Rosalie and Jesse Yawn receiving their wedding certificate

In August we went on vacation, first to the mountains in North Carolina for a few days then continued on to Michigan to see Mom’s relatives there. We stayed with Mom’s aunt and uncle, Bob and Ellie Schwander at their farmhouse.  Bob, having the same birthday as mom, was only three years older and thus was more like a brother to Mom than an uncle.  Bob and Ellie had two children at the time, Jack and Sally who were about the same age as David and Beth.  We had fun on the farm, playing in their big old barn, climbing up into the hayloft and going on a hayride on a wagon pulled by the uncle Bob’s tractor.

Larry and David in Holland Michigan

While in Michigan we spent on day at Holland Michigan seeing the sights and another day we went to Lake Michigan.  I was amazed at the size of the lake.  I had never seen a lake I couldn’t see across to the other side, it looked more like the ocean but with fresh water.  We walked on the sand dunes by the shore where I found a smooth oval shaped rock a little larger than a piece of bread.  I liked the rock so much I brought it with me back to Florida.  The rock for many years rested in the many aquariums that I had.

Another day we went to a Schwander family reunion in the city of Wayland Park. Mom’s Grandma Schwander was their with her new husband Albert Smith.  Mom said,  “She could never remember to call her Grandma Smith, so she still was Grandma Schwander to me.”

For the trip Mom kept a log of every expense in a small notebook.  She recorded milage, gas, food, lodging and so on.  Over the following years she would make such travel logs and journals for most all the trips that her and Dad would go on.  For this trip, Mom recorded that they drove 2,714.6 miles, spent $62.82 for gas (43¢ a mile), $46.35 for three nights in hotels and $47.25 for food of which $30 was for eating out including $1.60 in tips. Not bad to feed our family of six for two a week trip. I’m don’t remember where we ate but the most expensive meal for the family was $5.05 with Dad leaving a whole quarter tip.  Of course, we ate many meals with the relatives that we stayed with, something expected of family and which Mom had done many a time for visiting family.  

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In August Mom got a promotion and job change to the Personnel Division at the University of Florida in Tigert Hall. Mom wrote in her memoirs,  “Mr. Chuck Cowles was my supervisor. Here I met Janice Hawley, Jessie Cooper, and Louise McMillan who became my good friends. Betty had started work in the Registrar's Office two years before I started work and she was working at Tigert Hall too, so we got together a lot for lunch. In 1966 the Personnel Division moved to The Hub and Mr. Luther Bunn became my boss. I was supervising about seven girls by this time.” 

The Cannady’s who lived next door moved away so Mom’s friend Mary Mixson took care of Beth for a while until she went to Kindergarten

Updated: 05-29-2023

Skateboard Hill