A trip to Wartburg...

I've decided since Grandma hasn't written for a while, I would put an entry in her blog for her! I have lots of shared memories with Grandma Neal and heard many of her good stories and her reminiscing.

Last Sunday, I had the privilege of taking Grandma with me to the Wartburg College Choir Alum reunion concert. For Iowa, it was an exceptionally nice afternoon in October. We were very thankful for that!! As we waited for the concert to begin, I got to enjoy Grandma's company and I thought it would be a good bit of history to share on her blog for her.

After Grandma graduated from high school, she began taking classes at Wartburg College in Waverly. Wartburg has grown a great deal in recent years but back in 1939 and 1940 when Grandma was there, it was pretty small and was jokingly referred to as 'Wartburg High' she recalls. Grandma was a member of the Wartburg Choir at that time, directed by Dr. Edwin Liemohn.

At the reunion concert they sang a few of Dr. Liemohn's noteworthy songs. Even though it was 72 years ago, Grandma still remembered the songs well enough to hum along. How awesome.

Since I've been working on the Wartburg campus this month I got to be a part of 'Outfly' at Wartburg this year. Grandma remembers this too from her time at Wartburg. (For those of you not familiar 'Outfly' at Wartburg it is an annual tradition where the student body 'plans' an 'unplanned' day off from school. Other students don't know exactly when it will be until early in the morning on the day of when the word is spread in the hallways of the dorms.) Lots of fun activities go on during this day and Grandma remembers outings to parks and a full day of fun.

I always enjoy hearing Grandma's stories. But, I have to say, that maybe one of the most fascinating things for me is how Grandma always seems to stay so 'up' on the times and technology. When we returned to her apartment after the concert, I had to fix her computer because she was having trouble with Facebook. Now, while this makes Grandma utterly disgusted (when the computer acts up) when I tell my friends and coworkers that my 92 year old grandmother is on Facebook...it shocks them! What is more, she is most frustrated because she can't get her 'YOUTUBE' link to work from her email that plays a video for her through Facebook. Amazing! Luckily it is up and working again and Grandma is back in touch with friends and family (and able to watch her favorite Morman Tabernacle Choir program on YOUTUBE)!

It's getting difficult for Grandma to type for her blog due to the arthritis in her fingers but if anyone would like to contribute a story or a memory with Grandma, please email it to me at trisheesandwich@aol.com. I'm sure she would enjoy reading it too!