Sunday, May 30, 2010

May 30th, 2010 Memorial Day Posting - Email From John Wiggins

Hello Family,

Since Memorial Day is tomorrow, I have family get togethers today and tomorrow, but I still wanted to do a quick post.

I love getting emails from family members with their memories that we can add to this blog. Recently I got the following email from John Wiggins that he said would be ok to share with you all:

Chris,

I just found out about your blog and I’ve spent the last hour or so taking a wonderful trip down memory lane as I have read and looked at the many wonderful things you have put on it. It is priceless!

I am the grandson of Delores, son of Keith (and brother of Lyle who I think you are acquainted with). I have many fond memories of Clifford and Lavell. They were always so good to my grandma. I used to love it when we would be sitting out on grandma’s porch on our weekly Sunday afternoon visit, and Lavell would come on over and visit with us. It was a real treat when Clifford would come too. I always really liked him. They were wonderful people, and always so kind to me.

When I was a teenager, my father wanted something to keep me busy one summer, so he had Clifford explain to him how to oil and graphite the wood shingles on a roof, and then he taught me. I spent much of the summer doing Delores’ roof and our roof (what a messy job!). When I was doing Delores’ roof, Clifford would come over and see that I was following directions and doing a good job. It always made me feel really good when he would give me his “mark of approval”.

Clifford taught my dad all about quality paint jobs, and I in turn learned from my Dad. I can’t paint a room now (or anything else, for that matter) without thinking of your grandpa Clifford.

Thank you so much for all you are doing to share the gold mine that you have been blessed with. I look forward to following your blog.

Sincerely,

John Wiggins


Here's my reply:

Hi John,

Thank you for joining the blog and your nice email. The Johnson/Hokanson blog is turning out to be a great blessing in disguise. I'm enjoying getting to know our extended family...people that I never knew existed.

I remember as a little kid I loved Great Aunt Dee. She was always so nice to me. On Sundays when we visited Grandma & Grandpa I'd try to sneak away and run over to her house. I'd knock on the door and stand there with my hand out.

She always had a smile and I think there was only once or twice where she didn't have any candy to give.

In terms of relation to the Johnsons & Hokansons I'm on the tail end of the family tree since I'm the second to last in my family. Grandpa Johnson died when I was 13 and Grandma died when I was 19, so I never got to know them really well.

I've enjoyed hearing your and Lyle's memories of your associations with them. It helps me get to know them better.

I'm so interested to learn more about the Hokanson Family. As I keep posting I would like to see more people from the extended family join and share their memories and thoughts about the family.

Thanks for you kind words, interest and support!

Chris Johnson


Memorial Day is about remembering our family both here and gone and I'm sure the family members we are discussing in this blog are thrilled we're still remembering them, talking about them, and love and miss them.

Thank you for the wonderful email and I appreciate your input and additions to this blog. Please encourage any of your family members that you think might be interested in this blog to join and contribute!

Have a very wonderful Memorial Day!

Chris

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