It seems my theme the last few weeks has been about my family members. There were four of us, and we were several years apart. Mother said we were spread out on purpose. When she was younger, she had to work on the farm and she didn’t plan on working so hard on the farm again, because we were going to help her.

Lonnie was 12 years older, Lorena 8 years older, Eddie was 6, then I was the youngest. I have to say that when I came along, she was just tired. We were good kids, but we did have our moments. My sister was a little bit of a tomboy back in the day. She was the apple of her daddy’s eye. We did not have a lot of neighbors, so we hung out with each other.

My brother, Lonnie, drug her all over. There is a story about Lonnie and Lorena going down the creek to go frog gigging. There was a thunder clap and she screamed and threw the frog gig, sticking it in my brother Lonnie’s leg. Mother had to go down to the creek and carry Lonnie back to the house and pull the gig out of his leg. Mother was our doctor, nurse, head cook and main caregiver. I remember Lorena had a little temper, but she liked me and played with me a lot.

I guess she dressed me up in her doll clothes and pushed me around in this big doll carriage that she had. I remember riding in it one time on Troy road. I was telling them to go faster and faster. That was a lot of fun. If Lorena did not like something, she was not afraid to tell you. She was very strong-willed. She worked around Dad a lot of the time. She also had my father’s love of animals. It seemed that she was always holding an animal of some kind. We all fed the animals, but she was the one who made sure the animals were pampered. Plus, she was always dragging something home that had four legs.

I have a very strong respect for my sister. In 197,3 she was one of two women hired in the state of Ohio to be a patrol officer with full arrest powers. Ohio State University hired two women police officers when no one else would. Lorena was a pioneer for women in police work. Our family has a long history in Delaware County in law enforcement. Also, one great-grandfather ran for sheriff of Delaware County. He won the election, but died from pneumonia the day before the election. So, the runner-up was made sheriff.

Lorena and I both were in law enforcement at the same time. Lorena was an instructor at Columbus State and Ohio Police Academy in London. She worked as a police officer for OSU, Westerville Police Department and then Columbus Police Department, until she retired. Lorena got her bachelor’s degree at the age of 57 by taking courses over the years while she was working. During all of this, she raised an amazing daughter who has three wonderful children.

Lorena lost her husband a few years ago. She persevered like the trooper I have always known. She has always been there for me. She can be very interesting to talk with. She’s another person in my family who knows a little bit about a lot of different topics. When we get together, the stories that can be told!

I hope you all enjoy these stories. I wish you all peace.