Family Photo Fun

Family Photo Fun
Art & Aletha Family 1972 by Aletha Turley, taken from postcard written to her sister Franceen shortly after the attached picture was taken. We went down to a picture studio a couple of weeks ago to have a family picture taken and it was really an unforgettable experience and one I...
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1946 Views
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A Child's Garden

Early in our marriage, Orser put a lawn into the back yard of the home we were renting. There remained a bit of bare earth just to the left of the back door. I found a packet of seed labeled Children's Garden and asked him to put it in.  They came...
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1696 Views
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Big Wave - Capsized

Back in the '60s my mother's brothers Howard and Paul Webster owned a boating business that catered to people using the newly opened Smith Mountain Lake in Southern Virginia.  For the 4th of July holiday my cousin-by-marriage Jimmie Cooper was loaned one of the sailboats to take me, my sister-in-law Carolyn...
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2251 Views
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Gardens

Today as I do almost every day, I stopped in my daughter's room to check the blossoms on her African Violet. They are huge, a rich purple and bloom frequently and fully.  They remind me of the luxury of walking behind my grandparents home and marveling at the carpet of wild...
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1577 Views
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Ron Taught Me How To Throw A Curve Ball

Ron Taught Me How To Throw A Curve Ball
On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Ronny Taught Me How To Throw A Curve Ball   Ronny was the oldest of the children in the family.  He was the quiet type.  His actions spoke louder than his words.  Whereas there are some...
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2075 Views
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Remembering the Doing

This year there was a bit of a crunch, getting ready for family to visit for the Thanksgiving weekend.  I had the weak feeling of 'will the important parts get done' along about three days before everyone was to arrive. As I began cleaning and putting away, I realized this was...
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1562 Views
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Dad's Legacy

Dad's Legacy
  The summer of 2009 a strong impression came to me, even urgent feeling, to go home to Colorado to transcribe and publish my parents and grandparents life stories. In Nauvoo 25 years earlier I videoed my parent’s life story and they in turn videoed my grandparents.  I thought our family...
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1654 Views
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A Few Lessons Learned from my Elders

A strong, recurring theme in the life-histories of both my father and my mother is, thankfully, SACRIFICIAL LOVE. What a warmth comes to my soul as I read my dad describe his father as "the kindest man I ever knew." James Smith Turner the Elder lived in a densely-inhabited Glasgow sandstone...
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1553 Views
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Escape From Laos

Escape From Laos
On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Escape From Laos   When the communist Pathet Lao took over the country late in 1975, in the same year that the bloody war in Viet Nam had finally ended, the citizens of Laos held their...
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2687 Views
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Gifts of Finest Wine

Gifts of Finest Wine
On the road… again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Gifts of Finest Wine   We couldn’t send them home, so we proceeded to drink them—one bottle at a time.  First was a Haut du Médoc (2009), then a Mouton Cadet (2011), then a Gewurztraminer...
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1671 Views
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Five Languages At Lunch

Five Languages At Lunch
On the road …again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Five Languages At Lunch   It was a typical family get-together for lunch.  Except this was no typical family and no ordinary lunch.  The sit-down lunch was composed of extended family members from different towns,...
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Just one more piece...

“Well? What do you think?” Mom prodded. Dad chewed thoughtfully on a bite of the pecan pie (his favorite) that my mother, his young bride, had baked specially for him. It was her first attempt at pie baking. With little cooking experience, Mom was eager to please, and anything but confident....
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1844 Views
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My Great-Grandpa Jensen

  Our family visited my great-grandma and great-grandpa Jensen (my dad’s grandparents on his mother’s side of the family) this past summer, which was really a great experience.  They live in Southern Alberta, Canada and we rarely get to visit with them.  They are both getting quite old and have moved...
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1644 Views
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Carina West - My Brother

Carina West - My Brother
Caina tells us about her brother in this week's Story Circle...
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2123 Views
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Looking Back With Mixed Emotions And Memories

Looking Back With Mixed Emotions And Memories
On the road …again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Looking Back With Mixed Emotions and Memories   Thanks to the photographic record, recalling a few details of the lavishness of Anh Sao’s house in Viet Nam can be shared with others.  As time passes,...
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2938 Views
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Bull Rider Grandpa

Bull Rider Grandpa
                This is the first time I got trampled by a bull. I rode it all the way.   I just remember I was getting up and I looked up and that bull was right on me. I flattened right down and he caught my head and stomped on my shirt and...
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1557 Views
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These Stones Will Never Wilt

These Stones Will Never Wilt
On the road… again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   These Stones Will Never Wilt   Whenever we return to the Netcong, New Jersey area to visit, my wife Thu and I make a visit to Stanhope Union Cemetery as part of the agenda.  That...
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The Life History of Arthur Austin Turley Sr.

The Life History of Arthur Austin Turley Sr.
CHAPTER TWO   Starting from the time we arrived at our home on 23rd Ave. in Phoenix, Arizona until we moved to our new home on 40th Ave. This was three years. But before I go on with my life, I would like to tell of two more things that I...
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2414 Views
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Joyce

I was 6 years old when my sister, Joyce, was born. Dad used to sit on a chair in the kitchen to hold her until his arms would give out. He'd say to Mom: "you'd better take her now". So Mom would go over and take Joyce from him.   Joyce...
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1595 Views
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Surviving in WWII Holland

Surviving in WWII Holland
This is a picture of my father when he started school. It may look like he is already becoming a trouble maker with that cross-eyed look on his face that so many of our kids today show when they are trying to shake things up a bit. But the real story...
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1778 Views
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