Purdum Events 2024
Thanksgiving
Harry and Willardene Purdum had both of their children come
to Stockton to celebrate Thanksgiving as an extended family.
Willard and Tiffany with daughters Isabelle and Violet, plus the
family dog, Sam, arrived from Rock Springs, Wy., late evening
of the 26th. Ellen and Dewey Bateman with Dewey's dog, Hero arrived
late the nght of the 27th from Lubbock, Tx. On Thanksgiving day,
Ellen and Tiffany took over the kitchen and prepared a grand traditional
Thanksgiving feast! For 'Black Friday' Harry and Willard spent
much of the day moving more stuff out of Harry C.'s old house.
Then the family braved the cold to enjoy the Olde Tyme Christmas
Parade and other actives in down town Stockton. Thanksgiving
leftovers were enjoyed throughout the day on Friday before the
visitors retired early to pack for an early departure on Saturday.
The weather was good for both traveling parties, so they reported
arriving back home with no trouble. Harry and Willardene were
left with a refrigator full of leftovers that it will take at
least a week to finish off! Everyone is looking forward to the
next family gathering!
More Fall
Oct. ended with only eight kids trick or treating on Halloween - we were left with lots of candy to eat! First event in Nov. was election day - things have changed in this country when we can elect a twice impeached, convicted felon, wanna be dictator for president - should be interesting to see how the next four years come out! Harry delivered the message at the Cedar Church on the 10th. Did a shopping trip to Hays on the 22nd. Family will arrive the 26th and 27th for a family Thanksgiving - more later.
Fall Visit to Branson
The Purdums (Harry and Willardene) returned home Oct. 11th after enjoying a fall stay in Branson. Willardene's brother, Jonathan, sister-in-law, Martha and Martha's sister, Robin joined the party to celebrate Jonathan and Martha's 24th anniversary. Harry and Willardene enjoyed the latest movie in the Imax - Ireland - a documentary tour of Ireland. They also enjoyed several old favorite eating places, much shopping, including a visit to the Amish Country Store to restock the jelly cabinet. With Jonathan and Martha they visited the Butterfly Palace - where Willardene used a powered scooter to navigate the place - she is very proficent driving the scooter - only backed it over Harry's foot once! Harry and Willardene left for home the morning of Oct. 10th, leaving Jonathan, Martha and Robin two full days to continue the anniversary celebration! Robin was especially looking forward to visiting all the craft and antique malls. For the Purdums the trip included annual visits to family grave sites in Harrison, AR and Independence, KS. The Purdums arrived back in town Friday so they could attend the Cekebration of Life for Duane Harris on Saturday and for Harry to preach at Cedar on Sunday. Next year Jonathan and Martha will be celebrating 25 years together, so we will likely plan a special return visit to Branson.
Labor Day in Ruidoso
The Purdums made their annual visit to Ruidoso, NM between Aug 30 and Sep 7. This year the adventure was a family affair - 13 individuals spent some part of the week in the condo in Ruidoso. Included were four of the six Purdum grandkids and all four of the great-grandkids. The family traveled from as far away as San Diego and Dallas. Daughter Ellen had arranged the family gathering. Harry and Willardene were waited-on royally while enjoying the great-grandkids! Only four of the family attended the Flying J Chuck Wagon Dinner and Music Show this year - the great grandkids are all six and under, so they stayed at the condo with their mothers and grandma. Returning to Lubbock Thursday, Willardene was able to visit her favorite hairdresser for hair cutting and coloring! Returning to Stockton Saturday afternoon so Harry could finish preparing to delivery the morning message at Cedar Sunday. Harry found that having been waited-on so much he had trouble remembering the steps to fixing breakfast, so the Purdums were ready for a chicken lunch at the Rusty Tractor after Church services. Plans are already being made for next year's family gathering!
Fair Week 2024
Fair week started a bite early in the Purdum household - daughter, Ellen, granddaughter, Danaë, step grandson, Corbin and Danaë's friend Ramiro arrived late the 2nd for a quick visit. Main purpose for the visit was for Danaë to pick up the '03 Suburban that grandma gave to her to keep it in the family rather than sell the 21 year old vehicle. The team of four spent the day of the 3rd moving stuff out of Harry C's house and loading a few items to take back to Texas. Ellen and party left in two vehicles early on the 4th so they could get home and prepare for another work week.
After Church services and lunch, Harry and Willardene made a visit to the Fair grounds with Isabelle’s paintings in hand to enter in open class – one of her paintings got a red ribbon! The surprise lilies bloomed early this year, but the Purdums were able to rescue a vase full to take to the fair, but they didn’t get a ribbon. During the Fair, Willardene raided the Library’s free book display and collected a large stack of children’s books that Harry now has to get to granddaughters in Wy., which will make the ‘free’ books rather expensive! Cousin Walter Eades came from Lyons on the 9th to spend the weekend with the Purdums. Original plan was to attend the motorcycle races Friday, but rain caused races to be cancelled, but Harry and Walter did make it to the Saturday evening races. Walter accompabied Harry and Willardene Sunday to Cedar where he got roped into assisting Harry deliver the morning message! Fried chicken lunch followed at the Rusty Tractor before returning to Stockton so Walter could pack and depart for Lyons. It was a great extended Fair Week in the Purdum household!
Purdums' July 4th
Harry and Willardene Purdum enjoyed hosting their son, Willard;
daughter-in-law, Tiffany; and two granddaughters - Isabelle and
Violet for the July 4th week. Grandma had promised Isabelle money
for fireworks if she would paint the back porch deck. Of course
that meant that dad (Willard) had to supervise and help! The porch
got painted and lots of fireworks were purchased - enough to put
on a two-hour plus show sparks and bangs! There were three families
on north Spruce street that kept the fireworks going to late night
- it was a great show except for the bugs that fed on us. Helping
Willard and the girls with the fireworks was Willardene's cousin,
Walter Eades from Lyons. Willard is a great outdoor chef and grilled
burgers and steaks for the family at least twice. Willard and
family returned home on July 6th, giving the girls one day to
rest and get ready to leave July 8th for a week at church camp
in the Wyoming mountains. Planning is already underway for a repeat
performance next year!
Purdum Juneteenth
To celebrate Juneteenth, Harry and Willardene Purdum traveled
to Rock Springs, Wy., to visit granddaughters, Isabelle and Violet.
Seeing their parents, Willard and Tiffany was also part of the
deal. Had a great trip, nice weather (much cooler than KS), only
got rained on between Laramie and Cheyenne on the way back home.
Enjoyed visiting historical museums in Green River and Rock Springs
- both were reminders of how important mining is in that part
of WY. Green River has a huge railroad yard which appears to be
the chief employment; but the museum told of the importance of
their trona mining. The deposits of trona in the Green River area
are said to be the largest in the world, Trona is a common source
of soda ash, which is a significant economic commodity because
of its applications in manufacturing glass, chemicals, paper,
detergents, and textiles, - that box of baking soda in your refrigerator
likely came from Green River. Another side trip was to Little
America for their famous 75 cent ice cream cones which are featured
on billboards across WY. Isabelle was baptized in the river in
Green River City Park - so grandma made Willard take us to the
place so she could see the spot. On returning to KS, the car thermometer
reached 100 as we crossed the KS state line - almost enough to
cause us to return to WY!
Another Texas Trip
The Purdums (Harry and Willardene) spent the week before Memorial
Day in a resort on the shores of Lake Conroe, TX. Did a lot of
driving in rain - both going and coming home. Arrived at the resort
the day after the tornado that tore through downtown Houston,
which is about 60 miles from the resort. Glad visiting any areas
in Houston weren't on the trip plan! Found several nice eateries
that were to our liking except the noise level - just a normal
thing in Texas it seems! Due to recent rains and flooding, Lake
Conroe was closed - but boating and other water activities weren't
high on our agenda anyway. Arrived back home Saturday afternoon
to find Willardene's brother and sister-in-law (Jonathan &
Martha Kinion) cleaning our house. They stayed for Memorial Day.
Other guests paying the Purdums a visit for the Holiday were Walter
Eades from Lyons, KS and Beth & George Jones from Tipton,
KS. The group of seven enjoyed the services in the Stockton cemetery.
Rain and Roses
The Purdums enjoyed or more like endured a rainy, stormy spring
visit to Tyler, TX to see the roses. Had rain delays twice enroute
resulting in late arrival to the condo - but daughter Ellen and
son-in-law Dewey arrived early and with a few phone calls were
able to check in. The real highlight of the trip was the first
face-to-face meeting with 14 mo old great-grandson Zealous Davenport;
the meeting was short as his parents, Sydney and Nick drove over
from Dallas for a few hours on Sunday afternoon. The weeks weather
provided a couple of days with sunny skies which allowed for viewing
the rain-soaked roses! The Purdums enjoyed a different, favorite
eating place each day and a visit to the American Freedom Museum.
Despite forecasts of rain and even flash flooding, The Purdums'
return trip home was under a mostly sunny sky.
April
Willardene had an appointment with the heart doctor on the 4th - told that since she wouldn't take any medicines she didn't need to come back - great news as far as she is concerned. My 4th eye treatment on the 5th - resulted in blood-shot eye for nearly two weeks. On the way home on the 6th enccoutered a blinding dust storm between Russell and Hays. Preached at Cedar on the 14th - reminded people that the next day was tax return filing day.Getting ready for a trip to the Rose Gardens in Tyler, TX - check in there is the 26th.
March
Celebrated 84th birthday on Mar. 6, got third treatment for my macular degeneration on the 8th, preached at Cedar on the 10th and enjoyed a wonderful 63rd anniversary dinner at the bowling on the 11th - March is a busy month! Attended our quarterly meeting of the Area Agency on Aging board in Quinter on the 19th. Ending the month on a sad note - attended the celebration of life for Linda Eades (Walter's wife) the day before Easter - got to see family we hadn't seen in years, wish it could have been more pleasant occasion.
February
No snow yet in Feb. Made the trip to Wichita for my second treatment for macular degeneration with no weather problems - next treatment is now scheduled for March 8. Gave the morning message at Cedar on the 11th - roads were all clear temperature in the mid-40s. Saw our local eye doctor for routine check, had a blood test for visit with our GP doctor - no problems.
January
What a start for 2024 - Jan. '24 proved to be the coldest, snowiest in at least a decade. while not many records were set, the cold and snow resulted in two Sundays when church services were canceled. My planned trip to Wichita for eye doctor appointment had to be rescheduled due to icy road conditions. Our quarterly Area Agency on Aging board meeting had to be conducted via Zoom due to the weather. Kansas Day (Jan 29) was finally nice enough to allow a shopping trip to Hays.