Genealogy Jottings

On this beautiful Cinco de Mayo, the second anniversary of my nephew Tyler William Reed’s death, my thoughts wandered to family deaths in general. I realized that in the first four months of this year, we already have had four deaths in my extended family. Not a good start.

In 2016 we have lost the following loved ones:

1. Ronald Duane Bentsen, my uncle, passed away January 15, the day after his 85^th birthday.
2. Angela Nicolucci, my second cousin, died February 5 at the age of 43.
3. Sharon Flageolle, with whom we share a granddaughter, lost her cancer battle on March 22 at the age of 53.
4. Judith Ann Tegg, my mom’s cousin, died on April 9 at the age of 73.

Four months, four deaths. Usually they do not come so quickly, one after the other like this. Each month, I have had the unpleasant job of collecting obituaries and photos for these people and entering the information into the family history that I keep. Now their names appear on the family tree with birth and death dates in neat brackets.

The reminders of these sad deaths remain raw, but I feel the need to memorialize these family members while memories of them remain fresh, too. I want them to be remembered. So I continue to work on the tree, adding death dates no matter how unwelcome the news. We just have had so many in such a short time.