CHAPTER 1
FOREWORD
I am dedicating this book to my grandchildren in the hope that someday they will read this and have an idea of what kind of people they came from and be proud of what we are and where we have been.
With divorce and remarriage creating either single parent or "multi-parent" families, kids often miss the closeness of the complete family unit we used to know in the "old days". They don't always know exactly who their family is or where they came from and more often than not, they don't care. A prime example is when we first moved to Austin, Texas we saw another Leibbrand in the phone directory. Since there are very few people with that particular spelling of our name, my husband Don contacted him. This particular gentleman had no idea where his parents came from, who his grandparents were and had no interest whatsoever in finding out about his past.
So I am writing this for my grandchildren Andrew, Nicholas and Ashley and for myself. I had a great life. I want to share it with them and the rest of the world. Hopefully some day they will read this and feel like they know their grandparents and perhaps the rest of the family.
I read an article once that contained this pertinent bit of information: "As annoying as memory lapses can be, there is a positive side. If our brains store all that we saw, heard or read, we'd be overwhelmed. Our ability to splice together bits of necessary information and throw out the rest is essential for sound thinking". So much has happened in my life that it would be impossible to remember everything in detail. That would make a very thick book, so all I can do is to relate the highlights.
This book may not be totally correct as far as dates are concerned. I don't think that is imminently important although I try to be as accurate as possible. However, I'd like to emphasize that the events related in this book are being written as I remember them. Many of the people I am writing about are dead. Others still living will have completely different versions of particular events. It is immensely entertaining to have our two sons give their renditions of some of the events in our life, but this is MY story...... and this is how I remember it.......
TIP A CANOE
Double date picnic to the Minnesota backwoods,
Four wet kids and a dumped canoe.
The girls were cold, they only brought a blanket,
The boys were wishing they'd brought two.
Tip a canoe and see what it gets you,
Two sons and a loving wife.
Your sentence for gambling,
Flipping for a blanket,
Got you Fifty Years To Life.
You made a career, chasin' oil for a living,
Poking holes in foreign grounds,
Crossing oceans on almost a daily basis,
But the biggest prize you ever found was by......
Tipping a canoe, just see what it got you!
A rocking start to a married life.
One you'd share with a girl named Missy,
Who'd spend it all as your wife.
Fifty years might seem like a long time,
Unless you are loving someone true,
And you are lucky enough to find a girl named Missy,
Who'd spend it all with you.
Tip a canoe and see what it gets you,
Two boys and a loving wife.
Your sentence for gambling,
Flipping for a blanket,
Got you the biggest win of your life.
This song was written by Robert M. Inks (Copyright 1999), who is the son of our long-time friends, Mickie and Chuck Inks. Bob called up Robin and asked him for some information on our courtship and Robin told him about us renting canoes on our first date. Bob wrote this song and sang it as a surprise at our 50th Anniversary party in December, 1999. He also sang it, per my request, at Don's Memorial in October of 2001. I have been so touched by this song, and would have loved to use Tip a Canoe as a name for my book, but Bob has the Copyright, so I settled on "Full Circle", a suggestion of Robin's.
I would also like to give thanks and kudos to my dear friend, Barbara Phillips, who is the only person who helped me with this book and she was my editor.
CHAPTER 2
PROLOGUE
THE BEGINNINGS
I was a lucky little girl. I had two parents who loved me and I loved them. That was enough for me although we were very poor. I also had two older brothers, Edward and Robert, whom I worshiped and tried to emulate. My father was a wonderful man: handsome, loving, compassionate, dedicated, religious and hard working. He also had an infectious laugh. People loved him...... I adored him. I have often said that he came closer to being a saint of anyone I have ever known.
Julian Walter Nave, my Dad, was the second youngest of a family of eleven children. His grandfather, William Franklin Nave, migrated to Southern Illinois in the middle to late 1840's. I remember a story Dad told me long ago about Will and his family that I have never forgotten. I have never been able to verify it, but nevertheless, it caught my fancy.
William came from England to America on a sailing vessel, leaving behind his pregnant wife Elizabeth and two children. When he was financially able, he sent for Elizabeth and the children. During their journey, also by sailing vessel, across the Atlantic, smallpox broke out. Several of the passengers died, including the two oldest Nave children, but the baby girl survived. Elizabeth also contacted smallpox.
At one point they gave her up for dead and had sewn her up in a canvas to throw her overboard when someone detected a movement in the canvas and checked it out. Elizabeth was still alive, and she recovered. When they reached New Orleans, Elizabeth and her little girl boarded a steamboat for the trip up the Mississippi to St. Louis. During the trip, the little girl disappeared, and Elizabeth searched for her frantically. Eventually, she found the child hidden under a shawl in a woman's lap. Elizabeth, a redhead with a temper to match proceeded to tear apart this woman as she retrieved her child.
When they finally arrived at William's doorstep, he did not recognize Elizabeth. Not only had she lost a lot of weight, but her face was scarred from the smallpox. However, by recalling events and intimate moments that only they could have shared, William realized that this indeed was his wife and little daughter. They finally settled in Equality, Illinois proceeded to have seven other offspring, including my grandfather, William Franklin Nave II, better known as Frank.
Frank married a lady of Pennsylvania Dutch heritage called Olivia Stallings in 1874. I don't remember much about Grandma Olivia, but photos depict her as a tiny woman who was almost as round as she was tall. She was four foot, eight inches tall. She died not long after we arrived back in the U.S. from India in 1935. Her one great vice was to go out on the porch after supper and smoke her long-stemmed white clay pipe. The family knew never to disturb her at that particular time. Grandpa was fairly tall for those times, rather thin and with a handlebar mustache.
I remember sitting on his lap and "anointing" his mustache with cheap perfume that I had received for Christmas. I didn't know him very well, but like all kids, I loved my Grandpa Nave.
I remember Dad telling me that at one time Grandpa was a fairly prosperous farmer, and an old family photo shows a lovely big house with lots of "gingerbread" decorations and Grandma, Grandpa and all eleven kids lined up in front....
