The Hive and the Honey Bee

[Diane Packett]

So this is a family story, but I thought you guys might appreciate it. I'm visiting my husband's family in Pennsylvania, his mother and still-live-at-home brothers. My 88-year-old mother-in-law is a fine woman, but has always been very reticient; seldom says what she thinks or feels, and often we don't hear about family happenings until well after they occurred, and we hear it from someone else. My husband's father passed away when my husband was ten, and his mother never remarried. In the 30 years I've been married, I can count on one hand the number of times she mentioned the guys' father, even when they were going over old photographs.

 

I only found out a couple of years ago that my late father-in-law used to keep bees when the kids were young. Time passed and then yesterday Mother gave us some things she had been cleaning out from the lifetime of storage, like my husband's high-school sweaters, still in perfect condition because they're acrylic. Then she said to me, "I thought you might like to have this. It's Whitey's copy. He was a beekeeper." And she gave me a 1960 edition of The Hive and the Honey Bee, in perfect condition, with her husband's signature inside the cover. That's the first time I've heard her say her husband's (nick)name. I was really touched, that she would give away something of his, when she's held his memory so close. I've never seen this book except the blurry Google Books version, and it looks awesome. I'm hoping to benefit from the section on "Managing Swarms".

 

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

 

Diane

[Albert Gunther]

Great, great story Diane.

Very thoughtful of you to share it with us.

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Albert C. Gunther, Professor
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[Robert Mountford]

Diane, what a nice article, I really enjoyed it,   Thanks Bob Mountford,

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From: Diane Packett <dlpa...@gmail.com>
To: madbees <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2015 9:33 AM
Subject: [madbees] The Hive and the Honey Bee

[Bonita Kuenzi]

Thanks for sharing this touching story.  It sure brought back the memories.  My mother in law was reticent like this too; and her people originally came from Pennsylvania. 

Boni