My Portfolio

Your turn to spin -- no, it's not "spin the bottle" but "spin the wool".  This is a talent of Lillie Francom.  Lillie was born in Payson on July 8, 1926; she is 88 years old.  She has lived in Salem for 43 years.  She met her husband, Arthur Francom, at...

A True Samson   He was the first-born to Arthur Benton and Leva Mae Carriker in 1898. I never knew who named him or why they chose such a peculiar middle name, for it was truly a curious choice. I have never known or heard of any person outside of the...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Smelly Dog Stories   Writing a story about his sweet, sweet Violet has been a most difficult challenge because the Footloose Forester was not going to be satisfied with a simple story about his dog; or...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek          Legacy Of The Land If you are not making many mistakes, you are not being very creative.  Now, that is a stinging indictment…to the reader, whomever that is, and from the writer…whomever that was. ...

Keith and Gwen Barney never moved very far from where they were born.  Keith was born in Lake Shore 81 years ago and Gwen was born in Spanish Fork 76 years ago.  They were both born at home.  When Keith was born in was 33 degress below zero and his dad...

It truly was another time in a place that no longer exists. Oh, the buildings and streets are still there and the snow still falls deep and wet on them but yet – it is all different than it was when I was a young band director in a small school...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   This Wasn’t Your Grandma’s Thanksgiving Turkey   When Thanksgiving rolls around and families gather to enjoy traditional meals and each other’s company, conversations often tilt to fond recollections about turkeys, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. ...

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. -- Kevin Arnold (From The Wonder Years) My memories of Thanksgiving are pretty much the same for each year. My mother was not someone who experimented with things. She...

The gene pool from which American families draw is a wondrous palette onto which our “Artist-Creator dips his brush.  The genes floating in that pool are as countless as the stars, making it possible for Him to send several children to the same parents:  Children who, while sharing some commonalities, are...

  On the road… again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Speedy’s Lost & Found   The Chronicles of a Footloose Forester are true stories about a gadabout adventurer who, for lack of steady employment of his choosing at a time or in a place...

The Legacy Untold Is Like A Book Unread By Tom Cormier and Dick Pellek   You and I will leave a legacy whether we want to, or not. Everyone who passed on has already left theirs. Some are rich in history and personal accomplishments; and others are obscure or even unknown....

While growing up, Ruth and her siblings often visited their grandparents who had immgrated from The Netherlands in 1922.  One of the traditional foods that Grandma Folkers liked to prepare and share was "Roode Kool".  Here is her traditional recipe to pass on to her posterity. Ingredients: 1 medium sized heart...

Ruth's grandmother, Hilje Mulder Folkers, had a favorite recipe of hers that Ruth loved with kale and potatoes, rather than sauerkraut (zuurkool).  This is a quick and easy recipe for cold winter months. Instructions:  Use equal parts of sauerkraut and potatoes boiled separately.  Drain potatoes and mash.  Drain sauerkraut and combine...

This recipe was contributed by Gloria Schneider (Ruth's youngest daughter) for THE THIESSENS FAMILY REUNION COOKBOOK - 2000.  She writes "This recipe is one that my mother - Ruth Meacham - often made for Thanksgiving and Christmas when we were growing up.  I can't help but think of the good memories...

  "Keep the faith.  The most amazing things in life tend to happen right at the moment when you are about to give up hope".   My life has not always been easy.  It has been better than some and worse than others.  I has been up and down and pretty...

It is not happy people who are thankful, It is thankful people who are happy.   Now that my 31 days of writing is over, I thought that I would get back on track with some of the things that I normally write about.  Today, I wanted to share what Thanksgiving...

Grant and Virginia Moore have been married for 28 years.  They were married April 4, 1986. Grant was born in Payson, Utah February 14, 1923.  He grew up on a farm in West Mountain.  He graduated from Payson High School in May, 1941.  Jobs were scarce so he and his friend,...

Trick or . . . . trick Halloween in the late 20 th, Early 21 st Century is a "holiday" that has completely metamorphosed from the form it had at mid-20 th Century. If a teen-aged boy of those days were somehow magically time-traveled to Halloween night 2014 and saw little...

On the road… again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   From Cabo Verde To Coraopolis By no means has the Footloose Forester been designated to be the family historian, thus his chronicles about family members have been spotty and more happenstance than deliberate and planned. ...

    The Pirate and The Poet He was twelve years older than me and cut from an entirely different cloth. He was my brother, and although we both felt fraternal love we had little in common other than genes and parents. He was first-born. I was last. He was born...