Volume 11 , Issue 20

The Passing of Mildred LaVerne Shaw Fugit

Susan says, "My name is Susan Jordan, and I am the granddaughter of Donald Floyd Fugit of Alva and Mildred LaVerne Shaw Fugit of Ingersoll.

"My grandmother Mildred, God rest her soul, just passed away on Wednesday of last week (May 6, 2009), after a 2+ year illness. She was 97 years, 5 months and 1 day old. She was a wonderful person and my friend and confidante. My mom and I miss her terribly.

"My great-grandmother was Verna Galbreath Fugit, and lived in Dacoma at the time of her death in 1971. She was married to Morris Sweeney at the time.

"In summer 1974, I went on a road trip with my family to meet my mother's other grandmother, Jessie Irva Coleman (of Kansas). During the trip, we went to Dacoma to visit Morris, my great-grandma Verna's widower. I was only 9-1/2 on this magical, wonderful road trip, but I still remember our visit to Dacoma as if it were yesterday (I'm 44 now!).

"We didn't know how to find Morris's house, so I was sent up on the nearest front porch to find out. I knocked several times, and was about to give up, when a nice lady finally came to the door. After she gave me directions, she said something to me like, "And if he's not there honey, you all can come back and sit with us a spell!"

"Coming from the Los Angeles area, I was bowled over by this friendliness. We found Morris and had a nice visit. I got to see where my great-grandmother Verna had last lived, and Morris even showed us his storm cellar. Something I'd never seen before in Santa Monica, California (my hometown)!

"When we were heading out, we stopped in this little "general store" of sorts, and that place has stuck in my memory all these years. I was a fan of The Waltons, and this place was like Ike Godsey's store in my 9-year-old mind - utterly fantastic! It had everything for sale in there, it had concrete floors, and these white metal and glass counters you don't see much of anymore, with all kinds of things displayed in them, from different meats to candy, etc.

"I wish to heaven I had asked my mother to take a photograph of the place, but I can still see it in my mind after all these years. On a later trip through the area (when I was 14) to see Morris, who was now in a nursing home, I remember a good-sized brick church (Methodist maybe?) in Dacoma, and the fact that the local elementary school had no fence around it! That was something I'd never seen nor heard of back in L.A. County, that's for sure.

"All these years later, that trip to Oklahoma and Kansas (we did the Route 66 thing) lives on in my heart and memory. I'm glad I got to see where the good folks who came before me lived and grew up. Dacoma will always have a special place in my heart and memory. Thank you for letting me write this."
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