My Grandfathers’ Rocking Chairs – What They Represent

There is a peacefulness, an air of reflection, about a rocking chair that attaches to no other moving object. – Wallis Simpson We are fortunate that two rocking chairs, one from each side of my family, the Hancocks and the Rightmeiers, remain in the family. We do not know much about them, except they were […]

Three Ways Stories Empower And Strengthen

Stories Empower And Strengthen:  “What power can poverty have over a home where loving hearts are beating with a consciousness of untold riches of the head and heart?”  – Orison Swett Marden Stories are everywhere.  The earliest records of mankind come in the form of story.  Whether you draw from the Genesis narrative, Egyptian hieroglyphs or […]

Secrets Found In Great Grandmother’s Notebook

“In taking the measures of any person, always allow two inches extra for around the arm and two inches extra for around the hips” -Leta Grace Clark This past summer we inherited stewardship of the Rightmeier trunk containing the relics, secrets and artifacts of the Lewis Rightmeier branch of the family tree.  One of the […]

Making Time For Family – Stories Then and Now

  Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life! – Albert Einstein For the past few weeks I have re-posted content with stories centering on my maternal grandfather’s branch of the family tree.  Then I realized that during this time, I had actually been in contact with parts of my grandfather’s side of the family from […]

How A Dugout House Demonstrated Wisdom

“Prepare your outside work, Make it fit for yourself in the field; And afterward build your house.”  ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭24:27‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ My mother’s paternal great grandfather, Frederick Konrad Regetmeyer, immigrated from northern Germany in the mid 1860’s.  How that came about is told in a series on circles.  After he was naturalized as a US Citizen, through the network […]

Regetmeier Reunion On The Homestead

My mother’s paternal great grandfather Frederick Konrad Regetmeier,  immigrated from northern Germany in the mid 1860’s.  He ended up in Jewell County, Kansas, a journey that took a decade.  The legs of his trip followed the model of many of his country men at the time: 1863 – left Germany as a stowaway with his brother, […]

Generations Passing The Baton

 “One generation plants the trees, and another gets the shade”  –  Chinese Proverb   The last of the great generation of Rightmeier men, Lyle Rightmeirer was laid to rest this February with his wife Virginia .  They were my Great Uncle and Aunt and passed within two years and two days of each other.  My maternal granddad […]

Happy Birthday Mom – A Love Letter

 With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation. – Psalms 91:16  And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.  Genesis 6:3 I write a bit about my paternal DNA, the […]

How Martin Luther Affected All Of Our Destinies – A Tribute

We do not become righteous by doing righteous deed but, having been made righteous, we do righteous deeds.  Martin Luther I am not a Lutheran.  Although I appreciate much of their theology, I attended a Methodist Church growing up.   A movement that grew out of the Anglican church and although much removed from its roots – the […]