Adams Family News Archive

2004 - Farewell, Gigi!  We will honor your request and "Keep it going."

2004 - Pictures of Darcy and Tess Blaylock!  Thanks, Bruce and Frazier

2003 - Erin's triplets at two years of age! Click here  for recent pix.

2003 - Pictures from Ruthie and Steve's house during New Year's week. 2003.  Donna's family, Don, Janet were all there.

2002 - Don't miss Don's pictures from an April 2002 trip to DC - Parkie, Frazier and daughters, and more

2001 - Franny's 93rd birthday 

December 1999 – January 2000 - Tons of pictures from the Millennium Cruise

June 19, 1998 - Reply from Lynne

The McDougals' are all finally out of school.  Tiffany will be a senior next year so we've started the "college search" - do you suppose our parents stressed about this as much?  I doubt it!  Anyway summer is filled with camp and the beach for the girls and Mike and I continue to work - we're all as happy as can be!  Have a primo summer!

June 10, 1998  - From Muriel Harrison

Dear Far Flung Family: 

I had hoped to dash off an update last month (six months since our report in November) ...but something happened to all those days!!  And here we are in a cold and damp June after a beautiful summery May!! 

Not a whole lot has changed in any big way...but our lives ARE progressing very much as I imagine all of yours are.  (Mrs. Sasser is frowning at my grammar - I can feel it!)  ANYWAY, We had a quiet Thanksgiving here in Oswego, wishing we could be in Maryland but knowing it was better to be here with our own kids.  And then, in December, EllenBeth and I closed out our SHOWCASE CRAFTS with a final big sale....lots of our customer friends from the past 9 years came in to see us and to talk about old times....and when Bob came in that evening with our Highway Sign, I really felt as if our life had an awfully BIG hole in it.  But Christmas plans and the true excitement of being able to get out by myself (with cane, of course) dashed those empty feelings rather quickly. 

We had a grand party ourselves in the week after Christmas, and managed to go to some others.  The weather was cold, and we had some of the usual depths of snow to contend with, but that's old hat after all these years.  I think January and February disappeared in the mist (I was, likely, still trying to sort out from a summer in bed AND Christmas confusion!)  But March...oh, boy...Friends of the Library organized a city-wide Membership campaign to help off-set a dramatic budget increase for new Books and Videos and Software and that's all we talked about everywhere we went!!  The results were rather nice:  $5500-plus in Memberships and donations!  Since then, we've had a series of Book Reviews and a Used Book Sale.  (All of this caused by a sell-out of the local Niagara Mohawk utility and the resulting 70% drop in City and School District incomes).  I see our "Mission" as keeping the library in the forefront of peoples' minds, so that when we have the inevitable referendum next year, we'll have as much positive response as possible. 

Last Thursday night we had the Used Book Sales at the Oswego Farmer's Market...sold $87.50 worth of books @  25 cents....passed out several dozen Membership cards...nearly froze to death in spite of thermal underwear...and had a grand time!  Even got a Newspaper photo. 

EllenBeth and Pete are about the same, but are planning a 10 day trip down to Nags Head at the end of the month, to spend some time with Pete's sister and family.   And Bill and Kate have bought a new boat (a Sea Ray, I think)....it sleeps four, but they haven't invited us for a weekend out on Lake Ontario YET!!  Of course, the weather is not suitable anyway (thank goodness!).  And the G'kids are doing their thing - working hard, and being their usual A-1 selves. 

Our gardens are doing super-great - our apple trees are loaded with apples, the lilies are popping up everywhere, the roses are thriving and the birds are happy all around us.  The Herb Garden and the College Field Station has had its share of attention, too., since we are on at least 3 Garden Club Tours this month.  And the new fence at the Ladies Home has been put in, looks lovely, and will be dedicated Sunday after next. 

Bob had cataract surgery last month - very successful!!  And we both feel good and seem to skip-by most of the current germs...Bob takes Tylenol; I drink enough chlorinated water during my 3X week swims!!  And we're trying the new ARTHR-X liniment for creaky knees - hope it works! 

So we are all doing okay in our corner of the world, and looking ahead to a pleasant summer (when it returns!)  News from Carol and Bill Holland indicate that they are doing well in their new place in Florida and likewise for brother Ed and Patricia in Texas.  I realize this has been a rambling sort of communication but that's just how I am.  It would be super terrific, from our viewpoint, if the rest of you would post a short message from time to time... 

Stay well - we care...Loving' hugs and 

Great big smiles...Mooty and Bob

November 9, 1997 - Mooty Harrison dictated this to husband Bob from her recovery bed.  Which just goes to prove that the rest of us have no excuse for not sending news! 

•  Greetings to all from the Harrisons in Oswego, NY.  And much appreciation to Donna for making all this possible! 
•  Our recent news: Mooty fractured her ankle in July and is on her third day with a quad-cane, expecting to be back on two good feet in a few more days.  Best of all she has vacated the "RECOVERY ROOM"... aka the dining room!  She is back upstairs in her own bed once more!!! Bob has been shopping, helping with P.T. and cooking (Yes!  We've both gained weight!) but indicates that he will be happy to "retire" for the second time!  Unfortunately he's missed a lot of golf days, BUT won a lot of cribbage games! 
• Our daughter, Ellen Beth, is pretty busy helping her husband, Pete, who suffered a stroke about two years ago and then a heart attack.  She also maintains the prettiest garden on Rathburn Road.   Pete is back at work, part-time, and has weekly P.T. sessions....so you can see their schedule is full. 
• Mooty and Ellen Beths's craft business, THE SHOWCASE, has coasted to an end after nine years. 
• Granddaughter Elizabeth is a college junior, majoring in Spanish and playing first clarinet in the College orchestra and band.  Grandson Will attended Coastal Carolina University last year, but has dropped out to work on a PGA card.  He left last week for his winter job at Ridge Lakes CC near Orlando.  We wish him good luck! 
• Our son Bill, and his wife Kate, work and play hard and enthusiastically.  Bill is a Senior Reactor Operator at the Fitzpatrick Power Plant here in Oswego.  He is in the Training Department but recently received a promotion and will rotate in various parts of the plant.  Kate is a Probation Officer for SS.  They enjoy sports and Adirondack camping, and keep busy at home with the cats, Harley and Buzz. 
• Fall season is a busy time, everywhere....we are looking forward to concerts, dinners and bridge games.  Mooty's efforts at the College Herb Garden, however,  were cancelled out over the summer, but there may be time for pruning before the snow flies.  The same holds true for the Home gardens!  She is also working on enhanced programs for Friends of The Library.  We have done book reviews for 35 years, but not much else.   If YOUR local Library has some ideas to share, please send them along! 
• We were cheered by a nice visit from Carol and Bill Holland in  September, and are waiting to hear where they've settled.    Cousin Ted reports that most of his clocks have been reset to EST without Bob's help!  And Brother Eddie and his family have recently moved...but we have no address as yet. 
• Recommended reading:  COLD MOUNTAIN, a beautiful book! 
• This brings us more or less up-to-date.  We will look forward to hearing about all of you.  Meanwhile, take care and LOVE to all.

November 3, 1997 - Sally Oldham starts us off with a nice newsy note.  Anyone else want to join?

• Our very sad family news, of course, is that Kitty's husband, Frank Borchert,   died September 11.   He was 61 and had been diagnosed with cancer about 9 months before.  Nearly all the immediate family attended a memorial service in Cleveland and a second service was held in mid-October by Case Western Reserve University where Frank served as Vice President for Budgets and Planning.  He'd been at the University for 32 years.  We miss him greatly. 
• For the Oldham family, Erin and Kristin have both moved this year.  Erin and her fiance, Steve DiGiovanni, are living in Portland, Maine where Steve has begun a three year residency in pediatric medicine at Maine Medical Center.  Erin is working part time at a research firm in Portland on child welfare research and has also returned to pick up her studies toward a PhD at UCLA which she is now doing long distance. Kristin and her fiance, John Freese, have moved from Austin, TX to McLean, VA to spend about six months living with us while exploring this area.  Kristin became a certified massage therapist this year in Texas as will practice this while she's here.  She's also planning to work over the next several months with a woman who produced social action videos.  Kristin is considering applying to graduate school in education for next fall. Erin's planning a July, 1998 wedding at our family house in Pennsylvania.  Kristin and John's plans are longer term and they expect to marry about 2 years from now. 
• Ted and I have settled in to a nice routine since returning from our six months sabbatical trip in October, 1996.  Ted's back at his architectural firm, Oldham & Partners, in DC but with two new younger partners in place now, he's delighted to share the responsiblities of managing the firm with very able people.  I am doing consulting work through Oldham Historic Properties, Inc. in the areas of historic preservation and scenic conservation as they impact transportation and regional planning. I'm working on a national conference on more environmentally sensitive highway design standards with the Maryland State Highway Administration and the Federal Highway Administration, working on heritage tourism plans and on historic rehabilitation projects. 
• Gigi [aka, Ruth Glennan], Kitty Borchert and I took a lovely trip to England in early October.  We went to the Lake District with its tranquil, contemplative scenery.  Kitty and Mother stayed there for two weeks.  For a week of that I traveled to Scotland to the Black Isle (a peninsula north of Inverness) to be part of an international planning team to assist people in that area with issues of concern (transportation, tourism, environmental protection and rural economic development).  It was a truly fascinating experience - dealing simutaneously in our discussions with planning systems from Canada, the US, England, Scotland and Wales (because we had team members from all those areas!) 
• We're looking forward to seeing family members at the Thanksgiving party.

Jake Tyler Patterson
Born to Blake and Debbie, 
September 2, 1997