You can reach Sue at (314) 452-3685 or (314) 726-2032. You can write to her c/o Rose Holt, 905 Barnard College Lane, St. Louis, MO 63130


It's Rose and Sue here with a quick update. There is little to add since these are the dog days of summer, and not much is going on beyond the usual travel to Chicago. I spent the past weekend at Sabrina's, and had a really fine time. We shopped til we dropped on Sunday. On Saturday Sabrina hosted Norm's visiting relatives (his sister Emma, his niece and nephew Joyce and Charles) and various Abbott Clan to a dinner of brisket and goodies. It was a fine occasion. We had some tomatoes and cucumbers from Norm's garden.

Scott and Sherry and Chris and Shelly and various of their friends made their 15th annual float trip/wiffle ball game weekend on some Missouri river this past weekend. The wiffle ball game is the highlight and the reason for the gathering.

This coming weekend is Girls' Weekend at the Lake. There will be twelve of us. I plan on going with some of the bunch on Friday morning.

All this year, I've been slowly working to update the Lake House. Of course, with tons of help. The last pieces are coming together--painting (which Dave Smith has been doing on weekends with Maddog's help), new linens, bathroom accessories, etc. The final, final piece is a new waverunner which Doug delivered to the lake on Sunday. Scott and Chris and Doug at one time owned two such vehicles, but they outgrew them. This one is more for the next generation who are counting the days until they turn 14 and can ride alone. Naturally we girls, who hardly got to ride the old ones, will take it for a lake spin or two next weekend.

Shirley picked up her new Harry Potter book on Saturday, and we've hardly seen her since. As Mother would say, "She has had her nose stuck in that book." I have a new device for my own reading--a Apple ipod. Rose found this miracle contraption, and we have learned how to download some of my favorite authors.

I am seeing a new hand therapist--two visits now. She seems wonderful and has many innovative ideas that are of help, one of which is to have the car adapted so I can drive again. Turns out that after I saw her the first time, I did drive and found it quite do-able. In the past two weeks now Rose and Chris have found numerous occasions when they've needed me to get behind the wheel. I have trouble with the doors and the key on Rose's Lexus SUV. Other than that I can drive as well as I ever did [thanks to Pete who taught me how a very long time ago and probably thought I would never learn to shift and use the clutch.] It's like riding a bicycle. I hadn't driven for over a year, so this is a welcome development. We are looking into having the car rigged to solve the door and ignition issues. There are companies that specialize in modifying automobiles for handicapped, and we have found one here.

The plans for the 100th birthday party, aka Family Reunion, haven't progressed much. We lean toward the first weekend in June, the one after Labor Day. Our hosts, Chris and Shelly, and we need some feedback. I think there is sufficient enthusiasm to make the event happen and for it to be as good as the one we had in Springfield in 1997. Sandi's research in Salt Lake City in the Mormon archives has made us more than a little curious. And Brother Joe continues to glean information about the burial sites and histories of some ancestors. He and Harriet (a cousin on the Lafoe side) visited Welch cemetery to see the new tombstones, then went on to Northview where the two of them reminisced and shared the information they had. Harriet was one of the people who contributed to the tombstone fund. She also did a lot of research into geneology for the '97 reunion.

Joe has written to an old woman, age 96 now, who lived in Northview in 1921 to try to get her remembrances of the people and the place during that period. Rose and I can recall going with Mother to Northview to get groceries at the Willis' store. The store actually belonged to us, and a Willis ran it. [We hope we got these facts straight, but would welcome any elaboration/correction/clarification any of our Dear Readers might have.]

Come to think of it, considering that last week is already a blur in my mind, how we ever construct what happened in the eartly 1900's is beyond me.