First of all, I’ll briefly say that we traveled out of town to hear a presenter give a talk titled, “How the Lovely Bovine Has Nurtured New Hampshire.” This presentation was co-sponsored by the Bradford Historical Society and the NH Humanities Council. The room was filled to capacity and we all waited patiently for the speaker who never showed up. Eventually, someone stood in front of the group and told us that there would be no meeting. Amazing!

If I had been more brave, I could have offered up a few cow stories of my own. You see, the brother who was seven years older than me loved cows. He went to a high school that offered a program in agriculture and he learned how to nurture calves and all the other things dairy farmers do. Now, we are talking about a “city boy” who grew up in Manchester, NH. Well, the upshot was that Steve loved cows so much, he majored in agriculture at the University of NH and earned a teaching degree.

Trouble was, his first teaching assignment was at a school who thought that the Ag teacher should be the babysitter for all the misfits and juvenile delinquents that acted out. Disturbed by the attitude of the principal, Steve’s teaching career was short-lived. He wanted to teach, not be a jailer. Instead, he became a herdsman on two different dairy farms in the western part of the state.

Not long ago, a niece told me that her Uncle Steve used to tell the kids, including her, (when she was visiting overnight), to go outside and stand by the barn to “sing the cows to sleep.” I wonder what songs they sang. The story is part of Steve’s legacy. He passed away in 1994 at age 50.

Photo of my brother, Steve Grace, when he was a “kid.” He had red hair and blue eyes, and lots of freckles when he was young! This is a favorite photo of him!

Steve was 5 lbs. at birth, and was a frail child with a heart murmur, and a stuttering problem that no doctor could seem to remedy. Determined to succeed in overcoming this obstacle to communication, Steve used mind over matter. When he was in high school, he joined the Future Farmers of America. He was an officer in the group and was encouraged to write speeches. He won a tri-state contest for public speaking with a speech he wrote that compared farming in Communist Russia to that of the United States, at the time. He won a trip to Kansas City, as a result.

On a farm in Deerfield, NH, where the family moved in 1964, I had two horses, bantam hens, a rabbit, two roosters, cats, and a dog, while Steve raised three heifers. As the heifers grew and thrived, they used to like to try to escape the barbed-wire/electric fence enclosed 3 acre pasture on one side of the farm. On the other side of the fence was a path down into the neighbor’s woods, an old logging road bordered by a stone fence.

One day, the three heifers escaped led by the biggest one. My brother and I saw this event happening and couldn’t believe they had broken through all those layers of protection. We went after them. I will never again doubt the wisdom of the saying, “Waiting for the cows to come home.” They certainly were having a gay old time, jogging along the path, and did not miss home at all! Hours were spent, rounding them up.

Quilt made from a Piecemaker’s pattern design and sent to my friend who also loves cows!

You see, I had a few cow stories of my own! Here is a photo of a “cow” quilt, made from a pattern by Piecemakers and sent to my friend in Argentina who loves cows and anything “country.”

There are more photos of cows throughout my online postings.

P.S. We sincerely hope we can hear the scheduled talk that did not happen tonight, at a later date!

Patricia Cummings