A Summer of Transitions, August 31, 2018

If you don't like something, change it.
If you can't change it,
change your attitude.
~Maya Angelou

As summer winds down to a close, I find it a time to celebrate family. I say this despite the fact that it has been a very busy summer, and a time of great transition for our part of the family.

Paula Harris, 1945

Surgery in Missouri. I received word from my cousin Kim Boyd Clark just this morning that her mom, Thelma Shepard Boyd, had heart surgery in Kansas City, Missouri today. Kim says that it appears to have been a successful surgery and that Thelma is now resting comfortably. Very best wishes to my aunt Thelma for a speedy recovery, and to Kim and her entire family in this time of concern for Thelma.

Remembering Paula and Joe Paul Harris. Earlier this month we laid to rest a couple of family members. My wife Cindy's mom Paula Harris passed away earlier this summer. On Saturday, August 18, we placed her ashes in a Columbarium at the Miramar National Cemetery here in San Diego. As a World War II Army veteran she took her appropriate place alongside other military personnel in one of the newer Cemeteries in our area, next to the Miramar Air Base. 

Joe Paul Harris, 1970s

At the same time, in the niche next to her we placed another Army veteran, her son Joe Paul Harris, who served in the Vietnam War in the 1970s. He died back in 2009 but is now in his final resting place in Miramar. They both rest honorably in a beautiful little Columbarium on the west side of the cemetery grounds.

As far as I know, Paula Harris and her son Joe Paul are the first two in our larger family to be interred at Miramar National cemetery. As the years go by this cemetery may become the burial location for other family members and will take its place with Greenwood Cemetery as an important cemetery where family members are remembered.

Preslea, Logan and William

Ready For Third, Second and First Grade

A Different Kind Of Transition. Cindy's 97 year old aunt Juanita Eeds relocated earlier this month from our home on Burgundy 
Street in San Diego and is now living with her son and daughter-in-law, Keith and Sally Eeds, in their beautiful new home in the cozy little resort town of Bandon, Oregon, not far from the California border. It is a positive move for Neen, though a difficult one to be sure. She has lived here in San Diego for over 60 years, the last 37 of which were with her sister Paula. Our prayers and best wishes are with Neen as she adjusts to her new life in Oregon.

Back To School. Earlier this week our grandkids celebrated the beginning of the school year for them at Dailard Elementary here in San Diego. As First, Second and Third graders at Dailard they will be keeping their father Nathan busy with all the many activities associated with their education.
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Steve Shepard