Wally Spiers: Journal entries paint vivid picture of farmlife

Retired people are supposed to have a lot of projects that they put off while they were working but now have time to do.

I don’t. But something fell in my lap the other day which is going to keep me busy for a while.

At my mother’s funeral, my cousin, who preached the service, gave me his mother’s journals which stretch from December 1962 to 2003.

Aunt Mary Jean Stanford died in 2011 at age 88. Starting Dec. 2, 1962, she wrote short notes nearly every day about what she and the family had done.

Her first entry, “11 pigs born to Clyde’s sow. Went to Lois Ann & Omers for supper.”

After a while she expanded to where she had been, what she had baked or cooked and what her husband, Wally, my namesake had done all day on their farm near Mexico, Mo.

I intend to edit and condense her journals into a smaller book from the 18 large notebooks they now encompass. After reading the entries for 1963, I’m not sure that I haven’t taken on a task too big for me.

Her notes give a vivid picture of the everyday life of a farm wife who cooks, cleans, goes to 4-H and church meetings and cares for a child, but also helps sort hogs and cattle and drives a tractor when it is called for.

She includes notes on anniversaries of the births and deaths of two children, on the difficulties of keeping hogs alive in the severe winter and the anguish of having to send their only son off to school when he was so used to being home with her.

My family figures into some of these entries since Wally was my mother’s brother and both he and Mary Jean were our favorites. The entries speak to me from the past of a life both full and sometimes hard but nearly always full of joy.

“Apr. 30, 1968 — Helped Daddy (Wally) adjust brakes on the (John Deere) 4020, but they kept locking so we had to get the mechanic from Perry.”

“May 17, 1968 — Turned real cool. Had my hair done. Bobby helped Daddy in the field. I went to town after we sorted the hogs. We sold 22. Went to see Mother and Pop. Covered Estelle’s chair and fixed the screen door tonight.”

“Sept. 17, 1968 — Went to (cosmetology) school this morning. Got out at 2 p.m. so we could buy our uniforms & shoes. (She was 45 when she bravely launched into a new career where she had her own little shop in back of the house which soon became sort of a community meeting place.)

In the midst of the strain of going to school, taking care of the family and keeping up with community obligations, her mother died.

This editing job is going to take a while as I try to distill so many small moments into a big picture of the lives of her and her family. I only hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew.

This story was originally published April 2, 2016 at 5:43 AM with the headline "Wally Spiers: Journal entries paint vivid picture of farmlife."