Day 12 - George and Flo Myers, South Burlington, Vermont (Gail and Dean Kirby and Gary Myers)

During the day we had been in contact with Gail Kirby, another cousin of Sandy’s, who told us where we could visit with Sandy’s Uncle George and Aunt Flo. George is Sandy’s mother’s younger brother. We headed right to the Starr Road Nursing Center. Flo had recently had a heart attack. Fortunately she had it while she was in the hospital for another condition. She looks GREAT, and should be going home very soon after an infection in her wrist clears up. While Aunt Flo went off to physical therapy, we had a few minutes to visit with Uncle George. They have recently moved to a condominium after the airport bought out their house.

Uncle George talked about his new home, his kids, his grandkids. And as he was pulling out a photo of his great grandchild, I noticed another picture in his wallet: a picture of Flo that she had given him 55 years ago when they were dating. I commented on how beautiful she was, and he replied that in his eyes, she hasn’t changed a bit over the years. We were very touched by how after 54 years of marriage, they still give each other little kisses and say “I love you” to each other.

After a while, their son Gary arrived. Sandy had not seen Gary since he was a little boy. He recently moved back to Vermont from California. It was nice to catch up on his life over the past 40 years. Then cousin Bob Cota and his wife Terry showed up (we had visited with them the day before). And shortly after than cousin Gail and her husband Dean arrived. Gail and Dean both work at the University of Vermont. We all went to dinner at a Texas Roadhouse. Once again – the time we spent together was way too short, but we are thankful that we get to spend at least SOME time with people that mean so much to us.

After we left everyone, we took a little drive down Memory Lane. We drove down past where Uncle George’s house use to be (now a vacant lot), where Sandy’s Great Grandparents Cota lived (now a long term parking lot for the Burlington International Airport), where Grandparents Myers lived (that house is still there), where Great Grandparents Myers lived (now a bank and Post Office). We then drove by where Uncle George now lives in a condo and took a picture for Sandy’s mom. We wish we could have seen inside, but maybe another trip.