Happy New Year!
On her 93rd birthday, our friend LaVerne Grell told us her secret to a long, healthy, joyful life: “eat your dessert first and celebrate everything!” We took her advice to heart (and mouth). Morning is “dessert time” in our household. Check! And how about we appoint one day a year in which we celebrate all major holidays rolled into one? Double check! We call this day EACH SECOND A BLAST (each letter stands for a holiday). It occurs on the first day of our Anniversary, the duration of which can be calculated as follows: 24 hours multiplied by the number of years we’ve been married (easy math). Everyone who knows us, knows we are passionate when it comes to celebrating our Anniversary (even math is invited). Second to our own one-day-for-every-year celebration, we love to honor the nuptial commemorations of others. An anniversary marks a shared accomplishment and a couple’s continued commitment to each other. No simple task in this world.
On December 31st we celebrate John Ewing Carr (19 Mar 1889) and Nancy Luetta Dragoo (16 Nov 1897). They married in Jay, Delaware County, Oklahoma on 31 Dec 1912. He was 23. She was 15. Eight years, seven months, 28 days difference (there we did the math for you; you’re welcome).
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31 Dec 1912 Jay, OK
110 years after they made that long horse-drawn trip to the Delaware County Courthouse, their grandchildren have memorialized the day that marks the budding of their family branch. We wonder if they’d be delighted or shocked to know we still think about that day. They certainly weren’t thinking about us on that day, although maybe they were, in a spiritual sort of way of course. Whatever the case, through the serendipity of their union, their progeny became a part of a magnificent movement of energy and connection that we call our ancestry.
By setting aside this day to be grateful for those who came before us, we also recognize that what we do as a couple (and as a family) is providing a heritage to our future generations. We recognize the tremendous privilege and sobering responsibility of providing a heritage that they too can be proud to celebrate. So remember kids, eat your dessert first, celebrate everything, and at the end of day, 1 + 1 = 1.
Links to family resources are highlighted in green below. Clicking on a link will open in a new tab.
J. E. Carr’s Family Surnames Include:
BRANDON, BRYANT, CARR, CRAIG, EWING, FAULCONER/FAULKNER, HUSSONG, NELSON, PARKER, ROSS, RULE, SCURLOCK, SHAFFER
N. L. Dragoo’s Family Surnames Include:
BITTICK, BRIGHT, CAREY, DRAGAUD/DRAGOO/DRAGGOO, HADLEY, HILL, HILDEBRAND, MATHENY, POGUE, STANFIELD, STRAIGHT, WRIGHT