Cashmere Visit and Family

Uncle Les' funeral was nice, and it was good to see all the cousins. All 8 of Les and Sabina's kids were there, and many of their kids. What I would normally call couslings, although in this case they were in their 20's and 30's, and seemed to be much more than the little ones I usually think of couslings. Good looking, one and all. Several of them live in San Diego and decided to drive up en masse, which they report took 23 hours. I don't envy them the ride back home.

I visited with the branch of the Smith clan involving Fransce and family. Her siblings Helen and John were there, and mother Gerry. John and Ginny Peterson were there, and John's brothers Brian and Chris, and his sister Marianne. John's mother Helen looked fabulous, as did Sabina. She is really remarkable. She never changes. She was a lucid, bright-eyed, and sharp in conversation as I can ever remember. And hardly a wrinkly for someone in their 90's! Amazing!

The most fun aspect of the visit was seeing the AMAZING role of genetics in everyone. Little Les was there (Terry), and Sabina's Twin (Kate). And the features and mannerisms that distinguish the Kane's, and the interwoven Smith characters that show up in all of us. We are definitely related. Incredible.

Judy made a connection with cousin Sabina. Sabina had wandered into the Interfaith Church Judy has started to attend in Lynnwood, and they had lots to talk about.

It would be nice to meet everyone in a different setting, but I know it will never happen. I may stop by and visit Sabina when I shoot through Cashmere in the future, but the "whole gang" won't be together, and probably never will be again. Sad, but human nature, I think.

It does make me think that the effort for a Weller Family Reunion may be well spent. I should start a blog about that. It might be the easiest way to get the word out, and to get everyone talking. It would be fantastic if all we end up with is a bunch of family photos with everyone in them, fixed in time, as it were, so we can have a point where we can refer in some future context. There were photos of Les and family taken thorugh his life, blown up to poster size and displayed in the meeting hall at the church. It is good to see him as a young man (he was born in 1915!), and not as the old man I always knew him.