My grandpa, Donald Sanchez, is the boy on the second row down, far left.  He looks so much like my brother David at that age, I can’t believe it! He must have been around 10 in this picture.

I’m not quite sure how long my grandpa’s family lived in the Monitor area, but I don’t think that it was very long.  They had moved from Minnesota and ended up moving on to Western Washington, where my grandpa spent the rest of his life.

Edwards, Alfred L.

age 72, of 703 N. W. Market. Beloved husband of Viva.  Father of Mrs. Kim (Jill) Edwards, Mrs. A.J. (Donna) Thornton, both Seattle; Mrs. Milton Cours, Sioux City, Ia.  Brother of E.E. (Mike) Roberts, Edmonds, 15 grandchildren, three great grandchildren.  Member of The Berean Church, Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 32.  Services Friday, 3 p.m., at Wiggen and Sons Chapel.  Interment, Memorial Park Cemetery, Sioux City, Ia., 1 p.m. Monday. Remembrances may be made to the Berean Church.

MICHAEL F. KEENE

Michael F. Keene 21, of 11250 26th Av. S.W., died today in a hospital.

Mr. Keene, born in Seattle, had resided here all his life.  He attended Lafayette Elementary School and was graduated from West Seattle High School in 1961.  He was a telephone repairman for the Western Electric Co., Inc.

Survivors are his wife, Dorothy; a son, Scott, and a daughter, Kelley; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. James A. Keene, and two brothers, Jim and Tom Keene all of Seattle.

Funeral Service will be at 1 o’clock Saturday in the Washington Memorial chapel. Burial will be in Washington Memorial Park.

MRS. EUGENIA V. BERGMAN

Mrs. Eugenia V. Bergman, 72, of 1505 W. 60th St., died in a hospital yesterday.

Funeral services will be held at 1 o’clock Monday in Mittelstadt’s Ballard chapel. Burial will be in Mount Pleasant.

Mrs. Bergman, born in Sweden, came here 45 years ago.  She was a charter member of Frihet Lodge, Order of Vasa.

Surviving are three daughters, Mrs. Albert Rangwald,  Mrs. Gunnar Kollen, and Mrs. Eleanore Sanchez, and a son, Walden J. Bergman, all of Seattle; a sister, Mrs. Olga Klarstrom, Milton Mass., and 12 grandchildren.

And here is a picture of her with her grandchildren.

I believe that it was taken at Christmas, 1956.  That would have been 3 1/2 years before she died.

I wonder what she would think of me posting her grades for the world to see…

This was published in the Seattle Times, page 29, on 24 February 1958.

SANCHEZ – Patricia M. Age 76 years.  Beloved wife of Theodore.  Mother of Donald, Edmonds, Wash., and Theodore F., San Francisco; Pearl Sanchez, St. Paul, Minn.;  Mrs. Arthur Loraas, Wayzata, Minn.; Mrs. James Keene, Mrs. Sidney Radovich and Mrs. Dwayne Runte, all Seattle.  18 grandchildren, 9 great-grandchildren.  Sister of Arthur Melhus, Minneapolis, Minn.; John Melhus, Portland, Ore.; Palmer Melhus, Bismarck, N.D., and Mrs. Elizabeth McAloney, Mound, Minn.  Services Thursday, 1 p.m., Yarington’s White Center Funeral Home.

This is a picture of Elvy Bergman from the Seattle Times, August 6, 1934.  Her future husband, Gunnar Kollen, is also in this picture. 

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2011) that invite genealogists and others to record memories and insights about their own lives for future descendants. You do not have to be a blogger to participate. If you do not have a genealogy blog, write down your memories on your computer, or simply record them on paper and keep them with your files.

I don’t think I have any pictures of my first car.  It wasn’t anything to brag about. I was thankful to have something of my own to drive though.  I can’t even remember what type of car it was.  It was a 1978 and it was a huge green boat of a car.  It had belonged to my Grandpa, Ed Thompson.  Soon after that,  I began driving another big car, this one a cream-colored 4-door Chevy Nova.  Not super-exciting either.  When I left for the Air Force, I was carless for a couple of  years.  It kept me in shape!

Since I have nothing exciting to write about my own vehicles, I thought that I’d focus this post on my Grandpa Don Sanchez.  He was an auto mechanic and had an obvious love of cars.  The majority of the pictures I have of him include a car.   He had his own mechanic shop for a number of years.  I think that I need to read up on cars a bit – I might have an easier time dating some of these pictures!

I found this picture among these things.  My mom had said that she thought it was the place he owned with his brother, Floyd.   Unfortunately, all I can read of the sign is “ARAGE”.  Not very helpful.

In this one though, I can read “Burien Service Associates”.  A clue. There is another small sign behind the car, but I can’t read it.

And this, I believe is one of my Grandpa’s nephews.  I thought the Indian on the car was interesting.

And I wonder where he is in this picture.  Doesn’t it look like he might be on a track or field of some sort.  Those are a lot of steps behind him.

Even though I have no idea what any of them are, I like looking at them!

Theodore F. Sanchez was my great-grandfather. I never met him, because he died before I was born.

The obituary is from the Seattle Times, dated 30 March 1962.

Theodore F. Sanchez

Funeral Services for Theodore F. Sanchez, 89, a retired barber who died in a hospital Wednesday, will be at 1 o’clock tomorrow at the Washington Memorial Funeral Home.  Burial will be in Washington Memorial Park.

Born in Ottumwa, Iowa, Mr. Sanchez came to Seattle 35 years ago.  He resided at 6518 40th Av. S. W.  He formerly was a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge.

Survivors are six daughters, Mrs. James Keene, Mrs. Leonarda Radovich and Mrs. Dwayne Runte, all of Seattle; Peggy Sanchez, St. Paul; Mrs. Clarence C. Hansen, Minneapolis, and Mrs. Arthur Loraas, Wayzata, Minn.; two sons, Theodore F., Jr. South San Francisco, and Donald Sanchez, Lynnwood; a sister, Mrs. Nanny Morgan, Ottumwa, 19 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

This death notice was further down on the same page:

It’s exciting to find each new generation though – often more exciting than filling in the blanks on some of the more recent ones.

As I have been filling out my DAR paperwork, I have realized that there are a lot of things that I “skipped” concerning my grandparents and great-grandparents.  The memories of my aunts and uncles are helpful, but they are not proof of my grandparents’ birth or marriage dates.

I have been busy remedying my early mistakes by ordering a slew of birth, death, and marriage certificates.

As I was reading the most recent issue of Family Tree Magazine, I was happy to have found the website of the Washington Digital Archives listed as one of the best state websites. I didn’t even know the website existed.

And I was even happier to have found a copy of my grandparents’ marriage certificate, scanned in, just waiting for me to find it.

Theirs wasn’t the only one either.  I was able to find the certificates for both of my grandmother’s sisters, too.

The birth and death records were also helpful, but there were not scanned images of them – for obvious reasons.

So, I have found yet another great resource to add to my genealogy “toolbox”.  My bookmark list is getting pretty long!!

They are buried in Washington Memorial Park, in SeaTac, WA.

I never met them, because they died many years before I was born.

I have never been to their gravestones either, but I would like to go someday.

This picture belonged to my grandfather, Donald Sanchez, who served in the Coast Guard.

I am not sure if he is in this picture or not.  It wasn’t labeled and it’s hard to ID anyone from their back.

I am curious as to what on earth they are doing.  It looks like the truck was maybe transported across two small boats.  Seems very odd to me.