History

From left to right: my cousin Lee, Me, Uncle Ernie, brother Steven in front of him, cousin Dennis, brother Pete and sister Camille. This picture was taken in Los Angeles at the home of my Aunt and Uncle, 1951. Lee is almost 6 months older than I am, I am almost 6 months older than Dennis, Dennis is almost 6 months older than Camille. Steven is a couple of years younger than Camille and Pete (about 6 years younger than Camille) was the youngest until our last brother was born. Eric was about 8 years younger than Pete. We all thought he was an "oops" baby but Mother said no, they just wanted another one.My mother divorced my birth dad when she had three children. In those days it was very hard for a single mother to support a family so for a time we lived with her sister and husband and their two boys in Los Angeles. It was there that she met the man we all came to know as dad. They married and she had two more boys.

When Mother knew she was about to die, she called us all together for one last time. She told her sister what a good sister she had been and how good it had been of her to take us all in. My Aunt was very quiet and her eyes filled with tears. It was a very touching moment. Quietly my Mother said, "Okay. It's your turn now to tell me what a good sister I was." Which made us all laugh in spite of the sad circumstances. She left us with so many wonderful gifts and beautiful memories.