Mountain Laurel & Coal

Today, we are honoring all of the mothers who created our family tree. These women come from all different walks of life and backgrounds, but it took each and every one of them to create the family we have today. Pictured in the top row are: Katherine May Doty, Ruth Brown Ross, Amy Pryor Ross, Margaret Bush Brown Brewer, and Julia Postic Marodi. In the second row are Mary Balsis Brown, Maria Krisfalussy Postic Paroda, Roberta Phillians Ross, Viola Doty Marodi, Annabelle Ferguson Shipley, and Olivia Horner Phillians. In the third row are Martha Jane Mobley Horner, Blanche Shipley Phillians, Susan Unks Garbart, Margaret Price Bush, Laura Garbart Ferguson, Sandra Fadness Kraus Ross, and Lelia Sanders Ross.  Of course, there are many more female ancestors to honor, but these are the ones that I have photos of.  We are thankful for the love, sacrifices, and the nurturing of all of these beautiful women. 

  This photo makes me happy and sad. It was taken at Christmas in 1964 around the kitchen table of my grandparents in Clarksville. Pictured from the left is my grandmother Blanche Phillians, my father Forrest Wayne Ross, my mother Roberta Ross, my grandmother Ruth Ross, my grandfather Forest Vance Ross, my aunt Janet Ross and my grandfather George Phillians. The only one who is still alive is Aunt Janet.   I was probably napping in another room, because I was one month old and had just traveled with my parents on  a Greyhound bus from St. Louis, Mo. My dad said the mode of transportation had been given the seal of approval by my pediatrician. My parents were young and apparently up for the challenge. The photo was taken at the home of Vance and Ruth Ross by their neighbor and good friend Stanley Fowler. There are more photos from this day and I will post them when I find them. 

  Blanche Louise Shipley Phillians was born 110 years ago today in West Brownsville, Pa.  She was one of three daughters born to Howard Francis and Annabelle Ferguson Shipley. She married George Harry Phillians on June 11, 1938, in Hagerstown, Md. and on March 17, 1945, she gave birth to my mother, Roberta Lee, their only child. She died on December 11, 1997, the day before her 86th birthday.  Rumor has it she was the life of the party when she was younger and living in the booming town of Brownsville, Pa. She worked as a store clerk, rolled her own cigarettes, and baked a pretty good loaf of bread. She was a mix of superstition and anxiety and although obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) wasn’t a term back then, I’m sure she had it. In her adult years she worried and worried and then, for good measure, she worried some more. Blanche Louise Shipley &  her friend Ruth Ann She absolutely adored my grandfather and spent her whole life making sure he was happy and we...

H ow do you even begin to write about the loss of your father? I've put if off for a while, but it's time to recognize the fact that he's gone. Forrest Wayne Ross died on Thursday, September 16, 2021, in his home in Raleigh, NC. He had just celebrated his 79th birthday. Dad had been sick for about three years, but we hoped he would beat the cancer that was making him weak and stealing his youthful good looks and fun-loving personality. Just like everyone else who has terminal cancer there's a point where things start to change: a treatment takes a toll, appetite fades, a bout of dehydration, a urinary tract infection. Things get better and then it all starts again. Hospital, home, hospital, home. For us it was the beginning of the end, but we didn't realize it. A fall at the beginning of September set the ball rolling one last time: concerned looks from doctors, a mention of the word hospice, and an ambulance ride home. My dad wouldn't eat, he wouldn't talk,...

  Forest Vance Ross was born 106 years ago today on July 22, 1915, in a house on Main Street in Clarksville, Pa. I was blessed to be his granddaughter.  I’m traveling today, so I’m not able to write a tribute that does him justice. So, here’s a photo of a great man who dedicated his life to his family.  Once, I asked him how I could ever repay him for all he did for me. “Paying it forward” wasn’t a term back then, but he told me to provide for my own children. 

My Grandfather George H. Phillians wanted to be an electrical engineer, but the Great Depression killed that dream. He was born on October 17, 1910, in Millsboro, Washington County, Pa., to Harry Ernest and Olivia Horner Phillians. He graduated from East Bethlehem High School where he studied Latin and science. He was a very gifted carpenter, a talented artist, and he was a man who enjoyed a good laugh and an off-color joke. He drank Rolling Rock beer, he only ate homemade bread, and he always took a Peppermint Patty in his lunchbox. In 1929, George was studying at Fenn College in Cleveland, Ohio, where he stayed at the Central YMCA on Prospect Street. He was a reporter for the school newspaper and was having a grand old time, writing regularly to his younger brother Russell Irwin Phillians and his mother. He completed one year and then the Great Depression crippled the economy. He didn’t return to school because he was needed in Millsboro to care for his mother. Eventually, George was...

Did anyone else’s mom make syrup out of coffee? When I was little my mom made it all the time. I can’t be sure, but I think she put it on pancakes and French toast. My little sister Kelly and I didn't care about those traditional uses, we loved the rock candy that formed in the bottom of the jar. In our opinion the sole purpose was to make rock candy. My dad would use a knife to scrape the hard sugar out of the bottom of the jar for us. For some reason, I started thinking about this coffee syrup. I did a Google search to see if there was such a thing or if I was remembering things wrong. To my surprise,  I found several recipes. The one that sounded like my mom’s consisted of three ingredients: instant coffee, sugar, and water.  One recipe that I found online from Robin Gagnon, who writes the Mom Foodie blog , provided a little background about how coffee syrup is used to make Coffee Milk. “If you have never heard of Coffee Milk before, you have never lived in Rhode Island. It...