Into the Wood

 

While cleaning up my genealogy files I ran across this short obituary:

---Obituary:  Taos News, Taos, New Mexico, 6 June 1996, page A-13
Bill J Simmons, 66, of Taos passed away 30 May 1996. He lived in Orange County, Ca, before moving to Taos in 1987. He was born in Clinton, Ok and raised in Albuq. He worked in retail management and sales and traveled extensively throughout the United States. He retired from the retail industry in 1986. He was a wood worker and artist. Survived by his wife Carol; Children Jennifer Simmons Muro [sic] (Gregg) of Fullerton, Ca, David Brock and Steven Simmons both of Albuq and Sharon Townsend of Texas; Grandchildren Jerry Brock, Della and Michael Townsend and Rene Tatro; Sisters Bernice Gushard and Shirley Van Rizen both of Albuq.

Well, that really caught my eye - a wood worker and artist.  That seems to run in the Simmons family.  Bill and my Dad were first cousins.  

↣  Our most recent discovery of a woodworker in the family is a fella in Oregon named Donn Hopkins.  We discovered him through one of the DNA sites.  Here's how to find some of his pieces:

https://www.instagram.com/bowlbender

Both of  my brothers are woodworkers.  

↣  My younger brother, Jim, has made his living from wood.  He was a public school wood-shop teacher for more than 30 years and built furniture for others and his own family.  

He also turns bowls.  That is his passion since he retired from teaching.  

https://www.facebook.com/3pineswoodwork

https://www.instagram.com/3pineswoodworking

Here are some of the wood pieces I have that were made by Jim.

The hell-froze-over rolling pin, two 

rustic bowls, and a pair of Spurtles

My Sewing Bowl, a rosewood pen and bowl

A bowl I use for my "nature" collection - shells, rocks, 

eggs, leaves, and other oddments I find outdoors

These two bowls that Jim made were sent to our 

cousin Ron and his daughter Sara

Jim also makes furniture.

↣  My other brother, Bob, doesn't turn wood; he carves it.  His project, for more than 25 years, was to carve every year for Christmas a Welsh Love Spoon for his wife Kathy.  He also has carved other pieces of which I have only two.

My spoons:  

and a wood-burned map of Wales:

Kathy's spoons:

↣  Our Dad was the first woodworker in our family - sort of.  

His grandfather, Albert Franklin Simmons built a single story house - with a huge attic - in Clinton, Oklahoma, in the early 1900s

I don't have any information that my Simmons grandfather or any of my Simmons uncles worked with wood, in any form.  

That was left to my Dad and he did it from the time we were kids.  These are the pieces of furniture that I still have that he made.

The bookcase on the left, behind the Christmas tree and Jim, 

is the same one as below, as of today.

This is my china cabinet - a wedding gift from my father.

This is a jewelry box that Dad made for Mom.  

Dad also made 6 dining chairs to go with a Duncan Phyfe table he refinished the top of.  He made a pattern from chairs of a neighbor.  I had those chairs and table for many years, through many moves.  They have passed on to others now.  

Since Jim retired, he has been teaching friends and family to use a lathe.  I have made two Christmas ornaments - one of walnut and one of aromatic cedar.  I also made this mortar and pestle from Chinese elm

and this bowl from Hackberry.  I keep eggs in it.  (In the fridge!)

I enjoy the turning and would do more if the opportunity arose.  Jim has moved miles away this summer, so if I do get a chance to turn again, it will not be as easy to do so.

I love living with wood and don't allow any more plastic in the house than is absolutely necessary.  It soothes me to look at and feel the wood, especially that which I have treated with my homemade beeswax polish.

This is a table I made many years ago - with a lot of Jim's help - from a butcher-block slab he had in the shop.  I love having it. 

and this one was a high-school drafting table that I took apart and re-did to a lower and more stable level.  Both tables have folding legs.

The End