The following are stories and information shared by Nancy Ann, herself.

email received by Emily Gaiser 4/11/2025:

…As for stories, I will give you one about my great grandparents*, whom I was lucky enough to have known.  

They were - so far - the longest lived members of our family, having lived to their 90’s.  Here is their story:  

They were living in Missouri and met while she was in college at Columbia Women’s College and he was starting a lumber business.  They had made a date to go to a circus and he rented a horse and buggy to take her.  Instead of the circus, they decided to elope.  Her father** was not at all pleased, as he said, “he doesn’t even own a horse!”  The first month of their marriage, she bought an expensive set of books and then told him how sorry she was, because she knew they couldn’t afford it and promised to return them.  He responded by telling her, “don’t you worry about it, whatever you do, it will always be right!”  She told this story when they were celebrating their 72nd anniversary, and said, “he lived up to that and made me extremely happy”.  A side note: since she could do anything she wanted, she decided that she would never cook or do housework, in spite of having 5 children!  Her husband  became successful and could afford to hire help.  She was only 17 when they married, but she certainly knew how to pick ‘um.  By the way, the names were *Archibald Vernon Alexander and Frances Bruce McLean (she was called Bruce). Her father’s name was **Finis McGhee McLean.  This would be our Scottish heritage.

 ❤️ Aunt Nancy