Junesfamily

My cousin, Susan, is the family historian. It's due to her hard work that I have learned something about the Willoughby's. To the left is a shot of Susan and me taken at my Aunt Lucy's house in 1959. I was 9 and Susan was a few months shy of 5.

Below is a Christmas1989 shot of Susan, her husband, Mark and their two children, Jennifer and Stephen. Jennifer graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University in June 2006 and is going to study at Oxford next year on a full fellowship. Stephen graduated from high school in 2006 as well and will be going to college in the fall.

Me; my cousin, Joan; and her daughter, Patty. Joan is my mother's niece and she has told me much that I didn't know about my mom. We got together for the first time in over 10 years in the summer of 2000.

Paul and Mildred McMaster have been my "folks" since May of 1967. They celebrated their 74th wedding anniversary in November 2003. Sadly, Paul passed away on May 23, 2004 at age 96.

We visited Penn Yan to celebrate Mid's 99th birthday in October 2007.

A few months after that she had to move into a nursing home. She passed away on Feb 25, 2009 at the age of 100.

Here I am with my next door neighbors in Woodhaven - probably at Easter in 1953. From the left: Margie, June, John and Bill

This was taken at my Aunt Margaret's and Uncle Lester's place. They are the adults on the right. My father is on the left, my mom holding me (ain't I cute?) and my cousin Harold is the one with his tongue stuck out. We watched Sea Hunt together when I was around 7 and I had a crush on him. He looks a little more mature in this other photo, probably from his confirmation.

My grandmother, Emily, passed away only 2 months after I was born so I have no memory of her. Here she is with my Uncle Lester and my mom.

My dad raised springer spaniels before I was born and we still had a dog when I was small. He used to participate in field trials where they hunted pheasants. Here we are at one of those. I'm probably 2. A few years later I took a pheasant to school for show and tell. The only problem was I didn't take it home right away and it wasn't stuffed. You can fill in the rest of the story. Pheww!

We spent a few months in Chicago when I was two. My father was sent there on business. They used to take me to an amusement park called "Fairy Land". The story goes that one day when we were headed there in the car, I stood up in the back seat and yelled out at the poor guy stopped next to us, "Jesus Christ get out of the way, we're going to Fairy Land!" Need I tell you that this was one of my father's favorite expressions and my mother was not at all happy that I knew it?

This is my grandfather John Willoughby. He's Susan's great grandfather. He used to work on the Riverboats that sailed up and down Keuka Lake. We moved to Penn Yan, NY and Keuka Lake when I was eight. His wife, Rose, passed away when my dad was only about 12. Below is the only picture I have of my grandfather and grandmother, Rose.

My dad was 57 when I was born so I never got to see him in action as a young man. This may have been one of his finer moments!

This is my grandfather, William Johnson. He passed away in 1954 at the age of 94. I barely remember him in the back room at Senator St. At this point, I don't know much about him except he went out west for a period of years.

This is the only photo I have of my mom as a young girl. It was taken in 1926 when she was around 12. It never occurred to me that I hadn't seen photos of her as a child until many years after she was gone. This is one that my cousin Joan had.

This is my cousin and godmother, Jean Braidwood. She was my father's niece and daughter of Lucy Braidwood, my father's sister. After his mom died, Lucy was the one largely responsible for bringing up my dad.

My Aunt Lucy as a young woman. I don't know when this was taken. I think my cousin Sue bears a striking resemblance to my Aunt Lucy. In her later years, Jean did as well.

I wasn't very fond of playpens and if you can see the rather skeptical expression in this next picture, chances are it was followed by a scream not long after it was taken.