Uncle Richard's Girls

In response to a recent article on our BLOG called Vanishing Treasures, we have been given a wonderful opportunity to become acquainted with more of our family. Samantha Vance read the article and realized that she is related to us. Samantha is one of Uncle Richard's daughters. She gave me permission to post her picture on our BLOG in hopes that we would get a chance to know her better. She really didn't get to know her father very well because he died when she was a little girl. Samantha's mother remembers talking with our mother, Gatha many years ago. Her mother remembers going out to Colorado for funeral of one of her dad's brothers, she thinks it was Earl's funeral.


Samantha has two children, Kaiden Richard Vance named after his grandfather, and Natasha Jeanne who is is three years old.

Samantha's older sister is Angela. Angela is married and has three children, Daniel age eleven, Makenzie age four, and Elizabeth age three. Her little sister is married and has two step children and two of her own. Her children are Kiley age ten, Brendon age four, Salina age nine & Sasha age two.

Samantha sent two pictures one below is of Samantha's younger sister, Barbara, and her family. The picture below is of Samantha's children and all her nieces and nephews.

I have invited Samantha to join us as an author on our BLOG. I am hoping that she will tell us more about herself, her sisters, and their families.

When I wrote the article, Vanishing Treasures, I never dreamt that sharing my feelings would bring me in contact with people so closely related to us. I can look at the two pictures above and see the family resemblence. I am grateful that they have been willing to share with us and am very anxious to pull them into the family circle.

Delbert passed away in October

I got a message from Carrie Collier Martinez via facebook asking me to call her so that she could tell me what happened to her Dad. My curiosity got the best of me and I called. I had sent her some genealogy some years ago, but it was returned and I thought I had lost contact with her.

Carrie told me that Delbert had passed away on the 29th of October in Iowa. Carrie's family brought him home to Salt Lake and he's buried there close to his family.

The picture to the right is of Delbert and his mother, Betty Laraine Vance Luster.

The picture to the left is of Delbert, Donnie, Uncle Richard and Grandma Vance. I suspect that this picture was taken in 1946. I don't know where the picture was taken. Possibly, it was in LaJara. I believe this is the only picture we have of Grandma Vance.

Delbert was the oldest of the Vance grandsons. RaeDean Barber (Howey), and Norene Summers were older than him.

Donnie is the only person in this picture that is still alive. Uncle Richard's son, Gerald lives here in Colorado Springs. I ran into him recently when Betty and I were out shopping.

Mom's photo albums had this page of pictures of the Luster Family. Delbert it lounging in the center.

Delbert's sister Diane died some years ago as did his brother, Ronnie. I don't know anything about Harold.

These pictures bring back a lot of memories to me of the Luster home south of LaJara, Colorado. We spent a lot of time with the Lusters. Sometimes, we had fun, and sometimes we got into trouble. When we got into trouble, Delbert always got the worst of the punishment. I never could understand why things had to be so hard for him.

For a while, Delbert stayed with Mom. He really fought depression.

I was really grateful when Delbert's family came to a family reunion in Sandy, Utah and we got an opportunity to know them. I wish we knew them better.

three's???

I have heard it comes in threes.... I found out that Harvey Holman passed away on the 3rd. This is from the Valley Courier:

HolmanPosted: Thursday, Sep 4th, 2008Harvey L. Holman, 76LA JARA — La Jara, Colo. resident Harvey L. Holman, 76, died Sept. 3, 2008 at his home in La Jara. Harvey was born Feb. 1, 1932 in Sanford, Colo. to Joe and Frances Vandiver Holman. He worked for the D & RGW and Durango & Silverton Railroads as a carman for many years. After retiring from the railroad, he worked for the Town of Sanford in their maintenance department. He enjoyed hunting, fishing and his dog. Harvey is survived by his children Ann Radcliff of Chico, Calif., Michael Holman of Corning, Calif., Lynne (John) Staggs of Alamosa, Colo.,Donnie (Michelle) Holman of Alamosa; Shelley (Jim) Raines of Ft. Morgan, Colo. and Janice (Martin Dominguez) of Alamosa, as well as by 14 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.Harvey was preceded in death by his parents, one brother one sister and one grandson. A graveside service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sat., Sept. 6, 2008 at the Sanford Cemetery. Contributions are requested to the Valley Humane League and may be made through the mortuary office.Arrangements are in care of Rogers Family Mortuary in Alamosa.

The silence is deafening

The week went too quickly for us. We enjoyed the visits this week from Andi and Ashleigh and from Brenda's family. We talked and laughed and enjoyed each other's company. But all things eventually come to an end.

Andi was only here for a couple of hours last weekend. Her visit ended all too soon. She had to go home because Matthew, Luke, her animals were all at home alone.

Grandpa Wagner was here this morning to give the Bonnichsens a good send off as they head back to South Dakota. Through a veil of tears, we said our goodbyes to Brenda, Chloe and Aubrey. We waived as their well packed van turned the corner and out of sight.

I've been wearing a headset all week to shut out the sound of people coming and going. I discovered a new web site http://www.pandora.com/. It's an internet radio station where you can create your own collections of music you like. I've been listening to all of my favorite music: Country and Western, Broadway Musicals, Rock and Roll, and rock artists from the 60's and 70's. It helped me stay focused on my work. Today after everyone left, I removed the headset and turned the music off. It was so quiet that it is rather unsettling.

Brewster romped and played with the kids while they were here. This afternoon, he enjoyed a long quiet nap. We love our kids and really enjoy them when they visit.

Establishing a Home

When Arlo and I got married, we didn't have a home. For a time we were here and there. We lived in a little 3 room house of Isabel's. Then we moved in with Grandma Vance. We live in a room of Charles and June Vance. That is where we lived when Dad died and Doris Faye came to live with us.

Then he got a job with Ed Guymon and we lived there until Don, Kent and Bonnie were born. Arlo quit his job with Ed and we moved in with Grandma Vance again for a season. We then moved to a farm between Sanford and Bountiful. Arlo worked for a Gyling. We lived there for one year.

The next year we moved to the house North West of Romeo. That is where Larry was born. That year there were a lot of things. Donnie had rheumatic fever, Arlo had a bad disc in his back and was in the hospital in Grand Junction for about a month, then was moved to Denver where he had back surgery.

While he was in the hospital, I moved us to manassa. We lived in Lucille Jackson's house, a block West of Grandma Dunn. We lived there until we bought our first home of our own. That was the one across the street from Maggie Weston.

From there we bought the house on 3rd street. That was our final home. We lived there until after Arlo died and I moved to Mesa. Things were never the same after that. There didn't seem to be a gathering place for all of us again. Eventho I own a home now, it doesn't seem to be a gathering place as I would like it to be.