It all started with a Prince

I thought long and hard about this topic. There are many of my ancestors who survived catastrophic events or hardships and yet overcame so much. But here's a more recent event and a person I appreciate and respect. Doris Daly and Ken Conner met in High School in Lapeer, Michigan. At the age of 17, Doris quit school and she and Kenny married on October 27, 1951, in Imlay City, Michigan. Ken worked for his father-in-law building bridges and overpasses in Michigan. He would do anything to pay the bills and to save to fly. His goal was to be a pilot. Their first son was born in 1952 and their second son in 1953. In the meantime, Doris went back to school and got her GED.  Ken always loved the lure of the sky.  Ben Scott taught him how to fly.  He flew a Taylor Craft L2 in those early years. He worked on airplanes like others worked on cars.  There were a bunch of men that flew together:  Norm Burley, 'Doc' Wilcox, George Conner (brother), Dick Quick, John Miller and...

This was a tough one - there are so many memorable moments in my mind from the past. The one I keep going back to is our honeymoon (after the fact) trip to Disneyland in California. We were married in July 1974, but as Dan had just transferred to Flint, Michigan with North Central Airlines in April he wasn't able to take any vacation time at that point. He was only able to get a couple extra days off that weekend. He had bid his vacation for October so that was the 'big trip' of the year. We spent a lot of time planning our honeymoon trip to California. Back then we could get passes on other airlines, so he had set us up on United Airlines to Los Angeles. And with a few extra dollars, we had First Class from Chicago to LA.  What a flight! Drinks were plentiful, the meal was stupendous. The Stewardess wheeled a cart down the aisle with a huge beef roast that was cut at our seat. Vegetables, potatoes, gravy, rolls and butter. I can see why we were dressed to the nines! Me in ...

My first major musical that I attended happened on December 20, 1980, in Detroit, Michigan. My husband and I had moved to Romulus, Michigan the previous October when he had taken a promotion for his job at North Central Airlines. Our second daughter had been born in February, and not only did we not know very many people, but for a night out we also had to find a babysitter for two children under the age of three. On top of that, money didn't grow on trees obviously and we were a one income family.  So, to find the extra dollars for babysitter, dinner and tickets was a chore all in itself. A fellow employee Craig and his wife Karen who also had small children at home were interested in attending with us. After some conversations, it was decided we would do a night out on the town just before Christmas. We picked the national touring company that was showing the Neil Simon play 'They're Playing Our Song' at the Fisher Theater in downtown Detroit. The music was written by...

Memories alone are family heirlooms to be cherished. But when it comes to tangible items, I have many different ones.  Although I have nothing in my collection that are tied to a famous person, artist or philosopher, to me they are priceless. I have a few antiques, school memorabilia from previous ancestors, and some letters and autograph books. Mainly items that are tied to a specific person or era of our family. One of my favorite items I am the keeper of is a Sheridan family bible. It seems so innocent of an item, yet it connects to our immigrant ancestor Michael Sheridan, Sr who traveled from Cloncovid/Clonkiffel, County Cavan, Ireland to America in the early 1800's.   Written in pencil on the inside cover is "Michael Sheridan Bible 1845". The publication is a Douay Catholic Bible.  The bible was published in 1839 in Philadelphia by Eugene Cummiskey. He was an Irish immigrant also, active in printing and bookselling and one of the first American publishers to pro...

This week's prompt is WRITTEN. Don't always believe what is written - not all things are cut and dried. This picture came to me from my Aunt Phyllis (Porter) Drummond. She was my dad's older sister.  My dad, William (Bill) Porter was born 10 October 1917, the youngest of three children of Harry Edward and Nellie Irene (Dillingham) Porter. Dad had an older brother Harry Edward, Jr born 31 March 1916 and his older sister Phyllis was born 20 Feb 1915. Aunt Phyllis remembered a lot about growing up and residing in Flandreau, SD where my dad was born.  She and Harry were born in Manning, Iowa.  Now my grandpa Porter always went by Ed - never Harry. His son Harry always went by Harry. and my dad William always went by Bill.  And dad had a grandfather named William. You can see the confusion already. Here is the line: Bill Porter>Ed Porter>William Porter>John Porter>Aaron Porter So, looking at the enclosed picture, you would figure that it is of Aaron Porter and...