A Sentimental Journey

Aunt Jo Anne with my sister and me

My husband and I are off to see Aunt Jo Anne in a couple of days. I can hardly wait! It is a special time to be with family. It will be one year since my father passed away this Friday, October 23rd. Jo Anne is my father's youngest sibling... the only sister. She was considerably younger than my father and he even helped to name her when she was born. Jo Anne has never married, so her father and her older brothers have been the most important men in her life. There was a serious boyfriend at one time, but that just didn't work out. Jo Anne, along with my husband and I will make a sentimental journey on Saturday. We are going to drive to the town where my father and his brother spent several of their growing up years. Their parents were in the hotel business in Big Spring, Texas. After a few boyish pranks it was decided that my father and his younger brother should go to the farm in Rochelle where their maternal grandmother lived. It was perfect for young boys... wide open space, places to fish and hunt and a good school to attend. We will drive to the farm and see the home where they lived... which is still standing and in great shape. We will tour the area and hopefully my aunt will remember some family stories and a little history that she may possibly have forgotten. Since I love genealogy and old family stories this is a trip that I have looked forward to for a very long time.