52 Ancestors – WEEK 10 – Siblings
By Cynthia Keefer Patton
I come from a fairly large family--six children. Well today that is a large family, back then it was pretty normal. My brothers and sisters and I had a great time growing up together. There were 3 girls and 3 boys. The birth pattern was girl, boy, girl, boy, girl, and boy. Mom always told people about that. When my oldest sister Deb was 15, the youngest Scott was born. They never really knew each other until adulthood. Deb was off in college, married, and raising children while Scott was finishing high school.
One of my favorite memories of childhood was us playing "City". We usually played on a rainy day or exceptional hot afternoon in East Point, Georgia ( a suburb of Atlanta). I was a middle child but took on the role of "leader" and assigned everyone a position in our little city's businesses. It is interesting to reflect back now and see how prophetic the jobs we took played a part in our future careers.
Older sister Deb and brother David were usually not involved. Deb was down in her basement bedroom reading college level books as a teenager. She went on to own a bookstore and become an early pioneer in computer coding working for large companies like Target. Today she writes for a local newspaper https://southsidepride.com/columnists/debra-keefer-ramage/ in the Minneapolis suburbs.
David was an avid Scout and self-taught photographer. He worked at an early age as a newspaper delivery boy. He liked to build things. His careers included service in the Army/Army National Guard and teaching at the college level in the theater department all things set design, lighting, and sound. Article from David's career
I would always want a "shop" that sold clothes, or to be the Librarian and card catalog all our children's books. I created a "check out" method using 3 X 5 cards taped inside the book jackets. As the natural born leader, I ended up serving 26 years in the Army as well (active and Reserve) and started numerous business ventures in my lifetime including renovating and managing rental properties, buying and selling antiques, consulting with businesses on computer skills, and eventually owning a leadership consulting business that supported Army programs. Today I am a professional genealogist, telling the story of mine and others families. Cynthia Keefer Patton - Genealogist
My little brother Kevin always played the banker, with his Monopoly money tray on the back of the toilet and he would sit backwards and wait for us to come withdraw and deposit funds for our businesses. He didn't follow that path, but his gentle nature and love of others resulted in him becoming an EMT and Fire Chief. Kevin's Obituary
My younger sister Denise always played the teacher. And lo and behold after many years of education and earning her Doctorate she is currently the Provost at the University of Alaska. Denise at UAA
Finally, little brother Scott always wanted to run the restaurant. In true nature, he became a chef and worked for many years in the that field. Today he does IT work for a large company, and manages the Gift of Music https://giftofmusic.org/about/, an organization that provides musical instruments to children and is co-founder of Authenticity Theater https://www.authenticitytheater.org/about/, which he and wife Sasha started to produce shows that tackled difficult subject matter.
I am super proud of all my siblings and cherish our relationships. We were a tight knit group because we lived far from all our other relatives in Pennsylvania and New York. Our time play-acting in the little city we created prepared us well for the outside world.