Long before I came into this world,
there was this handsome fellow who had fallen in
love with this young lady. After much time
had elapsed, they married in January 1913.
By the end of this year, they had a daughter,
Donna, who was born on December 30, 1913. After
Donna was born, their family grew by leaps and
bounds until it reached a total of ten children
with eight of these being female and two being
male.
All of their children thrived with
the exception of one little girl, Mary Jane, who
died at the tender age of 2-1/2 from double
pneumonia. This loss was a terrible pill
for this lovely couple to swallow but in time,
they were able to deal with her
loss.
The children's parents worked long
and hard to provide for their offspring
especially during the Great Depression when
employment was very difficult to find.
They owned some chickens, hogs and a cow plus
nine hives of bees. To supplement their
food intake, the man of the house raised a huge
garden which the Mother prepared for their
upcoming winter. The older children picked
berries and fruits for preservation.
As the years sped along, the older siblings left
the nest for one reason or another; new jobs or
marriage.
During WW2, their younger son of
the two fought in the war in North Africa and
Italy in the Army. He finally made it back
home but had to go through quite an adjustment
to being a civilian.
During the forties, the Mother's
vision started failing and during this time, the
Father was killed when he was crushed between
the cars of a railroad train while he was
working for the railroad. It was a tough
time for the family but with their faith in God
that had always sustained them, they finally
made it through this misery.
The Mother kept the home fires
burning with the assistance of her special needs
daughter, Lorene but 27 yrs after her husband's
passing, God called her home, too. Over
the years, four more of their children followed
to the throne of grace.
On June 25, 2005, the remaining
siblings celebrated the lives of this lovely
couple, my parents, Ollie and Josephine Hoop
with a reunion of their descendants. This
reunion was held at Longs retreat in Latham,
Ohio www.longsretreat.com with
forty family and friends in attendance. I
have written a poem in honor of my parents which
I wrote for this occasion which I would like to
share with you.
Our
Dedication ~ Honoring Ollie and Josephine Hoop
She was a pretty young lass,
He was a strong handsome lad,
She was his
dream come true,
He was her knight in shining
armor ...
In January, 1913, they were
joined in Holy
Matrimony. In
December,
1913, they were blessed with a
daughter. Over the
years their
family
grew, keeping them busy as bees,
caring for their
brood.
In time
to come, they faced the Great Depression
but
with mutual
concerns and faith above all,
they endured life and
prospered as
they
saw wars come and be settled and saw
their son,
Paul, return home safely
from
WW2.
In this life, we all face
difficulties; losing
those we love to a
fairer
land than we know here ....... Giving
up to the
Lord, the children we
have
reared, from a little 2 year old, Mary Jane to
some as
adults, Dona, Doris, Glenn, and Anna
Marie.
Eventually, the sweet lovely
lady lost her vision.
In 1949,
while
coping with this loss, she lost her
knight. In
the face of such
adversity,
our strong lady kept the home fires
burning
with the aid of
our special sister, Lorene.
In 1976, our sweet lady joined her
knight and her
departed offsprings
in
Heaven. She is missed so much as was her
loving
knight but we carry on
as they
would wish their heirs to do.
Let us,
today, fondly remember the love of
this
great couple and
our siblings who have been
responsible for this
great Homecoming of
all
their descendants: Maxine Brown, Lorene
Hoop,
Paul Hoop, Charlene Ison and Norma
Liles..
Norma Lee (Hoop) Liles
?©
