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1937? Father's brothers... Fred, Colvin (not a brother), Elmer, and Father... |
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1938? Father. This is one of the photos that Glenda Miller (Glenda and Cousin Henry) found in Grandmother Dollie's old room at Aunt Lois' home in Griffin, GA and emailed on 09-14-2012... |
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1945-46 School Days... |
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1946-47 School Days... |
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1948-49 School Days - High School... |
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1948-49 School Days... |
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1954? |
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1954/55 At the Martha Washington Apartments on Kenmore Ave., in the Elizabeth section of Charlotte. Father shared an apartment with Richard Dagenhart who was quite the accordionist. That's Father on guitar. Father played guitar, mandolin, and could scrub Dixieland chords on a banjo. |
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1956 Mother and Father at Mother's home on Kenilworth Ave in Charlotte... |
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1956 Mother and Father at Mother's home on Kenilworth Ave. "True Love" from the movie High Society was Mother & Father's favorite song from this time... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4awCZr7GwY |
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1956 Mother once told me that in this shot Father is burning old letters to and from a former girlfriend to clear the way for their engagement! |
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1956 I recall Father telling the story about the first time he took Mother to visit his folks, way up in the mountains at Culberson, North Carolina, near Murphy. Father took delight in telling Mother that to get to the old "cabin" they'd be driving on old goat path roads, up and down the sides of mountains, and they'd have to walk the last couple of miles and cross a creek on a log bridge... and hope that the bears wouldn't see them! Father was a good story teller. I think these shots are from that time, back in 1956... |
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1956 Father's workplace, Refabco, Inc., in Charlotte. After graduating from Southern Technical Institute (now part of Georgia Tech) in June of 1953, Father worked for a short time in Birmingham, Alabama, then moved to Charlotte in 1954 for the job at Refabco. Father was a Civil Engineer at Refabco for 29 years, until 1983 when he started his own engineering company - Thompson Engineering... |
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1956,
October The Honeymoon. Mother and Father stayed in Shelby, North Carolina on their wedding night, on the way to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The shot of Father is from the Great Smoky Mountain, and the shot of Mother is from Gatlinburg... |
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1956,
November Mother and Father moved into an apartment at 1631-A Murdock Rd. in Charlotte on November 1, 1956... |
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1957 Mother and Father - newlyweds... |
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1957,
October Kenilworth Ave., Charlotte. Mother & Father's 1st wedding anniversary. With Mother's parents. Mother pregnant with her first child - me! |
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1958,
November Culberson, North Carolina. Father and his siblings. (l-r): Father, Aunt Lois, Uncle Elmer, Aunt Blanche, and Uncle Fred... |
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1960,
Christmastime Somerdale Ln... Father, little Brother Brian, Mother, and me... |
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1961 At Grandfather Charlie and Grandmother Dollie's Culberson home... (l-r): Father, Aunt Blanche, Grandmother Dollie, Uncle Elmer... |
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1961 I remember Sunday afternoons like this at Somerdale Lane. Grandfather Dellinger would usually join us for Sunday lunch after church and then nap away the afternoon. Early on we started going to the cafeteria for lunch after church, the Barclay Cafeteria beside Clark's in the old Amity Gardens Shopping Center on East Independence Blvd. being one... but I digress... |
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1961 At the beach, with little Brother Brian and Father... |
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1962,
Easter Somerdale Lane. Little Brother Brian, Father, and me... |
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1963,
Easter |
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1964 Thompson family portrait... |
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1964 At Somerdale Lane. Steve, Father, and little Brother Brian... |
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1964,
December At Somerdale Lane, little Brother Brian's 5th birthday... (l-r): Father, Grandmother Dellinger, Brian, Steve, and Grandfather Dellinger... |
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1964, Christmas |
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1966 Somerdale Lane, back yard, on a Sunday afternoon. Father is on the lounge chair reading and Sport is sunning himself. I vividly remember scenes like this... |
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1967 By 1965, when I was in 2nd grade, me and little Brother Brian , and Father, wanted to go on camping trips, but Mother would have nothing of "sleeping in a bag on the ground." In the Fall of 1965 Father took me and little Brother Brian to a sportsman show at the old Charlotte Coliseum and there we saw so many fascinating things! I remember they had an indoor fishing tank which I could barely be pulled away from. We also saw tents, tent-trailers, travel trailers - - we discovered the Nimrod Riviera tent-trailer! We began to reason that if we had the Nimrod we could convince Mother that she would be up off the ground in a bed almost like home, but we'd still be camping and everybody would be happy! Our scheming worked and soon we had a Nimrod tent-trailer! Except during Winter, we were then out on camping trips to the mountains or beach every month or two. These two shots were taken on one of those camping trips to the mountains, where Father taught us to fish... |
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1968 At Six Flags over Georgia, near Atlanta. Steve, little Brother Brian, and Father... |
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1968 Somerdale Lane. I had become a Boy Scout - first in Troop 28 out of St. Andrews Episcopal Church, then Troop 158 out of Third Presbyterian Church. Brother Brian was a Cub Scout - Pack 152. Father had become a Cub Scout leader in Pack 152. Father went on to help start Boy Scout Troop 152, but I was already in Troop 158 and never in Father's troop, though the two units were closely aligned... |
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1970,
January At Somerdale Lane - my 13th birthday. (l-r): Father, baby Sister Jan, me (wearing a red Davidson Wildcats sweat shirt), little Brother Brian, and Grandfather Dellinger... |
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1970? I can't precisely date this photo of Father. It looks like a passport photo, or a photo for some kind of licensing. Maybe it had something to do with the Rotary Club? |
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1970,
Spring At Somerdale Lane... Mother and Father... |
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1970,
June A family portrait from around the time of little Sister Jan's 1st birthday... |
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1971? Mother and Father, somewhere in Florida? I think this is from the Disney World trip in 1971, but I'm not sure. Brother Brian in the 2nd shot? |
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1972 Family portrait... |
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1974 Mother and Father. From a First Baptist Church directory... |
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1976 Catawba College. (l-r): Brad Cox, me, Father, Randy Angel, and Brother Brian. Brad, Brother Brian and my parents were visiting Catawba College for a football game... |
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1977,
January 29 At Kenilworth Ave., Grandfather Dellinger's 78th birthday. (l-r): Uncle Herman, Grandfather Dellinger, Jimmy, Brother Brian, Sister Jan, Father, and Aunt Beadie. I was away at Catawba College... |
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1977 Morrow Mountain State Park, North Carolina... (l-r): Me, little Sister Jan, April, Brother Brian, and Father... |
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1977 Visiting at Father's boyhood home in Culberson, near Murphy, in the North Carolina mountains. (l-r): Father, little Brother Brian, Grandmother and Grandfather Thompson... |
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1978,
June At Farmwood - Father and the gas grill. I remember buying Father a gas grill, I think around the end of a Catawba College school year, perhaps for his birthday, or Father's Day. I definitely remember the hours it took to assemble the hundred pieces! I think this must be that grill... |
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1979? Mother and Father became fond of cruises... |
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1983 Father, in the earliest days of his new company - Thompson Engineering. Father worked at Rebabco, Inc. for 29years - from 1954 until 1983... |
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1983 Father visiting with his mother... |
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At Uncle Elmer and Aunt Christine's house in Blairsville,
GA. Father, his mother, and me. This is the only known photograph of me picking a banjo... |
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At Uncle Elmer and Aunt Christine's house in Blairsville,
GA. Uncle Elmer Thompson, Aunt Blanche Miller, Aunt Lois Brown, Uncle Fred Thompson, Grandmother Thompson, and Father... |
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Father at the wheel, with his mother... |
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1985? Father and his mother, at Aunt Blanche's home in Griffin, Georgia... |
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1986,
November 8 At Randy Angel's wedding. Me, Mother and Father... |
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1987,
May At Farmwood. Father, Dave Joslin, and me. Dave, my old Catawba College friend, was in town for a gathering and we drove out to Farmwood to visit with Mother and Father. Father had enjoyed hearing Dave's guitar playing several times a few years back... |
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1989 Family portrait... |
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1991, Summer At my Greenway Ave. apartment. Mother and Father had stopped by for a visit. In the middle shot I'm holding my kitty-cats - Baby Ralip and Pilar... |
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1992 Thompson family portrait... |
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1994,
March Grandmother Thompson died (in Griffin, GA) on March 28, 1994. (l-r): Uncle Fred Thompson, Aunt Blanche Miller, Father, and Uncle Elmer Thompson... |
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1995 At Farmwood - "Teddy" working on the plans with Father... |
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1995 Father doing a Willie Nelson spoof... |
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1995 In Wilmington, North Carolina - Father and Sister Jan, on Jan's wedding day... |
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1996 1st shot: Sister Jan and Father, at a First Baptist Church event (featuring Father's good friend John Sipes and his bluegrass band)... |
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1997? Mother and Father... |
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1998, April 17 Mother and Father... proud grandparents... as Baby Will (my nephew) leaves the hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina... Photo-Journal... |
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1999,
August 22 1st shot: The man seated at the bottom of this scan is my Father. I took this photo with my trusty Sony Mavica FD91 and then did a foreground/background separation using Corel Photo-Paint 8. Father emailed the picture to the Charlotte Observer for the "Double Take" feature. 2nd shot: The original. Photo-Journal... |
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1999, August 31 Mother, Brother Brian, and Father, at Sister Jan's new house... Photo-Journal... |
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1999, Thanksgiving 1st shot: Young Will, Matt, Brother Brian, and Father. Photo-Journal... 2nd shot: Brother Brian, Father, and Matt. |
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1999, December 2 Brother Brian Turns 40... Photo-Journal... |
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1999, December 21 Father Thompson... pre-Christmas... Photo-Journal... |
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2000, April 15 At Will's 2nd birthday party... Photo-Journal... |
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1st shot: Father
poured on the special house hot sauce and then shouted "yee-haw!"...
then he went for that water glass! 2nd shot: Father was aglow from the hout sauce for a full 10 minutes! |
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Feliz
cumpleaños! |
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Father's birthday celebration (a day early)
at the Azteca Mexican Restaurant in the Matthews area of
Charlotte...
Photo-Journal... The house mariachi band was excellent! Father called out for the old Ranchera song "Cielito Linda" and the band was happy to oblige. Father then requested "Malagueña" and the guitar player sat down at our table and delighted us with a rendition that would have made Roy Clark proud! |
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July 28, 2000 Saying goodbye to Baby Ralip, my parents, and my brother-n-law Matt as I began my cross-country relocation drive from Charlotte to Seattle... Photo-Journal... |
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2000, October 19 In the Farmwood office, with Brother Brian... Photo-Journal... |
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2000,
October 24 Will, Mother and Father, and Sister Jan and Will... at Hamilton Manor... Photo-Journal... |
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2000, November 3 Father in his Farmwood home office... Photo-Journal... |
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2000, December 25 Father and Matt's mother, Marda... at Hamilton Manor in Charlotte... Photo-Journal... |
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2000, December 28 Sister Jan, Baby Ryan, Mother and Father... at Hamilton Manor in Charlotte... Photo-Journal... |
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2001,
February 22 At Thompson Manor... I was enroute between Hilton Head and Seattle... Photo-Journal... |
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2001, May 5 Under the the Linn Cove Viaduct on the Blue Ridge Parkway just below the summit of Grandfather Mountain, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina... Photo-Journal... |
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2001, May 5 A birthday feast for Father at Sister Jan's home... Photo-Journal... |
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2001, December 25 - Christmas Christmas morning at Hamilton Manor... Photo-Journal... |
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2001, December 25 - Christmas Mother and Father... Christmas afternoon at Thompson Manor... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, January 1 - New Year's Day Traditional New Year's Day "good luck" dinner with Mother and Father... black-eyed peas, cabbage, cornbread, chow-chow... in the 2nd shot Father was demonstrating the "face" that cracked us up a thousand times over the years... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, January 3 At Thompson Manor, in Farmwood... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, January 3 At Hamilton Manor... Photo-Journal... 1st shot: With young Ryan 2nd shot: Demonstrating proper sledding technique... |
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2002, January 5 Dropping me off at Charlotte airport for a flight back to Seattle... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, July 24 Trip to Seattle... arrival at Sea-Tac and a hootenanny at Steve's Bellevue apartment... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, July 25 Trip to Seattle... Pike Place Market and Queen Anne Hill... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, July 26 Trip to Seattle... lunch in the Yakima Canyon... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, July 26 Trip to Seattle... at the Columbia River in Washington State... near the Vantage Crossing... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, July 27 Trip to Seattle... coffee outside the Silver Cloud in Redmond, and on the ferry between Seattle and Bainbridge Island... Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
July 28 Trip to Seattle... on the ferry, pulling out of Victoria, BC... Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
July 28 Trip to Seattle... pulling out of Victoria, BC, and atop Hurricane Ridge in Washington State... Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
July 28 Trip to Seattle... My Father's steps here at Ruby Beach, Washington were the most distant steps from his birthplace that he would ever take. Father passed away 2 years and 1 day after this day, on July 29, 2004. Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
July 30 Trip to Seattle... Photo-Journal... 1st shot: Early morning at my lodge in Bellevue prior to the drop-off. 2nd shot: Drop-off at Sea-Tac... as our time together ended it was hard to believe that seven days had passed... |
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2002, December 13 Fetching me at Charlotte airport after arriving from Seattle... Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
December 14 1st shot: With Pete at Gus' Sir Beef before a Doc Watson show in Charlotte. 2nd shot: At the Neighborhood Theatre for the Doc Watson show. Photo-Journal... |
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2002, December
16 Picking the mandolin in his office... Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
December 17 Father packs baggage into the Buick and thus began a 5-day trek around the heartland of Dixie... Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
December 17 At Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home... Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
December 18 1st shot: Our luncheon in Jonesborough, Tennessee at the May-Ledbetter House. 2nd shot: At the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
December 20 1st shot: In Griffin, Georgia with Blanche (Father's sister). 2nd and 3rd shots: At the Blue Willow Inn, in Social Circle, Georgia. Photo-Journal... |
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2002, December 24 At Farmwood with Brian and his new RV / motorcycle trailer... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, December 24 Christmas Eve at Farmwood... in the 4th shot Father is holding his new Willie Nelson Red Headed Stranger CD (with bonus tracks)... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, December 25 Christmas Day at Hamilton Manor... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, December 25 Christmas Day at Hamilton Manor... Alas, Father seemed a bit distraught at not receiving that new mandolin he so wanted. He could just feel the neck in his hands, he could hear those Bill Monroe runs sliding off his fingers... on stage in Nashville at the Grand Ole Opry. And he knew that he had been so good, all year long. But as the wise man said - good things come to those who wait... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, December 30 Father and I met Randy at his Southpark office, then we lunched at P. F. Chang's... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, December 30 Father still had visions of a mandolin dancing in his mind, so we stopped at a Charlotte guitar shop and tried out few... In the 3rd shot, note the Gibson Hummingbird being held by Tom Petty... Photo-Journal... |
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2003, January 1 At Thompson House... BabyRalip knows how to find a soft spot! Photo-Journal... |
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2003, January 2 At Hames Music in Gaffney, South Carolina... mandolin shopping... Photo-Journal... |
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2003, January 3 1st shot: Lunch with Cecil Frazier and Father. 2nd shot: Father and his new lab jacket. Photo-Journal... |
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2003,
January 5 At the Tryon House Restaurant... with Ryan, Jan, Will, and me... Photo-Journal... |
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2003,
January 5 Dropping me off at the Charlotte airport for a flight back to Seattle... farewell my Mother... farewell my Father... Photo-Journal... |
