Leonard Loftus sends these stories:
Attached are a couple stories my grandfather, John T. Loftus Jr, told to me about 1953.
John’s Hogs
John T. Loftus had a habit of not listening whenever anyone was talking about something he did not want to hear. He always told Mary that he was just hard of hearing. Mary knew he was just playing a game and could hear as well as anyone else.
John raised hogs and one year he had about 25 or 30 piglets that were often getting out of the hog confinement. That would mean he, Mary, and the kids would have to chase, round them up, and get them back in the confinement. As anyone who has had to round up loose hogs knows this is a job! When the piglets are about to be herded into the pen if any one of the bunch gets away there is no point in trying to get the rest into the pen. The entire operation must be started over! This chore of rounding up the pigs would often take an hour or more. As a result John bought the highest hog wire he could find plus barb wire and tall fence posts. He and his sons put up the higher hog wire with barb wire on top and staked the bottom every five feet or so.
One evening, a couple days later, Mary was knitting and John T. was snoozing in a chair nearby. Mary, in a very low voice said, “Dad those hogs are out again.” John T. leaped to his feet and ran out the door yelling and cussing. As the story goes old John never again said he was hard of hearing.
Mary’s Holidays
Mary liked beer. Every Thanksgiving John T. would buy Mary a keg of beer and keep it in the vegetable cellar. That keg would last until after New Year's. Many years later the story was confirmed by Ellen (Loftus) Meade – Mary’s granddaughter. Ellen said the family was embarrassed about this story and seldom mentioned it. Today this is a charming, cute, story and is an indicator of John’s love for Mary.
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