Winter Snow Storm

Sometime in early 1978, we had a winter snow storm and it was very cold. When we got up that day, the trees were all covered with snow and ice. It was quite a special scene, so I had to go out and get some pictures. I took one shot of our kids in the middle of the snow in front of our house and then took some other pictures up and down Maple Street. As you can see, the trees were all covered and the whole picture was very different from our usual scene. What were in the kids’ bags? I could not imagine what were they carrying in a big storm like this?

Rosanna Chen

When my sister, Kai, was a graduate student at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, she had a roommate, Rosanna Chen, who was a Medical Technology undergraduate. Both Janice and I met her and were impressed with her. We thought that Kai was lucky to have a roommate like Rosanna. In 1977, Rosanna and Kai came to visit us during the Christmas break. We went to visit the land we had acquired in Fall Branch,TN. We took some pictures there. Look how young Rosanna and Kai were in the picture!

Christmas 1977

We usually take a Christmas picture on the 25th of December. Whoever stayed with us on Christmas eve, December 24th, would have their picture taken with us. Apparently we did not have any guests staying with us that evening in 1977. Therefore, we only had our small family together in the picture. This was a very unusual case, as we generally had a lot of people staying with us on Christmas eve. Although we might have had quite a number before and/or after the 25th, we did not have anyone outside the family that Christmas. So you only see us four below. And that year, our tree was very special as it was cut from a huge pine tree on our land in Fall Branch, which we had purchased the previous year. We used only the tip of the tree and it was not very full - only a few branches and tree needles. That is why I remember it!

The Young Fernald Family

In 1977, about Thanksgiving time, if I remember correctly, Greg and Judy Fernald and their two children had just relocated to the Houston area and they flew from there to visit us in Johnson City. We went to pick them up at the airport and our kids had a great time with their two young girls. The girls, however, had a great time with our dog Princess. Both girls played with Princess and spent quite a bit time with her. They both loved animals. In fact, Erin later became a vet and both she and Shelley have dogs in  their lives now. You can certainly tell this from the pictures below.

Fall Color

One of the most characteristic traits of East Tennessee is the beautiful fall color in the month of October. Whenever we had a conference which included visitors from out-of-state in the fall, one consideration of the date was always the time of the color change season. We certainly did not want to miss seeing the color ourselves when we were in town, as nature usually put on a fabulous display!  With our children growing-up in this beautiful place, we always took advantage of the opportunities to record this color along with their presence. While we sensed that they were growing up quickly, at the same time we appreciated that we lived in such a vibrant and beautiful place in the world.

Ready to be Cheer Leaders

From a very young age, Margaret was always interested in the chance to be one of the school cheer leaders when she got to junior high. This was an opportunity not to be missed. Therefore, Margaret, even in third grade, organized a practice party for all her friends who wanted the opportunity to practice together. We used our front room for this purpose. We not only watched them practicing, but also took some pictures to remember the occasion. It was  serious business! Take a look and see if you agree!

Our Tree House

By this time, Bill and Ginger Francis had visited us in Johnson City quite a number of times. They still drove from Ohio, which was quite a distance. Not too long after this time, they retired and moved to a place in Virginia, at Harrisonburg, which was much closer. They continued to visit us from VA until they could no longer manage the driving. The exact timing I can no longer remember, but the general sequence quoted here is correct. In 1977, they came to see us and our children were very happy to show them the tree house we had built in our maple tree in the center of our back yard. It was a house where Steven and I even slept one night and we were very proud to have a place like that. Of course, we also went to the new place we had purchased at Fall Branch in Washington County - just to show them.

Oconaluftee Indian Village

In October of 1977, I was invited to give a seminar at Western Carolina University in the Chemistry Department. Since it was on a weekend, our whole family decided to go together. We stayed at the home of a colleague, and on Saturday we went to visit the Oconaluftee Indian Village and Museum at Cherokee, NC. We saw how Indians lived in the area many years ago. There was a demonstration of how canoes were made by burning out the center, several restored buildings, and many other exhibits to explore. Our kids were very happy and had a great time walking along the village river which had a lot of trout!

The Young meet the Old

At the end of our summer vacation on the Cape in 1977, we went to see Sister Anthony at her retirement convent near Boston. I believe this time was the last time we saw her and she was almost 100 years old. With us were Shari’s kids, Doug and Laura. Sister Anthony was still quite energetic and tried to talk with all the kids, asking them questions. It was quite amazing to me that she was still interested in meeting and chatting with the very young of the family. Of course, there were no common interests between them. In fact, there was really no subject I could think about on which they could converse! Is life always this way?  We took a picture together but, as we did not have an automatic  timer, Janice and I had to take turns getting the picture. The last picture was taken in front of Janice home. We have very few pictures taken there, especially with Janice’s parents.

Our Family Friends

Betty and Boris Franzus became our family friends soon after we moved to Johnson City. Not only did Boris and I work on a number of research projects together,  both Betty and Boris loved to watch movies which were of interest to our two children. Many times they would invite both Margaret and Steven to see a movie with them. For example, I remember that they took our kids to watch “Star Wars” and they all enjoyed it very much.

In the summer of 1977, for the first and only time, the Franzus’ came to visit us on the Cape. We were happy to show them around and to let them experience what our summer vacations were like. We visited all the places we knew in the area. This was one of the few times we were able to get some pictures to remember and celebrate our lifetime friendship!