This is my parents in the summer of 1996 with their two youngest grandchildren (mine) and their five oldest great-grandchildren:
My mom is holding their twin great-grandsons, Donovan and Alexander Williams, four and one-half months old; beside her is my son, Andrew, almost 7 years old, holding his little sister, Eler Beth, 6 months old; beside Andrew is their great-granddaughter Summer Clay, 6-1/2 years old; beside Summer is my dad, holding Summer's little sister, Tacie, four months old and another great-granddaughter, Taylor Smith, also four months old.
This is my dad and Andrew in the Fall of 1990. Andrew was just over one year old, and he is helping Papaw plant a tree.
My Parents right after they were married, February of 1947.
Jeff and Eler Dowell
This picture was taken at my Gradfather Roberts' farm in Union Star, Kentucky. My father was just getting ready to turn 25 years old, and my mother was 23.
Jeff Dowell, Jr., bottom right. He was just a baby here. Next to him on the left is his brother James. Uncle Jimmy died in the late 1970s. He had married my mother's sister, Elnora; her only sister. Their three children and the seven of us, therefore, were "double cousins". In the back row are their two brothers Theodore (Uncle "Thidore", as everyone in the family pronounced it), and Burton. Uncle Theodore and Uncle Burton also married sisters, Cecil and Vera Roberts, respectively. Cecil and Vera were my mother's first cousins. So these four Dowell brothers married two sets of Roberts family sisters; two daughters of Lonzo Roberts (my grandfather), and two daughters of Blaine Roberts (my great-uncle). Uncle Burton died in the 1980s and Uncle Theodore in the late 80s or early 90s. Aunt Cecil died in the 70s, and Aunt Vera is still with us. She visits Mom often. She has Parkinson's Disease, but seems to be holding her own.
Back, left to right: Theodore Dowell, Burton Dowell; Front, left to right: James Dowell and Jeff Dowell, Jr. (My Dad). These are the four youngest boys of Jeff and Lucy Dowell at that time. There would be one more boy and two more girls born in the next few years to make a total of 12 children in all before my gradfather died in 1928. This picture was taken in the back yard of my grandparent's house. This house was still lived in by my Grandmother Dowell when I was born. I can remember visiting her there often. She died before I turned five. She had lived there with the second oldest of her sons, Uncle Harlan, until her death. Then for a few years her youngest son, Uncle Leonard lived there with his family until the house burned down around 1975.
This is my dad in his sailor's outfit. I guess this would have been around 1946 when he got back from the war. He's straddling the fence at my Uncle James' house.
This is mom at about the same time. She is sitting on the steps of their house on US 22. Isn't she pretty?