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<\/a>Phyllis Barnes<\/p><\/div>\n
My mother-in-law, Phyllis (McMillen) Barnes<\/strong> turned 95 this month.\u00a0 I\u2019ll do the math for you, she was born in 1926<\/strong> when the minimum wage was 33 cents<\/strong> an hour, a quart of milk was nine cents<\/strong> and a new Chevrolet cost $525<\/strong>.\u00a0 Marilyn Monroe<\/strong> was born this same year (somehow, I can\u2019t picture her at 95) and Queen Elizabeth II was also born that same year, 10 days later than Phyllis.\u00a0 We all gathered in Rochester, Minnesota<\/strong> to celebrate this matriarch’s birthday, the group included her three children, 9 grandchildren, two great grandchildren and two great great grandchildren.<\/p>\n Phyllis, our own royalty, was born in Lenora, Minnesota<\/strong> and was a rather large baby at birth at 11 pounds, today she\u2019s only 85 pounds \u2013 I\u2019d venture to say that most of us have put on more than 74 pounds during our lifetime.<\/p>\n Phyllis\u2019 mother, Petra, was one of three sisters<\/strong> in town that married three brothers<\/strong>!\u00a0 Obviously, the dating pool was a bit limited!<\/p>\n For her first eight years of education, she attended a 12-seat school house, then after graduating from Canton High School<\/strong>, in southern Minnesota, she attended \u2018Teacher\u2019s Training\u2019 and taught one year of \u2018Normal School\u2019 (I\u2019m not sure how that differed from Abnormal School).\u00a0 I asked her what grade she taught and she said, all of them!\u00a0 All the students were in the same classroom doing different levels of activities.<\/p>\n Model A Ford<\/p><\/div>\n In 1945, at the age of 19, she married Warren Barnes<\/strong> and they drove a Model A Ford to Novato<\/strong>, CA<\/strong> (My hometown!) and Warren joined the Army Air Force<\/strong> and was stationed at Hamilton Field.\u00a0 Not sure how long it took them to cross the country, or how many stops they made along the way, but they only had $75 in their pocket when they started the trip and $5 left when they got to Novato.<\/p>\n They returned to Minnesota and bought her parents\u2019 farm for $20,000 \u2013 paying $1,000 a year for 20 years (No interest!).\u00a0 The house had electricity, but no indoor plumbing<\/strong>, so they had an \u2018outhouse\u2019<\/strong>, which in the Minnesota winters was 25 yards too far from the house, but in the summer, it’s 25 yards too near. Phew!!\u00a0 Fresh water came from a pump next to the house, which among other things was used for the weekly bath on Saturday night, to make sure the kids were ready for church on Sunday morning.\u00a0 The three kids, Starlet, Dale <\/strong>and Linda<\/strong> were practicing environmentalism back then, as they all bathed separately, but in the same water.<\/p>\n 25 yds too far or 25 yds too close<\/p><\/div>\n With dairy cows needing milking twice a day – every day, they didn\u2019t have many opportunities to get too far from the farm, but they had a great life socializing with friends and family, bowling, dancing and playing cards.<\/strong><\/p>\n Today Phyllis enjoys seeing her extended family, aside from three children, she has a total of 11 grandkids, 28 great grandkids, 5 great, great grandkids<\/strong>, most of them living in Minnesota.\u00a0 She has two sons-in-law, Donnie Brummer and myself and when asked which one she likes best, she jokingly says, \u201cI don\u2019t like one any better than the other.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 So, we\u2019ve got that going for us!<\/p>\n Aside from having a good sense of humor, Phyllis is truly one of the sweetest people I know; in fact at our son Jeff\u2019s wedding in 2019 I said that Jeff reminded me of the two sweetest people I know, my dad and Phyllis.\u00a0 I did mention for that while Linda and I aren\u2019t particularly sweet, apparently we do carry that \u2018sweetness\u2019 gene.<\/strong> It\u2019s one of those things that skips a generation.<\/p>\n One of the biggest changes that Phyllis has seen in her lifetime is in technology; they got their first TV<\/strong> in the mid-50s; broadcasting didn\u2019t start until noon and went off at midnight or before.\u00a0 They had only two channels and Warren had to go outside to turn the antenna to go from one channel to the other (not exactly a remote control!).\u00a0 Today Phyllis is a real techie as she is very active on Facebook<\/strong> and reads from her iPad <\/strong>daily, and will often Face Time us. I hope I can be as sharp as her . . . next month!<\/p>\n Dale, Phyllis, Starlet, Linda<\/p><\/div>\n Her secret to a long life? She says, hard work<\/strong>, good attitude<\/strong> and great family<\/strong>.\u00a0 Long live the queen!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow My mother-in-law, Phyllis (McMillen) Barnes turned 95 this month.\u00a0 I\u2019ll do the math for you, she was born in 1926 when the minimum wage was 33 cents an hour, a quart of milk was nine cents and … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Model-A-300x180.jpg\")
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