A Wilson Dinner

When the Stanford job was finalized I had heard that this was the home of Uncle Eric’s folks.  I hadn’t given it much thought, with all the rush and activity of the wedding and the start of school.  One fall Sunday we were invited to the Wilsons for dinner.  Aunt Alma and Uncle Eric were there visiting, so we accepted and asked for the address.  We were told it was two houses up the street from our apartment, toward the school and on the opposite side. This was another “small world happening” that I ceased to be amazed by.  Aunt Alma and Uncle Eric were special relatives to me.  They always seemed in control of their lives and fun to be around.  We had a good visit before dinner and caught up on what their girls, Lenore and Marlene were doing.  Mr. Wilson had settled in Stanford as a young man and developed a farm where Eric helped as he grew older.  Winter wheat was the favored crop because of the short growing season.  Initial preparation of the land for farming included removal of many boulders strewn around the field.  These had been dropped by the prehistoric ice glacier as it receded to the north.  Early farmers hauled the boulders to the edge of their land and dumped them in the fence row.  Uncle Eric had wanted to teach, so combining his experience on the farm with that desire he found the compatible mix in the university extension services.  He was presently working for Montana State University at Bozeman.  He asked me what my long range plans were and if I ever considered getting into Ag education.  I shared my high school Ag experience, which I had enjoyed, with him, but indicated the Industrial Arts was more in line with my desire to create things.  At that point dinner was called.

It was a delicious meal, enjoyed by almost all.  When I glanced at Marie she looked uncomfortable and I had to excuse ourselves to take her back to the apartment.  I’m not sure what every one thought about our quick exit.  Our thanks were expressed as was regret we had to leave so suddenly.  There may have been speculation that Marie was pregnant.  I felt very sure that wasn’t the problem as we were taking measures to delay a couple years until we were more settled and could afford a baby.  However, it evolved that it was longer than that before we were able to have our first child

* Taken from "Which Road Should I Follow?, Volume 2, Roles and Responsibilities of an Educator", an autobiography by Edwin K. Hill.