July Fourth, 2011

We are so blessed to live in America, every one of us!  I think most of us take so much for granted and only think about our freedoms on July Fourth.  But not me.  I still cry when I hear or sing the Star Spangled Banner, can barely get through the Pledge of Allegiance and I  love a parade that has lots of flags (as long as it isn't REAL hot outside). 

I am very thankful for the freedom to have a house in a city where I want to live, the freedom to love my husband and give him a kiss in public, to have wonderful children (and fantastic grandchildren) that we can live with, help out and brag about.  I can go to church every day of my life and I can wear my cross around my neck.  I do not fear my government for what it may or may not do.  And I can go to one of many grocery stores and make choices of thousands of foods.  I know I am blessed abundantly with clean water, air, beautiful skies, and so many wonderful friends

Here are some quotes I feel express what freedom should mean to all of us.

There is nothing that faith, love of freedom, intelligence and energy of her citizens cannot cure.  President Dwight D. Eisenhower

A man who won't die for something is not fit to live. ~ Martin L King Jr.

A thoughtful mind, when it sees a Nation's flag, sees not the flag only, but the Nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the Nation which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth. ~ Henry Ward Beecher

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln


 How many of us have recently, or ever, read the Declaration of Independence.  Every Senator and Representative to our United States Congress is required to read this overpowering document EVERY year.  To keep it in the fore front of our thoughts is tantamount to maintaing our freedoms.  Below is part of the first section of the document which I hope you will take the time to read.

The Declaration was approved and adopted July 4, 1776, drafted by Thomas Jefferson.  The 13 colonies had been at war with Great Britain just over a year when the document was presented to the Continental Congress.  There are 56 delegates that signed the document.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

GOD BLESS AMERICA by Irving Berlin

"While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer. "

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home

Father's Day

Cheryl, Kathy, Melody and Dad 1963

To Wink, Lee and my wonderful Rich.   And in honor of my father, John Junior Ralf (1921-2006) whom I miss every day.  He was the best father that always had time for me and loved my mother with every fiber in his body.  He encouraged me in whatever I wanted to do - at least until I wanted to be a policeman like he was.  He would not allow that!  He loved his three daughters and approved of the men they married.  He was a good man.

On June 19, 1910, the first celebration of Fathers' Day occurred which was also the birthday of William Smart. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge would further support this day and in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson declared that Fathers' Day be celebrated every third Sunday of June. Finally in 1972, President Richard Nixon made Fathers' Day a permanent national observance.

OH, MY PA-PA
Eddie Fisher
Oh, my pa-pa, to me he was so wonderful
Oh, my pa-pa, to me he was so good
No one could be, so gentle and so lovable
Oh, my pa-pa, he always understood.

Gone are the days when he could take me on his knee
And with a smile he'd change my tears to laughter

Oh, my pa-pa, so funny, so adorable
Always the clown so funny in his way
Oh, my pa-pa, to me he was so wonderful
Deep in my heart I miss him so today.

Cat's in the Cradle

Cat Steven (from a poem written by his wife, Sandy)

My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
And he was talkin' 'fore I knew it, and as he grew
He'd say "I'm gonna be like you dad
You know I'm gonna be like you"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin' home dad?
I don't know when, but we'll get together then son
You know we'll have a good time then

My son turned ten just the other day
He said, "Thanks for the ball, Dad, come on let's play
Can you teach me to throw", I said "Not today
I got a lot to do", he said, "That's ok"
And he walked away but his smile never dimmed
And said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah
You know I'm gonna be like him"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin' home son?
I don't know when, but we'll get together then son
You know we'll have a good time then

Well, he came home from college just the other day
So much like a man I just had to say
"Son, I'm proud of you, can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head and said with a smile
"What I'd really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys
See you later, can I have them please?"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin' home son?
I don't know when, but we'll get together then son
You know we'll have a good time then

I've long since retired, my son's moved away
I called him up just the other day
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind"
He said, "I'd love to, Dad, if I can find the time
You see my new job's a hassle and kids have the flu
But it's sure nice talking to you, Dad
It's been sure nice talking to you"

And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me
He'd grown up just like me
My boy was just like me

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin' home son?
I don't know when, but we'll get together then son
You know we'll have a good time then

Around the State, part 2

Just as I did last year, here is a list of what everyone is working on.

Betty just finished the last of the San Juan county cemeteries books- a huge undertaking.  Now she is transcribing "Community Cemeteries of Sierra Count" (978.967 Vol 2)

Wink just finished a huge book of Union county cemeteries.  There are 6 volumes in the series.  He did volume 4.  Now he's working on "Eternal New Mexicans" (978.9 Quentin)

Barb is working on another large book, "Rosario Cemetery, Santa Fe" (978.956)

I am transcribing "Cemeteries of DeBaca County" (978.944 Eldridge)

Gloria took on the job of transcribing all of the Eddy County genealogy books referring to cemeteries.  She has just started "Miscellaneous Unpublished NM Genealogical Records: Death Records from Mohoney Mortuary, Deming NM" (978.9)

Rich continues with "Silver City Memory Lane Cemetery" (978.9692 Henderson).  I think he was working this book last year too!

Sharon continues getting through "Fairmont Cemetery" Santa Fe (978.922)  She is ALMOST through!

Lee also continues with "Cemeteries of Lea County" (978.933 Lanning)

Diane, like Wink, has been working through one of the 6 large volumes of Union County.  She is working "Cemeteries of Union County" Vol 1B (978.923 Lofgren)

All of us are in large volumes, books that require months of transcribing work.  It gets boring at times, very tiring most of the time, but we all get eager to finish up one of the big tomes. 

What are we doing?

What a erudite, scholarly group of people looking at all those books!  But what are they REALLY doing?  We are doing shelf checks, pretending to be librarians!  Looks like fun, doesn't it. 

When we first started at the Albuquerue Public library we weren't sure where to start with transcribing.  The library workers pointed me to shelves and said "there is all we have".  So I went through lots of the books seeing if there was any information we could use, like death certificates, mortuary records or more importantly, BURIAL records.  I found many books so we started transcribing them.  Over the years the helpful people at the library would give me other ideas as to reference materials and books we should look at. 

When we started coming back into the library this summer, I noticed that we were running out of work!  There were only about 45 books left to transcribe.  With my group, it would not take long to do that.  It was time to REALLY search through ALL the books, one by one to be sure we got everything.  Our job is not done until we get it all!

So section by section, shelf by shelf and book by book, we all went through every book in the New Mexico history sections looking for anything that resembled records we needed to transcribe.  And we found more to do!  As of 2011, we have transcribed parts of or all of 300 books, about 1000 cemetery or mortuary documents.  After going through the books, we have 75 books left to do - should keep us busy for a few more years.

After two days of shelf checks, we resumed our previous work that we are all comfortable with at the tables.

Betty and Gloria, best friends



Gail, head librarian, came over to talk with us



We have found through the years many, many cemeteries in our state that have been forgotten.  Only through some of the published histories of the counties, or family histories do some of these live on today.  So many of these old cemeteries had fewer than 10 burials, the most recent being early 1900's.  They have disappeared in our desert climate and tumbleweeds, mostly forgotten.  But we find them, write as much as we can, try to get good location information (thank you Wink!!!) and submit the information to the internet as well as the Genealogy library.  They will live on forever now!

The Tombstone Project is so very important.  In a perfect society, every city, village, town and county would have volunteers working on this.  Once these graveyards disappear, so does our history, our families and our heritage as Americans.  All of our ancestors fought for their land, fought to survive and preserve their future.  We cannot forget about them now!  My wonderful group works with great dedication to this cause and with a great sense that they have protected some of New Mexico's history as well as all of our futures.  God bless all of you!

Gate of Heaven is done

GATE OF HEAVEN Cemetery

Albuquerque, New Mexico

        

                                            

We have finished re-walking one of our favorite cemeteries - Gate of Heaven. This beautiful cemetery is one of the three regular large ones we keep up to date in Albuquerque. It is a favorite of everyone because it is green, has lots of shade, conveniently located (not too far for any of us to drive), and can be re-walked in 3 months. There is a wonderful sense of peace here.


We added 1008 burials to the update this time. The last time we were here it was late 2007. There are 8,871 names at this cemetery as of the end of May 2011.

Mount Calvary is the sister cemetery of Gate of Heaven and we finished re-walking that in 2009. Sunset Memorial is the third cemetery we regularly re-walk and it will be on our schedule for 2011 when the weather cools down. Both of these are considerably larger than Gate of Heaven and will take 1-2 years for their rewalks. But we only work on the grounds of a cemetery about 6 months out of a year, typically February to May and then again late September to late November or early December. We are irrevocably linked to the weather. When it gets above 80 degrees, or below 50 degrees, we retreat to the library.  Not that we are chickens, but it isn't fun to write when your fingers are too cold to move, nor when the sun beats down on you unmercifully. 

Those working Gate of Heaven were Wink Winkeljohn, Gloria Henderson, Betty Lamberti, Sharon Serrano, Diane Bloom, Lee Miller, Barb Borowy and Rich Harris.

Mother's Day Tribute

Happy Mother's Day to all of you and God Bless you always

                                                   Norma and Cheryl Ralf 1963
                                                                 


It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The Invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this??

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order,'Right around 5:30, please.'


Some days I'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock?, Where's my phone?, What's for dinner?'


I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history, music and literature -but now, they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!?


One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe .I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees."


In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:


1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.
2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.
3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
4) The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.


A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it. And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'


I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.


I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.


When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for 3 hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, he'd say, 'You're gonna love it there...'


As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers.

Great Job, MOM!

GATE OF HEAVEN CEMETERY

GATE OF HEAVEN, Albuquerque, NM

It looks like we are bird watching, or looking out for flying bats.  But no, this is just how we have to read some of the inscriptions in columbarium cases.  Some of them are huge AND tall.  Thank goodness for binoculars.

This is what Rich and Barb were trying to read!

This is another columbarium space.  Beautiful wood urns - it looks like a library.

This is one of four mausoleum corridors.

We are on the grounds once again, literally.  Although it is still cold here, and windy on this day, we are glad to be outside.  It won't be long before we look forward to going back to the library on HOT days.