Taking Time

On June 18th, my nephew married his sweetheart. At this wedding there was a large number of relatives as well as my siblings. It was a also my brother's anniversary. A nephew was there with his 6 month old baby that I hadn't seen. The last time we had all gotten together was about 10 1/2 months earlier when the bridegroom's brother had married his sweetheart. Both served as a wonderful time to share time and catch up with each other. I even was able to talk with my brother-in-law's parents that I first met 25 years ago when he and my sister were married and my brother-in-law's college friend that I hadn't seen in about as many years. I was amazed that time passes so quickly.

At the end of this month, I will attend a class reunion. I graduated from high school 36 years ago. Yes, I know to my children and grandchildren that makes me ancient. I graduated from a small high school in Fernley, Nevada which at that time had a total of 225 to 250 students in the high school. Our graduating class was 52. We are having a reunion for the classes who graduated in the 1970's. My parents moved the fall after I graduated and I lost contact with many of my friends. I have revived contact with some of them through Facebook and Classmates but still I don't really know them. I am nervous about seeing them because I have changed but in many ways I am still much the same person. They too will have changed.

I stayed in contact with one of my friends from high school until about 8 or 9 years ago when a lot of "life" took my emotional and physical strength at the time. We talked to each other about a year ago and she has reached out to me. I again got busy with some other things in my "life" and haven't reached out to her as much as I should. A sister has moved back east and I don't talk to her as much as I did when we lived in the same town. I don't always take alot of time to talk to my brother and sister who live in the same state as I do.

What am I getting at with all of these ramblings?? What I am getting at is to enjoy the time we have. So often we get so involved in work and our lives that we don't stop to take the time to enjoy those around us. Family and friends are important. Take Time.

Historic Snowfalls

View down the street

Path out to the driveway

The Portland Oregon area doesn't have much snow and it usually melts in a day, however, we are currently engulfed in snow. They are saying it is the worst snow and weather we have had in 40 years. We have had 16" of snow with more expected on Christmas Eve. Yesterday we had freezing rain on top of the snow. I-84, the interstate east, is closed with no current expectation of an opening time. Portland is running out of deicer. A train is supposed to come tomorrow if they can get through. Kids missed a whole week of school before their Christmas holiday started. They will get a 3 week winter vacation but I am sure they will have to make it up in the summer. I am at least grateful that I am not stuck at the Portland Airport. Many families have been stuck there for 3 days now and don't know when they will get a flight out. Now I know why I don't travel for the winter holidays!!

My building at work was closed today. At least I can do some work from home. David's work is allowing him to work from home too. It reminds me of a "Little House on the Prairie" Christmas story when they were snowed in and Mr. Edwards was bringing Christmas presents. The statement "The weather outside is frightful" is so true of Portland.

Out to the Street - Look at the snow on those cars!

Well it is supposed to warm up by my birthday on the 27th. Hopefully we don't flood. Who know what Mother Nature has in store for us next?!!!!

History and Memories

Forty-five years ago, President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. I remember where I was that day when I heard what had happened. I was 8 years old and in the 3rd grade. When I returned from the restroom, Miss Macedo, my teacher, had the map down showing the class where Dallas was located. She was telling us that the President had been shot and was in the hospital. I knew that this was a sad solemn happening.

I went home for lunch, as usual, and my mother was upset. She seemed preoccupied and was glued to the TV. While I was home they said the President was dead. I was confused about what that all meant. No one in my family had died in my lifetime and I knew they went to heaven but it all seemed very confusing to me.

When I returned to school after lunch, Miss Macedo told us the President had died and that we were dismissed for the day. That day was a Friday so there was no mention of whether we would have school on Monday.

The TV news was on all the time. I learned that we had a new President - Lyndon Johnson. I remember watching the plane land with President Kennedy's body and hearing them talk about telling Caroline and John. I thought about how sad it would be for them to have their father die.

Saturday morning I was upset to find there were no cartoons. At this time there was only cartoons on TV on Saturday mornings and usually for an hour each weekday afternoon. I knew the President was important but as a child I thought cartoons were important too.

Sunday morning we were watching the news when Lee Harvey Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby. That confused me even more. I couldn't understand why someone would want to shoot this man while it was on TV for the country to see. Monday was the funeral. The nation had a day of mourning so we had no school. I watched the riderless horse and the caisson carrying the flag draped coffin. I remember watching John salute his father's coffin. His father had taught him to salute the flag. I later learned that day was his third birthday and Caroline's birthday was around the same time. All of this left an impression on me and I will never forget the happenings of that day.

I believe we need to record our experiences with days like this for our children and future descendants. We need them to know that history is not just what is written in history books. History is about people and what happened to them. What happened the day President Kennedy was assassinated forever changed this nation. It was about people and affected people. We need to also record for our descendents the important things that happeded in our family. History and memories are what binds us together.

Veterans and the Military

I took a vacation day on Veterans' Day so I could go to the parade in Albany to see my grandaughter march with her Brownie troop. As I watched the parade and the groups of veterans and current military pass by, I thought first of my father and how proud he was on Veterans' Day. He fought in Korea and had some horrendous experiences. He often felt we didn't give our veterans enough help and respect.

I also thought about my husband's and my ancestors who served their country whether it was in the Revolution, War of 1812, Civil War, Texas War from Mexico, WWII, etc. I thought how much their families sacrificed. John Wilson and Nathan Bryan (Bryant) fought in the Revolutionary War. Benjamin Franklin Bryant fought at the Battle of San Jacinto which ended Texas's War with Mexico. My husband and I both had several ancestors who fought in the Civil War, most for the Confederacy but some on the Union side.

One of David's ancestor cousins, Elijah Shettles, in his book "Recollections of a Long Life" wrote much about the life in Pontotoc County Mississippi during the War. Some family members were killed, all suffered. His grandfather, David Shettles (Shettlesworth) took care of a large number of women and children during the war. He was too old to go to war but he organized the women and children to make clothing and grow cotton. Elijah describes going with his brother past Confederate lines to get to New Orleans to sell cotton to the Union Army for gold because his grandfather knew that the Confederate money was going to be worthless.

We know life is difficult right now, with the recession, etc. but we have a lot to be grateful for. We need to be grateful for those of our ancestry who fought to create this nation so we could all have freedom. We were recently able to vote for who we wanted because of their sacrifices. We need to remember all these veterans have given us.

Family History

I decided to start this blog to share information that I come across in searching for my husband's and my ancestors. I find this an exciting time to leave and research family history. We can work in our pj's and can communicate with people around the world in seconds. It sure beats snail mail. More and more information is available everyday. For those who would like to participate in indexing images for the LDS church can register at http://www.familysearchindexing.org/. This work will help to index the images on historical documents. Previously indexed information is available at http://www.pilot.familysearch.org/.

I have been conducting family research for 35 years so I have seen a lot of changes in this type of work. I am researching the following surnames (a few of many): Simpson (AR), Shettles (SC & MS), Ekrut (TX), Harrington (UT), Bradshaw (NC, MO & AR), Key (TX, OK, OR & WA), Bryant (TX & CA), Gambrell (SC, TX & MS), Fryar (OK & NM), Mounce (MS), Shelton (MO , OK & AR), Schmidt (MA), Pierce (AR & NC) and Frommer (MA).