Saturday's For Catch-Up...Grandpa Jim's, Anyway

OK, so I'm stalling a little. I have about five comments patiently waiting in the "in file," but I don't dare touch them until I know more about how to touch them!
Did any of you happen to catch a movie in the mid-1980's (for TV) called "Hard Knox?" The reason I ask is that the film's setting was a small town, Mount Carroll, in NW Illinois. I have some recollections of MC, because when I was small I spent a week or so near there several summers, staying at a cousin's farm. There were several other kids usually in attendance, mostly the cousin's grandchildren. The oldest was a boy of about 16, a foster child. Because he was old enough to drive, he would take us all into MC for a movie (always a western) and for ice cream... a PINT each! On the outskirts of MC stood several large, red-brick buildings, maybe three or four stories tall and a campus for The Frances Shimer College (for women.)
FSC has a little niche in my family's history, because my Grandfather was, reportedly, the only male who ever earned credit from this girl's school. The explanation is that Grandpa kept the fires going in the buildings and was given credit for some occasional courses he sat in on. How I wish he had left some memoirs of those days! Was he treated with respect? Probably. (We're talking about last half of 1800's.) Did he engage in banter with the co-eds? Which courses did he take? I never knew Grandpa because of the generation gap. I was a late child of a late child, and as so often happens, there is a big generational gap that results. As a matter of fact, I never knew a single grandparent. I saw my maternal Grandfather once, on his death bed, when I was probably six or seven. All I recall is that (A) he must have been the only ancestor who was tall, and (B) his feet stuck out from under the covers because beds were shorter back then. That Grandpa's name was "mud" in our house, because he sold his family! Yes, my Mom was an indentured servant, working on a neighbor's farm until sixteen. Dad would get upset if anybody brought up his father-in-law's name. But that's another long story for later. By the way, Mom never spoke ill of her father, and developed a wonderful bond with another girl working at that farm. She always called her "Aunt Della," for our benefit, and they corresponded for many years.
My Jean had seven aunts, one of whom, "Aunt Ruth," is the subject of numerous, humorous, tales. She even made a joke about her leg...the one that was amputated when she was about 93!
Another long story. Well, I've "gone on" long enough this morning. If you read enough memoirs, you soon develop a different slant on the passage of time, know that? (My Dad claimed to have seen Jesse James' brother Frank selling papers on the street in Kansas City!) Here I am, in 2008 communicating with people about events that took place over a hundred and twenty years ago.
Read a memoir. Write a memoir. Share a memoir. You'll be glad you did!