standing on the shoulders of giants- maxine thompson

i was recently tasked with presenting the my family story badge to kindin's brownie troop.  when i searched through family history stories, i was shocked by how much they touched my heart.  crying as i read,  i truly felt my own very fortunate circumstances are because i 'stand on the shoulders of giants'.  their lives and sacrifices have given me so much more than they ever had.  in particular, i was touched by the story of my great grandmother, Maxine, who sacrificed her own education in order to provide for her siblings.  truly it is a blessing from giants all the way back to great grandparents that both dave and i are blessed with good educations.  i trivialized her story a bit in order to make it relatable to the 8 year old audience (but i still almost cried while doing so).    

The cold toilet:

Maxine was Kindin's great, great grandmother.  Kindin never knew her but she lived all through my childhood so I knew her well.   Maxine was 1 of 10 siblings!  As a little girl, her family moved to SD when the government was giving away land for free.  Her family of 12 lived in a tiny, white house in Cavour, SD.   The tiny white house had 1 kitchen, 1 living room and 2 bedrooms AND a really cold toilet- an outhouse!  I remember going to see this tiny white house.  The floor was dirt and a wood burning stove took up a very large amount of space in the center of the room. 

Maxine was one of the oldest children and after high school she went to work to help provide for the rest of the family.  The younger 6 children were able to have college educations because of her. 

The tiny white house with a really cold toilet stayed in their family for a very long time.  It even became famous- as the oldest house in the county!  Maxine had a sister named Lucille who never moved out of that house.  She cared for her mother when she got old in the house and she cared for the youngest child, Dean, who was handicapped in that house.  She lived in the tiny house her entire life- she never moved!  The funny thing was that she did eventually build a bathroom onto the house but not a tub or shower- just an indoor toilet.  But, it still didn’t have any heat, so in the winter it was still... a very cold toilet!   And there are lots of jokes in Kindin’s family about the tiny white house with a cold toilet!