When I returned home after taking the disk with my page 1B “bouncing around” piece on it (I had my doubts about email going through.), to The News-Reporter, it was pouring rain. I was feeling sort of not well. And, I found a vehicle with a Missouri tag right at my front door.

Looking through rain splattered windows of both cars, I could not determine if the strange car was empty or not. Having once come home to a burglarized house, I drove right behind the car—thinking I had it blocked, and dialed 911.

The dispatcher said, “Perhaps they are just turning around.” But, they could have turned around without getting that close to my house.

Then the car did back and maneuver to turn around, and I moved to try and block it again, with the dispatcher listening all the while.

It was only when a back window of the strange vehicle came down and a cheerful voice said, “Hey. This is Sandy.” that I told 911, “It’s okay!”

And, it was okay. My welcomed— finally—visitors were Mrs. Austin (Elmyra Patterson) Chafin and her cousins, Irvin and Sandy Patterson, and his brother, Lester Patterson.

Sandy is the smart one who coordinated her husband’s, and others, 50-year reunion of Washington High School Class of 1949—and ’47, ’48 (mine), and ’50, I believe, but don’t hold me to it. My memory is not as good as Sandy’s.

Sandy is a great genealogist who really works at learning all about family history—the ancestry of all family connections. She began with her mother’s, then her father’s, then Irvin’s parents and other relatives. She knows more about WashingtonWilkes than I ever could.

But, Pricilla Maxwell knows a lot about all families and is surely a lot of help to all genealogists, including Sandy. They had already talked with Pricilla and other family members; had enjoyed a family gathering; and, after a brief visit with me, were on their way to see more cousins— Mamie Ruth “Trixie” Nash Cason and Mrs. Miriam Durham.

And, they just knew I was going to tell you about calling the law on them!