Avis A Townsend

At a Party: My husband, Dann, and I don't party as much as we used to, but when we go, we have a good time

April 14, 1984: Our wedding.. second for both.

          I am fortunate to have my children and grandchildren living close by.  My son lives about a mile from me and my daughter lives eight miles away.  I feel sorry for parents whose children leave home after school and never return, except for vacations.  I am old fashioned in that way, and I think the reason I write about the Niagara Frontier is because my roots are here and I can't be transplanted.

            I married my first husband, David, in 1967, and the Army sent us to Kentucky and Colorado, both beautiful states.  I was ecstatic when his tour of duty was up and I could get back home again, even though when I was a teenager I said I wanted to get away from here and never come back.

            Because of the Vietnam War, things were never the same after David returned from there, and we divorced amicably in 1979.  He still comes to my parties at my house, and I still go to his.  We get along like brother and sister and each of us is glad we are no longer married to each other. 

            I married my second husband, Dann (who is also David's cousin), on April 14, 1984.  We just marked our 26th anniversary.  He was in Texas visiting his daughter and I was here, minding the farm.  After all these years, we kind of go our own way and are more like roommates than anything else, but we are in it for he long haul.  He wants to move and I love it here.  

           Dann has two children from his first marriage, and they live in other states.  He visits them a lot.  Neither of them has children of their own, so he has claimed my kids' kids as his own grandchildren.  I love it when he travels because I am a loner and get to do my own thing while he's gone.

           Amy, my daughter, and her husband Mike are parents to Brooke and Jamie.  Ron, my son, has Kevin, and Andy.  Ron is rather unlucky in love but is a good father. ,

          I am a Nanny to my son's ex's two children, Kyle and Trent, and love them like they were my own.  I guess you could say everyone in the family, whether together or ex'ed, still get along pretty much..  So far my daughter hasn't had to work until recently, so she seldom needed a babysitter.

            Brooke is taking riding lessons and just began jumping a retired dressage horse that has traveled the world.  She took Western lessons for two years, and now she is taking English classes on "Fluffy" a tall, 16-hand-high horse that makes her look like a speck on top of it.  I am hoping she will take over my brood when she is a teenager.  We shall see.  If not, my next hope is tiny Kyle, who isn't blood related, but right now he is enthralled with horses and tractors.  But so was his brother, and now his life is all hockey.

First Time Around:  This was taken with my first husband, David, in 1969 when we were living near Fort Carson, Colorado after his tour of duty in Vietnam.

I loved my hair then.  So full and thick... Ahhhh...

youth - so wasted on the young. 

My Parents: Mary Elizabeth Lambert Risley and Raymond Wallace Risley, married 3/2/1946.  She was 35 and he was 38, and I came along later.  They met during World War II when she pulled his name out of a hat as someone to write to from back home.

Tiny Kyle, Andy's half brother.  No relation to Dann or I, but we have adopted him as another grandchild and we call him Peekie....  He was born 11/2/04.

This is Trent, who I call BooBoo, born on November 2, 2008.

Kids and Grandkids:

 Amy (my daughter) and Mike 

at their wedding,  12/07/91

Ron (my son) and Wende

at their wedding, 04/24/04

Andy, Ron's son..1st grandkid,

born 3/28/96... hockey fiend

Brooke, Amy's daughter,

2nd grandkid..born 9/10/96

horse girl (may she continue)

Kevin, Ron's son, 3rd grandkid,

born 7/26/99.  Game boy.

 Jamie, Amy's son, born 11/7/99

final grandchild (we think)...

loves superheroes, cars, etc.

Brooke with Fluffy, February, 2010