Memorial Weekend - Family and Memories

Over Memorial Day weekend in May we got together with some of my Dad's first cousins.  This group of cousins have some funny stories about growing up together, family reunions, and their parents and grandparents.  These cousins are all on my Dad's Dad, (Howard Hastings) side on the family.  Paul and Dora Loger Hastings had four children.  One infant son, who died at birth, Helen, Howard, and Ida. (Howard was my Grandpa.)  Helen Hastings Sipult and her husband, Ben, had four children, Clyde, Danny, Mary, Susan.  Howard Hastings and his wife, Josephine Holman Hastings, had five children, Harold, Charles, Paul, Dale, and Larry.  Ida Hastings Hempsmyer and her husband, Duane, had two children, Lois and Jerry.

First cousins, pictured above - left to right: Jerry Hempsmyer, Susan Sipult Bishop, Charles Hastings, Lois Hempsmyer Wheeler, Dale Hastings, Mary Sipult Brown, and Paul Hastings

First cousins and their families, pictured above - left to right: Jerry and Julie Hempsmyer, Karen Hempsmyer and husband, Jan Hastings, Johannah Hastings, Jessica Hastings Higgins, Walter Bishop, Mykayla Poynter, Susan Bishop, Phoebe Hendrickson, Stacee Hastings Hendrickson, Sarah Hendrickson, Gloria and Paul Hastings, Karen Hempsmyer's son, Mary Brown, Dale Hastings, Wyonna Hastings, Jordan Hastings, Charles Hastings, Dan and Pam Scott

After we all ate lunch together at the Home Town Buffet we all drove to Greenwood Cemetery and the Clearwater Cemetery to decorate the graves of family members and friends with flowers.

Below is at Greenwood Cemetery, near Duane and Ida Hempsmyer's graves.

Greenwood Cemetery - John B Behrns - Family Friend

JOHN B BEHRNS

KANSAS

PVT CO A 10 AMMO TRAIN

WORLD WAR I

OCT. 13, 1895 - JUNE 29, 1965

"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson

He was Grandma's (Dora) special friend.  He liked being around all of us.  He was at all the family gatherings.  He and Grandma liked fishing.  He gave me my first fishing pole.  He dressed up like Santa every year and came to our house on Christmas Eve.  He always had presents for everybody. ( I am sure Mom had probably wrapped them up and given to him before hand.)  After Santa left our house on Christmas Eve John and Grandma always showed up.  He and Grandma went to the Grange Hall dances in Bayneville, KS.  He had some friends who lived at Larned, KS and we went Pheasant hunting with him there a few times.  -Paul Hastings

Below is at the Clearwater Cemetery, near Howard and Jo Hastings, and Harold Hastings graves.

Clearwater Cemetery - Clifford Wayne Corr - Classmate and Friend

CLIFFORD WAYNE CORR

KANSAS

SGT BTRY C 16 ARTY 23 INF DIV

VIETNAM BSM-ARCOM-PH

OCT. 5, 1949 - MARCH 28, 1971

We don't have to turn to our history books for heroes.  They are all around us.  
-President Ronald Reagan, State of the Union Address, January 26th, 1982

We started school together in Kindergarten.  He was a good friend.  We would hang out and do things together.  We were in debate together, none of us knew how to do it.  He went to ESU when I did and we would do things together.  He was one of my groomsmen in our wedding.  Then he joined the Army after we got married.  Everybody was going to Vietnam.  He died there.  -Paul Hastings

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.  - John F. Kennedy, in his Inaugural Address, January 20th 1961

Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."  John 15:13