My Portfolio

A True Samson   He was the first-born to Arthur Benton and Leva Mae Carriker in 1898. I never knew who named him or why they chose such a peculiar middle name, for it was truly a curious choice. I have never known or heard of any person outside of the...

The gene pool from which American families draw is a wondrous palette onto which our “Artist-Creator dips his brush.  The genes floating in that pool are as countless as the stars, making it possible for Him to send several children to the same parents:  Children who, while sharing some commonalities, are...

On the road… again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   From Cabo Verde To Coraopolis By no means has the Footloose Forester been designated to be the family historian, thus his chronicles about family members have been spotty and more happenstance than deliberate and planned.  This one has...

    The Pirate and The Poet He was twelve years older than me and cut from an entirely different cloth. He was my brother, and although we both felt fraternal love we had little in common other than genes and parents. He was first-born. I was last. He was born...

Since publishing BIG WAVE - CAPSIZED I sent the story to my cousin Kitty Susan Hylton, who was struggling with me in the water.  After reading my account of that July 4th day in 1965, Susie sent some details I had forgotten. Our rescuers were not deputy sheriffs but county game wardens.  One of...

   His presence on a leather seat, my work was always there   Warm and softly breathing, i could touch upon his hair   First his head and then his back, turning to and fro   The daily grind made better by, a buddy soon to go   Early morn to dusk each...

Today my family shared a very sad experience. Our long-time loyal friend Bob, our family dog for almost 15 years, was put to perpetual sleep. This is not the first time we have made the decision to euthanize a family member. We still covet the ashes of Lillian, the equally loyal...

    When Rita was a young teen, she probably had a fairly carefree life as her mother, Zoe Bellocq, was a free spirited French woman who married an adoring Irishman, Mathew Hogan.  Parties, picnics, and playing cards were no strangers to their home.  He even allowed Zoe to brew her own...

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...

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...

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...

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...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy 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 personality types who...

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...

  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...

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...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy 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 collective breath about...

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...

On the road …again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy 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, regions, and countries....

“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....