Marian Sanders Wants Us To Know...

Here is a note I received from Aunt Marian, asking me to post for you. She has done a lot of genealogy work and I appreciate her willingness to share. She has been very gracious with me in sharing her pictures and memories of my parents:

"Wanted to tell you and the others that I am trying to get the Reeve information out to those interested. Peggi is planning a trip down here to the coast and will make some copies ,then help me get them available for you. I assure you I'm not trying to sit on the stuff I've accumulated. Just a BIT frustrating at my age.

Lyle Lynn, I remember when you and your folks came to Oregon in 1943 You were about a year old. How did the reunion you organized a few years ago turn out and how much geneology have you gathered? So sorry that I never got back to you. Would be glad to hear from you."
-Marian Sanders

* Marian's direct e-mail address is: marians@harborside.com

Bunny's Family

Hi everyone. Here is a photo of all of our family at our Son's wedding -- hmmm was it last summer or the summer before. Geezzz my mind is going -- getting old is not for sissys.

Back row... Mike and Candy in the middle with their boys and wives.... Brett and Jennifer on left, Kery and Beth on right.

Middle row... me in front of my husband Jim, our granddaughter Monique, our daughter Michelle (Shelly) her husband Doug and my ex -- the kids dad John Doolittle or "Doc" as we call him now.

Front row... the bride and groom -- our Son John and his wife Brenda.

The wedding was held at our daughter and son-in-laws home and was really nice. Brenda is a bit older than John and has a grown daughter with a husband and babies. So John became a grandpa upon marriage. He loves it. He has always loved little kids. We don't talk about what his marriage to a grandma made me!! After all she is a "young" grandma!!!!! @##@@

Would love to see photos of the rest of you and your families!! Come on everyone -- please share.

Love, Bunny

This is a good thing

This blog is a great thing-- and I applaud Carol for setting it up and putting so much work into it. I hope all of us start using it more.
Welcome Aunt Marian and also Lyle Reeve. Don't know if I ever met that side of our family -- the Reeves, but would love to. Of course I don't remember a lot of things from my growing up years, so who knows. And would love to hear more about all of you -- the Reeves, the St.Clairs, and whoever. WRITE MORE!!
Cousin Rian and my hubby have struck up a friendship after the mini reunion at Aunt Dotties a couple years ago -- classic car stuff you know! Jim and Ryan talk on the phone now and then as well as e-mail.
Am off to my "mini" quilt group meeting today. We meet once a month and are sorta doing more artsy things with our quilting. We call ourselves "The Catastrophies" or "CATS" for short, as we started the mini group working on an intricate cat applique wall hanging.... each of us doing the same quilt but with our own background fabrics and cat fabrics. I only know of one of us that has completed a wall hanging -- but she only did two of the cat blocks and there are about 9. Most of us have gotten side tracked with other things and the cats went on the back burner. Quilters are nortorious for having many UFOs (unfinished objects). My current obsession is beading on fabric. Oh dear -- must now purchase beads as well as fabric -- what a shame!! ;o)
Nope... I don't work on Fridays -- only work 4 days a week and love it.
Thinking about riding my motorcycle to the meeting but it is not warming up very fast and the wind seems to be picking up, so probably not this time. It is also a pot-luck so a bit difficult to haul a salad or ? on the bike -- as well as my quilting project. But managable, if I put my mind to it.
I remember the clock that Aunt Marian has and I also remember a beautiful glass paper weight that was on Grandpa's desk. I think it had a red flower in it. I loved that paperweight. I also remember one time Peggi and I were helping Grandpa in the barn... or at least following him to the barn and we were both wearing his plaid coat... Peggi's left arm in one arm hole and my right arm in the other. Yup... we were small enough and skinny enough back then to do that!!
Later, Bunny

The Clock

Hi all,
I just had to get in on all this fun. Have been enjoying all the comments and Bios, so glad you started this Carol.

You mentioned the clock at the Lorane house I believe it is the one that I still have, though it doesn't work anymore. It is an Ingraham Eight day mantle clock. The folks acquired it about the time we came to Oregon in 1930. I loved hearing it in the night when I was sick or just couldn't sleep. It was very comforting. I still move the hands occasionly just to hear the sound of it striking the hours and half hours. Takes me back. I liked to watch on Sunday mornings when Dad would go thru the little ritual of taking down the key and wind the clock for another week.

I hope you all keep this going
Marian Sanders

Updated Contact Info

Here is the updated contact list, as I have it so far. If anyone knows of others, please pass them along to me and I will post them. Does anyone on this list have kids, grandkids (or other relatives) who have e-mail addresses?

Shirley St. Clair smstclair@msn.com
Bunny St. Clair (& Jim) cruize@theofficenet.com
Rod (& Karla) St. Clair StClairs1983@msn.com
Nancy (St. Clair) & Rob Seimears robnnanc@aptalaska.net
Peggi (Hickman) moonlitedaze@comcast.net
Rian (& Gina) Hickman rhickman@centurytel.net
Mike (& Candy) St. Clair csaintly@yahoo.com
Wes (&Velda) St. Clair velda@rubensteins.com
Clair (& Beverly) Klock cbklock@cascadeaccess.com
Carol (Klock) and Max Williams Carol@TopPropertiesWenatchee.com
Lyle Reeve Papa4NnC@aol.com
Sharon (Hickman): Blackwitch@charter.net
Robyn Taylor (Sharon's daughter) Robyn@infinitebubble.com

Lyle Reeve checked in

Here's a message from Lyle Reeve, taken from the comment section of the invitation to the family. Didn't want you all to miss it:

Hi,
I'm Lyle Reeve the oldest son of Lyle & Hilda Reeve my father
was the youngest brother of Aunt Pansy. My family and I live at
4718 Pitts Road
Katy, TX. 77493
281-392-2530
Papa4NnC@aol.com

A Fitting Tribute To Dottie

My little tribute to Dottie hardly did her justice, so I am pasting in the entire text of the obituary printed in the Springdale News. --Carol

Dottie Saint-Clair: 1914-2006

Dorothy Margaret Saint-Clair came into this world on September 26, 1914, bringing a zest for life that infected everyone she knew. She left us with grace and dignity on April 26, 2006. She was 91 years young.

Dottie was born to Lewis and Edith Miller in Gresham, Oregon, and was raised a farm girl six miles east of town. At Lusted Grade School, she received a trophy in the eighth grade for most popular student in school. In high school, she competed in track events, winning numerous medals, and danced and sang in school musicals. She graduated from Gresham High but learned the most from "The School of Hard Knocks," as she was fond of saying.

She married the neighbor boy, Oba St. Clair, on November 13, 1935, in Portland. (Oba’s the one who got her hooked on motorcycles!) The next summer, they had their only child, Shirley Margaret St. Clair. No daughter was ever more loved. They first lived in logging camps around the state and even in a tent in the tall timber country of Idaho (on a remote hillside with a deck and marauding bears). They moved to Brownsville in 1940 and then to Eugene in 1946. Dottie moved to Springfield in the 1980s.

She loved to tell of the logging camp years with no electricity or running water. One favorite story was of how she would make many trips daily to haul water in buckets up the long, very steep path from Panther Creek to camp. Water to drink, to bathe (once a week in a tin wash tub), to cook, to wash and so forth. That’s a lot of water. It took a lot of stamina and strength. And Dottie had it, from her days on the farm helping her Dad in the fields and playing baseball with him. Hardball, not softball, she was always quick to point out! A great sorrow in her life was losing her Dad when she was only 19.

Outdoor work was Dottie’s specialty. Digging ditches, building rocks walls, pushing a heavy wheelbarrow. She reveled in it. Housework was a duty, cooking a pain. But, boy, you’d never know it from the yummy food she fixed. Her pies were legendary. Lemon meringue, chocolate cream, banana cream, Bing cherry and on and on. Her pie crust was perfection. A neighbor once said, "I know how you do it. You only use your hands to mix the dough, don’t you?" That was her secret. Plus, knowing just when to stop mixing and start rolling.

Dottie was very shy at heart, very modest, and very, very talented. The move to Brownsville brought a dream-come-true. She got a piano. With only three months of lessons as a girl, her natural gifts came through as she and that piano became one. The results? Dottie, the red-hot piano player. She favored upbeat swinging styles, such as Frankie Carle's complicated jazz arrangements, but also loved and displayed an incredibly sensitive touch with classics like Prelude in C# Minor.

And oh, how Dottie loved to dance to that swing music. She could outlast anyone on the dance floor and be ready for more. Dottie was born to move to the beat!

Another item in the talent department, Dottie also had a great eye for design and color. Whether it was putting together the perfect color-coordinated outfit; decorating and furnishing the tent, the mill shack or the house; or being drawn to the sleek, curvy shape of a certain 1957 car - she knew style. She also upholstered her own furniture and was a top-notch seamstress, bar none.

In contrast, as a proud member of the National Rifle Association, Dottie liked to target practice, using rifles and handguns. She modestly said she couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, but she still loved the sport.

"Dot-Dot," as her great-grandkids called her, had a varied work history. In Brownsville she was a plane spotter for the Civilian Air Patrol during World War II; she was a waitress in Burbank for 3 months while Oba was going to Watchmaking School (she fibbed & told them she had experience); and in Eugene, she was the Custom Drapery Consultant/Coordinator for Sears and then went into real estate until she retired in 1994.

But work was only a sideline. In addition to music, Dottie’s real passion was for Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Corvette sports cars; the faster, the better. Her red and white 1957 Corvette, nicknamed "Hot Dot," won many honors at car shows and was a crowd pleaser. She didn’t trailer "Hot Dot" to the shows. She drove, loving every minute of being on the road with her "Baby." Portland; Park City, Utah; Port Ludlow, Washington; and Victoria, B.C. (twice). Dottie and "Hot Dot" were even featured in the national magazine, "Classic Chevy World."

As for Harleys, Dottie never lost her love of that special Harley sound, look and feel and was always on the lookout for the model that was just her size. She still dreamed of climbing on, kick-starting a blue and chrome beauty, revving the motor and hitting the road again soon.

It is impossible to do Dottie justice with words. But here are a few to start: fun-loving; incredible sense of humor; music in her soul; talent galore; looking out for others; loving and gentle; sweet and rough ‘n’ ready; shy, yet feisty; sensitive and a dreamer; AND ahead of her time - riding motorcycles before gals did that; feeling badly for the Native American Indians and thinking the pollution of the Willamette River was a terrible thing - all before they became popular causes; and making sure she was referred to as a homemaker. She never, ever considered herself a housewife, and thought "smart citizen" was a much more fitting name than "senior citizen," thank you very much!

Dottie was forever young and girlish at heart, referring to herself as "Big Kid" and her daughter, Shirley, as "Little Kid."

Always a good sport, looking for the silver lining, Dottie made us laugh and find joy in simple things. Like hanging a wash on the clothesline, or noticing the shape and color of a rock, or climbing a tree, or wading in the ocean. But we found the most and best joy in her.

Dottie leaves behind her treasured family - her daughter, Shirley, of Eugene; two grandsons, Randy Myers of Portland and Steve Myers of Denver; and two great-grandkids, Ben and Jessica Myers of Denver.

We all love and miss her.

A celebration of life was at 1 p.m., Sunday, April 30, at Major Family Funeral Home. The graveside ceremony was May 1 at the Miller Family Gravesite in Pleasant Home, Ore. Remembrances for Dottie Saint-Clair can be made to the American Lung Association of Oregon, 7420 SW Bridgeport Rd. No. 200, Tigard, Ore. 97224. Specify for pulmonary fibrosis research. Major Family Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

In Memory of Dottie St.Clair

Here is a picture of me and my dear Aunt Dottie St.Clair in 2004, taken during a small family reunion held at her house. Many of you were there for this event.

Sadly, Dottie passed away last week at the age of 91. Appropriately, the day of Dottie's memorial service and the following day for the church yard gravesite service were beautiful sunny days. These days were declared "Dottie days" by her grandson, Steve. This is particularly meaningful because western Oregon is not known for it's reliable supply of sunshine. But, for these two "Dottie days", it was on cue.

Doing justice to the life of my Aunt Dottie involves mentioning at least four things... her zest for life, her devotion to her beloved 1957 Chevy Corvette (license plate "Hot Dot"), her lifelong fascination with Harley Davidson motorcycles and her love for her family... especially her daughter, Shirley. Dottie, although quite a responsible woman in life, never quite grew up and liked to refer to herself as the "big kid" and her daughter Shirley as the "little kid". Shirley devoted the last several years to taking care of her Mother, allowing Dottie to stay in her own home where she wanted to be. Although she couldn't actually drive her Corvette or ride a Harley any more, she loved being surrounded by her substantial collection of Corvette & Harley memorabalia (including several trophies from car shows where she showed off her beautiful red and white Corvette). If you click on the image to enlarge it, you will be able to see a picture of her Corvette on the mantle behind me.

* * * In the program from Dotties memorial was the following appropriate poem:

AFTERGLOW
I'd like the memory of me
To be a happy one
I'd like to leave an afterglow
Of smiles when life is done

I'd like to leave an echo
Whispering softly down the ways
Of happy times and laughing times
And bright and sunny days

I'd like the tears of those who grieve
To dry before the sun
Of happy memories that I leave
When this life is done
* * *

Aunt Dottie was born Dorothy Margaret Miller on September 26, 1914. On November 13, 1935 she married Oba St. Clair who was (literally) the boy next door. They had one child, Shirley Margaret St. Clair, born in 1936. Dottie has two grandchildren: Steve Myers (living in Denver) and Randy Myers (living in Portland). Steve and his wife have two children, Ben and Jessica.

She is loved and missed!