A Generation Passes

 

 Another aunt passed away this week.  Janet Lind Reese was my father's youngest sister.  I haven't seen her in years, only once since my grandmother -- her mother -- passed in 1982.  But we have corresponded, and she shared some of her family memories with me.  With her passing, a whole generation in that family is gone.  With the exception of my mother, all the spouses are gone as well.

They were a family of five children, sons and daughters of immigrant parents who came to America from Scotland via Portsmouth, England.  My grandfather, William Lind, came about 1901.  In 1910 he wrote Janie (later called Jeanie) Montgomery, who had been only 15 when they met in England the night before he left for America, and asked her to come to America to be his wife.  She accepted.

There were five children.  The boys were William James (Oct 1911-Feb 1993), named for his grandfathers William Lind and James Montgomery; John Montgomery (Dec 1913-Oct 2010), named for his eldest maternal uncle; and Irvine Thomas (Oct 1917 - May 1991), named Irvine like the city in Ayrshire, Scotland  and Thomas for Jeanie's favorite brother Thomas Montgomery.   Here they are posed as if they were at the beach.  This photo was taken about 1920.

Gracie (May 1915 - June 1919) was named for her father and her paternal grandmother.  She looked remarkably like her mother.  Gracie died of diptheria before the family moved from Berkeley.

   
Janet Sylvia (Sep 1925 - Sep 2011), a full 8 years younger than the youngest of her brothers, must have been a surprise for her parents.  She was named Janet for her maternal grandmother.

 

Willie Lind died in 1948.  Jeanie Montgomery Lind followed in 1982.  This is the last known photograph of my grandmother with all of their children and 3 of the 4 spouses.  It was taken at the Reese home in California.  Janet and her husband Art Reese are on the left; my father, John, is behind his mother; Bill and Phyllis are next, with Tom and Dorothy on the right.  

We who are left miss them all.  

Give thanks for the family members who are still around you.  

Let them know you care.  Keep in touch.  Share the stories.  

Don't forget to pray.....