A True Family Reunion

Pictured here from left to right are the blogger, wife Nancy, Reid Martin, Bob Gonzenbach, Amy Gonzenbach, Nancy Gonzenbach, Mimi Vaughn and Tom Vaughn.
All are related through the Foley family. For those of you who don't know the relations, let me define those for you. Reid Martin married my sister Joanie. Nancy Gonzenbach is their daughter. Mimi Vaughn's Dad was Dr. Dan Foley, my uncle and namesake.
Our dinner together took place at the end of our vacation to the Ozarks. We swung through Saint Louis and spent one night there, then on to Carbondale. We visited, with Nancy and Bob, the cemeteries where our family rests. I will blog about that in another posting. Our trip was our first face to face meeting with Reid and Nancy. We shared "Foley" stories and pictures. We met Amy's fiance, Jason. We reunited two parts of the family separated by divorce in the 1930s. There were Foley descendants, like the Vaughns, who maintained contact over all those years.
Visiting Reid's home, Nancy showed me a picture of Joanie. I knew that I recognized it and had seen it before but I was not sure of where I had seen it. After we returned home, I found the picture. It was in my Dad's wallet at the time that he was hospitalized in November 1968. He died a month later. In his wallet were only two pictures, my high school senior picture and this picture of Joanie. Even though he had been divorced from her Mom nearly 30 years before his death, he had this picture with him. I was glad to be able to relate that to Nancy.