This book is dedicated to my parents, William and Ethel Fitch Ossmer and to their many descendants.

Without the help and support of my daughter, Julie, this manuscript could not have been written. She takes no credit but thanks to her writing and editing skills I am comfortable presenting it . She has been my lodestar and the inspiration that has kept me on track and writing.

Special thanks are due to two very special nephews; James Johnson who restored the few pictures and faded letters left by my father and developed the creative cover design and Thomas Gillette. Tom has stood ready to jog my memory and provide research for lyrics and history of the music that enriched my childhood. They have both continued in their encouragement of this endeavor to provide memories and family history for the current members of our family.

The finished product is a result of the work and love provided by those three grandchildren of William and Ethel. I thank them deeply.

If I could, I would thank my parents for their gifts of music and prose that continue to enrich my life among many other life’s blessings.

Finally, thanks to Mama for her oft told tales. She often pondered how she would be remembered. The answer is here, handwritten in her own words in journals of yesterday, in writings and tape recordings done by her Granddaughter, Julie Wiggins, and from my own memory bank.

Thanks to each of you who encouraged me on the journey to yesterday. You are well loved

Preface

This endeavor is a meld of family history, legend and memories. It was compiled by family women of three descending generations: Ethel Fitch Ossmer; her daughter, Roxanne (Nancy) Anton, and her granddaughter, Julia Anton Wiggins.

Introduction

William Ossmer and Ethel Lucille Fitch, my parents, came together from vastly different backgrounds to form a marriage during a turbulent time. At twenty six, Mother considered herself fated to be an old maid. Then she met my father. Her family strongly disapproved of their courtship. They were outraged to see her smitten with the man they thought a ne’r-do-well—but marry they would, and did.

They produced ten children during twenty-one years of marriage, nurturing them as best they could in shelters ranging from our beloved brown house at Monkey Run to a huge canvas tent, an old Graham Paige Sedan, and Gypsy campgrounds.

After Daddy died in December 1939, Mama raised her family alone during the dark days of depression and war. In time we each took our place beside her to help the family survive. The last forty years of her life she shared our home.

The task of preserving the family history falls to me. In relating old memories, I seem to have found my childhood again. Parts of it, especially those few years with my father, I had thought lost forever.

This is written as a memorial to Ethel and William and a heritage to their descendants. It is a family history with glimpses of the world of yesterday; stories of love and loss, feast and famine, good times and bad. Most of all, it is the story of life in a big family from the early nineteen hundreds to the late nineteen forties. Many of you will remember your Grandmother Ossmer only as an old lady. I hope this book will allow you to know the teacher, the singer, but most of all the young and caring mother, always there for her family.

But where to start? It comes to me that my father’s poem, Life might be a good place. So, with that as a starting point I will share, as best I can, Mama’s tales, family memories and legends of not so very long ago.