So after the long hard winter 2003-2004, I headed west in April 2004 to shake the family tree on the Cottrell side and see who -- or what -- fell out of the branches. I had two main goals -- to meet some cousins I'd never met before, and to see what I could dig up about the last years of my great grandfather Martin Gilbert Cottrell's life, years he spent as a Baptist preacher in Lovington, New Mexico.
In particular I wanted to meet the cousin who had walked my mother down the aisle at her wedding. I have his telegrams to my mother agreeing to do it, and his explanation of how hard it was! I was as charmed in person as I had been by email by this tall cousin, Fred Gottlieb, and his sweetheart of a wife Bea.
The real unexpected treat, because I hadn't had as much chance to get to know them by email was this pair of charmers: my second cousin Dick Moore (son of Ravia and Ivan Moore, grandson of Morris and Maud Cottrell Gottlieb) and his wife Julie. They could not have been better hosts and tour guides. I felt as if I had known them all my life, and left regretting that I hadn't in fact. But we're all committed to making up for that! We're already planning another get-together in Virginia in the fall!
We started out with some local family sightseeing: houses where Dick and the Moores had lived, and houses where his grandparents, Morris and Maud Cottrell Gottlieb, had lived at various stages of their lives in Albuquerque. And we spent a few somber moments reflecting on their lives as we stood at their graves and memorials at the Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery in Albuquerque.
The next day was pure tourist: Julie helped me spend more money than I could have imagined spending on jewelry (get a load of the eagle pendant in this shot!) and then it was on to Santa Fe for sightseeing (and more jewelry) (and a shirt) (and...) (she's a baaaaad influence), before a terrific New Mexican meal and the drive back to Albuquerque.
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New Mexico Family, April 2004
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Bea and Fred
Gottlieb
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Dick and Julie
Moore
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Cousins Dick, Judy
and Fred
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Maud and Morris Albuquerque house
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Morris' grave
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Maud's grave
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Ivan & Ravia Gottlieb Moore memorial
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Old Cathedral
in Santa Fe
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Typical Santa Fe
street scene
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Of all things,
a parking garage!
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