Long Lost Strangers

Made some copies of family stuff for the cousin. Posted pictures for him on facebook. Looked up some other cousins I don't know. Do you want to hear the story of these people? Here we go:

My Grandma Peggy was adopted in Boston in 1908. She got married at 16 or 17 because her mom liked the guy (that is how she told it). She had a stillborn baby and then when she was 18, she had Francis. She left her husband and after ten years, she met my grandfather, Lionel, and divorced #1 and married #2. They had four kids: Lionel, Karol, Fredrick and Antonio. Now just to confuse things, the kids were actually called Dan, John, Anne, Pete and Mike. Mike later became known and Tony. Tony the 2nd. Except his dad wasn't named Tony. Work with me.

Peggy and Lionel were drunks and the kids got taken away (have I told this story before? Having deja vu). Only know where my mother was sent--the Belisle family took her in. I know the mom was named Sadie. I grew up hearing about Aunt Sadie, but never knew who she was. Then I knew my mother went to a French Catholic boarding school in New York. She always made is sound like it was some high falutin' place, but she was a ward of the court and that was where they sent her.

Antonio/Mike/Tony didn't go back to the family. I don't know anything about his life, but I found he had a garage in Vermont and I sent him a letter about five years ago. His wife emailed me once and never wrote again. I just found that email and sent off another one. Not sure why.

Frederick/Pete was in the Navy (Francis was a career Navy guy--John was in it too). Afterwards he got married and had two kids. Aunt Marie told me they had money problems. He ended up sitting in the garage with his car running and killed himself when he kids were really young. My mother had always told me the Navy had him killed because he knew too many secrets. Isn't that silly? That is totally my mother. Marie told me the Navy didn't consider it a suicide so his wife could get benefits.

Lionel/ John married a woman named Jean, who had a son. They had four more kids. In the mid 70's Jean and the kids were in a car accident and Jean and two sons and a daughter died. I remember when we got that phone call. The youngest was named Lisa--she was my pal. It was weird to think she was dead. Jean came out for my mother's funeral, but a few years later she stopped responding to my letters. She had two kids. I just found a picture of her boys and found one of them on facebook. Wrote him a note. Bruce, had a substance abuse issue. He called me once, drunk as a skunk. He had a baby who died of SIDS. ARE YOU DEPRESSED YET?

Tim, the cousin I found is the son of the uncle who killed himself. So, that is how we are related. I am too depressed writing this. All for now.