Ancestral Histories

Judi Jeanine (Denison) Rush

            After interviewing my mom I learned a lot about why I was raised the way that I was.  She was born and raised in Northern California where both of her parents worked full time.  She had an older sister and an older brother.  My mom had a good relationship with her family.  She said that she remembers her mom being the dominate member of her house.  Her mom was always the boss.  Her father had a very calm and loving personality.  He hardly ever yelled or got angry.  Instead he would show disapproval through his disappointment.  My mom was a peace maker in her home.  She only remembers getting spanked once.  Spankings were a form of punishment in her home.  Friends were important to her, since both parents worked; she spent a lot of time playing with her friends as a child. 

            As a teenager she was very involved in a singing dancing group.  The name of that group was: Galina.  Her mom was very musical, which meant their family was very musically centered.  They did many plays and performances.  With Galina my mom was able to not only perform a lot, but travel with the group as well.  They got to go to Hawaii a couple of times, and perform on cruise ships.  Naturally, she went on a lot of dates.  She said that most of the boys she dated were also a part of her singing/dancing group.  Basically they all took turns dating each other.

            My mom met my dad and was married at age 18.  Something that attracted her to him was that he had a big family, and had similar views of many things in life.  Also she thought he was cute.  She knew it was right to marry him because it was very stress free for her.  They both knew they wanted to start having kids as soon as they could.  Because my dad was 24 and my mom’s mom had a hard time try to have children.  So 10 months after they were married my oldest sister was born. 

            A hardship that brought my parents even closer was when my mom’s dad passed away.  This was a very emotional time for my mom.  She also mentioned that with each child’s birth her marriage seemed to improve.  She described marriage as something that you always have to work on.  It’s not just a chore that you are able to work at for a few years, and it is done.  But it is a continuous process.  And you have to aware of the other person’s feelings and beliefs.  My parents have had a great relationship.  And most importantly they were excellent parents! Anyone would say so!

Charles Raymond Rush

                My grandpa’s life is very different than anyone else in my family.  It is interesting to learn more about him and the great strength that he has.  He was born and raised in Pennsylvania.  He describes the house that he grew up in as: large, white, and in the center of Dushore.  The lower portion was converted to a market.  And later the upper was converted to an apartment.  The building is still standing; and when I was 7 I got to go in it.  It is now called the Jolly Trolly.   The games that he played as a kid are some of the games that he taught to us, cousins, as kids.  One of those was kick the can.  He says, “The whole town was my playground.”  He was also a pretty healthy kid. 

                He had a dog that he grew up with till about age 8 or 9.  It was a, “big old American bull dog.”  When a boy, he ran off without telling his mother where he was going, and this is what would get him into trouble.  His parents were both quite and strict discipliners.  He had an older sister that died at birth, a younger ½ sister (who is still alive), 2 older brothers who are now dead, and another older sister (still alive).  Some family outing and activities that they had were: Sunday drives, board games, and trips to the lake or swimming pool.

                His parents both died when he was young.  He was 8 years old when his father died, and 12 when his mother died, during child birth.  Although his parents died when he was young they did have an impact on him.  He was raised catholic, and he remembers church attendance being a priority in his life.  He says that he served at an altar boy many times.  Something else that his parents instilled in him was the importance of education.  Even though he didn’t have anyone telling him to go to school, he was able to graduate from high school at age 17.

                Work has been a very important part of my grandpa’s life.  He started working when he was 12 years old, so that he would have food to eat.  In return this made it so that he did not have time for extra-curricular activities or sports.  All of the money he earned was spent to, “eat and pay (his) way.”  Although he enjoyed working he feels that if he could do it all over again, he would have received more of an education when he was young.  He feels that he would have made more money, although he realizes that money isn’t everything.  And they always had enough to get by.  He, “always managed to provide for (his) family” (a wife and 6 kids).   He’s favorite job was the work he did in the military.  After the question of:  If you could be anything in the world, what would it be?  He responded, “The perfect family!  And I pretty near hade it.  My ultimate wish is to have them all with me in the Celestial Kingdom.”