Treasure Chest Thursday: St. Patrick's Day and Nani's Birthday, March 18

On St. Patrick's Day this year,  I wore a vibrant solid green dress with the necklace pictured at left (the green highlights are reflections off my dress).  It was given to me by my maternal grandmother, "Nani," Sara Melzina Wolfe Guokas Archibald, shortly after the Wolfe Family Reunion on June 28, 1997, in Montgomery, Texas (more on that in another post).  My husband and I went out to eat in the evening and he commented that the necklace must be solid gold or at least gold-plated, because I leave it hanging with other necklaces in my closet and it never needs polishing.  It's very typical of Nani to give me something that is quite valuable.

I will wear it on March 18 too in honor of what would have been Nani's 104th birthday. 

I've written about my grandmother before in this blog (click on her name above); most recently about her cooking.

I missed Nani's 90th birthday party on March 23, 1997, in Houston (I was going through a messy divorce in Washington state at the time and could not afford to go), but I did make it to the family reunion that summer.  The photo below is of family members who were at that surprise birthday party, along with at least 40 of her friends. On November 16 of that same year, she passed away from giant cell lymphoma.  I still miss her.

About a month ago, I was contacted by a Wolfe descendant who saw my post about the Wolfe surname, and that prompted a lot of recent research on Wolfes that you'll be reading about here.

Front row:  Karen Pape holding Madison Pape, Amber Ely, Nick and Debbie Reynolds Pape, Chase Engel.
Second row: Jason Ely, Sara Wolfe Guokas Archibald, Gerrie Guokas Pape, Sister Jean Marie Guokas.
Third row: Carole Ely and Eddie Dillow, Pat Dean Ely, Bobbie Brown, Rowena Knox Hackfield, Edith Wolfe Knox.
Top row:  Louis Ely; Mary, Mark, Brian and Fred Pape; Leon Hackfield; Dee Knox.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.