Penrose Family Reunion

The Penrose Family Reunion was held on 18 July 2013 in Utah.  It was held at Mark and Shelly Evans beautiful home in the east Salt Lake area.  This is the second bi-annual reunion and I am SO glad I got to go this year!!  I drove out to Utah with Rebecca and Katrina, and my mom was able to come this year too!!  (She won the prize for having travelled the farthest, from Alaska!)

Cousins!! - Kristen Castle Dean, Jennifer Castle Critchlow, Lora Marshall Nehring, and Laurel Castle DeGroot

It was great to see my cousins and meet so many new ones!  I even found out that I have the "Penrose toe"!  (That is when your second toe sticks up farther than your big toe.)  Who knew?!

The reunion is a gathering of the descendants of the "Great Eight" - the children of Frank and Ruth Penrose: Marjorie, Dixie, Mil, Penny, Lu, Ann, Bud and Jean.  There was great food, swimming, prizes and lots of good conversation and catching up!

To see all the photos that I took at the reunion, click HERE.

The children of the Great Eight:

back row: Lloyd Drecksel (Dixie), Robyn Thompson (Penny), Sheila Penrose (Ann), Samuel Penrose Thomas (Jean), Larry Penrose (Bud), Jeff Thomas (Jean). front row: Kathryn Berkowitz (Lu), Marjorie Castle (Lu), Peggy Smith (Mil), Kathy Jones (Ann)

And the children of the children of the Great Eight:

back row: Lora Nehring (Lu), Shelly Evans (Ann), Patricia Kingston Quirk (Mil), Phyllis Vetter (Ann), Merb Jones (Ann), Erik Kingston (Mil), Kait Kingston (Mil). front row: Kristen Dean (Lu), Julie Smith (Mil), Jennifer Critchlow (Lu), Laurel DeGroot (Lu).

When we were taking this photo, someone directed that the people that were 45 and up had to stand in the back.  At first I was kind of bummed to be old enough to stand in the back row.  Then I looked around at the company I was standing with.  All these amazing, gorgeous women!  I suddenly felt very privileged.  We all have all inherited those great Penrose genes!!  (Erik too! : )

Here are the descendants of Dixie:

Alex Drecksel, Jill Drecksel, Paul Drecksel, Debra Howard, Gary Howard, Lloyd Penrose (attended but not pictured: Willie, Linda,  Tristin, Hilary and baby Jaxon)

Mildred:

back row: Ray Kingston, Vicky Kingston, Erik Kingston, Jim Quirk; middle row: Sha-Sha Kingston, Lauren Quirk, Sarah Quirk, Patricia Quirk, Julie Smith, Kait Eckman; front row: Gaylon and Peggy Smith

Penny:

Robyn Thompson, Terri James, Cloe James and Summer Thompson

Lu:

back: Nyle Critchlow, Marjorie Castle, Brent Castle, Kristen Dean, Tyler DeGroot, Laurel DeGroot, Kathryn Berkowitz, Lora Nehring. middle: Jennifer Critchlow, Tate DeGroot, Braxton Dean, Beckham and Brooklyn Dean (twins), Kaitlin Dean. front row: Dallin DeGroot, Brady Critchlow, Max Critchlow, Lucian Critchlow, Parker DeGroot, Katrina Nehring, Rebecca Nehring

Jennifer made these pedigrees of the family members who were there at the reunion

Ann:

Mikey, Mai-Mai, Phyllis Vitter, Gunther, (I don't know, sorry), Merb Jones, Kathy Jones, Sheila Penrose, Shelly Evans, Kelsey, Mark Evans.  (attended but not pictured: Sally and Bill Knowles)

Bud:

Kathy and Larry Penrose

Jean:

Samuel Thomas, Jeff Thomas, Linda Thomas, Wendy Thomas

(I didn't leave Marge out, she didn't have any children.)

We were all asked to bring any Penrose photos, documents, stories, etc. that we could share, as there would be a scanner there.  I had loaded up all my info on a memory stick before I left Kerman, and at the reunion, I went to hand it to Nyle, who was scanning away, and when I opened my thumb drive, I was startled to see only the case!  I traced my steps back to the car and searched it too.  I called home, and Kevin checked the computer, and sure enough, there it was sticking out of the back of the computer!  D-oh!!  So, Kevin loaded it all onto Google Drive and I was able to retrieve it to add it to the mix. : )  Thanks sweetheart!! 

Kevin took this photo of my memory stick, still in Kerman

It was a wonderful evening and I am so proud to be a member of such a great group of people!! 

Earlier in the day, the girls and I had been on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, and we took a tour of the Conference Center.  We went through a room that had portraits of all the Apostles and then into a room that had busts of all the prophets.  As we stood there, I could see another room, beyond where we were standing, that had more paintings in it.  I asked our tour guide what was in that room, and she said it was portraits of all the modern-day Apostles.  I said, "my 2nd great-grandfather is in there," and she said, "Go!"  The girls and I hurried down the hall and found the portrait of Charles W. Penrose, and took a couple of pictures.  Perfect timing! : )

Direct line ancestry -->  Charles W. Penrose and Louise Elizabeth Lusty --> Frank William Penrose and Ruth McQuarrie -->  Lu Penrose --> Kathryn Bond -->  Lora Marshall Nehring

Trick or Treat

I have been busy.  And I hate it when busy keeps me away from the things that I love to do.  Thankfully most of the busy has been with things that I love to do. : )

One of the things I have been doing this month is visiting my Gma Willie.  She is not doing very well.  She just turned 89 (I am sorry I missed her birthday on here!) and her memory is gone and she is having a hard time completing coherent sentences.  She hasn't said my name for a very long time, but last week she was moved to a new home, and she introduced me to the nurse as her grand-daughter.  I was very happy to hear her say that!

It is still hot here in California.  Fall doesn't actually start here until December, no matter what the calendar says.  We carve pumpkins the day before Halloween so they don't collapse into moldy globs of goo before the Trick -or-Treaters arrive at the door.  Costumes have to be thin so you don't sweat to death in them.  Ironically, I grew up in Alaska where my parents drove us door to door or we went Trick-or-Treating at the mall because it was too cold to walk.  I don't mean we were wimps kind of cold, I mean your breath froze in your throat kind of cold.

Anyway, in honor of Halloween and all the other things that come with the month of October, here are a few photos of my Gma Willie in Halloween costumes as a child.  These are circa 1925.

Willie Love in a cat costume in 1925

In the book, "Grandma, Tell Me Your Memories. . ." Willie said: "[Dressing up in a costume] was my favorite thing when I was little.  My mom was really good in letting us use her things to 'look older'.  Also Halloween called for costumes.  (The knee socks are the kind that we always rolled down when we weren't near home.)  Trick or Treat wasn't around when I was growing up.  We had parties and rang doorbells and ran.  It did always call for a costume."

Willie and her sister, Juanita.

It is always a "treat" to be able to share all these photos and stories.