Visiting the Gray Family in Minnesota!

Larry and Marie Gray

After our Fabulous Family Reunion in Pennsylvania, we flew to Minneapolis to visit more relations there.  My grandma Ruby Lundquist Smuin has a sister named Elsie Gladys Lundquist.  Aunt Elsie has a daughter named Frances, who was my mom’s first cousin.  Frances will be 89 next month.  Her husband, Wally was a family historian, who left boxes of his work behind.  I was interested in finding some original photos that he published in some of the histories of our family written many years ago.

So, we planned a trip to visit Frances, her son Larry and his wife Marie, and their son, Matthew and his family.  We had 2 wonderful days, talking, sorting and discovering treasures.  I am so grateful for my family and for the bonds between us.

The first thing I noticed in Larry’s home is this wonderful collection of our ancestors:Here is the key to who’s who:Frances is living in this assisted living center in Columbia Hills, MN.My dear Aunt Frances!We spent 2 days going through generations of histories.

Here is one of the best treasures we found–pages from a scrapbook kept by Frances’s mother, Elsie.  In it were original photos of her mother, my great-grandmother, Grace Honor Bushman Lundquist.I had never before seen this photo of Grace Honor Bushman Lundquist.  She died at age 38, leaving 8 young children.Here are more photos of their family.  My Grandmother Ruby is in the top left photo in the white dress.  These photos are a slice of my family’s history.  I am so happy to get to see these.  Larry is letting me take some of these treasure home to digitize for the family.Monday evening Marie prepared a delicious dinner and we met their son, Matt and his beautiful family.  Both Larry and Matt are serving as Bishops right now.  They are good and busy men.

Erin, Rachel, Ellie and Matt Gray

What a gift it is to be connected to families.  This last week of reunions has felt like a slice of heaven on earth!