My Husband Eugene and I
are retired educators. We enjoyed watching the birds, squirrels and rabbits in our yard. Sound exciting? On a weekend each February we noted all the birds in our yard and reported them to the Great Back Yard Bird Watch based at Cornell U. You can go to that site to find out the count in North America for each year. In 2000 we saw 24 different species of birds over the four day period. I am interested in birds since I taught chemistry and biology in high school.How did we meet, you ask? Eugene was substituting in the Biology classroom next to mine. We got acquainted and got married. Then we lived in Columbia, SC while he was in the Army. He next coached football, taught science and was a school principal for many years. I was a school counselor for a few years and worked for our community college after our children were grown. I was a testing specialist and supervised the Testing Center.
By the way, please sign my guest book at the bottom of the page so I can hear from you.
Update March 2008
---- Since I created this web page, we have moved to a retirement community only a few miles from our house. And we are enjoying living here.We are finding so many people we have known for many years living here too. I have not updated any of my web pages and hopefully will find time to add some recent photos, info about our family. Thank you for reading my web pages! MagnoliaB
Our Son and Wife
have built
a home nearby. He is employed by the state department of transportation. She is an assistant
VP in the corporate office of a bank.
In 2003 young Sam was born. In 2004 Sarah was born. What a joy to have two amazing grandchildren in our lives. Here is a Christmas photo.
Our Daughter Lives
in another city and is a
real estate agent and single mom. She and the girls come to visit us as often as they can. Diana lives in Italy and teaches English to business people and to students. Anne lives at home and enjoys reading, writing poetry and taking care of her cats and dogs.
My Husband Retired
at a young age and we
have enjoyed
traveling--we have traveled over Europe, three
times; over the US and Canada
many times. We traveled
like gypsies and did not like too strict schedules, we
like
to see what is over the next hill!! My husband
loved driving on the autobahns in Germany where there
was no speed limit. I enjoyed speaking German and
French with the people we met.
I am a tennis fan and enjoy watching the Australian, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. With the new players, the winners are not so predictable any more. I love to see the young ones coming along and making the game more interesting. I enjoy all kinds of needlework. I took some art classes last fall and am painting now and then. Photography is another hobby. I mostly record our trips and our growing family.
I find the internet fascinating and addicting and try to limit the time I spend online. I enjoyed hosting in chat rooms in Talk City www.talkcity.com and in Starchat. I found a great deal of satisfaction serving as a host...really a challenge!! I met such interesting folks! I stay in contact with my chat room friends in www.starchat.net chat rooms.
We are members of a Unitarian Universalist church where I served on the governing board for two terms. I also edited our district news letter for several years. I served on the staff three summers at the UUA Regional Leadership Training sessions at The Mountain. I was a Small Group Facilitator.
We have attended Elderhostels in Scottsdale, San Jose, Junaluska, where we studied personal growth topics and spirituality.
Family Tree
For many years I have researched my Family Tree and attempted to fill in gaps in our family history. I have used resources at the local library geneology room, the internet KindredKonnections, Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, etc. and info from many other sources. A really fascinating hobby! There is something intriguing about researching the lives of the folks who are biologically connected to me. Learning about their lives, how they lived, the history involved is really fascinating to me.
In 2000 and 2001 we made trips to Alabama and Georgia to gather information about Grandfather and his family. You can read about Alonzo Hall if you are interested. Here is information about his brother The Reverend James Madison Hall. Alonzo's father was James Madison Hall Sr and mother Mary Prosser. I have entered the pedigree on line so anyone interested will have the information available. Go to www.mytrees.com (also known as Kindred Konnections) file to000037. I have researched my husband's family and the info is available at the same web location file to000030.
Update 2003: My brother died in June of 2001 and I was executor of his estate. Settling his estate took several years. Thus family history research was put on hold for a year or two. I miss him very much.
Update 2005:
I have entered expanded family trees on line at
ancestry.com. On the home page click on "Family Trees" and enter Claude Baxter Suttle for my family tree. Enter Thomas Dennison Simpson for my husband's family tree.
Medical I had surgery in August of 1997 and can walk with canes and a prosthesis but mostly depend on a wheelchair. According to my doctors, I am doing fine.
I am still in excellent health and able to do all the things I enjoy. We seldom travel since wheel chair accessibility can be a problem many places.
Update 2006
We have moved to an Active Senior Adult Community in a nearby town. We like living here so far. It was difficult deciding to leave our home of 32 years but we both knew it would be a wise move to live where there would be less responsibility and more support for us as we age. Fortunately there are many people living here that we have known for many years. We felt as though we were coming home.
2008: We are very interested in the political and economic events going on in the USA.The country will never be the same after the coming election and the resolution of problems with the banks, agencies, sub prime mortgages. Lets hope for a positive outcome on all fronts. Our family continues to do well. The grandchildren are doing fine.
Please Sign My Guest Book So I
Will Know That You Were Here
You can write me at MagnoliaBest@aol.com.
Since June 5,1998