My Portfolio

The Rhondda Valley - Wales   We were at the house and in bed soon. The odd thing was that us two kids had to sleep together in a double bed. I’d never had to do that before, I’d always had my own bed, and well it was different. We had...

Richard’s War Years Getting to know a little bit more about what war was all about, seeing the bombing over towards Central London, air raid sirens going. The next-door neighbour had an air raid shelter in the back garden, we would go there and spend most of the night, mum and...

Dad’s Journal. As I think back to my infant days, I remember the deep blue colour of the front window curtains that hung in our council house in Twining Avenue, Twickenham, and ever since that time blue has been a favourite colour for me. Especially the blues we get in the...

Anna Bateman Her Story          Anna Bateman was born to parents George (b.1832[Pa. 1908_) and Josephine Delilah (Haywood) (b.1843-Indiana-d.1904) Bateman in Missouri in 1869.   In the census of 1870 she is with her parents in New York Twsp. Caldwell Co. Missouri.  Father is listed as farmer.  But...

Jo recalls the pets she had growing up

The Longest Day of John Steele (Revised and Edited) Private John M. Steele (1912–1969) was the American paratrooper made famous in the movie, The Longest Day. He literally parachuted onto the roof of a church in Sainte-Mère-Église, the first village in Normandy liberated by the Americans on D-Day, June 6, 1944....

MRS LOUISE “LOUIE” CATHERINE BARKLEY ACHENBACH    By Karen Wilcox   Mrs. Louie Achenbach oldest and best known pioneer woman passed away at her home in Polo Wednesday afternoon November 22, 1933.  We would like to take you on a journey back in time to 1840.  We are in Orangeville, Columbia County,...

FRANK L. PARKER, I. by Willie Parker      Frank and Fred Parker were identical twins, born November 14, 1866, in Salem, Iowa. Their parents were Thomas and Nancy Wilmeth Parker.    Frank married Flora Tospen November 13, 1887.  Marriage records in Kingston show he was not 21 and had to...

HENRY TOSPEN By Judy Housh      Henry Tospon was born in 1838 in Brunswick, Germany. His wife, Elizabeth Whelaman, was born in 1843 in Hanover, Germany.    The family left Germany and moved to England and then onto Scotland before coming to the United States to locate in Somerset, Pennsylvania. ...

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...

I actually have a few hero's in my family; but, since it is Veterans Day, I think it is so important to share the stories of the members of the military in my family.  The first, would be my father-in-law, Elroy  J. Gierach.   Elroy was an 18 year old "kid"...

Dear Friends, Over the years we have shared and discussed many things: that is the way with friends. I want to tell you the story of Cherith. Perhaps, it will help my grieving heart to heal a bit. I believe Sean wants me to share this story; it is, after all,...

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...

A few months ago, I took a short course called Writing Your Life Story at the University of North Florida OLLI (Oshner Lifelong Learning Institute) program. Our wonderful teacher gave us an assignment (one of several) to write a brief story about the topic "What no one knows about me". This...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Duty Roster   Family is important in Vietnamese society; and taking care of elders is one of the expectations one has while growing up in the Vietnamese culture. Xuan Thi Nguyen is now the oldest member of her clan...

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....

We are thankful for a lady like Zina Hanks.  She was born and raised in Spring Lake, Utah.  She will be 90 on July 12, 2014, and has enjoyed good health up until the end of September when she suffered a slight stroke. She and her husband Gale were married in...

On the road…again…! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     France Revisited   Footloose Forester wrote briefly in his Chronicles of a Footloose Forester about the Comoros Islands, Cambodia and France; but also about how the people and events in those three countries were blended...