Happy Valentines Day! February 13, 2012

In family life,

love is the oil that eases friction,

the cement that binds closer together,

and the music that brings harmony.

~Eva Burrows

Hello Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you on the eve of Valentine's Day. Tomorrow will be a day to remind us that love is what families are all about, at least when we are at our best. In the back of our minds we know that families are sometimes less than loving, but we celebrate love nonetheless, if for no other reason than to remind us what we strive to be.

Today is the birthday of my cousin Gloria Harrell Watson of Knoxville, Tennessee. Gloria is the sister of Michael and David Harrell, as well as Paula Tuzzolino, whose birthday we celebrated last week. She is also the granddaughter of Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower. Her mother is Vicki Gower Johnston of Oak Harbor, Washington.

Gloria was born and raised in San Diego, where she graduated from Hoover High School. San Diego is where all my Shepard and Gower cousins were raised back in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Gloria moved to Tennessee over 30 years ago and has lived there ever since.

The first picture shows Gloria with her grandmother Nola Shannon Gower. Gloria: "Thank you so much for the picture because it means a lot to me! You are correct that it was taken in the early 90's, in Knoxville, Tenn. in the house Bill and I owned. We were on my back patio and the dog's name was Cookie. Grandma, Bill and myself had just come back from having dinner at the Red Lobster. Marge (Grandma's friend) drove her from San Diego to Tennessee and dropped her off for a visit with us. Thank you for such a precious memory."

Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow! The following family photo presentation for Valentine's Day is an updated version from the one I shared with you last year. It includes people of all ages from various parts of our family, all of whom seem to really like each other! (If the following does not play correctly, select this link.)

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Steve