Registered users now totals 87

We now have 87 people registered on the Oswald reunion blog section of the reunion website.

If you go to the site: Oswaldreunion.com

Click on “Family news”

 

 

 

 

then scroll down to the lower right corner and click on “Log in”

 

 

 

It is a good idea to bookmark this page so you don’t have to hunt for it everytime.

You will see this page:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hover of “Posts” and click “Add New”

 

 

 

 

 

 

You will see this page

 

 

 

 

Add a title where it says “Enter title here”

Add content in the block under the menu

When finished, click “Publish” or “Submit for review”

Your post will go out as an email to all 87 people registered on the site and will automatically be published to the Oswald Reunion Facebook page.

Please encourage one another to post.  You can do that by commenting on the post or by adding a post of your own.

It is not difficult once you do one or two posts.

If you have any questions, get in touch with me.

 

 

 

 

 

one of my stories – the tailor

Betty asks that we all add to our family story. The story doesn’t have to be long.  It doesn’t have to be funny, It doesn’t have to recount a traumatic experience.  It is information about us that if we don’t write down, will be forgotten.   I think it’s a good idea so I’ll add one here.

In 1981 our family moved to Jamaica to work with Mennonite Central Committee.  I was to teach in a secondary school in Port Maria – a small town on the North coast.

We settled in to our home which was a duplex that we shared with a young Jamaican family.  About a month in, the neighbor across the back yard sent word asking me to come over.  W

e didn’t have a phone.  The neighbor was a tailor.  People would bring him cloth, he would measure them for what ever they needed and and a few days later there would be a new suit or what ever it was they needed.

it seems that one of his customers had purchased an item of clothing and made arrangements to pay for it over time.   Now there was a dispute over how much was left to pay.  They had prearranged the amount of each payment and when it was due.  The tailor thought there was more money due and the customer thought he was paid up.

I don’t remember the exact terms of the agreement. It was over 30 years ago.  I just remember being very uncomfortable and wondering why they thought I might be able to settle the dispute.  I asked the tailor to explain what he thought had transpired and I asked the customer to wait until the tailor was finished before he spoke.  The tailor had a ledger where he wrote down every payment the customer made.  When  the tailor was finished making his case, I asked the customer to speak and asked the tailor not to interrupt.

If I remember correctly, the customer remembered running into the tailor in town and making a p

artial payment.  Therein was the cause to the misunderstanding.   By letting the other talk without interruption, they each could hear what the other was trying to say and they were able to understand the cause of the misunderstanding.

You have to understand that we were up in the country where folks spoke patois. It’s English but until you get used to hearing it, it is difficult to understand.  It’s not like I was able to listen to each side of the story and then make a judgment on who was right.  I was able to get each of them to let the other speak and get each of them to really listen to what the other was saying.  They finally were able to come to an agreement and I was so glad to get out of there.

I’m sure there is a lesson there somewhere.

Tell Me a Story

Hello from the Peace River country in British Columbia, Canada
Now is spectacular beauty where we live – much moisture has given us lush green everywhere we look interspersed with patches of sickly yellowish green which will shortly be showing brilliant yellow as the canola crop matures. A sweet, almost overwhelming aroma, drifts to our nostrils. Eventually the blossoms will fade and farmers – (all things remaining equal) – will harvest a bumper crop of seed to be pressed into canola oil.
Are you like me, finally emptied my luggage, shook the Oregon beach sand into our garden, suitcase is back in the attic awaiting another trip – (maybe the J.Oswald reunion next year in Nebraska), reliving the memories of the 2018 Oregon Coast William and Mattie Oswald reunion and have settled back into the reality of our everyday life. But it can never go exactly back to what it was because the Oswald reunion experience was extraordinary. We enjoy each others company, uphold each other, our differences do not cause friction among us. Kudos to the Jantzi family for time and effort you put into providing an opportunity for us to gather, to catch up on what has happened in our lives since last we met. It is kind of amusing as I look around at us 1st cousins that we look and act very much like I remember our parents.
I don’t know much about our Grandparents William (Bill) and Mattie and Great Grandparents, Jacob O. and Margaretha, pretty much only the data that I have gleaned from obituaries, genealogy records, bits and pieces that I occasionally pick up from family members. I try to imagine and visualize them as babies, toddlers, pre-teens, young adults, married raising and supporting their families, their retirement years, what their life was like, the spaces where they lived and what was happening in their world and the larger world. They lived their lives made choices – some good-some not so good, made decisions – some good-some not so good. They were “earthen vessels,” imperfect and susceptible to cracking, but in spite of their imperfections the gift of God’s goodness shines through them and us as well. They did not choose me, nor me them, however they are in fact, our Grand and Great Grandparents. We are reflections of those who came before us. We are inextricably bound together for all eternity, and there is no law in the universe, no metamorphosis physical or spiritual, that can ever alter this inalienable truth. I have no memories of them, I don’t know if they ever met me but I know that they loved me and are waiting to greet me in heaven.
There are 6 generations in the William and Mattie Oswald family tree.
*we have each made a difference in the lives of the people we have come in contact with –
*we are contributing members of and have made an impact in the communities we live in, and –
*we are making this world a better place to live.

I think our Parents, Grandparents and Great Grandparents would be proud of us.

This is all for now. In about 6 weeks or 2 months from now I will make another contribution to the “Oswald Reunion” web site. Tell us your story – memories of the 2018 Oregon coast reunion. Look forward to from you.