9/11 is a good time to contemplate where we are in America

It’s a difficult day for me – 9/11. My niece, whose birthday was Sept. 11, died suddenly in 2020 just months before her 60^th birthday.

Also heartbreaking, remembering the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 on the America I love.

So, my thoughts are on our nation today.

My grandfather, Peter R. Slingsby, immigrated to the United States from England when he was 9 years old. The photo is Peter and his parents John and Frances Slingsby taken in 1864. Peter and his family settled in North Dakota, where establishing a life was challenging. They grew flax and tried to start a homestead. He died in 1914 at age 59.

My dad, born in 1910, and many of his brothers and sisters moved to Cashmere, Washington, where his aunt, Mable Kinyon, owned an apple ranch. My dad worked in various orchard jobs.

My parents were married in 1934 during the Great Depression. They had nothing.  

When growing up in Central Washington, I had no idea that my grandparents and parents had to work so hard to establish their families.

In fact, since my last name was Slingsby, I thought that my family was unusual because my close relatives were the only ones that had the name Slingsby.

I didn’t learn until I was in high school, that’s there a place in Yorkshire, England, called Slingsby Village. And, that the name Slingsby is fairly well known in England.

When I read Samuel Pepys’ diary from the 1660s as a high school student, Sir Robert Slingsby was mentioned as comptroller of the Navy. Another Slingsby, Sir Henry Slingsby, was Master of the Mint, also during the 1660s.

My mom was Ruth L. Telecky Slingsby. Same thing there. The only Teleckys I knew were my mom’s relatives. They lived mostly in the Ritzville-Sprague area near Spokane, Washington. Many were wheat farmers.

After my parents were married, my dad was fortunate to get a job working as a timekeeper for the Works Progress Administration.

In 1944, my parents had saved enough money to buy a small 7-acre apple orchard along the Columbia River in Orondo, 13 miles up the river from Wenatchee.

By 1950, we had to sell the orchard due to low apple prices.

My dad was hired to be the field manager at Beebe Orchards, a large apple ranch, 22 miles up the Columbia River from where we lived.

Decades later, when I was sorting my parents’ home after they passed away, I found a copy of the “Adams County Centennial Edition: 1883 – 1983.”

It described how the Indian Wars of 1856 – 1858 were closed with an Army post at Colville Valley securing the safety of travel and settlement in the Big Bend territory. The history described how settlers, coming by covered wagons, staked out their land and went to the courthouse to register it.  

I realized how recently people came out West and established farms on lands that for centuries been home to nomadic Indian tribes.

The history of our great country is very new. Many people, similar to my family, came here from somewhere else. We haven’t been at this nation business very long.

I didn’t realize it when I was growing up that my family was carving out a life in a new country. I think that America is still finding its way as a nation. Right now, we’re going through a really rough time. I firmly believe that right will prevail, and what will emerge will be a stronger democracy.