Thankfully, the weather was beautiful before, during and after the November 5, wedding. It was so grand that everyone sat out in the open air at the tables and rocked and rolled with the band until about 10:00 pm.
Fast forward only a few days and we’ve now removed the 20 x 40 tent, secured anything that might blow away or fall and stacked the chairs. (Although, I think I’ve stacked them too high and strong winds might take them down. We shall see?)
A now designated hurricane named “Nicole” is on the way up the middle of Florida and expected to skirt the west side of Jacksonville. I’ll keep you posted as to what happened to the chairs.
Derrick wanted to make the proposal special so he called Katie the sister of Kristie to see what could be done to make that happen. He chose to allow the family to be a part of this momentous occasion and we all were thrilled. Love was in the air and through a turn of events, it was scheduled that we would all get aboard a horse and buggy in St. Augustine and Derrick would do the honors, even getting on one knee.(Not pictured here but he did).
We all were a part of it in the Nation’s oldest city, St. Augustine in December of 2021 and afterwords ate at a luxurious restaurant to seal the deal. Great fun was had by all.
They were married last week in November at the family Homestead in Jacksonville, Kristie’s hometown. It was wonderful. They will live happily ever after.
After the wedding was over, we had a team of people willing to help. Chairs had to be stacked, food had to be covered and refrigerated, trash had to be gathered and all of the small details had to be put in place in order to leave the venue.
One of the last things to come down was the flower display which had been place over white painted antique doors. Now what to do with them. They still are resting over wooden benches in the chapel. We don’t know how to store or even wrap for possible future use.
Kristie wanted a barn wedding. We had an old barn on my Father and Mother’s property but it was small, old and rickety. We decided to start fresh and so we did. We began in January of 2022 and set out the clear the land, demolish the barn and build a new one. We also determined that we would take the current camper barn and add onto it creating a chapel and we did.
The wedding began at 5:30 p.m. and by 6:30 p.m. everyone was rocking and rolling with the band. Great fun was had by all.
It took us some ten months to prepare for this wedding. It was over in about 35 minutes, we had a party and then the clean up. Wow and wow! We had everything from tables, chairs, food, and bags of garbage, incidentals and more to dispose of or store. The morning after began for Katie and her team at 8 am and they kept at it long into the afternoon.
We left it as neat and clean as possible and removed anything that the rodents might be interested in….To be sure the didn’t get into anything, we stored all trash bags inside the bathrooms until the next day when we could take it out to the trash pick up. Good thing too. We forgot one bag in the tent and the racoons had a hay day…( No pun intended).
In December of 2021, Derrick, my daughter’s boyfriend proposed to her in St. Augustine on the mount of a horse and carriage. It was sweet and heart-felt. Fast forward to November 5th and they married among friends and family members. Congrats to the happy couple.
While they both live in Alabama, Kristie wanted to marry in her own hometown so she did. She was born and raised in Jacksonville and she came home to seal the deal. More to come….
The night before the wedding, everything was set. The entrance was ready for the gates to open wide in the morning. The chapel was set and all benches in place. The barn was ready for a party.
The chapel was actually our Dad and Mom’s barn for the camper. It was parked under a covering and they could pack it and get it ready for their next campout without worrying about weather. When we decided to remodel it for a chapel, we added a second side, painted it and put in 20 benches for seating; 10 on each side. It’s called Vaughan’s Chapel.
After the wedding, we would need a barn for the party so we set up a barn the size of the swimming pool. The swimming pool was 20 x 40. The barn was extended to a 24 x 40 and was set up for the party.
We had no dryer. We had the clothesline, the sunshine and our clothes smelled like summer breeze.
Simply put, we had no real money. There was a daily struggle to build the house, live life and put food on the table. Looking back, the financial struggle was real. As a kid, I had no idea though. Our lives were rich and full. We were happy doing what we could do and Mama would say all of the time, “We’ll just make do”. Daddy was creative in all that he did regarding fixing up the someplace. He did all he could to fix and take care of the home goods while saving money. When we cleared the land years after their home-going, we found a lawn mower spark plug used as a plug for the water system. Mama could be seen in the bent-can aisle of Solomon’s trying to get a “deal”. Mama was a stay-at-home Mom and Daddy worked a civil service job with the Navy on Cecil Field. When at home, they both tried to be smart saving money by the do-it-yourself plan.
By the time I was in high school, we had a complete washer and dryer area but up until that time, we used the good ole’ fresh air to dry clothes.
clothesline-wikipedia
While clearing out places on the property recently, one of the two clothes lines that we had was exposed. It brought back many memories. The clothes would be washed in the washer, place in a wooden basket and walked out to the line. There was a bag of clothes pins hanging at the end of the line which had a wire used to whisk it up and down the line for ease. The clothespins were used to attach the clothing at the top or bottom to the line for drying.
Mama said it was best to put like pieces together so as to be able to fold them together but sometimes pants, shirts, or underclothes might be hung all on the same wire side by side.
We had two clotheslines. One was on the right back side of the property behind the house. The other was on the east side of the swimming pool. Both were used over time to hang our wet clothes out to dry. It would take a few hours to dry clothes on a full sun day.
The upside to drying clothes outside was the fresh air smell. The downside to drying clothes outside was the stiffness of the clothes after they dried. If you were to forget them on the line, the would have a very different feel and smell from the fresh one day line dry. If it rained and they got wet by rain there was even a more odd smell and feel which would mean another wash and dry before wearing them.
Geneva Kathryn Long Vaughan was born October 20th, 1924. She was born on the South Carolina home place and grew up in that tiny Estill town which is considered the Deep South. She was a twin with Geneer Long Thompson and her older brother and sister, Dennis and Dorris were twins as well. Too, their grandfathers on the Long side were twins and their brothers were twins so there were 2 sets of twins in both of those Long families. These twins have been known in the area as the “Famous Long Twins”.
Geneer- Geneva
My Mother was the older of the two twins. The two were completely focussed on being together and spending their lives devoted. Even into their adult years dressed alike and stayed close in their relationship.
Geneva, my Mom died at the young age of 49 of a brain tumor. What a tragedy to our family at any age but 49 was just too early to be taken. As a young person in Estill, she worked in the local drug store owned by her Aunt and Uncle. She graduated from Estill High School and attended Nixville Baptist Church. Her father was a farmer and her mother a housewife.
Somewhere around 1943, she met my Father, Alec P. Vaughan, Jr. at the Sandy Run Baptist Church. They had a Baptist Association meeting and my Father was serving as a seater. He seated my Mother and her sister to a bench on the front row. This caused a great deal of fuss and from there, they began to get to know one another.
Alec-Geneva
World War II was raging and my Father was drafted into the Army where he went abroad. Times were hard and through a turn of events, my mother’s dad needed work and found it in Jacksonville, Florida at the shipyards. The family moved to Duval County while my Father was over seas in the war.
When the war ended, he came home by way of Florida’s Camp Blanding where my mother met him. They were married in December of that same year and have lived in Jacksonville, Florida until their deaths. In 1974 and 2015 respectively.
My Mother was, in my eyes a beauty. She had big and full brown hair, sky blue eyes and a wide and happy smile. Her voice and actions were sweet. She was a nurse, not certified but sweetified to be one and spent her working days helping others feel better. Mama was kind-hearted and tender.
She went to be with the Lord on this day. She is still miss her.
So, we were all minding our business working on my Dad and Mom’s property when the fire truck roared up the street. It got closer and closer and soon “Sargent(3) screamed, “Fire truck! Fire truck!” Then Vaughan (3) yelled, “Fire truck. Fire truck”. Then Ramey said “Hey, it’s here!” “It’s right here!” We looked into the parking lot at the neighboring church and there she sat with bells, whistles, and lights a flashing. Out jumped 3 firemen rushing over to us asking if everything was ok.
Yes, everything was ok. We had made sure all precautions were considered and followed through.
We had been burning the old tree limbs, brush and logs getting ready for someone to come scrape the property on Monday.
Ronnie(PawPaw) showed them the dirt path made around the fire and they asked to see a water hose which he had. They asked us to be careful and put out the blaze as quickly as we could, then off they roared.
It was a banner day for the boys to see the fire truck so closely and relate it to a real fire.
