Aunt Alice was surprised that we came out all the way from California.  It was great to finally meet that side of our family.   Instead of presents, there was a large donation of cat food and litter donated to the Humane Society in Hobart Indiana.

We took plenty of pictures around Portage and of course at the party for Aunt Alice in Hobart, IN.  It will take me a while to add them all.

The old Portage Fire Station is right around the corner from the Calvary Cemetery in Portage.  Grandma’s brother Simon Walters was a fireman there.   Going past the cemetery, we turned on Mulberry and found the old land that grandma’s sister Anna’s house used to sit on.  The house is gone and it is now owned by the VFW on the corner.  The land resembles a park full of old trees and grass that stretches from Mulberry to the next street over.  It is the perfect time of year to see the leaves falling and if you look closely you can see the blue crocus flowers that bloom in the fall, remnants of Annie’s garden.

My dad and I just got back from a trip to Indiana for Alice (Walters) Felty’s 90th birthday.  I have tons of pictures to post, but before I get to that, I have some family history to report.  Christina (Walters) Cipko’s senior yearbook has been donated to the Portage Community Historical Society.  Dorothy (Cipko) Hudson presented on behalf of the family.  Thanks to Kathy Heckman for posting the images online so we can share them with the family for generations to come.

During our trip, we got to visit the museum in Portage and it was very cool to see some of the other donations from the Walters family.  There were some pictures of Christina’s brother Simon, who was a fireman and also some of her sister’s school pictures.  I quickly picked out the picture of grandma’s basketball team on the wall.  I encourage anyone that visits Portage to stop in if its open.