THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 23, 1995 TAG: 9511210118
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 28 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 215 lines
Thanksgiving is traditionally a time for family.
It is a time when families come together from far-flung places and sit together by a groaning board of foods made with loving hands.
As a way to reflect on what Thanksgiving means, we asked our readers to send us their memories of a specific Thanksgiving or what the holiday means to them.
What we received in the mail from our readers was laughter, joyful tears and warm memories.
We hope these stories will help readers recall their own happy memories of this most heartwarming holiday. Thanks for family
Norma Spence Wassman of Rowlock Road was born on the day before Thanksgiving in 1938 in Norfolk County. This year, her birthday falls on the holiday.
``I suppose I feel sort of proud of that,'' she wrote, ``because I am the youngest of 11 children, and we are all very much alive.''
Wassman said Thanksgiving causes her to count her blessings by reflecting on the fact that she and her husband have successfully raised four children and that she considers herself ``a great cook.''
Thanksgiving also makes her think about her 10 brothers and sisters. In them she finds joy.
``My siblings are unique in their own way and I am thankful to have them as family for all these years,'' she wrote. ``They are great housekeepers, cooks, farmers, decorators, parents and Christians. Even if we don't always agree, we stick together when the going gets rough. I love them dearly and want them to know this.'' Chairing the dinner
Jeff V. Sykes was a member of the Naval Reserve. During the Korean War, he was called up and sent to Portsmouth as an instructor.
In the chow hall, he struck up a friendship with a fellow reservist, who invited Sykes and his wife to share their Thanksgiving meal.
His hosts were proud of their antique dining room furniture, which they had purchased only recently.
``My friend's wife had prepared a beautiful Thanksgiving meal,'' he said. ``After we ate, I leaned back on two legs of the chair, and it fell apart. My bride said, `Honey, are you OK?' The hostess said, `Oh, my valuable chair.' ''
As Sykes recalls, the chair was made of cherry and had a very slim design.
``I felt fully embarrassed, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears,'' said Sykes, who was 6-foot-3 and weighed about 185 pounds at the time. ``The husband was very gracious and said he could glue it back together. I offered to help, but he said that was the sort of thing he liked to do.
``We were talking acquaintances from then on,'' he said. ``We invited them over for meals after that, but they never returned the invitation.'' Not a meal but a pet
While she was growing up, Myrtle L. McKinney lived with an extended family, which included her grandparents.
``I guess I was about 12 years old,'' the Norfolk Highlands resident recalled. ``My brother and my dad had gone to a turkey shoot and won a big white turkey.''
McKinney's mother had planned to include the big bird and plenty of giblet gravy in her Thanksgiving menu. But it wasn't to be.
``That turkey took a liking to my grandfather, and my grandfather took a liking to the turkey,'' McKinney said. ``Consequently, we didn't have turkey for Thanksgiving dinner because it became a pet. My granddad refused to let them kill the turkey.
``I can't remember what we had in place of the turkey because that was 37 years ago, but I can remember that we didn't have turkey,'' she laughed.
For several years after that and until it died of old age, Turk, as the bird was called, followed her grandfather around like a loyal dog.
Perhaps it was to show his gratitude that Turk became rather adept at miming his benefactor.
``If my granddad walked real slow, the turkey walked slow too,'' she said. ``If granddad sat down, Turk sat down. When any of the other family members came to the gate of the yard, the turkey would raise his feathers and wouldn't let any of us in until granddad called his name, then Turk would sit down and we could get into the yard. I can remember this just as vividly as if it were yesterday.'' Thanksgiving baby
For Cheryl Best, Thanksgiving will always remind her of new life.
Before the birth of her son, she said Thanksgiving always made her think of eating a meal ``fit for a king,'' visiting with family and while the women cleaned up, the men watched football on television.
All that changed, she said, on Nov. 23, 1989, when at 2 a.m. early Thanksgiving morning, she began to experience severe labor pains.
``I was frightened and happy, all at the same time,'' she remembered.
She woke her husband and they sped to the hospital only to be told that the family's first grandchild would take his time being born.
Finally around 8 a.m., Best called her parents about the impending birth.
``Although their home would be filled with many people in about four hours, they came right down to the hospital,'' she said. ``Thanksgiving dinner went on at the home place without a hitch. The only people missing were my husband, parents, me and the new baby.''
When the baby finally arrived at 7:53 that evening, the family truly gave thanks.
``The miracle of childbirth goes on every day, but this day seemed very appropriate,'' she said. ``Thanksgiving is often a time to reflect, and I can say that I am most thankful for the gift of life.'' More family riches
Tonya and Steve Parrish recalled the first Thanksgiving they celebrated as husband and wife.
They had just bought a house, and both sides of the family came for the holidays to help out with their new home.
``On Thanksgiving Day our family, including our parents, a great-grandmother, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends came and stripped out carpets, painted, cleaned and filled cabinets and helped us move in,'' she wrote. ``Then at dinner time, Steve's parents had all of us over for Thanksgiving dinner.''
Tonya Parrish said the dinner was great, but the real joy was in having both sides of family all together.
For this Thanksgiving, that family joy is happening once again.
The Parrishs are in the process of building a new home, and the family has joined in just as before.
``And again our parents, sisters and now brothers-in-law, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and our children, Ashley and Andrew, have graciously helped,'' she wrote.
``Our love and thankfulness will never be enough to show our family and friends how much we appreciate them. This Thanksgiving we have so much to be thankful for.'' Foamy turkey day
Dani Feierstein, who moved to Great Bridge with her family from California a little more than a year ago, recalled a Thanksgiving when her mother-in-law volunteered to cook the traditional bird.
Feierstein was a day-care provider in her Napa Valley home and, by law, had to keep a fire extinguisher at the house.
Just the day before, the extinguisher had been checked and cleaned by a fire inspector.
Mom-in-law had brought over an already cooked 18-pound turkey to the Feierstein home. But the bird - wrapped in foil, placed in a bucket and tied up with rope - needed to be reheated, so in the oven it went.
Unfortunately, the grease from the turkey dripped into the oven and when it was re-lit, the oven caught fire.
``I yelled `Fire!' and my husband ran into the kitchen, grabbed the fire extinguisher and put the flame out, there was foam everywhere,'' Feierstein said with a laugh. ``I vowed on that day that my mother-in-law would never be the one to cook the turkey for Thanksgiving.''
Feierstein said the flame was not massive and did little or no damage. The turkey was untouched but the same couldn't be said for her kitchen.
``It took us about two weeks to clean the fire extinguisher's chemical foam from the kitchen,'' she said. ``It was an interesting weekend, to say the least.'' Cold turkey
Diana L. Hoggard of Great Bridge remembered the first Thanksgiving she spent as a newlywed.
It started on a very warm note and ended on a very cold one.
Much to their delight, Hoggard and her husband Ray won a frozen turkey when the number of their shopping cart was drawn in a contest at Rose's Department Store.
``They were giving away turkeys to shoppers every hour, and we won,'' she said. ``But I was dumb to cooking. I put the turkey in the freezer and took it out the night before Thanksgiving.''
So Hoggard prepared the bird, added stuffing and popped it into the oven. She basted it every 15 to 20 minutes, fussed over it and, after the prescribed time, took it out of the oven, ready to eat. Or so she thought.
``It looked and smelled great. It was brown and crispy on the outside. I was so proud'' she said. ``But when we cut into it, it was still frozen and pink and bloody on the inside. The stuffing was even frozen.''
Hoggard said her husband Ray made a comment that maybe she should have taken a few cooking lessons before they married.
They chucked the ruined bird into the woods behind their Churchland apartment.
``We saw this hungry, mangy dog by the woods and decided to throw the turkey to him. At least he'd get a treat,'' Hoggard said. ``Even the dog refused it. In fact, he ran away from it.''
The Hoggards ended up eating hot dogs on their first feast day together. And now, whenever the family gathers for the holiday, that frozen bird is always a topic of conversation.
``That happened about 10 years ago,'' Hoggard said, ``and to this day when we get together for Thanksgiving and we get ready to eat, someone will always ask, `Is it done yet?' '' Thanksgiving spirit
Thanksgiving for the Deneau Family of Greenbrier - Jeff and Shelley and their 17-year-old daughter, Shaunna - means sharing the spirit of the season with others.
When they first moved to the area from Virginia Beach they cooked a complete Thanksgiving dinner in 1991 for the nearby Chesapeake Police precinct. The following year, they cooked for the neighborhood fire station.
They haven't done it the last few years, because they have traveled to Northern Virginia to enjoy the holiday with family.
This year, though, they plan to revive the tradition by preparing a holiday feast for the personnel at the neighborhood fire station.
The day crew at the Greenbrier Fire Station can expect a home-cooked meal of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, pumpkin pie and apple pie.
``We've got double ovens and are able to make dinner for us and for the firefighters at the same time,'' Shelley Deneau explained. ``Every Thanksgiving we always think about those people who have to spend the holiday working and can't be with their families. So we do this to make their holiday a little nicer and to show them that we greatly appreciate the work they do in protecting us and our homes.''
Shelley Deneau said in the past they didn't call ahead or announce their intentions. They plan to just show up again this year, too.
``We're just going to bring the food over to them,'' she said. ``We'll just tell them that we're neighbors from around the corner and that we appreciate their presence. We don't want them to have any obligatory feelings. We just want them to enjoy.''
- Janelle La Bouve and Eric Feber ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by Mark Mitchell
Jeff Sykes felt like a character in "Goldilocks and the Three Bears"
during his memorable Thanksgiving.
Photo by Gary C. Knapp
Myrtle McKinney remembers when her family didn't have turkey,
because dinner became a part of the family.
by CNB