Wordless Wednesday: Pippi

This is a pic of my Pippi (maternal grandfather) boiling crawfish. I believe it was taken when they lived in a trailer park in New Iberia, Louisiana. His birthday is tomorrow, January 10! Miss you, Pip!

Wordless Wednesday: Beulah

This is a pic of my maternal grandparents, Clifford Robert Drouillard and Violet Mae (Currie) Pemberton Drouillard. It was taken around 2005-2007 in Beulah, Michigan. They were visiting my great-uncle, William "Bill" Pemberton. Beulah is in the northwestern part of the state on Crystal Lake. I really like the background in this picture. The barn reflection in the window and the landscaping make for a very pretty backdrop.

Clifford Robert DROUILLARD: Petition for Naturalization

Two weeks ago, I posted about a story I was piecing together on my second maternal grandfather, Clifford Robert DROUILLARD. I had found an entry in Ancestry.com's naturalization index, which showed that he filed a petition for citizenship with the Eastern District of Michigan U.S. district court in 1965. I had also found some references to his case in documents on the USCIS website defining good moral character. My suspicion was that he had trouble becoming naturalized because of a false identity he provided upon his entry in the U.S. Marine Corps in the early 1950s, a story that he told me about in December 2008, about nine months before he died. He did not say that was why he was never naturalized, but he did tell me that he was a only a legal resident and not a citizen of the U.S.

I followed Ancestry.com's directions about where to find the actual naturalization records to which the index card was referring. I ordered his file from the National Archives-Great Lakes Region in Chicago through their online ordering system for $7.50. I received it very quickly, but I was disappointed to find that it only contained his petition for naturalization. In any event, I was excited to at least have the petition because it did provide info that I did not have, such as his military service dates and his date of entry into the U.S. (though I believe it was his second date of entry after he was sent back to Canada for falsifying his military records).

I will not post the actual petition because it contains information on his second wife, who is still living (I should probably ask my aunts how to get in contact with her). I will, however, share the pertinent information contained in the document.

• Filed under Section 329 at the district court of the U.S. in Detroit, Michigan
• Full name is Clifford Robert Drouillard
• Resided at 3191 Wadhams Rd. in North Street, St. Clair, Michigan
• Worked as a mechanic
• Born on 10 Jan 1932 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada
• Medium complexion
• Brown eyes
• Brown hair
• 5'8" tall
• 170 pounds
• Scar on center forehead
• Citizen of Canda
• Married to B. on 14 Nov 1964 in Port Huron, Michigan
• B. was born in 1936 in Pembroke, Ontario
• B. entered the United States with him in May 1961 at Port Huron, Michigan
• B. had not been naturalized
• Served in the U.S. Marine Corps under service no. 1348427 from 25 Oct 1952 to 2 Mar 1954
• Entered military service at Detroit, Michigan
• Honorably discharged on 2 Mar 1954 (I had my suspicions about that one)
• Had resided continuously in the U.S. since 15 May 1961
• Had 4 living children
• Witnesses were Leo F. Drouillard, railroad switchman, of 3188 Wadhams Rd. in North Street and Eva G. Caughill, housewife, of 3596 Pollina Ave. in Port Huron. (his brother and sister)
• Alien no. was A8 857 380.
• Filed on 26 May 1965 at Detroit, Michigan
• Denied by Judge Kaess on 11 Jul 1967 due to failure to establish proper documentation

The parts of the petition asking for his date of lawful entrance were crossed out and left blank. I have a feeling that he entered the U.S. illegally, since he told me that he had been deported to Canada after falsifying his military records. He also crossed out and left blank the parts about being physically present in the U.S. for the six month period preceding the date of filing the petition. I imagine he had gone back to Canada to visit relatives numerous times during that six-month period (three of his sisters remained in Canada). He did swear to residing in the U.S. for the six-month period, however.

I was disappointed that there was no documentation proving why they chose to deny his petition. I decided to check out the good moral character references on the USCIS website one more time to see what I could find. I had only skimmed them before. I sure am glad that I decided to look at them in more detail.

What I found was that Section 329 allows an alien who has served in the U.S. military to petition for naturalization in a more expedient manner than the normal course. This is the section under which my grandfather filed his petition. The document in which his case was referenced was an interpretation of Section 329.1 Naturalization based upon honorable service in the armed forces during wartime. He is mentioned in Footnote 33, which is attached to this part of the interpretation:

In determining whether the petitioner has met the burden of establishing good moral character, the inquiry into these matters shall extend to the petitioner's entire lifetime. Should the inquiry disclose relevant adverse conduct or activity which occurred during a reasonable period of time immediately preceding the date of the petition, and/or during the period between the date of the petition and final hearing, and the adverse information is of sufficient weight and probative value to warrant the finding, it shall be concluded that the petitioner has not sustained the burden of proof, and he shall be deemed ineligible for naturalization.

He is also mentioned in Footnote 35, which is attached to this part of the interpretation:

(7) "Separated under honorable conditions" requirement . (i) Undesirable discharge . A petitioner who was issued an undesirable discharge from the Marine Corps in 1954 because he falsified his name, age, place of birth, citizenship, arrest record, and previous military service was held not to have met this requirement, since under section 13254 of the Marine Corps Personnel Manual an undesirable discharge is defined as a separation under conditions other that honorable, issued for unfitness, misconduct, or for security reasons.

They are obviously talking about my grandfather because this matches up with the story he told me and the dates of military service he gave in his petition. Also, the alien number in the footnote matches the alien number on his petition, so I know for certain they are talking about him and not a person with the same name. Apparently, he received an undesirable discharge, which is somewhere between honorable and dishonorable. Because the interpretation is referencing all of this, I know there must be more info than just the petition.

After much research, I found on the Blood and Frogs blog that the USCIS usually has more information than what is on file at the National Archives for naturalization occurring after 1906. I've decided to go ahead and request his A-file (alien file) from the USCIS under the Freedom of Information Act. I have to submit proof of death, but that shouldn't be a problem because they will accept obituaries and SSDI printouts as proof. I also have a proof of death certificate from the funeral home. I thought I read that the agency had to respond within 20 days to an FOIA request, but I also saw on the ProGenealogists blog that it can take 18-20 months, so I may have to be patient. They have a genealogy record search program, but because his records are more recent than the files covered by that program, I cannot request them through that program.

In the meantime, I may also try requesting the records from the U.S. District Court in Detroit. They have what seems like a simple online ordering system, and they also have an online records search system, though I don't know if records from 1965-1967 are available online. I have my doubts about that. Registration for the online system is free, but you have to pay for search results. I'm just not exactly sure what to request from the U.S. District Court. I have the petition number, his alien number, and the dates, so maybe that will be enough for them to retrieve the rest of the file.

I also need to order the military records, especially since I now have the dates and service number. I did find an unusual social security card in my grandmother's photo albums that I inherited when she died in 2008. It was a social security card for a man that I didn't recognize. I don't know anyone in the family by this name, so I have no idea why we would have a social security card for him. I am beginning to wonder if this was my grandfather's friend that he was covering for in the military. I did a little searching, and found that there is someone around my grandfather's age with that name who appears to still be alive and living in Fort Gratiot, St. Clair, Michigan. However, it was a common name, so I'm not sure if this living person has any relevance or not.

So, stay tuned! It may be several months before I get any additional information, but I will keep you posted.

Update: Moving Back to Louisiana and A Little Story About My Pippi

I just realized that I haven't posted anything in a whole month! A lot has happened since then. As the title of this post says, I am moving back to Louisiana in October! I have really enjoyed my stay in North Carolina, but I miss my husband and we've decided it is best for me to move back there rather than he move here, as originally planned. It is time for me to move on in my career and it will be really nice to be closer to family and friends again. Now that my sister and brother-in-law live in Arkansas rather than California, it will be nice to be closer to them too.

I am still studying for the CPA exam. I was supposed to take the audit part of the exam on 8/29, but Hurricane Irene had other plans for me. She shut down my testing center in eastern North Carolina and I had to reschedule for October since they they don't offer it in September and the other two days left in August were already booked up. Hopefully, I will be finished by the end of November.

In genealogy land, I have been working on the ever continuous cleanup of my sources in my RootsMagic database. I feel like I will never be done. I should probably start a goal sheet for the cleanup so that I can see the finish line, especially since I may be unemployed soon if I don't find a job in Baton Rouge right away. I have gotten the sources cleaned up for the families of my parents, sister and bro-in-law, both sets of grandparents, and all of my aunts, uncles, and first cousins. Right now I am looking at the sources for the parents and siblings of my second maternal grandfather (not my mom's biological father, but he is the only maternal grandfather I ever knew...he raised my mom and her siblings after their father died in 1970, and they all consider him their dad too...as mentioned in previous posts, I prefer not to call him step).

And speaking of my second maternal grandfather, Clifford Robert Drouillard (1932-2009), I have been piecing together an interesting story. My grandfather was born and raised in Windsor, Ontario. At some point in his teen years (c. 1945), I believe he moved to Port Huron, Michigan, with his parents and siblings (not certain about the exact date). After my grandmother died in 2008, he told me a story about his time in the U.S. Marine Corps. He said that a friend of his from Bay City, Michigan, was supposed to go into the Marines, but due to personal reasons did not feel that he could make the commitment after he had already sworn in to go. My grandfather offered to "take his place" in the Marine Corps, so my grandfather pretended to be his friend from Bay City. I'm not quite sure how long the ruse lasted, but eventually, he and his friend were caught by military officials. I knew at the time he told me the story that he had divorced a lady named Ann in the 1950s in Florida (thanks to Ancestry.com), but I had no idea who she was or why he had been in Florida. According to him, he married Ann, who was in the real estate business, because someone told him that if he married her, he could stay in the U.S. Apparently, he was going to be sent back to Canada for his wrongdoing. He soon found out that wasn't the case and he was deported back to Canada anyway. He and Ann divorced in Hillsborough County, Florida, in 1956.

Fast forward to 1964, and my grandfather and his second wife, B (still living so I will keep her name private), married in Port Huron, Michigan, and both gave residences as Michigan and birthplaces as Ontario on the marriage record. They had just had their fourth child one month before their marriage. The first three children were born in Ontario, but the last one was born in Michigan.

In 1965, my grandfather petitioned the Eastern District federal court in Detroit for U.S. citizenship. I found the entry in Ancestry.com's naturalization index database. While I was searching, I decided to google his full name and the word "immigration" to see what I could find. I found that the USCIS seems to be citing my grandfather's case to further define "good moral character." Knowing the story about the military, I am now wondering if he had trouble getting his citizenship because of his past wrongdoings. Perhaps this is what the USCIS is alluding to in their footnotes.

I do know that he never received citizenship status. He was a permanent resident when he died in 2009. He was afraid to go back to Canada for a few years after September 11 when they started tightening the borders, and I'm wondering if it had something to do with his past. I am beginning to wonder if the only reason he received permanent residency was because he had a child who was only one year old in 1965 and who was an American citizen by birth. I did a little research on permanent residence status and learned that people with an American spouse and/or an American child under 21 years old are typically granted the status without too much fuss. 

In any event, I ordered the naturalization file from the National Archives branch in Chicago, and I will keep my readers posted. I hope that I am not disappointed and that it takes me one step closer to learning more about my grandfather. Sometimes, it's hard to remember that your parents and grandparents were people too before they were your parents and grandparents. I never thought to ask him questions about these things because he was just my "Pippi." He may not have been perfect, but a man who raised eight children that weren't his own as if they were his own has "good moral character" in my opinion.

Happy Birthday, Pip!

Clifford Robert Drouillard

(My maternal grandfather)

January 10, 1932 - September 7, 2009

Pip on the shores of Lake Huron

Me and Pip, c. 1981

Pip reading to Taylor, c. 1997

Pip and Paige, c. 1991

Hope and Pip, Dec 2008, just after Mim's funeral

Wordless Wednesday: My Maternal Grandfathers

This is a pic of my maternal grandfathers, John Peter Pemberton (1928-1970) and Clifford Robert Drouillard (1932-2009). They were friends for several years before John Peter passed away at age 41 from cancer on 12 Oct 1970. Clifford met John Peter through my grandmother, whom he worked with at the Prestolite factory in Port Huron, Michigan, in the 1960s. Clifford and his wife began bowling with my grandmother and John Peter. After John Peter died, Clifford's marriage ended in divorce, and he and my grandmother married on 22 May 1972.

In this picture, they are in their bowling outfits, so this must have been taken after a bowling game. It looks like they are at someone's house celebrating. This was probably taken sometime between 1967 and 1969. John Peter is on the left, and Clifford is on the right.

Thanks to Alanna at A Twig in My Tree, who gave me this idea to post the pic of my two grandpas together. See her two grandpas here.

Wordless Wednesday: Cousins #6

Blake and Bryonna
Sep 2008

Wordless Wednesday: Cousins #5

Billy, Paige, and Stephen
abt 1990

Wordless Wednesday: Cousins #1

Kennzie and Bryonna
Sep 2008
Visiting Michigan family on the run from Hurricane Gustav

Veteran's Day Salute

I would like to say a big thank you to all the veterans in my family:

My dad: Michael David Trahan, U.S. Coast Guard, 1974-1978
My paternal grandfather: Benford Maurice Trahan, U.S. Navy, 1955-c. 1958
My maternal grandfather: John Peter Pemberton, U.S. Army Air Corps, 1946-1949
My maternal grandfather: Clifford Robert Drouillard, U.S. Marines and Canadian Royal Army, c. 1950-c.1960
My first cousin: Michael Adam Pemberton, U.S. Air Force, 1995-2008
My uncle: George Albert Pemberton, U.S. Army, c. 1971-c. 1973
My uncle: James Frederick Chamberlain, U.S. Marines (served in Vietnam), c. 1966-c. 1970
My great-uncle: William John Mertena, U.S. Army (served in Korea), c. 1953-c. 1957
My great-uncle: William Howard Pemberton, U.S. Army, c. 1950-c. 1954
My great-uncle: Franklin Mearl Pemberton, U.S. Army, c. 1951-c. 1955
My great-great-great-grandfather: John C. Pemberton, Company C, 1st Michigan Cavalry, Civil War
My great-great-great-great-uncle, Stephen Pemberton, Company C, 1st Michigan Cavalry, Civil War (died from illness contracted during Civil War service)

Another special thank you goes out to two friends of mine who both died in Afghanistan:

Jimmy Shawn Lee (1978-2005), U.S. Marines, Mount Vernon, Indiana
John Michael Hennen (1981-2007), U.S. Army National Guard, Vinton (Louisiana) High Class of 1999

Jim is the cousin of my best friend, Rachel, and I went to school with John for several years in Vinton.

Wordless Wednesday: Clifford Robert Drouillard

Clifford Robert Drouillard (1932-2009)

Bad News

I have been away from blogging for a week or so due to the deaths of both of my grandfathers.

On Sunday morning (9/6), my paternal grandfather, Benford Maurice TRAHAN, died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 74. He had congestive heart failure, and occasionally had heart trouble, but this just happened all of a sudden and was quite shocking. My grandmother is a regular reader of this blog, so please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. They were married for 54 years.

Then, as I was preparing to take a trip back home for the funeral services, I found out on Sunday night that my maternal grandfather, Clifford Robert DROUILLARD, was not doing too well either. I knew he had been in the hospital at least twice since July for pneumonia and that they had found lung cancer, but I didn't realize that he was going to go so quickly. He was in Canada, so I was not able to see him over the last two months. I last saw him in June, when I was in Michigan for my uncle's funeral. Therefore, I only got updates from my mom, who got them from my aunts in Michigan. I had made it back to my parent's house in southwest Louisiana by Monday afternoon, and my aunt came and told us on Monday night (9/7) that he had died about 9 p.m. in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He was 77.

It's just very weird because I had all four grandparents alive at this time last year. I went from having all four alive down to having one alive.

One good thing about my maternal grandmother's death (in December 2008) was that it got my grandfather (Cliff) talking to me about how they met. I had always heard from family members that he was best friends with her first husband, John Peter PEMBERTON, who died in 1970. According to Pippi, he was actually friends with my grandmother, Violet, first. They worked together in the '60's at the Prestolite factory in Port Huron, Michigan. He was a driver and she worked on the assembly line. He said he flirted with all the ladies on the assembly line, and he had a crush on my grandmother, but he was married and so were most of them, including my grandmother. He said that one day she told him to come over to her house on Stone Street to meet her husband and kids. She said he would know what house it was because there would be a lot of kids playing in the yard (she had 8 kids!). He said he took a 6 pack of beer on a Saturday and drove around the Stone Street neighborhood but couldn't remember the address. So on Monday, he said, "You almost had a visitor this weekend, but I couldn't remember which house it was." So she invited him and his wife to go bowling with her and John Peter and some of their friends that week. From then on, he became friends with John Peter too. He said that one day John Peter told him that he knew Violet and the kids would be okay if anything happened to him because he knew that he (Cliff) would take care of them. I think John Peter must have known by this time that Pippi had a crush on Mimi. Sure enough, in 1970, at the age of 41, John Peter died of lung cancer, leaving my grandmother with 6 minor children to raise. Mimi and Pippi married two years later in 1972.

Although I have lost three grandparents in nine months, I am very thankful to have my paternal grandmother alive. She says she is not going anywhere anytime soon, and I believe she is probably right. She is really tough and independent and very sharp. She's also very hip because she uses email, has a Facebook account, and leaves comments on my blog. I think I'm the only one of my friends whose grandmother has a Facebook account. She even uses her Facebook account. Oh, and she's also very creative!!

One thing I didn't realize fully before this week was how like my paternal grandfather I am. We were going through his files where he kept his bills and insurance policies and such, and I realized that that must be where I get my organization skills from. Of course, before I met my fiance, I never realized that I was particularly more organized than anyone else. My fiance's file box consists of a large pile of papers with no file folders. Scary!! I know that I didn't get the organization skills from my maternal grandparents because we are still searching for their original wills (I have no clue why the lawyer did not keep the originals). My maternal grandmother was ALWAYS losing things. My maternal grandfather lost his birth certificate after he got to Canada in May, although I know I gave it to him when we were going through my grandmother's things after she died in December.

Anyhow, I will quit rambling for now.

Off to Michigan in the Morning

Well, it looks like I will be going to Michigan after all this year. Unfortunately, it is not under the best of circumstances. I found out late Monday night that my uncle passed away from a massive heart attack. He was only 52, and it was rather unexpected. He has three young daughters, so this has been especially hard on them. Please keep our family in your prayers as we all travel to Michigan and for my aunt and my cousins as they cope with the loss.

Perhaps next week I will be able to do a live research trip post if I am able to grab a few hours to go to the library or courthouse there, and if I can find an internet connection. But most of my time will probably be spent with family, since I don't have very much of it, so I think I will probably have to put my research desires on hold for a better time. But it will sure be nice to see everyone again. Perhaps I should use the time to interview my great-uncle instead of going to the courthouse or library.

Dennis Douglas Drouillard, 1957-2009

Hope and the Alligators

I was looking for pictures for the next Smile for the Camera Edition, but I happened across these two. They have nothing to do with the next edition of Smile for the Camera, but I never noticed before that I had two pictures of the same cousin with alligators.

This first picture is my cousin Hope with a family friend and a gator, of course. Don't worry, as I'm sure the gator's mouth was wrapped shut. I believe her dad and his friend had gone hunting that morning for alligators. Looks like they found one! Only in Louisiana!

This is my cousin, Hope, again with my sister and I, this time on a fake alligator. I believe this was one of our pool toys that we took to the community pool mentioned in my previous post about swimming lessons.

Anyhow, I am off to bed now, but just wanted to share these pics!

Chaney-Drouillard Wedding - June 13, 2009

I'm posting some photos of my cousin's wedding this past weekend. It was a pink theme (just in case you can't tell!).

Wedding Cake

Decorations on cake table

Groom's Table - Can you tell he's a Texan that grew up on a rooster farm?

Don't Mess With Texas!

Ring bearer - before dress up

Bride getting ready

Tribute to our grandmother, Violet Mae (Currie) Pemberton Drouillard

Unity Candle

Bride's Bouquet

Flower Girl Baskets

Flower Girl Dress

Ring bearer - after dress up

Flower Girl - Getting ready

Another flower girl getting ready

Saying the Vows

Congratulating the couple

My Mom with Baby Cousin Brynnum

My Mom and I with the Bride and Groom

A Tribute to My Grandmother: Violet Mae (Currie) Pemberton Drouillard AKA Mimi

I've decided to write about my maternal grandmother, Violet, or Mimi, as I called her, who recently died on December 15, 2008. This pic is one she and I took around 2003 for the membership directory of Welsh Memorial United Methodist Church in Vinton, Calcasieu, Louisiana.



Violet Mae Currie was born on 24 Oct 1930 in Flynn Township, Sanilac County, Michigan. Her parents were Archibald "Archie" Currie (1889-1963) and Jennie "Jean" Grace Christina (Plaine) Currie (1903-1937). [1] She was named after her mother's older sister, Voylet Elmyra Plaine.

Violet had two older siblings, a brother, Howard Archibald Currie, born in 1925, and a sister,
Helen Floretta Currie, born in 1927 [2,3]. Both died when they were very young. I seem to recall my grandmother saying that one of them died shortly after she was born in 1930, but I can't remember which one. Nonetheless, neither of them are listed in the 1930 U.S. Census with Jennie and Archie, so it is likely both died before 1930 [4]. I need to add the search for their death records to my to-do list.

Violet's mother, Jennie, died of a heart attack
when Violet was only 7 years old on Christmas Eve in 1937 [5].

Archie never remarried, and Violet grew up as an only child on the family farm outside Marlette, Michigan. Below is a picture of Violet with her friend, Margaret Mahaffy, about 1935, outside the family home. Violet is the blonde on the left.

Violet graduated from Marlette Township High School in 1948 [6].

On 9 Sep 1949, Violet married John Peter Pemberton, son of John "Jack" Vital Pemberton and Mabel Ellen Crysler. [7,8] They were married at the First Methodist Church in Port Huron, St. Clair County, Michgan. [8] Violet met John when he was home on leave from the military.

John and Violet had 8 children between the years of 1950 to 1960. [9]

1) John Michael Pemberton b. 1950
2) Deborah Darlene Pemberton b. 1952
3) George Albert Pemberton b. 1954
4) Stephen Andrew Pemberton b. 1955
5) Brian James Pemberton b. 1957
6) Mark Anthony Pemberton b. 1959
7) Pamela Sue Pemberton b. 1959
8) Gloria ViAnn Pemberton b. 1960

The family lived at 1828 Stone Street in Port Huron from 1956 to about 1973. [10] When they first married in 1949, John worked on the assembly line at Chrysler [7]. He then began work as a fireman for the Grand Trunk Railroad in 1950 and was promoted to engineer in 1955. [11] He remained with the railroad as an engineer until his early death from lung cancer in 1970. [12] Violet worked at the Prestolite plant, from which she retired in the early 1970s. [13] It was at the Prestolite plant that Violet met the true love of her life and second husband, Clifford Robert Drouillard, or "Pippi," as some of us grandchildren call him. [13] They married in Rockford, Winnebago, Illinois on 22 May 1972. [14]

Clifford had four children from a prior marriage: Veronica Marlen Drouillard (b. 1956), Gloria Joy Drouillard (b. 1957), Clifford Carl Drouillard (b. 1960), and Rose Marie Drouillard (b. 1964). It was kind of like the Brady Bunch, except with a lot more children...LOL!


This is my favorite picture of Mimi and Pippi. It was taken on 15 Oct 1977 at my parents' wedding at the First Church of the Nazarene in Port Huron. About four years later, about 1981 or so, my grandparents moved from Port Huron down to Vinton, Calcasieu, Louisiana, where my parents had since moved.

This picture was taken about 2007 or early 2008 in the front yard of Mimi and Pippi's house in Vinton, Calcasieu, Louisiana. On the left is my mother, Pamela Sue (Pemberton) Trahan. One of Mimi's favorite things was being a crossing guard. She worked as a school crossing guard near Vinton Elementary School from about 1993 until she died in 2008. [15] All the kids loved her.

Overall, Mimi was a kind, loving, and compassionate person. She was always willing to listen to me. I can remember talking to her about boys and friends and all the other problems teenagers have when I was younger. She was always so excited about my interest in genealogy and family history because she did not know a lot of her extended family. After her mom died, she gradually saw less and less of her maternal aunts and uncles, as they all lived in Canada, and her father was not very close to his siblings. She never even knew her paternal grandparents because they died before she was born, and her maternal grandparents died when she was very young. When I asked her once why she had so many children, she said it was because it was very lonely growing up on a farm as an only child, so she had always wanted to have a large family. She got what she wished for because she always had children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren visiting. She never went a day without family visitors.


Birthdays were also very important to her because she said that she and her dad did not really celebrate her birthday very much when she was a child. When my fiance and I were picking a date for our fall wedding, she suggested her birthday, as it happens to fall on a Saturday in 2009. Some of my family members have asked if we are sure we still want to get married then, but we know that it would be very important to her for us to get married that day. In one of the last conversations I had with her around October 2008, she mentioned how excited she was that we were getting married on her birthday. So, Mimi, we will be celebrating your birthday with a huge celebration this year! We love you!

Violet Mae Currie, senior picture, abt 1948
(1930-2008)

Sources:

[1] Sanilac County, Michigan, birth certificate no. 13-2590 (1930), Violet Mae Currie; County Clerk, Sandusky; supplied by Violet (Currie) Pemberton Drouillard, Vinton, Louisiana.

[2] Michigan Department of Health, birth registration no. 74-3476 (1925), Howard Archibald Currie; Vital Records Office, Lansing; privately held by author. Inherited in 2008 from author's grandmother, Violet (Currie) Pemberton Drouillard, sister of Howard Archibald Currie.

[3] Michigan Department of Health, birth registration no. 74-4519 (1927), Helen Floretta Currie; Vital Records Office, Lansing; privately held by author. Inherited in 2008 from author's grandmother, Violet (Currie) Pemberton Drouillard, sister of Helen Floretta Currie.

[4] 1930 U.S. census, Sanilac County, Michigan, population schedule, township of Flynn, enumeration district (ED) 15, sheet 3B, dwelling 67, family 67, Archie Curry household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/search : accessed 30 Jan 2009); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T626, roll 1028.

[5] Sanilac County, Michigan, death certificate no. 892 (1937), Jennie Currie; County Clerk, Sandusky; Pemberton/Currie/Drouillard family papers; supplied by Jennie's daughter, Violet (Currie) Pemberton Drouillard, Vinton, LA.

[6] Violet Mae Currie high school diploma, Marlette Township High School, Sanilac County, Michigan, May 1948, Pemberton/Currie/Drouillard family papers; privately held by author. Inherited in 2008 from author's grandmother, Violet (Currie) Pemberton Drouillard.

[7] St. Clair County, Michigan, marriage certificate no. 8-99 (1949), Pemberton-Currie; County Clerk, Port Huron.

[8] The Methodist Church, marriage certificate, 9 Sep 1949, First Methodist Church, Port Huron, Michigan, John Peter Pemberton and Violet Mae Currie. Issued by Rev. William C.S. Pellorne, D.D., Pemberton/Currie/Drouillard Family Papers; privately held by author. Inherited in 2008 from author's grandmother, Violet (Currie) Pemberton Drouillard.

[9] Violet (Currie) Pemberton Drouillard (Vinton, Louisiana), interview by author, about 1995; no transcript; all information recorded on family group sheets and transferred to computerized family file.

[10] Backus to Pemberton, land contract, 22 September 1956, Pemberton/Currie/Drouillard Family Papers; supplied by Violet (Currie) Pemberton Drouillard, Vinton, Louisiana. Violet was a party to the contract.

[11] Engineman's Certificate of Qualification, no. 6562 (1956), John P. Pemberton, Mechanical Department, Canadian National Railways, Pemberton/Currie/Drouillard Family Papers; supplied by Violet (Currie) Pemberton Drouillard, Vinton, Louisiana. Violet was the wife of John.

[12] "John P. Pemberton," obituary, memorial copy, from Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan), 13 Oct 1970, Trahan/Pemberton Family Papers; supplied by Michael and Pamela (Pemberton) Trahan, Vinton, Louisiana. Pamela is the daughter of John.

[13] Clifford Robert Drouillard (Vinton, Louisiana), conversation with author, Dec 2008.

[14] Winnebago County, Illinois, marriage certificate no. 876 (1972), Drouillard-Pemberton; County Clerk, Rockford.

[15] "Violet Mae Drouillard," obituary, Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan), 17 Dec 2008, online archives (http://www.thetimesherald.com : accessed 20 Dec 2008).