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Family Photo Album
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Most of this web site is dedicated to our mission work in Japan. But some friends and family members also want to know what's going on in the rest of our lives, and especially as it relates to others who are dear to us but are not in Japan, especially our family. So here are photos and the accompanying info, so you can get to know both our close and extended family.
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Related to Karen
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 First, allow me to introduce Mari, the latest addition to the Truumaa family,
who married Karen's dad in July 2001. We were all surprised
(perhaps even Dad himself!) that after 38 years of my mom's way of doing things, and having dug roots in Indianapolis very deeply (well over 40 years), Dad not only fell in love and decided to remarry, but became the first healthy person ever to leave the Marquette Manor retirement center, moving all the way to San Diego to the house that Mari and her late husband John had owned for 30-some years. Mari, like Dad, is a first-generation Estonian immigrant, but they have both been in the U.S. so long that they didn't even consider using anything but English in the home (unless, perhaps, they want to keep a secret from others within earshot!).
Here are some fun photos from the wedding and reception:
The romantic moment we all
wait for at weddings |
The cake |
Karen welcomes Mari to
the Truumaa family |
 Karen's
mother Fran (1920-1998) hails from eastern Pennsylvania, and it seems that she
is the only one of her parents' whole family line that escaped to another
state. We haven't gotten over to Pennsylvania much lately (so no recent
photos), but I dug out this old snapshot of (left to right) Mom, her brother
Jack, and her sister Jean - I think it was taken at the occasion of Dan and
Karen's wedding (when else do all the relatives get together?).
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Karen's dad hails from the northern European country of Estonia (find
Finland, then look south across the Bay of Finland). Even though his
closest living relatives are even farther away than the Pennsylvania folks, and
Karen has only met them on two occasions so far, she took lots of photos during she and her dad's first trip in 1999. Although Dad's parents and brother had passed on, there were many others who, although we
hadn't met them before, treated us like we had been close all our lives - their
love is unforgettable. Here are some highlights of that trip:
We were welcomed at the airport with lots of
flowers and hugs |
Dad with two of his first cousins, Guido and
Vaike |
At a party of relatives held in our honor, Karen
hangs out with the kids, all kids of Karen's various second cousins |
The skyline of beautiful Old Town Tallinn |
A few of the 23,000 singers parading to
Tallinn's singing ground for the famous Songfest, in traditional Estonian
costumes |
In Tartu, Dad's hometown, we met his brother's
widow Helvi, and her niece Ruti and grandniece Emili |
Everywhere we went, relatives showed Dad old
family photos. He had been forced to leave during the war, and had
no photos from his childhood. |
Kalju, another first cousin, shows off the
cucumbers he grows on his farm. |
The cornflower, or "rukkilill" in
Estonian, is the national flower of Estonia. |
Estonia is very flat, and full of forests of
pines and birch trees like these. |
In summer it's only dark a couple hours each
night, but the sun does eventually set. Here Karen got artsy with
her camera. |
 A
historical photo collection of Karen's side of the family wouldn't be complete
without at least one real old one, so you can laugh at the little blonde baby
that turned into a missionary. Here is a Truumaa family portrait taken
in July 1964, when Karen was 2 1/2 years old. My, fashions are different
than they used to be!
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Related to Dan
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To be continued... I haven't gotten time to go through Dan's old photos yet, but I intend to someday!
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