Indiana-family style

August 28, 2010

Linda with Earl and Kathy Hackett

We spent Wednesday, the 25th with Pete's cousin Earl Hackett and his wife, Kathy and Thursday and Friday with his cousin Nancy Wean and her husband, John.  Pete had not seen Earl in 50 plus years and Nancy for over 10 years.  Both of them are from Pete's mother's side of the family.  Earl and his wife helped us search cemeteries so that we could record dates regarding family members on the Hackett side of the family.  We even found an old Civil War era cemetery with the help of Pete's brother Dan and his amazing Google maps.  We parted promising we would meet before another 50 years had passed.

Civil War era cemetery

John and Nancy's RV park

On Thursday, we drove to Muncie, Indiana to visit with Pete's cousin Nancy Wean.  She and her husband John were very gracious in allowing us to camp in their driveway.

Pete with Nancy and John Wean

They showed us Ball State University as well as some of the best produce markets we have seen so far.  We came away with some wonderful peaches.  Nancy and John are both retired school administrators, but we didn't talk shop...much.  Nancy was also able to fill in information regarding the Hackett family.  It meant a lot to Pete to be able to renew family friendships with Earl and Nancy and to relive wonderful memories of time spent in Indiana as a child.  We are now headed for the Blue Ridge Parkway by way of Ohio and West Virginia. Cheers!