How can someone ask me to pick ONE (1) Favorite Picture? (#52 Ancestor Challenge). I’ve spent multiple hours and years digitizing many of the pictures accumulated from my parents. Currently there are over 17,000 and there are still more than 10 photo boxes, 8 carousels and 10 albums left to be digitized. This doesn’t include the ones we have taken as our three boys grew into the wonderful men they are today. So, I must admit, after much angst, one has been chosen. I made the decision that it had to demonstrate family, fun and fond memories.
This picture was taken from an album entitled 1961, Halifax, Cape Cod, Boston and Nova Scotia. This picture is one of many taken from a summer trip to this area. We traveled, as we often did, with my cousins (Jimmy and Steve) and their parents (Jim and Margaret). In this picture the group had just finished fishing and were showing off their success. Included from left to right are Fred Coffman (my father), Sally Coffman (my sister), Jimmy Coffman, Dan Coffman (my brother), Jim, Steve and Margaret Coffman. My mother was probably taking the picture, as she was the official photographer. So why wasn’t I included in the photo? I would have been seven (7) at the time, and probably was not involved in this adventure for the day. Or more likely, I was upset about not being able to hold a fish! The story told to me, is that while everyone was fishing, I walked around the edge of the stream where the fishing was happening. As I was walking, I explained that I wasn’t allowed to fish to anyone that would listen. I also was concerned that my family wasn’t going to catch anything for dinner and was asking for handouts from others. I did come home with several, no one remembers how many fish, but mom and dad weren’t pleased with my actions. So maybe the picture was taken without me as a punishment, since I had not really “caught” the fish. But what this picture depicts are the vacations. We traveled the USA every summer during my dad’s three-week vacation. Always by car. Always camping as a five-person family in one tent. And we looked like gypsies. But we had fun. My parents believed that we should see all of the national parks and enjoy the splendors of nature. We traveled to Yosemite, Yellowstone, Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, Bryce and Zion parks, to name just a few. We covered all of the states and driving from our home state of Ohio. My parents’ goal was to have us see every national park in the US, before my brother left for college. Many of the trips were with my cousins, but some were just our family of five. When the cousins get together today, we often share memories and how much trouble each and everyone of us got into during the trips. We laugh at my mother burning her tongue as she cleaned a rock in the Grand Canyon. Or my sister who would not get out of the car after seeing a dead snake on the side of a road as we traveled into our campsite. Or the time I woke from a nap and was told to stay in the tent, as a bear was rummaging in our food outside the tent. At times I don’t remember the experiences as vividly as the others, being the youngest of the group. But I do remember the scenery and the beauty of the land called the United States of America.
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January 2022
About this BlogThis blog has been designed to serve two purposes. The first is to leave the written histories of my ancestors.
The second purpose is to offer some of my own stories, so that my children and grandchildren can learn more about my direct family and my childhood. Categories |