After
the Easter service on Ap 15, 1990, we had lunch at the
Johnson’s. Mother’s Day
was May 13,
Holly
graduated from high
school in May 1990. Mother, Smoot and I went to New Orleans
May 26 – 31, 1990
to celebrate with her. Just before we left, a mother kitty and
her two kittens
showed up at our side porch. Smoot said not to take the
kittens in, but when he
came home one day and saw them lying on my tummy, he knew he
was doomed. We
adopted the kittens, naming them Snowball and Boy Cat and had
to take the feral
mother to the pound when it was clear she couldn’t be tamed.
Smoot’s
computer consulting
company, TIC had a booth at a computer conference in Anaheim,
CA Jun 11-16,
1990. I helped staff the booth and came up with the idea of
having candy to
give away! While there, we went to Disneyland and saw the
Glass Cathedral.
Smoot’s 40th. Birthday was on Jun 20, 1990, I hosted a dinner
at a Mexican
restaurant. Lots of his political supporters came. Dave
Helfert had created a funny
spoof video biography of him.
Aug 3-5 we
went to Six Flags
for our 17th anniversary. For my 40th birthday on Aug 26,
1990, we had lunch
with lots of church folks then cake, ice cream and gifts at
home.
Smoot had a
40th birthday
fundraiser at the Caswell House on Sept 5, 1990. We attended
AWC’s 20th
anniversary party on Oct 20, 1990. Nov 10, 1990 we had our
combined 40th party
at April and Michael’s.
Mother’s birthday fell on Thanksgiving. We had dinner at Rose and Russ’. They surprised her with a birthday cake. We celebrated Christmas 1990 at Mother’s house.
1991
The Dalfereses were with Mother for Easter, March 31,
Brenda Bickett’s
mother had died on Mar 20 so she was in Austin and we invited
her to join us at
church and at lunch. The CROP Walk was on Sun, Apr 14, 1991.
We walked with the
Floyd’s and Jency. Bev
came to
show us her Semester at Sea pics on May 26, 1991.
Smoot gave a talk at a computer
conference in LA then met me at the airport and we went
to Star Trek’s 25th anniversary convention in
L.A in the old Oscar venue on Wed, Jun5, 1991 with Jency,
Julie and Anne Bichteler. We also went to
the Getty Museum and the Huntington.
Smoot’s last Council meeting was Thurs, May 13, 1991.
Mayor Lee Cooke
made a presentation. Then we went to a restaurant for a
going-away party.
Smoot celebrated his 41st birthday on
June 20, 1991.
We went to Fredericksberg and Wimberly July 5, 6, 1991. We saw
the Nimitz hotel
and museum in Fredericksberg. Theron arrived on Mon, July 22,
1991. He was in
Austin again that summer working at the Applied Research Lab
at UT. Geoff was
in Austin July 26-28. We took Theron to Houson on Sat Aug 3,
1991 and toured NASA. Catherine,
Rusty and Holly came back to Austin on Aug 9, 1991. Theron
joined us.
On Aug 26,
1991, we
celebrated my 41st birthday with Mother and Jency. There was a
local Star Trek
convention at Westgate Mall on Sat, Aug 31, 1991. We did
another ST marathon at
Julie’s Sept 7,8.
The Mitchell’s arrived on Oct 2, 1991. Geoff came down to visit with his grandparents. We also visited Margaret and Joe Bailey who had been neighbors of the Mitchell’s when they first moved to Austin. Paulette broke her leg and was in the hospital for weeks. Rick came down on Oct 25, 1991. The Mitchell’s left on Nov 23, 1991. During this difficult time, I started a new job at Austin Families since the AWC had lost the Older Worker contract from the state.
On Nov 9, 1991, we celebrated Leonard’s birthday at Glenn and Richard Tims. Mr. Mitchell and Mother went with us. On Nov 10, 1991, Jerry and Jane Jensen were in town. On Mother’s actual birthday, we had her over for cake and I gave her the Birthday Book I’d created for her that had photos and reminiscences of family and friends. The second volume held the cards she got for her birthday. Because of family scheduling problems, we celebrated Mother’s 80th birthday late, on Nov 30, 1991.
We had a dinner at the Driskill Hotel and took photos. On Dec 14, we and Mother went to David’s wedding in Houston. Jency and Mother joined us for Christmas 1991.
1992
Mother’s Day was Sun, May 10, 1992. We went to Wash, DC May 13-17, 1992. to see the Star Trek exhibit at the Smithsonian. We stayed with Suzanne. We went to Rusty’s high school graduation on May 23, 1992. We also visited Paul and Laurie Bailey in Covington, La.
On
June 14, 1992, we went to Japan. We were in Tokyo, Kobe, Nara,
Kyoto and back
to Tokyo. We came home on Smoot’s birthday.
Rick
and Geoff were in town and had bday gifts for Smoot. There was
a Star Trek
convention on Sun, July 26, 1992. Nichelle Nichols was the
guest. We went to
Sea World in San Antonio and stayed at a B&B in
Castroville.
We went to Conn Aug 4-7, 1992. On Aug 14, 1992, Catherine and Rusty came to Austin. We celebrated my birthday on Aug 26. I’d been an Executive Assistant at Austin Families, a nonprofit childcare referral service, from Oct 1991 but in Sep 1992 left there to become Volunteer Coordinator at Family Eldercare, back into services for older adults.
We
celebrated Mother’s birthday on Nov 22, 1992. We saw Gates
McFadden at another
Star Trek convention. In 1992 we got to see four Star Trek
actresses – Majel
Barrett, Nichelle Nichols, Marina Sirtis and Gates. We again
celebrated
Christmas with Jency and Mother.
I
got Star Trek stuff for Christmas. It was a good time to be a
Star Trek fan!
The house had a holiday wreath. We went to Fort Davis on Sun,
Dec 27, 1992, We went to the evening program at McDonald
Observatory, a quaint town and beautiful scenery.
1993
Diocesan
Council was Feb
5-7 in Galveston. Starcon was on Feb 6. We took the time to go
see LeVar Burton
at the Con and check out the dramatic fountain. We went with
Mother to New
Orleans to see Holly be
a
Maid to the Queen of the
Krewe of Proteus Ball on Feb 22, 1993. The ladies were seated
vertically and
not allowed to speak.
Throw
me something, Mister! Randy
Kirk had an art show on May 6, 1993. Catherine went to St.
Michael’s with us.
The photo above may have been Mother’s Day on May 9, 1993. We
saw Majel Barrett
again at a Star Trek con in Austin on Sat, Jun 6, 1993.
We
were in Conn Jun 18-28 for the Mitchell’s 50th
anniversary party on
Jun 20. (Since the anniversary party was on Smoot’s birthday,
we celebrated
that too.) We also attended Becca’s graduation from high
school on Jun 27, 1993.
We went to Houston for Geoffrey Bleeker's
Bar Mitvah Aug
13, 14 and celebrated my b’day on Aug 26, 1993. Interop was in
San Francisco
Aug 26, 27 1993. Boole & Babbage’s booth had a Star Trek:
Next Generation
theme – kewl!
On Sep 26, 1993, we went to Karen Gould's birthday party. The Floyds had us over for lunch on Oct 10, 1993 when Barbara Bloxsom came back to town. On Nov 20, 1993 there was a Star Trek convention at which Marina Sirtis was again the guest. I left Family Eldercare and on Nov 22, 1993, I became Assistant Director for Prospect Research at St. Edward's University. Above right, my going away party from FEC.
We had Mother
over for
Christmas then Dec 27, 1993- Jan 2, 1994 we went to the Grand
Canyon.
We
went to Frank and Bette Doremus’ 50th anniversary party at
Rather House on Jan
22, 1994. St. Michael’s choir performed Vivaldi’s Gloria on
April 17, 1994,
just as we had in 1984. On Apr 23, 1994, we again participated
in Hands on
Housing. May 4-7, 1994 we went to Interop in Las Vegas.
Mother’s
Day was May 8, 1994. On May 22, there was a Star Trek
convention. Michael Dorn
was the guest star. On Jun 6, 1994, Fran and Leonard Johnson
had a party for
Barbara Bloxsom.
Smoot
was in San Francisco giving a seminar and flew to NY to meet
me so that on Sun
Jun 19 we left for Norway. Smoot and John were teaching a
seminar there. We
had decided the week before we left
to try to find Smoot’s great, great grandmother, Anne Kirstine
Mauritzen’s
hometown. With
the help of a
contact on the Internet, we found a representative of the
historical society in
her area and a grandson, Haakon Brekke of the sister Annie
left behind when she
became a Mormon and moved to Utah in the mid-19th century! It
was amazing how
much Haakon looked like Uncle Forrest.
Haakon
didn’t speak English but he showed us the area where Annie’s
family lived and
even took us to the police station, the only place open that
could make
photocopies for us! We got to walk the streets that Smoot’s
ancestors walked.
While Smoot taught his seminar, Gretchen and I went sightseeing including this wooden church. After the seminar was over there was a party with a magician. I ended up being his victim. We did touring on our own, including taking the overnight train to Bergen where we saw Finse, the planet Hoth from Star Wars. We also saw Grieg’s home. On the walk up to it, people were spaced out all along the way playing the Peer Gynt Suite on flutes. It was beautiful. We returned home on Jun 27, 1994.
On
July 13, we had dinner with Jerry and Fran. We went to VA to attend Suzanne and
Rob’s wedding on August
17, 1994. While we were in the area, we got together with Mark
and Joan
Kinkead-Weeks
and had dinner with Brenda Bickett and her Omani friend, Isam and his sister and brother-in-law. Madeline came down to Austin to help celebrate Mercy’s 83rd birthday in Nov 1994 and also to attend the reception in her honor hosted by Austin Assembly #5 for her many years of service to Rainbow Girls. We celebrated Christmas with Mother and Muffin.
That evening we went over to the Johnson’s for a Christmas party. On Dec 26, 1994 we had a Star Trek Marathon at Julie’s. A nice way to end the year.
1995
We went to Geoff’s graduation from UT on May 20, 1995. On Jun 17, we went to Mickey Moldenhauer’s 60th birthday party. We had a celebration for Smoot and Angela’s shared June 20th birthday.
On Aug 4, our 22nd anniversary, we went to Charlotte, NC. Smoot had a consulting gig and I tagged along. Catherine and we went to Houston for Julian Cate’s funeral on Aug 31. On Aug, 26, we celebrated my birthday with Fran, Leonard, Suzanne and Mother.
On Sep 22 we
celebrated Jency’s
birthday. From Sep 29-Oct
1, 1995, we went to a retreat at Laity Lodge, at Leakey near
Kerrville, TX. On Nov 9, 1995, we celebrated Leonard's 60th
birthday at our
house.
Smoot and I were to be in Denmark for Mother's 84th birthday on Nov 22, 1995, so we celebrated with her early. On Nov 19, Angela and Ron got married at St. Michael’s. The next day, Nov 20 we went to Copenhagen Denmark. We’d planned to go to Paris, but the country went on strike so we went to Cologne, with its beautiful Cathedral and museums
of Roman artifacts. Then we went to Brussels, Belgium, took the Chunnel train to England and visited with Mark and Joan Kinkead-Weekes. The photo above was probably taken at Jency’s law firm holiday party. Above right, on Sat, Dec 16, 1995, we gave a Christmas party.
Left, Mother and Betty Jane at our party. Christmas morning 1995 we spent with Mother, her last one. Below, that night we celebrated at Jency’s, with our usual silliness.
All fall I’d wanted to go to Dallas to see the Star Trek exhibit at the Science Museum. The last day of the exhibit was Jan 1, 1996. I got sick after Christmas and despaired of seeing it, but Smoot drove me to Dallas on Dec 30 so I could.
1996
On Jan 21,
1996, we went to
another Star Trek convention, this time with John DeLancie and
then went to San
Antonio with Suzanne and Dan to see Barbara and Jorge Cervera.
We celebrated
Easter with Mother and Catherine. We got our new Geo Prism in
the spring.
We had two Easter-themed dinners with Fran and Leonard, the second one with Larry and us. In May, Mother moved to Buckner Villa. On Mother’s Day, May 12, 1996, Charlie brought Jimmy, David and Jessie Mary up from Houston so the two sisters could visit. On May 20, 1996, Smoot and I went to NY and MA. We saw Nathan Lane in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
In Mass, we visited Plimouth Plantation, Pilgrim Hall Museum and the Cushman memorial. Smoot celebrated his 46th birthday on Jun 21, with Fran, Leonard and Jency, Geoff had started the Fire Academy in Jan and graduated in Jun 1996. Sadly, Mother died on Jun 30, 1996. The family gathered.
Above left, Madeline, Catherine and I took the St. Michael’s Gang out to dinner at Green Pastures to thank them for all their hard work in arranging the after-funeral lunch and helping move furniture. We went to Houston to celebrate Ruby and Charlie Cate’s daughter Susan’s wedding to Rusty Weigl on Jul 13, 1996. All the Ramsey grandkids were there. Above right, Smoot and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary on Aug 4, 1996. Since we were 46, that meant we’d been married half our lives.
Aug 20-25, 1996 I attended the APRA conference in San Diego. We also toured and visited Bev. Smoot and Jency helped me celebrate my 46th b’day. Catherine sent me flowers thanking me for all I’d done for the family.
Nov 1996 was a difficult month with De's mother's, Maia Ingram's, and Jack Minor's funerals, but we still celebrated Leonard’s b'day We stayed with Brenda Bickett over the Thanksgiving weekend and had T’day dinner with the Mitchell’s and Suzanne’s family. We sang at the Christmas Eve service at St. Michael’s.
We opened gifts the next morning then drove to New Orleans to be with Catherine and her family for a bittersweet celebration, our first Christmas without Mother. I still miss her. We had Christmas dinner and saw the Faberge exhibit.
1997
In Jan, 1997, we
went to see Leonard and Rose sing in
‘Baby Doe.’ On Feb 3, a group of us went to San Marcos to hear
Bp. John Spong
speak. On Mar 28, 1997 we celebrated Barbara Longacre's 60th
birthday.
We attended St M secretary, Celeste Booker's going away party. On May 10, we went on an EFM retreat. We celebrated Smoot’s birthday on Jun 20, 1997 with Jency, the Johnson’s and the LeVieux’s.
On Jun 25, 1997, we left for our trip to VA, DC and Nantucket. We saw Dad and Mom and Brenda.
Then we went to Nantucket to stay in a beach house with Alfred Stanley, Kathy Guido and their family and Dave and Kathy Helfert. We returned home on July 2, 1997. Fredi and Alford came to visit us on July 3, 1997.
On Thurs, Jul 24, 1997 I went to New Orleans and helped Catherine and Gayle move to their new/old home in Gulfport, MS. On Aug 3, Larry and I packed up Frank Doremus’ books. He was donating them to the St. Michael’s library. In July and August 1997, Karen and Lew were in the midst of their remodeling project. We got to see it as it progressed.
Flo Beall’s funeral on Aug 21, 1997. Ben, Becca, Vicki and Bill Rugeley and we posed for a picture. I had a party on my 47th birthday on Aug 26, 1997. I’d created a family history wall, a small version compared to what I have now.
More at my party. On Oct 24, 1997 we went to the investiture of Jim Williams. We celebrated Thanksgiving at Angela and Ron’s with Jency and Steve Fildes on Nov 27, 1997.
We celebrated Christmas at home early with Jency on Dec 20. She must have been going out of town. And then had Christmas dinner with Fran and Leonard and Ron and Angela.
1998
Easter was April 12, 1998. We went to Fran and Lonard’s for dinner along with Jency, Angela, Ron and Larry. Also in April, we three sisters officially presented the “Mayflower Bowl” to the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, MA. We toured the replica of the Mayflower and the old cemetery with the Cushman monument.
Pics
from Plymouth. On June 20, 1998,
with Jency, we
celebrated Angela’s 50th and Smoot’s 48th birthdays at Ron
and Angela’s house.
July 2-10, we were in Ireland with John and Mona Kistner.
Left, in Martin & Margery ‘s caravan. June 25-27 we went to DC to see the Star Wars Magic of Myth exhibit at the Smithsonian. We also got to visit with Brenda.
On Aug 4, 1998, we celebrated our 25th anniversary. On Aug 5, we signed the papers on the cabin and moved in that night, in the rain.
The Johnson’s and Jency were the first friends to visit us at our new cabin on Aug 8, 1998. Susan LeVieux’s birthday is Aug 14. We gave a party for her at the cabin on Aug 15, 1998.
Fredi, Alford and Geoff Bleeker visited us on Aug 22, 1998 when Geoff was at UT. I celebrated my bday at home and the cabin. One of my birthday gifts was a trip to Las Vegas to see Star Trek: The Experience.
Jency’s birthday on Sep 18 commemorated her trip to Italy. Oct 9 and 10 we went to Marfa with Steve Fildes. I found a tortoise! On Oct 17, 1998, Catherine and Gayle came to town. Bad rains kept us from going to the cabin, much to my frustration. No one in my family ever saw the cabin. Almost all of Smoot’s family did.
Thanksgiving
was on Nov 26.
We had a party at the cabin. Then on Fri, Nov 27, 1998, we had
John and Mona
Kistner and their friends from Ireland, Martin and Margery
Flanagan, out to the
cabin for a post Thanksgiving party. We celebrated Christmas
at 2836 and at our
new cabin and had Christmas dinner at Jency’s.
1999
On Jan 1, 1999, we had a party at the cabin with the Gang, the Moldenhauers, the Yahns and Jerry and Jane and their daughters Cathy and Leanne (and their friends) who had come in from College Station. On Mar 12, 1999, we celebrated Fran’s b’day.
A photo of us with Lex on Pentecost. Smoot’s and Angela’s combined birthday party. Dad came to visit so Ralph and Ann came down to join us then we all went to the cabin on July 4th.
On Nov 28, 1999, we had a Thanksgiving/Advent party for Jerry and Jane and their girls, Cathy and Leanne, at the cabin. Jerry wrote in our guestbook, “We gobbled the turkey, we et the pie, we love the friendship, we’re sorry to say ‘bye’! All the best in Airy-zoney.” Jency, Smoot and I celebrated a traditional Thanksgiving feast for Pilgrim Forefather’s Day with Dan and Barbara Johnson. Jency, Smoot and I were going to England for the holidays so we celebrated Christmas early with Fran and Leonard.
