| Roe Family 2025 Christmas Letter |
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Well into our eighties life now revolves around family and doctors, with most of it focused on the grandchildren; this year in their mid to late twenties. Annie and her then fiancé Thad Dang bought a 1990's house in nearby Bolton in May, getting to experience home ownership and maintenance. Even with all the work they and their two cats love it.
On Halloween they were married at Saint Clements Castle on the Connecticut River. Wonderful time having all the family and Donna's old friends together. Our side was small with my sister and niece from Massachusetts coming. In February the newlyweds will vacation in Vietnam for their honeymoon. Wedding photos are on their wedding website. Katie, still working at Travelers Insurance in Hartford, bought a condo in April and moved to Windsor Locks. She has a new boyfriend that the family enjoys too. Adam is enjoying the challenges given him at JT Automation designing and developing advanced tools for the aerospace industry. He's living at home and enjoys barbecuing for family events, including spatchcocking the turkey for Thanksgiving at Annie's.
As Donna and Mark C. hover around 60 years they are seeing a few health issues but overall are enjoying Vernon and helping their children settle. The girls appreciate a father who is also a good carpenter. Son Mark is still at Lego. Although Lego moved most of their operations to Boston his department will stay in the area, moving near the airport, a shorter drive for him. He and Debbie recently returned from a combination business and travel trip to Prague and Austria. Each Christmas Deb and Mark's card chronicles their year and is on our website to enjoy. This year he describes their travels in Europe.
Jan had some health issues at the beginning of the year with severe foot pain, an incident with low blood sugar and also experiences short term memory loss. By midyear they were under control and she was comfortable with going out again, although not too far. She lost weight, got orthopedic shoes and now gets around comfortably with a cane. I've become a part time care taker, but Jan is content in her room with television, iPad and books. That allows me to stay involved with local organizations and historical research. Fortunately my health is good although I have my share of medics too. No travel this year so we invested in the house with a planned new chimney and front walk. Thought that was it when the water pump died this fall requiring digging up the well. On total an average weather year, but cold winter weather arrived right after Thanksgiving so that normal late fall chores will have to wait until late winter.
I've done a few talks this year and am well along on a couple of small books. With the Vernon Historical Society published a 1935 depression era history book on Vernon that the town never published. I found the manuscript in the library and as it was a valuable picture of the time felt it was worth publishing. Took a few years to get it done but we accomplished it this year.
In the spring I was the honoree at the Vernon Democrat's annual fund raiser for my work in Vernon organizing the volunteer nonprofit groups, promoting actvities and events and historical research, and writing. The event drew local and state politicians including the Lt Governor and our US Congressmen. I insisted they do it as a roast, which friends did with creativity and glee. Most fun was having the grandkids listen to what the old man does around town. The family now shares holidays with Donna hosting Easter, Annie & Thad hosting Thanksgiving, and we hosted Christmas. We had 14 this year and over the years a series of games have become a tradition everyone looks forward to and a lot of fun and laughter. For a video and a photo go to our Bits & Pieces Family page.We hope you and your families stayed safe this year. You can reach us at Jon.Roe@comcast.net.
Jon & Jan
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