Here we are arriving in Lafayette Indiana today after a "layover" in Mansfiled, Ohio and a drive traversing a long stretch of flat geography. The Lafayette and West Lafayette areas are not only the home to Purdue University, but to the other branch of Terry's family tree - the Coopers. I found myself once again at a cemetery looking for burial plots (
grateful that I am on the top side of the ground). Unfortunately, the office was closed and there were no maps to locate the graves in quite a large Rest Haven Memorial Park (
aptly named). Of course, wouldn't you know, the office is closed until tomorrow - so we will return in the morning. Undaunted, we left to explore the streets of Lafayette and West Lafayette to find the former homes of Terry's grandparents - the Coopers and the Sprankles
(the latter eventually left PA and re-located to IN). Only one of the three homes was still standing, two of them torn down in the name of progress - one as an entry to an Interstate, the other lost to a commercial building. However, parts of their streets were still intact, so there was a chance to get the flavor of these old neighborhoods.
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| Terry Boilermaker |
One more stop was on Terry's agenda, and that was a trip to the campus of Purdue University where his dad had gotten his degree in pharmacy. Fortunately that is still there and is alive and thriving. We made the obligatory trip to the University Shop and Terry purchased some Boilermaker items to wear and a pennant to hang at home (not in the living room or the bed room).We then toured around the downtown searching out landmarks that Terry recalled from his childhood visits here.The county courthouse, a city park, the train station (any train-related building is a must) were among the treasures we found. As with many cities, the downtown area was almost vacant of people on this weekend which made it rather easy to navigate the streets.
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| The Wabash River |
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| Tippecanoe County Courthouse |
Even though we did not accomplish all that we planned, it was a good day and there is always tomorrow - we hope.
Here we are arriving in Lafayette Indiana today after a "layover" in Mansfiled, Ohio and a drive traversing a long stretch of flat geography. The Lafayette and West Lafayette areas are not only the home to Purdue University, but to the other branch of Terry's family tree - the Coopers. I found myself once again at a cemetery looking for burial plots (grateful that I am on the top side of the ground). Unfortunately, the office was closed and there were no maps to locate the graves in quite a large Rest Haven Memorial Park (aptly named). Of course, wouldn't you know, the office is closed until tomorrow - so we will return in the morning. Undaunted, we left to explore the streets of Lafayette and West Lafayette to find the former homes of Terry's grandparents - the Coopers and the Sprankles (the latter eventually left PA and re-located to IN). Only one of the three homes was still standing, two of them torn down in the name of progress - one as an entry to an Interstate, the other lost to a commercial building. However, parts of their streets were still intact, so there was a chance to get the flavor of these old neighborhoods.
So great to be able to go back to the neighborhood even though many things have changed. The memories are still there.
ReplyDeleteI have been putting off getting new glasses but I need to take care of that...I read that you bought a "peanut" and that you didn't want to hang it in the living room or bedroom. Went back and saw it was a PENNANT. :)