The Clan Gathers

Here we are after my Uncle Sonny's funeral: Whitney, Shane, Bill, Granpa, Granma, Kong-ju, myself, Bret, and Karou.

Uncle Sonny at Home

Here is Uncle Sonny relaxing at home with a book. I can't say I knew him; but his funeral helped; after the fact. When I was growing up, I only knew about his problems, not of his achievements: his marriages and divorces, his joblessness, his working odd jobs, living in Corbett, Oregon his whole life. How he had trouble supporting 2 families and ended up in jail for failure to pay child support. He was my uncle, my mom's youngest brother. I had probably only seen him a few times my whole life. At his funeral I learned alot about him. He had a relative that needed a vehicle, so he gave him his brand new truck. He loved little league and made sure they had a place to play and enjoyed going to their games...long after he had any family playing baseball. He helped keep the food bank supplied with food. He was head of the grange. He made sure that the local indian tribe had a place to practice their native dances (at the grange), when everyone else had turned them down. He represented Corbett and their best interests to local government officials. I don't know what type of a relative he was... brother, husband, father, but I did get to know him alot more about him at his funeral. The parking lot had hundreds of cars parked and the church was standing room only. Uncle Sonny was loved and respected, not because of position, or money...but because in his own private way he made a difference in his own home town...the only town he ever lived in. He lived the Christian walk as best he could, an example to all of us: how to dig in and get to work in your own community and to make it a better place to live for everyone.

My Cousin Matt and his wife Juli

This picture was taken on Kimbley road (my mom's maiden...by the way), in front of the Kimbley homestead where Uncle Sonny lived. This road is close to Evans road, which was my mom's mother's maiden name.

Sonny's house

This was Uncle Sonny's house. He lived and died here. He was born September 12, 1931 and died March 22, 2006. I lived there when I was two, while Uncle Sonny was in the service. My mom lived on this same land when she was a girl. My dad proposed to my mom almost exactly where this chicken is scurrying.

Uncle Sonny

This was Uncle Sonny, a picture taken when he was in the service.