September 2005 -- Vol 9, No. 5

In this month's COUSINS:

(To return to the top, click on the decorative bars)

WHAT'S NEW

I know a number of you have questions about where I've been the last three months, and well, now that things have settled down some, I can explain.

It started in June.  My mother had some health issues that the doctors were unable to appropriately address.  Now, I recognize that not everyone is this great wide world has the relationship I do with my mother -- in fact I haven't always had the relationship I now enjoy with my mother.  But I had not realized the depths of my feelings until the results of the second MRI scan came back, revealing that a large tumor had taken over my mother's left kidney.

Because my mother is an adoptee, we didn't have the forewarning of this condition appearing in one of her relations.  The immediate family worked hard at not thinking about the C word.

The good news is that on the 24th of August, Mom's left kidney was removed, and before she was released from the hospital, the lab came back with the wonderful news that her tumor was NOT cancer.  It was, in fact, what is known as an Oncocytoma, a type of benign kidney tumor that can sometimes grow quite large.  Because oncocytomas do not normally metastasize to other organs, removing the kidney was The Best course of action.

Her staples came out on Aug 31st, leaving her with a 6-and-three-quarter-inch souvenir of her very first surgery.  And because Mom is not your run of the mill 73-year-old, she was champing at the bit to get back to normal by the 1st of September.  Some of this is due to the fact that Mom is a Dancer, and up until June, she was taking weekly tap dance lessons, performing with her tap class (The Gaddabouts), as well as performing with the International Pirates and the Seattle Banjo Band, doing such sedate little dances like the Charleston and Blackbottom, and whatever grabs her fancy.  That and she's one of the youngest 73-years-olds I've ever known.

THIS MONTH'S FEATURE:  

Back in May, we looked at Marie-Joseph PEPIN, 7th daughter, and the 16th and last child of II--Jean PÉPIN and wife Marguerite MOREAU.

This month we'll recap Jean and Marguerite's children.

If you can add/subtract/change any of this, send it on via email.
 

MAILBAG

On Sept 10, I received this from Hubert Bernatchez:

"I saw your message on Rootweb. Celina Rochefort is not native, She was maried with David Bernatchez, one of my relatives. I ave many of her brothers and sisters in my database. Email me."

Now, Cousins, I looked through all of my files and could find nothing about Celina and David.  And when I did a search on Rootsweb, I found an entry by cousin Glo, but nothing that addressed Hubert's concerns.  If there is anyone who has an answer for Hubert, let me know.

Also, on Sept 10, I got this one from Dave Lachance:

"Bonjour je m'apelle Dave Lachance et j'aimerais savoir si j'ai des lien avec pepin dit lachance "je demeure au Quebec" [translation: Hello, my name is Dave Lachance and I wanted to know if I have any connections to the Pepin dit Lachance line. I live in Quebec.]

Now, I have every confindence that Dave descends from the Pepin dit Lanchance line, and I wrote and told him so, asking him what he knows about his Lachance line.  I hope my French was good enough.

RAMBLINGS FROM THE EDITOR

I sit here at a friend's kitchen table, gazing out the window at beautiful Seattle blue skies, while Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban mostly entertains itself.  The vintage Westinghouse wheezes to itself; out in the living room, Calvin, an old Sharpei/Labrador cross, snores softly from his nest on the couch; and through the open back door I can hear the neighbour's chickens chuckling to each other.  And even as I realized that I know where all the members of my immediate family are, and of my 1st cousins, the only one I don't know the location of is my cousin Joe Peppan (though I suspect he got more than his share of those Wander Genes that run in the family [Joe, where are you?]), and even though I know that most of you are well, I was suddenly reminded of those of you who live in the south-eastern US.

While my worst concern was happily resolved on Aug 24th, I find my thoughts and prayers going out to those who were afflicted by Hurricane Katrina, people whose worst concerns have come out of their worst nightmares.  My wish for them is that they speedily receive the help they need, that sundered families are made whole, and those who fell prey to Katrina are recovered so that their families may have closure.  And that all of you and yours, Dear Cousins, come through this whole and healthy.

Amen & So Mote It Be.

From my fingers to the ears of Deity

NEWSLETTER INFORMATION

     If you are reading this online because you no longer receive it via email, and you would like to receive via email again, drop me an email.

     If you are reading this online because you asked to receive via email and it hasn’t happened yet, drop me an email.

     If you have family you want to share this with but they don't have a computer, please feel free to print it out and share it with them.  If you have family with a computer and/or Internet access who you think might be interested in the newsletter, drop'em an e-mail and let'em know about it; feel free to pass along my e-mail address.

     Back issues of COUSINS can be found at:
http://www.fortlangley.ca/pepin/cousins.html

     This URL will take you to the COUSINS Front Desk.  Or, you can click on any of the red lions that appear on the Pepin pages and Site Directory.

      For a hard copy of the newsletter, send an email to lisa@fortlangley.ca, and if for any reason you wish to change the way you receive the newsletter -- or if you no longer wish to receive COUSINS -- drop me an e-mail at lisa@fortlangley.ca and tell me.  If you just wanted to chat, drop me an email.  If I don't answer right away, email me again. 

COUSINS
comes out once a month -- more or less
This month's was finished 11 September 2005, 5:23 PM PST