Moore Views from the Family Tree

Sunday, May 11, 2025

My Female Ancestors

Remembering my mom, Millicent (Midge) Moore. God blessed me with a great mother. It got me thinking of the women I descended from. I like doing genealogy and discovering those women. Going back 200 years every one of them except for one was widowed but they carried on. They were strong and survivors.

Friday, May 9, 2025

Earl Moore Orphaned at 6-yrs-old

Was thinking of my dad, Earl Moore. This is a picture of him at 6 when in an 18 month period his father, mother and oldest brother died. He then went to the PA Masonic Children's Home in Elizabethtown PA.

Friday, August 2, 2024

Are We There Yet

Traveling with children is a challenge. I don’t remember too much about me as a child going on vacation, just a few snatches here and there.

Every year we went to Batavia, New York to visit family. We went by car and many of those trips were before interstate highways. It would take all day to travel from Gloucester City, NJ to Batavia. My brother and I must have had some entertainment. For me it was probably books or coloring books and crayons. I remember that all radio stations were country/western. We would always stop for a picnic lunch about halfway on a not busy road. I remember sometimes it was next to railroad tracks and sometimes a stream. We would have sandwiches, if made at home - cheese (mom didn’t want us getting food poisoning). There must have been coolers, I just don’t remember. If we made sandwiches at the rest stop it was canned meat – spam or deviled ham. Of course we had to have baked beans, cold right from the can. This was mom’s favorite and the first word she spoke as a baby – even before mama or dada. I don’t think I’ve had cold baked beans since for no particular reason. We would be excited for progress when we passed Painted Post and knew we were close when we reached Geneseo.

About every two years or so we went to Tampa, FL to visit my grandparents if they hadn’t been to see us in a couple of years. Today people routinely go to Florida but in the 50s and 60s rarely. It took Disney World to make Florida a destination for those of us in the northeast. I don’t remember driving to Florida that often back then. There was no I95 so small roads through towns for a 3 day trip. One time during a winter trip my brother was a baby, and he came down with chickenpox and the doctor said no problem going but keep him warm. My mom kept him in a snowsuit during the day and a different one at night while the daytime one aired out. By the time we got to Tampa he was covered with pox from head to toe. Usually, it was a trip by train or bus with my mom. Dad used his vacation week to go to Batavia with us. Once when I had cereal for breakfast on the train it was awful – they put cream on the cereal. Another time at one of the stops it was pouring rain, and a boy came on selling peanuts. We bought a bag and didn’t think anything of the bag being wet since it was heavy rain. To our surprise they were boiled peanuts, something I never had and haven’t missed since. Some of these trips were during segregation or the civil rights era. Having not experienced segregation it was a surprise when crossing into Virginia and the bus stopped and all Black people were told to move to the back of the bus. At a bus stop somewhere in the south we got off the bus to go into the station food counter and stopped when all eyes were turned on us. We went into the side for “colored”. That’s when we noticed the water fountains on the platform were labeled “white” and “colored”. Then after protests started on another bus trip my mom and brother sat in the front seats and I behind them. I was about 10 or 11. A Black woman came on and sat next to me. She was very nice. The thing I marveled at was she had very large feet. Little did I know that my adult feet would match hers. I was too little to realize that her sitting in the second row of the bus and sharing the row with me, a white child she was making a statement. My family was fine with the situation but I’m sure there were some on the bus who didn’t like the changes happening. Another time when we went to Tampa on the train, the trip started out with some drama. My brother, Terry was preschool age and terrified of large buildings. We got on the train at 30^th St. Station in Philadelphia. My mom had to drag him through the station with him screaming at the top of his lungs.

My children’s first trip out west was when Travis was 18mos and Sean 4. It’s a long car trip. The places we visited were fun and sometimes with surprises but the drive itself was torture. Impossible to count the “are we there yet” and how it seems like the kids need to see every bathroom on the route. Coming home Bill said “How about I pull into the next airport and you, and the kids fly home? I’ll drive the rest of the way by myself.”

Traveling with kids definitely makes us want a vacation from our vacations.

#traveling with children, #Batavia NY, #Tampa Florida, #Segregation, #Civil rights protests, #Arlene Moore, #Arlene Baker

Saturday, July 20, 2024

Surprise Prayer Ending

Often when our children are small, we teach them prayers they can say at mealtime and bedtime. Many years ago, when my son was about kindergarten age, he would say one of those prayers. One day he added another request. Before saying Amen, he added “God Bless Chuck Norris”. This karate aficionado caught his attention. For months he always added that request. If we said Chuck Norris, he would correct our pronunciation even though it sounded the same as his. Recently I reminded him of this. He had forgotten it and was amused by his boyhood prayer.

#Prayer, #Children’s Prayer, #Humorous Prayer, #Chuck Norris

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Earl and the Swimming Hole

My dad, Earl Moore was orphaned at 5-yrs-old. His oldest sister was an adult but unable to raise him, so he was sent to the PA Masonic Orphanage in Elizabethtown, PA to live. The orphanage was a good place unlike most in the 1920s (think Lil Orphan Annie). A retired Army colonel was in charge, so it was fairly regimented. The houses were new and quite nice, made from gray stone. There were underground tunnels so that you could travel from building to building underground during bad weather. They had a basketball court in one of the buildings’ basements. There was a music room and more. There was also a small pond. I’m don’t think it was for swimming but instead for the crops and animals. The children’s and senior homes complex were totally self-sufficient, raising crops and animals for food.

When our family went to reunions there, I would hear stories about how they got a swimming pool. Apparently, my dad was skinny dipping one day in the pond and was caught. The home decided it wouldn’t do for the boys to be swimming naked and get caught out by one of the girls or seniors. So, it was decided to put in a regular swimming pool that the children could wear bathing suits and go for a swim. Dad also had a nickname of Bertie or Birdie that may have come from this incident.

#Earl Moore, #Pennsylvania Masonic Home, #Swimming, #Skinny dipping

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Christmas Cookies 2022

Christmas 2022

It’s December 24, 2022 and I am making my first Christmas cookies of the season. Not going to have many made this year. This first batch is “Aunt Ernie’s Sour Cream Cookies”. This is my boys’ favorite cookies but not until I stopped calling them Sour Cream Cookies and just said Aunt Ernie’s Cookies. Names make a difference. Each time I make this recipe I’m reminded of my Great Aunt Ernestine Wiedrich. She died several decades before my sons were born and I wish she would be more than a cookie to them. She was very personable and raised a large family in Oakfield, NY. My great grandmother, Sarah Wiedrich loved visiting her. She would say how enjoyable it was.

Aunt Ernie’s Sour Cream Cookies

By Ernestine Schramm Wiedrich

1 c sugar

½ c shortening (margerine or butter)

½ c sour cream

2 eggs (beat in one at a time)

Mix at medium speed for 2 min.

Add

2¼ c flour ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp nutmeg 1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt 1 tsp lemon extract

nutmeats (1/2 – 1 c chopped walnuts is good) or coconut opt.

Mix well. Drop by teaspoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle tops with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 min.

Pictured Ernestine and Sarah Wiedrich

#Ernistine Wiedrich, #Sarah Wiedrich, #Christmas 2022, #Christmas Cookies, #Sour Cream Cookies

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Veteran's Day in Washington 2022

I had an amazing Veterans Day weekend. Reporting to Fort Meyer at 6AM to be Covid tested and go through 2 security checks. Then boarded a bus with others to the White House for breakfast. Another security check before entering.

A military orchestra was playing in the foyer.

A buffet was spread in the State Dining Room with Lincoln’s portrait looking over me. The food was lovely.

I also had a picture taken with Chief of Staff General Milley.

Then I went to the East Room to eat beneath the portraits of George and Martha Washington and hear remarks by the President (taped), First Lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

I sat next to two charming young Navaho brothers who were in the New Mexico National Guard. I was also so honored to have a picture with Medal of Honor recipient, Thomas Payne.

Guests were then taken to another room but first another security check and leave our possessions (mine was a wallet and camera). In the next room each of us was introduced individually and had a picture taken with Jill Biden, Kamala Harris and her spouse (Joe Biden was in Egypt for the G20). Don’t know if I’ll ever get the picture – last year’s guests didn’t get theirs. Then it was back to the buses and on to Arlington Cemetery. White House guests were escorted to the rear of the amphitheater to see the Vice President lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was torrential raining and people on both sides of me had umbrellas that they kept aiming their runoff on me.

After that ceremony myself and about twenty t other “VIPs” were escorted to the stage in the amphitheater for the national ceremony. Each of us was introduced to the audience and later when I watched the video of the ceremony on CSPAN my name was scrolled on the screen. It was very exciting. Vice President Harris gave the main address.

Then, as National Commander of the Army and Navy Union I laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

After this we rode busses back to Fort Meyer for my car. I was staying in a hotel in Fairfax with the rest of the Army and Navy Union members. The next day ANU spent the day doing ceremonies and laying wreath at ten monument/memorials throughout Washington and Arlington.