Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $9.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Nessie
    Nessie
    Nessie
    Ebook75 pages1 hour

    Nessie

    By Louise Langford

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    ‘Nessie’ is a compilation of memoirs of the life of a truly remarkable woman, totally undauntable in her convictions, a born leader, and a genuine friend. Painting scenes born of union strikes and personal loss to unique neighbors, ‘Nessie” offers a strong insight to rural life during the Great Depression, and the following war and post-war years.
    These most memorable times of my mother were penned as seen through my eyes, from the time I can remember until her death in 1999. Nessie was a force—a happy force—as these stories depict, in protecting family and friends alike, and a tribute to women everywhere.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherXlibris US
    Release dateDec 20, 2020
    ISBN9781664149236
    Nessie
    Author

    Louise Langford

    A native of Montana, Louise raised her family in Lewistown, where she worked as a newspaperwoman for the Lewistown News Argus and, later, a dispatcher for the local sheriff’s department. After the death of her husband, she volunteered for one year as a teacher-missionary to Honduras. Moved by the great need for both education and medical help in this desperate third-world culture, she spent the next seventeen years in Central America, teaching English, working with the medical brigades—especially the children—and learning to survive in a world so very different from her own. Now back in Montana, she lives in a retirement apartment in Lewistown and enjoys her family. She has given presentations of her work in Honduras before many civic and church groups and works as a volunteer at the local hospital and the Center for the Aged.

    Related to Nessie

    Related ebooks

    Relationships For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A Southern Christmas

      Nov 1, 2023

      A Southern Christmas
      7 min read

    • Article

      Camouflage

      Jun 1, 2020

      Camouflage
      9 min read

    • Article

      Little House

      Jun 5, 2023

      On Monday nights our mother made popcorn and served it to us in mugs with milk poured over. My younger sister and I carried our mugs into the family room and ate the popcorn with spoons, like cereal. We were five and seven. Until we were allowed to s

      21 min read

    • Article

      Mummy, I Hardly Knew You

      Oct 20, 2021

      Mummy, I Hardly Knew You
      7 min read

    • Article

      When I Say Goodbye

      May 31, 2018

      When I Say Goodbye
      16 min read

    • Article

      A Lifetime Of Memories

      Jul 13, 2021

      A Lifetime Of Memories
      2 min read

    • Article

      What the Tornado Gave Us

      Jul 1, 2022

      In part 1, Rosica tells the story of how she and her family moved from Mexico to North Carolina to join her father, who works as a roofer and has been sending home money. Adjusting to a new school where they didn’t know the language was easier on her

      9 min read

    • Article

      Always Someone Leaving

      Jul 6, 2023

      Always Someone Leaving
      5 min read

    • Article

      Home Bound

      May 18, 2020

      Home Bound
      6 min read

    • Article

      Mirror Mirror On The Wall

      Oct 5, 2023

      Mirror Mirror On The Wall
      10 min read

    • Article

      Red Beans and Life

      Sep 1, 2022

      Red Beans and Life
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Loving Quilt

      Dec 7, 2021

      In my memory I often travel back to southeastern Kentucky and my childhood. Our family was close and loving. We played and worked together. Many winter nights we spent helping my mother, Delcian Hall-Swanson, quilt. In those days, making quilts was a

      2 min read

    • Article

      Tante’s Tales

      Oct 5, 2021

      Tante’s Tales
      3 min read

    • Article

      Projections of Life

      Jun 1, 2023

      Projections of Life
      14 min read

    • Article

      My Rountry Rhildhood

      Jul 16, 2020

      Heather is an acclaimed writer whose novels include The Museum of Modern Love and most recently Bruny. She grew up in Blackmans Bay, Tasmania. “My parents built the first house on what was called the ‘new subdivision’ at the southern end of Blackmans

      5 min read

    • Article

      Snow Angel Mittens

      Nov 1, 2021

      THE WINTER OF 1933. Some remember that time as the depths of the Great Depression. But I remember it for something else. Life, as we knew it, had ground to a halt in our small town in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. When the bank failed,

      7 min read

    • Article

      Home Is Away

      Oct 12, 2020

      As far back as the mists surrounding my memories will allow me to pierce, there has been an annual migration. The Mkeles and Socikwas (on my mother’s side of the family) from every corner of the country would gravitate towards Mthatha in the Eastern

      2 min read

    • Article

      Good Old Fashioned Guy

      Oct 1, 2024

      Good Old Fashioned Guy
      5 min read

    • Article

      Standing Strong In A Storm

      Dec 28, 2023

      Standing Strong In A Storm
      9 min read

    • Article

      My Country Childhood

      May 15, 2019

      My Country Childhood
      5 min read

    • Article

      Like Mother, Like Daughter

      Apr 20, 2022

      Like Mother, Like Daughter
      8 min read

    • Article

      Lost & found

      Jun 13, 2024

      Lost & found
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Ones We Sent Away

      Aug 7, 2023

      The Ones We Sent Away
      47 min read

    • Article

      Our forgotten TREASURES

      Jul 7, 2021

      Our forgotten TREASURES
      4 min read

    • Article

      For the Union Dead

      Apr 6, 2020

      For the Union Dead
      17 min read

    • Article

      Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep…

      Apr 14, 2023

      Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep…
      3 min read

    • Article

      A House Called Carmen

      Sep 25, 2017

      WORDS MAXINE CASE “ALL HOUSES SHOULD HAVE A NAME,” MA SAID. THE NAME OF HER HOUSE WAS CARNEN. Though most people used the street address, Ma and I knew the true name of the house. “Is it a secret, then, Ma?”I’d ask. “No, my girl,” Ma would answer. “P

      3 min read

    • Article

      White Paper Family

      Aug 11, 2019

      White Paper Family
      9 min read

    • Article

      My Country Childhood

      Sep 4, 2019

      AUTHOR AND FORMER executive director of the Australian Writers Guild, Angela Wales, 71, moved from Bondi in Sydney to Walcha in the Northern Tablelands of NSW when she was five years old. Angela’s father, Bob, was to take over a struggling sheep prop

      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Nessie

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Nessie - Louise Langford

      Copyright © 2021 by Louise Langford.

      Copyright Registration Number: 1-9908260401

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

      Rev. date: 12/19/2020

      Xlibris

      844-714-8691

      www.Xlibris.com

      823540

      CONTENTS

      Author’s Note

      I

      II

      III

      IV

      V

      VI

      VII

      VIII

      To the memory of my Mother, Nessie—much loved.

      AUTHOR’S NOTE

      Dear family:

      I am eighty-eight years old at this writing. I now live in another world—one of computers and social media. And while I appreciate my cellphone, I do so miss the sounds and reality of a world long disappeared.

      I wrote this because I wanted you all to know what a most remarkable woman my mother (your grandmother, great grandmother, etc.) was, and also the wisdom and strength of the man who supported her and loved us all—my father.

      There were many stories, but I chose these few to try to share with you another time—another era—that of Nessie.

      I did change six names, mainly to protect families, however all the incidents stated here are real; so real.

      I love you all, and hope you enjoy these glimpses into my early life, and that of my Mother, Nessie. I do see bits of her—little traits—in each one of you.

      Love,

      Louise - mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

      I

      Her name was Nessie, and she was born in 1906—the year of the horse. The world knew her and my father as Nessie and Beecher. They were married in 1930 and survived the great depression; my mother with a determination that would be her hallmark in life.

      Those were the days of one work dress and one good dress; homemade doll clothes from Santa Claus; aprons to keep your clothes clean; the old crank wall telephones, and operators like Mrs. Cram who knew all the news, where everyone was, and connected you by names as well as numbers; of two and five cent Hershey Bars; 40-mph speed limits, and rumble seats; of running to be the first to stand in front of the wall heater on cold mornings; and ‘Mairzy Doats and Doazy Doats.’

      Nessie was always happy, always had a smile, and a laugh—a beautiful, full, musical laugh that traveled upward with an infectious lilt and reached out and touched people. She laughed a lot—that was Nessie. A pretty woman of average height and build, her dark hair was medium-short and curled—held back with a thin band of white elastic, and she wore rimless glasses. She held a fascination for the Chinese calendar and readily pointed out that she was born in the year of the horse—active, animated and energetic.

      We ate a lot of Campbell’s Soup, or eggs. Both were pretty easy and quick, as mother was very busy with her news, Girl Scouts, Brownies, 4-H, church, Eastern Star, and bridge, among other things. Daddy would always joke and say he’d have died if it hadn’t been for eggs, and she would say, Now, Beecher.

      The importance of the situation was reflected in how she said Beecher: BEE-cher, was like a gentle admonition; Bee-CHER, a tickle; BEE-CHER, a mouse; and a quiet Beecher, serious talk. When I was called my full name, Beecher Louise, it meant I had trouble.

      There was always an apron, usually large enough to cover the front of her everyday dress, and it had to have a pocket for her hanky. It tied in back so that it could easily be whipped off if there was a knock at the door. Mother’s apron—how many times we ran towards that apron for comfort or security. Yet, it was how she used it that I remember so vividly. When she sensed a problem, or her emotions began to kick in, I would see her hands slide down the sides of her apron, then under it, and quietly lift it to her face, over her mouth. When her heart was touched her apron came up.

      Mother’s relaxation was the Bridge Club. This was the early 40’s. The club was the mainstay for many of these women, the night they could forget worries and work, if only for three hours. The house was cleaned. There was fancy food. The good things were brought out to be used. Oh, how we loved it when she had the ladies at our house. There was Sue, Ann, Verna, Alma, Erlice, Dunny, and Edna, among others, all laughing and happy, and saying crazy sounding things:

      Two spades.

      Nessie, did you say two spades?

      Oh, girls, I don’t know what to say!

      That’s a rubber now, girls!

      Nessie, really! giggle, giggle.

      Erlice, you’ve cut off our leg!

      My little sister, Diann, and I would lie in bed listening to every word we could hear. Sometimes, when it was gossip, they would talk real low and serious, but pretty soon they’d be laughing again.

      * * * * * *

      Mother didn’t much like her middle name, Gertrude. Nana, my maternal grandmother, loved it. She named my mother Nessie, after herself, and Gertrude, after a favorite aunt, because she thought Trudy would be such a lovely nickname. Mother simply said, Why would you name me that? She named me Beecher Louise, after my father, and my sister Nessie Diann, after herself.

      Mother adored her father, and was inspired by his love of music and his work with bands, both private and in the

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1