My Nephew Brian Skelton

Brian, really feel bad that in your 46 years we didn't get to really visit with you.  You born and raised in Vermont and here we were in Oregon and lots of other places as the military part of our life kept us on the move.  Did really enjoy our visit with you in 1977 when Aunt Judy, her kids, LaWanna, Doug and Becky came East and ended up spending a month + because Becky had an apendex that errupted!  Not fun but did extend our visit.  Thank goodness for cameras as that is what kept us connected, pictures sent back and forth to document your growth and achievments.  Will post a few of those pictures and perhaps a few words to explain them. Love you and know we will see you again when the time is right.

Brian James Skelton

b. 4 March 1964

Langley AirForce Bace Virginia, USA

d. 30 June 2010

Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA

OBIT

BRIAN SKELTON ST. ALBANS - Master Sergeant Brian J. Skelton, 46, died peacefully Wednesday, June 30, 2010, with his loving family at his bedside in the Brigham and Womans Hospital in Boston. He was born in Langley, Va. March 4, 1964, son of Garrie and Laurice (Turnbull) Skelton. He entered the U. S. Air Force Sept. 29, 1986, and distinguished himself in the performance of outstanding service spanning more than 24 years in the Vermont Air National Guard. As a key member of the Egress Shop, and eventually the Shop Supervisor, he accomplished more than 125 time changes on the ACES-II F-16 ejection seat system. As Shop Chief he served numerous deployments to include Operation Southern Watch, Operation Enduring Freedom, in Al Udeid, Qatar, Operation Iraqi Freedom at Balad, Iraq. He was distinguished to receive the Meritorious Service Medal, upon his retirement May 27, 2010. His outstanding warm personality was reflected in his love for his family, his service to his church, country, and fellowman. He was a member of the Fourth Degree Assembly of the Knights of Columbus, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a communicant of Holy Angels Church. He enjoyed hunting, boating and fishing. He was a St. Albans Little League coach and umpire. His loving family includes his wife of over 25 years, Christi (Knight) Skelton; daughter, Tiffany and her husband Adam Burnor; his son, Brenden Skelton; granddaughter, Peyton Burnor, all of St. Albans; his parents, Garrie and Laurice Skelton; brother, Timothy and his wife Jennifer Skelton, all of Pittsburg, Pa.; his mother and father-inlaw, Leonard and Patricia Knight of St. Albans; several nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated, by Father Maurice Roy and (Col.) Father Albert "Skip" Baltz, Chaplain of the Air National Guard, on Wednesday, July 7, 2010 at 2 p.m. (1400 HRS.), in Holy Angels Church, 247 Lake St. Friends may call at the Brady & Levesque Funeral Home, 86 South Main St., from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday. Interment will be, with full Military Honors, in the Skelton family lot in Holy Cross Cemetery. Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider Masses or the Pulmonary Fibrosis Division of the American Lung Association, 372 Hurricane Lane, Williston, VT 05495. Online condolences may be made by the funeral home website: www.bnlfh.com. Arrangements are entrusted to the Brady & Levesque Funeral Home and Commemorative Services.

I don't know just how old Brian is in this picture but isn't he a handsome little guy!

Brian age 13 about the age he was when we made our first trip to Vermont.

Brian a grown man with his father Garrie and brother Tim, taken in Vermont

Wife of Brian, was at their wedding. :)

Brian's family, wife Christi, daughter Tiffany and son Brenden

Brian's mom and dad, Garrie and Laurie Skelton

Brian's brother Tim and his family, wife Jennifer and daughters Emily and Devon.

Brian and Christi became grandparents, Peyton Lorraine was born.

Peyton with her father, son in law of Brian and Christi

What a joy this little Miss is to her parents, grandparents and great grandparents!

I really appreciate Brian sending me pictures and keeping me in the loop of his family.

Brian James Skelton the man, son, father and grandfather. 

 We are thankful to have had him in our lives even for this short time.

Trip to Portland

Saturday seen us head for Portland Oregon.  Sandra came over from LaGrande to go with us.  Our goal,  To get shoes for Arlo and to see Isaac and Paola! YES !  Oh yes we were excited to see Cynthia, Monique, Tyler and Dumenico; Melissa and Michael too. :)
We had a beautiful day for traveling, stopped at Biggs Junction for some additional breakfast, of course it was at McDonalds for a sausage mcmuffin. :)
Seen a gal from Boardman there, on her way to Greshem to watch her son participate in a track meet.  That was nice, goes to show you, you never know who you will meet up with or where. :)

Great Grandpa with Paola, she is sure growing.

Cynthia holding little Paola her granddaughter; Melissa holding her son Isaac.

We stopped at Melissa and Michaels earlier but didn't have my camera in the house so missed some good pictures of Isaac and his ability to get where he wants to go and he pulls up to anything and anything was his great grandpa and myself, he was one happy little boy.   Michael wasn't home he was helping a friend move that turned into about 14 hours of "doing".

Just another view or pose, aren't they wonderful, all four of them!

Monique, Tyler, Cynthia and little Lola went shopping on this morning at the Expo Center in Portland were it was one giant yard sale of women, children and especially baby clothes and things.  You are able to buy really nice clothes at greatly reduced prices and the way babies grow this is a very valuable program (sale). 

As you can see they did a good job of getting Little Lola clothes for the coming growth changes. :)  Monique and Cynthia took turns showing us all the clothes and Lola is going to be very well dressed. BUT of couse she goes to the office every day so really needs to look her best! :)

Needless to say, all concered were blumb wore out from all the shopping.  Paola (Lola) went to bed about 8:30 that evening and didn't wake up until about 6 Sunday morning.  They really wore her out then we didn't help by holding her and keeping her awake the rest of the afternoon. Sure was fun!

Sunday morning Sandra and I met Melissa, Michael and Isaac at church.

This is Sandra in front of a beautiful flowering bush, can't remember what they are called, but made a beautiful backdrop for a picture. :)

Arlo stayed home with Tyler and Paola while Cynthia and Monique had to be downtown for a continueing ED meeting that went from 8:30 until 5:30 that evening.

We had a good visit, left for home about 11 a.m..  The drive home was good, we seen the wild mountain goats again, seen them going down too, they are between Arlington and The Dalles aroung Blalock Canyon.  We look for them every time but don't always see them.  We stopped at Memmalose park for a potty break and the squirls are so brave they come right up to you wanting food.

Sandra decided to stay the night with us which was great for us.  Sandra and I played "train" dominoes and showed her a new card game called "Five Crowns" it is a rummy game played different then I ever played and another suit has been added, the Star Suit also there are no "2s" or "Aces" in the deck, it is fun, quick but you have to remember the wild cards change each hand being the wild card is the number of the amount of cards you have in your hands.  You start with three cards and work up to 13, it is easy to discard a "wild card" with out thinking about it. :)

Sandra went home this morning, had a west tail wind to help her. she said it was raining on her so the dust wasn't blowing to bad.  All in all we had a great weekend.  Oh another good thing is we found shoes to fit Arlo at a good shoe store near the Clackamas Mall.  YEA!!!!!!!!!

Until next time. :)

Spring is Here!

Spring is here and not a minute to soon. :)  really a very nice warm day with no wind to speak of.  Arlo is out moving dirt from a hill of dirt, he is putting it through a screen to take the rocks out of it then putting it behind the garage so he can plant grass seed there.

Between shoveling there is a need to rest.  In the back ground you can see the garage, motor home and south end of the house.

You can see a little pile of dirt in the cornor of the picture, the dirt will go behind the motor home and garage so he can extend the grass.  In the back of the property you can see the arbor for the grapes and also where he plants his garden.  The big truck we use for storage.

The fruit trees in the pictures did a bang up job last year, we canned many quarts of peaches and nectarines, not so sure of this year.

Lots of work but we like where we live as far as the weather and property are concerned.  We live close enough for the kids to come visit and not be a burden as fas as distance is concerned, we live in the middle. :)

A new Era for me :)

I am among the hearing again.  With the goodness of heart and the gift of hearing aids I can now hear the "s" sound again.  Really didn't know I was missing that sound until having a hearing exam Thursday.  That knowledge was brought to my attention by the audiolgist.  On one part of the exam she put a paper in front of her mouth and asked me to repeat what she said, ok I could do that, well I could do that for the most part but when it came to one word, I asked her to repeat the word, thought about it a bit then repeated what I thought she said even though I was doubtful of the word, but went ahead and said "poop".  Well thought her and Judy would split their sides laughing, the word was "soup" :)  oh well guess that will be hard to live down.
So if I made some mistakes when answering you just think about it wonder what other sounds I was missing.  No wonder when Arlo would ask me something and I answered and he would look at me and ask "and what does that have to do with anything ??"  Oh well now I should be able to get the answer right!
I am thankful to Frank for his generosity and goodness.  Left to myself I would not have sought out a hearing aid as figured I heard good enough.
I am now wondering how this will help me with singing or will I need to keep trying to sing with out hearing aids, guess next week will let me know.

Had a good week in Portland with Cynthia and family, especially with new great granddaughter Paola, little Lola, such a good baby.  Today is great grandson David's second birthday.  Happy Birthday David, love you. ggm
Also got to see great grandson Isaac, he even let me hold him this time.  Seen on Face Book where he has his first tooth now!  Love you all.  Until next time.  May Heavenly Father bless you and keep you safe.

Cynthia with granddaughter Paola dressed for the office :)

Melissa brought Isaac to the office to see me!

Yes his mom Melissa brought him. :)

David last Thanksgiving, know he has changed since then, but today is his 2nd birthday so wish him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Celabration of Life

Timothy James, Candance Kay Stephenson Leitz with James and Jennifer

Tim's many loves included Sim Racing, website building, computer programming, and spending time with his family.  He was a great mechanic (spelling, couldn't find it in the dictionary).

Timothy James Leitz, my nephew.  Memories of Tim are many but the one that sticks out the most with me is when Jack, Barbara and kids lived with us in Island City Oregon. (1962)  Barbara was expecting Sheri and Arlo and I had just got out of the Air Force and were living in Island City.  What a time we had, 6 kids and 4 adults and think there was just 2 bedrooms.  The floors were hardwood and dark.  Barbara and I soon had a system where right after dinner and the dishes were done, she would supervise the 5 kids in the tub while I would damp mop all the floors so the kids wouldn't get their feet dusty after their bath.   Arlo and Jack both worked and when not working they would take an old truck Arlo bought and go to the woods for fire wood.

Anyway back to Tim.  He was just 15 months old and when I was cooking he would be in the high chair and he would pound his tray saying "mama" "mama"  meaning he wanted to eat and right soon!  Then one day he was eating and I looked at him and he was sitting there looking at his tray and big tears were running down his cheeks, when asked what was the matter his reply was "more".  We never could figure out why the tears but he was a kid that like his food.  You would never know it to look at him though, he was always so slim and did get to be a good height. :)

Here are some pictures taken at his Celebration of Life held in Puyallup Washington, USA  March 20, 2010

Tim's mother Barbara, his Aunt Glenna and Aunt Judy

Tim's sister Sheri, her son's Jason (sitting beside her), her husband Cat behind Jason and her son Kris standing behind her.

Tim's dad Jack Leitz and Tim's wife Candi

They are looking at a book that has so many pages of emails from friends, family and from people all over the world that interacted with Tim on the Sim Racing circuit.  I think this is a game of virtual racing, I know it is racing on the computer but don't know just how it works.

Tim and Candi's son James sitting with his mother Candi and his cousin Greg

Tim and Candi's daughter Jennifer with her cousin Kayti, in the back ground behind Jennifer you can see Candi.

Sitting left to right: Tim's cousin Greg, his brother Dan, his cousin Cynthia, his sister Sheri with her daughter Kayti in front of her and his Aunt Judy beside Sheri.  The baby stroller in between Dan and Cynthia is Cynthia's granddaughter Paola.  His dad, Jack's head is in the picture too. :)

Tim's wife Candi with her mother.  See Cat in the background but don't know names to put on the others.  There were a lot of people in and out that I didn't know and didn't take pictures of.

Tim's cousin Cynthia, Aunt Judy, mother Barbara, cousin LaWanna and little cousin Paola (13 days old).

I caught Barbara as she was talking so not fair to put this on but I did. :)

Tim's Aunt Elaine Leitz holding Paola.

Tim's one time brother in law Mike sitting with LaWanna and his and Sheri's son Jason.

Sheri, Tim's sister, with his dad Jack in the back ground and Mike to the left of the picture.

Tim's son James with mother Candi

James and his wife had a baby girl on Thursday March 11th so Michelle and little Anna couldn't be there.  Will try to get pictures of them to put here.

Also didn't get a picture of Simon but will put one in that was taken a while back, he is 3 now.

Simon , Tim's grandson, son of Jennifer his daughter.

James and wife Michelle

Michelle with baby Anna Tim's granddaughter

Great Grandson Isaac

While in Portland we were blessed to visit with our great grandson Isaac, well we got to see him anyway. :)

Isaac Benjamin Dozark age 5 months

He has found he can turn over and can crawl after a fashion

but manages to get what ever he sees and want to get to!

You spend a lot of time directing him in the way you want him to go :)\

Love these little people, Isaac is at the stage you keep your distance and let him warm up to you. :)

It is a good thing I make time to go to Portland so can get acquainted with these little people.

New Great Granddaughter

YEA  a new Great Granddaughter, we made the trip to Portland to meet our new great granddaughter Paola Letica Raab!  What a little doll!  How blessed we are with our next generation.  Paola is spanish for Paula and that helps me know how to pronounce her name.  She will be called Lola or Lolalita meaning little Lola. :)

Mother Monique and Daughter Little Lola

Grandmother Cynthia and Little Lola

Great Grandma Glenna and Little Lola

Great Aunt Sandra with Little Lola

Now I know you are saying all women where are the men!  Well

The only men I got pictures of is Great Grandpa and Great Uncle Mark so they are next...

Great Grandpa Arlo with Little Lola

He looked like he didn't quite know what to do so good thing he was sitting down. :)  She was a little doll and slept through the whole thing. :)

Great Uncle Mark with Little Lola

Center of attention is Little Lola with her Grandmother Cynthia,

Great grandmother Glenna and Great Grandfather Arlo in attendance.

We are at the hospital visiting and getting acquainted.

I will be going to Portland on the 25th so hope to get pictures of the

parents and other grandparents, uncles and aunts to make a complete picture.

See you later!