Aunty Marty's Big Day

My Aunt Martha Bullock Lamm turns 80 on February 2nd - Groundhog Day! I think the whole family is getting together. That means husband Bill and sons Richard, David and daughter Amy will be holding a party. Their families will be there - Dave is married to Lisa and they have two children. Lauren is a high school junior and John is in eighth grade. They live in Walnut Creek, CA. Amy (yep I named my kid the same name) lives in Denver and is married to Tom Brownlee. Their children are Kate, a HS senior and Matthew, who is a freshman. We got to see them at Christmas - nice kids! Richard is super uncle to all.

Marty and Bill with grandkids  - Hawaii

Besides being named after my grandfather (Mom's dad) Herbert Leslie, I was named after Marty (Leslie Martha). Marty is my Dad's younger sister, and boy does she have a good memory (plus she is good at embellishing!Hmm maybe I got all that along with her name.) My kids love to hear her tell stories about "back in the day". Dad and Marty's youngest sister is my Aunt Jean (my sis Cindo was named after her - Cynthia Jean).

I don't think I'm making this up. Marty attended the same place my grandma (her mom) Momo did for some of her college - Ferry Hall, in Chicago. She said they found a a liquor still in the woods on campus during her break one day. Sounds exciting, no? She spent summers in Colorado at Grand Lake, and headed back that way when she got her teaching degree. She got a got teaching job in Denver, which was a much smaller town back then - and there was no I-80 between there and Atlantic, Iowa.

Marty lived with a bunch of other teachers, and she was considering going abroad to teach when she met a certain attorney named William Lamm. Marty said when they came back to Atlantic to get married, none of the family had met Bill - and my dad was so nervous that Bill wouldn't like us. Awww - what's not to like? And we sure love Bill!

Paul and I have been fortunate to stay with Marty and Bill these past few years while Amy has lived in Denver. It's been a special time for us to spend time with the two of them by ourselves. (Plus we have our own little room in the basement of their great home). And I'm glad my children have gotten to know the two of them so well. Along with Jean and Bruce who we love hanging with too - but since they live in Arizona, we don't get to see them as often. They are all important people in our lives.

I've spent some time researching genealogy and really got a kick out of it when Marty recalled her great aunts stopping down at Bullock's Store in Atlantic. It was cool to hear about people who had only been names and dates before that. She also told us that during the war her parents didn't heat the upstairs in their home at 909 Poplar in Atlantic - they hung a blanket at the top of the stairs to keep the heat downstairs. I remember the coal chute in the basement at the lovely home. Of course by the time I was visiting there it had been converted to natural gas heat. Marty told us that Dad would make her peanut butter sandwiches during those cold nights to bribe her to sleep in his bed to warm it up. That sounds like Dad...always thinking! That must be where I got my cold feet.

Photo from Hawaii - 50th Anniversary

Here's to you Aunt Martha - have a great birthday. We love you. Watch for a package - coming from love from Iowa from all your nieces.