Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Aunt Gerry in 2006 -- Post 364 of (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

I'm posting old (and sometimes new) family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be wordless posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.

Here is one of the most precious (to me) images from my Seaver/Carringer family collection:




This photograph is from August 2006, and commemorates the last time I visited my aunt, Geraldine "Gerry" (Seaver) Remley (1917-2007) at her retirement home in Hallowell, Maine.  She lived there for several years with her husband, James Howard Remley (1912-2007), until her death on 26 April 2007.  Jim died in November 2007.

Gerry always looked "classy" - she dressed well and brightly, and had a smile on her face when she saw any of her relatives.   She was a really beautiful person full of love and spunk and knowledge.  Best of all, she loved her family, and their history, and was very willing to share it with me.  

Aunt Gerry was the keeper of the Seaver family history - she knew all of the descendants of her parents - every one of them, and tried to keep in touch with them.  When babies were born, or nieces and nephews were married, she tried to visit the family and always received a photograph which she put in her photo album.  She was the "matriarch" of the family after her elder sisters died in 2000, and she relished the role.

It was on this trip to Maine in August 2006, implicitly to say "goodbye" to Gerry and Jim, that I had my first look at Gerry's photo albums, and we went through them one by one.  I wish I had written down or voice recorded her comments, but I didn't.  I have the photo albums now, thanks to the family, and have shared many individual photos from those albums over the years with my extended family and here on this blog.

It was Gerry that made three hour-long audio tapes back in 1990 describing the extended Seaver and Richmond families person by person that provided quite a bit of what I know about the lives of my Seaver grandparents and their parents, and the lives of my father's siblings and their families.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/06/aunt-gerry-in-2006-post-364-of-not-so.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver


Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.


2 comments:

Michigan Girl said...

What a treasure Randy. Glad you were able to visit her that last time. Don't we always regret all the missed opportunities or un asked questions?

MS2015 said...

I am a new subscriber, and new to geneaology. I was researching my name, when I ran into problems (seems only 77 of my rare name in the world, so I gave up). Whimsically I did my husband's chart on our brand new Ancestry subscription (3 weeks ago). We unearthed a goldmine, boy, did he ever hit the jackpot, back to the Mayflower, back to Scottish kings, we couldn't believe it. But the family ancestors had uploaded photos so were able to validate key links. Have not slept much, keeps us going til 4 am night after night. Our only regret is that we didn't get to tell his Dad, but his remaining Aunt who is 94... we're trying to get this info to her asap. This satisfying picture of you and your aunt is exactly what we are going for. Your site is ever so helpful. Thanks so much!