Thanks, Cheri, for these several items of great interest (and especially for the photo of Jim in Fargo!) I have only one Depa in my database, your mother, so I'll need to know more about the family structure, but it's pretty obvious that John was her father and that she had several siblings, including Stanley. The obit for Nell Cosgrove Lauerman is very helpful. Luckily my mother escaped the flu even though she was intimately involved, as I understand it, with the care of the children. No doubt they were all quarantined, and of course Emil was too sick to attend her funeral...a very sad time for the family but similar stories across the nation. I went hiking with some friends this morning in the Coachella Valley Preserve, which is a wonderful area along the San Andreas Fault northeast of the community of Thousand Palms, just north of I-10 and the city of Palm Desert. The low this morning was about 60, but I'm sure by the time we began our hike, it was at least 70, as we were very comfortable in light clothing. Although there isn't anything spectacular to see in the way of desert plants after the long, hot summer, it was obvious that there had been some rain from the occasional thunderstorms that had passed through (very spotty), as many of the plants and shrubs did have blossoms and looked quite healthy. Hope we get good rains this winter (and not too severe at any one time, since those terrible brush fires have stripped the ground of vegetation in so many areas, and the result will certainly be mudslides and probable flooding). We were back by 10:30, just a good first hike, since we're all a bit out of condition! (I feel that I could take a good nap!) When I got back to the house, I sort of wound down by doing a few more chores in the yard, trimming some plants in the back and cutting the spent flowering stalks from the twin yuccas in front (as well as taking out some of the many wild palm seedlings that are always sprouting here and there). Dennis was right, as I'm sure it will hit 91 by this afternoon! Again, thanks! I hope I can figure out more about the Cosgroves with Nell's obit... Love, Paul