Happy Canada Day

It's Canada's 151st Birthday long weekend!  I am visiting my paternal aunties in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia (Pacific Northwest). One aunt lives there, and the other is visiting her from Napa, California. They are both dynamos. My Napa aunt is 91 years old and has more energy than I do. The two of them just got back from Edmonton,  Alberta. They went to celebrate their brother's 90th birthday. Only trouble is my uncle is turning 89. They were off by a year 😂 So funny. My cousins were having a party for him, so they just assumed it was for his 90th without doing the math. I love that the three are so close. Besides having a wonderful visit, it has been a fantastic genealogy weekend! We dug out some old photos that we're just starting to go through. Here are some of my favourites so far. (You can click the photo to enlarge if you'd like)…

This is my paternal grandfather Bev Park (their dad). On the back of the photo it says "Seaforth Academy Highlanders 1914". He would have been 14 -15 years old. It also says in the army for World War 1, but he must have been to young to be an actual soldier.  I never knew my grandfather. He died when my father was 20 years old, so it's great to have some visuals for him. I see a lot of my brother and my own sons.

The next one I like because it's the only picture I have seen of my paternal great grandmother with the funny name. Albertina Amanda Thompson Park. My aunts' memory of her is that she always had a big hat, and true to form, she's wearing one in this photo. She is 2nd from the left in the front row. To the right of her are my other great grandparents, Delaski Marr & Eunice Willard Little, my paternal grandmother's parents. My two aunts are to their right, and the back row from left to right are grandfather Archibald Beverly Park II (same guy as above), grandmother Jean Treleaven Marr, my father Archibald Beverly Park III in the Navy uniform, great grandmother sister's Alice Augusta Little, and my uncle (who's not 90 yet). The fellow seated on the far left is Archibald Keller. His mother was Grandpa Bev's sister who died just after giving birth to him. He was raised by Albertina and Archie Park, my great grandparents. 

The last one I'll post is my grandmother & my dad's siblings. 91, 89 and 86 years old today. My father would be 93 if he were still with us. I bought my 2 aunts DNA kits (they're on sale this weekend in Canada). My uncle has already done the test, which is how I found my New Zealand cousins. We are going to continue looking through these boxes of photos, and I'll try to get them to remember every detail they can. My aunt on the right looks totally miserable in pretty much every picture we've looked at so far. We can't stop laughing about it! I treasure these days.💖

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