Linda Huesca Tully

That Pioneer Spirit

Joseph Edouard Baron (1825 – 1921) * In 1848, as 21-year-old Eduard Baron pressed through the crowd onto the ship that would take him from his native France to America, he must have been overwhelmed by a rush of emotions. Whether he felt elation, anticipation, wanderlust, trepidation, or sadness at leaving loved ones behind, one … Continue reading

Mystery Monday: The Distance between Two Pictures

Selma (Kangas) Tully (1894 – 1949) Selma (Kangas) Tully, about 24 years old. Anaheim, California, November 24, 1919. In this day and age, it is common to see hundreds, sometimes thousands, of photographs marking the great and small events of a person’s life. In the case of Selma Tully, however, we have … Continue reading

Motivation Monday: Look Up, Look Forward, and Lend a Hand

Matt Oskar Kangas (1876 – 1971) Look up and not down; look forward and not back; look out and not in; and lend a hand. – E. E. Hale Matt Oskar Kangas was born to overcome obstacles. “That’s Life for You,” by Madjag. Creative … Continue reading

Thankful Thursday: Legacy of an Ordinary Life

Arthur Raymond Tully (1897 – 1984) Arthur, we hardly knew you. Arthur Tully When your name came up in conversation, as it did from time to time, it was in disjointed bits and pieces, with little to connect them except for the few vital facts about you that most family trees contain. Those facts tell … Continue reading

Thankful Thursday: A Stranger’s Kindness

John Terrence Cherry (1907 – 1956) …A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. – Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities John Cherry’s sketch and signature on one of the pages of his high school textbook of Charles Dickens’ … Continue reading

Sentimental Sunday: Sailing New Worlds Together

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Phillip Columbus McCormick (1892 – 1981) Not until the early 1980s did time finally begin to catch up with the couple who had deftly evaded its reach their whole lives. Benita (McGinnis) McCormick gazes lovingly at an oil portrait by artist Mary Rowley of her husband, Philip McCormick, on their 50th wedding anniversary, at their San … Continue reading

Friday’s Faces from the Past: Pictures of a Golden Day

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Phillip Columbus McCormick (1892 – 1981) One balmy Sunday afternoon in October of 1971 on the San Francisco Peninsula, some 2,149 miles and 18,262 sunrises from where they first pledged their love for each other as husband and wife, Phil and Benita McCormick strode confidently into church, arms linked … Continue reading

Sentimental Sunday: Letters, Light, and Love

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Benita (McGinnis) McCormick. Oil portrait by artist Mary Rowley. As seen hanging on the living room wall in daughter Jane McCormick Olson’s living room, 2011. When I was a freshman in college in 1974, my Great-Aunt Detty heard I was looking for a summer job and thought she could help. … Continue reading

Sentimental Sunday: The Golden Years of Life and Love

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Phillip Columbus McCormick (1892 – 1981) With an unabashed love of life, Phil and Benita McCormick could have written the book on aging gracefully. Open to new generations and ideas, even well into their 70s and 80s, they blazed boldly forward into the changing world and never looked back. … Continue reading

Friday Funny: The Writing on Her Wall

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Photo: Alan Reeves. Creative Commons; in the public domain. Like any good social media maven, Benita McCormick had a wide circle of “followers” in the mid-1970s. They visited often and posted witty messages on her wall, eager to read and “like” what others had left there before them. Most were … Continue reading