Father made the Shufelt home his headquarters and lived out most of his life there. Over the years he traveled a great deal making many trips to British Columbia to visit his brother James and his sisters Nan and Helen. When James retired from farming, he became an avid boat builder and fisherman. Campbell loved salmon fishing with him on visits there. Dew Daily often accompanied him on these trips. Dorothy did not as trains and buses were too difficult for her with her handicap. Both women were devoted to Campbell, each in her own way, and contributed so much to his enjoyment of life.
Campbell's children were the real focus of his life, however, and he visited each one of his children in turn several times a year. He enjoyed all of his grandchildren so much! Over the years he helped each and every one of us over financial difficulties and problems. In the early 50's, he bought a small ranch in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. The "ranch" consisted of several hundred acres of Ruby Red grapefruit trees, a popular fruit much in demand. Campbell hired a Mr. Garcia to oversee the ranch.
Garcia proved to be a trustworthy and able man and Campbell had many pleasant visits with him in Texas. Father tried to persuade Irv and Emma to come there to live and work the ranch, but they declined, saying that they could not live and raise their children in a hot climate! Campbell loved it there and enjoyed going into Brownsville and Matamoros where he exercised what Spanish he could speak chatting with the shopkeepers and street children! He delighted in buying colorful SERAPES, hand tooled leather handbags, silver jewelry and pottery, which he generously sent to all of his children and friends.
Campbell had the ranch about nine years when, in the late 50's, there was a terrible killing FROST that completely destroyed the crop and damaged the trees! Eventually Campbell gave up on the trees and left the ranch to Mr Garcia as it had been Garcia's home for ten years.
Dear Mrs. Shufelt died a few years after Campbell had moved into the house in Joliet and the house was left to Dorothy. Father helped her to maintain the property, making improvements as they were needed, so that the property never went down hill. He also hired a housekeeper to do the housework as it was impossible for Dorothy. Dorothy devoted all of her time to Campbell, cooking his favorite foods (she was an excellent cook!) and reading to him. She read him all of Tolstoy and Dostoyevesky which he loved as he especially enjoyed Russian literature. I remember in 1955 he sent me a copy of The Grand Inquisitor, the excerpt from The Brothers Karamazov, he was SO enthusiastic about it. Other books he HAD to share were Cry The Beloved Country, My Country and My People, and surprisingly Lolita...and copies appeared in my mail box!
He was a prolific letter writer and his typewritten letters were always encouraging and enthusiastic. Campbell's children and grandchildren meant EVERYTHING to him and he delighted in visits to Chippewa and Minnesota to visit them. When Jimmy Stewart finished high school, he happily financed his going to college at Bemidji, MN. And he thrilled when Maureen agreed to go to British Columbia with him in 1958!
It was about this time that his health began to suffer. The trip with Maureen became his last trip to B.C., and the most memorable one for him as he enjoyed her company so much. I did not realize when I took him to the train to go back home to Joliet that it would be the last time I would see him alive! As I hugged him, he said, "AH-my own bairn - goodbye Nannie dear!" Those were the last words he said to me. The next time I saw him, he was lying in the Intensive Care Unit at Hines Veterans Hospital outside Chicago. Father died as Mike (age 15) and I stood outside the room May 17th, 1962. We had driven down that day all the way from Chippewa. When Martha and Dorothy arrived, we had to tell them that he was gone. Dorothy was devastated - striking out at anyone that came near her. It was then that I realized the extent of her devotion to him. He was her world - her LIFE!
Five days later, we had the simple funeral that he requested and the officer who came presented Mike with the folded American flag honoring his service to his country. Dear Aunt Helen flew down from B.C., and sitting beside her at the funeral, I saw her cry for the first time for the brother that she was so devoted to.
Father's ashes were buried in a simple grave in Prairie View Cemetary in Chippewa Falls. His stone marker simply said, "CAMPBELL STEWART - SCOTLAND." When Irv got his own family plot in Minnesota, he came down to the cemetery, dug up and retrieved his father's ashes and brought them along with the marker to his own little Stewart plot in Minnesota.
Now Campbell sleeps forever beside Irv, Emma, grandaughter Elizabeth, and great grandson Jason Campbell Stewart.
No comments:
Post a Comment