Uncle Dan

My uncle Dan died at midnight on Tuesday morning. He was 79, and the ninth in a family of 12 children, all of whom survived Dan. He and his wife Ann had moved to Harrisonburg, VA from Columbus, OH less than ten years ago after he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He was still doing fairly well at that time, and could participate in the decision making process and in making the move. Harrisonburg was the town in which both Dan and Ann attended college, and where they met. Although none of their children lived in Virginia (PA and MA and WA), they were closer to two of them than if they had stayed in Ohio.

Dan had a career in public education, although he taught first in a Christian school in the Belleville, PA area. They lived in Kansas for a while, and he taught sixth grade at a public school in Hutchinson. Then Dan won a fellowship (whatever that is) and went back to school in Ohio to become a guidance counselor. He stayed in that profession and in that state till after he retired.

Dan was very witty and mild-mannered, although I'm sure he adhered fairly firmly to his opinions. Most Millers do the wit and the opinion thing effortlessly. Some are far less mild-mannered than Dan was.

Uncle Fred is providing a ride to the funeral for many of his siblings. He owns a 13-passenger van and provides transportation for people in the area who don't own cars. I hope this over-70 crowd has the good sense to stop for the night en route to VA. I think they will. (Later: They plan to drive straight through on the way home though.)

While they were growing up, Dad's family never called their brother Dan, but Daniel. He was Daniel C. Miller, with his middle initial honoring his mother Clara. Most (or all) his brothers had their father Levi's initial: "L". Dan's wife was similarly known as Anna Mae in Kalona, Iowa, where she grew up. Her sister is the "Amish stories" author, Clara Bernice Miller--The Crying Heart. Ann is an artist, although I'm not sure whether she has ever worked professionally as such.

My cousin, Edith Bacher, posted a picture on Facebook today in memory of Uncle Dan. Ann is on the picture also, along with my sister Clara, and our principal Wesley Schrock, and his wife Jean Ann.

Later: My sister Linda shared a link to Dan's obituary here. I learned several things from the obituary: Ann spells her name "Anne." I learned where each of the children lives now. I also remembered something I had been trying to figure out. Where were Dan and Anne between Belleville, PA and Kansas? I was almost sure there was some space between those two teaching stints. They were in Alberta. I think their two oldest children were born there.

Reading the obituary reminded me of something else. Apparently he loved sports. I didn't know that, but I remembered a conversation with Dan while I was in college at Sterling. Dan had attended there too, and he asked me if Clair Gleason was still a coach and PE teacher. He was. Dan spoke highly of him, so I'm sure he had contact with him through athletics during his time at Sterling. I don't know how long Dan attended Sterling, but I'm sure he did not graduate there.

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Paul is just younger than Dan in the Miller family. He is the Bible teacher for the freshmen and sophomores at our high school. On Tuesday morning he had just gotten the message of Dan's death, and he hurried to inform Mr. Schrock before the bell rang for class to begin. Euni overheard a bit of what he said, but inquired further to get the whole story. After she heard, she marveled, "His brother just died, and he's hurrying off to teach Bible class."

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We're studying "water" as this month's current issue. Early on, when we watched an informative DVD on the subject, I got a taste of what was to come when a picture of a toilet flushing lever appeared on the screen. A titter swept over the student crowd. Why is bathroom stuff so hilarious?

I'll have to admit that there was one more shared joke among the students. I opened my eyes at one point to see several pairs of student eyes turned my way. Big grins everywhere. "You and Mr. Schrock were sleeping at the same time!" a student jubilantly informed me afterward.

"I had already seen the movie," I answered. I'm afraid it sounded defensive and ignoble.

Both yesterday and today the bathroom aspect of water use came up again. Jonny told us his brother is not putting in a septic system at his "claim shanty." Instead he's going to make use of sawdust and a bucket, which, after filling up in alternating layers, then gets emptied onto a compost pile. I think I surprised everyone by being very familiar with this method of human waste disposal, and I proceeded to quote some things I remembered from having read The Humanure Handbook. I didn't quote everything I remembered. I was trying to maintain some sense of decorum. MJ earlier had pointedly refrained from saying something he was thinking and I commended him for his discretion. If he could be discrete, surely I could too.

There was further talk about the impracticality of using perfectly good drinking water to mix with human wastes. And then a senior came up with the bright idea that next year, in order to do our part for the school and the planet, we could switch to outhouses instead of using our water-wasting restrooms. Someone else suggested that using the outdoor facilities be available only to those on "E" privilege. Another person speculated that a certain student (Mr. Distractable) would go astray regularly if he ever headed for the outhouse.

Someone quoted Mr. Schmucker who had apparently described in some detail how the sewage was handled at Faith Builders. There was lots of talk of "fingers" being used to filter out the solids. "It's all recycled," they informed Holli, who plans to attend there next year.

"You mean they drink it then?" (Worried question from Holli.)

"No. It just ends up in a pond." This reminded me of a story Mr. S. told. He claimed someone had gone fishing in that pond. When someone asked him what he caught, he said all he got was a couple of crappies. (In Kansas, we say Crah-peas. Not so in PA.) I refrained from adding this story to the mix in the typing room today. It would no doubt have been appreciated, but . . . that decorum thing, you know.

Earlier today Brandon had asked me if the water problem with concentrated livestock facilities was mostly with waste disposal or the volume of water the animals consumed. I told him I thought it was mostly the waste disposal, which often results in pollution of surface water. Then, while I was scanning the newspaper for worthwhile news, I read that a dairy cow usually consumes 30 to 40 gallons of water a day. I read it out loud, and the students within earshot were duly impressed. I told them that the cattle on our farm drink several 300-gallon tanks full of water every day. We talked about how a cow's diet would make a difference. Eating hay and grain would call for a lot more water consumption than a forage diet.

One more bathroom statistic: By law, new toilets must not use more than about 1.6 gallons per flush. Older toilets usually use about twice that much water.

With that final bit of inspiring trivia, I think I'll sign off.