Curtis and his Big Boy Tomatoes

Curtis Cline loved to work with plants of all types.  The plant nursery business was perfect for him because he could grow exceptionally large healthy trees, shrubs, azaleas, and ornamental plants for Cline's Nursery, and feel gratified.  Dad also grew fruit trees and had a huge garden each year.  Curtis liked to experiment with different varieties of vegetables annually to see how they differed.  He grew eggplants, snap beans, peas, corn, peppers, green onions, and every year he had eight or ten tomatoes plants.

I once asked him why he grew all that food when he and mom ate out more than they ate at home.  He told me it was gratifying to provide food to people who could not afford to purchase fresh vegetables.  He said he enjoyed sharing with his sisters too, besides he always enjoyed eating some of what he grew.  I remember he always enjoyed eating corn on the cob.   He put on a lot of butter when he ate the corn.  When he finished eating six or seven cobs, he had butter all over his face.  My mother fussed at him for years about using a napkin during the eating process, but he just laughed and said, "Oh Marie, the corn is too good to be worried about how my face looks.  I use a napkin after I finish eating."

The newspaper clipping is undated, but it seems to me that it was taken sometime in the 1960s.  Dad was bragging that his Big Boy tomatoes plants were so tall he had to use a step ladder to reach the top.  The word got around to the Sikeston Standard, and they sent a reporter out to see if it was true. The picture shows that the tomatoe plants grew to about eight feet tall.  Everyone in the neighborhood, at church, the family, and the usual people in need, had tomatoes that year. He got a kick out of seeing the picture of his tomatoes in the Sikeston Standard newspaper.

Kulkel Burrs and Sticky Burr Grass

Kulkel burrs are
Painful to remove!

It is common to find Kulkel burr grass in older cemeteries in Southeast Missouri.  On my trip to Sikeston two weekends ago, I visited my parents' graves, as usual.  I then drove to the old Sikeston City Cemetery to visit my grandparents, an aunt, my great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother's graves.  Almost immediately upon exiting my car, it felt like something bit my leg.  When I looked down, I saw three Kulkel burrs attached to my sock.  By the time I was through in the cemetery, both of my feet were covered in Kulkel burrs, as shown in the above photo.   Removing these stickers is painful. It jolted me back in time to when I toured many sandy cemeteries and wrote about them between 1998 and 2006.  These sticky burrs are not something I miss about Sikeston or Scott County.  They grow best in poor soil of sand and earth.

The oldest grave in the Cline Family Plot within the Sikeston City Cemetery is my great-great-grandmother Elizabeth Cornelia Tickell-Jones-Moore-Blount-Mosier.  She was born 9 Mar 1811 on the Virginia-North Carolina border, and she died in New Madrid, Missouri on 20 Feb 1892.  The other burials inside the plot are her daughter, Anna Eliza Blount Kline, her granddaughter Lena Kline Cline, and her husband William Henry Cline, their infant son Henry Webster Cline who died at the age of thirteen months, on 21 December 1893.  Then many years later, Henry and Lena Cline's daughter Vera Daughterty Cline Johnson had her cremated remains placed there in 1995.  Vera's husband, Edward Johnson, was the inventor of the hydraulic brake mechanism applicable to the landing gear of airplanes.  He received Patent Number US 1, 870,289 on August 8, 1931.  

Ed Johnson was on the Pennsylvania railroad’s The Spirit of St. Louis passenger train testing a new invention.  He was seriously injured when the car he was riding in broke loose and rammed the locomotive of a stationary passenger train of the same line in the Columbus (Ohio) Union station yards at 9:35 o’clock on June 7, 1948.  Police and firemen identified ten seriously injured.  Most critically injured was E. D. Johnson, 45, of Jennings, Missouri, a mechanical engineer with the Wagner Electric Corporation of St. Louis.  He suffered fractures of both legs and a severe laceration of the lower abdomen.  He was taken to St. Frances Hospital.  Johnson was en route to Allentown, Pa., on business.   Edward Johnson died on June 19, 1948.  He asked to be buried in Falconer, Chautauqua County, New York with the Johnson family.  Vera and their two daughters, Ruth and Martha Johnson remained in the St. Louis area.  At the time of Vera's death, she requested to be buried near her parents and grandmothers in Sikeston, Missouri, the same as her husband had done forty-five year before her.

Vera and her husband Edward Johnson had a wonderful life up until the fatal train wreck.  Life presents us with many joys, but like kulkel burrs, sometimes painful things happen that pierces our heart.  Vera Cline Johnson never got over the loss of her bright husband and remained single the rest of her life.  When you walk through a cemetery, you will see beautiful works of art incorporated into headstones and many sad stories of people being taken too quickly.   Just remember, it is the painful parts of life that make us appreciate the minor and significant joys for which we are blessed.

Growing Old With Charm and Wit

 

Margaret Cline Harmon, Carol Rettig Carol,
 Dan Caldwell and Carl Holyfield take a
break for a picture at the Stoner home.

The Class of 1962 celebrated its 55th reunion September 30, in Sikeston, Missouri.  It could have been better attended, but for those of us there, it was enjoyable.  I talked with some classmates I had not spoken with much at previous gatherings.  Each one was interesting, and it was delightful to reminisce about high school days and learn what each was doing now.  Lloyd Stoner and his wife very graciously hosted the entire class at their beautiful home on Friday night.  I felt bad for them as they were so busy they could not enjoy the evening as the rest of us did.  We all appreciated them for the generious hospitality.  Friday night I was able to talk with many friends but Saturday night seemed to go too quickly. 

Most classmates were recognizable, although we all showed the signs of aging since seeing each other in 2007 and 2012.  Amazingly, after each conversation started, my mind pictured the classmate as they were in 1962.  Some were funnier now than back in high school, and one or two looked better than they did in 1962, in my opinion.   I wanted to hug every one of my classmates, but there just was not enough time to greet them all.  Over the years, I have learned that the flesh of our body deteriorates and is temporary.  In the end, relationships are all that truly matters.  There is a poem I read often and try to live by its words:

   "If I should live to a ripe old age,

     may I possess some bit of individuality,

     charm and wit that I will not be discarded

     when I am withered, worn, and weak,

     but sought after and cherished,

     like a fine antique."

I cherish the twelve years spent with my classmates at the Sikeston public schools, and hope to see them all again in five years.  It is relationships that shape our lives and bring happiness.  It seemed odd that long-time master of ceremonies Joe Bean was not there this year; however, Tom Nunnelee stepped up to the plate and moved the event along at a good pace.  Concluding the reunion by singing the Red and Black seemed to be the perfect ending.  God's blessings to every classmate!