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Category: Dial-Family
Essays referencing events in the Dial Family. (1890-2000)
Affirmation
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
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
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 Storm
Event on July 4, 1969. Written April 1994 at Judson for The Scribblers. Clevelanders will always remember July 4, 1969. The day dawned hot, sultry, and foreboding. The air was so still it made the heat unbearable. Patriotic programs, parades, and fireworks were scheduled for every municipal park in the Greater Cleveland area, and the greatest… Continue reading The Storm
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
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
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 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.