My mother, mom and opera singer

My mother, mom and opera singer

by | Aug 4, 2015 | heirlooms

Jane Ruth Elder, my mother, grew up in Tacoma, Washington, during the Depression in the family of a teacher. In those days, teachers were paid little. It became apparent that her parents could not afford music lessons for her, even though that is what she wanted more...
My father, engineer

My father, engineer

by | Jul 28, 2015 | heirlooms

This slide rule belonged to my dad, the engineer. Eldred W. Hough, although he was the oldest son, wasn’t named for his father, Thomas C. Hough. Instead, his younger brother got the name Thomas Hough. So, why did the younger one get the father’s name?...

Thomas Hough, immigrant and entrepreneur

by | Jul 21, 2015 | heirlooms

Thomas Hough, an enterprising young man, was born in 1844 into a lower-class family in Yorkshire, England, and didn’t like his prospects. His education stopped at the sixth grade, and his dad was a wagon driver. He got a job at the local  cotton mill as a lift...
Granny Jennie’s mother, stuck on the prairie

Granny Jennie’s mother, stuck on the prairie

by | Jun 22, 2015 | heirlooms

This is about Granny Jennie’s mother Mary Jane, who dominated the Illinois prairie around her in the late 1800s but may have longed for a trip to … Switzerland? My great-grandmother, Mary Jane Robertson, always wanted to go to Switzerland, or so I imagine....

Granny Jennie, a genteel lady

by | Jun 15, 2015 | heirlooms

My Granny Jennie, born in 1885, hand-painted this pitcher in an art class in college. She had a college degree, rare for her generation, especially for women. I remember her the best of all my grandparents, because she traveled south to live with us in the winters...

My grandfather, a surveyor

by | Jun 9, 2015 | heirlooms

I am sorting stuff from the attic and basement. I ran across my grandfather’s precision surveying instrument. Later on I knew his wife Granny Jennie — she was as mild-mannered as they come. But I never knew Grandpa Tom. He died before I was born....
The tale of Granny’s punch bowl: where next?

The tale of Granny’s punch bowl: where next?

by | May 25, 2015 | heirlooms

When I was a kid, Granny had a punch bowl in the middle of her dining room table. She was an old lady, with feet in the Victorian era. So the punch bowl is flowery and Victorian. It probably had belonged to her  mother, a high-society lady for the small town of...
Am I a racist?

Am I a racist?

by | Apr 27, 2015 | Reaching out

Racism is a topic that my heart keeps returning to. What is it? What causes it? Why is it so hard to escape? Why do many white people from outlying areas of my city avoid driving in predominantly African-American sections? Answer: They tell each other that the city...
My project: novels for tweens

My project: novels for tweens

by | Mar 18, 2015 | Phyllis Wheeler's Books

I’ve been up to a lot of things lately, and one of them is a series set in the fictional St. Louis suburb of Sugar Creek in 1969 or so. One protagonist is Ollie (left), a 15-year-old musician who just moved to Sugar Creek from New York. He’s having a...