Old Familiar Places

The trip Mom, Jeff, Ross, and I took to Texas back in July was a great time to reconnect. And not only with people, but places.

It has been decades since these homes, church houses, and other places ceased playing any direct role in our lives, but it still meant a lot to be able to stand on my two feet in front of them, walk across their green lawns, and breathe the air of those places...again.

They have all changed, and some have passed away.

4915 Love Road El Paso, TX.

6639 Country Club Circle Dallas, TX



Former site of the Turtle Creek L.D.S. Chapel, Turtle Creek Blvd Dallas, TX.

The Turtle Creek Chapel parking lot now...

...and then.


The Turtle Creek building. I scanned this from an old Sunday School program dated September 7, 1969. Back in the days when Sunday School was in the morning and Sacrament mtg. was in the afternoon. Looking at the above photo, my best estimation of the vantage point for the program photo would be at the treeline in the center of the photo, maybe a little left, and aiming towards you.

Then, Now, and Tommorrow

Well family, I am feeling a little disbelief that, having looked forward to the reunion for so long, it is in the past. It was a reconnection which required being in the midst of it and experiencing it to fully realize how much I'd been needing it. I had a wonderful time seeing everyone.
If I had borne my testimony friday night I would have expressed my gratitude at having the family I do - both immediate and extended. Considering the world in which we live, the knowledge that one has family out there - despite being far away in some cases, or not seen too often - means so much.
Anyway, the top of the two photos above was taken at the Stan & Joanne Taylor household in Dallas, Texas about thirty years ago. The one beneath it was taken at the Mark & Anne Marie Eisele household in Lindon, Utah about three days ago.

May the following and many other photos be re-enacted in the reunions to come (hopefully sooner than fifteen years).

Name These Cousins...

We are only guessing, but we think this picture was taken back in 1977. It was immediately following a conference of the five-some to plan a reunion 30 years in the future. They are so excited because the big event is only a year away! Don't let them down - plan to attend! How can you deny these cute little faces? By the way, who ARE these kids?

Links to other family Blogs

Corbett Family News
So I was able to add the links, but they show up in a weird spot. I'll work on putting them in a more logical spot on the site, but for now you'll have to scroll down under "Recent Posts". Hey, I'm proud of myself for sort of figuring it out!

Happy Father's Day, Bear Huntin' Buddy

"Oh, Mister Mister Johnny Rebek
how could you be so mean?
I told you you'd be sorry for inventing that machine.
Now all the neighbor's cats and dogs will
nevermore be seen -
They'll all be ground to sausages in
Johnny Rebek's machine."

That was the chorus from just one of the songs my dad would often sing while driving, camping, or whenever.
There were a few others - I don't really know if these are the titles or just the first lines:

"The Bear Went Over the Mountain"
"The Dummy Line"
"Two Little Fishes" (who "swam and swam all over the dam")
"Beautiful, Beautiful Texas"
"Abilene, Oh Abilene"
"We're All Goin' Down to Santa Fe Town"
"I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts"
And, believe it or not, more than once I remember him singing "We're Off to See the Wizard"

My Dad and I had many categories of buddyship:

Bear-Huntin' Buddy
Priesthood Buddy
Swimming Buddy
Camping Buddy
et al

"Bear-Hunting Buddy" was more of a fanciful yarn he often spun than a label for an activity in which we often engaged. It was quite an entertaining tale. The plan as he described it was to get ourselves outfitted and go up into "the mountains" with some "friendly Indians" as guides. I remember being highly excited, fascinated, and maybe a little frightened at the thought of traveling with Indians, friendly though they be. I kept thinking of those mesmerising, stoic portaits of Geronimo. We never did go bear hunting, or so I thought. Dad later pointed out that we had actually hunted bear on the previous outing to Malouf Lake. Yes, we had been, in fact, walking the shores and hills with our 22s. We just hadn't actually seen or killed a bear. I'd have to say that that was when I first learned about loopholes.

Dad and Humor:

Ask me sometime about Ernie Dawson's "trick knee," or Mom about "Binckley."
Dad would often rib me about the Star Wars movies and characters.
"What's that Star Wars movie called - The Lost Ark Fights Back?"
He used to teasingly call R2-D2 "WD40," and referred to Yoda as "Yuck."
Another thing he used to tell me was that on the old Batman tv series, the character of Robin was played by a girl.
"No he's NOOOOOOT!" was my counter-argument. I didn't have a problem with girl tv characters - I found Batgirl to be quite fetching. Messing with Robin was more than I could handle, though.

Sometime in the 80's I began to wonder how long my Dad would be around. It was several years later, however, before I'd be confronted directly with the concept of Dad's mortality. It was when we went to meet Mom and Dad at the airport upon their homecoming from Panama. Dad was not doing well.
His moment of passing was as peaceful as could be. The thing which I had wondered and worried about back in the 80's had come and gone. But, the really hard thing had been seeing him in the state he was in at the airport back in '97, and the feeling that he had at that moment begun to leave us.

Dad and Mom spent his last few years shuttling back and forth between Texas and AZ.
During their visits here, despite failing health and being unable to partake of many of the simple pleasures which he had once enjoyed, there were times when the old self would re-surface. I remember one day He and Mom and I drove over to Trader Joe's - a market in Tempe which has lots of interesting, unusual foods. We each made one or two selections and then on the way home we enjoyed ourselves sampling them and commenting on them.
Summer of '2001 Mom, Dad and I went to the Cedar City Shakespeare festival. We saw several productions including one of Dad's favorites - "Pirates of Penzance." Dad laughed and cheered at General Stanley, The Pirate King, and a surprise cameo by Queen Victoria herself. On another AZ visit we (again Mom, Dad and I) went to the movies and saw "O' Brother, Where Art Thou." Dad really got a kick out of it. He was particularly tickled by the character "Delmar," and chuckled all the way home.

Whenever I think of Dad in the Spirit World - I envision him with Mama & Daddy T, Bessie & Art, Jessie & Gack, Sadie & Odie, Bud, Babe, Granny & Gramps, Eblen Malouf, Ted, and every dog he ever knew.

Who Loves Ice Cream?

 
 
This is proof that the love of ice cream is hereditary! Emma has been eating Haagen Dazs ice cream since she was a baby. Is that wrong? She and Sadee have been enjoying Mayan Chocolate - can you tell? 

Mothers Day 2006 In Calgary, Canada

On Sunday past the Calgary Melchin's celebrated mother's day at Rick & Cathy's place. In traditional style, Cathy prepared her own celebration dinner for everyone. After dinner at the Melchins we surprised Cathly with the hammock she's had her eye on.




Here's a photo of Melinda Palmer and (some of) the Melchin grandkids, taken just before dinner.