Affirmation to the Grandchildren. It is perhaps odd that I feel a certain rapport with the eulogy Earl Spencer delivered for his sister. Unlike Diana, my mother died a peaceful and private death. Yet both my mother and Diana possessed a regalness that reached out and inspired the lives of many. And, as Mom grew…… Continue reading Affirmation
Author: CED, Copy Editor
Charles Dial had a 56-year career in developing software. This involved IT application design and maintenance, software engineering, bank operations, and article-composing software for The Business Torts Reporter. In the US Air Force, he was an ICBM launch officer, administrative officer, and finance officer.
Rainbows
Written April 14, 1987. The following is the text from Lacy’s Grandmother Dial’s Easter letter to Lacy. Lacy’s bedroom had just been papered in the rainbow pattern that Lacy and her mother had purchased earlier. Dear Lacy Anne, Enclosed is a check for your father to pay for your “Easter Basket” of rainbows – your…… Continue reading Rainbows
MWD Obituary
Mary W. Dial (nee Wertenberger) Beloved wife of the late Robert J. Dial M.D., loving mother of Robert J., Jr. (Donna), Dorothy Schwartz (Abba), and Charles, dear grandmother of eight and great-grandmother of 10, sister of the late Carl Wertenberger. Passed away Sept. 1, 2000. Memorial contributions may be forwarded to Judson Park Retirement Community,…… Continue reading MWD Obituary
Santiago
Events circa 1901-1906. Written 1985-1995. It was the 22nd of September, the first day of Spring of the first year of the twentieth century when I was born under the Southern Cross. This happened south of the equator in Santiago, Chile, where the seasons are reversed. My Methodist missionary parents had been sent to my first…… Continue reading Santiago
My Grandma
Events circa 1906-1916. Written June 1995. Mary Fuhrman Himmelright was born around 18381 on a farm in Ashland County, Ohio, near the village of Redhaw. The county seat, Ashland, was eight miles away. Mary’s grandparents homesteaded the farm but were killed in the wilderness on their way to Pittsburgh to buy supplies. Her story of their…… Continue reading My Grandma
My Hometown
Events circa 1914-1926. Written January 1995. One morning in late August of 1914, I woke up in a new place, a new house, a new town, and a new state. Here I was, destined to spend most of the next two decades of my life. As I walked outside and looked around, I was delighted. So…… Continue reading My Hometown
McCoy Franklin
Events circa 1898-1980. Written November 1994. Meet McCoy Franklin, a Berea College senior, class of 1926, from Crossnore, NC. He was a tall, gangly, six-footer of the Lincoln type, handsome in a rugged way. A serious student, capable all-around athlete, orator, and casually outgoing with a tremendous sense of humor. He was always ready to tell…… Continue reading McCoy Franklin
Blue Roads
Events between 1818 and 1994. Written September 1994. Monday, July 18, 1994, was a most memorable day! My daughter and her husband took my fourteen-year-old granddaughter, Lacy, and me on a trip where I would revisit times gone by. Lacy would learn about some of her Ohio ancestors. We first visited Redhaw, Ohio, a small settlement…… Continue reading Blue Roads
The Porch
Events circa 1905-1914. Written June 1994. During the late 1800s, architects in this part of the country designed front porches for homes that were ostentatious luxuries. The porches they built had ornately turned spindles in the banisters and fancily shaped pillars supporting the roof. There was always a narrow panel of gingerbread lacework in the…… Continue reading The Porch
Mississippi
Events circa 1905-1913. Written May 1993 – January 1994. During the 1907-1911 period, the Methodist Home Mission Society employed my father and mother as “Home Missionaries” in the backwoods of Mississippi. Those woods were predominantly primeval pines — huge, tall trees with most of the growth up high. The forest floor was a thick carpet of…… Continue reading Mississippi
The Garden
Events circa 1937-1972. Written April 1994. In 1937, the Robert Dials moved, with Robert and Dolly, their two children, from the City of Cleveland to the Village of Fairview. Fairview lay just beyond Rocky River’s Lorain Avenue Bridge, offering an escape from the city to the country. It was quite a change for all of us.…… Continue reading The Garden
Springcrest Farm
Events circa 1905-1979. Written February 1994. Springcrest Farm had been in the Sechrist family for generations, having John Quincy Adams’ signature on its deed. Its big, white 14-room farmhouse dominated the quadrangle of small buildings surrounding it, expanding from a pioneer colonial to meet the needs of later generations by adding an apartment on either side.…… Continue reading Springcrest Farm
The Wedding
Event in 1935. Written April 1993. The excitement was at fever pitch in the Dial clan the day after we came home from our river trip. It was David’s wedding day! David was the family’s baby, a very special gentleman, and much loved by all. He was unspoiled, mild-mannered, gentle, and generous to a fault with…… Continue reading The Wedding
Emory Dial Family Early History
Events circa 1890-1940. Written January 1993. In the early 1890’s Clara Partridge, age 18, left her comfortable home and family in South Bend, Indiana, to travel to far away Ohio to teach school. Her three sisters, Eloise, Charlotte, Frances, and brother Will hated to have her leave home. Clara’s father, whose medical training is somewhat of…… Continue reading Emory Dial Family Early History
Grandma’s Family Christmas Party
Event in December 1991. Written January 19921. Christmas begins for me in July here at Judson. For seven years, I’ve gone to Debbie Malakar’s office and reserved the Rendezvous Room for the last Saturday evening before Christmas. In the first year, I provided dinner by the establishment for all, only to be told afterward that they…… Continue reading Grandma’s Family Christmas Party
Charley’s Pets
1 Events circa 1943-1963. Written January 1992. Two-year-old Charley and Skippy the dog sat in a corner of the kitchen swapping biscuits. Charles was eating the dog bone and Skippy the aseptic Arrowroot biscuit meant for the sterile diet of a baby. At that moment, I gave up sterilizing the bottles and utensils Charley used. Skippy,…… Continue reading Charley’s Pets
World War I
Events circa 1917-1919. Unfinished draft written [date unknown]. The events that happened during the last two years of World War I affected my family ???, so they were burned in my memory. We were living in Berea, Ky., dominated by Berea College. All four of us were engaged in some college-managed activity — my father was…… Continue reading World War I
The River Trip
Event in 1935. Written September 1989. It was the Mark Twain Centennial Year when Robert and I took a memorable vacation. We started out in our fancy new blue Buick, armed with “Tom Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Finn,” which Robert read aloud as I drove toward the Mississippi River and Mark Twain country. We went through Nauvoo,…… Continue reading The River Trip
My Trip To My Class Reunion – Ex ’23
Event circa 19331. Written September 1989. There was a brilliant full moon when I set off for my alma mater, Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. I had acquired Robert’s agreement that I deserved a brief vacation. My obligations as a wife, mother, and homemaker caused much toil preceding this departure. Bob, aged four and one half,…… Continue reading My Trip To My Class Reunion – Ex ’23
When A Distinguished Visitor Was Unwelcome!
Event circa 1931. Written September 1989. Dr. Emory Dial’s Lorain Ave. Clinic’s second floor housed the clinic surgery, recovery room, X-ray, and doctors’ offices around one huge waiting room. It also held his own spacious two-bedroom apartment. The first floor was mostly commercial, with one optometrist occupying the space by the main Lorain Avenue entrance. The…… Continue reading When A Distinguished Visitor Was Unwelcome!
The Dial Family Apartment
Event circa 1921. Written ????. It wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. My Prince Charming had invited me to see his home — meet his family. I had met his mother and father previously. They seemed friendly and warm. I approved of them. It was their home that surprised me and even shocked me.…… Continue reading The Dial Family Apartment
The Passport
September 1965 trip to Wayne and Ashland counties (Ohio) to locate birth and citizenship documents.
The Trip To New Haven (1922, 1957)
1957 text and audio recounting of the 1922 disaster-laden family trip from Ohio to the Yale University commencement.