In the year 2005, we all got together for the first time in 42 years. My sister, Pam, met Carol and Ricky for the first time since that last Christmas in 1963. Otherwise, we have always lived close enough to each other. But when Pam was little, she was never allowed to be near us. We only got to know her after she was all grown up. But the rest of them have been to family reunions and picnics all through the years. Ricky lived in England for twenty years after he met an English girl while in the Air Force. So it had been a long time since we had seen him. He moved back to the states in 2000. Carol lives in Las Vegas. She's the farthest away now.
My sister, Christine, had cancer and was going through treatments when this picture was taken. I am so thankful we had the chance to finally be together that Christmas. I had been hoping all my life to get a family group photo of all of us. Thank God!
Christine died the next year in October, so that was her last Christmas.
Most of us still try to get together at least once in the summer and at Christmas time. But usually there is always someone missing.
When the kids were small I'd get them out of their foster homes and we'd have a family picnic at Russell Park in Ilion. But Pam was always missing.
It was a miracle in 2005 that Carol could fly home to be with us. And that everyone made it. It was for Christine. We knew she wouldn't make it another year.
I made these collages to show how we all looked the year mom died (1963) and in 2005
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