My Story: Welcome 2019!

Some cute pics of our family: Tanner (23), Sam (25) and Jessica (24) and their adorable kids (our GRANDKIDS!) Will (4) and Addie (2).

New Years Greetings from the Embrys 2019

Sharol’s been thoroughly enjoying retirement and is rarely ever bored, especially since most of 2018 was devoted to a small remodel/addition of our not-so-big Alameda house (only a little over 100 sq. feet added

!). But the results are another bathroom (fondly referred to as our little slice of heaven, mini-master bathroom), a reconfigured kitchen with french doors leading to a small deck and backyard with a small jacuzzi, along with a lot of unseen but important (read “expensive”) stuff like rewiring the house, replacing the heater (plus adding air conditioning in spite of hearing “no one installs A/C in Alameda!”), and replacing old aluminum windows with double-paned beauties. 

It was totally worth the huge amount of pain and disruption - yes, we lived in the house for the whole project. At one point, which seemed to last forevvverrr, we were squeezed down to 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, a sliver of kitchen and Tanner sleeping in the dining room (while contractors traipsed past his bed early in the morning!). But we did it and Bob & Sharol are still happily married! Tanner stuck with us for the whole project, working in Berkeley, but then, just as the project wrapped up and before the jacuzzi was installed, he got a job in Austin, TX and moved out. He’s working in technical sales for Duo, a cyber-security company that was just acquired by Cisco. He’s loving the independence and the Austin-vibe.

Bob is starting his 5th year with East Bay Municipal Utility District, just a short commute from our house into Oakland. He enjoys getting out to some of the remote sites to “tour the facility and pick up slack” (for those that know the CAKE song!).  Working for the water district was a welcome relief from the high pressure world of pharmaceutical manufacturing resulting in a huge decrease in stress levels and blood pressure. He’ll be ok now.

We were happy to visit Oahu twice last year to see Sam & Jessica and the kids. It’s a beautiful place and their house at Manana in Pearl City is so nice. It’s a blast to play with Will and Addie and we all especially enjoyed visiting the zoo (where Will guided us to his favorite animals using the map), aquarium, and playing at the beaches and parks. We convened with Diane and Floyd (Jessica’s Mom and step-Dad) at Christmas for a great time. Good thing we all enjoy each other’s company - so much grandparent-love for the kids! And Uncle Tanner was a bonus guest - the kids think Uncle Tanner is wonderful!

Bob and Sharol also got in a few vacation weekends: visiting Diane & Jim (Sharol’s sister & brother-in-law) in Dallas, TX, a summer camping trip to Graeagle (western Sierras, north of Truckee), trips to Burbank/Sylmar to visit Bob’s parents, visiting San Luis Obispo and exploring New Orleans where Sharol had a naturalist conference in Nov.  Local hikes in the redwoods, along the beach and lakes kept us active and outdoors.

Sharol is into the second year of her chocolate-tasting business (yes, really!) - check out www.cocoacase.com. She did two classes for Piedmont Adult School and Alameda Recreation as well as her first wine-and-chocolate pairing evening at a winery in Livermore. She even has some subscribers for her monthly chocolate tasting kit delivery. A gift shop in Florida ordered her kits for their grand opening. In Feb. 2019 her business will be profiled in an article for Alameda Magazine - hopefully business will boom even more (but not too much, she is retired, after all!) She’s also going to be doing more nature writing (check out her blog at Bay Island Nature & Such https://bayislandnature.blogspot.com/ for weekly articles) as well as taking a certification class to become a “Master Birder.”

So we wish you a blessed and wonder-filled 2019! 

My Story: happy New Year!

Urban hike to Coit Tower, San Francisco with SF Bay and Treasure Island in the background.

You may have noticed a Christmas card from me has not arrived. Here it is, the second week of January, and here comes my New Year's greeting. I'm not opposed to the Christmas season. In fact, I revel in celebrating the season of the Christ child and depend on his transformational message of hope and forever love. I'm just a live-in-the-moment person. Planning ahead at Thanksgiving or earlier to write a Christmas letter or select cute photos for our "fine family" publicity shots isn't in my nature.

I love receiving those cards, letter, and photos from you, though, my friends. I marvel at how your children and pets have grown and changed over the years. I love hearing the highlights of your year and, truly, some of you could be comedians. You make me laugh so much with your annual recaps. You humorists may not even be that garrulous in person - humor is your secret weapon!

I have some concerns, though, that I'm receiving a smaller stack of cards each year. This year I was actually worried and feared that my cavalier approach was coming home to roost as the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas brought so few cards. They did roll in later this year, and there were fewer newsletters. Instead many of you seem to be opting for wonderful photo collages to send greetings and capture the flavor of your year: fantastic trips, growing children embarking on their own adult lives and families, well-loved pets, house projects, and the many fruits of our advancing middle-years and well-lived lives. I love them -- keep them coming!

In return, here is my annual greeting for New Year 2018.

I retired in March 2017 after 26 years with the East Bay Regional Park District at Crab Cove Visitor Center. I had a ceremonial burning of my khaki and tan uniform -- just kidding, actually I had a blow-out picnic party to celebrate with a barn-dance caller and live band that was one of the most fun parties I've had since my wedding. I've settled into retired life very happily, much to Bob's chagrin -- he'll be working another 3-5 years at his job with EBMUD. My days are full of writing projects, meeting with friends, launching a chocolate-tasting business (www.cocoacase.com), and staying active with my professional association (National Association for Interpretation) as a mentor to newer naturalists as well as presenting at the national workshop with my good friend Ira Bletz, and helping to plan the upcoming Spring workshop in Santa Cruz.

Also in March, we had a family reunion on Maui to celebrate my Mom's life and scatter her ashes at sea. Maui is a special place for our family since the 1980s when my Mom and Dad bought a condo in Kehei. Even after Dad died in 1994, Mom spent many wonderful times visiting Maui with family and friends including a trip with each of her seven grandchildren when they reached 12 years of age. For the last seven years Diane, my sister, Mom, and I went for a girls trip in February or March. It was a great time and fitting tribute - you can read more about it on my blog. Diane, Jim, Bob and I also cleared out her house in Half Moon Bay and sold it; Diane is working very hard as the executor which Scott and I really appreciate!

Sam, Will and Addie on the ice cream train at Ewa Beach

Sam and Jessica moved to Oahu after 3 years at Fort Campbell in Tennessee/Kentucky. We had one last trip to visit them in May before their move and made it down to Chattanooga, TN to check out an amazing aquarium. We also saw Ruby Falls, a spectacular underground waterfall with great views of underground limestone formations. Will turned three in September and Adeline, "Addie," turned one years old in October. Sam is working as a medic at Tippler Army Hospital and Jessica is in the nursing program at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. We visited them in August and November and look forward to seeing them a couple of times in 2018. We love our Facetime calls where we can chat will them, catch up on Paw Patrol, dinosaurs and Pokemon, watch Will jump on his trampoline, draw with chalk, and look at picture books together. He does his best to keep the iPad all to himself, but he's learning to share and we're seeing more of Addie these days.

Clearly Bob loves being a Grandpa!

Addie has Bob wrapped around her little finger!

Tanner graduated from UC Davis in June with a BS in Computer Science, a demanding major with emphasis on science and math. He moved back in with us and got a programming job at the company in Berkeley where he did his two summer internships. He's looking for another job in San Francisco or another major city so he can move out and launch his own life. We're enjoying time with him through the process.

Our 2018 plans include a small house remodel project (are any of them really small, though?!) to reconfigure our kitchen and add a small bathroom to our bedroom. What a luxury to finally have two bathrooms in our house! Please pray for us for a smooth construction phase and patience through the process. So, we hope 2018 is blessed with peace, joy, and most of all, love! Come visit us (after the remodel!)!

The joys of a water dog living on an island!

Maui: A Memorial Journey

My parents bought the Maui condo in the 1980s and spent my Dad’s retirement years shuttling over several times a year from their home in Orange County. After Dad died Mom continued going there on her own and with friends. As the grandkids reached the age of twelve, Mom created the tradition of a trip to Maui. She said it was a great way to get to know each one as they moved from childhood to teen. She created a special adventure week for each of them with surfing lessons, parasailing behind a powerboat, snorkeling, boogie boarding, sunrise on Haleakala volcano, and driving the long road to Hana. Each trip always culminated with the best luau on the island, the Old Lahaina Luau, where the story of Hawaii was told in traditional hula and songs.

Hula at the Old Lahaina Luau

The condo has also been the family honeymoon destination: for my husband and me, my brother and his wife, nieces and nephews, and my own son and his new wife.

Mom was a floral artist and always arranged a bouquet of fresh flowers at the condo.

Whale watching to see the humpbacks and their calves 2014.

For the last seven years Diane and I traveled to Maui with my Mom on a series of “Girls Trips.” No husbands or kids, and timed so that when we were done with winter and ready to shed the layers of sweaters, turtlenecks, raincoats and hats, Maui stood ready with her promise of balmy weather and humpback whales frolicking in the warm, tropical seas. It was a time of relaxing at the condo with many years of family traditions. We especially relished “drinking down the sunset” (a phrase coined by my oldest son, Sam, when he was six on a pre-Y2K family reunion), blowing the conch shell as the sun kissed the horizon, watching for the elusive “Green Flash” as the sun’s rays shone through the edge of the sea. We always lingered to watch the best show on earth as the sunset continued to bloom, coloring the sky long after the sun sank. Our family friends Ron and Adreinne named this, “the Gloria moment,” both for my Mom and for the glorious sky show.

This last spring we had a huge family reunion, one last trip to Maui -- not just a “Girls Trip,” we had husbands, and Mom’s grandkids and great-grandkids -- to remember and scatter her ashes. We rented condos in the same building as Mom’s place, with family parties in each other's rooms throughout the week. Every night we “drank down the sunset,” gathering at the edge of the ocean, in Mom’s memory and carried on the traditions she loved. We had new adventures together, too. Bob and I played with Will, our own young grandchild, on the beach and walked to see the turtles along the shore. We went to see the blowhole on the north end of the island, swam in a rushing waterfall, and drove to the volcano in a pouring rainstorm.

We chartered a boat on a balmy, calm evening in March, big enough to hold all of us. A Hawaiian minister joined us. He performed a ceremony that included passing the Pu’olu -- a beautiful, woven basket urn made from green Hawaiian ti leaves with intricate knots -- allowing each of us a last time with my Mom’s physical presence, to love her, remember the richness and importance of her life. Tears flowed as we released her to the embrace of the sea while the minister played the ukulele. We scattered flower petals in a blanket over the water. Nearby, whales rose from the water, we could hear their whooshing exhale. Further away, they jumped and spyhopped. Flying fish leaped from the water. The sunset gave its benediction and the “Gloria moment” went on and on. Mom would have loved every minute of it.

Sam and Eilleen: a Sweet Beginning

Sam and Eilleen 1924 It might have been Mary, Sam's younger sister, that captured one of the sweetest photos of the newlyweds, with one of the Brownie cameras that were popular at the time.

Sam was working in his Dad's cafe, the Spot Inn, in Abilene, Kansas. Tall and good looking with a quiet, calm self-possession, Sam was a hard worker. He also had a keen wit and loved to make others laugh. His blue eyes twinkled as he considered his next funny line.

Samuel Gish 1924

The diner was busy, so they put a sign in the window, "Help Wanted: Waitress ." Eilleen applied for the job and got it. She was petite, vivacious, and loved the latest fashions. In the age of the Flapper, my Grandma looked the part with her bobbed haircut and short skirts.

Eilleen 1920s

Throughout her life, she loved to tell the story that the first time she saw Sam, she told her fellow waitress, "Someday I'm going to marry that man!" Sure enough, just four months later, after a short courtship, they did get married on Sept. 19, 1923.  They didn't have a big, fancy wedding, they simply went to the courthouse in their Sunday-best clothes and said their vows. On their honeymoon, they took along Sam's five-year-old sister, Mary. When I asked her later why they took her, Grandma just said that Mary wanted to go, so they let her.

Eilleen got pregnant right away and carried a baby girl to term. Unfortunately, the baby died the same day it was born, June 26, 1924. They named her June and buried her in Junction City, Kansas. That year was to be a a hard one for the newlyweds and Sam's family. Just two months later, Sam's 14-year-old brother Glenn was hit by a train and killed. Sam's mother never recovered from the tragedy and died less than a year later of a stroke.

California lured many in Sam's family to the land of opportunity, sunshine, beaches and orange groves. First Sam's brother Dave went to California with his brother Charlie. As Dave's daughter Beverly remembers, the two didn't have very much money. Dave was an excellent mechanic and Charlie was a builder. Dave worked at a gas station and later bought a Shell Gasoline Station in Santa Ana on the corner of 17th St. and Main St. Sam's Dad and Step-mom, as well as Sam and Eilleen, followed after them. Over the next few years, Sam and Eilleen enjoyed adventures in their automobile. They traveled from Kansas to California across the desert before there were paved roads. Wooden planks over the desert sand were the only improvement over the tracks left by the wagon trains decades before!

Sam and his auto (who knew that Grandpa smoked cigars!)

Sam's first job in California was at the Sugar Beet Factory in Santa Ana. He worked at the lunch counter there. He then joined his Dad and brothers at Gish's Cafe which his Father owned in Santa Ana. Eventually Sam bought the cafe and employed his brother Ken. The Gish families lived fairly close together in Santa Ana on Eastwood Ave. Sam's brother Charlie built some of the families houses there. After they were well situated, Sam and Eilleen joyously welcomed their daughter Gloria Eilleen on March 26, 1933. She was born the same month that a 6.3 magnitude earthquake rocked Long Beach and the surrounding area on March 10th.

Eilleen and Gloria 1933

Gloria Eilleen about two years old

We'll look at Sam and Eilleen's growing family in the next blog.

Note: this blog post is dedicated in loving memory of Gloria Eilleen Gish Nelson on the first anniversary of her death (Aug. 21, 2016).

Sam Gish's Early Years

Samuel Joseph Gish at a young age

Born in Pennsylvania on February 24, 1901, Samuel Joseph Gish was the third of ten children born to Samuel Milton Gish and Elizabeth Adeline Smith Gish (married on February 18, 1896 in Blain, Perry County, PN). They lived on a farm and in about 1902 or 1903, they moved to another farm in Dickinson County, Kansas. For a flavor of what farm life was like in Kansas at the turn of the century, see the following article, especially the segment at the bottom describing a farm wife's typical day.

Ike Eisenhower in his 5th grade class, bottom row, second from left

Sam attended school through the ninth grade, when he had to quit to help on the farm. As with Eilleen's story, this was common with most Americans not completing high school. An interesting tidbit is that Sam had a younger, distant cousin, Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower, that attended Lincoln Junior High School in Kansas, where Sam also went. Later Ike went on to become a famous general in World War II and also the 34th President of the United States.

Perhaps determined not to continue with farm life, Sam's older brother, Jacob, fought in World War I, serving in Company H 139th Infantry in France and was "gassed". Though many victims of WWI poison gas either died on the battlefield or  lived very short lives, Jacob lived to be 81 years old. Perhaps he was gassed with one of the irritating gasses rather than the deadly and disfiguring mustard or chlorine gasses. When he was discharged, he came home to Abilene, KS and opened the "Home Rule Cafe" in 1919. Sam and his Dad also worked there and a few years later, that's where Sam met Eilleen.

Jacob Gish in WWI uniform in France

Sam's large family of siblings included a sad story of tragedy and loss. His younger brother, Glenn at age 14 was hit and killed by a passenger train on August 16, 1924 in Elmo, KS. Their mother never got over the incident and died of a stroke a year later on Feb. 5, 1925 when she was about 50 years old.

Elizabeth Adeline Smith Gish

Glenn Dervin Gish

Sam's father fell in love after a few years and married Ella Minnie Allinger on Dec. 18, 1928. She must have been considered a spinster, since she was 44 years-old, and hadn't married and had no children of her own. With her marriage, though, she had a 59 year-old husband and a whole family of step-children including 11 year old Mary (born in 1917) and 12 year old Charlie (born in 1916) to care for when she married "Dad." She also helped out in the cafe, baking pies.

Sam and his Dad loved cars. They were affordable and some models were made for rural living. Ford's "Model T was intended to be 'a farmer’s car' that served the transportation needs of a nation of farmers," according to the History Channel's website. The automobile enabled Sam and his family to enter the cross-country migration that eventually brought them to California. In the next post, we'll explore how Sam and Eilleen met and the early years of their marriage.

Note: click the links in the article to access further information.

Eilleen Gish - the Early Years

Eilleen Frances Vinson 1906 - two years old

Born at the turn of the century on November 13, 1904, my Grandma was the firstborn child to a young couple in the small town of Cottonwood Falls,  Kansas. Her parents were Thomas E. Vinson (born Sept. 16, 1879 in Iowa) and Malina "Lina" Sieker (born 9/5/1884 in Kansas) married on October 1, 1901. Lina's family came from Schweinfurt, Bavaria in Germany where her father, George Adolph Sieker, was born. George immigrated to Wisconsin with his family when he was 13 years old. Her father worked as a Hardwareman in 1880 in Hillsboro, KS and a flour miller in 1900 in Cottonwood Falls, KS. Lina was one of seven children. Lina's mother's parents also came from Germany in the Zimmern area of Prussia. Here's a link to more information about Germany in the late 1800s-early 1900s.

Eilleen (r) and Floyd Vinson about 1908

Eilleen's younger brother Floyd was born in about 1908. They were the only children of Lina and Tom. Eilleen's father worked as a Lineman and they lived in town, in Hillsboro, KS. Her many aunts and uncles lived nearby, several were first-generation immigrants: from Russia (a German-Lutheran settlement) and Germany. One uncle was a Teamster and owned a large threshing machine to help with farm work. Others were farmers. I recall my fascination when my Grandma talked about how she spoke German as a child. I always wanted her to say something in German to me, but she said she forgot how to speak it.

Eilleen went to school through the 10th grade but dropped out before she graduated. This was a common at the time, with only about 16% of students graduating high school nationwide in 1919-20. She did enjoy school, though, and even participated on the women's basketball team, a sport newly invented in the late 1800s by James Naismith. It was thought to be especially beneficial for women, as reported in the Kansas University newspaper, 'By 1896, the Kansas University Weekly had published an editorial calling for the introduction of basketball to the University precisely because the game was “especially well-adapted for girls as quickness and accuracy count instead of muscular strength.”' 


In the next blog we'll look at Sam's early years and then how they met and fell in love.

Eilleen is the second from right, bottom row, with the great smile. Their costumes were stylish but don't seem conducive to vigorous exercise.

High School in Hillsboro, KS about 1914

Sam and Eilleen, My Grandparents

Eilleen and Sam Gish in their garden 1960s: they were featured in a local newspaper

Grandma and Grandpa Gish seemed old for as long as I can remember, though they were only in their sixties. But I loved visiting them on weekends and for that golden week each summer when I could pretend I was an only child and the center of attention, instead of the oldest of three kids. They lived in a retirement community in Hemet, CA. When I stayed with them I fell into their daily routines. Grandpa got up early for his morning walk or bike ride around the trailer park. We had a nice breakfast with a stack of buttered toast, eggs or oatmeal. There were plenty of water breaks throughout the day as it was hot in Hemet. Grandpa in his quiet, joking way called water, "soup" as in, "that's some good soup!" They took me swimming in the community pool, full of old ladies in their flowered swim caps and skirted bathing suits. I loved going on the water slide that arced down to splash into the water. Soap operas, my Grandma's "stories" -- with dramatic storylines of unfaithful spouses, murders, and unexpected turns of events -- every afternoon followed by an afternoon nap for everyone in the heat of the day. An early dinner, often "Shake and Bake" chicken (healthier than fried chicken!), and an evening walk or bike ride. Cereal on TV trays watching Lawrence Welk or other "old people" shows before bed to help us make it through the night before we started again.

Grandma and Grandpa loved their garden. Even on the small scale of their trailer lot, they kept roses, and well-maintained plants along with a lot of little statues. They had a bulldog statue that Grandpa named "Butch" who watched over the place, and a Grecian-style goddess he called, "Big Suzy." Grandma took advantage of classes offered at the community center, gifting everyone in the family with ceramics: hearts painted to commemorate wedding dates and births, coffee mugs painted with flowers and birds. Most important of all, Grandma and Grandpa loved each other and their family: two daughters and their husbands, four grandkids, along their own brothers and sisters. Grandpa always referred to Grandma as his "Little Lady." At about 5'4", Grandma was petite to Grandpa's 6' frame.

They told fascinating stories about their life before retirement. They were far from sedate. Next blog we'll take a look at how they met and their early years.