It was a great celebration weekend, wasn't it? Babies and graduations; retirements and new musicians made for a grand gathering. Thanks to Linda and Jean for all the work they did to make the graduation celebration so special for Mallory, Ryan, Drew and Amy. Special thanks to Pat for hosting and endless stream of visitors with constant grace and aplomb (yes, aplomb-- a word that looks as though it might be insulting but is actually a compliment).



The weekend events brought to mind the endless timeline of family interactions around life events, food and fun. Angela was kind enough to loam me an old family movie from a vacation at Hickory Lodge which I've sent off to be transferred to DVD. We think it's from sometime in the 1940s so I'm hoping we can see how your ancestors spent their leisure time together.


In the meantime...see how history repeats itself....

Last week we had news from Peru and this week we are thinking about Scott and Drew in Australia!  Now that's probably NOT something that was an everyday kind of thing for your parents to consider.  

News from Peru!

I have to say I'm really surprised by how much I've gotten out of my participation in Facebook.  I joined primarily to keep in touch with my high school classmates but the family connections have also been enhanced by this level of sharing.  It's an amazing world we live in.

Patty Ruska sent me the following through Facebook today about your cousin Jim's mission work in Peru: 
I don't know if any of our ancestors ever worked in missions, but Uncle Jim is just returning from a mission trip to Peru. I thought this may make for an interesting blog post :) Here's what he had to tell Colleen:

Colleen Ruska July 11 at 1:15pm
Uncle jim sent me this message from Peru....Just wanted to share it with yall. :-)

Found a blindingly slow internet conection here at the "hotel", at this point the cold showers fel good... and we hae real beds and flush toils.. We arrived in Nueovo Papaplaya on Monday afternoon after an 8.5 hour boat ride down river from Yurimaguas ) google that!. Just arrived back to Yuirmaguas this afternoon. What an adventure.... I have lots to to share, the boat ride in was surreal - like a disney or universal studios ride... only it was no amusement park. OK, tell your mother and Aunties I´m at least on my way home we leave at midnight on Sunday... I spend most of Monday traveling expct to be in Bethlehem around 8 pm. I need to go put anti-itch cream all over my body now.... Gnite! still have no cellphone connection so I´ll be off-line till monday... bye

And I agree that it makes a great blog post.   Jim said Google Nueovo Papa Laya so I did.  Here's a link to click for some additional info.  Wow!  See you soon.  I wish I knew how to say that in Peruvian.

Another elusive Coffarelli has been found!  This is truly an example of serendipitous fortune.  As often happens, I was looking for someone else when this newspaper article kind of fell into my lap.

Elizabeth is the third daughter of John and Rose Coffarelli--your grandfather James' sister.  I wasn't certain what happened to her after her brother died in 1934--she was listed as a surviving sister at that time.   I believe she lived at home with her father after her mother Rose died.  Since her older sisters married and moved away, I picture that she acted as the female head of the house.  She held a variety of jobs including "Flower Maker" and factory operator.  

This obituary tells me she never married.  I do not know where "Christine" came from but I have an old note from your house (probably a funeral card) that listed her death date and name as C. Elizabeth.  I don't know if she was visiting her nephew (sister Louise's son) or if she lived there, but you will note she was buried in Catskill Jefferson Heights.  This obituary also tells me that her other sisters Louise, Margaret and Theresa (the nun) survived her along with her brother Joseph.  So I can continue to look for Margaret after 1947.  

Elizabeth died at a fairly young age, as did several of the other Coffarellis (her mother, her brothers James and Phillip; her sister Mary), but now she is found and properly noted in our family tree.  When such a discovery falls into my lap the way this did, I wear my sparkly Genealogy Gem pin so people ask me what the pin means.  Then I can tell the story, because not everyone reads this blog to keep up on such news!!!

We are looking forward to the big weekend!  See you all soon.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th!  I hope you are all enjoying the holiday weekend.  For the first time in several weeks, I feel like I have some actual downtime--the way it is supposed to be in the summer.  James took a trip to Nashville for a few days in preparation for his work as a tour guide for school groups.  Ryan's fallen into a pattern of some farm work in the mornings and Binghamton Mets stadium work in the evenings.  Amy is recovering from getting bonked with a set of elk antlers that fell out of a cupboard at the zoo.  How else would you spend a holiday weekend??

Pardon this country girl but I'm still trying to get the full picture of this Fire Island expedition.  When I was a kid, we just got in the car to go to the beach....who knew there were people in the world who got on a boat to get to the beach?!?!?  It should be a grand celebration of new babies Dylan and Miles; new graduates Amy Ryan and Drew; newly retired Bobbie and James....I've likely left someone or something out and I certainly don't mean to.  It will be great to see the Coffarelli cousins again!  It promises to be an historic family event.
This is what one of the recent reunions looked like:

1994

Be there or be square!!