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The faces of family

Raised by the women who are stronger than you know
A patchwork quilt of memory only women could have sewn
The threads were stitched by family hands, protected from the moth
By your mother and her mother, the weavers of your cloth.

— Mary Chapin Carpenter, Family Hands

March is Women’s History Month. And for the women of my family it is a time for remembrances. There are so many family birthdays in March… and so many anniversaries of loss. And today I’m simply going to let the faces tell the stories of the women of my family, the weavers of our cloth.

My great grandmother Eula Baird Livingston Robertson
born AL 24 Oct 1869, died VA 13 Mar 1954

My grandmother Opal Eileen Robertson Cottrell
born TX 21 Aug 1898, died VA 15 Mar 1995

My mother Hazel Irene Cottrell Geissler
born TX 21 Mar 1926, died VA 23 Apr 1999

My sister Diana (R), born CO 13 March,
and me (L), born CO 19 Mar, some years ago

My great niece Addyson
born VA 14 March much more recently