Exploring the Past to Improve the Future
Week 45: #52 Ancestors - Bearded By Eilene Lyon I don't recall when I first saw some version of the image above of my grandfather, Everett Halse, but as a child, it stuck in my mind that he was a bearded man. This, despite the fact that every other photo of Grandpa showed him clean-shaven.... Continue Reading →
By Eilene Lyon RVing has taken off this year, more rapidly than Covid-19 infections. It’s a relatively safe way to travel, because you take your lodging and kitchen with you, minimizing the need to spend time indoors in potentially dangerous places. The Putterer, Sterling, and I packed ourselves into our new (used) Ford van and... Continue Reading →
Week 52: #52 Ancestors – You By Eilene Lyon I am my ancestors’ future. Their legacies to me were their hopes, aspirations, and privileges…as well as their fears, anger, and disappointments. These things, passed down to me, shape who I am today. From my father, I learned the work ethic that came through generations of... Continue Reading →
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 →
Week 41: #52 Ancestors – Sports By Eilene Lyon South Dakota Winter entertainment in 1930s South Dakota was somewhat limited. There were movies and dances. And basketball. My grandparents, Reatha Gusso (15) and Everett Halse (30), were dating in January and February 1932 and watching basketball games was one of the acceptable activities. Reatha mentions... Continue Reading →
Week 28: #52 Ancestors – Travel By Eilene Lyon In 1942, my grandparents, Reatha and Everett Halse, made the decision to leave Florence, South Dakota, and head west. Everett’s younger brother, Alvin Halse, was already living in Corvallis, Oregon, and had a job waiting for Everett. That summer, they packed up their worldly possessions and... Continue Reading →
Week 26: #52 Ancestors – Black Sheep By Eilene Lyon A Model Citizen If there’s a blacker sheep on my family tree than William Clark Ransom, I’ve not come across him/her. William Clark Ransom (1828 – 1917) was born into humble circumstances in Ohio, and grew up on a modest farm in eastern Indiana. He... Continue Reading →
Week 5: #52Ancestors - Census By Eilene Lyon Because I am trying to find as many living descendants as possible for Henry Zane Jenkins and his wife, Abigail Bedford, I have been following many family lines down to the present. One of these lines is the Rackleffs of Oregon. Last year, while working on this... Continue Reading →
Every Family has a story to tell..........Welcome to mine
Writing, Blogging and Books
Navigating life through grandparenthood, chronic illness, dream work, and other inspirations
Passion for writing ignites my soul's momentum
“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell
Thoughts about teaching and learning history
Live fully and have fun doing so...
everyone has a story
Buckeyes from all Directions : by Kathy Warnes
Home of Lukas Kondraciuk Photography
Family history site where I can share my latest discoveries.
"Nothing that happens to a writer -- however happy, however tragic -- is ever wasted." ~ P.D. James
Genealogy..a journey to the past present and future.
Exploring the Past to Improve the Future
Adventures in Genealogy
