Cabeeb

September 19, 2009

1945 Memory Ln.

Earlier this year, I came into possession of a journal of my great grandfather’s. It’s not a full-on, soul-baring journal. It is – as the front cover displays in gloriously deco font – a Line a Day Five Year Journal. While Poppy didn’t write in it every day – and he typically wrote more than one line on the days that he did – it did end up truly being a 5 year journal. The first entry was New Years 1945; the last was New Years Eve 1949. Wow.

As the story opens, Poppy (christened Houston Epps Sr.) is 42, Jerry (my grandmother) is 18, my great aunt Glenna is 14, my great uncle Houston is 20 and fighting against the Japanese in the South Pacific. My great grandmother, Maurine (affectionately known as Mimo), is age unknown at this point. I’m guessing 40, give or take a year or two.

A lot had happened between then and the last time Poppy put pen to paper five years later. Poppy and Mimo had celebrated their 25th (Silver) Anniversary. The war had ended (marked by a simple entry “Japan Surrendered Unconditionally To-day”), and Houston was back home and had started dating, become engaged to, and married his wife of over 50 years. Glenna had dropped out of high school (with her parents’ consent), then re-enrolled and graduated on the recommendation of her new employer. Jerry had become engaged twice, called both weddings off, and started dating my grandfather; they were married in mid-1950.

Many of the entries were short little quips about the day or week. Times being what they were, Poppy frequently mentioned the price and availability of different meats (beef, chicken, pork, bacon, etc). He also mentioned the weather, often as an afterthought at the end of an entry. “Nice weather to-day”, “Storm hit McKinney at 3:30 this afternoon”, etc.

It was very, very clear that the most important thing to Poppy was family, and he was extremely proud of his children. Especially in the time when Houston was coming back from the war, there were countless entries talking about how happy all of them were and how excited they were to have him back. Overall, most of the things he wrote were about his family.

The journal was a very charming read, from Poppy’s old-fashioned phrasing and spelling, to the insight into their lifestyle and the context that I now have for those 5 years. As I was reading, I had my Moleskine handy and filled seven packed pages with quotes, notes, and thoughts of my own. I never actually met Poppy, as he died several years before I was born. That being the case, though, I almost feel like I did know him after reading this journal.

One of the most quaint element of the read was an ongoing competition of 42 between Poppy, Mimo and their friends the Horsts. Over the course of the journal, Poppy mentioned them playing 42 over 20 times, and one of those mentions was him saying that they play it nearly every week. The very last entry in the journal was incredibly fitting: “We spent our new Years Eve with the Horst to play for tie in 42 for the year. Mrs. Horst & I beat 5 to 4 at the last min. of 1949.”

Well done, Poppy.

6 Posted in Personal | Family | Genealogy | Grandparents | History | Insight | Journaling | World War II