Week 35: #52 Ancestors – At Work By Eilene Lyon This week’s project began as a story about my 4th great-aunt, Catherine Delle, who is credited with establishing the first kindergarten in Madison, Wisconsin. You know I like to write about successful women from my family tree. As I researched, I ended up finding more... Continue Reading →
The Slide Years: Vista Cruiser
By Eilene Lyon The Slide Years is a series in which I select an image my dad took from 1957-1982 with Kodachrome slide film, then I write a stream-of-consciousness essay – a sort of mini-memoir. No matter where our family roamed, my grandparents made a point of visiting at least once. On this occasion, Grandma... Continue Reading →
The Slide Years: Virginia Beach
By Eilene Lyon After we returned to the U.S. from France in the early 60s, we moved into base housing at Ft. Lee, near Petersburg, Virginia. That's where we met the Moores. Melinda (on the right) became my dearest friend for the time we lived there. I don't know who buried me, Steve, and Melinda... Continue Reading →
The Slide Years: R & R
By Eilene Lyon Dad, who took this photo of Mom, did two tours in Vietnam during the 1960s. He was an officer and worked in the Quartermaster Corps. His job over there during the second tour (1969) was to run the PX (post exchange - the store for service members). Because Uncle Sam considered Vietnam... Continue Reading →
The Slide Years: Wedding Portrait
By Eilene Lyon Back before digital cameras, my dad wielded a 35-mm camera loaded with Kodachrome slide film. Several years ago, I scanned many of his slides (a few, such as this one, taken by another person). The quality isn't as good as I would hope (though this one was poor to begin with -... Continue Reading →
The Drummer
Week 31: #52 Ancestors - Brother Steven Arthur Halse (1959 - 2014) Feature image: Steve was in a marching band for one season in the fall of 1973 at Cumberland Valley High School in or near Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He played cymbals. Photo credits: Most of these were taken by Dad and are in my... Continue Reading →
The Instant Tree
Week 30: #52 Ancestors – Easy By Eilene Lyon (Satire) Decades ago my paternal grandmother, Reatha Halse, gave me some ancestry information. It included a Halse-Drake-Murphy collection of family trees. Cousin Earl Drake compiled all these descendants from our immigrant ancestors for several generations. Handy dandy! Her bundle also included a pedigree for her Crandall... Continue Reading →
Don’t Wait ‘Til Too Late
Week 28: #52 Ancestors - Reunion By Eilene Lyon Probably the most common type of reunion, apart from big holidays, is the funeral of a friend or family member. It's the basic premise behind countless movies, too. Why do we wait? It's not like people are going to die at some convenient time for everyone... Continue Reading →
Laundry Soap
Week 24: #52 Ancestors – Dear Diary By Eilene Lyon So far I’ve only come across one true diary in the family, which I wrote about last year in Reatha Gusso, 1932. For an entire year, my grandmother kept a daily journal without missing a day. To our knowledge, it’s the only one she ever... Continue Reading →