G Mountain Photographer: Tribute to Sister-inlaw

My sister-inlaw, Freda Ford passed away recently and we travelled to her home for a family gathering in memory of her life and support of her family. Three of her four children were there with their families. She was also survived by three siblings, brother Richard and two sisters, Dorothea and Jo. Several friends of the family also attended. It was a meaningful opportunity to meet family and friends and a time to keep in contact.

When Jo and I got married, we were away from both our familys. So, at our first opportunity to meet the family during our travel, I was introduced to Freda and the family. She made us feel welcomed and insisted that we took her master bedroom of her small but modest home. I got to meet her sons, Fred and John and daughter Kelly. They were so young then, and now as you look at the pictures, they've all grown up.

While there, I got to look through the old family picture albums. There was a picture of our kids and Amy working on churning an ice cream bucket on a warm summer day. Those were fun times.

I think as our family grew, we probably had more opportunity to visit Freda and the family over the years. Any time we were passing through Southern California for any reason, we stopped in and saw her. On our visits to Disneyland, her home was always a stop along the way. Even as late as a year ago, we stopped in to visit the family and then on to Disneyland.

She was always accomodating and open to our family.

My wife looked up to her as her older sister, perhaps among her favorite of siblings. It was cute. She could ask questions, talk about sewing, ebay, health issues, vent, and about anything, Freda was there.

I remember once while we out camping in Yellowstone, we met up with Freda and Hank. While we were towing a travel trailer and had to park it and set up for camping, they drove around in a motorhome and were all ready to go any place they desired. That sure was a fun trip.

Once she told Jo that she had come across some spools of sewing thread. So we came down to see her and then went to get all the spools of thread we could get. Wow, it was a bunch and more. She had a knack for getting these great bargain deals, even like the roll of denim. Anyway, we'll miss her. To her children and their families, what an awesome Mom she was.