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