So before I go too far down the road of 52 ancestors, thought I'd better catch up my few readers (if any are left) on my life the last few years.  Let's see, since January of 2023...

Steve and I are still miraculously together.  We definitely have our ups and downs still but "for better or for worse" right?

Scott has been stationed in Korea these last few years.  He met a beautiful girl named Minju and they were married last fall in Korea.  We got to travel to Korea for the wedding.  They are now expecting twin girls.

Eric and Trina are still in Grand Rapids.  He is a nurse in the Cardiac Cath Lab at a local hospital.  Trina finally got her private pilot's license, and is now working on instrument rating certification.  Eventually she wants to become a commercial pilot.  They still have Winston, and brought home a brother for him, Duncan, in January.  Duncan was a rescue dog from a hoarding situation, so it's taken time.  They are both purebred dachshunds.

Oh, Scott's Marty?  He now lives with us again as Scott and Minju's landlord asked them to rehome him.  He was apparently too scary for the elderly Korean women in the complex.  (And if you know Marty, that is so not true!)  Thankfully Scott was coming back to the states for a training so he came home first with Marty.  Marty is almost 11 now so I think we'll probably be his home for the rest of his time on earth.  We couldn't see him being rehomed to strangers in Korea.

Our Max had quite a few health issues over the last years of his life.  He was stable, though, when we left for Korea last fall, so left him in a private home petsitter.  Not sure if it was not having us around or the natural progression of his issues, but he went downhill rapidly and we made that hard decision to send him over the rainbow bridge the day after we returned from Korea.   

It's nice to have a dog again with Marty here.

I was the caretaker for my mom as she continued her battle with dementia.  The last six months of her life, we had found a wonderful care place in Lowell and things settled down for her.  She passed a year ago in February.  Even though she had greatly pared down her possessions over the last few years, there was still a lot to deal with between her "stuff" and dealing with the financial and legal aspects of her estate.  That is all behind me now, except for some of her stuff still in our basement.  One of the really hard things about her death was that my older sister passed the day before mom.  We were expecting mom's death, not my sisters.

I'm still working as an urgent care registrar.  Planning to retire in August and start to have the time to accomplish the things I want to do.  One of those things being dealing with all my accumulated possessions that I don't need any more.  I don't want to leave that task for my kids.

I want to travel, too.  Planning on Korea this fall to see my new granddaughters, then after that we'll see.  One regret I have with Steve is that he doesn't really want to travel any more.   Especially with me.  So if I go, it'll probably be solo.  Or maybe a sister trip with Judy?  

Well, that's about it for an update.  

So a couple of years later...

It was a really slow day at work last week so one day I decided to see if I could still find my old blog.  I did and I read the entire blog over the course of the day.  I really wish I'd continued with the 52 ancestors thing, so  I decided to get the themes and start again.

Week 1's theme was "In the Beginning"

For me, the beginning was when I was about 15.  As I vaguely recall, there was a summer class at the school library on genealogy.  I was already a history buff, so what history would be more interesting than my own?  Talked to my dad's parents, who were local for me, and wrote a letter to my mom's mother in Indiana, and filled in the basic blanks going back a few generations.  Everything was done on paper back then, of course - no computers to help us out in so many ways as it is now.

I remember going into Madison, to the State Historical Society library, more than a few times to do research on microfilm and microfiche.  That helped fill in many of the blanks.  Eventually discovered I have more than a few Mayflower ancestors so that was quite interesting as well.

College came and my interest slowed down.  But eventually I met and married my husband and there was a whole new set of ancestors!  Not mine by birth, but they would belong to my eventual children.  As my husband is an only child, all of the records passed down thru generations were already in our hands, or in his parents possession.    

As time moved on, I would do research off and on.  Our early computer was useful for compiling family group sheets and other records more quickly than writing them by hand.

And then came the age of internet.  It is so much easier to do research and compile information now.  I have a membership to ancestry.com which has been immensely helpful.  

52 Ancestors - week 4 - education

 Just a note first - I missed week 3.  It was "out of place" and I just couldn't think of any ancestors that are out of place.  Closest I could come is my dad, whose ashes are (at least supposedly) in my stepmother's closet instead of buried with his parents as they should have been.  I digress....

This week, the topic is education.  Many directions that I could take this.  Education is important to me, as my career focus has been teaching.  The picture I chose was a typical picture for the early 20th century, all the students in a one-room schoolhouse lined up outside the building.  The posted picture is of my grandmother, Lillian Stilwell, and her siblings included in the class.  Schoolhouse unknown, somewhere in the Bartholomew or Jackson County, Indiana area.  I recently colorized the picture through ancestry.com, since of course color film had not yet been invented in the early 1900's.

Could I have taught in a one-room schoolhouse?  I would like to think so.  There would be a lot of organization necessary to meet the needs of a diverse group of students.  Anywhere from teaching the young ones to read to advanced learning for the older ones.

52 Ancestors - week 2 - Favorite Photo

 This week we are to choose a favorite photo.  I am enclosing two. The first is of my son, Scott Clayton Cooper (born 1985.) The second photo is of my husband's grand uncle, Arthur Emil Lindenman (1902 - 1983.)  

What puts these photos on my favorite list is the way that they look alike.  I have shown Uncle Art's picture to others, and they truly think that it is Scott.  Uncle Art is in his army uniform, and Scott is in his Air Force uniform. 

Genetics are amazing!

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 1 - I'd Like to Meet

I was browsing Facebook and saw a post about #52 Ancestors.  Idea being you pick one of your ancestors each week and write a little more in depth about that person.  Weekly themes each week.  Sounds cool.  Going back to my old blog to post these.

Week 1 is "I'd Like to Meet."    The first ancestor that comes to mind is my great-grandmother, Ella Josephine Cox Stobo Brockman.  There are several parts of her life that I'd like to explore more.

First would be the circumstances of her birth.  From what I've been able to find, her adoptive mother may well have actually been her grandmother.  Ella was born in 1879, and was adopted by Ellen Cox Stobo and her husband, Thomas Stobo.  Ellen's oldest daughter, Henrietta Cox, died in 1884 and her will mentions the five year old girl, Ella, and part of Henrietta's estate went towards Ella's care and benefit.  I suspect that Henrietta was actually Ella's mother.  No records exist of a marriage for Henrietta, so perhaps the potential stigma of an out of wedlock child caused Ellen to adopt her own grandchild.  Not sure.  Maybe it'd be just as beneficial to meet Ellen or even Henrietta?

Second would be her life after she became a widow.  Ella married William Franklin Brockman in 1899 and they had three children.  One of those children was my grandfather, William Thomas "Tom" Brockman.  William Franklin died in 1918.  By 1921, Ella was named as the "other woman" in a lawsuit from the wife of a local businessman in her town.

From a contemporary newspaper article:  Margaret Crump charged that her husband Charley, a wealthy sportsman and air pilot, drove his airplane thru the skies more than convention permitted with Mrs. Ella Brockman, a wealthy widow and that he used the widow's cow pasture for a landing field.  At the same time, Mrs. Crump asked $25,000 alimony and $25,000 for alienation of affections from Mrs. Brockman.  

The court fight was to have developed over whether a couple could love in approved manner in the clouds while an airplane propeller drowned all conversation and prevented the driver from turning around and whispering into the lady's ear.  The divorce suit was withdrawn by both Mr. and Mrs. Crump before it went to trial.  The newspaper article claimed that it was the first airplane divorce suit in the United States.

Ella sounds like a very interesting lady and I would have loved to have met her.

Hi from Max - I sure miss my Grandma

Hi, this is Max.  It's been a long time since Mama has let me write on her blog, but here I am.  I'm getting older and don't have quite the energy that I used to, but I still have fun when I can.   Things have changed around here lately.  There was this lady that Mama and Daddy referred to as "Grandma" that came to live with us a while back.  She was really nice; she gave me treats, let me lick her dishes after she ate good stuff from them, and took me for LOTS of walks.   She let me come up on her bed when Mama would leave for work (and Mama works really long days!) and look out her window at all the deer and bunnies and squirrels.  She has a dog, too, only Missy just stays in one place and doesn't say anything.  Mama says it's because Missy is "stuffed."  Maybe she shouldn't eat so much then!

So last week her room started getting more crowded.  Lots of boxes and totes - I could tell something was up.  On Sunday, Mama and Daddy started carrying the boxes and totes out to the garage.  Daddy filled up his big blue trailer, and on Monday they pulled the trailer away and that was the last I saw of Grandma.

Mama says she lives in her own apartment again.  She has lots more room for all her stuff and is making lots of new friends.  The only bad thing is that dogs like me aren't allowed to come visit.  Mama says she'll take me over there and we can pick her up and go on an adventure like we did a couple of times this summer.   We still have to be a little careful of this virus thing that everybody talks about.  They even have to cover up their faces!  Glad I don't have to have my face covered up!

I sure miss my Grandma.

rediscovering an old friend

At work and between patients the other day.  Googled "RedhedMary" just for fun.  The link for my old blog came up, I'd pretty much forgotten about it.  It was way cool to go back to the beginning and read again about my two trips to Europe, my trip to Japan, and other fun things.  Also stuff that wasn't so fun but good reminders.

I'm thinking I may just start writing in the blog again.

Quick re-introduction:   I've been working at Spectrum Health's Beltline Integrated Care Center (hereafter in the blog known as the BICC) since 2017, registering Urgent Care patients.  These last six months have been quite the journey, though, as the world is in the midst of a pandemic due to the COVID-19 virus.  I can truthfully say that working in health care during a pandemic was NOT on my bucket list!

Steve retired a few years back, but is not taking retirement well, especially after the pandemic started.  He is the typical grumpy old man....

My stepdad died in July 2017, just after I started at Spectrum Health.  Hurricane Irma hit Florida that fall, and did quite the number on her trailer.  She eventually moved to Indiana, lived near Indianapolis for about a year, and then moved to Michigan to be near me.  She was living in a place called Pilgrim Manor, assisted living but at zero level of car (basically independent.)  When COVID hit, she was confined to her room as were the other residents.  When a new resident was admitted, COVID positive, after the lockdown began, she wanted out - who could blame her?  She moved in with Steve and I, and will move back into her own place next week, in a senior retirement apartment community.

Scott is still in the Air Force, after Japan he was back to Korea for a year, this time at Osan AB.  Then came a move to Lakenheath, England, where he was reunited with Marty and they have lived off base in Beck Row.

Eric and Trina were married in June, 2017, and are doing well (but no grandbabies yet...)   Eric is a critical care nurse for Spectrum Health at Blodgett Hospital, and Trina is still working part time at Pine Rest while studying for her Medical College Admission Test retake (MCAT.)

Max is 11 now, slowing down some but still a lively and loved companion to us both.