A Big Dose of Nostalgia

 Guy Johnson, MHS 68, and I - MHS66 - posed outside of Lagomarcino's in downtown Moline, not far from the historic location of Melo Cream.

 I see Jeff Hall in the top row, first guy on the left.
I told Christina I wanted to go back in a time machine and say to Jane, next to Jeff, "You are going to marry the Boston Chief of Police!" - and similar improbable predictions that would happen.

Today I learned from Facebook that Guy was in the hospital on a respirator. And I heard from Patty Puck Hall, about how much she missed Jeff - both of them from Garfield Grade School, where my mother taught.

The walk to Garfield went by Guy's home, and we often went to school together, and read stacks of comics on Saturdays. My mother was a celebrity teacher, still talked about today, and my father was a famous donut shop owner. When he added peanut brittle and fudge, they were the best, too. 

Friends ask me to come back to Moline and re-start Melo Cream. I can understand. Today's donuts make me sick, they are so poorly made. My father made donuts from the best ingredients, which made him the quality expert before W. Edward Deming.

One Moline reunion met at Lago's, and I was ambushed for never taking Christina there on a date. I said, "Lago's came to US, to Melo Cream! I did not need to walk a few blocks for candy and treats."

I started this blog for family in 2010, because I did not know very much about how and where my parents grew up. I figured the scattered Jacksons might want to know. 

I doubt whether any relatives care about what has been recorded here in the last 11 years or so. Almost 400,000 views mean that quite a few others have stopped by. I enjoy or am saddened by the posts that appear on the left column for having more reads for the week. Obituaries appear again on the left column, but so do fun and famous moments and people I have known.  

I especially enjoy lining up the Golden Wedding Anniversaries separately as they developed - united on one page. I still do that when I know it is happening. Maybe a Jackson will notice one day.

The star of that page is Bonnie Bartlett, married to William Daniels in 1951. They are both alive and married 60 years! I used go by the Bartlett Insurance Agency when I was a young lad, never knowing it fostered a future star and record-setting celebrity marriage.

Mary Gail is our acrobatic and dance princess, who made it to Broadway. We saw her trying out her early performances at Garfield. 

On our last trip to Moline, we had two priorities - seeing Guy Johnson and Tobie McGriff. We also had the pleasure of dining with good friends at the reunion dinner, until the aging rock band began jamming and ruined all conversation. Everyone left the moment we were reminded - what the word cacophony means.

The newly lit bridge looks spectacular, but the John Baker Bridge honors the soldier who earned the Medal of Honor. We were in high school gym together. Yes, I would love to go back in time and say, "You will earn the Medal of Honor, the highest and rarest distinction."

More from the Lutheran Librarian

In all their discourses and writings, therefore, the prophets and apostles allude and refer to the Decalogue or Ten Commandments. From these Ten Commandments flow all the doctrines, and all the godly living of the saints: for there is no holiness or godliness of life or true religion, apart from the Ten Commandments: because they are the never-failing inexhaustible fountain of all wisdom, righteousness, and of all perfection in the saints. Nor is there any of the complaints uttered by the Prophets or Apostles, nor will you find any other in all their discourses, but that against false prophets, hypocrites and false teachers, who, disregarding, nay, totally despising and spitting upon, the true and highest worship of God, (which is that of the first Commandment, that requires faith and the fear of God,) teach their own human dreams, which have nothing whatever to do with the Decalogue, and do not at all belong to it.

From: Luther, Martin. A Manual on the Book of Psalms. Translated by Henry Cole. Lutheran Library 1837/2022. LutheranLibrary.org

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From the Lutheran Library and Its Librarian

 

Newsletter from The Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry

In This Issue

Church History For Young People by Peer Olsen Stromme The Lord's Prayer: A Devotional Study Based on Luther's Smaller Catechism by Charles Armand Miller An Order of Family Prayer - Jesus Our Table Guest by Emanuel Greenwald The Sermon on the Mount: A Practical Study by Matthias Loy Out of the Labyrinth: The Conversion of a Roman Catholic Priest by Leo Lehmann

Featured

Church History For Young People by Peer Olsen Stromme “The Christian Church is in reality as old as the world itself. It has existed ever since the creation of man; for there always have been true believers, who have done God’s will on earth, and who have gone to heaven when they died. And all these have been saved through faith in Christ. “The church history of the time before the coming of Christ is the history of the Jews, God’s chosen people, as recorded in the Old Testament. The true believers of that day were saved by faith in the Savior whom God had promised to send when he said: ‘The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent.’ They truly believed in Christ, and were members of his church; for it was true then, as now, that ‘there is no salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.'” – From the Introduction Level of Difficulty: Primer: No subject matter knowledge needed. Contents Foreword Introduction Part I. The Early Church The Apostles The Early Christian Martyrs Constantine The Great And Julian The Apostate The Religious Services And Customs Of The Early Church The Church Fathers Arianism And Athanasius Augustine And The Pelagian Controversy Monachism And Asceticism Part II. The Church During The Middle Ages The False Prophet Mohammed Christianity Victorious Throughout Europe Popery Superstitions And Heresies Of The Roman Church The Crusades The Monastic Orders The General Church Councils The Reformers Before The Reformation Part III. The Reformation and After The Church Reformation By Martin Luther Ulrich Zwingli And John Calvin The Early Struggles And Triumphs Of The Lutheran Church The Growth Of The Reformed Church The Jesuits Doctrinal Controversies In The Lutheran Church About Peer Stromme Peer Olsen Stromme was born September 15, 1856 in Winchester, Wisconsin to Norwegian immigrant parents. Stromme graduated from Luther College (Iowa), attended Concordia Theological Seminary, and was ordained a Lutheran minister in 1878. Stromme taught at St. Olaf College, and was editor of a Norwegian language paper in Chicago. Additionally he was the founding editor of the Norwegian language newspaper Dagbladet. He also translated books for the John Anderson Publishing Company in Chicago and the Lutheran Publishing House of Decorah, Iowa. Stromme fell asleep in he Lord on September 15, 1921. (Wikipedia, retrieved 2017-10-20.) Why this book? “It has seemed to me that a Compend of Church History, in handy form and in the English language, would fill a want among our Lutheran young people. For years I have therefore had it in my mind to prepare such a book, hoping that it might be read with interest and profit in the homes, and that it might be found useful in connection with the work done by our Young People’s Societies and our Sunday Schools. I may add that while the plan and arrangement of the book are my own, I have, of course, consulted other Church Histories, and made use of that which seemed best.” – Peer O. Stromme Download the eBook PDF EPUB - [Apple, Kobo and other devices] MOBI+AZW3 - [Kindle] If you request an EPUB or MOBI version, you can expect to receive it within a few hours. If you don't hear back by the next day, check your spam or junk mail folder. This is especially true for yahoo mail. You can also request a copy of this or any Lutheran Library e-book by sending an email with the title and format you'd like. Enjoy the book! Publication Information Lutheran Library edition first published: 2017-10-30 Updated: 2019-08-12 Copyright: CC BY 4.0

Luther's Book on the Psalms - A Far-Seeing Quotation

 Lutheran Librarian - Luther’s comments here on Psalm 12 are both historical and prescient.

“This is a prayer containing a heavy complaint against them, who, introduce human doctrines instead of the word of God, and who, afterwards, by various new traditions and forms of worship disturb the church, and fill all things with a white-wash show of religion, and with the outward daubing of Pharisaism and hypocrisy, so that wicked men and hypocrites reign on every side, as the last verse complains.

“For when human doctrines have once invaded the church, they go on to rage far and wide, and spread in all directions like a cancer; there is no end to their corruption and destructive influence; they take possession of all things and wonderfully vex and torment consciences: so that the number of the true saints and of those that truly fear God is few and small indeed: of this the infinite variety of papistical hypocrisy affords a manifest example.

From: Luther, Martin. A Manual on the Book of Psalms. Translated by Henry Cole. Lutheran Library 1837/2022. LutheranLibrary.org