Show and Tell Friday

I am eager to join Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday. You'll enjoy this link up because Cindy has a beautiful, nationally recognized blog with great posts. These posts must be something from your home or garden. I like to see what others have posted about their homes.

Last week I did my show and tell on a Monday and I am now switching to Fridays so I can join up with Cindy. Sorry for the confusion! For the next few weeks we will be in my study. So many interesting things in here, and since I use it as my home office, I love that I am surrounded by things that give me such pleasure. This first post is about Bob's Aunt Francis' desk. We were the happy recipients of the desk when Aunt Francis passed away. She was 103 years old!  That is an interesting fact for this reason: when Francis was a young girl, she would ride the horse with her siblings to school.  She was considered frail, and if the weather got too bad, she was sleep over at the school with the nuns, rather than risk getting sick. 

Francis Ley Meinhardt was born in 1892 in Wien, Missouri.  She was the sister to Bob's grandmother Caroline Ley Steffes.  When Francis was young, she would ride the wagon from the farm to the church in Wien.  The family would pack their lunch and take it with them, eating it on the church lawn before heading home. 

Francis was interested in gardening and horticulture as a young adult.  She helped a neighbor who was called Uncle Gus with the orchards around Wien.  She had her eye on a man who grew up in Wien, and declared she would marry only him.  Unfortunately, he was already married.  When Joseph Francis "Frank" Meinhardt's wife passed away, Frank came home to Wien.  He and Francis were married in October of 1933.  Frank was 61 and Francis was 41.  They moved to Florida.  Frank had invested in oil and gas companies in Texas and they were doing well.  When Frank died, Francis moved back to Missouri, building a home in Macon behind the home of her niece, Lorraine.  She lived there until she died in 1996. 

Which leads me to my Show and Tell:  Bob was the recipient of her writing desk when Francis passed away.  This desk is in my study and I use it primarily for correspondence.  I love to write out my Christmas cards here, sending notes and cards to friends and family from time to time.  You can see the pile of Easter cards that I am sending later.  I love the nooks and crannies of this desk, plus the ample drawer space holds a lot of papers, memoirs, and books.

Aunt Francis' desk.  Truman's bed is in front of it, beside my work desk.

Inside the desk, I love all the compartments!

Wedding picture of my grandparents (Holt) and a doll teacup from Cedar Point.

My grandfather Joe Oliver's baby photo

This is Aunt Francis' desk, still being lovingly used by her family, who misses her kind words and gentle spirit.