Christmas Greetings to
all!!
1999
Once more the year draws to a
close, only this year, several other factors are involved: the end of the month,
the year, the decade, the century and the millennium.
Hard to match those stats! At
the turn of the last century, Jesse and Nora Pye were still practically
newlyweds. Now there are scores of
their descendants spread around the country.
What is new with the Pye
relatives? New babies include Julia Catherine Wood born on Mar. 29, 1999 to
Catherine (Wing) and Bob Wood. That
gives me 4 grandchildren - 2 boys and 2 girls - who ever would have thought!
Willette and Alden Wood (Bob Wood is not related to Willette and Alden
except by marriage) became Gt. grandparents in Sept. to identical twin girls,
named Haley Elizabeth (5 lb. 5 oz.) and Amanda Lee (5 lb. 3oz.) Williams.
Suzie and Ron Williams are the proud grandparents.
Ron, Jr. and Amy Williams are the tired parents.
Traveling Pyes include Arlene Pye
Proctor who spent 8 glorious days in Scotland this past May. Some of the sights she took in were the Isle of Skye,
Inverness, Loch Ness, Balmoral and a side trip to the Carmichael lands.
Nora Carmichael Pye would have been pleased to know a granddaughter had
made it to the lands of her ancestors. There
was much to see and not enough time; so another trip is being planned for this
coming year.
Joan Hollander Hutchinson went on
an America Museum of Natural History trip to Panama and Costa Rica.
She traveled through the Panama Canal on a Panamanian ship where she saw
every size boat from canoes to huge container ships. The climate passed through
various stages from jungle to semi-arid. They
crossed the Continental Divide and saw some of the local wildlife, including
monkeys and birds. She snorkeled,
sea-kayaked, went swimming, hiking and bird watching.
Then it was off to Monteverde Cloud/Rain Forest in Costa Rica to a
working cattle ranch and more bird watching.
The year 2000 will send the
Cooper family to Newfoundland. Carole
Pye Cooper says her children and grandchildren will make the trip this coming
summer to visit the birthplaces of not only the Pye ancestors but the Cooper's
as well. They will be renting a
large motor home and then taking the ferry for 18 hours to Argentina. They hope to be able to camp on the now deserted island that
had been home to Ed's family. They
are used to roughing it though. They
live in the woods in Maine, on a dirt road that isn't plowed in the winter.
It is 3 miles of snowmobiling in and out for them.
Hardy folks are the Coopers!
Jeanne
Pye Sandford has been to Washington, DC this year and has just recently returned
from a visit to Ohio where she spent time with her family, Jackie Woodruff, Jim
Sandford and his wife Dawn and Tom Sandford.
Michael and May Williams (s/o
Suzie and Ron) left for the Philippines right after Thanksgiving.
They will be there for 2 months while Michael continues his Martial Arts
training with a Philippine Master. May
will enjoy this time visiting with her family.
I spent Thanksgiving in
Winston-Salem, NC with my daughter, Pam, and her husband, Ron, and my
grandchildren Daniel and Kassandra. Weather
was warm and wet, mostly, which didn't have any effect at all on relaxing and
enjoying.
John and Geri Hollander are
enjoying the 'empty nest' syndrome by taking day and weekend trips all over New
England.
Pyes on the move include Arlene
Proctor whose new address is: 367 Mammoth Road, Pelham, NH 03076.
Her phone # is 603-635-9989. Judi
Proctor has moved to Dorchester, NH. She
is enjoying the more remote style of living in the mountains.
She has had a bear or two in the back yard and has taken up hiking, when
there is spare time. Greg North,
her significant other, has introduced her to the 'country' life style.
The only marriage I received news
about was Jason Hollander who married Sue Wilson on Cape Cod, this past June.
Sue is a court stenographer and Jason is in Sales for a software company
in Burlington, MA. They live in Waltham, MA.
Jason is the youngest son of John and Gerri Hollander of Weymouth, MA.
Arlene Pye Proctor is working at
a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store in Tewksbury, MA and loves it.
She is in the gift shop, which is always busy.
Pam Wing Vanschoick is an Oracle Administrator for a seed and fertilizer
company with nationwide holdings. Spring
and fall are crazy times in that industry, but she is looking forwarded to some
down time this winter. Cathy Wing
Wood is now a school bus driver for the Brockport, NY school district.
This gives her a chance to work but allows her to have time with her wee
ones as well. Judi Proctor is now a
Marketing Coordinator for an imprinting company and is gaining valuable
experience in sales and trends. Jackie
Sandford Woodruff is selling Longaberger baskets, raising Scottish Fold kittens
and is primary care giver for her husband, Joe, who suffers from ALS.
Pam Brooks has left her job as a Systems Analyst for an international
bank and is now designing the data security systems for an investment
corporation. Jeff Brooks (an
electrician) has been promoted to Supervisor and hopes this will allow his
hectic pace to slow a bit. Alden
Wood is still teaching and continues to write three columns per month for
professional publications.
Jan Pye Harris is well and tries to see her husband, who is an
Alzheimer's patient, as often as possible.
Jan is in Halifax, MA where she can be close to her family.
Lisa Brooks Cicero's son, Cullen, is in the first grade. He has been awarded the Exceptional Student award for his
class. This will be televised on
the local cable access channel where they live in MA. Her little guy, Chris, who was so sick as a baby, has now
received a clean bill of health. His
Dr. said he was a 'miracle' child. Lisa's
family is doubly blessed this year.
I received a letter from Ardith
Pye describing an unusual circumstance. Marilyn
Glenjean contacted her because Ardith lives on Gerrish St. in Halifax, NS., and
Marilyn's mother had also lived on this street.
Marilyn had been adopted at the age of 3.
She had had a twin brother, Gerald, who died at the age of 3 months.
Her mother was Marjorie Clemens who had been married to a Mr. Sexton from
NFLD. There was a fire and Mr.
Sexton died. Marjorie Clemens
Sexton then went to Nova Scotia and a relationship developed with a man called
Bud Pye. There was no marriage so
there is no marriage record. It is
unknown if Bud Pye was from NFLD or NS, but he was working in Halifax during the
mid-1940's, possibly in the shipyards. However,
it is believed that he was from NFLD. The twins were born in 1945.
The adoptive family raised Marilyn but she found her biological mother,
not long before Marjorie died. It
was then that she learned of her father's name.
Now she is in search of Bud Pye, who could still be alive.
The problem is that it is unknown if Bud is a nickname or just a
shortened given name. In our
branch, there is a Budman Pye. Another
clue is that Bud Pye had sisters who were twins, but their given names are
unknown. A helpful lady in Halifax
found all the Pyes listed in the phone book for 1955 and sent them to me.
One was a Gerald Pye. Since
the boy was named Gerald, it could be the father's given name was Gerald, but he
used the nickname Bud. That is a
shot in the dark, for sure. Does
anyone out there have any info on a Pye family that had twin girls and a son who
may have been named or nicknamed Bud, who might have been from NS or NFLD. in
the 40's and 50's? It would be such
a help to this lady to know who her father was.
She doesn't want to cause an upset to any family, but would like to know
about her father and possible siblings and to know she has relatives.
Please contact me directly about this.
I can be reached by email at bwing1@rochester.rr.com or at 1038 LaDue
Road, Brockport NY 14420
Guy Mannering writes frequently from St. Johns, NFLD. He is doing some hands-on investigating into the family lore
that John Charles Pye was a descendant of Innuit and Cree women.
Not much luck so far. The
record keeping was pretty sporadic and inconsistent 150 years ago.
Some Pye addresses:
Dr.
Cory C. Pye
cpye@stmarys.com
Ian Pye
(Sydney, Australia)
ianpye@cia.com.au
messagetoian@hotmail.com
Richard Pye
pye2@mindex.com
436 La Due Road
Brockport NY 14420
(Wife Paige and daughters
MacKenzie and Madison)
Thomas G. Pye, Esquire
Website: www.pyelaw.com
The Pye Law Firm, PA
Financial West Building
2787 East Oakland Park Blvd.
Suite 301
Fort
Lauderdale, FL 33306
954-561-2100 (phone)
954-561-8190 (fax)
Andy Pye
(Jo, Livia and Nic)
pyeline@compuserve.com
Website: http://www.techtuk.com/pyeline
PO Box 376
Blackheath London SE3 8BE England
44-20-8319-0214 (business)
44-20-8856-2986 (home)
44-20-8333-6690 (fax)
Pye Wong
An interesting note from a
Chinese lady who chose the Pye name when a university professor asked her to
pick an English name for herself. Her
name is Chow Chin Wong and she is not connected to the Pyes in anyway except
that she has chosen to use our name. She
works for a Belgium company with three sites in China.
She is 2 hours from Hong Kong.
Dave Pye (and Ellen)
daveIIpye@telus.net
810 49th Street
Delta, BC V4M 2P4 Canada
Mike Pye
furpaw@excite.com
Statesboro, GA
Mike would like to hear from
other gay members of the Pye family.
Derek Pye
dekat@mobcarey.freeserve.co.uk
England
For those of us with a Carmichael
connection, Willette Wood has photos of many of Henry Gordon Carmichael's
siblings. Henry was Nora Carmichael
Pye's father. Using her scanner,
Willette will send copies to anyone interested. You must provide a self-addressed, 9x13 envelope and $1.00 to
cover postage. Send these to
Willette Wood, 140 Charles St., Reading, MA, 01867
Along with the end of the
millenium, I will no longer be writing this family newsletter. It seems a fitting time for me to put this aside and pursue
other activities. I have so enjoyed
working on this for the last 11 years, but it is time to move on.
I am hoping another member of the family would like to pick up the reins
and carry this family style newsletter into the next century.
It is not a time consuming effort but does take some organization.
Owning a computer would be a great help. Any volunteers?
It is my intent to begin a Pye
Newsletter that will include research, (mine and anyone who is willing to share
theirs), genealogy, biographies and any other historical items of interest about
Pyes anywhere, regardless of connections to any branch. This will continue to be a reporting medium for births,
deaths and marriages, from any country and any century. It is hoped that this will be a place for people to make
inquiries about the Pyes in their family trees that are still 'lost'.
I would like for this to become a vehicle for all Pyes, anywhere in the
world, to make contact with each other and assist each other in finding their
roots. This will be a subscription
letter. These details have not been
worked out as yet. Sometime after
the New Year, I will send out e-mail information and a flyer to announce the
particulars.
Many blessings to all, this last
Christmas of the millenium. May you
be always healthy, happy and prosperous in the New Year, the new decade and the
new millenium.
Retiring Pye Correspondent
Bette Pye Wing
