[sorry to be late in posting this interesting letter from Terry. I have been snowed under for the past several days.] Rebecca ---------- > From: twheeler@telemedtoday.com > To: rdea <rdea@seark.net> > Subject: "mishpocha" > Date: Thursday, October 15, 1998 9:13 AM > > Dear Cousin Rebecca: > I can't tell you how excited I am to hear from you. > If you didn't know, that word on the subject line is a Yiddish word > meaning "extended family" (sorta like "kissing cousins"). (The "ch" is a > gutteral sound pronounced like the "ch" in the Scottish word "loch," and > the accent is on the second syllable.) > Before I go back in time, let me give you an update on my part of the > family. > My Uncle Welton died a couple of years ago in Missouri. He and my father > had been somewhat estranged from one another up until the last few years of > Welton's life, so I can't tell you much about his family. I do know he was > married more than once. His widow's name is Pearl. My father and Welton > became very close before Welton died, and my father gave the eulogy at > Welton's funeral. > My father is still living. He has retired from the practice of medicine > and lives in San Diego with my step-mother, Janet, who is the dean of the > college of nursing at the University of San Diego. They have been married > for more than 35 years, but had no children. > I have two sisters, Karen Ann Rodgers, born in 1945, who is a retired > police officer living in Albuquerque, NM; and Rebecca Mae Blackley, born in > 1947, who teaches traditional music and crafts at the Augusta Heritage > Center in Elkins, WV. Karen is divorced from Tom Wilson. She has one > daughter, Becky Kay, and two grandchildren. Becky is married to Gordon > Blackley. She raised Gordon's children from his first marriage, but has > none of her own. I was born in 1944. I live in Prairie Village, KS, with my > husband, Norton Wheeler. Norty and I have two children apiece from > previous marriages [the younger two, Inga Marie (age 21) and Paul Daniel > (age 18) Eriksmoen, are mine], so we had a rather full house for many > years. Paul is now a senior in high school, so the nest will be empty soon. > I am a lawyer, but my primary occupation is writing for a rather > specialized medical magazine. > You might also be interested in the growing religious diversity in the > family. My father, after years of claiming to be a non-believer, surprised > everyone by converting to Roman Catholicism in 1990. He is a very serious > Catholic, going to Mass every day. He had bypass heart surgery last year, > and there were so many priests going in and out of his room, it looked like > a branch of the Vatican! That same year, I surprised no one at all by > converting to Judaism. My husband is Jewish, and most of my family knew I > had been very attracted to Judaism for many years. My son Paul also > converted and had his Bar Mitzvah in 1993. My daughter Inga is "finding her > spirituality." I think she is a Buddhist at the moment. > Now to the past. Most of the time I was growing up, my family lived > outside of Arkansas, but we did live in Little Rock from from 1954 to 1957. > During that time, we often visited the farm. (My father always described it > as being in Possum Valley, but "Rodgersville" is pretty neat, too.) I > idolized Dovie and had a monumental crush on Jimmie - I'm sure they both > thought I was a little twerp. It really wouldn't surprise me if you and I > met one another at some point. You certainly must have been around when I > was back for my grandparents' funerals. I do remember my great-grandmother, > Elizabeth, but not well. I'm not sure how old I was when she died. > My clearest memories of my grandmother involved cooking lessons - she > taught me how to make fried chicken and "egg pie." Now I'm a vegetarian, > and all those eggs would shoot my cholesterol through the roof, but my > mouth still waters when I think about all those delicious things. Grandma > Rodgers let me gather the eggs from her bantam hens. My father hated those > chickens because they woke him up so early in the morning. Did you ever > hear the story about how he killed the rooster one morning when we were > visiting the farm? He threw a shoe out the window at it, not intending to > hurt it, just to get it to shut up. His aim was better than he thought it > would be, and the rooster died. He wound up having to get his mother > another rooster - which turned out to be even noisier than the one he killed. > Grandpa Rodgers taught me how to milk a cow. I was secretly terrified of > the cow, but I never let on. I think the cow guessed, though. She used to > look at me with a very speculative look on her face. > I guess that's enough reminiscing. I will take advantage of all the > Internet resources you suggested, and I'll be sending you a check for two > copies of your book - one for me and one for my father. I'm really looking > forward to reading it. > Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly. Keep in touch. > Sincerely, > Cousin Terry Kay