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Foreword

Plato is said to have said, “Wise men speak


because they have something to say; fools because
they have to say something.” My annual December
story then makes me Plato’s fool, for I fear I am
speaking merely because I have to an unmet need to
‘say something’ during this special season.
Still, I welcome you – or welcome you back -- to
Yellow Springs! When this series began, my Yellow
Springs a bucolic, homogeneous, isolated, two-
dimensional community. But just as I’ve evolved, so
have Yellow Springs and all of Conestoga County;
today, while still fictional, they are full, diverse, multi-
cultural and welcoming communities of people who,
like me, are just trying to figure it all out.
Everyone in Yellow Springs is entirely imaginary,
although they do seem very real to me. If, as you
read, you think you see someone you know – well,
that’s not intentional on my part. Best wishes to you
amidst all you celebrate this season.
- Bill
©2018 William D. Kennedy
wdkennedy415@gmail.com

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Frankie’s father Floyd called in from the other room,
Twas the week before Christmas, At toil, not yet ease,
‘ “There’s forty names, mon chiot, all the way from Adam all
Are those with the tanglings, Of tall family trees the through St. Joseph – forty names.”
“Da-ad – I’m not your puppy! Stop calling me that!”
Ten year-old Frankie Flegelhoffer was frustrated as he Frankie huffed.
shoved the CCD homework paper into his backpack. “Who
“Ahh, you are growing up so fast, I see!” Floyd
really cares about who begat who!” he protested.
responded with resignation. “And I’m not sure whether
His mother Fiona listened patiently as Frankie the question is ‘which list is right,’ – it may well be that
bemoaned Father Opus’ assignment to the kids in the class: neither is.”
they each had to learn one of the lineages of Jesus by
Frankie was mystified. “So what’s the point then?”
memorizing either the genealogy found in the first chapter
of St. Matthew’s Gospel or the other one found in the third “That is a very good question – an excellent question,
chapter of St. Luke. indeed. What is the point of learning about ancestors? I
propose that you ask that question of your cousin Ferris.
Frankie fumed, “And how come I have to do the one
We’ll see him on Christmas Eve. I think he may have a
with all the ‘begats’ in it?” Referring to his cousin of
better answer than I do.”
identical age, Frankie griped, “Francine gets to do the one
where there’s no begats – all of hers are just ‘son-of’s.’ It’s a
dumb assignment! Who cares about Jesus’ family tree?!? At that very same moment, 17 year-old Ferris
And Francine’s list doesn’t even match the one I have to Flegelhoffer was standing before his Boy Scout troop’s six-
memorize, so which one is right??” person Board of Review, proudly defending the details of
his recently completed Eagle service project. The Board of
“You’ve done enough for today, Sport,” Fiona said as
Review chaired by the Scout Executive Charles “Cholly”
she tussled Frankie’s hair. “And you still have time. You
Jhali included Mayor Ruth Ann Remington, Grover Greer -
don’t have to have your list memorized until after New
- who had been the Troop’s Scout Master for parts of four
Year’s.”
decades -- Godfrey Swench, the former Methodist minister
“You don’t get it, Mom,” the boy complained. “There’s who now ran a philanthropy, local builder Leni
like thirty names, and you have to have them in order!” Whitebrook, and Idris Ibrahim, the cleric at the Conestoga
County Islamic Fellowship who was also the father of a
boy in Ferris’ troop.
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Mr. Jhali began the interrogation, “Tell me, Ferris: why Mr. Greer flipped back and forth on the papers laid
did you choose the Yew Tree Cemetery for your Eagle before him, asking, “What did you say was the significance
service project?” of the evergreen trees at the cemetery?”
Ferris thought about answering that his first idea had “They’re yew trees,” Ferris began.
been shot down by his parents who, evidently, thought the Mr. Greer was struggling to hear the conversation
world could survive without a ‘merit badge mural’ painted through a malfunctioning hearing aid. “Youth trees?”
over the brick exterior of the side of his grandfather’s Fair
Value Hardware Store in the village of Yellow Springs. “No, sir. Yew trees – y-e-w. They’re a kind of
evergreen. Actually, there are a bunch of different trees
Instead, however, Ferris responded, “It started when and shrubs that go by the ‘yew’ name. There’s Pacific yew,
my grandfather’s sister died a few years ago. After her English yew, Canadian yew, Florida yew, Japanese
funeral, I kind of realized that I didn’t know much about yew….”
my family history. So I looked stuff up on the internet, and
I found that I had a bunch of my old relatives buried in a “We get it,” laughed Cholly Jhali, “there are a lot of
graveyard that I had never heard of -- because the church yews.”
that used to be there has been gone for, like, over a 180 “A lot of who’s?” Mr. Greer asked.
years. I found it, and saw that no one was taking care of it.
“Yews,” Mayor Remington loudly repeated.
There were vines and branches and stuff growing all over
the gravestones, and a lot of them were broken and buried “Yews on first?” Godfrey Swench muttered quietly.
under dirt and leaves and trash and stuff. So I thought I’d Ferris continued, “Back in England, yew trees have
bring it back into shape.” been associated with burial grounds for nearly two
Imam Ibrahim read from his notes, “I see that you did thousand years.”
more than just clean up the graveyard, yes?” He continued, “The English yew, Taxus Baccata, is very
“Yes, sir. We cut back the overgrowth, put the unusual because in its tree form, it can live for hundreds of
headstones back in place as best we could, made a list of all years. There’s a yew in Scotland that experts believe may
the names, and and I put it on the web, in case anyone else be more than 2,000 years old.”
wants to find them.” “But back to the Conestoga County cemetery.…”
Godfrey ushered the conversation.

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“Right, yes. Anyhow, so there are two English yew But on the other hand, the
trees at the graveyard – they’re massively wide, and their bark of a Pacific yew and the
branches spread so far that they cover most of the needles of an English yew is
headstones. Sometimes, branches grow kind of where they get the
downwards, sometimes reaching into the ground to form primary component for the cancer drug, Taxol.”
new stems. These branches grow into separate, but linked, “Death and life, all in the same plant,” Godfrey mused.
trunks. Which I think is why there are two yews there, Back in his pulpit days, he’d have come up with a sermon
instead of just one.” based just on that metaphor alone.
“What’s the Mr. Jhali remarked, “Your report indicates you
connection between yew organized a team of volunteers to help with the physical
trees and burial sites?” work.”
asked Mr. Greer.
“Yes, sir. In our troop, everyone helps everyone else on
“In Britain, the Druid their Eagle project. Plus I asked a few friends from my high
people planted yews at school Science Club and I’m on Stage Crew, so some of
their temple them helped. My grandfather’s hardware store lent us the
sites. Later, under the Romans, early Christians tools and wheelbarrows to cut back the debris and haul it
rededicated the sites as churches and began burying people away.”
in the same yards as had their predecessors, so yews
became associated with graveyards.” “How many graves did you ultimately identify?” Ruth
Ann asked, “and how many of them are from your family
“Aren’t yew trees poisonous?” Mayor Remington tree?”
asked, searching her memory of arcane facts. “I thought I
read something about that.” “There were 38 gravestones with names on them. We
couldn’t read every word because some of the
“Me, too,” Imam Ibrahim agreed. stones had eroded away too much, but
“Wow,” Ferris admitted, “I didn’t think anyone using the rubbing technique and washing
would know that! But you’re the stones, we could at least identify the
right. Sort of. The berries and person’s name.”
needles are poisonous and
can be fatal if you eat them.
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“And they’re all part of your family “… the two yews,” Ferris repeated.
tree?” “The two ewes? What’s a ewe? You mean female
“Yeah. All 38 of them are ancestors or, like, I guess, sheeps?”
distant cousins of some kind where we have a common “No, sir,” Ferris patiently tried again. “What I mean is,
ancestor.” I emailed pictures of both of the Taxus Baccata trees to a
Mr. Whitebrook finally spoke, leading to a topic Ferris professor in England. He wrote back that the yews are
anticipated. “So there are 38 souls buried there?” certainly of a size and spread that they could well have
“Actually, I think there’s many more people buried grown from seeds or saplings brought over by the first
there. We can’t be sure without digging things up and English in Conestoga County back in the late-1600’s.”
everything, but I think that the site had been a burial Godfrey Swench asked Ferris, “The 38 headstones that
ground for the locals before William Penn immigrated to you identified – all your relatives. Are they all
escape the persecution back in England.” Flegelhoffers?”
“Is that right, Lenny? This was a native American “Actually, none of them are,” Ferris looked at his notes.
burial site?” Mr. Greer asked his fellow panel member. “We found five Oxthorns, eight Swenches, more than a
Leni Whitebrook ignored, as he often did, the dozen McGregors, and a bunch of Flegels there.
inadvertent mispronunciation of his first name. Some folks “But your name is ‘Flegelhoffer’ not Flegel, right?”
got it right – “LEHN-eye” – but many anglicized it as if his asked Mr. Jhali.
full name were Leonard. He answered, “Yes, I think so. My “Yeah – and that’s another thing I didn’t know. My
people did not usually mark graves, but they did dedicate grandfather explained that there used to be two different
common grounds for enshrining the dead. We have no branches of our family tree – the Flegels, who were
written records from my people, but the writings of the English, and the Hoffers, who were German. In the 1920’s
European settlers suggests that sacred burial grounds were sometime, an Angle named Flegel married a Saxon named
offered to the newcomers for their sacred sites, in a spirit of Hoffer, and they combined the names into one –
cooperation or sharing.” Flegelhoffer.”
Ferris continued, “I emailed photos of the two “They just made up a new name?” Mayor Remington
yews….” asked with surprise.
Mr. Greer cupped his hand to hear ear, “Two what?”
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“Yeah. I didn’t know you could do that, but they did it. Cemetery is, and they were part of the Underground
You’d have to ask my grandfather about it.” Railroad. I found out that the son in that family ended up
Mr. Jhali looked through the remaining papers that marrying one of the daughters of a man his family had
Ferris had submitted. “And I understand you learned a lot helped hide from the slave catchers.”
about your family ties through this project.” Ferris continued, “Old Census information online tells
Ferris nodded, “I did. Using a bunch of websites, I you about what people did for a living. My family had a lot
traced one line of the family all the way back to the great- of farmers, of course, but also some millwrights, laborers,
great-grandfather of William the Conqueror in the 9th and a whole long line of clergy – I’m Catholic, but
Century. And yet there’s another branch of the family tree apparently I have a lot of Protestants in my background.
that only goes back about 100 years. Most of the people, And a bunch of relatives who married into Jewish families,
you can’t really learn anything about them. But for people too.” Turning to the Imam, he added, “Sorry – I didn’t find
who lived in the past 200 years, I found all sorts of stuff.” any Muslims in my family tree.”

“Like what?” asked Godfrey Swench with genuine Idris smiled, “Maybe someday. But for now, you’ve got
curiosity, knowing that his blood line intermingled with a bit of ‘a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker!”
Ferris’ several generations ago. “Yes, sir. And some of it is pretty odd. I found a man
“Well, I found one of my ancestors fought for the who married one girl, and when she died, he married her
British in the Revolutionary War at the Battle of The sister, and when she died, he married a third sister.”
Clouds, while another was enlisted with the Colonials. If Mayor Remington remarked, “I remember your
the storm hadn’t soaked the soldiers gun cartridges, we grandfather telling me once about someone who was on
could have lost two branches of my family tree in the same the Titanic.”
battle.” “Yes, Ma’am. There were two brothers, both crewman.
“Remarkable,” nodded Imam Ibrahim. One survived, the other didn’t.”
“Another ancestor was a gold miner, and I’m pretty Cholly Jhali had sat on scores of Eagle Boards of
sure that I also found a guy who was a cattle rustler.” Review during his career as a Boy Scout exec, but rarely
“No kidding!” laughed Mr. Jhali. had he run into someone who had so learned so much new
information from his project. “So what do you take away
“Yeah, and there was a family that lived down in from your work?”
southern Conestoga County, near where the Yew Tree
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Ferris grinned. “Everyone told me you always ask that Felix overheard them and wandered over. “You mean
question, but I’m still not sure what to say. I think,” he about how a Flegel married a Hoffer and we became
paused to consider, “that I hadn’t realized that all the Flegelhoffers?”
people who came before me were really… people. They “Yes,” Godfrey asked, “I’ve heard of hyphenated
seem much more real to me now. I think about some of the names, but evidently, your ancestors just chose to make a
stuff that’s so real to me at my age – like what to do after new one?”
graduation, or who I’m going to go to Prom with – all of
them went through all that kind of stuff, too, you know, “That they did,” Felix acknowledged as the sounds of
within their own time and culture. I think about that when I’ll Be Home For Christmas drifted from the speakers in the
I feel a bit overwhelmed.” barn rafters. “It was back in 1920. Flora Flegel’s family was
English, but she fell for a German, Horace Hoffer.”
Ferris noted, “Was that right after the War?”
‘Overwhelmed’ is how most of Ferris’ family felt as
they rounded the final turn into the homestretch of His grandfather nodded, “Pretty close.”
Christmas. Ever since Ferris’ grandfather Felix got Godfrey remarked, “I wouldn’t have thought the Brits
remarried on Christmas Eve some years ago, they had been and Germans were all that friendly back then.”
holding a Christmas Eve, extended-family Open House in
their barn, complete with music, games, a full buffet “Mostly, they weren’t,” Felix agreed. “But some were.
spread, and an open bar. You see, Flora’s brother Filbert had fought in the war. And
so had Horace Hoffer. In fact, they fought against each
Being a second cousin twice removed, Godfrey Swench other. It was upon this very night, Christmas Eve, over a
came by this year. “Ferris! Congratulations again on hundred years ago, back in 1914, that the two men met.”
becoming an Eagle Scout.”
“How did that happen?” Ferris wanted to know.
“Thanks, Rev. Swench.”
Although the mood in the Flegelhoffer barn was jovial,
Godfrey shook a scolding finger. “I’m not a ‘Reverend’ Felix’ countenance turned a bit dark. “The ‘War to End All
anymore; I’m just plain Godfrey now. And I really enjoyed Wars’ had begun that summer. The Germans invaded
your presentation. In fact, I’ve been meaning to ask your Belgium to try to outflank the French and British. There
grandfather for the story of how the ‘Flegelhoffer’ name was a hellish battle around the Belgian town of Ypres –
came about. You said something about two sides of the that’s Y-p-r-e-s -- ‘Ee-prah,’ like ‘Oprah’ but with an ‘e.’ For
family making up a new name?” over a month, the Germans tried to break through the
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English lines at Ypres. There were over 100,000 casualties by Kings, Emperors and other despots, the grunts in the
that one month alone.” trenches declared a truce.”
“Good Lord,” exclaimed Godfrey. “Did they wave a white flag or something?”
Felix shook his head, “I can’t imagine it. The horrors of Felix said, “It was much more subtle. They sang. They
war….” sang what you know as ‘Silent Night,’ only in German,
Ferris asked, “So how did those two guys meet?” ‘Stille nacht, Heilige Nacht, alles schläft, einsam wacht.’ A holy
song about a holy night, composed by two Austrians a
“They met,” Felix explained, “during the Christmas century earlier. And the tune wafted over to the other side
truce.” For the next few minutes, Felix elaborated the of a turnip field that made up No-Man’s-Land.”
details of how the opposing armies had dug long, winding,
continuous trenches beneath the ground, some as close as Godfrey offered, “I remember learning that the English
20 yards apart. He told how the troops fired whenever an and French soldiers began to sing along, right?”
enemy combatant’s head peaked over the trench, or if “They did,” Felix agreed. “And this happened all up
someone ventured into the No-Man’s-Land between the and down the lines of parallel trenches, for dozens – nay,
lines. hundreds – of miles. The trenches were so close that the
“Then at Christmas that year,” Felix continued, “as a soldiers could easily hear people talking on the other side.
gesture towards their own troops, the German command Many knew enough of the other’s language to
sent hundreds of small Christmas trees to their men at the communicate. In Ypres, at first, they called back and forth,
front – you know, a taste of home, and all that. As the sun eventually agreeing to trust each other enough to allow
set on Christmas Eve, after countless flare-ups of gun fire two men from each side to meet in the middle.”
and skirmishes that day, the German 133rd Saxon Ferris wondered, “And that’s where Filbert Flegel met
Regiment began to place a few trees on their trench Horace Hoffer?”
parapets, in full view of their enemies. The lit them with “Indeed,” Felix nodded. “They were two of the
real candles.” representatives who met in the darkness, in the middle of
“Didn’t the British shoot at them?” Ferris asked. No-Man’s-Land, illuminated by lanterns and candles in
“Some did, but that’s also when something rather German Christmas trees. Flegel later wrote that ‘our
miraculous began to occur: in the middle of a War declared conversation was no different from that of meeting a
friendly opponent at a football match.’ Hoffer gave him a

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photograph of his pre-war regimental soccer team. Flegel
gave Hoffer a tin of beef rations in return. They exchanged
names and addresses, and then bid each other a friendly
goodbye. ”
“I can’t believe no one shot them,” remarked Ferris’ 10
year-old cousin Frankie, who had wandered over.
“Almost everyone stood down,” Felix recounted.
“Which was not easy – remember: they had been killing
each other earlier in the day on December 24th. The next
morning, an early fog dispersed to reveal a bright blue sky
He told how some fellows even began kicking around a
– perfect conditions for peace. Some Germans put up signs
soccer ball together.
on the trenches reading ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘You no fight,
we no fight’. Men from both sides called to one another.
Funny thing: British reports give the Germans credit for
initiating contact, but the German reports said it was the
English.
“Then,” Felix continued, “both sides allowed the other
to bury their dead in No-Man’s-Land. One joint burial laid
to rest over 100 souls, with Germans lined on one side of
the grave and the British on the other, while someone
recited the 23rd Psalm in English and then in German.”
Felix explained how throughout the day, soldiers
mingled in the neutral turf, speaking to one another, “The peace lasted all Christmas Day.”
exchanging some personal affects like badges and buttons, From the barn’s rafters came the sounds of another
cigars, and jam. Christmas carol – a ‘new’ one, “Do You Hear What I Hear?”,
written in 1962 in response to the rattling of nuclear war
sabers by the U.S. and Soviet Union.

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After a moment of silence, young Frankie said, “But The former cleric waved his hands, “Far be it from me
the peace didn’t last, did it, Pop Pop?” to encroach on Father Opus’ turf! You’ll have to ask him!”
“Sadly, no,” Felix admitted. “The war resumed and The younger two headed over to the dessert table, but
lasted nearly another four full years, cutting off millions of Felix and Godfrey shared a moment longer. They clinked
branches from people’s family trees. But, “ Felix said, their Christmas cocktail glasses as they heard:
suddenly brightening his mood, “some years later, Flegel The child, the child, Sleeping in the night
and Hoffer reconnected after the war, and when Hoffer
proposed to Flegel’s younger sister, the couple decided to He will bring us goodness and light,
combine their name, making a new family – a whole new He will bring us goodness and light!
trunk of a family tree – one that celebrated peaceful
reconciliation.”
“Man,” Ferris remarked, “what an amazing story.”
Felix shrugged, “Stories like that? Every family’s got
‘em. Every one of those 38 people whose headstones you
found down at the Yew Tree Cemetery? They each had
stories like this.”
The music floated down: ‘Said the King to the People
everywhere: listen to what I say – Pray for peace, people,
everywhere….”
Young Frankie eventually broke the contemplative
aura. “Pop Pop,” Frankie offered, “learning about all this
family history is really cool, but…” he rolled his eyes, “I
still don’t know why I have to memorize some old Bible
lineage!”
Felix laughed. “I don’t either, Frankie. Any ideas on
that, Godfrey?”

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“The Extra Point”

‘Twas an October ‘17 trip with my father to see 200 year-


old headstones in rural Lewisville, Pennsylvania that gave me
the idea for the cemetery in this year’s Tale -- although the
real, Old Stone Graveyard is lovingly preserved by the family
that owns the land. English Yew trees are not native to North
America, but there are countless Taxus Baccata in cemeteries
in Britain, most of which are hundreds of years old. And I bet
you already knew that the Christmas Truce of 1914 was both
wide-spread and profound. The photos are authentic – real
images of real people from long, long ago. And unlike my
rambling fiction, that’s a story that ought never be forgotten.

If you’d to try another Yellow Springs Tale, feel free to go to


Facebook, type “Yellow Springs Stories” in the search bar, and
then you’ll find links to the previous Christmas stories going
back to 1992.

Thanks for reading!


- Bill Kennedy
wdkennedy415@gmail.com

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