29. Is there a naming tradition in your family, such as always giving the firstborn son the name of his paternal grandfather?

Is there a naming tradition in our family? 

Co-incidence or tradition? 

28. What do you know about your family surname?

 Family legend gives that our Williams name came from Wales. My Great Great Grandfather  Nasmith Williams (b. 1794) and his brother Rees  purportedly came from Wales as the story goes that has been handed down in the family. However, according to census records, his children list him as coming from Pennsylvania.

According to Wikipedia, Williams is a patronymic form of the name William that originated in medieval England^[3] and later came to be extremely popular in Wales. The meaning is derived from son or descendant of Williame, the Northern French form that gave the English name William too. Derived from an Old French given name with Germanic elements; will = desire, will; and helm = helmet, protection.^[4] It is the second most common surname in Wales and the third most common surname in the whole of the United Kingdom,^[5] the third most common in the United States of America and Australia and the fifth most common in New Zealand.^[

27.Who was the oldest relative you remember as a child? What do you remember about them?

My mother's dad, Art Gilmore was born in 1890, my dad's mother, Rebecca Ramey Dobson Williams was born in 1891. So you could say they were about the same age. 

Grandpa Gilmore was old beyond his years. He had "hardening of the arteries" ( Arteriosclerosis). I think that that effected him a lot. He also had been a hard working, hard drinking man for most of his life. He was a street fighter when he was young and in one of his fights, someone hit him in the side of the head with a board. His hearing was damaged and he was almost completely deaf when I was a kid.  

He used to read the "funny papers" as we called the Sunday comics then. But he only went to the 3rd grade and  it wasn't long before I could read better than he could. One time we, reading the comics and I corrected him. That was the last time he read to me.  

He liked to read western paperback novels. Louis Lamour was one of his favorite writers.  

25.How were holidays (birthdays, Christmas, etc.) celebrated in your family? Did your family have special traditions?

My mom made every holiday special. She would make green Jell-O on St. Patrick's Day, red Jell-O on Valentine's Day and so on.  Jell-O was a big deal in the '50's.

She always made a homemade chocolate cake that she would take right out of the oven and we'd cut big chunks of it and slather it with (real) butter while it was still hot. That and Jell-O made a fine holiday treat.

 Easter was always our first picnic of the year. We'd go to church in the morning and then take off for the woods or to the lake for a picnic. We'd roast hot dogs and marshmallows over an open fire. Many times Daddy's brother, Uncle Kermit and his family would join us.

Every 4th of July, we'd go to Old Kettle and watch the Fireworks. There was always a community gathering at the park near the swimming beach at Old Kettle - with booths and activities. In the evening the Lion's Club would set off fireworks out on the old town site of Kettle Falls.

On Halloween, when we were little and lived in Colville, we'd dress up and take out big bags to fill up with candy and then bring it back to our dad- who was pretty much a big kid himself. He would send us out at least 3 times to fill up those bags. I think he ate most of the candy himself.

Thanksgiving meant a trip to Dad's sister Aunt Joann Kruger in Davenport. We'd drive through blizzards and drifting snow to get there. Never stayed overnight- but had a wonderful time with our extended family.

Mama didn't have birthday parties when she was growing up- so it was important to her that we did. Donna's b'day was during Christmas break and mine was the beginning of December so we'd always celebrate together.  When we got older, mama would take us and our friends out to dinner and then to a movie or bowling in Colville.

Christmas Day was spent at  Grandma Gilmore's.  We'd have a big dinner and then would have to wait til after the dishes were done to open Christmas presents.

Until we got old enough to babysit, we usually stayed with Grandma Gilmore on New Year's Eve. At midnight we'd blow on noisemakers and go outside and yell "Happy New Year" to the world- or at least to the sleepy little town of Kettle Falls.