Family Ties***LOAD CHALLENGE***

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Family TiesLOAD CHALLENGE

I never really met my Aunt Florence. She was my mom’s aunt and Grandma Pettibone’s sister. Aunt Florence was born Florence Mabelle Rackham in 1880. She was born in Illinois. She married Richard Lewis in 1921—and together they had 6 children. She was very close to her sister, and her sister’s children. I remember my mom telling about her cousin Cora (Aunt Florence’s daughter) and Cora’s daughter Coralyn was the flower girl at my mom’s wedding.Even though we didn’t live close to each other, my mom and aunt Florence kept up the family ties with frequent letters to each other. Aunt Florence knew that our family was pretty poor so every once in awhile, she would send my mom “care packages” of her clothes when she bought replacements. My mother, who was a wonderful seamstress, would take the clothes apart and use the material to make things for my sister and I. I particularly remember a wine-colored taffeta dress we received in one of the packages. My mom took that “old lady” dress and fashioned it into a dancing dress for me that was fit for a princess. I’m wearing that dress in the dance photo here. I’m the one on the closest end. I felt as pretty as any of the rich girls in my dancing class. And it was all due to my Aunt Florence who kept the family ties tight, and my dear mother, who used her God given talents to take care of her girls. I still have this dress, by the way. It’s a reminder of God’s wonderful provisions. Although we didn’t have much money, we had family that cared for us, and people with God given skills that used those skills to care for their family. My aunt died in 1961. She was walking and she was hit by a hit and run driver in Seattle Washington. She wouldn’t allow a blood transfusion because of her religion, so the doctor’s couldn’t help her. I’m sure one day I’ll get that chance to meet her when the family circle reassembles in heaven.