An active and practical child...
At 7, after Pearl Harbor, she becomes a Little Patriot -
digging foxholes, and collecting scrap metal and paper - she buys
war stamps for her war bonds - and lives under rationed goods
so the troops might have a sufficient quantity.
As time passes, she acquires a spirit
of adventure & wonder...
Age 9 sees her transformed from a 'City Child' to a 'Country Girl.'
She has her own horse instead of pony rides, and roams canal
banks and woods, coexisting with snakes and alligators.
An avid student, she won three spelling medals, and then, the month
she turned 13, she represented Florida in the National Spelling Bee.
She later went on to win the DAR History
Award, and the Bausch-Lomb Science Award.
At 17, she was often found at the beach with her best friend, Phyllis -
....and at their 40th high school reunion, they are seen
together in the picture below at age 58.
By now, some of you might have recognized this FReeper as one of FR's Favorites. Our 'FReeper in the Spotlight' today is none other than.......
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Come along with me as we touch
upon some of the highlights
of this amazing FReeper's
most interesting life....
In 1952, she entered the Marine Corps and was a Classroom Subjects Instructor for women recruits at Parris Island, during the Korean Conflict.
In the Dedication Ceremony for the Iwo Jima Monument on the Parade Deck there, she was out front of the eight full companies in the parade, carrying the American Flag as Guidon Bearer, beside the "A" Company Commander.
This photograph was taken in front of that same
monument 50 years later in 2002, at age 68.
She then became "Gypsy Woman," moving 37 times in adulthood, as a military wife until 1969 - then in retail management (8) years and the medical field (18) years.
Living in eight states, LadyX has related many of her experiences on Free Republic, an "Appreciator" of the places and things God has shown her. Those included America and Canada; from the Florida Keys north to Canada above New York, diagonally from Florida to above the Arctic Circle, and in South Dakota and Ohio in mid-America.
She has seen the Blue Ridge, Great Smoky and Rocky Mountains, going around the top end of the latter when driving from South Dakota through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska, traversing the Alaska Highway in the dead of winter, and in summer, returning.
LadyX at 30
She was in Alaska for the Good Friday Earthquake in 1964 - the Blizzard of '78 in Ohio - numerous hurricanes in Florida and South Carolina and Virginia - has seen the Aurora Borealis, Niagara Falls, Yellowstone National Park and Old Faithful, The Fountain of Youth, the Vicksburg Battle Ground, Mt. McKinley, Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, the Yukon Territory and other Canadian Provinces, and many more scenic and historic places and things.
LadyX Teaching School AFB,
age 34 - 4th from left
'Home' included small and large towns as well as cities, such as Rochester, NY, Winston-Salem and Greensboro, NC, Columbia and Charleston and Myrtle Beach, SC, Rapid City, South Dakota, Glendale, Ohio, seven cities and towns in Florida; Liberty, NC, (of course); all the way down to tiny Chincoteague, Virginia.
The latter is an island 2 x 7 miles long, and the setting for the annual wild pony roundups from offshore islands. Her house was one a sea captain had built by the bay on Main Street, two blocks from the location where the ponies are penned after being driven through town.
How fitting that she went to live near ponies! ( The book Misty the Chincoteague Pony was based on one. )
The granddaughter of a minister, and great-granddaughter of two, LadyX reached her defining moment at age 9. Moving from Coral Gables to the country near Melbourne, there were no city lights, and strange sounds emanated from the dark landscape at night!
She one night decided to walk the sand road with her hand firmly tucked into God's - - He reassured her that the rustle in the palmettos was an armadillo hurrying home; The sound of an owl, one calling his mate.
Thereafter, she saw the world through the 'sight' God gave her, and had a heart for things of His. He several times spoke to her through the Holy Spirit, assuring her of things that were part of His Plan for her life, even once directly telling her:
"I know you have appreciated what I have shown you here, but now I have 'something more difficult' for you."
This was as she drove in South Dakota reciting Psalm 121.....
"I will lift up mine eyes to the hills, from whence cometh my help."
(as was always prompted by the sight of the Black Hills) She then found herself, without volition, saying 'goodbye' to familiar landmarks!
Upon arriving at her house, her best friend ran out to yell: "Margaret! The base is on the phone with Bernie, saying YOU ARE GOING TO ALASKA!!" Yes - God had just prepared her for this - HIS PLAN!
The knowledge of His omnipresence has carried her, as an "Appreciator;" and has given her this insight:
"All things and experiences are relative - all things pass - - - but what we do with the opportunities to truly "see" what is around us, and how we respond, makes us what we become."
One of her favorite quotes is from Corrie ten Boom, author of the wonderful book, The Hiding Place:
"This is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future only He can see."
Now retired, LadyX still 'travels' through cyberspace, finding Free Republic in 1997, and enjoying life. (And still enjoying tea parties on the Finest.) :)
She is active on patriotic threads and "The Finest", and participated in the hilarious 1998 escapades of SocksC.underbed@whitehouse.gov; the original Freeper Island threads with Billie and others in 1998-99; and more recently, the Sea Sagas with ofMagog.
In November 1998, she assisted Freeper wattsmag2 in organizing the first meeting of Freepers from North and South Carolina in Charlotte, NC, finding them all amazingly bright and well - - 'normal!' Among them was Freedom'sWorthIt, who has remained a friend.
Oh, yes - - LadyX does have a 'kitten' !! When his owner became highly allergic to his semi-long hair when he was 2, she adopted him, a naturallyshort-tailed variety. He talks a lot, and even sings, on every 4th note saying 'meow.'
"BINKY"
 
LadyX counts among her most treasured moments meeting two Presidents! In North Carolina, President Gerald Ford made an appearance at a mall in Winston-Salem, and she and her 12-year old daughter positioned themselves where he was likely to come along the rope line.
Young Jennifer, very short, tugged on his coat sleeve as others reached over them to shake hands, and the President looked down at her and asked, "How're you doin', Sweetie?" !! (The Secret Service Agent's reflex action came within an inch of chopping off her arm for touching his President!) President Ford shook hands with LadyX, too, and then angled to the podium to speak.
In February 2002, after his defeat in New Hampshire, candidate George W. Bush stopped in her small, wonderfully conservative South Carolina town to speak.
Creating on the computer lapel signs for herself and her husband that said VETERAN for BUSH - she chose a spot a mere 12' from where he was to speak from the back of a pickup truck in the town circle, separated from him only by grass, and was thus able to get several photographs.
When he finished speaking, she managed to have him sign her invitation to the event, and then positioned herself in front of him where she could shake his hand. Pointing to her lapel sign, about to relate she had made it for him (as opposed to McCain), he interrupted her, and said pointedly, "I NOTICED IT EARLIER" and whipped up his pen and signed it on her body! (And no, unlike the gal whose top was signed by WJC, she did not at the time take it off to look at the autograph!)
LadyX handing George W. Bush her
invitation for him to autograph.
The above photo was snapped by her husband. A shot of this was on Fox News Channel coverage, shown two days later, and the local paper mentioned her twice in addition to an article about her.
That Saturday, the South Carolina Primary handed President Bush his first win on the road to the nomination for and winning of the Office of the President of the United States. "An' ah helped...as goes the old Shake & Bake commercial..:)" says LadyX.
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LadyX, I hope you enjoy your "tea" today as much as we enjoy your daily presence on "A Few of FR's Finest". Thank you for your contributions to FreeRepublic and for shining the light of your faith on the 'Finest Thread' through the beautiful prayers and insight that you share. You are an important part of our Finest Family. |
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A Few of FR's Finest.....
