The End of This Journey

It has been four years now since I started this blog and I believe that I have finally run out of family stories to post! 

I started this blog in April of 2020 when we were spending much of our time at home to avoid the spread of COVID, and now we are well into 2024.  I typically posted new stories about twice a month, and by now I find it incredible that there are 88 posts that are a part of this blog, Selected Stories of My Ancestors.

https://selectedstoriesofmyancestors.blogspot.com/

In the future, I won’t be publishing stories regularly; however I may occasionally post a new story if I am lucky enough to learn anything new that I think will add to this body of work about our family and ancestors. 

Writing this blog has been a lot of fun for me, and I feel privileged to have been able to share these stories with family and a few friends.  I have also loved and treasured your notes and emails that let me know that you were enjoying my posted stories.  Now that all of my family history stories, notes and ramblings are on the internet, I hope, they will remain available to anyone with an interest for years to come.  

I love you all, and thank you for sharing this journey with me!

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Notes:  I am thinking about assembling an Index for all of the blog posts.  After 4 years and so many postings, I can see that if you are looking for information on a specific individual or topic, that information could very well be scattered among a number of different blog posts that are definitely NOT in chronological order.  It will take some time, but maybe I can get an Index put together before yearend.

As always, feel free to contact me directly with any questions you may have.

- Jane Scribner McCrary

Handy Guides for Your Genealogy Research

I have found that it is often helpful to keep a file of generic information that I can easily refer to when needed. 

You could create a sheet if you are working on a family line that dates back to colonial times that details any name changes for the town or location where your early ancestor lived.  The spelling of the town name might have changed over time as the name was Anglicized, or at some point it possibly became a territory, and then later became part of a state.  For example at one time, Maine was part of Massachusetts.  By making a list of the location name and designation changes in the area that you are specifically working on, then when you are adding individuals and ancestors to your family tree program, you can quickly find the correct version of the location name for the appropriate time period to use.

Other handy reference pages might include tips that you find with regard to fashion trends, i.e. changing women’s dress styles, hat styles, dressing children, and men’s dress styles that might help you to date a photograph.  Another thing to note is the time frames for different types of photography.  Below is some helpful information from https://ancestralfindings.com :

Early photograph types, when they were used, and how to identify them. 

1. Daguerreotype (used from 1839-1860)

The earliest type of photography, this was first invented in Paris, and swiftly made its way to most areas of the western world. Daguerreotypes are easily recognized, thanks to some distinctive identifying features:

·        A mirror-like surface

·        Printed on a silver-coated copper plate

·        Always in some kind of case, usually with the actual photograph protected by a mat and a sheet of glass

Clothing and hairstyles of the people in daguerreotypes can be used to further narrow down the date range in which they were probably taken. Earlier daguerreotypes typically featured people in conservative, almost Puritan-like dress, while later ones often featured people in more flamboyant styles. 

2. Ambrotype (used from 1854-1865)

Ambrotypes were a slight improvement on the daguerreotype, which had a tendency to tarnish, due to its silver coating and copper plating. Ambrotypes fixed this issue by printing the photograph on a sheet of glass. Early ambrotypes have the photograph on the back of a piece of glass, with another piece of glass behind the photo. Later versions of the ambrotype had the photo printed on the front of the glass, with a black paper coating on the back to make the negative image appear positive. Ambrotypes are also always in a case of some kind, like the daguerreotype. 

3. Tintype (used from 1856-1878)

The tintype is a photographic image printed on an iron plate. Early versions were packaged in glass-topped cases like daguerreotypes and ambrotypes. However, the cost of photography became much less expensive in the 1860s, and the case often cost more than the photo. So, later tintypes appear either in paper sleeves or simply as loose (though rather hard, due to the iron) photos, like you would put in an album. In fact, these were the first album-suitable types of photographs. 

4. Carte de Visite (used from 1859-1889)

The carte de visite was the first type of photography to use a negative from which to make copies (in this case, a glass negative). While other, earlier photograph types were one of a kind photos, the carte de visite allowed people to buy copies of the photos to share with family and friends. Carte de visite photos are identified by being printed on thin paper that is glued to heavy card stock. The photographs themselves have the classic antique sepia tone to them. 

5. Cabinet Card (used from 1866-1903)

This was an improvement on the carte de visite. It was made the same way, but was larger than the carte de visite. It also used new photographic advancements, so the image quality was clearer and the colors brighter. In addition to sepia, silver and black colors were also common in the cabinet card photos. They also often had beveled or scalloped edges. 

After the era of the cabinet card, personal cameras entered the market, making expensive photography studios unnecessary except for formal family portraits. It was now possible to buy a camera inexpensively, and take one’s own photos at home. Many people developed their own photos, though photo developing businesses arose to meet the demand for this service.

After 1903, you start to see more modern looking photographs, because people were taking their own photos. Identifying the era of these photos becomes a matter of identifying the era of the clothing and hairstyles of the people in them. Use these tips in identifying the era of old photographs, and you are one step closer to identifying your ancestors in them. 

[Note:  This information was not written by me, but was directly taken from the website https://ancestralfindings.com/identifying-the-era-of-a-photo-by-its-type/  where there is also other photography information that might prove helpful to you.]

 

I also keep this handy sheet titled a Vital Records Chart that was produced by Family Tree Magazine.  I don’t have a clue when it was produced, but it has been a handy resource in my general file for many years now.

Another page from my file that has come in handy is one titled Gravestone Symbols, and I can’t remember at all where I picked that one up.  You can also find helpful information on gravestones and their symbols at the link https://www.familytreemagazine.com/cemeteries/hidden-meanings-gravestone-symbols/

 

Keep handy any resources or simple information sheets that will make you’re own work easier if you are able to quickly lay your hands it, and create your own general or working file.

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 – Jane Scribner McCrary

My Genealogy Best Practices

I have been working on my family genealogy on and off for over 45 years and loved every minute of it!  As a result, I have even garnered the reputation as a go-to person in my family when anyone has family history questions.  And this blog, Selected Stories of My Ancestors, was built around my desire to share some of what I have learned with both family and friends.

I feel that I have run to the end of the family stories that I have discovered with my genealogy research over the years, so I am nearing the end of posting regularly to this blog.  I plan to conclude with a couple of general genealogy posts and then end my regular blog posting sometime next month.

About ten years ago, in response to frequent questions about how I stay organized and keep track of all of the bits & pieces of our family history, I wrote My Genealogy Best Practices.  With some updating and editing, I will now share it with you.

1)  The internet and the computer have radically changed genealogy research for the better during my lifetime and have made it sooooo much easier to do research by giving us alternatives to having to travel long distances for many things.  However, all genealogists need to remember that there is “good stuff” on the internet and “garbage” on the internet, and it should be a priority to question and doubt everything that is found and verify it with documentation.

The internet has really simplified our ability to find birth certificates, death certificates, obituaries, wills, probate papers, newspaper stories, passenger lists, censuses, family letters, bible records, diaries, gravesites, and the list goes on.  Also, understand that even original documents can give you differing facts, but at least then you know the “possibilities”.  For example, I have an emigrant ancestor, Thomas Patrick King, and original documentation not only shows different versions of his name, differing records (include his children’s death certificates, various censuses and even his own Civil War military records) also show different places for his birth to include Ireland, Australia, and the West Indies depending on which record you look at – we will probably never know which is right, but that’s OK, and the options provide hints for further research.

2)  Organize yourself!  Whether you want to use paper files and folders in a filing cabinet, three-ring binders, directories and folders on your computer or genealogy software – get organized so that you can find things when you need them, and look cohesively at family groups when working on your files.

I use: 1) paper in folders in a filing cabinet,  AND 2) directories and folders on my computer,  AND 3) a computer software program on my home computer.  I organize both my paper file folders and my computer file folders first by family name, i.e. Smith, Jones, Hughes, etc. and then next by the names of my direct ancestor couples, i.e. Thomas King b.1835 & Margaret Smith b.1838, etc.  Keep copies of all original documentation either in your paper file or computer digital file.  And definitely keep a current backup copy of those computer files!

3)  Use a chart, a genealogy form, or a computer program to organize the basic information about your families. A visual representation makes things much easier for me.  In the late 1970’s, I originally used a free DOS Personal Ancestral File (PAF) from the LDS Church, however now I use Family Tree Maker (FTM) software on my computer.  And there are plenty of other computer software programs to choose from today.   It doesn’t matter what system or software that you use, but use something to help you stay organized so that you can quickly see what you have AND what you don’t have. 

Ancestry.com or a similar online tree should never be the only system that you use – it doesn’t belong to you.  To maintain access, you would have to subscribe to the provider (i.e. Ancestry, or others, etc.) FOREVER, and you can’t pass it down to your children!!!  Don’t get me wrong, online trees are a wonderful research TOOL.  Ancestry is a great tool and you should definitely use it and build your basic family tree online.  You will need to decide if you want your tree to be “private” or “public”.    I prefer “private” but there are valid reasons for both – and it is worth thinking about.  If you want to discuss those reasons with me, please feel free to contact me. 

Do NOT merge another tree into your own online tree.  When you find another Ancestry tree that seems to have branches of your family, and IF it seems correct AND well documented then use it to explore further – but DON’T merge it into your tree.  You would be adding all of the inaccuracies in that tree to your tree, and will end up with a lot of people that are not very directly related to you as well.  It can totally mess up your own tree that you have worked so hard to build!  Simply use the new information found to further your own research, and then you can manually add new relevant individuals, details, documents and sources to your own tree program.  If an Ancestry tree is “private”, you can still email the tree owner and ask questions or exchange information.

4)  Record the “source” for every document that you keep.  It might be as simple as putting a statement on the bottom of a letter that says “written by Ellen O’Conner Smith in 1971” or as formal as a bibliography citation for a book source, but put as much detail as possible into it.  If possible, don’t simply cite a web address as your source because over time that web address could easily change or disappear.  If you get a document image online from Ancestry or Family Search, use the full “Original Source” information that they provide in their detail – simply copy & paste it to your notes if you like, and then you can add the webpage address to allow you to easily return to that website in the future, as well.

5)  Use ALL of the resources that are available to you.  Call, write or email parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles and cousins – they all probably have different pieces to the puzzle. Also find out the people in your family that also have an interest in your family history – you can become a team.  You might be surprised with the family stories and photos that will come your way.  Learn to use both Ancestry and Family Search, both are great online resources. 

Search newspapers online or in libraries.  And learn how to order or find copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, and order or download files from the National Archives.  

Don’t be shy about writing, emailing or calling others for assistance.  I have called cemetery offices and out of state librarians looking for records and help, and also contacted local historical societies and town clerks.  Often they are more than willing to either assist you or refer you to other resources.  A few will ask for a small copy or research fee or donation, but I always felt it was well worth it to get the assistance.  

Call or write letters to cemeteries and see who else might be in the old family plots; or contact churches whose old records aren’t online – they typically won’t “research” anything for you, but if you have specific dates, they will often look something up.  I had one sweet church receptionist in New York that looked up an old 1853 marriage in a parish record book.  She said that the register book was too fragile to fully open and put on the copier machine, but she was more than happy to take a photo of the page with her phone and text it to me!  

Check, check and double check!  You should always base your conclusions on ALL sources available to you.  Census records often contain errors.  And surprisingly, death certificates have often been found to have errors when listing the date or place of birth and/or the parents of the deceased because that information is always provided by a third party after the death.  In the case of the death of an elderly person, the individual providing the information for the death certificate is often a couple of generations younger than the deceased.  And during the time of grief and anxiety surrounding a sudden death, providing answers to those questions can easily result in errors.

Last, but not least, learn to use your local library, and also their ability to access even more materials for you through the interlibrary loan system.  Our library in Midland has an excellent genealogical department that I believe is one of the finest in the state.  I don’t have any ancestors from Texas, but this library has helped me find resources on my family from all over the United States. 

6)  Practice genealogical courtesy.  Don’t assume that if someone in your family or even a fellow genealogist gives you a copy of a document or photo that you should put it online for everyone to see and copy without asking first.  It could be copyrighted; it could be a very personal family memory; or it might have taken years of research and/or expense to find and your source just may not want all their hard work passed out to everyone in mass.  By respecting the wishes of the person giving you documents or photos, you can hope that they will let you know in the future when they find something else that may be of interest to you.

7)  Enjoy your quest!  You will learn fascinating family stories and vignettes that will amaze you, make you laugh, and make you cry.  There are plenty of wonderful family stories around – and some of them are yours.  You’ll also connect with interesting people along the way that you might never have otherwise met.  Genealogy is a hobby that can hold your interest and last a lifetime – and it is addictive!

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Notes:

I remind you that ancestry research is ever changing as new documents may become available in the future that could add to your knowledge and break down your brick walls.  Also, be prepared for new information that could disprove things that you thought were correct – be flexible when that happens.

And as a final comment, it is quite possible that something I have written in any of my blog posts will prove to be incorrect.  In that case, I apologize and remind you that my work is only as good as the material that I found available at the time.

 – Jane Scribner McCrary

Random Stories from My Youth – my folks

I promise this is the last of my blog posts about my memories.  Thank you for bearing with me as I reminisce about my younger years.

Not a tall family.  My Mom was very tiny at less than a hundred pounds and she stretched it to say she was 5’ tall.  I always envied her petite size.  My Dad wasn’t very tall either, about 5’ 8”, and as a young man he was slightly built.  He tells that he was almost dropped from flight school because they told him that his weight wasn’t enough to deploy a parachute, a critical requirement if he ever had to eject from a plane.  He said that he ate lots of bananas, ice cream and everything he could get his hands on and when he re-weighed he was accepted.  But it always remained in his mind that if he ever had to eject from the plane, the parachute might not work for him.  In the end, he never did parachute out of a plane, but he did land several planes that he probably should have ejected from.  He related one incident in his memoirs when he took the plane in, saying he wasn’t able to eject:

“Before breakfast on Feb. 21, 1952, Maj. Carl Schmidt, our engineering officer, asked me to test fly one of the planes that had just come out of repair. I was only airborne about 10 minutes when I noticed fire by my feet.  I tried to call the tower and then realized that the fire had melted all my electronics including my airspeed indicator and radio.  I maneuvered close to the field to eject and found out the fire had also melted the lines to the canopy ejection system.  Unable to eject, my only choice was to put the aircraft down on a 3600-foot runway or the beach.  I elected the runway because I knew I needed someone to get me out of the aircraft. I could not lower my flaps, speed brakes or landing gear.  Not having any airspeed indicator I did not want to stall out and spin in so I held a lot of speed, people who saw it guessed 200 knots, and jammed it down on the very start of the runway and started shedding parts; tip tanks, wings and tail.  I used the whole runway and then some and came to rest about 200 feet off of the end of the runway. I started to take my 38 cal. Smith & Wesson, that we carried all the time, and try and shoot a hole to escape through in the canopy when an ordnance man, Cpl DeAngelo, saw my predicament and picked up a big rock and busted the canopy and hauled me out just in time, because after we had moved about 50 feet from the fuselage the ejection seat blew.  About that time the Chaplin came over to the crash site to give the pilot ‘Last Rites’ as he knew I could not of survived that crash.  I ended up with just a cut on my chin that took the Flight Surgeon three stitches to fix.”

Dad also told us that the medic told him that he was consequently entitled to a Purple Heart for his injury.  And Dad immediately said that he definitely did not want anything to do with that – as he was worried that Mom would get the communication and needlessly panic all over a cut to his chin!

My crazy Dad.  For some reason people either absolutely loved my Dad for his kind and generous heart; or they wanted to keep their distance from that crazy Marine!  I’ll share a few examples…

Surveyors in our pasture.  The pasture area of our ranch took up about half of the top of the mesa.  The other half of the mesa belonged to the Creel family, and old Mr Creel was our school bus driver.  At some point the Creel property was purchased by a developer.  One day Dad saw a pickup in our field next to the old Creel property and there were a couple of fellows hammering stakes into our field.  Dad rode up on his horse and asked what was going on.  He was told that they were subdividing the old Creel property for the new owner, that the fence was in the wrong place, and that some of our pasture belonged to the new owner.  Dad pulled up the stakes and told them to leave. 

The next day they were back putting stakes in our field.  Dad once again rode over and told them to leave and that the fence had been there as an accepted boundary for over 40 years.  They were more assertive this time and continued to drive stakes into the pasture.  So Dad told them that he was going over to the house to get a gun, and that he would be back and shoot out their truck tires so that when he called the sheriff their truck would be proof that they were trespassing on our property.  He did ride over to the house and get the gun, but the surveyors also quickly left the field.  They were staying in a trailer nearby on the Creel property, so Dad rode up to the trailer and knocked, but no one answered the door.  Someone looked out the window and Dad heard them say “It’s that Marine from the next ranch and he has a gun.”  Dad left, went back to the pasture, and pulled up the rest of the stakes throwing them over the fence.  They never came back.

 

A pig farm.  Years later a developer proposed putting up a multi-story building right next to our property line that would have obstructed the view of Sierra Blanca Mountain from my folks’ home. Dad protested saying that the property agreement between him and the developer prohibited just that, though I don’t know if that was true or not.  Dad then told the developer that he would put up a large sign that said “SCRIBNER PIG FARM” and get a few sows to corral along that fence boundary.  After that, no more was ever said about the project.

 

Private property.  One year during deer season, Jeff, my brother was out with Dad hunting down along Eagle Creek when they came around a bend and there was a hunter sitting there with his rifle propped up on a tree nearby.  Jeff tells that Dad asked the hunter if he knew where he was, and the response from the hunter was that he had permission to hunt there.  At that point, Dad informed the hunter that he was the owner of the property and that he was trespassing and should leave.  The hunter got sassy and told Dad that there was plenty of land and he wasn’t leaving.  According to Jeff, Dad’s response was to quietly pull up his rifle and blow the stock off of the other guy’s rifle that was leaning on the tree about two feet away from where he sat.  Dad said, “I guess that you are done hunting now.  You’d best leave.”  The hunter was shaken but he picked up the pieces that remained of his gun and quickly left.

 

A Red Cross volunteer.  My Dad served as the local Red Cross volunteer for Lincoln County in a capacity to facilitate getting military personnel home for family emergencies, usually the death of a family member.  During the time of the Vietnam War, I remember he would sometimes get a late call and go into his office where many phone calls later he would have arranged for emergency leave and a trip home for a soldier who was on deployment.  I think he did that job for twenty or thirty years. 

In 1978, my Air Force pilot husband, Marc, was in a serious airplane crash while on a military exercise in California, and I called home to let my parents know.  I told them that I was soon scheduled to be escorted by a fellow officer on a commercial flight from Arkansas (where we lived) to California; that Marc had a serious brain injury, was in surgery, and I would let them know when I found out more.  Unknown to me, Dad pulled out all of his contacts, verified how critical Marc’s condition was, and he found a way to beat me to California where he unexpectedly met my plane when I arrived. 

 

A ranch home.  By Christmas of 1963, we moved into our 5-bedroom home that Mom and Dad had been building on top of the mesa at our ranch in Alto.  Our new home had 3 fireplaces – and I still love a fire in the fireplace on cool winter evenings. Two of the fireplaces were made of rocks that Mom had picked up on the property.  She loved the stones that had a bit of green moss growing on them, and I remember her working with the stone mason to place those rocks the just way she wanted them. 

Our home also sported lots of wood paneling, Saltillo tile, green shag carpet (there was a rake attachment on the vacuum to use when vacuuming it), and avocado green appliances in the kitchen along with Mexican tile on the countertops.  The ranch house was a lovely home, and our family lived there until most of us had grown or left for college. 

A new home.  Once the family had begun to downsize, Mom and Dad decided that it was time for a simpler retired life.  They decided to sell most of the ranch property, and retain 10 acres on the opposite side of the mesa to build a new, smaller home where they lived together for the remainder of their lives. 

Both Mom and Dad died in January of 2006, following a lifetime of much love and adventure as true partners in life.

I was very fortunate to have so many wonderful times together with my parents and family whether at home or traveling.  And it has been a delight for me to write this last group of blog posts and relive those memories.

Once again, thank you for your patience during all of my musings as I shared my memories in these blog posts.  While I know that my siblings have enjoyed the reminiscing, it might not have been be as welcome to other readers.

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Key Individuals:

     Robert Gordon Scribner  (1923 – 2006)

     Ann Hart Hughes Scribner  (1921 – 2006)

               Jane Hughes Scribner Simonitsch McCrary (1953 – and more)

               and my four siblings:  Bob, Jeff, David and Mary Ann                       

- Jane Scribner McCrary

Random Stories from My Youth – travels

As a young family, our vacations were usually made in the family car which was a station wagon for many years.  Though I also remember a camper that we used one summer on a trip through New Mexico and Arizona.  It was only as we got older that money was spent on airfares.

Trips with Mom.  I always found it fun to do things with my Mom.  And I think that it gave both her and me a reprieve from the chaos of so much activity in our large family.  The first trips that I remember were at a time when Granny (Mom’s mother) was in the hospital in Roswell one summer.  She had several surgeries and Mom & Dad were there along with my Granddaddy for those, but towards the end of the summer Mom and I started driving to Roswell (2 hours each way) every Wednesday to spend time with Granny recovering in the hospital.  We had great talks on the drive and often ate or picked up sweet & sour pork at Chew Den our favorite restaurant in Roswell to bring home for dinner.

One memorable trip was east to Virginia and North Carolina.  Mom decided we would fly to visit some of her aunts, uncles and cousins that she hadn’t seen for quite some time.  In addition to seeing her relatives, she also saw the trip as an opportunity for me to meet some of my relatives that I had never met.  It was a time after my first husband, Marc, had died and I had the time to make the trip with her – so off we went.   It also became a trip that further sparked my early interest in our family genealogy.  I remember it fondly. 

One summer when I was a young adult, my mother and I decided to have a girls’ trip to New Orleans.  My younger sister, Mary Ann, was in college there and we could visit with her over a weekend.  We could also have a fun time in the French Quarter where we got a room at the Royal Sonesta hotel.  In addition to a visit with my sister, we had was tons of fun walking the streets and riding the cable car to see all the beautiful buildings and homes, eating good food, browsing the antiques on Royal Street, shopping some of the boutiques, eating beignets at Café Du Monde, and checking out the street artists at Jackson Square.

And more trips.  Not all of my trips were with Mom.  There were a few trips just with Dad, and several with both Mom & Dad.  Jeff, Bob and I flew with our parents to Long Island, New York for the funeral of our grandmother, Gram, in 1970 when I was in high school.  

After Marc’s death in the late 70’s, Dad also drove with me from New Mexico to Seattle when I thought that I wanted to settle there.  That didn’t work for me as I got too homesick, and Dad flew out and drove with me back home.  And at one time, I flew with my Dad in 1980 on a trip to New York to see his sister who was dealing with a fatal brain tumor.  After I settled in Texas, I also joined my parents on a couple of vacation trips to Zihuatanejo on the west coast of Mexico where they purchased a condo in the mid-1980’s. 

Family trips.  Over the years, we had occasional family trips back east to see grandparents.  I loved the trips to Virginia to see Granny and Granddaddy while they still lived there.  They lived in a 2-story house which I thought was wonderful.  And they had a huge garden, a big barn, and a dock on the river.  Catching crabs and putting them in water on the back porch for Granny to cook was fun.  I saw my first fireflies in Virginia, and remembered evenings with my cousins trying to catch them. 

Car trips through the southwest in a camper to see the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest and the Grand Canyon, and road trips to Gallup, Santa Fe and Taos were all memorable. Trips to Santa Fe were always a treat to see all of the art galleries and merchants on the town square, and eat wonderful food including blue corn tortillas at The Shed.

We went to Gallup, New Mexico one year for the Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial and saw lots of Indian dancing, and ate Indian flat bread.  And I remember that we also went to an Indian pueblo, Zuni I believe, at a time when they were having a ceremonial celebration that was amazing to see.  Dad had a friend, Tom, who invited us to his home in the pueblo for dinner before the ceremonies began.  Tom had a daughter that was my age and I remember that she was sweet and very shy.  We were the only non-Indians there that night. 

I remember one cold winter trip to New Mexico (while we were living in Arizona) where an unexpected snow storm held us up in Taos and we could only find one hotel room.  But it was an adventure as there was a fireplace in the corner of the room and we children slept curled up in blankets on the floor in front of the fire for a toasty night of sleep.  That night I fell in love with wood burning fireplaces.

Of course, our biggest trip was to Japan, Hong Kong and Hawaii that was the subject of my blog, Scribner Family in Japan, published on January 14, 2023. 

In our later years, it was decided that we would take a big family vacation before Bob graduated and left for college.  Mom & Dad gave us the choice of Disney World in Florida or Mexico – and we all voted.  Mexico won, and the whole family went to Yucatan visiting Merida, Chichen Itza, Cancun and Cozumel. 

We climbed the pyramids in Chichen Itza and the ruins there were amazing.  And we stayed in a hotel that seemed to be in the middle of a jungle with open walls, beautiful plants and flowers, colorful birds and wild iguanas – it all seemed so magical.  We took a boat trip from Cancun to Cozumel, spent hours on the beaches and all got sunburned.  Dad even sunburned the tops of his feet and couldn’t wear shoes or even his flip flops!  There were divers that went down and collected conchs and we ate them in a salad (raw with lime on them, I think), and had a fish cookout on the beach. 

One night Mom & Dad took Bob, Jeff and I into town to a disco dance place.  It was great fun, and we all danced with locals as well as each other.  We had so much fun that I think we even went back again on our last night. 

I’ve been back to Cancun as an adult, and it has changed so much from those early days when our family went in the late 1960’s.  And I’m sure that Cozumel today is much changed as well.

In addition to our family vacations, as a military family we actually moved every two years while Dad was in service, and that also added a lot of travel and experiences during our early years.

*  *  *  *  *

 

Key Individuals:

     Robert Gordon Scribner  (1923 – 2006)

     Ann Hart Hughes Scribner  (1921 – 2006)

               Jane Hughes Scribner Simonitsch McCrary (1953 – and more)

               and my four siblings:  Bob, Jeff, David and Mary Ann

 

- Jane Scribner McCrary