About Me

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Lake Mathews (Perris), CA, United States
Born in Illinois, I grew up in Wilmette, a northern suburb of Chicago. I have one sibling, an older brother. I am married, for the 2nd time now, to Butch & got 4 children in the deal. They have gone on to make me grandmother 25 times over & great-grandmother to over 20!. After many years working in industry, I got my bachelors and masters degrees in speech communication, & was a professor in that field for 13 years. I retired in 2001 & returned to school & got my doctorate in folklore. Now I meld my two interests - folklore & genealogy - & add my teaching background, resulting in my current profession: speaker/author/entertainer of genealogically-related topics. I play many folk instruments, but my preference is guitar, which I have been playing since 1963. I write the "Aunty Jeff" column for the Informer, newsletter of the Jefferson County NY Gen. Soc. I work in partnership with Gena Philibert-Ortega & Sara Cochran as Genealogy Journeys® where we focus on educating folks about Social History. More about that: genaandjean.blogspot.com. More on our podcasts: genjourneys.podbean.com. More about my own projects: Circlemending.org.

Sunday, April 2, 2023

Sunday Singalong - 2 April 2023 - Best Memories

 

April 2nd . . . the day after April 1st (the Fools’ Day). But it’s the 2nd that holds the best memory for me. It was a day that “changed my life” – back in 1966. At not quite 15 years old, that is quite a deal: to change a life so young, with a change that lasted until . . . well, it’s still applicable.

Meeting my favorite actor was not just a dream come true, it was a goal that was reached. With that accomplishment (a very long story in itself), I felt I had no more amazing experiences left in my life. Yeah, well, I learned. And over the next 44 years, I have learned from those additional experiences, whether involving my favorite actor, who, over the course of the following 3 years, turned into a beloved friend and confidant, or others who came into (and, in some cases left from) my life. I have learned from, laughed and cried with, and enjoyed the company of folks of all religions, cultures, interests, etc. And so many good memories (yes, there were some not so good ones, too, but I choose when and where to let those enter my brain). Got a special friend? A special memory? A special song that brings either to mind?

I turn back to works of my friend Tom Paxton and a song I have loved since I first heard it, but that he was not that enamored with because nostalgia, at the time he wrote the piece, was not something he chose to dwell on. Still, he recorded it and sang it, and it can be listened to and even purchased from Amazon (links below).

As I’ve shared in the past, this one is on his album “New Songs for Old Friends”:

Faces and Places

Pernell Roberts & Jean Wilcox

2 April 1966, St. Charles, Illinois


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