Be Delighted

"Oh my my my my, what an eager little mind!"

Auntie Mame

Friday, September 18, 2015

Roots and Branches

This post is all about Geneology and the British side of my family tree (the Russian side is harder to trace due to small snags like the Russian Revolution and World War II). I am mainly writing this page for my relatives and close friends to enjoy so it may be of no interest to anyone else.

We had visitors from England this past week, Matt and Sapna Tugby from Durham, England.
Here's Durham on the map, up near the Scottish border. There's a big cathedral there.

Here's where Matt fits into our family story. My mother, Joyce Radford, was the youngest of four children, born in Long Eaton, Nottingham, England, in 1924. She had three older siblings, Jack, Gladys, and Nell. Jack died in 1950 of tuberculosis. Nell married Harold Tubb and had one child, my cousin Brian. Gladys married Frank Salmon and had two children, Janet and Gay. Matt is the youngest son of Gay. Mom married Vadim Komkov and had five children, thus holding the record so far for anyone in recent generations.

Gladys, Nell, and Jack in 1918 before Joyce was born.


Here are my mom, Joyce and her sister, Gladys and Nell in the 1940's.
Aunt Nell's wedding photo.


 Here is Matt's Dad, Gay, as a little boy. And Gay's sister, Janet.
 The Salmon family, Frank, Gladys, Janet, and Gay in the 1940's.

At this point our British family lineage had all been staying put for centuries in the same region, but then things happened. Mom met, Dad, the crazy Russian, who was now stationed in England during WWII, fighting with the Polish RAF squadron. They got married in 1946.




 Then I came along. Jobs were scarce in post war Britain so Dad got an engineering job in Johannesburg, South Africa, where my sister, Stephanie was born, then later we moved to Kitwie, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) where he worked as an engineer for the Rhokana copper mines, and where my sister Andrea, was born.

Dad and I on board ship to South Africa.
 Kitwie: Mom with myself and baby, Andrea, (soon to become much more attractive). 1956

Meanwhile, Gay's older sister, Janet, now a teenager, came to visit us in Africa, met and married Gawie Roux, and remained in Africa to settle in Zambia then South Africa. Our family was now slowly spreading out across the world. Shortly after this my Dad got a job at the University of Utah and we emigrated to the U.S. in 1957.
Look at these poor immigrants (Stephanie and myself) boarding the ship in Cape Town.
Meanwhile, Matt's wife Sapna's parents, left India in the 1970's and emigrated to England, where many years later, in 2012, Matt and Sapna would marry.
Matt first visited us in 2003 when he was a college student, and wanted to come over and visit this branch of the family. Nell's son, Brian had already brought his wife and three kids to the states in 1982, and later with his twin boys, Edwin and Arthur in 1994.
Here Brian is with his grown children in 2012. Edwin, Arthur, and Maisie, who has three children of her own.

Which brings us back to Matt and Sapna, and what a lovely visit we had this past week, especially as they got to see Mom, now 91, and catch up on memories and back stories. Matt was officially in the U.S. as a professor of philosophy (A PhD in the true sense of the word) from Durham University, presenting a paper at a conference at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Lubbock was just a short detour. Here are a few mementos of their visit.

At the Ranching Heritage Center. Followed by a visit to the Ansel Adams exhibit at the TTU Museum.
Matt and Sapna, with Andrea and myself. It was a beastly hot day!
It's not an official trip until you go to Prairie Dog Town:


The Robert Bruno house at Lake Ransom Canyon:
The Buddy Holly Center. Closed on Monday but we still got a photo op with the glasses.
And of course, lots of good food, including barbeque, Mexican food, and hearty breakfasts (yes, both Matt and Sapna commented on the huge portions of food they serve in the U.S.). But importantly, they got to spend time with Joyce and reminisce. She was so pleased to see them.