111 - Point is, you gather the violets instead

Two friends and I walked his land, this afternoon, with Damon Elder.

He's nearly 90.  He lives on the same land his Great-grandfather settled in 1849, and can tell anyone who asks everything about every acre of it.

The homestead is about 30 minutes from here - just north of Spencer, Indiana.
 
His wife was Nan.  They were married 15 short years.  She died in 1959, and it just didn't occur to him to marry again.  "Have you heard.. how they say.. I believe that sometimes you're just a one-woman man?  Well.. when she died, it just.. it's.. well, that part of my life just ended.  And sure, it's a natural thing to re-marry, I suppose, but.. if you don't feel inclined, what's the point?"

When his daughter-in-law died, many years later, he gathered all the African violets from around the house that she and his son insisted would be built 'round' ...



That was 1987.  He still has them.