Category: Childhood

Essays referencing the childhood years in Chile, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Ohio. (1901-1920)

Santiago

1998 Christmas Photo of Mary W. Dial at Judson Retirement Center, Cleveland, OH

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

Himmelright House c. 2003 seen from across the road. It is located on SR 302 a few hundred feet west of where I-71 crosses SR 302. Its present (2003) owners are Amish. Almost all the identifying architectural features of this house have been destroyed by "improvements" such as vinyl siding. The front doorway had simple but stylish Early Republican features that recent "remuddlers", who fancied themselves to be remodelers, have destroyed. Photo credit: cedial.

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

Berea College Chapel Tower

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

The Porch

Wertenberger - Himmelright wedding, 1899. Himmelright family just before MWD’s mother and father were married. The women in the front row are Ada, Mellie, and their grandmother. The women in the back row are Dillie [the bride], her mother, and Alice. [Grandpa Fuhrman’s rocking chair, on the left side of the porch, is in my bedroom today (2023). CED ed.] Photo credit: Lloyd Sechrist, Sechrist family archives.

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

Dilla Himmelright Wertenberger c.1953.

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

Springcrest Farm

Judy, Gladys, and John Sechrist at Sechrist farm c. 1948. Judy and Gladys are holding two leghorn hens. The hens were not very happy. Photo by Charles E Dial. Farm life in 1948 required long hours of hard work. When the workday was over the Sechrists found time to be a cohesive and happy family.

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