I was raised a Navy brat and hadn't really spent any time with my biological family until my early 20's when I went to college in my parent's hometown of Fort Wayne, IN. I lived with my paternal grandmother, Betty, and was able to spend many hours talking with her about her childhood and life. She was born in 1926 and raised during the Great Depression. Her dad died when she was young and she and three siblings were sent to live with her grandmother, Luvary, when her mother remarried. One pair of shoes a year and a jacket that always was too small. (Helped me to understand whey she had 2 closets stuffed with jackets and more shoes than I could count) They lived on gravy bread and got to share a chicken for Sunday dinner. Grandma Betty's older brother, Robert, joined the Marines right out of high school. Six weeks in boot camp and then they shipped him to the Pacific during WWII. He stepped off the boat and died on the beach. They sent home just a few of his belongings, one of which was a small shovel to dig trenches. Grandma still carries that shovel in the back of her car to this day. When she was 16 her grandmother died and an aunt locked all the kids out of the house. So without clothes and no place to live, she quit high school and went to work wrapping candy bars in a factory like Lucille Ball but not as funny.
I look at the old black and white family photos and listen to the stories and know it was a hard era. Yet there was something to that time when everyone was a part of a community. They rationed, they served, worked untraditional jobs, made ends meet and raised their children along the way. They worked together for a greater good. That generation came from the dirt and built themselves into the "Greatest Generation". They were remarkable! I wanted to honor them in a very simple way with this site. I homeschool my children and we research topics looking for names of our future breeding stock. This time together and education is priceless to me. We read about ordinary men and women who faced at times impossible odds and overcame. They left a thumbprint on the human story. We wish to honor those men and women of that time frame by bringing their names and stories to light once again so that posterity will not forget. That common purpose and sense of community is something we hope to reflect as we seek to provide loving companions and potential Assistance dogs who will be with us through many of the joys and the pains that our lives will contain. I hope you will enjoy the history and names we have chosen lest we forget.
