Looking For You All My Life Part 9

six sons and not enough land to go around, so my pa, being

the most adventuresome of the bunch, decided to come out

to Oregon. He bought the land for ten dollars an acre." Mr.

Westerly laughed. "I know that sounds dirt cheap now, but

back then it was no small thing to come up with $2,000."

"But what a good investment for your father."

"Sure was. I was born a few years later. Then my sister

came along, and another brother. All deceased now. Seems a

mite strange that I'm the oldest and the only one alive."

"You must be living right." She looked into his eyes. "Do

you have any descendants?"

He sipped his coffee, and then nodded. "My son, Wilmar,

lives down in New Mexico. He's retired now. Wilmar has

two daughters, Jeanette and Linda. They used to come out

here every summer to visit. And oh, how my Nellie enjoyed

those two. Wilmar's girls are both in their forties now, with

nearly grown kids of their own. Jeanette has two boys, both

in high school. And Linda has a daughter just starting col-

lege. I've only seen Linda's girl a couple times. But Jeanette's

been Out here with the boys quite a bit, although not for the

last year or two-the boys are busy now with sports and

whatnot."

"Do you have any other children? Or just the one son."

"We had a daughter. Pretty little thing-looked just like

her mother. But we lost her in the winter of '38. Saddest day

of my life." He shook his head and set down his cup. "Grief

just about killed my Nellie." His gaze swept over the gla.s.s Looking for You All My Life21

figurines. "That's when I started buying her those little gla.s.s

doo-dads. They seemed to help her get over losing our little

Annie somehow...

"I had been admiring that collection." She glanced to her

notes and continued. "You mentioned that you had a

brother and sister who've both pa.s.sed on. Do you have any

nieces or nephews?"

"Yep. My brother Howard had three children-two girls

and a boy. 'Course they're all about retirement age by now."

He chuckled. "Though I never did understand how a man

could turn sixty-five and just up and decide to quit

working."

"Maybe that's why you've enjoyed such a long life."

"Rightly said, I'm sure. Let's see now. I was telling you

about my family. I had a sister too. She never married or had

children. Taught school right up until the day she died. Miss

Jane Westerly-she was a good woman."

"And I imagine you've got some great-nieces and

nephews then." Maggie glanced at her notes. "They'd be

Howard's grandchildren."

"I can see you're listening real careful. Yes, Howard's

children. I think they live in California still. He had a girl and

a boy-Clara and Howie. They both got married and had