Vignettes of an Ordinary Life: Nine Decades Bridging Two Centuries

By Marian Adams

Not everyone will become rich and famous! For many of us, life will be simple and humble, and perhaps just plain ordinary. But life does present opportunities for making decisions that can lead to happiness, satisfaction, and joy. Our personal stories can be deeply rewarding and filled with lessons even if we dont find riches and fame along the way. In Vignettes of an Ordinary Life, author Marian Adams invites us to share in her life spanning nine decades and bridging two centuries.

Marians ability and training in teaching propelled her economically and socially through a broad spectrum of experiences which transformed her seemingly ordinary life into an extraordinary one. Through opportunities such as directing church choirs and teaching Sunday school, she interacted with many different people and built strong relationships. Inspired by the Holy Spirit to write about the life and times in which she lived, decade by decade, Marian reflects on the political, financial, cultural, career, and family changes that influenced her otherwise ordinary life.

From her early years in the Roaring Twenties through the challenges of the Great Depression, World War II, and beyond, Marian paints a compelling picture of her ordinary life as she searches for the path God planned just for her, knowing that God leads His believers to accomplish the extraordinary according to His purpose.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Jan 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781480855984

Marian Adams

Marian Adams was born on July 15, 1926. She was privileged to have been reared in a family with strong convictions in faith, love of beauty, and values grounded in truth and morality. Marian has a Bachelor of Arts degree in music and earned a secondary teaching certificate. She has had many careers and interests: teaching, farming, bookkeeping, masonry, painting, composing and arranging music, writing prose and poetry, landscaping, and growing roses, while also being involved in politics, her faith, family, and community.

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Copyright © 2017 Marian Adams.

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Archway Publishing

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NIV: Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

ESV: Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-5597-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-5598-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017918087

Archway Publishing rev. date: 12/20/2017

CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: The Roaring Twenties

Birth of an Ordinary Life

Infancy to Age 3½

Chapter 2: The Tumultuous Thirties

The Great Depression

Celebrating Independence Day

Chapter 3: The Infamous Forties

Pearl Harbor and World War II

The One Who Did Not Return

Life in War and in Peace

Higher Education

The Candy Shop

Living on the Lake Washington Ship Canal

Beginning a Career

Social Life

Chapter 4: The Fast and Furious Fifties

Marriage and Moves

Landowners

Chapter 5: The Surprising Sixties

A Retirement

Birth of our Daughter, Stacy

Chapter 6: The Inextricable ’60s and ’70s

Unexpected Sabbatical

County Fair

A Pony and Horses

School Daze

Elder McClanahans

Chapter 7: Stability in the Seventies

Accommodating Change

Commentary on Public Education

Remodeling

Stacy Enters Omak High School

Deaths of My Father and Mother

Chapter 8: The Exciting Eighties

Patriotism and Politics

Panama Canal Cruise

Stacy and a College Degree

Stacy’s Marriage

The Thread of Politics

Chapter 9: Life in the Nineties

Cruising the Western Mediterranean

False Start

Second Start

A Dream Fulfilled

North Atlantic and Baltic Seas

Alaska

Chapter 10: The Biggest Move of All

Only One Buyer Needed

Temporary Living

Groundbreaking

Spring 1997

Moving Day

Flagstone

Christmas in the New House

Landscaping

Chapter 11: The Twenty-First Century

The Year of Our Lord 2000

Byron’s Death

Cruising Again

Eastern Mediterranean Freedom Cruise

The Rest of the Story

Colors of Canada and New England

Big Fiddle, Sydney, Nova Scotia

Celtic Kingdoms

Birthday at Sea

Chapter 12: The Current Decade

Cruising Down Under

Maintenance

Time to Think and to Pray

Chapter 13: Forever Strands of Life

Faith

Learning and Teaching

Music

Roses

Epilogue

About the Author

Other books by Marian Adams

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.

Ecc.3:1 (NIV)

PREFACE

In 2017 I needed a new project. While I was praying about it, I remembered the story about a man sitting on the roof of his house with floodwaters all around. A couple of rowboats with evacuees had offered assistance, but he dismissed them, telling them that he was praying for God to save him. You probably know the rest of the story. Suddenly I remembered that several weeks or months before, a very good friend had asked me, When are you going to write your memoirs? Was my friend’s suggestion a rowboat? Was it the answer to my prayer? Had I been too hasty in dismissing it? The book you are about to read answers these and other questions.

In a recent periodical, the following idea captured my attention: fame is easier if you’re rich. Actually, the narrative accompanying this thought was based on information about movie personalities, but I think it is meaningful for other artistic hopefuls as well. We need only look at the names of books currently advertised on TV that were written by, or about, the rich and famous.

Writing is certainly not a get-rich-quick scheme. I did not go into it with any illusions as to riches or fame. I fervently pray that readers will find what I write helpful, encouraging, or enjoyable, and perhaps cause them to think about the extraordinary things God has done with ordinary lives. Moses, Aaron, Esther, Mary, and Joseph come to mind.

Then the Holy Spirit gave me a title that played down the idea of a famous or wealthy person being the subject or author. Obviously, I am neither. The material would be autobiographical but the emphasis would be on the life and times in which this life was lived. Included are political, financial, cultural, career, and family changes that influenced this ordinary life. The reader could relate to the time frame paralleling the one in which he or she lives or has lived and perhaps now be stimulated to think about a personalized version of his/her own life experiences.

This book is the result of all my ruminating about my life of variety: Vignettes of an Ordinary Life: Nine Decades Bridging Two Centuries. I wish you happy reading with happy memories.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Kit Arbuckle, for stimulating my thought processes to begin moving with a simple, but not so simple, question: Marian, when will you write your memoirs? He also volunteered to read the manuscript before publication and offer his helpful comments. An expert with Word, Kit guided the preparation of documents to send to the publisher.

Norene Harvey, who faithfully edits and proofreads my work.

Pamela Rowland, for allowing the use of the author photograph.

Family and friends who encourage me along the way.

Stacy Storm, my daughter and close adviser, whose experience in sales and advertising is especially helpful. Stacy also assisted in designing the front cover.

The Holy Spirit for helping me recall and categorize the happenings of the nine decades bridging the two centuries in which I have lived.

And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Esther 4:14b

English Standard Version 2011

CHAPTER 1

The Roaring Twenties

Birth of an Ordinary Life

A new life came into the world on July 15, 1926, a baby girl, born to Glenn Lawrence and Nonnie Myers Adams. She was named Marian. Later on, when in elementary school, she asked her parents why she had only one name. Most of her friends had two. Mother’s answer was simple. You won’t need another name. When you marry, you will add a name to the two you now have. So there you have it. I am, and will always be, Marian Adams. When I married I became Marian Adams McClanahan. Legally, my name is Marian A. McClanahan. In my community I answer to Marian McClanahan. My pen name is my forever name, Marian Adams, which is much shorter.

Infancy to Age 3½

O bviously, I do not remember much about the Roaring Twenties. Snippets that I do recall are perhaps not so much remembrances as they are the result of having heard certain stories told often enough that they seem like my own memories. This first such happening probably falls into the latter category. I was apparently slow in learning to talk. After all, I didn’t have to. My brother, Bruce, who was two and one-half years my senior, and who Mother said was born talking, did enough of that for everyone. Whenever I tried to speak, he would rear back on his heels and give a roaring laugh. This shy little life would go back into her little private world of watching and listening to what others said and did. She learned a lot in that process. Bruce dominated the domestic scene until he went to school. Our parents handled him gently because he had frightening episodes of asthma, which can be life threatening.

I had eczema, which is not life threatening, but is irritating beyond anyone’s imagination. I do remember waking up at