lexington yesterday

The story did not end for the Rister family after grandma’s people left Edmund for Florida. There were many trips back and forth between Orlando and Lexington in the following decades. The Florida folks had taken root along the shores of the Banana River and were making a go of it.

Uncle George went north to find work during the Depression. There he met and married Aunt Viola Parker of Parkersburg, West Virginia. He returned to Florida when the job was done bringing Aunt Viola with him to their home on the Banana River.

All of those who relocated to Florida lived close to each other as they had done in Lexington, and probably in Europe. Many families left Europe because of the Protestant Movement, even into the 18th Century. But mostly it was younger sons looking for opportunity by acquiring land which was so abundant along the southeastern coast of America. All of grandma’s brothers found plenty of land for everyone.

At Christmas time the Florida folks brought boxes of citrus fruit for their Carolina kin. Our stockings were always filled with this wonderful fruit, most of it gathered from their own groves.

Uncle George had a fishing boat. He told us stories of seeing Russian submarines and actually communicating with them on the river. He was a grand storyteller.

The space race began in the 1950s. Uncle George could see the American NASA launches across the river from his front porch while the Russians cruised submerged in the river.

What a story to tell.

Arthur Godfrey also had a home just down a dirt road from Uncle George. It was situated on crystal white sand near the river. In later years Walt Disney really changed the neighborhood just as he had done in Los Angeles. Must be something about wild orange groves.

The circus also wintered over near the Rister cousins. Cousin Louise Tanner adopted one of the retired circus camels. Gus soon became her beloved pet. Gus attended Louise’s funeral when she died making the front page of the local newspaper.

We don’t keep up much with the Florida folks these days, but we do pass along genealogical information from time to time.