Merry Christmas!

If anyone is out there reading this, I hope you have an excellent Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

See my great-grandma Ellen Shirreffs

Since there aren't any photos of Grandpa Stan here, I thought I would quickly post this photo.  I don't remember anything about the day this was taken in February of 1977. We are at the hospital with my great grandma Shirreffs, my grandpa Stan Shirreffs, my mom and me. I'm about year old or so. 

Ellen Shirreffs in 1936

On Saturday, Guillaume and I ventured to Randolph to see my parents and to celebrate my birthday and an early Christmas. We had a great dinner and some yummy cake, but more about that later. I'm waiting for my dad to send me the photos because I forgot to burn them to a cd before I left. 

While I was there, I looked for old photos to post here for everyone to see.  I grabbed a few photo albums and some photos that my mom had. I'll scan them over the next few months so you can all see them. The first one is a beautiful picture of Ellen Shirreffs that was taken in September of 1936. My mom said that my great-grandma Shirreffs really treasured it. On the picture in the corner, you can see that she signed it: "With love to Mother and Dad. Ellen."

Here it is:

REMEMBERING AUNT ISABEL

By Ron Offen

When I summon up memories of my dear Aunt Isabel, two images, a sound, and the memory of an occasion come to mind.

One image is that of a beautiful young woman who turned the heads of everyone when she walked by (and especially when we went to the beach).  The second was that young woman’s rather impish yet engaging smile, which transformed her entire face into a rare delight.  It sometimes seemed she held some secret behind that smile, a secret that really bemused her.

 The sound that I still hear is the almost girlish giggle that bubbled from those smiles and became a hearty but feminine laugh.  Often I would contrive some foolish action or childish joke just to evoke that winsome sound. 

Indeed, I was quite taken with my new Aunt Isabel when my debonair Uncle Stan married her.  So I often reveled not just in her gaiety, but also in any attention I could gain from her.

I remember many occasions with Aunt Isabel, but the one that stands out most clearly in my mind is the day when she took me to a local hamburger stand in Euclid, Ohio.  I had been staying with my grandparents in Euclid well into the school year, because my mother had undergone an operation and was recuperating with them before we could go home to Chicago.

 On the particular day I now recall, Aunt Isabel was to meet me at Shore Elementary School, where I was busy bedeviling my sixth grade teacher (who couldn’t wait for me to return to Chicago).  For some reason, my lovely Aunt was to take me to lunch.   It was like a date!

My favorite place to eat was the above mentioned shanty- shack near the school that sold hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries, etc.  It was my favorite place in Euclid to eat.  I sometimes snuck off there by myself to gobble greasy hamburgers on my own, but no adult would deign to take me there, no matter how much I pleaded.  I think they were afraid of being poisoned.

 When Aunt Isabel asked where I’d like to eat, I suggested this place.  To my great surprise, she immediately agreed to my request.  No only that: she seemed excited at the prospect of going there, beaming that wonderful smile of hers on me. On the way, I told her that the absolute best way to have hamburgers was with mustard and pickles. She mused out loud, “Mustard and pickles . . . never tried that.”

When we ordered our lunch, to my surprise, she ordered her hamburger— with mustard and pickles! And when it came to eating our burgers, she said how tasty the combination was and how she was grateful to me for introducing it to her.

 

So I was even more smitten with Aunt Isabel from that day on.  Here was not only a beautiful young woman, but also one who was fun to be with. Even more important: here was an adult that took my wishes and opinions seriously. 

 So that day provided a minor revelation to me and marked a kind of turning point in my life.  Even though I was a mere eleven-year-old smart aleck, and rather a trial to my parents, to my Aunt Isabel I was someone whose opinion was considered and valued.  It was a day I’ll never forget, thanks to my Aunt Isabel.  And, of course, I will never forget her.

 

A Christmas Past

Grandma Isabel came to celebrate Christmas with us in New Jersey some times. She would fly in a few days before and help us with the preparations. 

My Mom and Amy like to bake sugar cookies and decorate them.  Amy also likes to bake cheese cakes for family functions. My Dad decorates the house with all kinds of things that have been passed down from his parents and given as gifts from friends and relatives.  My Dad also spends some time wrestling with lights on our artificial tree.

On Christmas Eve, our extended family comes to have dinner and to open presents. As a kid, this was like pre-Christmas. I would get a bunch a gifts after the adults slowly ate their dinner and finished their coffee. I was the youngest in the family for a long time as my sister is 9 years younger than me, so I had no one to commiserate with. It always seemed like forever until we opened the presents. Eventually after the presents were all given, my parents and I would get into the car where I would fall asleep thinking of what I was going to get the next morning.

One of the most memorable Christmases was the last time my grandmother came. She was still feeling pretty good then and we had a great time. She was really friendly and personable and good at parties. Her laughter was musical and catchy.

 

On Christmas Eve, we exchanged gifts and hung out with my dad's side of the family. My second cousins, Jeff and Nicole brought their dogs, Mary and Wilma. My second cousins, Pete and Liz, have two little girls ages 9 and 11 who make the holidays more fun. My grandma liked to talk with my Great Aunt Kathryn (shown above). 

We'll miss her this year!

Just Checking

Hi Heather

Just checking that this works. Thank you for inviting me to join and I look forward to adding to it. It's a great idea!

Danny

More Branches of the Family Tree in Australia

A few years ago, I was in contact with several people in our family who have done extensive research. Barney Shirreffs sent me an email about Jack Russell's website, which has an extensive family tree and tons of historic photos of some of the Shirreffs family and others. 

Jack migrated to Australia (about an hour and a half from Sydney) from London in 1955.  The Shirreffs information comes from Lorna, Jack's wife's cousin, and Danny Shirrreffs who share a great grandfather and from John Shirreffs a son of her cousin Norman Shirreffs.

Take a look when you have a chance. It's really interesting!

There is a free lunch!

As you probably know, our family has many writers and a few musicians in it among many other skills. Ron Offen, a poet in our family,  recently wrote to me and reminded me of his excellent poetry site, called Free Lunch. If you have some time, you should definitely check it out. 

His idea for Free Lunch is fascinating. He realized how important poetry was to him throughout his life and how much it had given to him. To return the favor, he decided to launch this literary magazine to publish other poets as well as comment as best he could on all the articles that were submitted. He has nearly 1200 people on his list of subscribers. You can read more about Ron on his site. 

In addition, you can read more about Ron's own poetry. You can see samples of his past work and also see poems from his latest book, Off-Target. One poem that interested me is called "Bad Poet" and you can read it here. He has also been interviewed on the radio. Take a moment to hear his story and to actually hear his voice. You can hear that interview by clicking here.

Take a moment to read some of the poems from contributors in the past issues. They will take your breath away. When my sister, Amy, returns from Australia, I hope she takes some time to read through these poems as she writes poetry from time to time, too. One poem from a past issue that I like in particular is here.

Any other writers out there? Anyone have any comments to share about Ron's site? If so, post them below!

I need your photos!

One of the best parts of this blog is that we can all contribute. I would love to hear more about your favorite times with Stan or Isabel or with anyone else in our family. I'd also love to see any photos that you have of your family or of Stan or Isabel. What keeps this blog interesting is that we can share information and pictures. Please join and enjoy this with me!

The picture (above) is the Shontz family, I think. I believe that Stewart Shontz is third from left and the couple sitting are his parents, but I'm not completely sure. 

Great-Great Grandpa

A while ago, we received a letter from Danny Shirreffs who is living in Scotland. He wanted to get in touch with his American relatives. Apparently, his grandfather was the only one who didn't go to the U.S. He had lots of pictures of our distant relatives and researched our family tree. He sent us a copy of it so we could fill in the blank spaces. Unfortunately, I lost touch with him, but hope to find him again eventually.

Here is one of the first photos he sent to us, which is the whole family. Information about the photo below from Danny Shirreffs via e-mail and forwarded to me from Barney Shirreffs: "Your grandfather and family which you may not have yet, taken I believe around 1900. My grandfather is the little boy while Gordon is the oldest on the left. I know very little about the girls beyond the basics and have not traced any of their living families, yet."

Here's information about the photo above from Danny Shirreffs from an email I received in July 2003:

"Uncles Andrew and Alexander with Andrew in the uniform of the Canadian Machine Gun Corps and Alex in the Merchant Marine uniform. I have not yet looked into Andrew's war career yet, but will at some point. I heard a great story that Alex was torpedoed in 1917, washed out of the lifeboat by a way, only to be washed back into it by the next one. How lucky is that? The picture was given to me by Carole Cox when she was on a visit to Edinburgh last year."

Baby Isabel

Here's another photo of when Grandma Isabel was a baby. I'm not sure how old she was. She looks like she might be two or three years old. I love her chubby little face! 

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Grandpa Stan here. I'll get some of those and add them later. I do have some of the pictures that Danny Shirreffs sent from Scotland. I'll post in the coming weeks. In the meantime, if you have any photos of grandpa at any age, please post them!

My last visit to Canfield

In April, I came to visit grandma and help her move into Victoria House with my parents and Aunt Carole. While we were there, I took some photos of the center of Canfield. 

The post office:

The square:

The bandstand:

Thanksgiving

Growing up I always celebrated Thanksgiving in Ohio. We usually left early Thursday morning and drove the packed car for approximately seven hours until we arrived at grandma and grandpa's doorstep. 

Along the way, we had our favorite stops to eat and go to the bathroom. One of my favorites was "The Bald Eagle," which was a real, old school truck stop with juke boxes at the tables, greasy food, and a gift shop with trucker necessities. Later, they changed the name to "The Eagles Nest" and added amenities such as telephones at the tables, showers, laundry facilities and a little cinema. At my last visit, I bought an "I love trucking" t-shirt.  

Unfortunately, Mom grew tired of the Eagles' Nest eventually and we started going to the "Dutch Pantry." This is a chain of quasi-fast food restaurants in Pennsylvania. Usually there are a lot of old people in there and the food isn't too bad. The best part is the golf tee games they put on the table to occupy you while you wait. Most highway places don't miss an opportunity to sell you something, so there was a little gift shop there, too. I looked forward to purchasing "fire balls," which are spicy jaw breakers. We also used to buy some chocolate cow pies for my friends. Very quaint.

The drive was only the beginning of the magical journey to Canfield. Upon arrival, there were usually toys or games for us to play with.  I would run around to find Taffy, their Yorkshire Terrier.  I was amazed at how she peed on newspaper. Later, Grandma would serve a big dinner with turkey and stuffing and all the rest. We would get to eat on the good china in the dining room. Grandpa would do his famous version of grace and then we would dig in.  After eating the delicious pumpkin pie we felt pleasantly stuffed and sleepy.

Black Friday was always spent at an Ohio mall. After complaining about parking and fighting for a spot, we'd shop for clothes or whatever and grab lunch somewhere -- probably Ashley's or Perkins.  At night, we'd play "Heart and Soul" on the piano and watch television. When Amy was little, she would disappear into the living room, sit on the piano bench and pound out her own little songs. Everyone would comment on her skills and cheer her on.  It was cute.

This year, we spent Thanksgiving in New Jersey with my second cousins and little god daughters. We had a great

 time with everyone and the meal was delicious. During the meal, I couldn't help but remember all the Thanksgivings we spent in Ohio.

2006 Memories

Just a little over a year ago, my mom turned 60 and my dad decided to throw her a surprise party. Amy and I were really excited to begin helping him to plan the party and to try to keep it from mom. We had trouble hiding the fact that there was going to be a party.  It's tough to have a party for someone in their home without them knowing about it.

There were a few things she didn't know, though. She didn't know the date of the party or that Grandma Isabel was flying in for the party. In addition, Guillaume's parents were in town, so they were coming, too. Grandma got along well with Guillaume's parents and we all had a great time!

Here's Grandma Isabel as a little girl!

What do you think of this blog?

Here's Amy in Australia with a koala. 

What do you think about this blog? Leave your comments below!

Sharing Memories

To prepare for the upcoming memorial, I thought it might be fun and helpful to create a space for our family to share photos, memories, and other stories about Isabel's and our lives. I also thought it would be a fun way to keep everyone connected. 

By using a blog, we can all create posts and leave comments for others whenever it is convenient for us. I know we all have busy lives, but it will only take a minute to contribute a photo or some text that could bring a smile to someone's face.

This is a "team blog," which means that any of you can join the blog and write posts by accepting the invitation sent by me. You can also comment on other people's posts at any time. Click on "comments" to leave a comment. You can write about anything you'd like to share with the group. This blog will be private, so only the people we allow to see it will see it.

I hope you will join so that we can get a little bit closer!

Love,

Heather