FAMILY HISTORY TWO
                                                                             1967- 71
                        A Partial Family History Through Pictures and Commentary
                                                                      by Dennis R. DeLong
                                                                               9/23/06
                                                                           Revised 3/1/07


My brother-in-law Tom Bodziak is a man of many skills, not limited to his wife choosing (he's married to my sister,             Nancy).  Several years ago, he took it upon himself to digitize a bunch of my Mother's old slides. We used to kid
Mother about these slides, because they were woefully out-of-order and forced one to figure out whether a particular
view was from Oregon or Maine or whereever and for new wives to "grin and bear" sudden and unexpected encounters
with pictures of former wives. Neverthless, there are some priceless shots. The pictures are in chronological order in terms
of date taken. The survival of these pictures to be converted to a modern format is a tribute to my Mother's steadfastness in taking photographs and storing slides over the years and to Tom's technical skills.. Several pictures also were discovered in
the many albums and boxes Mother has stored and were "mined" by Nancy and me in mid-February 2007 and then
scanned to digitize them  I dedicate this page particularily to Mother and Tom but also to the rest of the family - although the
comments are soley mine.


                                   

       

A wonderful view of the family farm, Chestnut Road, McDonough, NY, taken in early Spring 1967.  Mother and her children moved to the farm in June, 1951 after her marriage to Joe Zukauskas. His family moved there from Chicago in 1932 when Joe was 16. When they came the buildings were run down and the land beginning to go back to brush. Joe built it into a prosperous business and show place and won a Farmer of the Year award in the mid-1950s.  The farm was sold in 1971 two years after Joe died although we have retained 60+ of the original 350 acres on which we camp, hunt and fish.  Needless to say this pictures brings back many memories.

Dennis on the day of his graduation from SUNY Cortland  in May, 1967 - standing in the living room of the apartment, he Gay and Rob shared on James Street in Cortland with Mother Lois and  Joe Zukauskas ( Step-Dad)

A Birthday Celebration for Joe (52 on  8/21) amd Mother (50 on 8/22) in August 1968                  Left to right: Rob (5), Gay (24), Joe, Nancy (22), Lois & Helen - Joe's Mother (70- also known as Grandma Z).

A family picture taken in the Fall of 1968 on the front porch of the farm house.  From left to right (ages in parens). Doug (24), Doug's 1st Wife Kathy (21), Melinda (1), Dennis' 1st Wife Gay (24), Dennis (26), Rob (5), Mother (50), Joe ( 52), Pam (5), Nancy (22).

Children and Grandchildren on Christmas Day 1968 (See previous picture for ages).         Left to right: Nancy, Kathy, Pam, Doug, Melinda,  Dennis, Rob and Gay

Grandma (Addie) and Grandpa (Floyd) Wackford (Mother's parents) taken in February and June 1969.  Grandpa died in 1971 at the age of 79. Grandma lived much longer, dying at 93 in 1988.  Both of them had great influence on their Grandchildren (especially Dennis, Doug and Nancy) and are remembered fondly. In these pictures Grandma is 74 and Grandpa is 77. Floyd and Addie (Webb) both were born in the Oxford, NY area and were married, raised their children and lived their entire lives there. Grandma was fond of saying : "there's no place on Earth like Oxford!"

Mother (Lois) and Joe (Zukauskas) standing in the dining room of the farm house in February 1969 a few months before Joe passed away (July). Lois and Joe were married  February 2, 1951. In this picture Lois is 51 and Joe is 53.

Pam (Doug's daughter) and Rob (Dennis' son)  in costume for Aunt Nancy's wedding to Robert Vance in  October 1969.  The wedding took place in the Oxford Baptist Church and the reception at the Silo Restaurant near Greene, NY.  In this picture the two cute cousins both are 6 years old.

Doug and Dennis [yes they really were this young once - 27 and 29!] on December 21, 1970 an hour or so before Dennis' marriage to Judith Mills (#2 wife). The picture was taken in the living room of  Dennis' home in New Salem (outside of Albany).  The wedding took place at the Western Avenue Baptist Church in Guilderland A reception was held later that afternoon at the home of Judy's parents in Colonie.

Young beautiful Andrea at Nine Months and at One Year  with her Daddy. Note the curly, reddish hair and that "I'm in charge" look on her face, which, as those who know her will attest,  occasionally returns as a adult!

Dennis and Mother at a Christmas celebration in December 1971 at the home of Doug and Kathy outside of Norwich, NY.. Those happy looks derive from the joys of togetherness,  holiday spirit and perhaps a whiskey sour or two!

Happy Rob, age 8 at the same Christmas celebration as depicted in the previous picture (but no help from whiskey sours in his case).