Herman Henry & Amelia Louise Seifert Marker Kerber

Memories

February 1992   Linda Dian Roberts Traylor -granddaughter
     You know Grandpa was quite a tease.  He'd go to College Hill Station (in Topeka, KS) for the afternoon after he retired from the farm (in Horton, KS).  He'd spend time there talking to the men .  At Supper one time Grandma asked, "Pop!  Where have you been all day?"  to which he replied, "I've been over there with my little red-head" and be winking at me (Linda) when he was saying it. 
     Grandpa wore grey work pants with suspenders and grey work shirts that Grandma kept starched and ironed.  She told me once that was his favorite color of slacks. 
     He was very tolerant of me.  He never yelled at me as I remember.  From time to time, most every evening, he sat in his recliner that had a vibrator, with his pipe-stand sitting on the left and the big, bay window on his right.  Grandma's plants sat all along the sill.  Venetian blinds were big back then (in the 50s) and it was a ritual to close them all at night and open them each morning.  Fresh air and sunlight were a part of Grandma and Grandpa's house (on Mulvane - the house on the HOME page). 
     Anyway, his chair was way back in the (large) living room that, at one time, was the library for one of the fraternities of Washburn University (located one city block away) I was told by Mr. Pottit (the prior owner) who gave me a stuffed squirrel that I loved.  He came to visit once after he sold Grandpa the house. 
     I liked to sit about a yard away from the TV.  So I was in his way (field of vision) but over and over again he'd say in a voice I could easily hear, "DOWN IN FRONT!  DOWN IN FRONT!"  "Move or Get OVER!" was something I could understand, but "DOWN IN FRONT!" was what he would like to say even if I didn't know what he was talking about. 
     During the day, when he sat in his chair he would clean his pipe and have a smoke. a lot like Santa as I recall.  I have that sort of memory of our Grandpa.  I miss getting to lean over and kiss his balding head when he was sitting down.  I remember he loved to sit on the (spacious two-sided) front porch and putter around in his garage on Mulvane (Topeka, KS).  In St. Joseph (after he and Grandma moved back to Missouri) I know he liked the basement; but on Mulvane I don't remember him spending much time in the basement.  
     Grandma washed (did laundry) down there with her clothes lines and ringer washer until they got their electric washer and dryer upstairs on the back porch.  They converted the screened-in porch into a room for the chest freezer and that big portable closet Uncle Herman built of pine that was stained and varnished. 
      There was a little area heater with a gas flame that Grandma occasionally let me cook on like a stove.  One time she sat down at my little wooden play table and chairs to a pretend meal with me.  Grandma was real patient with me too.  Only one time did she lose her patience,   I ran home after school to tattle-tale on a boy that had been picking on me several days.  All the days before she had talked through it with me; but that day, she said, "YOU take care of it!" and shut the door.  It hurt my feelings but it was what I needed to go back and have it out with him.  We were about in the third grade. 
      In kindergarten she used to walk me to school.  Big shot that I was, I complained.  I was independent.  She stopped.  Mom told me that Grandma thought it was because she was humped-backed and that I was ashamed of her.  I guess she was self-conscious.  I tried to explain that wasn't the reason.  Grandma was a "home-body" by nature anyway; never complained about having to stay home.  I guess that's why I'm like that too; just got used to it. 
     Before Grandpa retired and because of his age, lost his drivers license, he would drive us to (the farm in) Horton in the Summer.  She fixed me a vanity table with a curtain around it which sat upstairs (at the farmhouse) in the bedroom.  Their bedroom was downstairs by the kitchen that had a inside both room near.   The out-house was out by the dam and trailer (the farm had a huge farm pond that was damned with a travel trailer parked for family outings)  One time Grandma and Grandpa walked back down the road to it with me and we spent the night.  It was really special to get to do that.  She made Supper in the screened in area that Uncle Herman and Uncle Dee had built onto the little rounded, two-room travel trailer.  It was such a neat little trailer.  I just loved it. 
     Most of the time, Grandma just said, "Go play!"  I remember a few times her reading me a book in her rocker, her serving me lunch on a TV tray in the living room so I could watch SOUPY SALES or HIGH NOON CARTOONS.  She talked to me about telling time in the 3rd grade when the teacher scolded me for not knowing how at my age. 
     Grandma was always neat.  Her drawers and closets were always orderly, her beds always made and dishes done up.  She didn't do extra projects that were messy.  She crocheted and did cross-stitching, darned socks and sewed hand-made quilts while sitting in her rocking chair (in the living room) always dressed in a belted dress, hose and black lace-up heeled shoes.  She did like to go to the local beauty shop to have a silver rinse and perm for her hair, however, Mom always set her hair in pin-curls as long as I can remember (and she would sit under the home portable dryer or wear a scarf around them while her hair air-dried)
     All the remodeling was done by her four kids.  Grandma never re-arranged furniture or knick-knacks around.  She and Grandpa took an after-noon nap because they got up early to make and eat a big breakfast and another big meal at Dinnertime. AT night we ate a light meal or sandwich then watched TV downstairs with Grandma and Grandpa.   Grandma had the TV on a lot to hear the soap-operas.  When they (the women: Mother, Aunt Betty and Grandma) were together in the evening they would be fussy and gossiping with lots of laughing. 
     Grandma didn't socialize with people in the community.  Her family was her focus, but she did love to have people visit her.  I never remember her going to church, the grocery store or shopping.  She would make up a list and others would do the shopping.  She would listen to Billy Graham once in a while; but never talked about Jesus or God.  Mom taught me the LORD'S PRAYER but we never said grace at meals.  When I was little, they liked holidays and made them special but complained about prices (just like we do today) so it took the luster off.  
      There was a milkman that came down our alley (behind the house on Mulvane in Topeka, KS) with a horse-drawn wagon.  I always wanted the Eskimo Pie ice-cream bars.  Once in a while, Grandma would give in.   There was also a bread deliveryman and our family always liked sweet-rolls for Breakfast.  Of course the ice-cream man came in the Summer with his full list of treats.  The dinging bell sent every kid running for home to get some money.  Grandma said no a lot, but once in a while she'd say, "Oh go get in my top drawer and get what you need for something small."   Also, in the Summertime after playing outside all day and she wanted me to come in, she would say in a loud, shrill tone, L  I  N  D  A going up with her voice and then L  I  N  D  A going down with her voice.
     The little neighborhood grocery store was in College Hill (about three blocks away) where Grandma would send me for bread if we were out.  She didn't ask me to do much except to "go play" and to "wear a scarf"  Mom and Grandma were worried about my health.  "Eat everything on your plate.  Take your vitamins.  Button your coat.  Take your bath"  (things we tell our kids)  We didn't talk.  Little ones (back then) were meant to be seen and not heard.  So I liked to go off by myself where they left me alone. 
      Among other things that I remember about Grandpa is that his favorite sport was on Saturday nights - he loved wrestling and Wagon Train, Gun Smoke and Rawhide(the Western series) on TV.  
    
     Back then (in the 50s and 60s) our family was not the normal family.  I felt odd living in a house with Grandma and Grandpa while other kids went to visit theirs on weekends.  I loved them, but didn't appreciate them and took them for granted.  I lived in a nice house with people who sincerely cared about me and provided  the best they could offer in their circumstances  (just as we do with our families)  I love and miss them.