I'm the big sister here. This is our back yard on First Street in Scotia, NY. That's my sister Susan in the other white pinafore, Brother John (the prince!) has his hand on my beloved maple tree. Baby brother Richard is in the swing. Swinging here is one of my early chilhood memories. Richard is married to a Colombian woman and has lived in South America for many, many years. The diaper baby is my cousin, Barbara Lee Butler, oldest child of my mother's brother Merwin. He was in the service and fought on Okinawa. Barbara Lee's mother, Aunt Wilma, was one of my favorite people in the whole wide world because of her warmth and her laughter. The boy in the foreground is the oldest child of my mother's brother Karl, who was later an assistant Secretary of Agriculture under Ezra Taft Benson. For some reason this kid was known to us as Little Douggie Butler. His mother, my Aunt Molly, bred Welsh ponies He grew up to be an expert on farriery and wrote an excellent book on that topic. John's middle name is Douglas, too, after my Uncle Karl Douglas Butler, This name, Douglas, honors a Mr. Douglas after whom Douglas, Arizona was named. This town is also the birthplace of my mother, Olga, who grew up in Mesa, Arizona. She has her own set on my Flickr photostream which celebrates the centennial of her birth in 1907.
Oh, June, I just went thru all the photos concerning your mother on Flick. what a beautiful tribute. She was quite a free spirit from the photos I saw. If she was born in 1907 she was just five years younger than my mother. But I was the baby sister in my family and my mother died at age 52 in 1955 of a heart attack. Thanks for sharing this tribute on your blog and peace!
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