Aunt Winni

Might I suggest that you go to www.alamosanews.com and to www.lubbockonlne.com for the obituaries for Aunt Winni. I felt the service was very special for a special lady. Her nephew Nathan Coombs gave the obit at the service and grandson Heath Cotter gave a talk. There were two special poems presented one by author Raymond Carver and the other was read by her niece, "the End that is better Than the Beginning." Her favorite song was an instrumental presented by her granddaughter, which was done on the piano and very lovely. Donnie, Larry and Kent were honorary escorts. That was a special honor. the grave was dedicated by her son in law - Keith Vardeman. The service was not to morn her passing but to celebrate her life. I hope I can have such a celebration when it is my time as well. Indeed it was a time of dedication of the special person she was as she blessed others lives.

Vance
Posted: Friday, Aug 29th, 2008


Wynona Winnibell Vance, 85



WOODROW, Texas — Former Manassa, Colo. resident Wynona Winnibell Vance was born March 18, 1923 in a logging camp near El Vado, N.M., the fifth child and second daughter of John Walter Langston and Delzia Geneva Bridges Langston. She passed away Aug. 27, 2008, in the home of her daughter Leslie on a farm near Woodrow, Texas.

She was preceded in death by her husband Earl Leslie Vance, her parents John Walter and Delzia Langston, her brothers Merlin, Ivan, and Joe Langston and her sisters Edna Coombs, Barbara King, and Doris Kirkham.

She is survived by her daughters Sue (Layne) Cotter, Leslie (Keith) Vardeman; her son Randy Vance along with four granddaughters, four grandsons, and seven great-grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Sat., Aug. 30, 2008 at the Manassa First Ward Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Interment will follow in the Manassa Cemetery. Visitation will be Fri., Aug. 29, 2008 from 7 until 8:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10 until 10:45 a.m. at the Rogers Family Mortuary in Manassa

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to the LDS perpetual education fund.

Arrangements are in care of Rogers Family Mortuary in Manassa.

Wynona Winnibell Vance

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Saturday, August 30, 2008
Story last updated at -

Wynona Winnibell Vance was born March 18, 1923 in a logging camp near El Vado, N.M. She was the fifth child and second daughter of John Walter Langston and Delzia Geneva Bridges Langston. She passed away August 27, 2008 in the home of her daughter, Leslie, on a farm near Woodrow. She was preceded in death by her husband, Earl Lesslie Vance; her parents, John Walter and Delzia Langston; brothers, Merlin, Ivan, and Joe Langston; sisters, Edna Coombs, Barbara King, and Doris Kirkham.

She is survived by her daughters, Sue Cotter and husband Layne; Leslie Vardeman and husband Keith; son, Randy Vance; four granddaughters; four grandsons; and seven great-grandchildren. A special thanks to Advanced Home Health & Hospice, and especially Josie. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to the LDS perpetual education fund or hospice.

The most wonderful feeling

As we drove to Manassa this morning, my head was flooded with memories. I was feeling anxious about the funeral. There were members of my family that I hadn't seen for over three decades. I took my camera today thinking that I would have some pictures to post to the blog when we got home. If the success of the trip were measured by the number and quality of pictures taken, it would have to be considered a failure.

As we arrived at the Church house in Manassa, the parking lot was almost empty. I felt encouraged when I recognized Don and Gloria's PT cruiser. We parked by them and went into the building. It was empty except for the organist who was taking advantage of a few minutes to practice before everyone came. We were asked by a kind gentle man if we were going to the mortuary for the final viewing. We decided to follow him and his wife to the Mortuary that was just a block away.

The crowd on the porch of the building was promising. I could see my sister in law, Gloria, my brother, Don, my sister, Bonnie, and Mom. They greeted us warmly and we all went in to meet Aunt Mike's family. Each of them was so kind and warm. They were grieving, but they were gracious and thinking of others.

The funeral was uplifting and inspiring. Tears were shed as family members shared poetry, memories and testimonies. Those participating in the program shared their love for a wonderful woman who had taught them by the life she lived. Her grandson reminded us that just as there would be a reunion of family after the funeral, there would be a reunion on the other side with family that had been separated for years. I have never had a more effective lesson on Heavenly Father's plan of happiness.

When we returned to the chapel after the grave side service, I had another lesson on what is important. My camera sat on the table as I visited with my cousins, their children and their other cousins who had also come to bid farewell to a common loved one. The people in that room, were all one family linked by our love of Aunt Mike. To me, there is no feeling more wonderful than feeling I belong to a family. That feeling cannot be photographed, but today it's keeping me warm. Tomorrow it will be engraved in my heart.

Winnebell

Randy called me this evening and told me Winnabell passed away. He said that the funeral will be in Manassa on Saturday. I don't think I can be there.

I lived with Earl and Aunt Mike, that is what some people called her, for a year. It was before I went on my mission. She did give me some motherly advice that I took to heart. I am sad that she is gone.

Randy said that it was a relief for her to go because she was not doing well for some time.

Hyperlinks in the text

When you create a post and want to embed a hyperlink to another web page you first type out the text you want to be highlighted. After you highlight the text you want to be a link then you click the symbol at the top of the edit window that looks like a chain link.

This is a link to Larry's BLOG

I first selected the words Larry's BLOG with the cursor anchoring before Larry's and swiping until the entire phrase was highlighted and clicked on the icon of the link at the top. A window will pop up asking for the address of the web page (or other valid URL) that you wish to show. Fill in the fully qualified URL. For example -- http://larryvancefamily.blogspot.com. And then click on the OK button.

And viola' -- you have a hyperlink embedded in your post.

If you click on the tab at the top of the page labeled Edit HTML you will see the HTML code that makes the hyperlink. It looks like:

This is a link to < a href="http://larryvancefamily.blogspot.com/"> Larry's BLOG < /a>

Except for the spaces between the < and the a (had to put the space to keep the editor from making the link.

What I hated I have learned to love

When I was in school, I had an assignment to read and do a report on a poem. I hated it because I just could not make sense of it. The poem was Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats.

When I got home from school, I expressed my frustration to Mother. She went to the bookshelf and got a book called Out of the Best Books. She sat down and she invited me to join her. We read the poem together and she helped me form an image in my mind of what the Urn must have looked like. Even more important for me, she helped me to understand what the poet might have been trying to convey with the poem. She helped me see the two lovers on the side of the urn and the story of their unrequited love. Though their arms were extended to each other, they would never touch, never kiss, never be together.

After reading this poem, I read others like The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, and The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clark Moore. I read the poetry of Edgar Allen Poe, Shel Silverstein, William Shakespeare, Carolyn Pierce and other famous poets. I learned to enjoy the rhyme and rhythm. I enjoyed the meter and imagery. I enjoyed the challenge of trying to see what the poets must have seen or felt when they wrote the poems.

Since then, as I taught for a few years, I learned about haiku, limericks, couplets, and on and on.

I enjoy poetry for a lot of reasons. I believe the things I love the most about poetry are ambiguity and layered meanings. What one person gets out of a poem may not be what another gets. What I get from a poem today may not be what I get the next time I read it. I get a real kick out of cowboy poetry. It's humorous and has a definite beat to it. Reading poetry of someone you know can be a window into their soul, and writing poetry is an outlet for feelings that are hard to share any other way. I carry a copy of Bonnie's poem, In Tune with the Master in my wallet. I find it inspiring. Poetry will always be a part of my life.

Bloggin'

The kids are gone, from our empty house
So here I sit with laptop and mouse
Reading entries from many blogs
Trying to replace missing hugs
By writing thoughts about the past.

I've written about kids at school,
I've remembered recipes that made me drool.
I've shared pictues of yard and friends
I've written poetry that never ends.
I've tried to get my word in last.

Tonight, the screen is rather sparce.
I cannot share another farce
In hopes that someone will jot a line
To acknowledge some feeling of mine.
It's time to go and get some rest.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll find the way
To say the things I long to say.
Maybe time will help me see
Something I can share with thee
So in my heart you'll be a guest
As hearing from you I love best.

The silence is deafening

The week went too quickly for us. We enjoyed the visits this week from Andi and Ashleigh and from Brenda's family. We talked and laughed and enjoyed each other's company. But all things eventually come to an end.

Andi was only here for a couple of hours last weekend. Her visit ended all too soon. She had to go home because Matthew, Luke, her animals were all at home alone.

Grandpa Wagner was here this morning to give the Bonnichsens a good send off as they head back to South Dakota. Through a veil of tears, we said our goodbyes to Brenda, Chloe and Aubrey. We waived as their well packed van turned the corner and out of sight.

I've been wearing a headset all week to shut out the sound of people coming and going. I discovered a new web site http://www.pandora.com/. It's an internet radio station where you can create your own collections of music you like. I've been listening to all of my favorite music: Country and Western, Broadway Musicals, Rock and Roll, and rock artists from the 60's and 70's. It helped me stay focused on my work. Today after everyone left, I removed the headset and turned the music off. It was so quiet that it is rather unsettling.

Brewster romped and played with the kids while they were here. This afternoon, he enjoyed a long quiet nap. We love our kids and really enjoy them when they visit.

Bread and Milk

When in my youth I liked one of the simple things in life -- bread and milk. We lived in a rural area where some of the people in our immediate vicinity kept milk cows. The Haslett family had some dairy cows. The Sowards family also had milk cows. Grandpa Dunn had milk cows too.

We would receive milk that we purchased or milk where traded labor instead of money. Kent and Donnie were the ones that did the work the most when we bartered labor for milk. I do remember distinctly having warm milk just after it had come from the cow. A pail of milk would be extracted from the cow and we could keep a portion of the milk. The milk would be strained through a linen cloth. If cream was desired then we would depend on gravity separation of the milk. The milk would be placed in the refrigerator and then the cream would be skimmed from the top.



Baked bread is something that is not done in our home much. When I was younger I remember having fresh home baked bread. My favorite type of bread was a fairly heavy bread. Warm bread with butter and jelly was delicious.



I have had many glasses of milk and bread topped with a bit of sugar. The ritual was to take slices of bread (fresh bread was the best), and break them into bite size morsels. The bread was placed piece by piece into a tall tumbler. On top of the broken bread was placed a spoonful of sugar. The last ingredient was the milk, which was poured into the tumbler until the milk was just at the brim. A long handle spoon was used to extract the savory morsels of sweetened bread. I have not had this for decades, but I still cherish the thought of when we had a ready supply of milk from the cows and fresh baked bread. Now I settle for milk from a plastic jug and cookies that are prepared in a factory in some far away city.