summer of 2008

A Mix of Family Items

Tom Fox writes:

Did you know that a Turgeon is coaching Texas A&M basketball? They won a close one on the opening day of the NCAA Torney.

Robbie moved to Tapei last summer he's going to school again! He does consulting for U.S. companies and Taiwan. His girlfriend told me his Chinese is flawless, he writes Chinese poetry and short stories too. Robbie had offers to translate at the Olympics. But may not because of the Chinese crackdown in Tibet.

Oh! guess what. You have Jewish cousins. You and Tim got me motivated. I've been researching for the last year or so. We had a G-Grand F. Langenfeld. He converted to Catholicism in the early 1800's. I guess we're maybe 1/32 Jewish.

Mike's High School Graduation (...oohh so many years ago). In 1998 his aunts came from South Dakota to see him receive his diploma, and a few weeks later a letter arrived. I thought it was just another solicitation in the mail, and it sat for a long time in my mail basket. One day I opened it up, and inside was a small "proof" that read, "if you want this picture please respond within one week."

Well, I kept the letter all these years; and the other day I scanned the micro print, "blew it up", and sent it to Mike. At least he now has something to capture the moment he received his diploma. We did take pictures, but we were seated pretty high up in the bleachers...

On your left: This is Tom Fox's mother, Mildred Smith Fox. It was taken sometime in the mid '60s. This photo was taken at their home in Stickney, South Dakota; and she is surrounded by her niece (Ann Smith) and nephew (Steve Smith).

By strange coincidence, she was my mother-in-law's roommate in Lake Andes, South Dakota. Both of them worked in the courthouse in the late 1930s.

Viewing the town on the northwestern side of Lake Eureka.

Eureka, South Dakota. Looking south on Market Street

Fields around Eureka in the autumn...reminds me of pheasant hunting.