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| My Dad and his siblings! (1978) |
Last Saturday, I
sat in church shoulder to shoulder with first cousins as we had gathered for
the funeral of our beloved Aunt Irene. The oldest daughter born to Mollie and
Henry in 1912, she had 2 brothers and 3 sisters. On this day the surviving
siblings sat in the pew directly in front of us, three sisters and a brother
(my Dad), ages ranging from 94-77. It
was amazing to see so much family history and life experiences sitting on one
row. A poignant moment that touched my heart occurred when one aunt was weeping
and another gathered her in her arms to give comfort.
There I sat
in the pews of the same Texas small town church in which I worshiped as a child,
later walked down the long aisle as a bride, and sadly now, was attending
family funerals. As I gazed around the pews in front of me, a smile emerged as
I took in the sight of Aunt Irene’s family -including 27 great-grandchildren - and
I thanked God for large families!
Those five
children born to my paternal grandparents also produced 27 grandchildren. Yes, you read that right. I have 22 first cousins on my father’s side and
when you add in my mother’s side, we tip the scales at 31. Easter is a the big gathering time for our
family, and growing up we always celebrated at Aunt Irene and Uncle Herman’s rural
Victorian home with a wraparound front porch and beautiful yard. Being a family
of German-Czech heritage, tradition had all of the kids making Easter nests
from real grass and flowers. I have many great memories
of gathering the flowers, making our nests, sharing meals and storytelling - and
of course, the stress of bringing a new boyfriend to meet this crowd!!
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| A young Cameron checking out his Easter nest! |
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| They are still making nests...thinking we need an age limit! |
Years ago,
while working on a family history project for school, one of my children asked
how many first cousins they had. I
laughingly answered, “You will win if there is a class contest since Dad is one
of 10 children!” Yes, the tradition of
“Big Family” was passed on to my kids as they also have 27 first cousins - and
I hope many wonderful memories…..
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| Big Family, Heck Yes! |
