try to persuade me to change who I was. He was interesting and different, played piano and guitar and had a faith in God, but I knew he was not right for me. I would not change who I was and he did not want to change either. Later he went out with Lynn and liked her, but she liked another boy.

I am wearing a top from Finland

I wrote that Jack and I went to the spring dance with Jim and George and their dates. It was completely friendly.

I am goofing off, playing Cousin It

I was thrilled when the college literary magazine accepted and published my poem The Remodeled Temple. The poem was inspired by my family trip to Niagara Falls the previous year when I saw the yellow foam from phosphate pollution.

Niagara flows over the jutting escarpment
anciently pushed upwards by monstrous
inward powers generated from below--
a long forgotten strength.

The mist rises like steam from a hot bath,
like rain...falling upwards
in billowing clouds of opaque moisture.
Water tumbles white bubbles at the foot,
and foaming, floating, spreading to the river's boundary,
creeps the current born brown-yellow scum.

Where once nature held a holy and secret temple
to the gods, in the midst of this, their handiwork,
celebrating with glorious roaring its own beauty,
man now divides with concrete
and steel-skeletoned buildings,
and populates the shore continually,
people holding cameras and ticket stubs
and souvenirs and pride ("I was here")
and pollutes the waters with his
competent, advanced, scientific, civilized
waste.

George and I flew kites on campus between Mahon and Dawson Hall. The kites got tangled up and kids stopped by to help, including a seven-year-old boy who made plans to met us the next day for more kite flying in the IM field. Lots of local kids hung around campus.

Jim had been depressed but now wrote that he had found a 'replacement' for me and I was glad. He also asked me to keep writing to him. A few weeks later he called because I had not sent any letters. A guy was waiting for me in the lobby to go see Tora Tora Tora and I did not have time to talk. (That was one boring movie.)

Over spring break I attended my home church, went to Great Scott and saw the Kimball boy I knew who worked there, and discovered that my first crush Mike was back on the block. He was as cute as ever and I was still too shy to talk to him. My brother and his brother became friends. Sam and Marti came to visit me.

A little-known singer, John Denver, performed at the college that spring. His song Leaving on a Jet Plane had been recorded by Peter, Paul, and Mary. Now he was trying to make it singing his own songs. After the concert, several of my People Collecting Club members and I went backstage to give him a smile pin.

Another May trip back home I went to Barney's in the morning and that afternoon saw my grandfather Ramer in the hospital. It must have been when he had his second heart attack. The next day, Sam and Marti and I went to Kensington Nature Park and "untangled fishing line." That evening we went to the Raven Gallery. On the way home, I got pensive and despaired, wondering if I should become a 'freak' since it seemed the all the creative people were. Sam asked Marti if I got that way often.

May 3, 1971, I wrote about man's imperfection and the resulting hypocrisy. "Man desires the love and esteem of his fellow men, but finds his faults only merit their hatred and contempt," I noted Pascal wrote in his Pensees.

I was determined that my "reach exceed my grasp" in trying to be better.

"We try to make ourselves helpful, useful; we try to reach in our bumbling way. We can't always see--if sometimes we're blind, well, what can we say? Admit the fact, try harder. We know we'll never reach perfection. God knows, he made us imperfect, yet we insist on trying our hand at it. No one can please all of the people. No one man can be universally loved, accepted, liked. I must and do take my enemies as inevitable. It makes me sad and guilty and forces me to take another look at myself--detect flaws to be changed. But I am confident that I am on the right track, I have made friends."

In early May when I was in the Pub a boy named Jim sat down with me. I did not care for him; he was a horrible flirt. Really, he had the worse lines ever. He said I'd make a 'good minister's wife,' which was the last thing on my mind. Then he was joined by a boy who had his head in a music score, waving his hands in the air. Gary was in conducting class and was just given the music he was to conduct for his final. I perked up, for it was rare to meet someone who liked classical music.

Jim and Gary went to Ohio that weekend to investigate a seminary. On Monday I had a sore throat and went to the school doctor; he said I had strep throat and perhaps mono. I was on painkillers and was unable to sing in the spring concert. It didn't keep me bedridden. I was at the Pub and hanging out. On Wednesday a bunch of us 'went raving' in Gary's VW, driving down the dark country roads.

Gary and I were getting to know each other. One of Gary's friends, Gwen, asked how I felt about him. I liked him. Elaine thought she should have met Gary first because she thought they were better suited for each other! Since Gary and Tim were both in Phi Mu Alpha it is surprising they had not met already.

Over Memorial Day weekend Gary took me to his home. His family made their annual trip to the cemetery and I waited while they cleared the grave sites and left flowers. His mom had packed baloney and butter sandwiches to eat for lunch. I hated butter on sandwiches. Apparently, our families had one thing in common: they believed in taking their kids' friends to the cemetery!

One Saturday night I woke up, hearing voices. Several drunk boys were outside my dorm window, trying to climb up to see a girl on the second floor. Usually, a girl would prop open the side door so a boy could sneak in!

Two ATO frats were killed in a drunk driving accident on May 22.

Sam and Marti broke up, then reunited. Elaine and Tim broke up. She had met a boy while visiting home.

Gary was taking summer school classes because he couldn't get work at GM for the summer. That meant he would graduate a semester early. I was going home for the summer. As we got to know each other over those two weeks I forgot about all those other boys. Gary seemed about perfect.

School ended and I returned home. I visited old friends. My family went to my Uncle Dave's home for dinner. We had ice cream at Howard Johnsons. I visited the McNab family.

I missed Gary. Then on June 1, there was a knock on the door and a VW parked out front. Gary had stopped by on his way from Grand Blanc to Ohio. He would stop by again on his way back. Mom liked him. When he returned, Sam and Marti and Gary and I went to the Detroit Zoo.

Over summer Gary would spend many weekends at my home.

Summer 1971: Endings and Beginnings

The summer of 1971 brought huge changes in my life, beginning with a family death and ending with love.

Gary and I, July 4, 1971

Early in the summer I went to Adrian to visit for a few days, seeing several friends who were in summer school--including Gary. At the Pub the guys flipped the pressed metal ashtrays for fun. I had a midnight curfew to get back to the dorm; until then, Gary and I walked around campus and sat on the hill in front of Peale Hall.

A bit flattened, but this is an ashtray
from the Pub which the guys liked to flip.

On July 1 a Kimball friend visited me, struggling with personal issues. I did not know how to help and I did not want to get sucked into the drama. I was burned out from trying to keep Adrian friends away from drugs. Now I just wanted to be happy with Gary. I never called her back. I felt guilty for a long time, feeling I had let her down. Thirty years later she said she did not recall I had ever let her down.

On July 3 Gary took me to meet his family. I wrote that they were nice. They grilled and we ate outside. His Grandmother Bekofske was there. She was a character with a glint in her eye. She told me how she became "emancipated" from the "tyrant tea."

Gary and I at his parent's home

On July 4 Gary joined my family for BBQ in the back yard. My Ramer Grandparents and Uncle Dave and his family were there.

I am on the right, dad across from me.
Grandpa Ramer is at the far end on the right.

Grandma and Grandpa Ramer, July 4 1971

When Gramps learned that Gary had never seen The Shrine of the Little Flower he had to take him for a ride to see it right then. Learning that Gary was considering seminary, Gramps offered him his sermons.

My Grandfather Ramer, my mother's father, was born to an unwed mother in 1905. They lived with his maternal grandmother in Milroy, PA. Before Gramp's tenth birthday, both his mother and his grandmother had died. He went to live with his mother's sister's families.

My grandfather Lynne O. Ramer with his mother

Gramps was a good student and a quick learner. His Uncle Charlie Smithers would reward him for memorizing the state capitals or Pennsylvania county seats. Gramps was accepted to Susquehanna University, working in the kitchen to pay his tuition. After earning his BA, he stayed to earn a Master of Divinity.

Grandpa Ramer on the Susquehanna College kitchen staff

Gramps was Evangelical Lutheran. When he did not get a call, he and his college friend Roger Blough attended Columbia University Teacher's College in New York City. Gramps was hired to teach mathematics and history at Hartwick Seminary, near Cooperstown, NY.  He fell in love a student. After working his way across the country during his summer break, he returned and asked her parents for her hand in marriage.

Grandpa Ramer in the Kane High School yearbook

They moved to Kane, PA where my grandfather taught high school math. My mother and her siblings quickly arrived so that by age 21 my grandmother had four children. During WWII Gramps worked as an engineer at the Tonawanda, NY aviation factory testing airplane struts and his family lived in war housing in Sheridan Parkside.

Gramps at the Tonawanda, NY plant

In 1955 my grandparents moved to Royal Oak, MI. Gramps was an engineer at Chevrolet, taught at trig and calculus at Lawrence Tech, and was a deacon at an Episcopal Church in Ferndale.

Granpa Ramer in the Lawrence Tech yearbooks

Gramps, far left, as a deacon

Somehow he found time to write hundreds of articles for his hometown newspaper and hundreds of letters to people all over the country. In the late 1950s he became interested in research out of Columbia University's Lamont Observatory and obtained funding for the project through his old friend Roger Blough, who was then head of U.S. Steel.

Gramps 

On June 7 I got a job at Burger King on Main Street. I bought a uniform and shoes and studied for the job. A lot of us had been hired and we crowded the kitchen. I was not proactive and waited to be told what to do. The job lasted one day. I didn't make the cut.

On Friday, July 10, Gary arrived for the weekend. He almost stopped by to see Gramps first. On Saturday, July 11 my family and my Ramer grandparents had dinner at the Wigwam.

After my grandfather's first heart attack he gave up smoking, walked more, and lost weight. But on Sunday morning, July 12, I wrote, "Last night around 6:00 pm Grandpa died. I loved Grandpa much. He was a wonderful man. "

I was devastated. "I cannot word the sorrow, I cannot pen the knowledge and burden of truth, I cannot spell the doubt of what actions to perform. I can only feel and wait for enlightenment."

I hated going to the funeral home. I wrote, "I bit my lip and hung to the back of the family, with Gary at my hand. I wouldn't go up and look at Grandpa because it wasn't natural, it wasn't really him." Gary reminds me that I said "that isn't Grandpa; it is only the house he used for a while."

Someone was finally taking care of me. I wrote that I never had thought about marriage before, especially before I had completed college. And I was only 18. And Gary was still deciding about seminary or teaching. But, "I needed him so much and he lent me strength."

I continued, "I saw the family that Gramps began, raised, loved, and I knew his ideas were in us, and his memory--the memories of his actions, an example to follow. I knew he would never be gone because he left himself behind--I knew it was not a sad funeral because he lived a full life, accomplished much, found happiness, and created love--what more could a person want from life? Even Gary had been touched by Gramps." Tom and I and our cousin Mark came home about 7:30 pm. We ate and watched TV until everyone returned around 11:30 pm.

"Grandma called this morning. She found a letter in Gramps' desk, [which] he wrote it in '69. He said he wanted a simple, closed casket funeral. I was to get all of his writing and correspondence and the family tree information. I always said I wanted them."

On July 12 my college roommate Marti and her boyfriend Sam came to the funeral parlor. That evening I cried listening to Limelight [Charles Chaplin's theme song from the movie by that name]. I wrote I was "filled with joy for the love Gramps bore for me, the ideas and help he gave me. I thought of the family he made when he had none, and how we loved him."

July 13 was my grandfather's funeral. I wrote that "it was not a sad funeral because he had accomplished much, found happiness, and created love. What more could a person ask? A sad funeral would be for the man who never loved, never was loved, but forever dwelt on his own pleasures." I noted that I was rereading Thomas Wolfe's chapters about Ben's death.

Gramps was interred at White Chapel cemetery, near a Blue Spruce like the one in his Berkley back yard, and not far from a giant cross.

Mom stayed with Grandma that evening. I contemplated the future and life. I wrote, "the sky was blue and the trees were green and the wind blew down strong--The stars against the evening sky shone brilliantly. Grampa said, "sentimental bunk--but what make us tick?" I realized it was at Gardenia the summer we moved when I found Gramp's 101 Famous Poems and discovered poetry. And now he's got me into the Maryland Anthology."

Grandpa Ramer had shared my poems with Maryland poet Vincent Godfrey Burns who edited an anthology and had accepted my poem. I don't know how Gramps knew Burns, but he had a copy of the book he wrote, I Was A Fugitive From A Chain Gang and I had read it.

Gramps had shared his books with me. He had taken me to visit a professor whose son had a large telescope for summer studies and I saw Jupiter's rings. He gave me mimeographed educational materials on nature and science prepared by one of his friends. On a trip to New York State, Gramps took me to see his Hartwick Seminary student Pastor John Kisselburgh who wrote Shadow of the Half Moon. When a girl, he took me to see a Tarzan movie and The Story of Ruth. And I had met his friends and family in his hometown of Milroy, PA and in Tonawanda, NY.

When I went to college he sent me a weekly letter full of family news, and always included coins taped to a paper in the shape of a smiley face.

Grandpa Ramer taped coins to index cards to
include in his weekly letters to me when I was at college

I wrote, "I feel him in me-- his strength, ambition, ideas. I believe I inherited a lot from him."

Over the years I tried to be like him. He never met a stranger, always finding some mutual ground to build a relationship upon. Many years later, on the morning of my Grandmother Ramer's funeral, I was outside of a store waiting for it to open, chatting with a man who was also waiting. It turned out he had been one of my grandfather's students in Kane, Pennsylvania! He had ended up working in Detroit also. He told me that my grandfather was a wonderful man.

Grandma Ramer asked me to write to Ben Meyers, the Lewiston Sentinel columnist who shared hundreds of Gramp's letters recalling Milroy in the early 1900s. I wrote that Gramps passed away in his backyard among his 'posies' and trees.

Gary had to study for his psych exam the weekend after the funeral. I played my records and looked over my scrapbooks.

July 14 I was working in telephone sales for a real estate office. I hated the job. I had to take a bus and transfer to another bus, costing 45 cents. "I always get lost and the drivers are never helpful, and everyone on the bus sits unsmiling and alone so all the seats are full and I have to go to the back of the bus for a four block ride because no one wants you to sit with them, except violin players."  I had sat with a girl with a violin who took lessons at Wayne State. I ran into her several times.

"I wish I could read and write and play piano and read Gramp's books and letters and visit the cemetery--no time with this stupid job. I'd rather be active, or outside, but no, and every day a dress and stockings--I hate it."

On July 17 I wrote, "The only thing that kept me sane was selling raffle tickets for church, the rocks in the parking lot where I ate lunch, and walking to Save-On in the evening." I always liked rocks. I hated the windowless room and my boss and the commute.

The next day I went to Swanton, OH, to attend the birthday party of my Adrian friend George. He and his girlfriend Nancy took me on a tour of their hometown. From there I went to Adrian to see Gary. I left Adrian at 9 pm and ran out of gas coming home and had to walk to a Texaco station!

June 21 Gary was visiting and we went to Great Scott where I saw a Kimball friend. Gary had brought his Jesus Christ Superstar album to lend me and I gave him Clair de Lune piano music and my copy of Voltaire's Candide. The boy I used to date now and then called. I expect I told him I was seeing someone from college. I always knew he was in love with someone else anyway. I lost my telephone soliciting job.

Margie

I was in contact with Kimball friends, including Peggy who told me Shirley and Lynn were camping with their boyfriends. Margie from Herald staff brought her 1971 Lancer to show to me. I felt sad hearing Margie talk about Kimball and I wondered if "tomorrow will measure up to yesterday." Margie was going to Albion in the fall. We 'rapped' about college. A girl called me to update me on Kimball kids gossip. Somehow she knew all about who was dating who.

I watched Love Story and The Sterile Cuckoo on tv at Grandma Ramer's house.

Sunday, July 26  Gary and I went to see my roommate Marti, and with her boyfriend, we went to the Detroit Institute of Art. For my birthday on July 28, Mom made hot dogs and cake. Gary gave me a bronze incense burner.

Gary announced that he had decided to go to seminary after college. He was deciding between Garrett in Chigaco and METHESCO in Ohio. I was supportive of Gary's decision.

In August I picked up my Grandfather's papers and books, which my parents would store for me. Gramps' sermons, stoles, and surplice were also put into storage for Gary to use in the future.

It was coming up to a year from when I met Jim, and over a month since I let him know about Gary. I said I was finally "getting over my hate, I mean, defensive dislike to override my guilt complex. Looking back he [Jim] was really ok." Earlier in the summer, on June 5, I wrote that I had broken up with Jim because I "am a creep with a guilt/doubt complex" who was unable to find it "seriously possible to really love" since my heart was broken by my old high school boyfriend. Gary was the first to make me feel love again.

Over the summer, Dad took Tom and me fishing. I went to K-Mart to buy records, had dinner at Arby's and ice cream at Ray's, visited my Aunt Nancy, Uncle Don, and Uncle Dave and their families. Mom, Dad, Grama Ramer, and Aunt Nancy and my brother Tom all had birthday parties.

Gary and I had joined my folks and the McNabs at the Galaxy Drive-In, all in separate cars. The McNabs, my family, Gary and I went to Algonac and on the St. Clair River. Gary took me to picnic at Bloomer Sate Park and we went swimming. I mentioned going to the cottage of a boy from my church who was also at Adrian.

On August 30 Gary and I went to the Michigan State Fair for the Sunrise Service, which was televised. The Youth Revival sang hymns and a song by Peter, Paul, and Mary. Grandma Ramer joined my family for pizza that night.

I was preparing my shopping list for college: contact solution, Ten-O-Six, Dew Kiss lotion, toothpaste, instant coffee, new slacks, nylons.

Summer was over. It was time to return to Adrian. Several of my freshman friends were not returning including Elaine and Jim. I was considering changing colleges to be nearer to Gary. Western if he went to Garrett? Kenyon if he went to METHESCO? But I would loose my state scholarship. Gary even talked about renting a room from Grandma Ramer and commuting to METHESCO.

I looked forward to a semester together at school with Gary, but I knew that come December he would be leaving for seminary and I did not know what that meant for our relationship.