First Crush

When I was little more than a toddler, My sister (Sandra Jantze Bremer) and I were relocated to "Family" in central Iowa for the duration of WW2. 

We left a typical suburban city life (Portland Oregon) for a very atypical rural life on a farm..with our paternal Grandparents..
A place without electricity...Paved... streets...outhouses and no indoor plumbing...
Lots and lots of animals, open fields, ponds, tall corn, windmills, silos ....and everywhere...
ADVENTURE. 
It was Paradise. 

We actually began our first-grade education in a one-room schoolhouse.

We lived with our Grand Parents, Elsie and HB Bremer..along with their two remaining children. My Aunt Lois and her older Brother.Dean Bremer, 
my Uncle Dean.

Dean was all of 18 at the time and because of him being needed to help on the farm..wasn't allowed to join the military..both of his older brothers already were serving...Vere Bremer and.. Ivan Maurice Bremer (Our paternal Father). 

Uncle Dean took over the job of parenting me...And Aunt Lois became my Sisters mentor for the next 3+ years. 

Actually...Aunt Lois was our very first school teacher at Spunky Ridge 1-8 one-room school.. just a mile east of the farm on a dusty, muddy, icy country road. 

Like I may have mentioned..It was Paradise.

Uncle Dean met and fell in love with Ruth from Garden Grove Iowa..the nearest town..Which brings me to the title of this message..

Recently Ruth passed on..and all these memories came flooding back to me.

From R-L are Ruth Bremer, Dean Bremer, and my Dad, Ivan Maurice Bremer "Chip"

My Uncle Dean loved Ruth...So naturally...So did I.

Deans youngest son, Jerry Bremer who still lives close to that farm tells the story of how..During church services..I would stand up facing backward on the pews and unashamedly flirt with Ruth instead of paying attention to the preacher. Some things never change.

Now for all my Bremer relatives in the Longview, Kelso area, I will post some pictures I recently received our relatives from IOWAY. 

Contact me on this Blog, Facebook or debre@teleport.com if you have any questions about the pictures. I will share whatever I know.  db  :)

A photo of my Mom and Dad when they were first a couple

The whole Family before Mike was born

My Dad and I flew to Iowa for Granddads funeral

l-r Vere, Emily,Granddad,Maurice, Grandma and Dean Bremer

Sis Sandra and Me

Grandma Elsie, Emily and Chip Bremer

Sandy and Me

Emily and Ivan Maurice "Chip" Bremer

Chip and Dean Bremer

Dorothy Leonard Bremer Pugh

Chip and Emily

My Mom Standing left behind her sister Marge Leonard

Siblings Sandy and DeWayne

Chip Bremer with Steve and Joe

L-R  Vere, Dean Grandma Elsie(sitting} and Chip Bremer

My Mom and Me

Me and Dean

Chip with Joe and Steve and Jean, Chips 2nd wife.

Mother of Joe and Steve

Sandy and DeWayne at the farm just before

coming back to Oregon.

My Dad

Joe and Steve Bremer, Early 60's

At Kalama

Granddad (Horace Boise Bremer) and uncle Dean

In shadow

The pony was probably Trigger

Sandy and her Dad, I M Bremer.

Requiem for Paradise


Most of the quaint little town of Paradise is gone now.
This is so sad for many many people. My brother and his wife raised a whole bunch of Bremers there.

Now it’s a burned out pile of trash and ...memories.

Only one of the many Bremers raised there..

remained there...

... Kurtis Bremer...

His parents have recently spent a few days at a Hampton Inn in Red Bluff..about a hundred miles away.

Kurtis’s home was spared so that is a good thing..one of the few happy things I can think of at the moment.

Perhaps it was taunting to..” the Gods that be”.. to name a city  “Paradise” and somehow these spiteful gods got even with us by burning it to the ground ..but...

I am sure she will soon rise again like the Phoenix and turn her other sassy cheek.

Go for it Paradise.

The picture was taken just last week by Cousin BillieKay at Mike and Phyllis’s Paradise home.

Kurtis, Phyllis and Jessie Bremer

Backyard patio

Cousin BillieKay visiting Mike and Phyllis in Paradise last week.

The path of the fire

Before and after shot of their home

The picture was taken 10 years ago. Mike had this done so I could park my RV when we visited

10 years ago...Mike and Phyllis rented a chauffeur and Limo and took us on a wine tour of surrounding vineyards for my 70th birthday.

Good times.

Things to feel good about.

Just a couple of years ago at Mike's home in Tigard 

"Let Sissy do it"

My Mantra when unsure of what 

could be underneath things.

Lucy and I...Siletz 

 Thanksgiving..35 years ago

Red Lion at Lloyd Center now a dead Memory.

 Christmas at Mike Mayfields home

Nice Bracelet... :)

Reflection

Reflections of an 80 year old man.

Most of it is a blur.

Especially the early years...as well as the middle.. and later years. And yesterday ... or even 3 hours ago.

The Witness in me isn’t always paying attention.

The fact that I am now 80 years old is surreal. I can’t quite wrap my mind around the significance of it ...and at the same time..the significance of it is wasted on my “nodding off” Witness SELF. Not the voice in my head, but whoever it is that witnesses that voice as just a chattering phenomenon .. Hopefully ......the “real” me.

Today I have spent 29,220 days in this plane of existence and possibly will be here a while longer...depending on the cards I have drawn..and will continue to draw during my sunset years. I am seriously working on 30,000 days at this point.

One would think..after surviving 29,220 days as a human..one would have garnered a stash of wisdom...

I have done that.

This is it:

PRACTICE KINDNESS..

Namaste translates as:  “The light in me recognizes the light in you.”

A 29,220 day old person...

aka: DeWayne Maurice Bremer DeWayneDeBremerDeDenturist.

Dewayne Bremer, July 30, 2018 at 01:14PM

This, That and the Other

My Friend Doug the Dog

With only 3 weeks left of my 40+year career closing in on me...I feel the need to acknowledge it...Here is my statement of truth, validating what is to ME.. a momentous occasion.

Yup!!

That happened.

Now it's time to move on.

What's next ??

Thank you for your attention.

DeWayneDeBremerDe formerDenturist.