Last night I learned of the passing of Dr. Pantalos’ wife, Mary Pavlyak Pantalos.  Though I did not know her as well as Dr. “P”, she was always right there at his side.  Their love was obviously a strong connection and after his passing last weekend I am sure it was quite hard on her.  After reading her

Legacy Obituary I wish I had known her better.  Her family was from Slovakia originally and I would have loved to ask her about that.

Needless to say, it reminds me of the importance of asking my older relatives for interviews.  I’ve got a number of cousins and uncles that are over eighty and I don’t want to lose the chance to ask them about their lives and memories.  What a shame it would be to go through the loss of their time as I did my own grandparents in 2008.  I need to take a moment to call my cousin Marcia and ask her about her parents and grandparents.  I want to ask about her hopes and dreams as a kid and how she met her husband.  Little things like that make a family history so much richer and more meaningful.  I’ve wanted to talk with my Uncle Mike about his life growing up and his parents and earliest memories.  Get him to tell those family stories that are so memorable, but may not have been captured on paper yet.

Most of all, I want to give my Uncle Bruce the answers he’s been asking about our Morse family.  He has been such a great support to my genealogical pursuits and I yearn to get a book put together with photos, narratives, and documentation.  One of my goals this year is to focus on that side of the family and get that book in his hands.  I just need to take action!