October Festivities

It has been almost a year since I wrote my first blog post on Halloween of 2010. I shared some things about Halloween in the first couple of blog posts I wrote. My husband's birthday is near Halloween on October 26th. This year he will be 78 years old on his birthday. When we were kids that was considered old. We may look like seniors, but we still think like younger folk. We may have more wisdom than we did a number of years ago, but it is still hard for us to see ourselves as elderly. When the newspaper writes about someone in their sixties they refer to them as elderly so that must really mean we are old. Then when we walk down the street I can tell that we are not as young as we used to be as we have slowed down significantly.

My father did not have the chance to get to be a senior. Dad was only 53 years old when he died from kidney cancer. He was a hard worker all of his life, until the very end. Mom and Dad painted houses together for many years. They started painting together after World War II and continued into the sixties. Mom was still painting even after Dad died. Dad was born in Washington DC on October 16, 1911 and died in November of 1964 in Chula Vista, California. He was the ninth child in a family of nine children. He was the seventh son and was twenty years younger than his oldest brother. He was the only one born in a hospital of all nine children. He became an uncle at the young age of one year old when his sister had her first child.

Dad told about the time he was playing in Rock Creek Park in Washington DC and saw President Wilson go past where he was playing. That is how I can remember who was president when Dad was a child in Washington. Dad and part of his family moved to California when he was nine years old. Granddad came to San Diego to work at North Island where he was until he retired. They moved to the house on Third and F in Coronado soon after they came to San Diego. This is the house that I consider the family home as my grandparents were there the rest of their lives. After Grandma died in 1960 the family sold the house and there have been several owners, but I still call it Grandma's house. My Grandfather died early in the 1950s. He would have been in his seventies.

I did not meet all of my father's siblings as not all of them came to California. Many were adults when the family headed west. Some visited in Coronado over the years, but at least one never came so Dad never saw him again after he was nine years old. I knew most of his brothers and one sister though. I also did not know all of my cousins. My sisters and I were the youngest set of cousins of my dad's family. There were one or two cousins Donna's age, but I doubt any as young as my youngest sister Betty. We had cousins almost as old as Dad that we did not ever see or communicate with.

If I remember the story correctly some of Dad's siblings were actually born in the west, but they moved east before my dad was born. So some of the ones who were born in the west ended up staying in the east most of their lives. And Dad who was born in the east ended up living in the west most of his life. I have a niece who knows all the details, much more than I know. She even corrected me on one cousin's name. I always thought grandma called him Luke. I don't really know what his real name is. And my niece said we spell Grandma's maiden name wrong. At least she knows the correct way to spell it.

The reason I wanted to talk about my father, R. Eugene McDonaugh, aka Gene, is because he would be one hundred years old if he were still with us. A century is quite a landmark event in history. I miss my father even more today than I did when he was first gone. The pastor we had when Daddy died visited him in the hospital along with Paul and a friend of ours. Dad was in very bad condition but they said he accepted the Lord. I hope Dad knew what was going on enough to really have accepted Jesus as his Savior. I want to believe that I will see him again someday.

Daddy was young at heart and he looked young too. It seems to be a family trait. He has been gone almost half a century and I can see him clearly in my minds eye. I wish that he had been here longer so my children would have a much clearer memory of him. My boys were too young to remember, but the girls may remember some things. Daddy was the same age as Laura is now when he died. So young.

My sister Donna will celebrate her birthday on October 18th, two days after we remember Dad's birthday. She is younger than me, yet she has passed the seventy milestone. Donna is certainly young at heart. She has always looked younger than she is. That can be a blessing when we are older. When she was younger it was sometimes an inconvenience. Another family trait is that she is a hard worker like Mom and Dad. She was the one that pushed buttons and made Betty and me keep on keeping on when work needed to be done when we were kids. I may have been the mother hen, but Donna was often at the top of the pecking order even though she was the middle child.

Donna has not had an easy time as she had to divorce her first husband and was a single mother for a number of years. Arthur and Debra kept her challenged. Donna kept the home in order and worked very hard at a fabric store too. She also did a lot of sewing for people as well as for herself. It was a blessing when after a number of years she met and married Fred Guapo. Fred had a young son who has since grown to be a fine young man. Donna's son Arthur has been missing since 1994 and we know that something happened to him for him to not be seen all these many years. As soon as he went missing we feared the worst. Nothing has changed since then. It must be hard for Donna to have a missing son. It breaks my heart as his aunt. My prayer is for us to someday find out what happened to Arthur. May we be able to see Arthur and all of our loved ones someday in heaven. Then we can really celebrate.

We have more October birthdays to celebrate. My nephew Matthew Hamilton has an October birthday. He enjoys Halloween so I try to find a cute Halloween card for his birthday. Matthew dresses with quite a flair. He likes to wear black and that is his signature in his attire. Nothing sloppy about him as he puts together his wardrobe. He likes to have a hand in the life of his nephew and niece too. Matthew and at least one of his brothers live in their family home in Billings. Both of their parents are no longer with us. Betty and Sam died much too soon. Thankfully they left a nice home for their kids.

I have several friends with October birthdays. I won't even try to list them as I would feel bad if I left out one of my friends. At least one of my friends does not like having her birthday so close to Halloween. It is a dark day to celebrate. I just remember the fun times we had as children on Halloween. And then when my children were young we enjoyed making up costumes and going trick or treating. But I can understand why someone would not like that day. We do not want to celebrate the bad spirits, ghosts and goblins and witches.

We need to celebrate life. Jesus died to give us life and we need to celebrate the life we have in Him. Darkness and light cannot coexist. Jesus is the light of the world.

So in October we can remember the loved ones whose birthdays we celebrate. We can remember the ones who have gone on before us. This is the time of year we think of autumn leaves and all the pretty colors of fall. Pumpkins and apples and other seasonal fruit remind us of God's many blessings.

family portrait is of Gene and Ida McDonaugh
and their daughters Caroline, Donna and Betty
the day Donna graduated from eighth grade
in Coronado.
The next photo is Donna's senior picture- 1956

September Songs

There is something about September. It was always the beginning of the school year with signs of autumn in the air. We may not have obvious seasons in San Diego but there are small changes that we can be sensitive to. There are trees that change color to remind us of the season that is upon us. The colors are lovely and remind us of the beauty of God's creation.

I am reminded of my grandmother whose birthday was on September 6th. I do not remember the year of her birth, but she was in her eighties when she went to be with the Lord sometime in the sixties. Pearl Elizabeth Davenport, my mother's mother, lived on a farm and took my sisters and me under her wings for a few years when we were little. Grandma and Grandad loved the Lord and each other. They were both loved by family and many friends. Grandma lost her dear husband in the early fifties. We had last seen them right after Christmas in 1949 when I had just turned thirteen years old. Kathy and I got to see Grandma in 1956 when Kathy was one year old. So Grandma saw one of my babies.

On September 6, 1997 we have another time to remember. We were shocked when my brother-in-law Sam Hamilton died suddenly of a heart attack and left my sister a widow on this day in September. Sam was only fifty-five years old. Betty and Sam's children were even more shocked than I was when they lost their Dad. This was also a day the world was remembering Princess Diana as it was the day of her funeral.

My mother's birthday was September 16th. She was a farm girl from Washington state. She came to California as a young lady soon after she graduated from 'normal school', aka teacher's college, a two year school. She had relatives who were teachers so I guess she had been encouraged to consider teaching. In California she accepted the jobs available to her. She was always a hard worker and took a job as a housekeeper. She soon met Gene McDonaugh and they became serious and got married in 1935. They had three daughters of which I am the oldest.

Mom became a widow in 1964 when Dad was only fifty-three years old. She continued housepainting as she had done for many years with Dad. She eventually married her second husband and they enjoyed traveling to see family each year. Mom also helped Frank with selling produce from his truck for a number of years. They knew famous people that they sold produce to, including Desi Arnez. Mom became a widow again when she was eighty years old in 1993. Mom lived until May of 1996, on Mothers Day weekend. Over the years Mom had been everything from a wife and mother to 'Rosie the Riveter', as well as house painting with Dad and selling produce and driving the truck for Frank.

We have other September birthdays in our family including my brother-in-law Fred Guapo. My sister Donna's husband, Fred, will celebrate his 66th birthday on the 24th. It is my pleasure to have Fred as part of our family. Fred is another hard worker and is focused on selling properties in the Los Angeles area. I think he can drive L.A. in his sleep as he not only drives the freeways every day, he grew up in Los Angeles. He is also the father of one son, Freddy.

Donna became a mother September 29, 1957 when her son Arthur Louis Sinclair was born. At that time I became an aunt. A year and a day later Debra Marie Sinclair was born making Arthur be a big brother. Laura fits right in the middle of Arthur and Debbie. She was born in March of 1958. Arthur and Debra and my children were close as cousins can be and spent much time together during the earlier years. Seems like Arthur was often involved in my sons' adventures.

We remember Arthur all through the year especially in the month of his birthday and again in January. He has been missing since January 20th of 1994 when he was last seen. His mother and sister especially miss him. He has children that did not get to know him and are missing a father in their lives. He has a wife who helped Donna report him as missing in 1994. He has a father that I'm sure misses him. He had grandmothers that missed him when he first disappeared. I miss my nephew and I'm sure my children miss their cousin. I'm sure other cousins miss Arthur too.

Arthur and Debra fought and loved each other as siblings do. Even as they fought I'm sure they were the best of friends. They were so close in age that Donna actually had two babies at the same time. One year and a day apart, they were almost like twins. September babies.

Another September baby in our family was our first granddaughter, Rebecca Jean Golden. Kathy and John got married September 3, 1983 and just celebrated their twenty-eighth anniversary. Kathy was twenty-eight when they got married. So she has been married half of her life. On September 27, 1984 Kathy and John welcomed their first daughter, Rebecca. We call her Becky. She will celebrate her twenty-seventh birthday this month. Becky has a big brother Michael and a sister Melissa. Kathy is the step mother of Michael. He was seven years old when his dad married Kathy.

Becky is now married to Jason Van Maanen. We call him Jay. They are the parents of baby Jacob who was born in December.

In September we think of trips to the mountains to see the fall colors. We may have to save our trips to the mountains for October when our son Bill will be here. We enjoy the calls and songs of birds when we are with our son. We also enjoy their colors as they blend into the scenery around them.

September songs can be birthday songs or back to school songs. We have had wedding songs in September also.  We have more friends and family with September celebrations to remember. I send some birthday greetings by mail and some by computer. And if I call to give my greetings I may even get brave and sing a song.

July 4th Celebrations

On July 4th in 1961 my sister Betty was anticipating the birth of her second baby. Coronado was celebrating the birthday of our country as it does each year with a parade and other festivities. Doctor Turpin* was called away from the parade to deliver Betty and Sam's baby girl at the Coronado Hospital. This was a wonderful way to celebrate 4th of July and we will always remember the birthday of my niece Elizabeth Frances Hamilton.

My sister Betty was also born in Coronado, in the little hospital that used to be on the eleven hundred block of Orange Avenue in the thirties and forties. I wrote more about this in an earlier blog post, "First Memories," which I wrote in June. My sister Donna was born in the same hospital as Betty was. My daughter Kathy had been born in the same Coronado Hospital as her cousin Elizabeth.

My sister's maiden name was Betty Frances McDonaugh. Baby Elizabeth was given her mother's middle name Frances as her middle name. This had been a family name for several generations. My mother was Ida Frances which came from both of her grandmothers. The name Elizabeth came from our grandmother Pearl Elizabeth Davenport. Elizabeth became known as Sissy as she was Gary's little sister. We called her Sissy for years. Some in her family called her Liz. I think some still do. I prefer to call her Elizabeth.

This is the year that Elizabeth turns fifty. It is hard to believe that it was so many years ago on that July 4th in Coronado that we celebrated the birth of Betty and Sam's only daughter. Elizabeth had big brother Gary and then she became a big sister to Matthew and Mark. Elizabeth has two sons, Andrew and Elijah. She is married to Jack Davis and is a step mother to his adult children. This year Elizabeth became a grandmother when Andrew and Natasha became parents. Actually Elizabeth considers Jack's grandchildren to be her grandchildren too, so she is blessed with a number of little ones to love.

Coronado continues to celebrate the birthday of the good old U.S.A. in a grand way. There is always a parade and we often go to see it. We often run into old friends as we enjoy the festivities. Last year I went to the parade with daughter Kathy and her husband John as well as my sister Donna and her husband Fred. It was a fun family day. I also went to my high school 55th reunion with Madeline. Donna went with us as a guest. She is CHS class of 1956. Madeline and I are from Coronado High class of 1955. This year Laura and I plan to go to the parade and then go to a barbecue at First Baptist in Coronado. There is always fireworks to go see but we will be back home enjoying the fireworks on TV that evening.

We celebrate being in such a great country where we still enjoy freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from fear and freedom from want. Norman Rockwell painted some favorite pictures that illustrate these freedoms. I have a book that has copies of some of our favorite Norman Rockwell scenes and these four are among them. Some of my friends and I went to the art museum in Balboa Park in the year 2000 to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit and these pictures were included. I consider his paintings to be my favorites. I grew up seeing his illustrations on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post and other magazines. He also painted portraits of some of our presidents.

Our freedom is something we tend to take for granted, but we should not do this. Our freedom is to be treasured. It is actually threatened daily. We lose a little here and a little there and before we know it we are not really free. Our freedom of religion is threatened as it seems to be interpreted as freedom from religion. Many Christians are aware of this. If God is taken out of our lives we have lost the most valuable part of our lives. Then we have also lost our freedom of speech and freedom from fear. Without God we are just another Godless country.

Celebrate our United States of America. Celebrate our land of the free and home of the brave. Celebrate families and birthdays. Rejoice and be glad.

*Dr. Turpin was the founder of Project Concern in the sixties.


Image credit: riptheskulll

May 10th Markers

In our family May 10th has always been significant as it is Paul's brother"s birthday, and sometimes it is Mother's Day. Charles Ellis Marvin was born May 10, 1935 and is one and a half years younger than his brother. Charlie has the dark hair of both his parents as well as their good looks. He has nice qualities from each parent. His love of animals comes from his mother. He has always had a favorite dog and spoils them as some people spoil their children.

Charlie and the rest of their family call my husband Bill. Paul is named Paul William after his dad so that is why he was called Bill. He was Billy as a child. Our son is also Paul William and is Bill to us. He is also Paul to friends. So we have to be on our toes when referring to Paul and Bill, depends on who is speaking if we hear Bill or Paul. Charlie's children refer to Paul as Uncle Bill. He is Uncle Paul to my sisters' children. For those who don't know, Bill is one of the names for William.

Charlie is the father of Eric, Carrie and Deron. He is the grandfather of Carrie's son Lucas, Deron's daughter LuLu, and Eric's girls Grace and Isabel. He is also the grandfather of Carrie and Eric's stepchildren. Charlie is married to Edye, a very sweet lady. I have enjoyed having these two special people as brother and sister-in-law. They have enjoyed the role of being grandparents. They love their children and their children's marriage partners, Kara, Dean and Laurie.

Charlie has always been very active. He enjoys cycling every day. He goes on long cycling trips every year with some of his good friends. They have biked in the Rockies and in the North Cascades. They have cycled in the mountains of Canada and in the U.S. Charlie and his biking friends are all Coronado High School graduates from the early fifties. Maybe one is a little bit younger. They are each seventy plus years old. Maybe one is in his sixties. These fine gentlemen are good examples to the younger generations.

Charlie and Edye live in Pacific Grove in a cute cottage. Their home is very comfortable and welcoming.  At this time Edye's sister lives with them as she is not able to be alone. I'm sure that she is happy and comfortable with them. They have always made us feel welcome when we visit.

This year on May 10th Charlie will be in San Diego with a good family friend, one of his cycling buddies. We will be going with Charlie and Clarence to Don and Sally's in the Talmadge area of San Diego. Don is Paul and Charlie's cousin, pretty much the same age as them. We will be enjoying lunch with them. This will be a nice time to get caught up with news from family and friends. We will also remember Charlie's birthday. We have been managing to get to Don and Sally's at least once a year in recent years. When cousin George is in town we go with him to Don and Sally's. That is usually December.

May 10th is also the day my mother went home to be with the Lord. It was two days before Mother's Day in 1996. Mom had been in her own home until a month or two before that date. We were trying to help her with her house. Betty and Sam had come from Montana, along with their son Matthew, to help get Mom's house in order. Mom would not let us throw much of anything away even though she had asked us to help her work on the house. Sam rented the biggest construction bin possible as there was a lot to be dealt with. During this procedure Mom fell and broke her hip. She was very fragile even though she was strong in many ways.

She had surgery on her hip and was in the hospital until a place was available in a nursing home. She was not in the nursing home long before she was back in the hospital. It turned out that she had a bowel obstruction that needed immediate surgery. She was too fragile and went to be with the Lord a day or two later. Betty and Sam made a second car trip with Matthew all the way from Montana to be with us. Of course my sister Donna and her husband Fred were also here with us as we got things in order. We had a memorial service at my church in Coronado. It was a memorable time for our family.


Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything


 1 There is a time for everything, 
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:
 2 a time to be born and a time to die, 
   a time to plant and a time to uproot, 
 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, 
   a time to tear down and a time to build, 
 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, 
   a time to mourn and a time to dance, 
 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, 
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 
 6 a time to search and a time to give up, 
   a time to keep and a time to throw away, 
 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, 
   a time to be silent and a time to speak, 
 8 a time to love and a time to hate, 
   a time for war and a time for peace.


We had our time of celebrating Mom's life. Ida Frances Davenport McDonaugh-Meza had a full life. September 16, 1913- May 10, 1996. She lived longer than two husbands. She had many jobs in her lifetime. Mother to Caroline, Donna and Betty; grandmother and great grandmother. Also an aunt, and a friend to many. She was treasured as a daughter when her parents were alive. She was the long awaited baby girl as her parents had lost two babies before she was born. She was the big sister to her brother Ray Jr., the little sister to her adopted sister Beulah. She was raised on the farm in Washington, went to college and then headed south to California. She met and married my dad R. Eugene McDonaugh and they both worked hard all their lives.

It was appropriate that we were celebrating mothers the weekend just after Mom went to be with the Lord. We were having A Mother-Daughter brunch the day after Mom died. Then Mother's Day was the next day.


We have other May markers too. We have more family and friends with May birthdays. There is at least one nephew with a May birthday. We have several friends with May birthdays. Our friend Adria's birthday is May 10th. Our friend Ron and his late wife Kathy both had the same May birthday. That is amazing to have the same birthday as your spouse. Little Sabrina celebrates her birthday on May 1st. She is one of the children I love.  :)

Two Good Men

On Sunday February 6, 2011 our country celebrates the 100th birthday of our 40th President, Ronald Reagan. He was our President from 1981-1989. He was a favorite of many. He is remembered as an actor of many years standing. He was also the 33rd governor of California from 1967-1975.

When the Coronado-San Diego Bay Bridge opened in 1969 Governor Reagan was there to dedicate it along with many other dignitaries. My family was also there with some of our neighbor children. Kathy, Laura, Bill, Griff and I walked with the Higgins children from where we lived on Olive Lane in Coronado to the entrance of the bridge where the opening ceremonies took place. We had a distant view of the big event. We could see the dignitaries, including Reagan, but not close enough to get a picture. But we can say we saw Ronald Reagan. (Except for the children who were too short.)

February 6th is also the day of our son-in-law, John Golden's, birthday. He is celebrating a new decade year, his 60th birthday. He is the husband of our daughter Kathy and the father of three. John's son Michael is Kathy's stepson. Michael's mother is Lois who we have known since before we knew John. Kathy and John were married in 1983 and are blessed with two lovely daughters, Becky and Melissa. Becky and her husband presented our family with a new little baby boy in December. Michael is the father of two daughters and a son. The family continues to grow and be blessed. John is a faithful husband and a dear son-in-law.

John had a much closer encounter with President Reagan than we could ever have imagined. Reagan was at John's reenlistment ceremony and shook John's hand. John has the framed picture to share this event. I think this was just before John married our daughter Kathy. John retired from the Navy after 22 years of service to our country in 1992. The Golden family moved to Colorado right after he retired from the military in '92.

John and Kathy have done a great job raising their family and they all continue to work hard. They also faithfully serve the Lord and their church. I love my family and wish I could see this part of my family more often. I loved it when they lived in San Diego and I was able to care for the girls when they were little. Looking forward to seeing our new little great grandson Jacob, and giving him a big hug!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN !!!