Day 08
Thursday
19 August 99
Oshkosh, Wisconsin - (through Illinois -) Lafayette, Indidana

My mother's Aunt Helen died yesterday, which we found out when we visited Helen's (and my grandfather's) brother Paul today in Oshkosh.   My mom called her when we were in Salt Lake City, but she was too weak to be on the phone.   She was very old, and had been sick for a long time, but I am sad I never got a chance to meet her.

I haven't at all OD-ed on the family activities.   I am always happy with a site-seeing tour of the past.   I am always pleased when I can get one of my older relative chattering about the past.   I've also gotten good at taking notes for the family tree...

My mother said that she had gotten red from the sun while we were wandering arround the cemetary today, but it wasn't until I looked in the mirror just now that I realized I did too.   This was more of an information gathering grave visit, than a paying repect visit (though I can't help paying respect when I am amongst all those tombstones).   We hit four of the five family grave sites in Riverside Cemetary (actually, I'm sure there are more if I started counting more distant relations).   Most importantly, I was able to get my mother's grandparents' birth and death dates.

After the grave visits we went to see Paul and his son Jim, and we got to see the house my grandfather grew up in [it is still in the family!].   I finally understood why my mother left.   I feel as though I have a real understanding of life in Oshkosh and Milwaukee, and why my mom fell in love with Southern California when she visited it for the first time so many years ago.

We wanted to get into Tennessee today, but hit a huge traffic jam going around Chicago, and thus only made it as far as Lafayette, Indiana.   We had dinner at a Japanese steak house where the cook to food on the table right in front of you, so we were sitting at a big table with two other parties.   When my mom was reviewing the directions before we left, the girl next to me offered to help us, saying she lived around here.   My mother asked her if she went to Purdue, and when the girl said yes, my mom asked her if she liked it.   She replied, "I love it; I don't want to graduate."   I said that I had been more than ready to graduate when the time came around.   She asked where I graduated from.   I said UC Berkeley and while she was saying wow my mom said, "And I teach at UCLA."   She answered, "Oh, then Purdue must be nothing to you guys."   We told her not to be silly, and both later commented that what she had said had been rather odd.

 
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