About Me

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Delta, British Columbia, Canada
I took very early retirement from teaching in '06 and did some traveling in Europe and the UK before settling down to do some private tutoring. As a voracious reader, I have many books waiting in line for me to read. Tell me I shouldn't read something, and I will. I'm a happy, optimistic person and I love to travel and through that believe that life can be a continuous learning experience. I'm looking forward to traveling more some day. I enjoy walking, cycling, water aerobics & and sports like tennis, volleyball, and fastpitch/baseball. I'm just getting into photography as a hobby and I'm enjoying learning all the bits and bobs of my digital camera. My family is everything to me and I'm delighted to be the mother of two girls and the Gramma of a boy and a girl. I may be a Gramma, but I'm at heart just a girl who wants to have fun.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

ABC Wednesday - G is for geneology, generation, Gretchen, Gross

My sister is our family historian and has tracked our GENEOLOGY as far back as the 1400s. With written verification, she has records back to William GROSS, who was born July 6, 1555 in Kelsagh, Suffolk, England. He married Mary around 1578 and he died in 1587 in the same town where he'd been born. He was GENERATION #1 in our geneology. I am now part of Generation #13







Generation #11 was my Grandmother, my mother's mother. Grace Lillian Gross was born on January 29, 1891 in Moncton, New Brunswick.





















She married my Grandfather on July 31, 1917 in the same city.












They had two children, Warren born in 1919 and Gretchen born in 1920. This is my mother all bundled up for winter in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in 1921.

















Now, I may be slighty prejudiced, but I think my mother was a beautiful child and grew up to be a beautiful woman. (Remember my post about when I was in grade 1 and the mothers were invited to observe class in session?)



On the left, I guess my Mom to be around five and on the right around seven. Notice how her long ringlets were cut into the more modern bob.















Here is my Mom with her brother Warren when they were teenagers. I find it interesting how everyone "posed" for photographs and didn't smile much. Maybe that harkens back to the days when the film had to be exposed for a long time in order to absorb the picture so one had to be still or ruin the photo.

Mom graduated from high school when she was only sixteen and then led an active social life, often seen playing tennis at the Vancouver Lawn and Tennis Club.














My Mom caught the attention of a young, locally renown athlete when she was only 21 years old. He began work at the telephone company before becoming a flight instructor for the RCAF and going off to war. They were married in February 1943. In this photo, it is August 1942 and I found written on the back, "Incidently, he's Welsh!"












Mom had three daughters and committed herself to raising us all properly. She became an active member of the local church, played bridge and golf, and also enjoyed sewing, knitting and reading. She was a whiz at crossword puzzles and taught herself Spanish after travelling to Spain and meeting a wonderful family there. They kept in touch (writing in Spanish) right up to when she passed away in 2002.






In 1973, Mom made my wedding dress for me and proudly walked down the aisle just before I did. I was very close to her throughout her life and used to phone regularly and have her (and my Dad) over to visit their granddaughters. As Alzheimers took hold, I would take her for "car picnics" or scenic drives, always stopping at Dairy Queen to buy her a soft ice-cream cone. One place Mom always liked to go was along the Fraser River where I'd park the car so we could look aross and watch the planes take off and land at the Vancouver International Airport. During our car rides, Mom would talk non-stop about her past, sometimes thinking she was actually there, and I let her ramble on, learning so much more from her than I might otherwise had she not been stricken with dementia.












Since I began this post with my grandmother, Grace Lillian Gross (who later was known as Lillian Williamson), it's only fitting to end by showing her with her two great granddaughters - my daughters Jamie and Jaclyn. This was taken in 1983 when Jamie was six and a half and Jaclyn three. My Gramma passed away in August of 1985.

The newest member of our family is Eden Elizabeth Chisholm, born March 3, 2008, to my daughter Jamie. She is, with her brother Noah, in Generation #15.

56 comments:

Anonymous said...

These photos and the history to go along with them are just great. Your mom sounds like she was a wonderful lady...

Kim from Hiraeth said...

What a treasure for you and your family! You've done a lovely job of chronicling the generations!

I loved this post!

The Mulligan Family said...

That is an absolutely PERFECT post for the letter G. What wonderful commentary - and I LOVE the old photographs. How fortunate that you can trace your history back so far. Happy ABC Wednesday. My post is up on my Gumbo YaYa blog.

Anonymous said...

I must say this is a wonderful post and your grandmother was a beautiful lady. The genealogy is nice to know too.

I only got one Grumpy Alien posted for "G." He is at Thunder Maker

Columbo said...

Awesome posting for the letter G. It was really great that you could go back so far, quite amazing. I could go back to Ireland in the 1800's, but that was it. Nice photos, which I enjoyed.

Cath said...

What a fantastic post! You have put a tremendous amount of work into this. It is so interesting to trace your lines back. Thank you for sharing your geneology.

nonizamboni said...

This is a fantastic post! So interesting and full of the most wonderful photos. Thank you for sharing a bit of yourself with us.
Happy week!

Jane Hards Photography said...

This is such a fascinating post, and a very personal one.

Amazing Gracie said...

What a fabulous post! My brother is our historian and has done a wonderful job of it. I love family photos, mine or not!
Your mom was indeed a beautiful child and woman...
~~~Blessings~~~

Anonymous said...

I drool over genealogy. I think it's just so wonderful to know what your ancestors are.

Bear Naked said...

What a beautiful tribute to your Mother.
And how fortunate for you that your sister tracked your geneology.
Nothing like that was done in my family but my husband's family has tracked their geneology back to the 1600's.
Lovely G post for ABC Wednesday.

Bear((( )))

magiceye said...

Grand G chronicled!

G is for Ganpati Bappa Morya! To find out what it means click here

naturglede/Randi Lind said...

What a beatiful pick for the G.
I love to look at old photoes.Thank you for sharing:)

photowannabe said...

What a wonderful post Leslie. I think its amazing that you can trace your family back that far. What a heritage. This post is one of the best I have read today.

Maria Verivaki said...

this really is a great post - i enjoyed reading all abut your history - fancy being able to trace your family back to the 1400s. a very fitting tribute to the women in your life

Anonymous said...

While I prefer to take new photographs, its always good to see, that some people are willing to do all the work that is required for scanning old photographs to digital format so that they don't get lost if future generations don't care about paper copies of photographs.

Rune Eide said...

A very thoughtful and caring post - and interesting into the bargain!

As someone (or many) have said: If you don't know where you have been, you don't know where you are or where you are going to.

That is one reashon I love history.

mrsnesbitt said...

Oh leslie what a fantastic post. I felt I was sitting on a rug right in front of you sharing these precious memories.
Thanks so much.
Dxx

Reader Wil said...

This is a wonderful tribute to your mum and her generation! She was a lovely girl and an attractive woman! Your series of photos is beautiful!

gaz said...

another great grandmother post...

Anonymous said...

Splendid family entry, Leslie.

Gordon said...

Another lovely family post; some of those old photos are priceless.

nina at Nature Remains. said...

I've always found genealogy fascinating. So nice to study one's history.

D Herrod said...

What a wonderful post. TY for stopping by.

Liz Hinds said...

A lovely family history. the photo of your mom and her brother as teenagers is so formal! they certainly don't look like today's teenagers, do they?

Marina said...

Wonderful post!!! You moved me a lot! You honour your mother's memory in a special way!

Kim said...

This is a great tribute to the beautiful women in your family. They really are beautiful.

I have a good friend with the last name Gross, interesting :)

Anonymous said...

wonderful post and "G"

Kjersti said...

Great choices, I love the first photo of your grantmother.

kjpweb said...

Wow - that quite a post! Perfect "G" and wonderful photos to go along with it.
Bravo!
Cheers, Klaus

Gayle said...

This was a very interesting post to read and well done. Thanks for sharing your famiy.

Miss_Yves said...

Great post, great collection...
in France, many people are fond of genealogy. They organise meetings with their whole family (one hundred or more !)
miss Yves

Neva said...

Nice "G"s...love your mom's dress for your wedding!

Mine is here.

♥ Denise BC ♥ said...

Hi, Leslie.
The G was very very special, loved
Thanks for sharing.
hugs, Denise

PERBS said...

You are blessed that you have so many great photos and info about your ancestors! I have a book that has my married name ancestors back to the 1400's if I remember right but nothing with my maiden name.

Nydia said...

As always, your post is sweet! Loved to know more about your mother, she was adorable and gorgeous! It1s grea to have your genealogy tree tracked like that, wish to do it about mine! :o)

Lovely ABC post, Leslie!

Kisses from Nydia.

Rose said...

A wonderful post! I think geneology is fascinating and am glad that my parents have researched our family roots almost as far back as yours. Knowing something about one's family history is a way of strengthening family bonds.
Your mother sounds like a very interesting lady; how lovely that you were able to spend time with her in her later years and get to know more about her past.

gma said...

Lovely family...your mom was alot like mine...someone very special.
Your grand daughters have probably inherited some of her traits.

Katney said...

Great Gs, Leslie, and good use of the old photos. I have my Grandmother in an old photo today, too, but I haven't left off my quilt theme.

Anonymous said...

you have in here a wonderful family history to share.

the old photos are very interesting and congrats for your new grandkid. :)

jump in here for soshana's blog for ABC Wed. :)

sally in norfolk said...

How lovely to read... and see such lovely photos too :-)

Jerez Sherry said...

Cheers! So happy to see your family photos, what a treasure you share here, thanks so much, and hail Mother, and Grandmother, too!

Barbara said...

Brilliant post for G and so interesting, you are lucky to have all those photos of your generations.
I find family history so interesting, we have traced my family on my Dad's side back to the 1800's and they originate about 10 miles from where I live now which I was surprised to find out.

No G post from me this week due to difficulties uploading.

kml said...

How lucky you are to have all these photos and memories. Thanks for sharing!!

Rinkly Rimes said...

Genealogy! What a great 'G'. I'm new to this group and I seem to be something of a rarity..... a poet. I wrote a poem about my mother the other day and included an old photo of her so I am in tune with your concept.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful old photos. Great post!

CherryPie said...

What a lovely post, you have got a lot further back on your family history than me :-)

sonia a. mascaro said...

Love those pictures and the memories of your family are great!
Your Grandmother looks a lovely lady.

I am glad I found your blog!

Have a nice weekend.

Patty said...

Hi I came on over here from Monachrom momday and just wanted to tell you how nice this post was. I trace my family geneology too and love finding out the family history. Nice job you have done sharing yours!

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