Dear Bekka:

I know that you have so much artistic talent and I would love to see some of your work posted here. I sent your Mother instructions how to post photos. How about it? It seems this family has a lot of talent and we get this from our ancestors.

My great grandfather William Downing was an artist living in Boston. I remember being taken to his studio to visit when I was a small kid. I remember the scent of turpentine, the sight of many canvasses lining the walls; jars of brushes, lots of paint rags everywhere. My eyes grew so big and I was so impressed. I remember the dirt covered skylight in the ceiling. And looking out the window to see the St. Charles River in downtown Boston.

I do not remember who was with me when I got to go to Great Grandfather William's studio.

He was married to our great grandmother Anna Mariah Jordan who immigrated to this country in the very late 1800's and settled into Boston as an indentured servant. When her seven years servitude was up she married an English sailor/artist William. This was unheard of back then for someone from Ireland to marry and Englishman.

Anna and William Downing were the parents of Dorothy Downing Shaw; my mother's mother. They had several daughters and one son if I am remembering correctly. Brothers and Sisters help me if I am forgetting something. There was Majorie, Dorothy, Beatrice (she was the one married to Charles Kennedy of the Kennedys), another sister who married Fred and I forgot her name.

Okay I am rambling Bekka. How about let us see some of your excellent artwork; the anime!

Love you,

Aunt Nancy