Mom's orginal
Rembering Journal which ended in December of 1993 she gave each of
us kids a copy. After Dad died in 2020 I was going though
containes which Mom had stored papers and came across her orginal
hand written version of her Rembering story. In addition I
found the typed up copy of her journal for the year 1996 below.
See her her orginal version
here.
Larry Mixson
1996 This begins a new year. We missed the S.S. New Year's Eve party at Libby and Ernie's house last night. The Gators played in the Fiesta Bowl and Nebraska beat us 62-24. We watched it on TV with Betty and Billy.
I now go to visit Mom at the Nursing Home to feed her 3 to 4 times a week and we try to bring her to our house some of the times. It's so hard to get her in and out of the car and house with her being to stiff and the wheel chair is so big, we can hardly fit it through the family room and through the inside doors, and she's never happy. She hardly eats anything. Nothing tastes good to her.
Jan. 7-8-9, a really big freeze and snow storm and blizzard hit in and around Washington D.C. And all of the east coast. Broke all winter records. The government offices had to close down. Jan. 9th it was 22 degrees here in Gainesville. Jan. 12 we delivered Meals on Wheels. Jan. 15 Dixie fixed a really nice birthday dinner for Morris and me at her house. Jan. 16, Betty, Billy, Morris and I went out for my 64th birthday. I can't believe I'm 64! Life is going too fast to suit me! Jan. 19-Feb.7 Betty and Billy flew to Brazil to visit Janice, Victor, Carrie and Tory.
Jan. 22-31. Our SS class had a covered dish supper at O.D. And Rosalie Thomas's house in Archer, FL. Mom had a small stroke again. She went to the hospital and is very bad off. Don't know if she'll make it or not. She won't eat or talk: Just seems to be asleep, like in a coma. We are taking turns being up there with her all day and night. She finally went back to the nursing home as they can't do anything else for her in the hospital. We finally get her to eat some and she seems to be getting better.
Feb. 5. Dan Mixson moved back to Gainesville from Melbourne. Judy and Vanessa will come up after Vanessa finishes the school year. Daniel is in college at Mississippi State. Feb. 6 Our senior citizens group had a covered dish luncheon at the church. Always excellent food. Feb. 9. Ft. Tatham's winter reunion was held in Lake City. This is our first reunion with the group. We met Friday night for supper at Quincy's in Lake City and Sat. at the Club house nearby. We met a lot of really nice people and they were very nice to us, and seemed to be glad that we bought a place. The rest of February, I'm still going up to feed Mom three times a week. Feb. 20, Fran and Jim Terhune moved into a new house and had an open house tea party for all of the senior citizens from church. Very nice house.
Feb. 24, We had a big garage sale and got rid of a lot of stuff we didn't need. We made over $600! Feb. 24, we visited Zella Mae and Monroe over at their river home on the Suzanne River. Feb. 28 I took Coral and Katie shopping for some new spring clothes. It's fun to go shopping with my granddaughters.
March 1st. Katie spent the night with us so she could go to her best friends (Maggie) birthday party on Sat. March 3, Betty and Billy's 46th wedding anniversary so a group of us went from church to the Pasta Market in the Oaks Mall. March 5 Sue and Jim came up from Melbourne and we met them ay the Steak and Ale for supper. Always good to see them. March 7, I got new glasses.
March 8, we met OD and Rosalie at Sonny's Restaurant and then they came over to our house to talk about our trip to Alaska. They just bought a motor home and plan to go to Alaska. March 13. We had Dixie, David, Sue, Jim, Dan, and Daniel over to our house for their birthday supper. Sue helped me. March 17, Albert Byrd (we have known him since he was a very little boy) is in seminary at Ft. Worth, Texas, preached at our church tonight. He's going to make a very good pastor and preacher. March 18. Our SS class had pot luck supper here at our house.
March is a big month for a lot of birthdays in our family, March 11, Connie's; 15th Kristin's; 20th Andrew's; 21st Beth; 22nd Laurel's; 26th David's and Sally's; 28th Krystal and Jefferson's; 30th Dixie's.
March 29, We sold our Motor Home for $13,000 and paid off the place up at Ft. Tatham.
April 1, We left Gainesville and arrived in Sylva, N.C. At Ft. Tatham at 3:10 PM Sunny and cold here. Our tulips (red and white) are all out and are beautiful. Not too many people are here yet, it's too cold for a lot of them. On MWF at 10 AM I've been elected to lead the women in an exercise program. About 8-to 10 meet to go through Richard Simmon's tape.
April 2, Betty and Billy arrived today. It's sunny and warm, got everything cleaned up and went to Wal-Mart to buy groceries and supplies. April 3-6 sunny and warm. April 8-9, Lots of snow on the mountains and on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We drove up to the Parkway to take pictures and made a snow man. April 10th, Very windy and still cold. April 11. All of the tulips are out now. Sunny and warm today: 70 degrees this afternoon. Seems so good after the cold. Ate lunch at the Jarret House in Dillsboro. Really good food and lots of it. April 12. Went to Ashville today to the Farmer's Market, then we stopped and saw Rosie Mixson Luke where she works. April 13, Cloudy and rainy today, only high 60 today. Donnie and Rosie stopped by on their way to Franklin to see his sister and mother who live there.
April 14, Sunny and warm. Went to Uncle Bill's Flea Market. April 15, Rainy, cloudy, cool all day. April 17, Sunny and real warm. April 18, Sue and Jim came by to visit. They had been to Mars Hill looking for a place to buy and now they are on their way to Murphy to look there. Had potluck supper tonight down at the rec. center. April 19, Cloudy, rainy and warm. April 20, Sun came out at 10 AM and it turned warm. April 21, Got up and left for Gainesville. Got home about 4PM and went straight to Gary and Dianne's house and got there in time for the wedding reception for Eric and Ronnie. They were married outdoors down by the fishpond, (Gary and Dianne were living in the log cabin house at this time)
April 26-27-28, The family reunion was held at Treasure Island Beach and hosted by Danah and Carole. There were 40 of us plus 5 visitors. We had beautiful weather and the motel (Bilmar Motel) was really nice. Danah works for them and she made all of the arrangements for a really fun week-end. April 30, We had a heavy rain here this morning.
May 1, Morris had a laser treatment on his eyes. May 2, Zack spent the night with us as his class is going to Disney World tomorrow. May 4, The Yawns, Hedicks, and St. Jacques came over for a cook-out.
May 5, We had our senior citizen luncheon after the morning services. May 9, our SS class all went out to eat at the Rebel House in Alachua. May 12, Mother's Day, Went and got mom after church and had her and Dixie the rest of the day. May17, Went to the Home Show at the O’Connell Center. We've been before and I enjoyed it.
May 17-18-19, Carole came up to help with mom. May 21, Senior's from church had our annual corn boil at Paynes Prairie State Park. Lots of corn, fried chicken, sliced red ripe tomatoes, and lots of homemade desserts. Which was all very good.
May 22, Left Gainesville 10 min. to 6am and arrived at Ft. Tatham at 10 to 3pm. It is 82° and sunny here. May 23, Beautiful days and cool nights. Went to Ashville today and bought a RCA Satellite Dish. Carolyn and Lamar stopped by. Big rain tonight. May 25 Carolyn and Lamar ate lunch with us. Went for a ride with them. Played some shuffleboard. Sunny and very nice today.
May 26, Had to go back to Ashville to pick up the Satellite Dish. ( they were out of them last week and they had to order more. Had a movie tonight at the Rec. Hall. Heavy rain and lots of thunder tonight. May 27, this is Memorial Day weekend. Sunny and warm. Had an outdoor covered dish and BarBQ at noon. Shuffleboard contest in the afternoon and ice-cream-Sundays at night. Rain late tonight.
May 28, Got the Dish working. How nice to get all of these channels! We have Direct TV ( $38?/mo. ) . Beautiful and sunny ( 76° ) today. May 29, Sue and Jim came by and we went out to eat lunch at LuLu' s in Sylva. May 30, party cloudy, some sun, high 70°. May 31, 48° at 8am this morning. Sunny and cool all day.
June 1: We are still at Ft. Tatham Campground. 42 degrees this morning. Went to Uncle Bill's Flea Market which is always fun. June 2, Bob and Ellie got here about 3:30 PM this afternoon. Beautiful day. Jun. 3-4, Morris and Bob took the window out of the bathroom and put in a back door and extended the porch all across the back. Beautiful weather. Bob and Ellie left Wed. June 5. 1 started the exercise class (used the tape of Richard Simmons) It was a lot of fun. We will meet everyday M-W-F for the rest of the season here.
June 6. Today is Katie's 8th birthday. June 9-12 Libby and Ernie arrived this afternoon. We took in the sights all around here. Had a late afternoon rain Mon. Tue. And Wed. June 13. We left to go to Gainesville.
June 17th Left Gainesville at 6 am and arrived back to Ft. Tatham about 4 pm. We brought back Zack, Coral, and Katie with us. Had a good trip back with them. They are good kids. June 18, Had bingo tonight like we do every Tuesday night. Zack won one game. Warm and really nice today. June 19, Took the kids to "Gold City" to sift through dirt to look for "gems". Had a big rain tonight. June 20, took the kids to Cherokee to shop and to Santa Land to ride the rides, ate lunch out and had our covered dish supper tonight (which is every Thursday of the month)
June 21, took the kids up on the Blue Ridge Parkway, stopped and hiked down the mountain to the Water Falls. I thought I wasn't going to make it back up. It was really tough going. June 21-23 Hot and no rain. June 24 Took the kids to Sliding Rock. They really enjoyed that, but was that water ever cold. Big rain and thunder and lighting tonight. June 25 Had a covered dish supper and Corn Boil tonight. Cool night. June 26, Beth and Mark arrived about 10:45 PM tonight. They brought their tent and set it up down by the creek. June 27th Beth and Mark took the kids to "Ghost Town in the Sky" at Maggie Valley. Very nice to be alone today. The next day they went to Cherokee for the day. June 29, We all went over to the Trout Farm to fish for our supper. Morris did them on the grill and they very good. June 23, Beth, Mark and the kids went tubing down the river at Dillsboro down to Uncle Bill's flea market where they got out.
July 1, They all went rock digging for the whole day. What a dirty mess they all were when they got home! Had a big fish fry and covered dish down at Ruth and Hoyt's cabin. July 2, Zack's 14th birthday. They left to go home about 8:55 am. I'm so tired! That was a long time to have them all here. But they all had a good time, so it was worth it. Katie loved playing in the pond and catching and taking care of her "polliwogs" which were turning into frogs by the time they left. Grandpa fixed her a contained and she took some of them home with her. Coral loved the swimming pool and playing with her girlfriends that she met up here. Zack liked to play in the creek.
July 4th, Big Holiday here. Just a beautiful day. Sunny and cool. At noon we had an outdoor cook-out of hamburgers and hot dogs, a shuffleboard tournament in the afternoon then watermelon that evening. The campground was full and we had about 100 plus to participate all day. Barbara and Bob Stephens our managers did a great job coordinating all of the activities today. July 5, Sunny and cool all day, just beautiful. Had ice cream Sundaes this evening. And the next night we had a good movie. July 7, we went to the First Baptist Church in Sylva then out to eat. Made home made ice cream this afternoon and shared it with Betty, Billy and our neighbors, Margaret and B.N.
July 8, We went to pick blue berries with Margaret and B.N. Harriet Johnson also went along. Got 2 gallons and made muffins, a pie, syrup and put some up in the freezer, it 's been cloudy and warm today. July 2-13 No rain. Finally a small rain on Sat. and big heavy down-pour on the 14th. July 1, rode over to Highlands to Wendall and Jean but they weren't home. July 14, Bob and Ellie stopped by and spent the night with us, on their way back to Zephyrhills.
July 15-27, Our friends, Joyce and Wyndall Skipper came by in their camper and camped here. Had a fish fry tonight. Next day, we took a ride in our car up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. At an overlook we all got out and I accidentally locked our keys and my purse in the car. Took 3 hours to get help from Waynesville to unlock it. One day we took them up to Mt. Pisgah for lunch at the lodge and restaurant there. This is one of my favorite places to eat in the whole USA. AUNT HAZEL DIED TODAY.
July 19th, The campground committee had the judging for the best looking yard today and to our surprise we won the Golden Shovel Award" for the best yard. Barb gave a really nice luncheon for all of the participants. We had our picture made for the Sylva newspaper. July 20, Joyce, Wyndall, Morris and I went to Pigeon Forge to go to the Dixie Stampee. It was really good and lots of fun. Rained a lot this week, the 20,21,24,25th.
July 19th The campground committee had the judging for the best looking yard today and to our surprise we won the Golden Shovel Award" for the best yard. Barb gave a really nice luncheon for all of the participants. We had our picture made for the Sylva newspaper. July 20, Joyce, Wyndall, Morris and I went to Pigeon Forge to go to the Dixie Stampede. It was really good and lots of fun. Rained a lot this week, the 20,21,24,25th.
Mom and Dad on the front porch of
their cabin
See my
story about the visit
July 22, We took Joyce and Wyndall out to eat lunch at the Sunset Restaurant in Franklin: one of our favorite places to eat. July 26, Left Ft. Tatham at 8:10 to go home to Gainesville. July 28, Sunday Got Mom from the Nursing Home to spend the afternoon and evening with us. She's not doing too good. July 30, Nadine Dixon gave me a perm. Had David for supper. Grandma Mixson had shortness of breath so she went to the hospital, but came home to our house on the next day. She was O.K. Went to visit Betty Wilson (who had a stroke at Ft. Tatham and came to Gainesville at the Upreach Pavilion for treatment.)
August 1st, Doug and Louise Turner was in town so they came by for a short visit/ 2nd. Left Gainesville at 7 AM, arrived Ft. Tatham at 4:15 PM. 4th. Sunday, We went to church and went we got back Brenda, Tom and Andrew. They brought their pop-up camper and set up camp just before it rained. Rained Mon and Tues afternoons. 9th. Janice, Victor, Carrie and Tory arrived to visit Betty and Billy. They are home on furlough from Brazil. 10th Betty and I fixed a big picnic lunch and we all drove over to Sliding Rock where we ate our picnic lunch and the kids went down the rockslide, water was very cold. Fun day. 11th: David and Zack arrived to spend a few days with us. 13th: All of our kids and Betty's kids went rafting down the Nanathala River. Zack fell out of his raft but was rescued. 24th: Brenda, Tom and Andrew left to go home. 15th: David and Zack went home. 16th: Morris and I went with Betty and Billy and their kids to Hiawassee for the Fall Festival. 17th:Went to see Wyndall and Jean in Highlands. Janice and Victor left. 21st: Went to Murphy to visit Sue and Jim spent the night with them and got back here at 5pm the next day. 23rd. Morris's birthday. We had his party last week when Brenda, Tom and Andrew and David and Zack were here. 24-25th: Went to a movie in Franklin and then went to the "Picking on the Square" in downtown Franklin. 29th: Larry, Julie and Anne arrived. They spent the night and the next day Julie and Anne went on to Knoxville, TN to visit her sister. They got back here Sunday afternoon and we took them out to eat at the "The Fisherman’s Catch" in Franklin. They left to go home Monday, Aug. 29th
Larry, Anne and Julie at Mom and Dad's
cabin
September 1-2. Labor Day Weekend. Lots of activities with a big cookout on Monday and a shuffleboard tournament in the afternoon. The first place winners: Morris and Hoy Savage (who were partners). We are still having Bible Study every Tues. morning. We've had some excellent teachers and preachers here. Every Tues. night we play Bingo and other nights about 10 of us play cards "31". 4th: Betty and Billy went home. 5th: Hurricane Fran hit Fl. We only received a lot of rain here from Sept. 2-9th: Then again all day rain on Sept. 16. put the heat on first time on Sept.13. 19 Left at 6:30am to go home. Arrived home 4:00pm
September 22nd, Velda Burke (Mark's mother) died. Glad we were here for the funeral. Went up to see Mom about every other day at the Nursing Home. She doesn't respond to much. 30th. Left to go back to N.C. Rained on us all day arrived at 5:00 pm.
October 1st. Betty and Billy got back. 2nd. Judy and Carl Satterthwaite arrived and stayed with Betty and Billy. 3rd. Today all six of us rode up on the Blue Ridge Parkway to eat lunch at Mt. Pisgah. About ½ to 2/3 of the leaves have turned up high on the mountain. Sunny, cool just beautiful. 4th Carl and Judy left. We couldn't talk them into staying any longer, but we wanted them to. 5th Barb and Bob cooled all of us who were left at the camp a turkey dressing etc. Thanksgiving dinner. It was really nice and was enjoyed by all. Very nice of them. 6th Very cold this morning. Went to church is Franklin and then out to eat. 7th Leaves have turned and are really beautiful. 9 Drove to Cherokee on the Parkway. Have had no rain since the first. Really just beautiful weather. 10th Low 42 this morning and high 58. Drove up on the Parkway to Brevard and Highlands to see the fall leaves. 11th. Sue called from Murphy and said that Aunt Iva Mae (Jim's mother) died. We got our flu shots today at the clinic in Sylva. Doug and Louise Turner arrived: they stayed with Betty and Billy. 12th We left here to go to Gainesville for Aunt Iva Mae's funeral. Got home at midnight. It was 34 with frost and very cold when we left N.C. 13th 2:00 pm funeral 14th Coral spent last night with us as her class went to St. Augustine and bus got in very late and we picked her up from school. 15th Left to go back to N.C. Arrived here at 5:50 pm. Cool and sunny No rain for over a week til Oct 22. 21-28 Chris and Henry Coburn visited us. They rented Annie Lee's cabin. We did a lot of riding around looking at colored leaves and for apples and tomatoes to take home. Had a good time with them. This is the time I bit into a piece of apple and a bee was on it and it got into my mouth and my tongue stated to swell up and I thought I was going to die. We headed out for the hospital but after putting ice on it the swelling immediately went down and I was OK. But we all got a good laugh out of it.
October 29th, Took everything in and winterized the cabin and left for this year. Arrived in Gainesville 7:30 pm We surely had a wonderful season here in our little cabin. This is truly God's country. Our place isn't worth much but we have everything we need. And it's small but not much work to keep it up. Also most of the people up here are Christians and they took us in like we were family. There's a group that play cards (called 31) every night. They are Betty, Billy, Morris, me, Lee & Julie, Tommy & Lorene, Buddy & Evangeline, Harriet, Miriam, Jack Webb. James Gatch, Marjorie Wells, B.N. & Margaret and Buster. Then there's a group of six ladies that play Dominos and a group of four that play Bridge. Most nights someone brings "goodies" and makes coffee. So you see how much fellowship we have every day and every night. We'll miss that when we go home and never speak to a neighbor and see our friends only at SS and church on Sundays.
October 25-27, David went to Michigan to visit his daughter, Laurel.
November 2, Betty Billy John Evelyn and Morris and me went to Jax to see the FL-GA football game. We won. We went in B & B's motor home as we sold ours last March. 4-8 We painted the LR, DR, hall and Family room. 10th Brenda's Birthday. She is 45 today. I don't want my children to get any older as I just can't believe and don't want to get any older! 11-12th Had new carpet put down in the LR, DR, Family room, Hall and 2 bedrooms. Oh, everything looks so good and clean. I really got rid of a lot of stuff since we had to move everything and take everything out of the closets. 19th Seniors from our church had a luncheon at the restaurant in Alachua.
November 25, Sue and Jim were up to Gainesville, we went out to eat and then played cards. 27th Cooked all day for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. 28th Thanksgiving Day. Dan and Judy had everyone over to their home for dinner. There were 33 of us there. It was really nice. Corky and Danny went and got Mom from the nursing home. Also Grandma Mixson was there. Later on in the day about 20 of us piled into cars and went out to see what Gary had done to restore Magnesia Springs which he bought early this year. 30th Gators played FSU and lost. This was the only game the Gators lost all year.
December 1, 1996. Our 46th Wedding anniversary. 5th Julie's birthday. 7th Gators played Alabama for the SEC championship in Atlanta. We won. Also went out to see Fred Feaster and see his cane grinding outfit that he makes homemade cane syrup. 9th I'm in charge of our SS Christmas party. Betty and I went to make arrangements to have it at the Holiday Inn West. 12 We had our party and it was a big success. Everyone said it the best ever. 14th Danny Wuerffel, the Gators quarterback won the Heisman Trophy award. He is a great kid and he deserved it. 15th Coral spent the night with us as her class went to the Kennedy Space Center on Monday and she had to be at her school at 6 AM to catch the bus. 16th Ernie St. Jacques had back surgery. 17th I went to the Physics Department Christmas Party. 22nd Larry’s birthday. He's 44 years old.
December 24th, Cork and Connie had the family over for refreshments. Gary and Dianne went and picked up Mom from the nursing home. She seemed to enjoy it better than at Thanksgiving, not as many people around to confuse her. Had new drapes put up in the LR today. 25th We had Christmas dinner at our house. David, Beth, Mark, Zack, Coral, Katie, Grandma Mixson, Morris and me. Was in the low 70's all week, really nice no rain. 28-29th Went to the Nursing home to feed Mom lunch and again supper. Gary hired a darling Christian girl from his church named Missy Batton to go up during the week to tend to Mom. I really like her and Mom seems to respond to her.
Dec. 31st. Went to our New Year Eve's Party at Libby and Ernie's house.
HAD A GREAT YEAR.