54 Years of Family History

 This post covers 54 years of recent history, beginning on July 15, 1967 when we said "I do." Unfortunately, we have lost four of our bridal party in the past few years. Only my sister and Leroy's sister are still with us.

We lived in a rented house until October 1968 when we moved into a new house we built. We still live in the same house, although it has seen many changes and additions in fifty-four years. (This photo was in 1989 after we added two more bays to the second garage. The first two bays were built in 1976.)

Our first son was born in July 1968. In August 1969, we had two sons.

A daughter joined the family in 1971,

And another son in 1975.

Our fourth son was stillborn in 1978.

Our family was completed with two more sons who were added in 1980 and 1983. This photo is from 1984.

The children were growing up fast. This family photo was in 1987.

Thinking our family was complete was a mistake. It grew again in 1991 when our daughter married and gave us a son-in-law. This family photo was taken in 1992 for our 25th wedding anniversary.

We lost Steve in January 1993 as the result of an accident. This picture was taken in November 1992 on his eighteenth birthday.

The family continued to grow as we added more in-laws and grandchildren. These photo were taken in 1999 and 2004.

We celebrated our fortieth anniversary in 2007. For some unknown reason we did not take a family picture and only had one taken of ourselves.

 

The next family picture was taken in 2010 with a third daughter-in-law added.

We celebrated our 50th anniversary in 2017. 

A fourth daughter-in-law was in the picture as well as the wife of a grandson. 

In the last four years we have added one more grandchild, another grandson has married, and we have three great-grandchildren. It's time to take another family picture next year!

These photos only show the growth of our family. What shall I say more? The time would fail me to tell of the weekends at the cabin, trips, picnics, reunions, birthdays, picking peas, husking corn, cars, graduations, weddings . . . the list is endless. There have been some bumps in the road but it's been a good life. We are blessed and grateful!