Long time no see! The pandemic of 2020 and a number of other projects have wrecked havoc on our getting together to chat about Greenwood and retell your stories. I will pick up with you Greenwoodians again in January when 2021 takes over.
I have not been idle. My dad, John Murray, and I have been spending a lot of time on what I call the Greenwood Project. Even Uncle Stan contributed. We are documenting the owners/inhabitants/proprietors for every parcel of land in Greenwood throughout time. It is taking time for sure.
What has surprised me most is all the people my dad remembers and how many stories he still is able to share about all of you. We use a Stueben County map and virtually drive the roads, checking out the houses via images as I tell him who lives there now, maybe a past owner or two and he picks up and gives me the lowdown on decades before. It has definitely been enlightening.
I knew most of us were probably related in some form or fashion; but, this exercise has solidified that. Each and every house or business ties the families of Greenwood further and further together. If you aren't actually cousins, you are connected through many shared experiences. It is as if I can see Bill Lippert behind his meat counter and Margie and Alton York too. I definitely have visions of my grandparents and aunts and uncles at the Atlantic Station there on the corner and the Chaffees in the hardware store.
It is now Christmas season again. We are putting up our trees and lighting the outsides of our homes. I spent time this year creating gifts and ornaments with our history in mind as well. Collections of cone trees and ornaments made from bridesmaids' dresses. First from the dress my mother wore just a few weeks after my sister Trish was born in my Aunt Catherine's wedding to Nelson Hawkins. And the dresses from my sister Joan's and my weddings as well. A few received the button treatment too.
Speaking of ornaments, I have made plenty of tree ornaments. First with photos of my grandparents, Stan and Margaret Murray and Albert and Flora Lounsberry as well as my parents John and Kathleen (Lounsberry) Murray as children and one of them feeding each other cake at their wedding. They will grace the Christmas trees at my sister's homes this year.
Some secret surprises along these lines as well. And, I already have a long list of projects for next year.
Oh, before I forget, I also used all the buttons from our childhood (thanks Lisa for Mom's box) to make a myriad of ornaments with trees, reindeer, snowmen, strings of lights, you name it I created it from buttons. You would not believe how many buttons for girl scout and boy scout uniforms I had to work with. I can't wait to give them to my siblings at family Christmas in a couple weeks.
Merry Christmas Greenwood! Sorry we did not make it to see you this summer. Hope to see you next year.