Elsdon's Last Stand

 The church in Uncle Ken's photo was built new while I was in the army.  For years before I left, there was talk of building a new church out in the suburbs because that's where all the members would end up living when the neighborhood "changed", which was only a matter of time.  The old Elsdon church building had seen better days, and it was believed by many that it wouldn't be worth remodeling or rebuilding on that site.  When Allen Anderson became our pastor, he talked us all into staying put and adapting to the inevitable change because that was the more Christian thing to do.  The fund-raising drive was still going on when Rev. Anderson left, and it was almost completed when I returned from my summer hiatus in Alaska.  I attended a few services in the old church before I joined the army, and a few in the new church after I was discharged.  Then I moved to Cheboygan and that was that.

Years later, my mother told me that all the Elsdon parishioners eventually did move out to the suburbs, and the church building was repurposed as some kind of community social center.  I don't know if the Elsdon exiles ever reestablished their congregation in their new land, but my mom attended a Presbyterian church in Palos Park until her death in 2002.

A few weeks before my mom died, I was driving around settling her affairs as best I could so that my sister, who lived much closer than I did, wouldn't have to do everything herself.  In nearby Worth, I noticed a sign that said "Becvar's Funeral Home".  I remembered that Becvar's had buried my grandfather when it was located on Kedzie Avenue, and I thought that they must have opened up a branch in the suburbs at some point.  The lady inside told me that there was no branch, this was the original Becvar's, run by the third generation of the same family.  They had moved to the suburbs to be able to accommodate the descendants of their customers from the old neighborhood.  I told them that my sister would likely be handling things, but I wanted to do what I could while I was in town.  She suggested that I could sign some blank forms, which my sister could complete according to her wishes when the time came.  Normally I would be reluctant to a sign a blank form for anything.  But, if you can't trust Becvar's, who can you trust?

The 16-day deer season in Michigan is the traditional regular firearms season.  It used to be the only one, but now there is a three-month archery season from October 1 through December 31.  There is also a ten-day muzzle loader season in December, the two special seasons I told you about in September, and usually some kind of doe only season in the areas that are considered to be over-populated and prone to disease.  I think you are allowed to shoot up to four deer if you buy both an archery and a firearm license.