40 years ago

Me in 1968. I was always encouraged to play with electrical sockets as a child!

Jan 24 Willard Rogers

Jan 24, 1869 was the birthday of Willard M. Rogers, son of Milton and Margaret Rogers. He died in 1934.

Earl Rogers 1918-2008

Earl Harold Rogers
Born in Marengo, IA on Dec. 9, 1918Departed on Jan. 6, 2008 and resided in Denver, IA.

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Visitation:
Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008
Service:
Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008
Cemetery:
St. Paul U.C.C. Cemetery
Earl H. Rogers

Earl Harold Rogers, 89, of Denver, Iowa passed away on Sunday, January 6, 2008 at Allen Memorial Hospital in Waterloo, Iowa.Earl was born on December 9, 1918, the son of Fines and Corda (Sparr) Rogers in Marengo, Iowa. He attended school in the Reinbeck area. He served with the U.S. Army from 1942 until his discharge in 1945 as a medical tech. On October 12, 1940, he was united in marriage to Arvella Wrage at the Little Brown Church in Nashua, Iowa. Earl farmed and then was employed at Chamberlain Mfg., retiring in 1981.He was a member of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Denver. He enjoyed woodworking, fishing and reading. Survivors are his wife, Arvella of Denver, Iowa; two sons, David (Sandi) Rogers of LaPorte City, Iowa and Dale (Peggy) Rogers of Janesville, Iowa; 4 grandchildren; 11 great grandchildren; and 5 great-great grandchidren; and by a sister, Dorothy Jones of Cedar Falls, Iowa. He was preceded in death by his parents; 2 sisters, Faye Smith and Elva Shelton and by 2 brothers, Glen and Everett Rogers.Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 at 10:30 am at St. Paul United Church of Christ in Denver with Pastor Vicki Kessler officiating. Burial will follow in the St. Paul United Church of Christ Cemetery rural Denver, Iowa with military rites conducted by the Acker Matthias American Legion, Post 653 of Denver. Friends may call from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm at the Kaiser-Corson Funeral Home in Denver, Iowa and one hour prior to services on Wednesday at the church. Memorials may be left to Denver Sunset Home and online condolences may be left at www.kaisercorson.com

Another Birthday

Well, another year older and not a bit smarter - haha!

Jan 13 Happy Birthday Wayne

Wayne and Terese Shelton, shown here in (I think) 1969. Happy birthday Wayne!

Jan 12 - Clara Mathes

Jan 12, 1900 was the birthday of Willard and Mattie Rogers' oldest girl - Clara. She is seen here holding her daughter Hazel.

Paul Shelton Jan 1917

Jan 6 is also the birthdate of Grandpa'sbrother Paul Shelton, burn in 1917.

Jan 6 - Shari

Happy birthday to my sister Shari!

Gerald Block

On the way up to see Raymond and Janet I stopped off at Camp Butler National Cemetery and saw the grave of Gerald Block, my Grandma Smith's brother who was taken POW in Korea and died there in May, 1951. I left a Christmas wreath there . Gerald was born in 1925 nnd was only 25 when he died for his country.

HAPPY 50th ANNIVERSARY

I paid a surprised visit to Uncle Raymond and Aunt Janes Shelton this Sunday afternoon for their fiftierth Wedding anniversary open house. I always enjoy getting a visit with them and they had a nice turn out for their special day. I am looking forward to seeing them again very soon on as they travel to their place in Florida in January.

Janet and Raymond with grandson Adam.
Opening their cards!

Happy Birthday Keegan

Happy birthday to my nephew Keegan - He is eight years old today. This picture was taken at New Harmony Indiana last summer. I recently found out that Keegan is wild about BBQ ribs!

Charlie Rogers - Dec 24

My Uncle Charlie Rogers was born on Dec 28, 1895. Here is a picture of him that Aunt Pearl gave to me when he worked at the Veteran;s Hospital in Denver.

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

Happy birthdeay to my cousin Jennifer! She lives in Florida now. This picture was taken on Christmas Eve 1972

Dec 26, - Leone (Rogers) Shelton

Happy birthday to my Grandma Shelton! She is 93 today. In the first pictrue she is standing next to here sister Emma Jane, who is holding their niece Hazel. This next picture was taken just last month and Grandma is standing with my motther, Elaine.

Dad and Grandma

This picture was taken of Dad and Grandma on Christmas Afternoon. Linda prepared a great dinner -(I got to have two that day!).

Bunnell House 2007

Here are three pictures taken of Harve and May Bunnell's house on December 25, 2007. The first two are taken at ta great distance from the Blue Point crossroads. Many trees have been cleared between the crossroads and the house this year and the house can now be seen from the crossroads. The second picture was taken with a telephoto setting.
This last picture gives you a view from the Blue Mound Road up the lane to the house.

Forty years ago today

I can remember this little truck I got for my first Christmas - Dec 25, 1967. It came with tools and you could take it apart.

Christmas Morning

HEre are the Christmas flowers that I put on Granddad's grave this year - thought the other grandkids would want to see them. I took this picture Christmas morning on the way over to Bob and Doris' for Christmas dinner.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of you who faithfully check in on this site - I really appreaciate all the input I get. This is a picture of this years Christmas tree at my place in St. Louis.

Dec 24 - Walter Rogers

Walter Rogers was the eigth child of Willard and Mattie Rogers He was born Dec 24, 1903 and died in 1942.

Christmas Eve 2007

Christmas Eve was always very special as the Shelton clan got together at Grandma's house. This year the gathering was much smnaller - Billl & Janis and myself joined Grandma for snacks and a great visit.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eves from previous years:

19671968
1969 1970

1971
1972

1975 1977
1978
1979
1982

Lincoln

Abe Lincoln was a VERY distant relative on my mother's sitde of the family (I won't go into that now) but, but just wanted to share this image with you. This photo has been colorized by a computer and that has always fascinated me. It is amazing what we can now do on a computer. I have tried my hand at this a few times and published the results here. This photot was taken Apr 10, 1865, just four days before Lincoln was shot.
I was always faxinated with photos of Lincon as a child. In high school , I discovered a book of every known photo of Lincoln . I never owned a copy of the book but kept it checked out f the library for years - studying the man's photographic history. Everytime I make a trip to Springfield it is always an incredible event to walk the same streets as Lincoln - one of the greatest men who ever lived.

Happt Birthday Lisa!

Happy birthday to my cousin Lisa - This is an older school pictre - not sure of the year,but she is a lovely young woman and mother now. Hope you had a great birthday kiddo!

Edna (Rogers) Walker

Dec 12 wsa the birthday of Edna Irene (Rogers) Walker (1901 - 2001), seventh child of Willard and Mattie Rogers. She is shown here c. 1920.

Me 'n' Molly Brown

Several years ago, I would guess about 1995, I was invited to the Molly Brown house in Denver,Colorado for an intimate dinner, You will remember the name from Meredith Wilson musical "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" and from her notoriety in the famed Titanic disaster in 1912, - I guess there were about twelve of us invited. Below is a photo of a punch bowl from the collection of Molly Brown. I was approached at the Ship's Tavern at the famed Brown Palace (my favorite Friday night hangout) by the curator of the Molly Brown house to offer a personal testimony of what music meant to time and how music had influenced me. I had just sang a song to the audience at the Brown and was singled by the host probably because my age the age of the song were so very incongruent. I, of course, accepted.
We were served not in the main house, but in the upper level of the carriage house (shown below) I wish I had taken notes - there were various performers of local prominence seated at the table. I remember that my good friend Mary was there (she still lives in Denver), We were served a wonderful meal and between courses we were asked to stand and tell a bit about what music had meant to us . When it came to be my turn I stood and told bout my interest in the ancient recordings made by Thomas Edison -those preserving the voices of George Gaskin, Len Spencer, Ada Jones, Billy Murray and Arthur Collins - all of whom (and their contemporaries) their records I collected. I told of what a recoding session was like in 1910, in the days of Molly (actually she went by Maggie) Brown. I spoke of how to properly sing into the recording horn, how to market a recording as a music promoter, I told of the best (and worst ) recording machines - the ones I owned and the ones I would like to have. It was a great dinner and one I will never forget. Below is a photo of Molly serving a dinner at the same home

Sometime in my life, I would like to host a similar dinner -hopefully I will - but, I will always remember this particular dinner at the Brown home on Pennsylvania Avenue in Denver.