Franks Letter to Pansy

A Eulogy for Marian Sanders

Marian St Clair Sanders, the woman that everyone has come to know and love, passed gently on August 1 2008. This blog is to her, and her life, the people she knew and loved, and the things that she accomplished. But, most importantly, the most integral part of all of her life, the accomplishment of raising her children, Sharon, Peggi, Rian and Kevin.

Most of us mirror ourselves in our offspring, those that carry on our legacy and continue on with the family. That meant a great deal to Marian Sanders. It also meant so much to her to dig diligently into the past for information on this wonderful family. She didn’t look online for genealogy, but rather wrote questioning letters, went to the libraries, and telephoned people to get any information she could, to piece together a family puzzle that many of us will treasure for generations to come.

She had a spunky, vivacious tenacity that many of you remember well, and will cherish as you recall memories of her. We thank all of you for your warm thoughts and prayers. We would like to know that all these thoughts and prayers speeded her through a difficult time, and she was able to fall asleep peacefully in her own home, in her own time.

She took time for her interest that we have spoken about often. Her beliefs, her wishes, wishes for her children and family members. She will be greatly missed by us all. She will be truly loved by all who knew her. A wonderful woman will be remembered and respected in our memories. A special beautiful woman, inside and out.

*God speed Marian St Clair Sanders*

Howard St.Clair Family Videos during the 50's

Well, here's my first shot at posting a video to the blog. Hopefully, it will turn out okay. Brief history: The video started as a number of 8mm films that dad, Howard St.Clair, took during the 50's and 60's. Following his death, my sister Laurie obtained the films and had them transferred to two VHS tapes during the 90's, then sent copies to the brothers and sisters. Prior to the reunion in a discussion with Laurie, I decided to see if I could transfer the VHS analog tapes to digital files, which could be loaded onto a PC, allowing for DVD copies to be made. The plan was to try and have DVD's made prior to the reunion, and perhaps get posted to the Blog. That was the plan in theory, but the execution turned out to take a bit longer than anticipated (learning curve).

The total series of 8mm film clips is about 2 hours in length. All but this 20 minutes or so, is of our family and life in Fairfield, ID (a lot of Christmas shots). I have just posted video clips of the St.Clair family during visits to Oregon. As near as I can determine, these film clips started around 1953/54. Someone mentioned the lake where the picnic started might have been Cottage Grove. You also might notice that blue car at the end of the video is very similar to a certain auto at the reunion.

I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did. In my opinion, while pictures are certainly wonderful, moving pictures really help to bring the people to life and show what they were like. Until I saw the film of the family dancing and having great fun, I would have never imagined that occurring. You can sure tell they made the most of what they had 50 years ago, that we take for granted today with our satellite and cable TVs, IPODs, cell phones, etc.

If you have problems viewing, let me know and I'll try and research a fix. If anyone would like a DVD copy of these clips, or a DVD of the complete 2 hour video, let me know.

Shirley's Timeline

Shirley has given us an email attachment for those of you who did not get one, or would like to have it, of the timeline of the three wives of Frank St Clair. It is a must read for those who may be confused on who belongs to who, and where we all fit in, in the scheme of things. She put a lot of time and effort into this document. It sure enlightened me. Thank you Shirley for your forethought on this project. Anyone who wishes to have a copy of this valuable information, please email me at rhickman@centurytel.net and I'll forward a copy to you immediately, if not sooner.
Kisses,
Gina and Rian

What a Wonderful Family

As someone who doesn't stay in contact with cousins in my family, I have to say that looking at the faces in this crowd were very inspiring, touching, and most of all, a large connection. Rian and I took on this endeavor hoping like heck that it would turn out to be an event that everyone would enjoy and remember. And it did. Only thanks to the many cousins that took part in making it happen. Lance and Jeanie St Clair for the coffee in the early part of the day (I needed it badly!) and their helping hands in cooking. Wes and Velda St Clair for the chicken, and Rod and Karla for the burgers, and hot dogs. Lance and Rod did a spectacular job at the cooking. Absolutely astronomical job! Mike and Candy, thanks so much for your contribution of delicious baked beans. Kathy and Lucky, thanks for that awesome carrot cake. At one point I turned to attend to something, and those folks had cleaned up within fifteen minutes. If I messed up on who brought what...I apologize from the bottom of my heart! All food contributions were wonderful.

Bunny, Rian and I wanted say a special thank you for your beautiful workmanship on the quilt. We had no idea that you had planned this, and it brought tears to my eye. We still need to sign it ourselves, and when we do, this quilt will be cherished in our family for generations to come. We love you for that. And thank you, for bringing greatgrandma's quilts. You will always have a bed in our home!

Nikki V, thank you for the great job on the T-shirts. They are a welcome memento for this event.

And a big "thank you" to everyone for showing up. We were truly blessed with your attendance to this function that Carol and Shirley entrusted to us. We are still trying to figure out why they chose us, other than Rian's knack for staying in contact with as many people as he can, and being...shall we say...very persuasive about it.

We missed Marian St Clair Sanders' presence, but we will all share with her what we have gathered, and hope she feels better very soon.

An especially big thanks to those who came from far away. We hope it was well worth the trip to see all these fantastic people we call "our family".

We love you all dearly,

Gina and Rian

The St.Clair Clan is AWESOME

Whatta whirlwind week-end for me. I am soooo anxious to see the pictures that were being taken. I know Mike was taking a bunch and others too. So let's get them circulating.

First, a big THANKS to ALL of the organizers of the event!

Are you all clear now on the three wives of Frank St.Clair that makes up this BIG crazy family??? :-) The time-line book Shirley put together was awesome and I think was helpful to a lot of people.

And, all the display tables were awesome. Thanks to everyone who did that. And, of course, a HUGE thanks to Bunny for putting together that quilt top for us all to inscribe on. It looked like stained glass hanging there with the light behind it. Really cool.

Keep coming back to the blog. I'm sure there will be a lot more pictures and comments to come!

Remember... you can click on any of these images to enlarge.

O.K... I just finished uploading my reunion pictures to Picasa. Here is the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/TopTeamCarol/2008StClairReunion You can click on the individual pics to enlarge them and actually read the writing on some of the display material. I know there are more pictures out there. Bring 'em on.

Enjoy!
Love,
Carol

REUNION & HOME

Hi everyone,
What a wonderful weekend and great fun seeing everyone and meeting all the second and third cousins (and first cousins I had not met before), spouses/partners, etc.
But don't give me a test on whose kids and grandkids/greatgrandkids were whose!!!???

We left "early" Sunday morning before anyone (except Clair) were up. Clair was up but we did not see him and then his car was gone !! ?? Arrived home safe and sound about 5 p.m.

Sure hope everyone arrived home safe and sound. Some, I know, are still traveling and visiting.

I have not looked at my photos or the video camera photos yet. But will put them on here or ? later. I am taking a couple days off from work to recouperate and repack... heading to a conf. for work on Wednesday. Only driving over to Yakima -- so not too bad.

Such a BIG THANK YOU to Rian and Gina and huge thanks to all who helped them. It was just wonderful. And a big thanks to Rian and Gina for giving us a real bed... we were going to sleep in a tent in their back yards. Guess being "old farts" has its privileges.

Also want to thank all the "spouses" / "parteners" / etc. who were not direct family for your attendance and support as well.... specifically my husband who's arthritic neck was really hurting him.

Thanks to all for making this weekend one I will never forget.
Love, Bunny

The Tree Trunk Brought Forward

As the anticipation builds for the upcoming reunion on July 5th (which is sneaking up fast)... for all of you who didn't get in on the blog until recently, I am bringing forward the very first post from October 2005 which outlined the families of Francis (Frank) Avery St.Clair... my Grandfather.

Many of us were confused about the family and who was who because of Grandpa's three wives. The first two died and the third wife, Grandma Pansy, stuck around to see all of us Grandchildren grow up. So, here it is again so you can get a handle on who fits where:

Here is the chart from where we all come from. Tell me how you fit in... and let's expand this outline into the youngest generations. Fill in any blanks you can and tell us some stories:

Here's what I know, as family from Grandpa Frank...
He and first wife, Edith Eskridge Tarbell, had four children:
1) LeRoy Francis, born 1907
2) Jessie, born 1909
3) Lewis, born 1910
4) Oba Leonard (Obie to us), born 1912

Frank and his second wife, Amy Nora Henderson, had one child:
Amy
This is my Mother, born 1916, and died in 1959 as a result of being hit by a car as a pedestrian. Amy was married to Bruce Klock (my Dad), who died in 1964 of lung cancer. Bruce and Amy had two children:



Clair Klock, born March 29, 1951



Carol Klock, born April 7, 1952

After the death of both parents, Clair & Carol were raised by Bruce's only brother, Orval, and his wife, Dorothy Klock who lived in Corbett, Oregon.

The first picture is my Mom and Dad (Amy and Bruce) and the second of my brother, Clair, and me when we were just little munchkins... oh so many years ago!


Frank and his third wife, Pansy Fay Reeve, had seven children:
1) Frank Willard (Bud), born 1921
2) Fay Rose, born 1922
3) Harold Lee, born 1924 (Still living)
4) Laurence Victor, born 1925
5) Howard Ray, born 1927
6) Marian Ruth, born 1929 (Still living)
7) Glen Dell (just Dell to us), born 1932 (Still living)


If you are into "originals", here is a link to that very first post in October of 2005 . Also, here is a link to 2005 articles. You can scroll down to the July 28th post about the group pictures of the St. Clair men and women included in this post. I love these group pictures!!!

Happy Sunday!
Carol (Klock) Williams

Genealogy

It is so great to hear form long lost and not so long lost cousins. I am really looking forward to our reunion.

I just spent our second spring day for the season in a Genealogy Conference -- rather than going on a motorcycle ride with Jim. This is all new to me and I learned a lot, but realize there is lots more to learn. I hope to find some extra hours in my busy schedule to work on genealogy... or play with it anyway. I am really hoping that those of you who have already done genealogy work will bring your information to our reunion. I already have some copies of stuff from Aunt Marian -- actually quite a bit of stuff as Aunt Marian has done a lot of research and putting stories together, and a few other pieces of info but know there is lots more info out there.

We have had one heck of a spring...NOT! Today was only the second nice day we have had. Supposed to be nice again tomorrow then back to possible snow! Geeeezzzzz!!!

See ya soon,Bunny

Fran Reeve Dufelmeier Has Found The Blog

I just finished reading the St.Clair blogs. I am pretty dumb about how to respond but there are a couple of things that rang a bell that I'd like to mention.

I am the daughter of Vernon and Ruth Reeve, Aunt Pansy was dad's sister. The painting of the old man sitting in a wheelbarrow, by Howard St. Clair was given by Howard to my dad many years ago. It always hung in their living room. My Mom didn't think it was any particular person. When mom was clearing out her things, years after dad died, she mailed it back to some of the St Clairs. It was such a surprise to see it pictured. I am 86, but I think I have this straight.

The other thing was the mention of Harold's war pictures and info. My heart is very warm when I think of Harold. I was in the WAC during WW11, stationed in Naples Italy. Through some friends, I found out that Harold was stationed in a replacement depot near Naples. We made contact and had two wonderful visits, the only person I knew during the two and a half years in Europe. Harold and I never met again through all the years until the Reeve reunion in southern Oregon, sponsored by Alice Reeve Powner. It was so great to see him after all those years. The big hug from him let me know he was glad to see me, too.

I loved reading the blogs. Sounds like the reunion will be great.

Sincerely,
Fran Reeve Dufelmeier


* * * Note: This post for Fran was made by Carol Williams. Carol will post pictures and commentary for anyone who doesn't want to figure out how to do it themselves.

Shirley St.Clair visits Alan & Rick Reeve in Georgia

Shirley St. Clair visits Alan & Rick Reeve

in Georgia - March 14 & 15

Left to right (clockwise): Rick Reeve, Alan Reeve, Wendy Reeve (Alan's wife), Shirley St. Clair, Richard Minkler. Click on any image to enlarge.

Family Ties
"I am Oba & Dorothy's daughter, Shirley. My 1st cousin was Lonnie Reeve. Lonnie was the son of Charlie Reeve and Jessie St. Clair. Alan & Rick are Lonnie's sons, Shirley's 2nd cousins.

Confused yet? Doesn't matter. What matters is what a great time I had getting to know Alan and his wife Wendy and Rick!

The Visit

Alan has built a beautiful home in the country east of Savannah. Rick lives in Texas and was visiting for a week. Perfect timing for our mini-reunion.

We did lots of fun things: Savannah's famous St. Patrick's Day Parade, held this year on March 14; lunch at Tony Roma's; and lots of reminiscing about the Reeves and the St. Clairs back in the day.

Alan and Wendy invited us (me and my friend Rich) out for Saturday night supper on the 15th. And what a supper it was. A Low Country Boil. The Reeve Boys boiled up two kinds of shrimp, with Rick's specialty being the Texas red hot poker variety. Corn on the cob and potatoes completed the Boil. In Southern tradition, the table was covered in layers of newspapers and the well-drained Boil dumped out for grab and eat yummy-ness.

Rick plans on coming for the reunion. Alan is not sure if he can make it, but he's going to try. If you see them in the crowd be sure and give them a hearty "Howdy, Y'All!" You're gonna love those Reeve Boys!!

Cousin Shirley

Shirley & Richard Visit Max & Carol in Palm Springs

Max and Carol make a tradition of spending the month of February in sunny Palm Springs, California. It's a good break from the winter in Wenatchee.

Cousin Shirley St. Clair came down last year and had so much fun she came back again this year with her friend Richard. Here we all are near Babes Restaurant at the Riverwalk in Palm Desert. Left to right: Carol & Max Williams, Shirley St. Clair and Richard Minkler. Click on the image to enlarge and see what we look like close up. :-)

We did some fun stuff, including a performance of the fabulous Follies.