I've been trying to get my children and grandchildren to take some of my 'treasures' if there are things they'd like to have. When Deise and Dominique were here last weekend they did choose a few small items.
And one large one -
Deise and Zach took the large painting that had hung in Mom's house.
It was painted by one of her Illinois cousins, Donald Gray.
When he died in 1984, his sister Gladys invited Mom and her sisters to choose a painting of his. This is the one Mom chose.
After Mom died the painting came to me.
And now it hangs in the living room at Deise and Zach's.
It makes me very happy that it stays in the family. A small part of the Illnois connections remains.
Donald's father, Roy Xavior Gray, was a first cousin of my grandfather, Joseph Rufus Ridnour. Their mothers, Josephine Mauderly Gray (Aunt Josie) and Katherine Mauderly Ridnour (my Great-grandmother) were sisters.
Don's mother, Nellie, and my grandmother Delphia, cousins by marriage, were also very good friends. Trips back and forth between the two families happened on a regular basis and included trips to Illinois made by my family when I was young.
When Donald brought his mother to visit we would go down to Grandma & Grandpa's to see them, too. When my sister, cousin Janet and I were teens, we talked Don into taking us to town and scooping the loop just so we could be seen in his new, bright yellow, Mercury convertible.
I even made a trip to Illinois with my children in 1975 to bring Grandma Delphia home from Nellie & Don's after one of her visits. We stayed overnight in Plainville and then drove back to Iowa the next day. I wonder if they remember that. I know I still fondly recall my Illinois connections.
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