We are all getting older, one day at a time. Children are a gift to help you not forget your continual aging. Lillian filled the bill this year with this card!
If their getting older, bigger, wiser was not enough, they put it in writing to remind us. Smart Aleck!
Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.
Julia A Fletcher
That poem seemed to fit as I work through more photos that belonged to my Great Grandparents. These photos found their way to my (Great) Uncle Dave and (Great) Aunt Betty. I scanned and worked through these photos, in some cases over 100 years later. I wonder what thoughts or emotions my own family’s photos might evoke in 100 years. The little minutes add up.
David Donaldson was born in 1894. If this photo were taken at 18 years old, then it would be 1912.
David certainly appears older in this photo than the prior one. His 20s or 30s?
I can recognize Dena and David on the left, along with David’s mother Mary. I would have been guessing on Alvin, but his age and size appear to match. Who is Ms. Berry? There are so many Berry/Barry/Beery ladies in Ogden in 1920, even within a mile and half of the house, that I cannot make any identification. The Donaldson family in 1920 were living at 2270 Ogden Ave, Ogden, Utah. I have written a biography about my Great Grandparents, David Delos Donaldson and Berendena Van Leeuwen.
This photo has a couple of interesting pieces. I don’t immediately recognize the little girl as one of David’s children. The family lived in Ogden. The mountains seem to line up. But I generally think it is early 1920s. Interesting note, I appreciate that the baby clothing between boys and girls were somewhat interchangeable. Perhaps this is actually David William Donaldson and the same day as this photo:
This photo is interesting to me as I don’t see Dena as quite as young as when her first kids were born in 1920. I cannot tell if it is a boy or girl she is holding, but if it is David/Dave, then this could be around 1929-1930. Dena was born in 1898, so 1930 would put her at 32 years old.
Milo was born in 1943, Judy in 1946, and Caroline in 1948. This photo seems it could have taken place in 1950 to 1951.
I don’t know whose car it is, or the make and model. The plate says 1949. I don’t know if plates had to be replaced every year, or if they were longer time increments. If they are only one year, then this would appear to place the photo and the one above in 1949 or 1950.
This photo is interesting. It had 1940 written on it, so my Grandma turned 19 that year. She married in 1942. Doing an AI search, it showed one of the locations near Grotto Geyser. The small piece of the sign to the right appears to begin with the letter G. Here is a modern shot from Google Maps from 2013. It really does not look like the Grotto Geyser features have changed much in 85 years.
This photo was a fun photo of Grandma. Her teeth in the picture are different than I remember. Going back through all the photos I have of her and Grandpa, I don’t have many pictures of her full-toothed smile. Having her tongue in her teeth distorts how her teeth look.
This photo is interesting in that the back says it was taken 28 June 1939 in Napa, California. The only explanation for the photo must be while they were in California for the 1939 World Fair. Here is a photo from that occasion.
Here is another fun photo. Berendena Van Leeuwen Donaldson and Catharina Johanna Van Leeuwen Collins are sisters. Dena was born in 1898, Kate in 1902. Dena passed away in 1959 and spent the last 4 years of her life in a wheelchair, so this is before that. You can see she is standing on the right and holding on to the side of the image. Guessing, this is probably early to middle 1950s.
In honor of Dad’s 82nd birthday, I am sharing these photos.
After Dad’s first wife, Vicki, passed away, most of her photos and other documents were scanned. Found in those documents were these two class pictures for Dad. These are for his 1952 and 1953 class years. Since he graduated in 1961, these are likely his 3rd and 4th grade pictures. He attended Plain City Elementary in Plain City, Utah.
Mr. Leslie Gerald “Jerry” Bundy (1929 – 1999)
Ms. Emma Walker Munson (1918 – 1992)
Dean Allred (1943 – alive)
Ilene Bingham (1943 – alive)
Gary Butler (1943 – alive)
Carole Carver (1943 – alive)
Kenneth Clark (1943 – alive)
Fred Coy (1943 – alive)
Jeff East (1943 – alive)
Kay East (1943 – alive)
Maye Endow (1943 – alive) married Bothwell
Ernest Walter Hansen (1943 – 2010)
John Kent Hodson (1943 – 2022)
Donna Mae Jensen (1943 – alive)
Linda Knight (1943 – alive) married Charlton
Austin McWilliams (1943 – alive)
Cleora Mae Meyerhoffer (1943 – 2013) married Oliver
Connie Poulsen (1943 – alive) married Esplin
Frances Rochell (1943 – alive)
Elayne Rogers (1943 – alive) married Cliften
Milo Paul Ross (1943 – alive)
Deanna Kay Slater (1943 – 2006) married Hart
Leon Everett Taylor (1943 – 2000)
Linda “Cookie” Thompson (1943 – alive)
Kenneth Wayment (1943 – alive)
Carol Wheatley (1943 – alive)
Dad has these two photos sitting on his desk at home, they sat on his desk at work too. The one above is from the recognition party given for him and Mel Keyes in 1990. Dad still has the picture, one of the trucks on the cake, and the Traeger smoker. Circle A transferred Dad to AgExpress in about 2004 when AgExpress took over the Paul operations. Dad had roughly 34 years with Circle A Construction. I am posting this in honor of Mel and Dad for what is 55 years since they started for Circle A Construction!
This photo below is for a supervisor training get away some time in the 1990s. Dad could not remember the exact year.
Leslie Sanford Abbott (1953 – 2005)
Lenny Aslett
Larry Dean Aslett (1944 – 2022)
Marvin Bridges Aslett (1926 – 2022)
Sage Aslett
Steven Le Roy Aslett (1947 – 2021)
Clifford “Boomer” Bailey
Eli Calamantes
Dave Dana
Mike Ehrmantraut
Tom Ehrmantraut
DeLane Terry Fetzer (1947 – 2020)
Edward Lenn Foreman (1951 – 2015)
George Reece Garro (1947 – 2012)
Gradus Geert Heeling Jr (1951 – 2020)
Jeff Herzinger
Dale May Keyes (1947 – 2017)
Melvin Eddie Keyes (1943 – 2018)
Jeff Mecham
Milo Paul Ross (1943 – alive)
Tom Schmidt
Nick Stephens
Gerald Stowell
Terry Vitek
I continue to work through the massive box/crate of photos and documents that were given to Dad after Aunt Betty Donaldson passed away. Much of it was garbage, some of it was interesting, but I have been getting to some really good stuff lately. One little such item was hit pocket album that belonged to my Great Grandmother, Berendena Van Leeuwen Donaldson. I pulled all the photos out and scanned them. But first, here is the pocket album.
The first photo in the album was that of her grandchildren. This photo was taken in 1951. The names and dates are on the back.
Berendena went by Dena her whole life. But since her daughter was also named Dena, I usually go with her full name. The next picture is of her and the two Ross girl grandchildren.
Then a picture of her and her husband, David Delos Donaldson.
Then a picture of her daughter Dora.
Then her son David “Dave” Donaldson.
Last picture was of her and all give of her children.
Several of these photos were taken at 639 Wall Avenue in Ogden, Weber, Utah. This photo was not in her pocket album.
Today is officially the last day of our trip to Europe. Can you believe we have passed a full six weeks in Europe??
We visited St. Paul’s, The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, and the Globe Theatre today. I shared the photos in the previous post. They were all cool. However, at this point another cathedral and I will injure myself. Sir Christopher Wren did a great job on the inside, but the outside seems to be lacking some. Perhaps it is years of paint and wear. Perhaps it is war. The interior was amazing.
A couple of thoughts to wrap it up.
Amanda figured out that in the ‘To Let’ signs around Europe, meaning ‘For Rent’, if you put in an ‘i’ it becomes ‘ToiLet’. We wanted to get up and alter one or two of them, but we did not.
Secondly, on my second to last day, I was the target of a pigeon. On the front stairs of St. Martin in the Fields, I sat pondering life when a large drop fell on my right knee. I thought it was some water until I realized it was warm. Looking over, I saw the signs of whiteness indicating a deposit by some bird. It was a laugh, some disappointment, and disgust. Reminded me of the seagulls leaving a deposit in the Roman Baths in Bath.
Alas, I am humming along with John Denver about leaving on a jet plane.
A brief update of our past two days.
Yesterday was Westminister Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, and more. We went to see Wicked at the Victoria Apollo and we both really enjoyed it.
Sunday we went to Hampton Court Palace. It was a very fast tour, but we made it through the entire house.
The rest of the time was enjoyed with the Jeppesen Family.
First, Happy Birthday Dad. As always, I am sure you will have all the neighbors celebrating with fireworks. Happy Birthday Jan, I know it was a week ago, but I am still thinking of you. Happy Birthday America. May all of you live long!
Yesterday and today we were off visiting several castles of Northern Wales. They are all built under the direction of Edward I in the late 1200’s. If Amanda wasn’t sick of castles yet, hopefully we have advanced her towards such a state.
Yesterday we visited Conwy and Beaumaris castles. There isn’t really any way for us to describe it rather than show you the photos. Which we will have to upload.
From Conwy we drove to Beaumaris Castle. We had to cross the Menai Suspension Bridge to get to Anglesey.
Today we drove straight out to Caernarfon Castle and it took about 4 hours to work our way through it. We ran into a lady named Gaby, and found out she was going to take a bus to Harlech after Caernarfon. We invited her to go with us to Harlech.
We all drove to Harlech when we finished Caernarfon. It was another beautiful castle situated high above an estuary. We spent a couple of hours there and then cut through Northern Wales. She was going to take the train back to Chester so we volunteered to drop her off. She effectively became our gate opener and closer as we drove through pasture after pasture in Wales. It was beautiful!
We finally made it back to a main path near Pentre Gwynfryn and cut back down to a main road. We took a turn at Penrhyndeudraeth and headed inland. We went right through the Welsh Mountains and it was beautiful.
We had lunch at Blaenau Ffestiniog. We haven’t a clue how to say it but I did get a fairly descent donner kebab. We also drove through Mold. We definitely have to mention that one! We dropped off our new friend, Gaby, in Chester and came home.
Last night we went to visit some more friends who I knew as a missionary. As a credit, they all remembered my name even though we almost 10 years on. One of which was a man we baptized, Adam Dawson. Dawn’s parents, Ray and Joan Holmes, I have written of previously.
Anyhow, we are traveling maniacs!
Sagacity 