Family, The Best Front Porch, and a Surprise!

Hi everyone,

We just got back from a family reunion in Iowa. My sister flew from San Diego to our house, then we all flew into St Louis, MO and drove 2.5 hours to our Airbnb. We had such a great time but the only souvenir I brought back was a cold.

We stayed in the small town of Hamilton, Illinois which was right across the Mississippi River from Keokuk, Iowa. My grandma grew up in Keokuk, and the reunion was about 45 minutes north of there, in the tiny town of Salem, Iowa where a lot of our family live.

The house we stayed in overlooked the Mississippi, and the Keokuk Locks. Deb and I spent a lot of time out on that porch.

The weather was hot - in the upper 90's and the humidity, oh my word! It was hard to be outside in the mid-afternoon. We were so thankful the reunion was in the Community center. It was a smaller group than the two previous times we've been there but it was so good to reconnect with everyone. 

So many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews I didn't know I had!

A few weeks ago one of my nieces sent me photo of a huge mural they had just completed so Deb and I just had to get our pictures taken in front of it!

We went out for breakfast one of the days we were there. Hawkeyes Restaurant is one of the best restaurants in Keokuk. We eat there every time we go!

We got to see the house where our grandma Neota lived for a short time. This house was standing in the early 1900's and people still live in it today! Being a 'west coaster' my whole life where things are newer, this just blows me away.

My grandma was the second of seven, and her mom died two weeks after giving birth to her youngest brother. Her dad couldn't take care of them so he put the baby up for adoption, and her aunt (her mom's sister) took in the kids and cared for them for quite a few months. But she had kids of her own and realized she wasn't going to be able to keep them long-term. It broke her heart to give them up but they went to live at White's Institute.

The article says it was a home "for orphaned children to receive a religious education." My grandma and her siblings are on the far left. (Someone put check marks on the photo.)

These are photos of my grandma and her brothers and sisters, taken at the Institute. My grandma is the one in the dark dress.

In this photo my grandma is on the far left.

She rarely talked about her childhood. I knew she grew up in an 'orphanage' but that was all. I can only imagine what it was like for her.

After they grew up, three of them went to California, including my grandma and they didn't see each other for many years. Of those that stayed in Iowa, the oldest sister married and had 4 kids, but died fairly young. One of the other sisters married that man and became step-mom to her sister's kids.

It's a story filled with tragedy but also a deep love for one another.

And this picture? The lady in the gray sweater is the daughter of the baby that was put up for adoption. The woman in green is the wife of that baby's brother. They're in-laws but Betty and Margaret act more like sisters. What a treasure to spend time with them each year.

The day after the reunion we went to Margaret's to sit out on their back porch, then she and her daughter showed us around town.

Our last night there, Deb and I were sitting on the front porch watching the sunset when she noticed something out in the grass.

Fireflies!! I've never seen fireflies before! We called Chuck and Beth out and we sat on that porch for over an hour just watching them. It was incredible! I was able to get a few videos too. (I've never been able to get videos to play on Blogger but I may try to post one later.) It was amazing! We don't have them out here so this was quite a surprise. I loved it! It was a perfect way to end our trip to the midwest! 

Keokuk

Chuck, Beth and I went to a family reunion in Keokuk, Iowa. It was a quick trip - we flew out on Friday, the reunion was Saturday and we flew home on Sunday. Got in around midnight but thankfully none of us had to be up early the next day.

 

My dad's mom was born in Keokuk, second of 7 kids. Tillie, Neota, Helen, Opal, Wayne, Harold, Joseph. Their mom died just one week after giving birth to Joseph and the kids were taken in by their aunt. She had kids of her own and after a while realized she wasn't going to be able to take care of them so they went to live at White's Institute in Salem, Iowa. Joseph was adopted by a family in the area.

 

This is five of the siblings, my GG (as us grands and great grand kids called her) is in the dark dress.

 

 I don't know the sequence of events, but eventually GG and George were married and living in San Diego, where they had my dad and his little brother.

 

At this reunion I got to see Margaret, Joseph's daughter, and Betty, who was married to Wayne's son, also named Wayne. (He's recently passed away.) Both Margaret and Betty are in their 90's and they're the ones who put on the reunion. We got a chance to meet them back in 2018 when we were passing through. We've been writing back and forth ever since.

 

Unfortunately none of the kids want to continue the reunion so there might just be one or two more. In fact this was the first one since covid and it sounds like they only had it because we were coming. There were many I didn't get to talk to so I'm hoping to go back next year and get more information on the family. 

 

Me and Betty

 

Margaret and some of her family

 

Betty's family

 

Later that evening Margaret called and invited us over to her place the next morning. They live on... gosh, I can't remember how many acres of land they have but we sat on the back patio looking out over the fields. She showed me her wedding photo and we looked at pictures of their family over the years. It wasn't long before most of the family was there, a typical Sunday afternoon for them.

We had a 3 hour drive to the airport so we said our goodbyes and headed out. I'm already looking forward to next year.

The Mighty Mississippi

The Days Before the Memorial

We got home on Monday night and I've spent the last couple of days unpacking and doing laundry. It was a whirlwind trip and there were a lot of emotions packed into those few days. 

We flew out of Seattle on May 4th and got to the Airbnb around 2:30 in the afternoon. We drove out east and had dinner with my sister, one of her sons and his family. I realized driving back that I didn't get one single picture. 

Everyone else got in on Thursday and we made 3 trips back and forth to the airport before everyone was finally at the house. We've stayed in a lot of hotels over the years plus our timeshare, but there's nothing like coming 'home' at the end of the day.

Our home away from home last week:

 The sun room, master bedroom, and backyard:

My sister Kathy LOVED hummingbirds and this was hanging in the kitchen window. I sent a picture to Deb. It really made me smile every time I looked at it.

Sharaya and Ally wanted to go swimming when they arrived so the rest of us went out to the Ocean Beach Pier. Kathy and I spent some time here a few years ago, just the two of us. When I realized it was possible for me to go again I got so emotional. It was good to re-live that memory. But I had forgotten what a long walk it was to the cafe at the end of the pier!

On Friday we headed to the Los Angeles area to see where Chuck's mom and dad are buried. His dad died in 1961 and his mom died just last year. It took us a while but finally Peter found where they were located. We also found his grandparents and his dads twin sister, who died as a baby.

It was still early afternoon when we left there so we decided to stop at Downtown Disney. Have you ever been there? It's just an outdoor shopping center, but all Disney. And it's free to get in. Shops and restaurants, photo ops... you don't see a whole lot of young families, usually it's the older crowd who wants the Disney magic without the cost and motion sickness from the rides. 😄

We headed 'home' after that and relaxed a little. Played cards. I finished the posters and we all got stuff ready for the next day.