Saint Patrick's Day

Saluting my Irish heritage on St. Patrick's Day. Have 50% Irish heritage but ironically Ireland is not one of the 70+ countries I've been to. Two sets of great-great-grandparents emigrated from Ireland in the 1800s. William and Mary Ann Wharton from County Kerry and Thomas and Rose Mylon from Northern Ireland. The Mylons came to San Francisco and generations stayed there. My grandmother went through the SF Earthquake and Fire as a child, and I was born and raised in the SF Bay Area. ... To Ireland some day.

February 21, 1969, from my mother to my sister Pat:

"Praise the Lord! I'm healed, my ulcer is completely healed …. No sign of ulcer, so no operation.… The report says healed in two places. Daddy is carrying [the report] around for a testimony.… God is good, we both know that from recent experience, don't we."

I've been reading some of the letters my mother sent to my sister who passed away last year, and I came across this unexpected gem. Mother had a terrible time with ulcers, until this! I had forgotten it. Makes me wonder how many of the amazing things I've seen God do have been forgotten. Thanks, Lord, for the reminder.

As I was typing this I felt that someone who will read it needs to hear it. If that is you, don't give up. Lord, I pray that your hope and healing will flow.

In Tiberias Over the Sea of Galilee

Ancestor Slain in King Philip's War

King Philip's War (1675-76) was a reaction by Native Americans to incursions of the Puritans. Charles Hudson, in A History of Marlborough, wrote:

"The horrors and devastation of Philip's war have no parallel in our history.  The Revolution was a struggle for freedom; the contest with Philip was for existence.  The war lasted only about fourteen months; and yet the towns of Brookfield, Lancaster, Marlborough, Medfield, Sudbury, Groton, Deerfield, Hatfield, Hadley, Northfield, Sprigfield, Weymouth, Chelmsford, Andover, Scituate, Bridgewater, Playmouth, and several other places were wholly or partially destroyed, and many of the inhabitants were massacred or carried into captivity.  During this short period, six hundred of our brave men, the flower and strength of the Colony, had fallen, and six hundred dwelling houses were consumed.  Every eleventh family was houseless, and every eleventh soldier had sunk to his grave."

My own eighth-great-grandfather, and my only traceable Native American blood so far in my family tree, Chief Gasesett of the Narragansett tribe, died in battle at the hands of the Mohegans (the tribe immortalized by James Fenimore Cooper's novels, especially, The Last of the Mohicans).

The sachem's daughter, Elizabeth Minnetinka Gasesett, married John Corey, Sr. in 1679. The Corey line descended from here directly to my mother, Rose Adelaide Corey. John was the oldest of the 10 children of William and Mary Earle Corey. John and Elizabeth lived their entire lives in Rhode Island.

This public domain picture shows the capture of Brookfield, Massachusetts, in the war.

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft at the Piano

Attended a worship seminar with former Attorney General John Ashcroft at Evangel University in Springfield on Feb. 12.