Generations 1

     One thing that I really enjoy when going through photos, old and new, are those of generations of family all together.  When a baby is born that begins a new generation, the cameras come out and the flashes go off to document this event.  Why not continue with this as the child, the parent and the grand parent age?  I have no answer, only the question.

     Here are a couple of the generation pics that I have found to share from the Finchum - Baker family.

 Above photo - Bruce Finchum, Ralph Finchum (Bruce's father), Marti (Martha Frances Finchum) and Henry Baker (Bruce's Grandfather).

This is pretty special for the obvious; we have 3 generations here.  But there is another reason also.  Bruce's mom, also Martha Frances Finchum, had passed away before this time.  So we have the mixture of the Finchum-Baker with the generations to make it 4 layers.  This is the first time that Henry Baker got to meet the name sake of his daughter.

 

 Again we have that new baby and the generation picture.

Love it !  

Marti, baby from the first pictures in this post, is the one on the back left, along with her Grandpa Ralph Finchum, Bruce Finchum sitting and holding Tiffany, his grand daughter; and of course the great grand daughter of Ralph.  So wish Henry would have been around for another shot here.

 Here's another of Bruce's kids - on the left is Sarah Finchum with her daughter, Casey, in the middle and myself, Donna Finchum, the married into the Finchum-Baker family.  Again, three generations.

     My son Ryan Finchum, and the son of Bruce Finchum, is married to Tricia.  She has a great family still living and since I do consider myself a Finchum of sorts, it is only fair that I do the same with her.  Plus, she has great pics of generations to share.

This is Tricia's family which includes her mom, mom's husband, aunts, uncle, brother, aunt's kids, and her grand parents holding the kids.  See - great pic and with 3 Finchums and 1 married in Finchum it is a good one to share.

And - just once more with Tricia  -  here she is with her mom, grand mother and her great grandfather.   Not all that often this can be shared.  Even neater is that Tricia's great grandfather got to see even another generation in her children.  Maybe I can get more pics from these generations to share later.

Sometimes the middle is a good place to start

     There is no beginning and no end to our ancestry.  We may find road blocks in our research and we all know that our day will come when we will be that person who has reached our end.  Lucky for most of us, we will live on through our 'next generations'.

     I thought about starting my post with my own experiences with children, grand children and my great grandchild.  But I kept coming back to a person who was such an inspiration to me.  A man who was loved by everyone he met, with few exceptions.  And those must have deserved his attitude toward them.  I know what you are thinking - isn't this a remark that is commonly made about those who have past?
I bet that once a few post start appearing here by others besides my place, my point will be strongly made.

     My beginning will be in the middle - I will start with Ralph Burton Finchum.  Better know to most as Papa Ralph.

 

     Tho I could write for hours on end about this man I am only going to mention a few of the most important, in my mind, about him.  For now anyway.

     

     When I first met him I was surprised at his 'popularity'.  I was in high school and what I considered 'social' was based on a teenager's view.  Well this man was more 'social' than any friend I had.  Ralph has friends that were younger than his own children and old enough to be his father, and they all invited him to dinner, dancing, parties, camping, travel and the list goes on.  This man had few evenings or days off busy with friends and adventures.  

     Now about the name Papa Ralph - that came along with his first grand child, my daughter Marti (Martha) Frances.  He was very proud grand father and told all that he met, at work or in his personal life " Just call me Papa Ralph".   He worked at Sears, for many years, and to his many regular customers, he became Papa Ralph.  To most any new customer who came in with a child, he was drawn to this child and told them to call his the same. 

     Papa Ralph was the most loved person that I have ever known.  I am so thankful that myself and my children were lucky enough to have him involved in their lives.