First Reunion in 92 Years.
From the time Solomon Richardson left Iowa for Oregon in 1847 there was no meeting of members of his family and little if any correspondence with those of his brother Shadrach and sister Polly who went to Utah until June, 1839. At that time Milo Richardson and family of Salt Lake City visited in Dallas at the Earle Richardson home. The group pictured is: front row, Mrs. Mary E. Colby of McMinnville, Norma, Vivian, Beth and Earle Richardson; back row, LaVerne, Milo (grandson of Shadrach Richardson), Ada and Mrs. Milo Richardson. The latter four with Norma comprise the Milo Richardson family.
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A Tribute to Mary E. Colby
The original publication of the Richardson family story in 1929 was carried out to preserve as fully as possible the history of the family. It was written by Mary E. Colby, the youngest child in the Solomon Richardson family, and all credit is due her for the manner in which she had preserved in memory the incidents and family records from which she produced the story.
To me Aunty (our family always referred to her as Aunty, the others as Aunt Mary or Aunt Ellen) has occupied a unique place since I was a very, very small boy. She had a way with boys, and I suppose with girls as well, that made her seem just next to mother. It wasn't altogether the home made cookies, the candy and other good things she always kept in store. Other relatives were good to me too, but they never eccupied quite the same place in my heart as Aunty.
Tragedy had marked her life when her husband and only daughter were taken from her in a period of a few years at a time when she was still young and over half of her long life before her. A short time later when the Norman children were orphaned she became a second mother to them until they were old enough to care for themselves. She did not give way to brooding and sorrow. She carried on heroically and cheerfully and lived on through things which would have blighted the life of one less courageous. And she has done so by remembering, not forgetting.
She alone of all the family year after year has made constant pilgrimage to the graves of her loved ones in the McMinnville cemetery and at Crescent Grove. Never a memorial day passes but fresh flowers are placed on the graves of her husband and daughter, her mother and father, her brothers, sisters, nieces and nephew and old friends who have passed beyond. Against the day when she will be with them she has provided for perpetual care to insure that those beloved graves will not be covered with weeds and sod.
In another respect Aunty is a remarkable person. Her years have accumulated, but she has not grown old. She remembers the old ways and loves them, but she likes the new ways and has adapted them to her mode of living. Her mother kept the butter and cream in the spring house, hit Aunty is quite content to use an electric refrigerator. She keeps well read with a daily paper. She remembers when her parents took her from Tigard to Bethel, a long day's trip in the family wagon. But she likes to take an afternoon jaunt in someone's car to the coast resorts or to Portland. Traffic doesn't make her nervous and she is still good for an auto trip of 300 miles or more in a day without a complaint.
Truly she has experienced every mode of life in Oregon from the hardships of the first pioneers to the luxuries of the present day-and apparently she has enjoyed them all.
--EARLE RICHARDSON
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