Saturday, April 16, 2022

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - What Did You Do In 1997?

   It's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun! 


Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible music here) is to:

1)  We all have a family history.  What did you and your family do in 1997?

2)  Share your answers with us in your own blog, in a Facebook or Instagram post, or in the comments on this blog post.  Please leave a link to anything you post elsewhere in a comment.

Here's mine:

1997 was a year of excitement, wonder and happiness for the Seaver family in Chula Vista. We have been reasonably healthy, as have Randy's mother, Betty Seaver, and Linda's dad, Lee Leland. The only sad note for us was the death of our 18 year old cat, Softy, in January. 

Our excitement this year was the marriage of Tami Joy to James on August 23rd at Chula Vista Presbyterian Church. James is from Victorville CA, where his mother, step-father and brother reside. Tami and James met at Azusa Pacific University in 1995. Lori was Tami's maid of honor, and her bridesmaids were Stephanie (her high school best friend) and Brooke (her college roommate). The wedding was performed by Rev. James Rauch, the former youth pastor at the church. The bride was beautiful and poised, the groom was handsome and happy, the fathers were proud, the mothers were beaming, the cake and flowers were gorgeous, and the 200 guests enjoyed themselves at the ceremony and the reception. Tami and James walked down the same aisle that Linda and Randy did 27 years ago. Our friends from Topeka (the Herynks) and from Boise (the Shangles) made the long journey to Chula Vista to share in our happiness. Tami and Linda planned the wedding wonderfully. 

Tami and James are living in married housing at the university. Tami graduated from Azusa Pacific University (in the Los Angeles area) on December 12 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. She worked during the summer at a brokerage firm, and learned a lot about the world of finance. Tami continued working with the youth group at a church near Azusa. She hopes to find a full-time job in January, and will continue her studies at APU toward a Master's degree. James is a senior working towards a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. 

Lori completed her first year of graduate school at Sonoma State University (near Santa Rosa, north of San Francisco), working towards a Master's degree in Early Childhood Education. She worked full-time at the Four C's Pre-school in Santa Rosa to support herself. She had abdominal surgery in May, but recovered well. In June, she moved to Orlando, Florida with her boyfriend, whom she met at San Luis Obispo. He obtained a six month intern job with Disney in Orlando. Lori found a job teaching in a Montessori school in Orlando. She will return to San Diego just before Christmas and will look for work, and perhaps take classes, here in 1998. 

Linda and Randy have stayed active in the Chula Vista Presbyterian Seafarers fellowship group, and attending Lamb's Players Theater with church friends. They enjoyed camping and playing pinochle with the Adams up in Cuyamaca State Park. They go out to dinner often and Linda gets together with her friends for lunch and shopping on the weekends. 

Linda and Randy celebrated their 27th anniversary with a trip in March to Laughlin, Nevada. They went to Cancun for a week's vacation during early July, taking a Sunquest charter and staying at the Melia Cancun resort; they recommend it! Besides shopping and eating along the Cancun strip, they enjoyed resting by the pool. Side trips were taken to Tulum to see the Mayan ruins, to Xel-ha and Xcaret for snorkeling and underwater river sightseeing, Isla de Mujeres for sightseeing, and a pirates cruise one evening.  They also visited Azusa several times, and saw the Rose Parade on New Year's Day for the first time with Tami and James. 

Linda continues to teach fourth grade at Montgomery Elementary in Chula Vista. She stays in contact with her many friends via telephone and visits, and enjoys looking for unique angels for her collection in the shopping centers and craft fairs of our world. Linda loves Temecula for its craft shops and quiet atmosphere, and took several trips there during the year to get away from it all. She swims in the mornings at the health club, and enjoys the fellowship of her church Circle, Forest Home Women's Auxiliary chapter, and the Dolphin club (at the health center). 

Randy celebrated his 30th year at Rohr in October. He chose to become a Senior Staff Engineer in June, relinquishing his management role after 19 years. Randy had weeklong business trips to Berlin in June, and to Moscow in July on engineering projects. The Moscow trip was very interesting, and he had the opportunity to sightsee and visit the flea markets for Russian treasures, which Linda enjoyed. He avidly follows the Padres and Chargers on TV - a true fan (wait till next year!). He finished his service on the Pastor Nominating Committee at church, with the call of Dr. Paul Fisher as the Senior Pastor. 

His major avocation remains genealogy. Randy went to Salt Lake City for a week of research at the Family History Library in May. Research for a book on the ancestry of Isaac Seaver, his great-great-grandfather, was started. He keeps in touch with other researchers through access to Prodigy, Delphi, and the Internet for genealogy data. 

[Edited a bit for privacy reasons and minor errors.  Thank goodness for our yearly Christmas letters (since 1983) - I didn't remember all of this!]

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Copyright (c) 2022, Randall J. Seaver

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4 comments:

Linda Stufflebean said...

Here's my link to a very uneventful year. Randy, you are lucky you have copies of all those Christmas letters. https://emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com/2022/04/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-189/

ByAPearl said...

Here is my link: https://geneajournalsbyapearl.wordpress.com/2022/04/16/what-i-did-in-1997/

Elizabeth Richards said...

1997 was the year that our family lost several members of the eldest generation. That year woke me up and pushed me to get serious about family history. I can't believe that was 25 years ago!

Lisa S. Gorrell said...

Here's my post: https://mytrailsintothepast.blogspot.com/2022/04/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-what-did.html