The Trussells
This photo, taken at May Trussell's memorial service in 1965 includes all the children of May and Ray living at the time. Front Row, Left to Right: Stanley, Wilmer, Rhodes. Back Row, Left to Right: Franklin, Amos, Rebecca and Robert (my father). Ray Trussell died in 1950 when I was only five years old and I have only limited memories of him. I remember that whenever we visited, he liked to go for a ride in the car. I also remember him walking with a cane. My final memories, of course, are of him in his bed, not feeling well. The only memory I have of his memorial is that my parents left me at Rebecca's for the occasion. As I recall we played with the croquet set and the hammock, both on her back lawn. I didn't really understand what happened. May lived much longer so I remember her well. Not only was she not anxious to go for a ride, it was like pulling teeth to get her to go anywhere, even to attend a family function. She did like to be visited and we visited her every week, as did all of her children living in the area. She also liked the smell of lilacs and she liked pineapple sherbert ice cream in the summer. She always used to give me a silver dollar on my birthday. Of the group pictured here, I saw Rebecca, Franklin, and Amos the most - as they all continued to live in the Escondido area. I saw Uncle Stanley only occasionally as he didn't seem to associate with the rest of the family much. I saw Uncle Rhodes only rarely as he lived in Santa Rosa. Wilmer lived in Yuma so I rarely saw him except near the end of his life when he was living on Franklin's place in Ramona where I would occasionally work or visit. I did frequently see Wilmer's son, Lewis, and his family as they often attended some of our get-togethers.