Day 13 – Minneapolis/St Paul - October 17, 2018
Last night we met my only 1st cousin Mike Winship and his wife Donna. We also met his oldest son Jeff and his wife Judy. It was fun filling in the holes in the stories I had about Crosslake and my house at 531 Penn Ave. I lived there for my first six years. I had no idea that Bill, Mike’s dad actually owned the house where my Grandparents Ed and Rose lived along with Rose’s mom, Minnie Silox, and my mom. My mom and dad also lived there when they were first married. No wonder there are so many photos of family standing out in front of the door reading 531.
One of my memories about Mike is this: he had built a tree house at Crosslake and Joan, his sister, and I would have to beg and beg to go up into the tree house. He told us to climb up a rope he dropped down to us. I have never been an athlete so he knew that wasn’t going to work. After much begging he would drop down a latter to us. I thought he was just a mean cousin. So last night I asked him why, he wouldn’t let us in. Everyone laughed as they had never heard that story before. Mike’s answer was perfect in today’s world, “I don’t know, I guess because I was nine.” I didn’t realize that it had electricity and running water. Quite the tree house!
Jeff gave me a box, which I have to return to him, filled with letters from my Grandma Rose and tons of research done on Jeff’s part following the Winship ancestry line. It also had newspaper clipping that my Grandma saved and tons of photos. What a gift!
Today I meet my 2nd cousin Mike Carpenter. He follows my Dad side. Wilma Tew is my grandmother on my Dad’s side and his great aunt. Looking forward to more family history.
“Life is uncharted territory, it reveals its story one moment at a time.” – Leo Buscaglia
More to Follow
Tom and Holly