Mountain Laurel & Coal

My Aunt Janet sent me this photo and it’s just too precious not to share. I believe it was taken at an outdoor church service on Market Street in Clarksville. That’s my dad Wayne Ross (blocking the sun with his program), my mother Roberta Ross, and my grandfather Vance Ross, with my cousin Nikole Kiralis sitting on his lap. That’s Hackney’s Hardware store in the background. I think this was taken during the Bicentennial Celebration in 1976. 

 Isaac Brown was born in Fayette City, Pennsylvania on May 9, 1898.

  I was denied access today to the Horner Family Cemetery in East Millsboro where six of my direct ancestors are buried, along with 30 other relatives. Before making the 30 minute trip from Bentleyville to East Millsboro in Fayette County, I researched the cemetery on the Find A Grave website. It was suggested that visitors stop at 262 East Millsboro Road to ask for permission. So, I knocked on the door and no one answered. I was in the process of leaving a note, when a man came out and questioned why I was there. I told him I wanted to visit the cemetery and he immediately said, “No, it’s private property.” I asked if he owned it and he said that he did.  I told him that I found the information about the cemetery on line, but because there was only an address and no phone number, I wasn’t able to call. He repeated that the cemetery is on private property, then he told a story about how people ride quads on his property and how he’s ok with that. I asked again if I could go to...

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,...