2023 Christmas Letter

Dear friends - As 2023 draws to a close and Christmas nears, we wanted to reach out and send you our best greetings! We have been blessed and challenged in many ways this year, but we pray and hope you are all well and enjoying time with family, reflecting on the gift of the birth of Jesus. Being retired, but seeing the economy struggle, David decided to do some subbing last school year. He subbed a total of about 50 days over the school year. He also was offered a dream job as a guest teacher for Colorado Donor Alliance, going into middle and high school classes to teach about organ and tissue donation, and the hope that can be offered to others during a very dark point in their own own lives. This rewarding job payed better than subbing, but unfortunately didn’t offer frequent or consistent enough working days to bring in anything more than play money. He did get to visit about a dozen schools across Colorado during that semester, however. This past year saw us traveling once again. We drove to California to spend several days of our “Spring Break” with family and friends. We were able to spend a couple days with Becky, Don and Linda, friends Eric and Robin, and visit Lori’s Uncle Fred and Aunt Martha. Shortly after returning from that trip, David turned around to fly to Moab in order to help Anna drive to her new home and job outside Portland, Oregon. The weather tried to challenge this trip, but they made the trip easily in 2 ½ days, pulling the Uhaul trailer and fighting rain, wind, and snow along the way. He stayed with her 2 nights, and then flew home. In April, David attended the International Space Symposium at the Broadmoor as a Teacher Liaison, something he has had the opportunity to do for the last 15 years. A highlight this year’s symposium was meeting Eileen Collins, Space Shuttle astronaut and author of Through the Glass Ceiling and Beyond. It was the second time David has met her, and, needless to say he was impressed and “geeked out” all week. Throughout the spring, David continued to sub a bit, support the Cheyenne Creek Conservation Club he started, and was able to join them for third year of releasing trout they raised into the wild. In May, we finally found the perfect nearly new car for Lori. We bought her a silver 2020 CRV with extremely low miles from an estate sale, thanks to our friends the Seays, who helped us make the connection to purchase. In June, we pulled our camper out to Oregon. We were faced with strong headwinds all the way there, which ended up making it an expensive trip, but had a good time. Despite a tire mishap the first day in Wyoming, which delayed us by 8 hours, we covered a lot miles and arrived at the state park in Oregon right on schedule. We visited Anna in her new place and got to spend a few days camping and touring in Oregon, including walking on Cannon Beach, the Tillamook Forest visitors center, and touring the Tillamook Cheese Factory. On the way home, we were able to stop through Troy, ID and visit with Lori’s childhood friends from her church in Anaheim, Dan and Julie. We had a wonderful two days there, and David was ready to call Troy a potential new home. Except when he considered the winters…so on home across Montana and Wyoming we went. in Wyoming we were able to almost “meet” our friends the Stevens, who were going north as we were headed south. Our meeting consisted of texting as we passed each other, but they were also able to get a great action shot of us in our rig driving past them! The next month we took Lori’s new car and headed to Milwaukee to visit her brother Loren and his family in their new home. They had moved there from the Dallas area in February for a job. We had a wonderful time with them and loved the area they are in, north of the actual city. We got to visit the “beach” on Lake Michigan and helped them with a few summer home improvement projects. On the return from that trip, we stopped and visited our friends the Westphals in southern Wisconsin, the Vigils in southern Illinois, and the Bleaus near Nashville. Then we stopped and spent a day with David’s uncle Lee in Oklahoma. It was a wonderful two week trip. In August we went camping again, this time with teacher friends in Colorado. During that trip, David was called and offered a full time job back at Cheyenne Mountain Junior High. After what seemed like a dozen phone calls and some negotiation he wasn’t well prepared for, he accepted a part time position teaching Science. So, after a little thought and prayer, he returned to work in August, with 3 days notice before the school year began. What he didn’t really take into account was that they had adopted new curriculum since he’d left a year before. It has been a steep learning curve for him this year, even if he only teaches classes in the mornings. Needless to say, David is almost working full time, mentally, at least. In October our son Wes left his job as Kitchen Manager at Panino’s to become the maintenance person for his apartment complex. He has been learning a lot and enjoying the challenges of that job, and the perks that come with it. Thanksgiving was spent with Wes and his girlfriend Eryn, and the Hoffmanns at the Abdos’ place. We had a wonderful meal and time visiting with the cousins and getting to know Erynn even better. We are expecting Anna home for Christmas. Before moving to Oregon, Anna traded her car for our roomy 2005 Pilot, which we had put 150k miles on in 18 years of family trips. We are hopeful it will last her another 100k and many more trips. She has been road-tripping her way here in December, since she is off work until early January, visiting friends across the southwest along the way. Wonder where she learned that habit? Lori continues to teach ELL (English Language Learners), split between two schools, teaching kids grades k-8. She teaches and supports students from a number of languages and countries, including Afghanistan and Ukraine. She also continues teaching younger kids in Sunday School at our church, serving as a deacon, and coleading our GriefShare and adult Sunday school class with David. David continues to volunteer once a week with our church’s junior high ministry, and serves on the Trustee team. He is back to leading the Cheyenne Creek Conservation Club after school, as well.

Becky is due here next week for a Christmas visit, as she does each year. We are looking forward to this special time of year with family. May God bless you and yours as we begin another year in January. Please know our door is open to visits anytime! Merry Christmas & Blessed New Year, David & Lori Eick

#52 Ancestors - Week 5 - Oops!

In my now 30 year journey in amatuer sloothing, aka genealogy, I have ceertainly made a few oops, chasing after ancestors by the wrong name or in wrong locations. More importantly, I have learned many inspiring life stories that included some signifiant "oops" moments. i decided that the 52 Weeks project is nit soemthing i have time to continue for now.

#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 4 - Education - from Attica White School to the USMC

Back in rural Michigan before 1970, many peple went to school in local one room schoolhouses. Such was the case for my dad, who went to South Attica White School for grades 1-8, from about 1942-1950. This school, whose name now evokes viseral feelings of contempt from WOKE culture, was named for the color of its paint, not the color of its students skin tones. In fact, there were at least a couple Jamaican, Hispanic, and other races represented in my father's classes, whch was not unusual for rural Michigan in the 1940's. He told stories of getting to school early, going in a window, and lighting the fire in the wood stove so there would be heat by the time classes began each morning. He told of a teacher, Mrs. Woodard, who passed away at the end of his 8th grade year there, and he being one of the older boys was chosen to be a pallbearer. I think she was buried in the little S. Attica Cemetery adjacent to the school. Dad went from that school to Dryden High School, leaving behind his local country friends for a more citified education. He graduated form there in 1954, and, along with a couple of his buddies, joined the United States Marine Corps. In the USMC, he furthered his education as a radio technician and electrical expert. Dad later also took an automotive engineering course through corespeondence school, and went on to work 30+ years inthe aerospace industry in southern CA. Years later, the old country school house were dad started his education was converted to a family home. Soon after that, it burned down, along with all the school recods, which were supposedly in the attic. I've never been able to find a picture of the actual school house.

#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 3 - “Out of Place”

My paternal grandfather, Edward Eick, was born in Dec 1884 in Warsaw, Russia, acccording to several documents he filled out. Although he was by all accounts German, he was born in a part of Russia, which was really Prussian or Polish. This was likely due to the migration of his ancestors in Russia several generations before at the invitation of Catherine the Great. 100 years later, by the 1880's the welcome for Germans was apparently wearing thin, and many were beginning to feel out of place, apparently, as they began immigrating back to Germany and to places west. My grandfather's parents packed up and left Russia for America in the fall of 1890. I have found ship records of the arriving in New York in November that year. Once again, how out of place young Edward must have felt. Soon after that, the family moved to Michigan. I know little about this move, but a few years after they moved, his younger sister died in Utica and then he lost his mother, as well. Both are beleived to be buried in Utica Cemetery in MI. Later, as a young adult in the Detroit area, Edward found work with the Parke Davis Co., at a farm. He worked there 20 years, earning a pocket watch which I still have, pictured below with my grandparents wedding rings. He married a woman in Detroit from an American English family, who married him on her 18th birthday in 1920, despite being fordidden by her parents from marrying any German. I suspect this was due to hard feelings related to the recent "war to end all wars." Twenty years later, the hard feeling arose again as my grandfather was trying to make a go of his own dairy farm in Metamora, Michigan. I've been told that the family almost went broke due to anti-German sentiments that developed in the late 1930's and early 1940's, and because of the family name and its association with an infamous U-boat captain. Once again, Edward must've felt somewhat out of place. Despite all the challanges in his life, and sometimes experiencing displacements in life, Edward worked hard and managed to run a successful "truck farm" an hour north if Detroit, and provided at least a subsistence farm living for his wife and three boys. He also served on the local school board, despite having no more than a 6th grade education himself. My father always told me that his father could read and write German, but didn't write English well at all. Finally, late in his life, while the rest of his neighbors moved on to indoor plumbing and such, Edward's sons set to work to build him an indoor bathroom so he wouldn't have to trek outside to do his business during the harsh Michigan winters. that was also about the time i met my grandfather, as pictured below. Maybe, for once, in his 80's Grandpa Ed wouldn't have to be out of place!

#52Ancestors in 52 weeks - Week 2 - Favorite Photo

The Neff Family Band, c. 1911 Although I do not play any instruments, I do enjoy listening and even singing along with some toe tapping country/gospel/folk music as often as I can. Perhaps it is due to these people in my roots! I wonder what the common string music was about 1910. I wonder if they played Arkansas Traveler? My g-ma, Mildred Neff, often talked about her dad and his brothers would play for barn dances, weddings and the like all over NW Arkansas and NE OK, from Fort Smith to Waldron to Heavener and back again. This faded photo, which features Worth, Johnson Fowler "Uncle Squire", Hugh and Frank Neff, along with their wives and three of the youngest members of the family, including my g-aunt Helen Neff. it is almong the oldest orignal photogroahs I have inherited from that side if my family. it is a reminder that these hardworking folks, however poor and poorly educated, carried a bit of their culture forward with them wherever they went.

#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks

I've joined a new writing challenge called 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Each week I will write an answer to a prompt about my ancestors. This weeks prompt is "I'd like to Meet..." My ancestor I'd most like to meet is my great grandfather, Charles Eick. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6706130/charles-eick If I could meet him, I would have many questions, and probably unlock many mysteries in my family. Some things he might clear up for me is why he took his family and left Europe in 1890, details of the story of his journey across the ocean on the SSTrave, the loss of his first wife a few years after arriving in America, why they settled in Michigan after their New York arrival, and how long after? I would also like to know if his two of his sons were twins, or just lied about their birthdays. I'd ask what he did for work, and where some of the bodies were buried. (There are relatives, including one of his sons and a daughter that are supposed to be buried in Utica Cemetery, but there are no markers for them.) So, if I could meet one of my Ancestors, my great grandfather would be high on the list! Of course, I'd never settle for just one!

A little snow day research

i had to hunt far and wide to find pictures online of the place we soent half of our honeymoon, the Hartsook Inn on the Eel River in northern CA, off Hwy 101. it was a beautifulplace, as evidenced by the dining room photo, but has been closed for over a decade.

I Am From

I Am From…” by David Eick I am from orange groves disappearing beneath urban sprawl, paved over and built upon soon after I came to be. I am from cinderblock fences, stucco houses, and postage stamp yards, fruit trees sprinked as far as the eye can see. I am from a school yard, park, and grandparents house all within walking distance. Home before dark. I am from the ‘hood west of a traffic circle, no, a plaza extending from a fountain With trees from ‘round the world, and people from as far as can be imagined. Hard working and proud, building a quaint town between river and hills, Out of the dust of the coastal plain. I am from Conrad, aerospace technician, proud Marine, a DIYer who never met a repair he wouldn’t tackle; or person he wouldn’t help at a moments notice; Fear of failure wasn’t in his thinking. And from Betty, who never wrote what could be typed, Who crocheted and donated 10,000 things, Whose “fits” never stopped her bike wheels from turning, and who’s unwavering faith in Christ brought me to be. I am from a hundred heartaches And a thousand adventures. Road trips, camping trips, and tractors. Dust bowl, disasters and unexpected miracles. Faded musicians and mud covered boots Cows, pigs and chickens weren’t far from my roots I am from lonely roads, Long walks across the tracks to school Bike paths to the beach starting below the Big A I am from rose bushes, Disney fireworks, and “225” freeways, Buried cousins, and lost family ties, which I seek in all my spare time. I am from those moments-- snapped before I budded-- leaf-fall from the family tree.

Ode to a Dog

Treasured Friend - Thanks for the gift for my family, God! “Tanner Pup/yeller dog/my other buddy” February 2007-April 2021 I lost a treasured friend yesterday The yellow dog who used to lay His gentle head upon my knee And shared his silent thoughts with me. He’ll come no longer to my call Retrieve no more his favourite ball A voice far greater than my own Has called him to His golden throne. Although my eyes are filled with tears I thank him for the happy years He let him spend down here with me And for his love and loyalty. When it is time for us to go And join him there, this much I know I shall not fear the transient dark For he will greet me with a bark. Author unknown

Year 4 - where does the time go?

I am in my 4th year Teaching Science at CMJH. I think I might just make it to my goal of 10 years there!