Family Time - December 1978

Our family is well documented in photographs. Scanning them brings back great memories such as this family dinner, probably in December 1978

Julia Todd, Father Edward Healey, Mary Holton

Michael King, David Todd, Bill Holton

Family dinners occurred somewhat frequently. There was always a birthday or holiday to celebrate. Sometimes we met in London, sometimes at our place in Worthington. We were glad when Tom, Gayle, and Jason moved to town to expand our group. Visits from Jan, Susan, and their families were always times for celebration and gathering. 

If the dinners were at our house, Mom and Dad would arrive with a carafe or two of coffee (we never were coffee drinkers) and other contributions - usually carried in a box top from a box that held 10 reams of paper. They brought food as well as treasures from the Oak Street basement to distribute. Mom often had a written list of things she wanted to ask or mention. I now understand the desire to have a list. Family gatherings are often busy and it's easy to forget something you wanted to bring up in the conversation. 

In this photo - Father Healey was the priest at London's Saint Patrick Church for many years and a good family friend. Mom and Dad became acquainted with him in the 1960s when he started an interfaith group to deal with racial issues in London, Ohio. Another photograph from this dinner shows the back of a nun's head covering. I think Sister Pat, a nun who taught at Saint Patrick Catholic School in London, was probably with us. Sister Pat said her red hair made her feel like one of the Holton family. Father Healey and Sister Pat often joined family gatherings in London and Worthington. 

Other observations - We were still in the process of painting the dining room. Curtains aren't up yet. Joe's famous brick wall has been built. The shutters in the pass through are still up. We eventually took them down. The bookcase is newly stained. Eventually we took it to the basement because it made the dining room too crowded. That bookcase became a built in of sorts when we installed ceiling tiles in the basement. John King hand crafted the stained glass hanging lamp you can barely see over the table. We gave it to him when we bought a new fixture. You can see we were into big, fancy TVs at the time. 

Mom is 52 and Dad 55, a decade younger than I am now. I was 32 to put it into perspective for those of you trying to do the math. My hair is long and still red.