One of the most sensational court cases in Visalia's history

Okay, it starts like this....
My maternal Great Grandmother's sister, Laura Slinkard:
(photo probably taken 1894)



And the man she wanted to marry, Lee Jackson Danner:
 But he didn't want to marry her, so she took him to court and won! 


Before you read the story below, I want to preface it with this: Nearly 5 years ago in one of my 
Mom's scrapbooks I found an article from our newspaper written in 1991, about this story. That was
the first I'd ever heard of it. So that was 2013, and I contacted the author to thank him, also telling
him that I was related to Laura Slinkard. Fast forward 4 1/2 years...About 2 months ago, the author,
Terry Ommen, contacted me again letting me know he had found some new info on the case and that
he was in the process of writing an updated version of this story for Visalia's magazine, Lifestyle.
That issue came out last week, and he graciously sent me a copy, which I was excited to read!
 


Here it is. 
I broke it down in parts hoping to make it easier to read:






This is baby Delbert. 
I'm assuming it was taken on his parents' wedding day 
since he is holding flowers.
Not such an unusual occurrence, 
until I remind myself this was 1894!



After Laura died, here is her husband Lee 
surrounded by their children.

Left to rt: Guinevere Inez Danner (3 Jun 1900); Delbert Irwin Danner ( 2 Apr 1894); Lee Jackson Danner (26 Jun 1864); Lorita Alma Danner (12 Feb 1896); 
Hazel Irene Danner (2 Jun 1898)

(Lorita had a twin sister who either died at birth or early on)

If I could just find Laura Slinkard's exact death date, 
I could probably get a death certificate for her. 
All I know is she died in 1903 at the age of 29. 

I don't see how it could have been a happy marriage. 

I also feel the need to add as a side note:
Noticing from family records, Laura's Mom died when she was 14, and her Dad died the following 
year when she was 15. That's a lot of trauma for a young girl. Right in the middle of this period of 
time, along comes this man 10 years older than her who gives her attention. Laura's younger siblings 
went to live with her older sister (my great grandmother). 
Laura perhaps was very poor and on her own, and very young.

I wish I knew more. 




Jill T

There was this girl in high school and I can't even remember her 
name now, but in her yearbook I remember writing to her,  "You 
are the most excitable person I know!" 

But that was years before I met Jill Thompson. She even beat out 
my friend in high school, for being the most excitable and 
exuberant person I ever knew. 

Jill T and I were not best friends by any means, but we were close 
in that I was completely relaxed around her and we could talk and 
talk. But then, I think most people who knew Jill T felt this way. 

She just had that golden something. That smile. Those continual 
inquisitive eyes. She loved people. She had an insatiable interest in 
everyone it seemed. She wanted to know what they were all doing, 
and who they were doing it with. 

I have many memories of her, but this one sums up her personality 
pretty well I think...

It was about 2009. She dropped by the house one afternoon to give 
me something. Can't remember what it was but we were both 
counselors in our Young Women's organization in our ward, so it 
probably had something to do with that. 

She gave it to me, and then while she was still standing on the 
porch I said, "We were just having lunch. Would you like to join 
us?"

Most people would have said, "Oh no, that's okay. I've gotta get 
going." That's what I would've said.

But not Jill T. Without even a pause she said, 
"Well I AM hungry!" 

She walked right in, sat down at the table and right away asked for 
the mayo. And then the chips. 

She had never met Den's mom who was visiting us at the time, but 
made no difference to her. Made herself right at home. 


She could make me laugh, just by being herself. 

She called me Jilly, so I called her Jilly. 

She was so full of life that even at her funeral yesterday I kept 
expecting to see her. To hear her voice. 

A few more memories...

 Jill T's mom, and my Dad and Susan were both living at the same 
facility for awhile. Jill T's mom broke her foot so for awhile Jill 
was living there with her to help out. 

So one day I saw Jill T there and asked how she liked it. She said 
right back to me, "It's like living on a dang cruise ship!" 



Mark and Jill T at my niece Natalie's wedding in Pismo. 


I want to save this last text message I got from her. Just because it's 
from her. A month and 1 day later, she was gone.

It brings us all peace to know she is indeed all better now. 




Oh the sweetness of it...


I think Dennis, like many good Dads, 
still sees his daughters like this:

So when one of them comes to visit us,
he's quite happy to have his little girl right next to him.
We both are.


This time Kim brought her daughter, Emily, with her. 
It was SO fun.

Loved having them with us!




So thankful we got to see Emily one more time before 
her 18 month mission begins in 2 weeks. 


One of my favorite parts of our visit, was looking back through old 
videos I had of Emily's childhood. 



And while we were at it, they showed me a blog Kim follows so we 
got to watch a live gender reveal of quintuplets together!
I kept thinking, "Live? They're going to do this live?"



We even talked about how we are SO thankful 
Emily survived THIS a year ago.



One of the bonuses of this trip, was finding out that our ward 
Young Mens' President, served a mission in the very one Emily is 
going to....Cape Verde Praia 



While Emily asked her questions to James, Kim got reunited with 
Jenni, her roommate from her Utah State days. 
(who also just happens to be in our ward)


Jenni, Kim, and Emily



I'm looking forward to following Emily's mission. 
As I continue to look back to her childhood....

Emily's in the middle with cousins Katie and Jessica. 
(Jessica will be home from her mission in Las Vegas in March!)

I recorded this back in 2008 
when we got to have all 3 girls for over a week.

The more we do, the easier it gets?

29 years ago today my first husband, Bill, was shot up 
numerous times in an armed robbery. I can't even remember 
how many bullets anymore. 17? 19? And it was hard to count 
since some were exit wounds. 

I remember the first day he came home from the hospital 

after spending 3 weeks there. It took me THREE hours to 
dress all his wounds...and I was suppose to do this 3 times a 
day! 

How in the world was I going to manage that?! This 
even included my Mom coming over to our watch 3 year old 
Tyler because there was no way I could keep everything 
sterile with him in the room.

But over the course of several days I got the process down to 

45 minutes a time. That was doable. 

As my father use to say through out his life, "That which we 

persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself 
has changed, but our ability to do so has increased." (or 
something like that). 

Those weren't my Dad's words but they always will be to me. 

He said them often to us growing up. And it's how he lived his 
life. (I would say it's still how he lives his life, but I don't think 
the task of living in a wheel chair ever gets easier.)


This picture of Tyler and McKay was taken 
close to that period of time 29 years ago. 



I can still picture these two little guys riding the elevator with me 
up to the 6th floor of the hospital wearing their little red coats. 

They would both scramble to push all the buttons to make the 
elevator go faster, so excited to visit their Daddy.
 But thankfully 
too young to understand his severe suffering back then.

Right here I wish I had a picture of Bill 
coaching Logan's little league, from his walker 
just a month after coming home from the hospital. 

And on a lighter note. I bought those 2 little red coats at a garage sale, 
where I got most all my sons' clothing back then. 
I'm kind of proud of that. 


Scarlett has a message for us.


Here's our 4 year old granddaughter Scarlett teaching us 
about Martin Luther King Day.


 


Alexa and Leo



Leo kept asking Alexa to play this certain song 
(I can't remember the name of it now)

The first time or two, Alexa played it just fine, and Leo was happy.

Then, I think Leo was not as careful pronouncing it, or he would 
pause too long between words, so with each subsequent try Alexa 
continued to say, "I don't know that one."


Leo was getting so frustrated with Alexa, but he kept on asking. 


Time after time...becoming even louder with his requests.


And Alexa kept saying each time he would ask, 
"I don't know that one."


Finally in the background, Leo's 6 year old brother Rich said to me 
very quietly, "Alexa is just saying that because she's getting 
tired of singing that song to Leo." 

That makes me laugh every time I think about it.


Even Juliet made her requests...


She would run up to her and say, "Es-sa"
Can't leave the little sister out.


My Patch Test



Last week I had allergy patch testing done on my back 
at my dermatologist's office. 



Lovely as it is.


Then I returned 48 hours to get the first reading. 

 The nurse said most everyone who takes this test 
comes back with negative results. 

She took off the patches, looked my back over and announced, 
"I see something!" 


It showed positive for gold.
(the other spot to the lower right is hair dye and not a reaction)


I haven't been able to wear my wedding rings for more than a day 
or two at a time without breaking out for the past 40 years. 
Okay, not much news there. 


But then another 48 hours after that, I showed positive for Nickel.


I thought at first, that doesn't sound too bad...

Until the Dr walked in and handed me a list 
of all the things Nickel is in:

keys
coins
door knobs
cell phone
eyeglasses
frying pans
scissors
jewelry
electronics
metal chairs
metal lamps
magnets
chrome and brass
watchbands
hair ornaments
batteries
pigments
snaps, buttons, and zippers
hand tools
eyeshadow
knitting needles



For now, he told me not to wear any jewelry at all 
(Yes, even the cheap stuff, which he said always has nickel in it.) 
In 2 weeks if my eye eczema clears up,
 then he'll say it's mainly the jewelry. 

I said, but I only wear jewelry on Sundays! That can't be it. 
He said once a week is enough to have a problem 
for up to 8 weeks.

By the way, I found out the safest jewelry for anyone is sterling 
silver. He said hardly anyone is allergic to that. But I have no 
sterling silver anything.

Meanwhile, he told me about this little kit I should buy 
so I can test all the nickel suspects in my house. 

If the kit works I will be back on here with the results.
You may have a nickel allergy too. 10-20% of the population does.
Allergies do run in families. 


We needed Leo's help

We waited 2 months for Leo to come to Clovis 
so he could help us with our clock. 

It had been an hour slow since 
October when the time changed.

Since I couldn't climb up there to change it, 
I thought our 4 year old Leo would be perfect for the job. 

He hoisted himself up there with no problem.


"This one Grandma Honey? 
This is the clock you want me to fix?"


"Reach up there Leo. You can do it!"




Oh that proud I can-do-it face!


I then set the clock back an hour. 


The harder part was for Leo to get the clock 
back on the nail just right.



I thought he might not be able to do this part, 
but he got it on the first try!

Success! Thank you Leo!

So I went to find Grandpa Dennis so he could come see 
what Leo did for us!

We came back to find this.


Leo was just so proud of himself 
he could not leave well enough alone.


So then it became a game.


That's our Leo!

Juliet

At bookclub on Thursday, my friend Kristi asked me....

"Your granddaughter, Juliet's her name, right? I saw her at 
church. Uh.... was she wearing part of a spider man costume on 
her head?"

"Yep, that was our Juliet." 

"And was that her saying AMEN real loud after the prayer? 
She must be two, right?"

"Almost!"

"I could tell" 

Kristi really pays attention. 
But then, some things one cannot miss. 

Christmas Eve morning all ready for church.

She's "borrowing" it from her cousin Jonas.

She wore it the night before to Cafe Rio.


And she slept in it. 

This is a girl who knows what she wants.
I miss you Jubee.
Vancouver is so far away.

Do you know what my Mom would say about this?
She would say, 
"Karen and Tyler are really good parents to let Juliet be a 2 year old (or almost)." 




She couldn't explain her head to me.

While looking on the computer today, sometime around noon, I 
noticed the main CNN story was the horrific weather in 
Massachusetts. 

That's where McKay and McKenna live.

Something about a bomb cyclone and blizzard conditions.

That's when I got on my phone. First I called McKay. No answer. 
Then McKenna. No answer. 

Then I sent McKenna a text, and and said I was worried and asked 
if they were okay. She texted right back with, "Yes!!" 

Then she called me. She said the kids were playing in the snow. 
That they were all home and planning to stay there. 

Part way through our conversation, McKenna started to laugh and 
said Scarlett had just walked in the door and she tried to explain her 
head to me. Then she sent me a picture.

McKenna said it "wasn't too cold out there....in the 20s"

Those temps would be the coldest of the cold around here.

All's well that ends well, right?


Look what happened last night

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