Genealogy
A Vacation From Blogging – Life Got In The Way
I took a break from blogging out of necessity. Life got in the way. I have enjoyed creating and maintaining this blog and I didn’t want to slow down or even stop. But, you know how it is, my mind would be consumed with survival during some choppy waters in my life. We all go through these periods, and usually the hard times don’t come one right after another, but, sometimes we get hit with tidal waves that knock us of our feet. We struggle to get back up, but another wave hits and another. It feels as if we will drown, but, keep trying to rise up to the surface. I am a good swimmer. I love to swim, so, fortunately, after repeated attempts, I have risen to the surface and am back to blogging.
It took the death of my beloved West Highland White Terrier to make me realize I needed to write and share my experiences with others. And I realize this is a blog about family history and genealogy, but, I have always shared a little bit about me here from time to time. I have included some childhood memories and some school days trivia and memorabilia. I got to thinkin’ that the post I published yesterday about Polie, my Westie, was maybe family history after all. I realized our cherished pets are family to many of us. And I thought about how I wanted to share more about my biography and life events. Blogging is easier to me than writing a book, so, why not write about my life these days a bit and continue to write about my family of origin, share some fun photos and stories about life in general.
Genealogy can be dry and it can be a little boring if you just have facts and no information about your ancestors’ personalities. Don’t you always wonder about your great aunt or great great aunt’s daily life or hobbies? Did she just go to church all the time as all the genealogical information you have found seems to imply? Was she really as sweet and devoted as her obit describes? I am often left with the feeling I would love to have a visit with these folks in my family tree. Let’s face it… you can visit ancestors in the cemetery, but, it leaves you stone cold (as in monuments) and sort of empty. Names and dates on a gravestone. What were their daily lives like?
I often think, as I wash dishes in my sink, wouldn’t it be fun to have your ancestor with you to see the modern conveniences in your kitchen? My great grandmother did not have running water in her house. I think: Wouldn’t it be neat to show her my sink with a faucet with hot and cold water, adjusted just to the right temperature, that flows into the basin of that sink over my dishes? I would think she would either be astounded in a good way, or perhaps, frightened by all these new things? I like to think she would get a kick out of spending time with me in my kitchen. She could teach me how to make a pie crust. After all these years, I would have someone to teach me first-hand how to make pie crust! I was told by one of my mother’s cousins, Billy, who grew up with my great grandmother, that she made wonderful pies, but, that she put too much sugar on the top crust. (How could that be a bad thing? Ha! Ha!)
I asked Billy if she was diabetic, because that seems to run in my family. He said that he didn’t think so. But, my grandmother, (her daughter) would not get tested for diabetes, so, how could she know. My grandmother was a nurse, but, she had a weight problem that maybe shamed her into denial. I asked Billy if Grandma Mary Jane was heavy-set, or overweight. He said no. Stuff to ponder. Perhaps I got my weight issues from a different family line. Maybe my father’s side? I just wonder things like that pretty often as I go about my daily routine. I have also wished I could go back in time and spend a day with one or more of my ancestors.
Census reports are great and wonderful tools for family history, but, they lead me to more questions about my ancestors. I want to see them as human beings, not statistics. Then it happened. My kids gave me one of their Amazon Fire tablets last Christmas. They were upgrading to newer models. I have to say it is the best Christmas gift anyone has ever gotten me, including The Beatles sweatshirt I got in 7th grade! They knew I had long been curious about how those gadgets worked. Since I had started having some health issues and not able to get out and do stuff as usual, this was a great way to spend some of my time. I was also having to deal with a sort-of hospice situation with my little dog who was very ill at times, this Fire tablet helped with the depression I’d felt as I went through these difficult times. I really wasn’t even able to sit with my laptop and work on genealogy or blog or “surf the net” without it being painful.
As I got acquainted with the Fire tablet, I explored all the literary advantages. I signed up for Overdrive using the local library card to access the resource. I had always loved library books and spent much of my life reading most everything I could (I yearn for knowledge!). I live in the country, so the library is an inconvenience for me these days and bookstores are an hour’s drive to and an hour’s drive back to my home. Until now. Lots of books make me feel rich! This IS a common thread in all my family tree lines… they loved to read and owned lots of books, published music sheets, hymnals and were highly educated. Many of my ancestors were teachers.
I, of course, have fallen into Prime reading, Kindle Unlimited and just recently I have delved into Audible. It is magical!!! Free books galore! Historical books, novels, biographies, such a huge world to escape in while I worked on feeling better and tending to my little dog. I set my goal on Goodreads to read 100 books in 2019. I didn’t pay much mind to that until the other day I discovered I had read 174 already! Astonishing. I have now had physical therapy that enables me to stay at my computer desk for longer periods of time and have begun to get caught up. So, I began hankering to blog again.
When my sweet little dog passed a week ago yesterday, as you may understand, there has been this huge heartbreak and this enormous void of time I’d spent toting him around, giving meds and holding him wrapped up in his afghan I’d made for him. I was feeling completely lost, empty, bewildered, devastated. I’d lost many pets in my lifetime and I knew this one would be perhaps the worst because he has had to be there for me as the adult children have grown busier and busier and the grandkids had grown up, too — high schoolers! This little dog was my world. My source of kisses and lovin’ I no longer got from family, or, even my husband who had his own health issues along with mine and the dog’s. I knew this would be tough. I had decided long ago that I would not bring another pet into my home when Polie passed. He was my third and final Westie. If you know the breed, you know they can be challenging. That was something I totally loved committing to when I was younger. Well worth the challenges! But, now, in my early 60’s, I just don’t have the stamina and strength to bring another pet home. So, this is the end of an era when it comes to my lifelong love of pet family. The emptiness is very painful at this time…nothing that a few decades won’t ease the pain just a little bit.
As I sat in my chair, the one with the dog bed no longer aside, I had cried my eyeballs out and I looked around. I heard the pet memorial wind chimes and I thought positive thoughts about Polie still being here with me — I hear his collar jingling still from time to time and I keep seeing him out of the corner of my eye — I decided to return to my blog with yesterday’s post. I decided then, that I would write more about my life. Which, if you think about it, really is family history because it is about my biography I would write to my kids and grandkids. It will be the sort of stories I would want them to know about my past and my family of origin’s past. There is a really amazing story to how I came to be against all odds. And apparently, I am some sort of mega survivor. And I think this may be a good way to share family history of the not-to-distant past. I do plan to restart my older ancestry research. This has been a 40 year hobby for me, so, I can’t give it up. But, I want to share more about my story and it is an interesting one that a few of my friends have said would make good Hallmark movie material. Ha! Ha! We would always laugh, but, it is true.
I think this may be a gift to me from my little dog, Polie, though. I think he is nudging me along with his little black nose and he is with me when I write. When I take my therapy walks everyday, I have dedicated those to him as well. I has been super hard for me to return to walking. Polie was my walking companion. I can’t stand walking without him. Anyway, that is a little of what I’ve been up to since my blog went silent for so long. I had withdrawn into my own little world with a lot of heartache knowing I would lose my best friend and doglet, Polie. And the world is changing so much for me as I face the future without kids or grandkids nearby. I am fairly isolated living in the country, would love to move to more civilization, but, that does seem to be an option. So, here I am again, folks. I’m back!
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Sarah Emeline (Hunt) Bosworth 1832-1908
Sarah Emeline (Hunt) Bosworth
On October 17th, 1832 Sarah Emeline Hunt was born to Ward Ensign and Mary (Bascom) Hunt in Perrysburg, Cattaraugus, New York, USA. Ward Ensign Hunt was from Vermont and Mary Bascom from Massachusetts. Ward and Mary (Bascom) Hunt were very early pioneers of western New York.
Sarah’s parents had 12 children: Hiram Bascom Hunt (1818-1852), Henry Ensign Hunt (1819-1893), Rev. Ward Isaac Hunt(1820-1904), William Edwin Hunt (1822-1889), an infant-unknown name (1824-1824), Reuben Gay Hunt (1826-1861), Mary Elizabeth Hunt (1827-____), Joshua Bascom Hunt (1830-1835), George Hunt (1832-____), Sarah Emeline Hunt (1832-1908), Ellen Hunt (1834-1854) and Aaron Bascom Hunt (1837-1900).
Sarah Emeline Hunt was a teacher by training and experience. In the book “Biography of a Mind: Bosworth of Oberlin,” Sarah wrote an account of her life and in it she spoke of her mother “keeping abreast of current events. I remember her telling us that the Civil War was inevitable.” Widowed early in life, the mother was deeply religious and practically poised. “She would take me on horseback, in front or behind her,” to attend the Presbyterian church some four miles from the family farm in northwestern New York state. Sarah writes of her mother, Mary Bascom’s, influence upon her own life: “Parents should remember that in training children they are also training grandchildren indirectly.”
In Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio, Miss Hunt was a public school teacher and teacher at Collamer Academy. Later, Sarah Emeline Hunt taught at Notre Dame located in St. Joseph County, Indiana. It was there Sarah met her future husband, Franklin Smith Bosworth who was actually a student of hers. Both were of the same age at the time.
Sarah Emeline Hunt and Franklin Smith Bosworth (1832-1919) were joined in marriage Jan. 4, 1859 in Dundee, Kane County, Illinois. At that point it appears Sarah’s career in teaching ended.
In 1852, Franklin S. Bosworth was engaged in business with his uncle, Increase C. Bosworth, in Dundee. A home tour in 1975 featured the Franklin Bosworth home at West Main and Fourth Streets in Dundee, Illinois as one of their homes of interest.
After about 20 years, Franklin and Sarah established their home in Elgin. An 1880 U. S. Census shows the couple and their daughter, Mary Abbie, along with a servant, Mary Moran, living at 37 Fulton Street. Franklin is listed on that census as a hardware merchant. Another census shows them at that home with their son, Frank Hunt Bosworth.
The Bosworths had four children: Reuben Hunt Bosworth (1859-1860), Dr. Edward Increase Bosworth (1861-1927) of Oberlin College, Mary Abbie Bosworth (1867-1942) and Frank Hunt Bosworth (1870-1919) a mayor of Elgin, Kane County, Illinois.
Sarah’s husband, Franklin S. Bosworth, held several terms as mayor of Elgin, Kane County, Illinois and her son Frank Hunt Bosworth was mayor of Elgin for one term.
In an 1877 newspaper article in the “Inter Ocean” mentioned Sarah’s membership in the Women’s Temperance Union in Kane County, Illinois.
The family attended the Congregational Church in Elgin, in which Franklin S. Bosworth held several official positions. We learn from another newspaper clipping that Sarah E. (Hunt) Bosworth, at the age of 57 years old, gave the welcoming speech at the local Baptist Church for the fifth annual meeting of The Ladies Home Missionary of the Congregational Church on May 21, 1890.
Sarah Emeline (Hunt) Bosworth passed away June 25, 1908 in Elgin, Kane County, Illinois. She is buried with her husband in Dundee Township Cemetery West in Kane County, the place they began their life together and raised their family.
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Respectfully submitted by Tenderly Rose Robin Melissa Bosworth, great great granddaughter of Franklin Smith and Sarah Emeline (Hunt) Bosworth – September 26, 2018
Sarah Emeline HUNT (1832 – 1908)
2nd great-grandmother
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Frank Hunt BOSWORTH I (1870 – 1919)
Son of Sarah Emeline HUNT
Wilder Morris BOSWORTH Sr. (1905 – 1990)
Son of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
Frank Hunt BOSWORTH (1933 – )
Son of Wilder Morris BOSWORTH Sr.
Tenderly Rose Robin Melissa BOSWORTH
Tthe daughter of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH II
Irma Francis Dupre – Author and Historian – Passes Away in 1980
Cardunal Free Press
Wednesday, April 16, 1980
***
Local historian dies
Irma F. Dupre, author, historian, reporter and editor, passed away Saturday, April 5, 1980, in the Elgin Mental Health Center.
Miss Dupre, 89, formerly of 129 S. Second St., West Dundee, spent much of her illustrious life with the written word. She wrote the book, “The Romance of Dundee Township,” for the township’s centennial celebration. For many years, until the close of her writing career, she wrote the column, “Suburbiana” for the Cardunal Free Press. She had also worked for the Evanston newspaper, and the defunct Dundee Review. At one time she reported the news over the radio.
Miss Dupre contributed to the written history of St. James Episcopal Church of Dundee in the 1964 Parish Centennial Booklet. She wrote many press releases for various organizations, and at one time for the Dundee Township Public Library and the Dundee Township Historical Society.
She was born Oct. 10, 1890, in Dundee, the daughter of Peter F. and Lucy Blow Dupre and had lived in the Dundee area most of her life.
She was a member of the St. James Episcopal Church of Dundee and a former member of the Zonta Club and the Dundee Historical Society.
There are no immediate survivors.
She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother Rae.
Memorial services will be held today, Wednesday, at 2 p.m. in St. James Episcopal Church of Dundee, the Rev. Chester Boynton officiating.
There will be no visitation.
Cremation was in Elmlawn Crematory, Elmhurst.
Sharp-Schmidt Funeral Home, West Dundee was in charge of arrangements.
Memorials may be made in her memory to the Dundee Township Historical Society.
Irma Frances Dupre (1890 – 1980), My 1st cousin 3x removed
Mother of Irma Frances Dupre
Father of Lucy Flude Blow
Daughter of Charles BLOW
Son of Maria Elizabeth BLOW
Daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
Son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
the daughter of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
Dundee Pioneer Charles Blow A Hero at 94 Years Old
The Rock Island Argus
July 18, 1913
Page 9
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HUSBAND, 94, SAVES WIFE FROM FLAMES
Stairway Crashes as Aged Man Bears Helpmate Away from Burning House.
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Muscatine, Iowa, July 18
Heroism which parallels that of genuine fiction was exhibited by Charles Blow, 94 years old, from possible death in a fire which totally destroyed the residence of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Contriman at Fruitland yesterday.
The aged people were in the home alone at the time of the fire. They have been guests at the Contriman home for the past several weeks, coming here from their home at Elgin, Ill. Their daughter, Mrs. Contriman was out in the pasture while Mr. Contriman was in the field.
The fire was discovered by Mr. Blow just as he had descended to the kitchen preparatory toward securing his breakfast. Considerable headway has already been made by the fire, a gust of flame enveloping him as he opened the kitchen door. Staggering from the noxious fumes he pluckily made his way upstairs where his wife was dressing. The aged woman was almost prostrated by the smoke which filled the upstairs portion of the dwelling and her husband practically carried her down the flight of the stairs. The passageway was dense with smoke and the two old people were compelled to fight their way to safety blindly. Flames singed the hair of both although neither was otherwise injured.
Barely a minute after they reached fresh air, the stairway crashed in.
The home was burned to the ground in its entirety. Nothing was saved. The loss to the furniture is estimated at about $1,500, while to the dwelling about $1,2000. The house was owned by Theodore Drake, a well known Muscatine Island resident. But a small amount of insurance was carried. The dwelling had recently been remodeled but since the improvements the insurance had not been increased.
Mr. and Mrs. Contriman had made their home in Fruitland since last February coming here from Chicago.
daughter of Charles BLOW
son of Maria Elizabeth BLOW
daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
Me, the daughter of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
Mr. Charles Blow and his wife, Lucy Flude Knott, are my 3x great grandparents.
Submitted by Tenderly Rose-Robin Melissa Bosworth Reininger
Installation Of Officers By West Ward PTA
Installation Of Officers By West Ward PTA
Mrs. James P. Estrada was installed as president of the Gulfport West Ward Elementary Parent Teachers’ Association Thursday evening at the annual meeting for the year in the school auditorium.
Walter Ewing, who will be the new principal at the school for the 1967-68 session, was installing officer.
Mrs. Estrada, who succeeds Mrs. Ben Weeks, is a member of the faculty of Bayou View Junior High School.
Installed also were Mrs. Donald Suber, vice president; Mrs. J. L. Pullen, secretary; and Mrs. Curtis Parker treasurer.
This newspaper account is one of the articles my mother sent me through the years that she’d clipped and saved for me.
No date or name of publication is given. It is presumed the newspaper was The Daily Herald (Mississippi Gulf Coast) because that is the newspaper my family subscribed to all of my life. The year was probably 1967 – dates of school year).
— T.Rose
West Jr. High School PTA Talent Show Ticket 1972
Note: “Student must be accompanied by parent at night show”!
1970 West Wind Newsletter from West Junior High School, Gulfport, Mississippi #2 of 3 Issues
Enlarged photos and transcription of entire newsletter. Full digital copies of newsletters follows transcript. Published May 1970. (No date on copy.) Entries are entered exactly as written in the original newsletter by the students who were on staff for the paper – no corrections or additions were made. My mother, Jane Morris Estrada, was a teacher at West Jr. High the years I attended school there. — T.Rose
1970 Gulf Gardens Baptist Church Donation Envelope
I was lucky to have two church homes when I was growing up. My grandmother, Rosie Smith Morris was a longtime member of First Baptist Church in downtown Gulfport and my mother, Janie, grew up in that church. Such a beautiful church! I remember the old church before it burned and watched the new church rebuild after Hurricane Camille. I love the folks who knew me from birth at that church. I was active in the choir as a teenager and fellowshipped with many friends I grew up with there. Many wonderful memories as part of that church family.
Although I attended First Baptist Church in Gulfport for years off and on-was in child care there, my favorite church when I was growing up was a small neighborhood church in Gulf Gardens located across the street from Milner Stadium. It was only a block or two from my neighborhood. I felt God there in that church. I went to Bible School at this church, sang in the choir, participated in Girls Auxiliary and went to camps through in church. I loved the people and the friends I had there. Lots of fellowship and love in that church. Good people!
“Second Mamas” at U. S. M.
During my first year of life as Tenderly Rose Bosworth, I was part of the Home Economics Dept. The students took care of me as part of their studies. My mother continued her studies there at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. (then Mississippi Southern College)that year, living in a dorm. I stayed in the Home Ec. building. It is possible I earned a degree in Home Ec before I was a year old.
Momma often told me the story of football players at Southern spending time with me while waiting around for their girlfriends to finish up classes. She told me it was said that “The way to a girl’s heart is through Tenderly Rose”. I was never lacking for attention!
Some Family History for My Daddy Jim, Capt. James Peter Estrada, Child of Spanish Immigrants
My Daddy Jim, was born James Peter Estrada to James and Angela (Franquet) Estrada in New York, USA, on May 7, 1934. In 1940, a U. S. Census shows a five year old James Estrada living with his parents, the only child. The census shows little James’ 31 year old father, a diamond setter in the jewelry industry, as having been born in France, and his 30 year old mother, Angela, a dressmaker in the dress manufacturing business, having been born in Spain. The couple rented the home at 172 111th Street in Queens, New York.
I know he attended Georgia Military Academy.
I don’t know how he and my mother, Janie Morris, met. I do know they were married at a chapel on Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi, Harrison County, Mississippi.
I have had trouble finding documentation for Daddy Jim’s life events and accomplishments other than the newspaper articles and information I collected for his death.
About Daddy Jim’s parents and grandparents:
From this point forward for the sake of simplicity, I will refer to my Daddy Jim as “Jim” and his father as James Sr. I know from family history told to me by my Grandma Angela that James Sr. was born of a Spanish family that had migrated to Paris in the jewelry trade. I recall spending much time with both of my adopted grandparents, the Estradas, in Houston, Texas, where my Grandpa Jim Estrada had retired after years in the oil industry.
At some point, James’s father went to work for Gulf Oil in Venezuela, but Jim stayed behind in the United States to attend military academies. In Venezuela, a sister, Beatrice, was born. I found passenger records of Jim having traveled to Venezuela for visits to his parents.
James, Sr. was born Dec. 19, 1908 in Paris, France. James, Sr., died in Houston, Texas, July 13, 1967, of multiple myeloma (cancer) at the age of 58. I remember when he passed away. He was buried at Southern Memorial Park in Biloxi, Mississippi, near his son, Capt. James Peter Estrada. He wanted to be buried by his son. James, Sr., migrated to New York with his parents as a young child. He spoke French and Spanish.
My Grandma Angela (Franquet) Estrada’s Obituary
ESTRADA
Angela Franquet Estrada, beloved wife, mother and grandmother went home to be with the Lord on July 8, 2006. She was born in Valencia, Spain on November 10, 1909. Preceded in death by her parents; two sisters and two brothers; her husband, James Estrada; and son, Captain James Peter Estrada. Survived by her daughter, Beatrice Hood and husband Dean; grandsons, Alan Hood and wife Lorie, and Douglas Hood of Houston; and daughter-in-law, Jane Estrada of Gulfport, Miss.; grandchildren, Tenderly, Angela, Alison, James P. Estrada and wife Jan; five great-grandchildren; and one great great grandchild. She retired from Esther Wolf and Everitt Beulow.
A Memorial Service will be held at Grace Bible Church, 13700 Schroeder Rd., Houston, TX on Wednesday, July 12, 2006 at 3:00pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Still Creek Ranch, 6055 Hearne Lane, Bryan, TX 77808, or Vitas Hospice, 4828 Loop Central Dr., Suite 890, Houston, TX 77081.
James, Sr.’s father was named James “Jaime” Estrada. He was born July 25, 1888 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and died in December of 1970 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I met “Yiyo” the nickname for him. He had flown up to Gulfport to see us. I recall he had a pistol in his luggage, which greatly concerned my mother, and he had a “youth tonic” he drank every morning involving honey and lemon juice. He had a good disposition and spoke only Spanish and French, I think. James, Sr., was a jeweler-having been in business in Paris before establishing himself in New York as a jeweler.
James, Sr.’s mother was named Conchita Torres. Conchita Torres, James, Sr.,’s mother, was born May 21, 1886 in Puebla de Castro, Spain. I don’t have records for her death.
According to documentation, both Jaime and Conchita’s arrival dates were 1911 and 1912, respectively, from Paris, France.
In 1920, James “Jaime” and Conchita (Torres) Estrada, along with their son, James lived at 298 East 77th Street in Manhattan Assembly District 14, in New York, New York. “Jaime” was listed at a jeweler and he was listed as “Papers submitted”. In 1930, they still lived at the Manhattan address above listed as and Conchita was listed as “Alien”. Jaime was listed as “First papers”. By 1940, at the same Manhattan address, “Conchita” was listed as having “First papers”.
I have not found documentation for the parents for Jaime or Conchita at this time. That information would be in Spain, I would presume, and I have no access to those records. I am still looking, though.
Here is just one of the documents I had found in support of the family history I am working on for Daddy Jim’s genealogy:
Having had two fathers in my life, I grew up without either one. I was born to Capt. and Mrs. Frank Hunt Bosworth. My mother was Janie Morris. They divorced soon after I was born, and as the story was told to me, my mother met and married Jim Estrada. They were married when I was about two years old. Jim adopted me as his child. I was raised as Jim Estrada’s child and he is the one I have the most cherished childhood memories any child could ever dream of. I have hung onto those memories-they are as clear as if they happened yesterday.
The Estrada family shared their love with me as if I was a child born with their blood. I cherished them, especially my Aunt Bea-Bea. I grew up with the Estrada name and was always very proud of it. I am forever grateful for the time I spent with them and the advantages that went with being part of their family. Every summer I can remember, my siblings and I were packed up and sent to Houston to have extended visits with our Texas Estradas. This included the Hood family my Aunt Bea-Bea eventually married into. We had very good times! We swam in the icy cold rice wells in Katy, Texas, at Uncle Dean’s sister’s farm – the McIroys, I believe were their names. Uncle Dean always had to win at Monopoly and Aunt Bea-Bea made the most delicious food. One dish I remember was some sort of Mexican casserole. The houses in Ponderosa Forest, a subdivision of Houston were amazing to experience. My Uncle Dean had been a builder of some of those houses. Aunt Bea-Bea was a teacher and one of the most positive influences in my life. I can hear her laughter as I write this.
My Grandma Angela, “Granny Annie”, as we called her in the 60’s always made sure we had beautiful dresses and swimwear from Esther Wolfe, the store she worked at, and she provide tennis lessons for us at one of the townhouse developments she lived in. We had a blast with her. She was a very fastidious and clean housekeeper and we were expected to make our beds every day or we couldn’t go swimming at the pool if we didn’t. It just was really the best of time when we went to Houston. I wanted to live there.
It was always so exciting when Grandma Angela speed down the “freeway” heading to downtown Houston. She would holler out, “Get out of my way, you old fossil!” if she had to pass a car. We always giggled because the person in the other car appeared to be her age. I remember one trip to the Galleria for shopping. I had never seen a shopping mall quite like that one. It was new when I was there. She took me to an art gallery because she knew I loved art and always encouraged me. When she got much older, she took painting classes and produced some pretty impressive artwork herself. I was so proud of her!
As a family, we spent many holidays in Houston with the Estradas. The Christmas lights were just fantastic. The trips we made in the car were long and kind of miserable. We traveled with six of use in the car. Momma drove, Mamaw (her mother) rode shotgun and four of us kids had to sit in the back of the station wagon along with ice chests filled with food and luggage. We did take breaks at rest stops and that helped. When we got to Houston, it was all worth it.
The Tenderly Rose Collection 