Tales of Time and Travel v6.0: Reunion with Kin

Reunion Time.  Actually I now realize it was past reunion time.



Dinner reunion in Portland with the Maher clan.
Around the table, (L to R): Michael and Carolyn, Mark and Grant
Ian, Warren and Cherie

 With Inga graduating from the University of Oregon in a matter of days, I realized that my long-time (and unfulfilled) intentions, to reconnect with cousins Carolyn and Warren, now residing in Portland, were about to go for naught.  This trip was my last, best hope to enjoy an evening with fine and interesting kin folk.

Sue was scheduled to fly into Portland from Dallas on Friday at 11:35 PM.  Grant and I were going to pick her up at PDX, but we left Eugene in the afternoon in order to get to Warren and Cherie's house, where Warren would fill us in on the arrangements to meet with Carolyn and Michael.  With Grant doing yeoman's work with the map app on his iPhone, we were able to navigate Portland's unfamiliar streets as Grant called out our GPS position as I drove and overshot Multnomah Blvd and then reclibrated and announced the next likely intersection that would get us to where we were going.  We arrived on time (barely) and were greeted warmly by Warren and his wife Cherie.  We were ushered to the backyard where we quickly fell into conversation in an attempt to fill in the last 30 years.  We did what we could to catch up, until it became time to go and meet Carolyn and Michael at Gustav's, a German restaurant with a NW twist.  Good choice.  Warren and Cherie's son, Ian, of course joined us, and we were able to meet daughter Willa at the end of the evening after she got off from work.

Once seated, the conversation flew back to family stories and the sharing of current endeavors among us all.  It was like some of the Thanksgiving gatherings of yore - only no one had to sit at the 'little table' this time around.  It was revealed to me the origin of the invocation of "Ying Behavior", the code word, once uttered, that meant that the bar for public comportment was now set at the highest level.  Carolyn (my only cousin that out ranks me in seniority) spoke about some of what she is doing with her private psychiatric practice, including the recommendation and use of open spaces surrounded by the natural world to help in balancing one's perspective and helping in developing a healthy being.  I heartily concur with this concept, as I too felt the restoritive powers of open spaces while on this journey; exploring, seeing and experiencing the unfettered existence of the open road.

The evening was over all too soon, as I was having a blast and regretting I had not made this happen earlier in my trips out west.  But I had a wife to go find at PDX, and all the others had their own schedules and obligations the next day as well.  Before we left, Warren gave me a treasured memento that had belong to our grandfather, Warren Wilkin, who commanded submarines and ships in the Pacific Theater during World War II.  The momento was a money clip presented by his submarine crew to their Commander, it is inscribed:

CAPT. W.D. WILKIN

COM "WOLF" PACK

U.S.S. TILEFISH

With a much appreciated memento from the past in my pocket, it was time to reconnect with my wife and prepare to celebrate the bright future of our daughter with her coming commencement ceremonies.

Sue walked off the Southwest flight and down the concourse carrying a box of peaches plucked from our backyard tree that very morning as a gift for Inga.  Inga does miss peaches off our tree when she is not in town in the first half of June.  After snagging her new purple-passion luggage off the carousel, we headed back to our motel about 140 miles south, arriving into our beds at 1:35 AM.

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Reunion Time from another Time

It is interesting to sometimes realize the circles in which life and circumstances are carried.  Such is the case with some of the work Sue has been doing in researching her ancestry.  Now, come to discover, that Inga's Great Great Great Grandfather, William Gossler, being recently widowed, moved to Oregon from Iowa.  He is buried in the Eugene Pioneer Cemetery, yards from campus.  Inga lives across the street from campus, but her ancester William Gossler is at rest even closer to campus than Inga.  And actually Inga would frequently walk within yards of Grandpa Gossler's final resting place on her way to class. 

So, you think a young girl moving from Dallas, Texas way out to the University of Oregon is a new thing for the family?  It is all really a mysterious circle, there is nothing new under the sun.

Sue and I spent a portion of the afternoon roaming the Pioneer Cemetery looking for the Gossler headstone, but seemed to be having no luck.  I noticed there was a map of designated rows and plot numbers showing how the cemetery was laid out.  With that in mind, Sue searched on her iPhone, came up with a website for the Eugene Historical Society and found a link to the Pioneer Cemetery that listed those interred and their location.  William Gossler, has been at rest in Row 18, Plot 2 since 1918.  And sure enough, there he was, in a nice shady spot overlooking one of the University's indoor pools - which was formerly the Women's Residence Hall.



Headstone of Sue's Great Great Grandfather
William Gossler (1836-1918)
At Rest in the Eugene Pioneer Cemetery
[Coincidentally across the street from his Great Great Great Grandaughter's residence]