Raymond Dale Chadwick was born in Craig, CO in 1942. He is the oldest of four children. He loves fossils and rocks. He started collecting fossils as a child wandering the high plains near his home town and then got a degree in Geology from Colorado State University. He married my mother in 1966 and they have eight children.
My mother was born Dorothy May Thompson in Chicago, IL in 1943. She spent her childhood in different parts of the West/Southwest until her family eventually settled in Dolores, CO where my grandmother taught at the local high school. My mom was the middle child of five, though she had two older half-siblings. She went to college at Colorado State University where whe met my dad. Actually, she met his grandmother while my father was serving a 2 & 1/2 year church mission in Finland and then was introduced to my father after he returned. She always told us that she married my father to be related to his grandmother.
Heather was the oldest of my parents children. She was born in 1967 in Fort Collins, where my parents lived at the time. With severe brain damage at birth, she lived only 8 months.
Amy was born in Fort Collins in 1969. She is married to Stan Spencer and they have seven children: Summer, age 18; Rachel, 15; Heather, 13; Gwen, 12; Kelly, 10; Michael, 7; and Naomi, 4. They live in Riverside, CA, where Stan works as a biologist for a research firm. My sister recently renewed her interest in book binding.
Matthew was born in 1970 in Fort Collins. He is married to Stephanie and they have three daughters: Ruby, 6; Coral, 4; and Opal, who turns 2 next week. For fun, they developed the "Gem Scouts" for the girls. They have their own uniforms (pink, with hot pink bandannas) and merit badges. They go on "Gem Scout" adventures like camping and to historic landmarks. My brother starting a new job with the State Department over the summer which will include postings at U.S. Embassies around the world. I can't wait to see what kind of international expeditions the Gem Scouts will go on.
I was born in Malden, MA, in 1975, one year after my parents moved to the East Coast. They actually lived in New Hampshire when I was born but, my mom was visiting our cousins in Boston when I was born. My boyfriend, Greg, and I are planning on getting married within the next year. I work as a Composition Specialist at RR Donnelley and I am obviously taking classes at HACC in my spare time.
Claire was born in Fort Collins in 1976. My mother flew back to have her previous doctor deliver her fifth baby. She is married to Matthew Allen (yes, it gets a bit confusing to have two Matthew Alle(a)ns) and they have two sons: Theo, 6 and Luc, 3. Actually, that's Theodore Hugo Kingley Chadwick Allen and Lucius Maximillian Jude Chadwick Allen. She gets the prize for using the most names with the least kids. Claire is working on a nursing degree and Matt has two years left to get his PhD in English from Perdue.
Timothy was born in New Hampshire in 1977. He is married to Sarah (yup, also confusing) and they have six children: Ryan, 14; Caleb, 8; Adele, 6; Aiden, 4; Conner, 2; and Jacob, who was born in May. He is an officer in the U.S. Navy and he works on deep-sea submarines. He recently shared some pictures of his crew enjoying the waters off the coast of the Phillipines. I asked him if he had tried the Slip n' Slide they had draped off the side of his boat but he said, "No." They are stationed in Seattle, WA.
Abigail was born in 1980 in New Hampshire. She is married to Jared Ross and they have six children: Ezra and Enoch are twins, age 8; Josiah, 6; Anna, 4; Benjamin, 2; and Hazel, born in June. When she went in to get her taxes done a few years ago, the tax preparer asked her if they were Jewish. She replied, "No, what makes you think that?" His response was because her entire family had names out of the Old Testament. Jared is in Special Forces with the U.S. Army and they are stationed in Kentucky (although, they live just over the border in TN).
Tobias is the baby of the family and the only one born in New York, where my family lived for 21 years. He was born in 1981. He is single but, he occasionally brings a girl home to meet the parents. He works as a production planner for RR Donnelley in Lancaster, PA. He enjoys tattoos and has around 13-14 of them. My favorite is the tattoo on his forearm of all the illustrations of kids from the wrappers of Tootsie Pops, with the Lucky Indian right in the center.