Posted March 20, 1999 update March 23, 1999
Leslie Reunion 1999 home page | Start of Family Tree | Blake page in family tree
I was born in Mexico City, Mexico on August 18, 1932 in the English Hospital. Mother said we went home to my Abuelita's house in Colonia del Valle and I lived there with them and my mother and father and my aunties....Tia Queta, Tia Zulema and Tia Lenora and then moved to an apartment and after that to San Angel to our house there... I still remember that house very well and was lucky enough to see it on a trip to Mexico...anyway, when I was about seven years old, my father, Martin Edwin Blake died and it was a very sad time for us...my mother, Margaret was still quite young and at the time he passed away she had three children, Ed who was four years old and John who was just 18 months old, and me.
We moved into the house on Colonia del Valle with Abuelito and Abuelita and Tia Zulema and Tia Len..Tia Queta had married Uncle Walter by then. I remember Tia Zulema's wedding and how excited we all were when she married Tio Hector. I can also remember how Tio Hector arrived early one morning with the mariachis to serenade Tia Zulema and we all ran to the Portico to look out at them...Tio Alberto or "Tio chicken" as we called him then would also come over and visit Tia Len and they took me to school a lot and picked me up afterwards...at that time I was going to the American school...I attended it through second grade.
My Abuelito thought it would be better for all of us to move to the United States for an easier education and lifestyle so we moved in 1940 to Temple, Texas. I remember riding on the train to Temple. We bought the house at 1113 North Main Street and we have a lot of wonderful memories from there. I had a very happy childhood and lots and lots of sweet memories of life there in Temple with mother, Abuelito and Abuelita and Tia Len and Ed and John...
Tia Len worked in Temple for a lawyer and mother went to work at Scott and White Hospital. Tio Alberto went to Texas A&M University and would come over on the weekends to visit Tia Len. It was always fun to see him.
I went to school in Temple and graduated from Temple High School. I met Don Elliott in Temple High School when I was 15 years old and we married on September 1, 1951, a year after I graduated from high school. Don went to the University of Texas for a year and I attended a business college and worked for the Social Security Administration.
In 1952, Don joined the Air Force during the Korean War. He was a radio operator instructor and we were in Biloxi, Mississippi where our first daughter, Karen, was born and later in Greenville, South Carolina, where our second daughter, Andrea was born. After 4 years in the air force, Don returned to the University of Texas and graduated with a business degree.
He went to work for the Kroger Company in Houston Texas and we lived there 8 years. Our third daughter, Nancy, was born in Houston. During our time in Houston we were lucky enough to go to Temple to see mother and Abuelita at least every month and those were special times. Then we were transferred to Louisville, Kentucky and then Cincinnati, Ohio. It was in Cincinnati that our fourth daughter, Maria was born. We have lived in Cincinnati now for 31 years. They have been wonderful years and we have now been blessed with 4 wonderful son-in-laws and 20 and almost 21 grandchildren. Karen and Rob Weber and Mike, Beth, Katherine, Amy, Sam, Emily, John, Evangeline, Margaret and?...Andrea and J.B. Knight and James, David, Margaret, Mary Ellen and Samuel...Nancy and Jeff Kosse and Kaitlin, Caroline, Patrick and Sarah ....Maria and Joe Kelley and Lydia and Adeline...Karen and family and Maria and family live in Cincinnati and Nancy and family in Louisville and Andrea and family in Nashville.
Don retired from Kroger l2 years ago and until that time I had always been a Homemaker or as I call it a "Domestic Engineer". When he retired, our daughters were grown and the last one almost in college, so when she went off to school we decided to go to Mexico and work with some small companies. We drove to Mexico and stopped on the way to see "the girls" (Mother and Tia Queta) on the way and then on to Monterrey where we developed a business relationship with about 100 small companies. Don had worked and developed an import export company for the Kroger Company, so he used his expertise to help small companies try and develop in this field. I was the official Vice- President and translator and that was fun for me too. We worked with these companies until two years ago, when Don then officially retired.
We enjoyed helping these people and developed a lot of nice relationships with the people with whom we worked in Monterrey. During this time, we also were able to be in Temple a lot with Mother and Tia Queta. We have also volunteered with the International Executive Service Corps., which is an organization that sends volunteers to third world countries to help in development of businesses. We have been blessed to be able to go to Caracas, Venezuela, Nairobi, Kenya and Almaty, Kazakstan.
We spent three months in each of these countries and Don worked with the companies helping in the pharmaceutical industry to try and improve their businesses and bring more medicine into the countries. Somehow, these opportunities arose so we wait to see what is going to happen next. We enjoy being with our family a lot and still go to Temple about every 3 months and visit with the "girls" and also spend a lot of time with our girls' families. We are active in St. Timothy's Episcopal church here and are lay-readers and attend a Bible study every week and also have been involved with the churches where we traveled. We enjoy yard work and do play a little golf and play with the kiddos when they are around....so far in our retirement, we have been busy and loved it and now , like I said, wait and see what the Good Lord has for us next.....
I feel that truly god has blessed me, not only with my own family here but also with my dear mother and aunties and my grandparents and cousins and the rest of the wonderful family that we all share...........