Green Shutters
Green shutters and white paint
A small
Indiana town called Donaldson
Green shutters and white paint
A farm house where memories seem faint
Generation after Generation of my family
Spent the summers in your corridors
Sunlight filled the porch
Friendly conversation told of went before
Green shutters and white paint
Where has all the time gone?
Green shutters and white paint
Fond thoughts guide me along
Every visit I see their faces
Smiling at me from a distance
Bestowing a silent grace
My heart offers no resistance
Green shutters and white paint
A pathway winds up to the door
Green shutters and white paint
Warmth fills my core
The next generation is here
Living there busy lives
Keeping Near
Happy Marriages Happy Wives
Green shutters and white paint
In our hearts you are with us always
Green shutters and white paint
In this house we will pass our days
This is a poem about my family farm in
Donaldson, Indiana. If you take Highway 30 about 35 miles east outside of Valparaiso you will come across the small town of
Donaldson, Indiana. Generations of my family have lived and died in a farm house that was built before the Civil War. However, my family didn’t own it until the turn of the 20th Century. My Great Grandparents on my mother side were German Immigrants who owned a dairy business. Viktor Mey (my Great Great Grandfather) was best friends with Oscar Meyer and both of them made their wealth in the food industry.
The farm house was a pleasant get away for my grandmother’s family since they spent most of their time in
Chicago. The farm house itself is painted white with green shutters covering all the windows. I have fond memories from my childhood there and that is what inspired my poem. I also wanted to dedicate this poem to my Grandmother Kathryn Chandler who passed away at the Farmhouse in the Fall of 2007. She was a strong and beautiful woman and her spirit lives on in our family.
This poem is meant as a sense of place poem and hopefully some of you have actually traveled through
Donaldson, Indiana. The most well known landmark is
Ancilla
College which is a small two year liberal arts school in the countryside. The farmland around Donaldson is plentiful and it makes for a pleasant drive in the Spring or Summer time. You will also notice that there are many houses painted white with green shutters as well. This is because my Uncle has bought many homes in the town and fixed them up to have the same color scheme as our farmhouse. Thanks for taking the time to read my poem and I wish all of you wonderful adventures in the
Midwest!