Hi, All! Happy Holidays in the very near future.

    The Family Christmas Party will be at History House again this year. It is scheduled for December 19th. Come around 3:00 and we will eat about 5:00. Our family has grown so big, we have to rent a hall..... Isn't that wonderful?

    Heather and Thomas brought Baby Skyler out from Maryland over this past weekend to meet this part of his family, including his Great Gramma Anne Lightfoot and his Great Grandparents Vern and me (Dorothea) He is an adorable little elf. Dave came to Hildy and Dan's home and took a lot of pictures. They cover four generations and will be treasured, I'm sure.
     There was an open house at Hildy and Dan's on Sunday so those who could were able to also meet the newest member of the family. I understand it was a great success, with both family and friends there.

    That Withrow family will be flying out to Australia on December 26 so that Thomas can coach the track and field team for the Deaflympics being held in Melbourne right after the first of the year. Heather will be defending her deaf women's world record in hammer throw and her U. S. deaf women's record in discus. She is already doing isotometric exercises to help her get into best condition for the events. Her two will be on the 5th and 6th, so she and Skyler will be free to enjoy the rest of the competition after that. Her best friend, Misty Flowers, will be there, so the new Mom will have help with the baby, as well as the best of companionship.
     Heather has promised to let me know the website address when she learns it so we can follow along with the excitement.

    We have been corresponding with some new-found relatives in International Falls, MN. Ken and Kathy Nordstrand. Ken is the son of Vern's Uncle John, who was the youngest member of the Nordstrand family of HogBoda, Varmland, Sweden.... Vern's father's little brother.
     Ken found the name "John Nordstrand" on the Internet and wrote to see if they might be related since that was his father's name. Of course, John wrote right back and a new, wonderful link was formed. The funny thing is, I have been writing to his sister, Lorraine Bruce, and her son and daughter-in-law, Bradley and Lyn, since 1981 when we met them on our cross country trip with our truck and trailer. We just missed meeting Ken that time. Lorraine phoned to let him know we were there but he was out playing his guitar and singing in a night spot and we left the next day.
    We are getting to know him now, anyway, and he has been great sending pictures and e-mail. We have been sending what we have to him.
     Among others, he sent a picture of himself and Kathy with their cake served as their 50th Wedding celebration.... so now we know what they look like.

    Last week, he sent us a copy of a letter he had received from his father written by (Vern's grandfather) Karl Nilsson in 1934. His father, John, had given it to him but Ken has never known what it said since it was written in Swedish. Sleuth Nan got on the web and posted a request for help in reading it. This week, we received a neatly translated version from a very young lady who lives near the border beween Norway and Sweden. The letter and translation is shown on this website under "Relatively Speaking". It is a sad, but fascinating gem.

    Susie Thompson, who is Miggs' daughter, called to try to arrange a visit for us with her Mom in her new Adult Home called Greenwood's on Lake Sammamish She will call Dave to see if he would like to come, too. Dave is the one of ours that was closest to the Medleys and still keeps up a relationship with Mike. I do hope we can make it work. I would love to see Miggs in what sounds like a very nice place. We had such great times together in our teens and early twenties.

    Priscilla Long, Senior Editor of HistoryLink asked me to add more to the story I wrote about Roosevelt High School, so I added the story about my difficulty with bookkeeping and about the scholarship offered to me by Judge Black, which I couldn't accept since college was out of my reach.
     Now the additional text is up on www.HistoryLink.org

    Nan and her Mom, Carolyn, enjoyed a wonderful visit to Victoria, B.C. last week. They drove to Port Angeles, left their car, and took the ferry to that pretty city.... just the two of them, together. They stayed in a place near the waterfront, saw the city from a big, red bus, and checked out the festival of lights at Butchart Gardens, ate at an Irish restaurant, and had a very special time, I'm told.

Dixie/Dorothea, Senior Editor.

Home Page: Dixie-Press.com

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