Surprised at a Church Connection to my Dad's Western Music Days

I have quite a collection of books on the topic of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as I want to continue to learn, to understand what's behind me and ahead of me and what that can mean in my life today. A few years ago I was able to weekly watch "Scripture Roundtable" on BYU-TV and became very fond of the comments and thoughts of Robert Millet. As I've delved into the many books he's written, I've felt like he's talking directly to ME and I easily understand his messages. So he's become one of my favorites.

If you've followed any of my blog posts, you know I'm easily impressed by "connections"! It amazes me when I learn of a family connection between people who may not have known it, or at least that I hadn't known about. 

I was looking up the ancestry of my favorite author Robert Millet recently and saw that his father, Lou Millet, was listed on the site Hillbilly-music.com. This site lists many of his recordings and hits from the 1950s. https://www.rocky-52.net/chanteursm/millet_lou.htm 

The reason I was so fascinated by this discovery is that my Dad, Ernest Margheim, is also listed on Hillbilly-Music.com. 

I feel like I have something more in common with Robert L. Millet now. Not only do we share the same religious beliefs, but our fathers were both involved in the western music of the "early" days of the 1930s-1950s. I just found this to be really cool! My dad would be fascinated to know this too!

Never Ignore a Prompting

If I still had my blog entitled "Promptings" in an active status, I'd publish this brief story on it. But I discontinued using it as I retired and turned my attention to other things. 

Today my husband and I made a trip to the neighboring town of Nampa, Idaho to shop for a tool shed. It's our habit to visit Nampa 2-3 times each month. I shop for $1-$2 books at the Deseret Industries Thrift Store while my husband ventures across the parking lot to the Lowe's store!

It was Lowe's where we were going to hopefully purchase a small tool shed, so my husband suggested I take a few minutes first and browse the books at 'DI'. I had been there recently and was not expecting to find a new book to buy. And I only shop for books related to the subject of my LDS Church. At this point in my life, I want to spend my reading time LEARNING and I am always happy to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our plan for life here on earth and life in the hereafter, etc. 

As my husband finished his quick visit to Lowe's (we went back later to buy the tool shed), he came into DI and stood by me to see if I was done shopping for books. At the same time I told him I hadn't found anything new, I noticed a colorful book that piqued my interest. It was titled "Why I'm a Mormon". Well, I KNOW why I'm a Mormon, but as I browsed through the Table of Contents I saw many popular names listed who had contributed to the book, and I became curious to read their reasons! So I put the book into my shopping basket.

Here's the back story: I have 678 religious-topic books in my home library. I got to the point where I couldn't remember if I had a book or not, as I shopped the books shelves in the store. So this Spring I typed up a list of the books in my library and saved it to Dropbox, so I could refer to it from my phone as I browsed the books in the store. 

This afternoon as I grabbed the above-pictured book off the shelf, my husband said "Are you sure you don't have it?" I replied "Oh no, I've never seen this book!!" But....I felt prompted at that moment to grab my phone, open the listing and double-check. MUCH to my surprise, it was listed! I already owned the book.

I was reminded to always listen to mental or heart-felt "Promptings". 

My Stepmother kept Marion and Mary in her Family

In March, 1951, Phyllis Jean Jones became the Stepmother of me, Mary Rebecca Margheim, and my twin brother, Marion Dennis Margheim. She's pictured here as she took us around the block on roller skates when we were 4 years old.

As I look into the genealogy research I've done, I'm always amazed when I find interesting Connections, or make fascinating Discoveries. I noticed today that Phyllis's paternal grandfather was Marion Malone Smith and her paternal grandmother was Mary Frances Hawkins. They're pictured below. 

So our "Mom" went from being the granddaughter of Marion and Mary, to being the step-mother of Marion and Mary! 

It's a somewhat insignificant realization, but one of those that I wish I could mention to her in person. 

Hidden in my Hometown Newspaper 1942

I'm grateful that my dad was a saver and that I had the privilege of cleaning out his house at the end of his life! I recently moved some of the items from his "archives" in my house and two copies of the Great Bend (Kansas) Daily Tribune from July, 1942 caught my eye. They are brittle and need to be handled with great care. It's my hope to send them to the Barton County (Kansas) Historical Society for permanent storage so others can enjoy their contents. 

Here's the reason Dad saved these copies. 

This photo from the July 9, 1942 edition of the Daily Tribune shows the men who were recently inducted into the Army. 

In this photo, my father is shown as being among the inductees. He's Ernest Margheim, 5th from left. It's interesting to note that this was printed in the July 9, 1942 edition. Exactly one year later, on July 9, 1943, Dad was home on Leave and married my mother, Ruby Flanders. This clipping is also from that edition of the Tribune: