Elder Gran

Neenaw and Gran were on their mission in the southern United States (Alabama and Florida) this year.

Trip to Uncle Raymond & Aunt Ramona's

This summer I took a trip with Neenaw and Gran to visit Uncle Raymond and Aunt Ramona in Montana. It was fun having "alone time" with them.  This was a long trip, from our home in Brookings, Oregon to central Montana, and I kept busy recording all the county names as we passed through each new county (signs of geekdom were apparent).

LOVED this three-wheeler. I tried taking it up a steep hill once and was lucky just to get stuck, instead of rolling end-over-end back down the hill.



Uncle Raymond & Aunt Ramona's house

Gran & Uncle Raymond

Neenaw

Me

Mount Moriah Cemetery, Sundance, Wyoming

The headstone on the left belongs to Gran's great grandparents, Jennie V. and Thomas W. Zane, and the tall one on the right belongs to their son, Jesse Thomas Zane.

1982

Grandpa and Grandma

7th grade.  Dig the mullet

BC, 6th grade

Ernie, 1st grade

Jeremy, age 5

Melanie, age 3

Thanksgiving 1982

Do we need a bigger table?

Here we are in our first rental home in Kennewick - we had to move five months later when the owners sold the house.

From left: Stan (high chair), Aunt Karen, Uncle John, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Steve, Mandi, Grandma Dot, me, Mom; Mel's little face in front.

Talk about people you'll never see in the same room again - well, not in this life. :)

Adina Irene Clark Keithler, 1901-1982

Mom, Dad, Grandma and me in her Vancouver home

Holding Stanley at Neenaw & Gran's house in Brookings

Miss you, Grandma. 

At Grandma Keithler's in Brookings

Guessing on the date. I'm holding Melanie, BC in back, Jeremy and Ernie in front.

New Cousin Stanley

You know me, I am all about the babies. Here are Stan and me at Neenaw and Gran's house in Brookings. 

Family Portrait

We had this portrait scheduled the same week that the huge November storm hit in Brookings and we were out of power for a week. The wind blew so hard, several trees right next to our house snapped in half. Scariness. I can't remember where we got ready for this picture - probably at the church or at the Mills'. I was 11, BC was 10, Ernie 6, Jeremy 4 and Melanie almost 2.

1981

Me, Ernie, Jennifer, Grandma Keithler holding John, BC,
Aunt Karen, Dad, Jeremy, Neenaw

What I can't figure out is why, in a dry, arid place like Brookings, I'm wearing a yellow tarp, like it's going to rain or something.

Melanie and me at Neenaw & Gran's

On a picnic near Corvallis

Gran (wearing BC's baseball cap), Melanie (in walker), Neenaw (lying down), Ernie (standing), BC (in visor), Dad (looks like Jeremy's in his lap), Mom, me, and is that John in the stripey overalls?

Outside Uncle John and Aunt Karen's house in Corvallis

John holding Jennifer, Karen and me, Gran and Jeremy, Neenaw, Mom and BC, Dad holding Melanie

Neenaw and Grandma Keithler

Switch

Back row - Neenaw, Uncle Ernie, Gran, Aunt Karen holding John, Lonnie
Front row - Ernie, me, BC, Jennifer

:)

Back row: Grandma Keithler, Uncle Ernie, Gran, Karen holding John, Lonnie
Front row - me, Jen, BC

zzzz

Grandma Keithler catching some shuteye at Neenaw and Gran's in Brookings

Visiting Grandma & Lonnie

I absolutely adored visiting Grandma Keithler and Lonnie at their home in Ridgefield. They had known each other for many years - Lonnie was Grandma's cousin Edith's second husband before Edith died - and were married in Neenaw and Gran's living room when I was six.  Gwenda is the daughter of Grandma's cousin Edith, so she's Neenaw's second cousin and Grandma's first cousin once removed (there'll be a quiz later). 

Lonnie and Grandma spent a few years together here at his home. It's because of these visits and our trips to the family burial plots in the area that I fell in love with Portland and vicinity.

Gran & Neenaw

Quite the group.

Front row from left: Grandma, me, Mom, Jeremy, BC, Neenaw, Gwenda
Back row: Dad holding Melanie, Uncle John, Aunt Karen holding Jennifer