Mary Ellen Smith offers English advice, full of humor

The mini bus pulled up in front of my neighbor's house. Bill and Margaret McKinney were curbside in short order as the door opened and the driver brought the wheelchair down to ground level.

This group headed to Bill's house as I watched from my living room. Shortly afterwards, Bill called.

"Come over and visit with your English teacher," he said.

There on the living room couch was Mrs. Mary Ellen Smith, my high school English teacher. I ended up on the arm of the couch and put my arm around her.

Never did such an act enter my mind when listening to Mrs. Smith in English class. I must have absorbed some of her teachings, or these words would not appear in print. A large part of my writing success is traceable to this woman.

As a tribute to Mrs. Mary Ellen Smith, the song, "Wonderful World," is played each week at the beginning of the second hour of my radio show, with Louis Armstrong providing the vocals.

On this night we chatted, discussed writing and laughed. Mrs. Smith has a substantial since of humor, a fact not apparent during English class. I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek as she was preparing to leave.

I watched as the vehicle disappeared into the night and whispered a soft "Thank You."

Accident causes confrontation with town marshal

There was a time when... Well when a vehicle didn't have brakes, or at least some of them didn't. Can you imagine? And the driver was upset because the driver head of him stopped suddenly, causing...well...read on.

Wilson Creek area history

The Rev. David H. Crawford compiled and published a history of families in and surrounding Wilson Creek titled, "Family Memories of Wilson Creek Area." The book was printed in 1978, which was the 75th anniversary of the town. David's son, John Crawford, has given permission for those memories to be a part of this column.

Today we backtrack a bit and then continue the story of the Kreiters by Bill and Emma Kreiter:

Coming home from town one day I was following a car, when the driver suddenly slammed on his brakes, not having brakes on our car I ran into him. I got out of my car and seeing my fender smashed, I lost no time in setting him straight about his driving. He apologetically offered to have the fender repaired in town.

Not until a week or so later did I find out he was the town Marshal. If I had known I wouldn't have been so brave about it.

Bill worked for Fred seven years, he then quit and we moved to town in 1950. Later he joined the Carpenters Union. Bill helped build what is now the Grange Supply. He then worked at Ephrata on different school houses. For a while I was telephone operator and then I was a waitress. I can recall the night that President Truman stayed in Wilson Creek all night. Catheryn Bush owned the Cafe, she cooked and I waited tables. We were two tired people by morning. I was cook at school for two years. Lifting those big kettles was more than I could handle so I quit.

The Grant County Historical Society has compiled several volumes of Grant County history. The books are available for purchase at the Historical Society Museum gift shop in Ephrata.

I bought the series in 2009 and secured permission to relay some of the history through this column.

Memories of Grant County, compiled from taped interviews by the Grant County Historical Society.

Today we backtrack a bit and then continue the story of Ephrata by Thelma Billingsley Nicks:

Of the 17 children my grandfather was the youngest. My grandfather's name was William. He belonged to the Odd Fellows Lodge, was a genius in mechanics, something most Billingsleys are gifted in.

He invented a reaper only to find McCormic had patented one only a few months before he had his. He married Sierra Nevada Wolf, at her father's home on the Strawberry River near Franklin on June 27 during the gold-rush to California, thought the mountains so beautiful he named her after them. She went by the name of Sine.

Of this marriage there were 13 children born. Eleven lived to adult-hood. My father was the fourth and oldest son. There were three boys and ten girls.

My great grandfather Wolf was a major in the Mexican and Civil wars. During the Civil War he was captured along with two of his men, by soldiers of the Northern Army. They had lost some of their men, they thought, at the hands of Major Wolf's men. Major Wolf knew nothing of this affair and his men were not guilty, but the Northern soldiers would not release them.

The decision was that they were to be executed in four days. My grandfather was bound in chains and later a 32-pound ball and chain was put on him. It was said he carried the scars of the chains the rest of his life. His friends wrote letters asking for his release.

Fay Morris of Quincy gave me many excerpts from the old Quincy Quills she had. Some of the information I have is from them.

From Quincy Quill: February 26, 1904

"Hammer and nails are making a combination with lumber this week. This time it is a new blacksmith shop going up. P.F. Billingsley of Ephrata is behind the anvil."

In March a sidewalk was installed. In May he built on to the rear of the shop. An ad said "Repairing done at Billingsleys shop, a block north of the bank."

In 1904 he was having an addition built to the rear of his shop. His brother Alvin was there at that time. He also built a house on his homestead. His homestead was on top of the Trinidad Hill where the state rest area is now.

He installed many modern pieces of equipment in his shop. He was called the popular machinist. He had a cold set tire changer, the ad said he could set tires on very short notice. He installed a turning lathe. The ad said he had the most modern and up-to-date shop in the Big Bend.

Later he added more machinery and a 24-foot, 5800-pound turning lathe. It was so heavy they had to bring a hoisting machine from the Great Northern Railroad to remove it from the flat car. It came from Seattle.

He had a modern and up-to-date machine shop along with his blacksmith shop. There were many interesting items in the paper about him. He went to conventions, was a Democratic committee man. He attended fairs and other occasions in near-by towns.

I remember his telling me when he first came to this country the grass was waist high. It must have been a beautiful sight. There was no cheat grass in those days.

My father had from one to two machinists working for him. His brother Alvin had come out from Texas and was helping. In an old ledger he kept a record of outstanding bills. When he left Quincy there was over $10,000 on the books. I doubt if he ever collected very much of this.