Born to Jeanne Mary Meads ( Rhea May Landon ) and Robert James Gouin in Pontiac, Michigan.
She grew up in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Attended Willow Run Schools, graduating in the class of 1959.
Began working for AT&T as a telephone operator in the summer of 1959 and retired in 2001 after 42 years of service.
Married January 8th, 1965, then Divorced 1990.
One child, a son, born January 1966.
Her whole adult life, her favorite hobby was genealogy. Traveling to many states, and even to Canada to research & learn the story of the lives of her ancestors. Long before the internet, court houses, libraries, churches, and cemeteries were her playground. Often taking her young son, and/or any willing family member, to help find that missing relative through deeds, birth/marriage/death certificates, confirmations, census records, and any other possible source that she became aware of.
When her inability to walk forced her into a wheelchair, the internet became her research playground....especially Find a Grave. She would have dozens of emails daily from people requesting help, or from those who were researching her family ancestry. She began helping many people with their family tree, never asking for anything in return . She wanted to help others !
Taking a break, would be for her family, especially her young grandsons. Only when they were at school, or everyone was in bed, would she go back to researching. She often called her brother ( Rick ), who took thousands of pictures at the cemeteries. He would load them up, and she would write up any info she had & post them.
Ironically, she wanted to be cremated but did not necessarily want to be buried at a cemetery, or anywhere. I told her that I did not understand this with all the research for cemetery markers and genealogy that this would undermine the principles of what she had been doing. She told me "OK, laughingly, if you find a big old oak tree, just dump me out around it. Maybe I can help it live a little longer, and laughed......"
Knowing that she was terminal, would be dying soon, she continued to work up to a few days before she passed. That's just the way she was !
She grew up in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Attended Willow Run Schools, graduating in the class of 1959.
Began working for AT&T as a telephone operator in the summer of 1959 and retired in 2001 after 42 years of service.
Married January 8th, 1965, then Divorced 1990.
One child, a son, born January 1966.
Her whole adult life, her favorite hobby was genealogy. Traveling to many states, and even to Canada to research & learn the story of the lives of her ancestors. Long before the internet, court houses, libraries, churches, and cemeteries were her playground. Often taking her young son, and/or any willing family member, to help find that missing relative through deeds, birth/marriage/death certificates, confirmations, census records, and any other possible source that she became aware of.
When her inability to walk forced her into a wheelchair, the internet became her research playground....especially Find a Grave. She would have dozens of emails daily from people requesting help, or from those who were researching her family ancestry. She began helping many people with their family tree, never asking for anything in return . She wanted to help others !
Taking a break, would be for her family, especially her young grandsons. Only when they were at school, or everyone was in bed, would she go back to researching. She often called her brother ( Rick ), who took thousands of pictures at the cemeteries. He would load them up, and she would write up any info she had & post them.
Ironically, she wanted to be cremated but did not necessarily want to be buried at a cemetery, or anywhere. I told her that I did not understand this with all the research for cemetery markers and genealogy that this would undermine the principles of what she had been doing. She told me "OK, laughingly, if you find a big old oak tree, just dump me out around it. Maybe I can help it live a little longer, and laughed......"
Knowing that she was terminal, would be dying soon, she continued to work up to a few days before she passed. That's just the way she was !
Born to Jeanne Mary Meads ( Rhea May Landon ) and Robert James Gouin in Pontiac, Michigan.
She grew up in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Attended Willow Run Schools, graduating in the class of 1959.
Began working for AT&T as a telephone operator in the summer of 1959 and retired in 2001 after 42 years of service.
Married January 8th, 1965, then Divorced 1990.
One child, a son, born January 1966.
Her whole adult life, her favorite hobby was genealogy. Traveling to many states, and even to Canada to research & learn the story of the lives of her ancestors. Long before the internet, court houses, libraries, churches, and cemeteries were her playground. Often taking her young son, and/or any willing family member, to help find that missing relative through deeds, birth/marriage/death certificates, confirmations, census records, and any other possible source that she became aware of.
When her inability to walk forced her into a wheelchair, the internet became her research playground....especially Find a Grave. She would have dozens of emails daily from people requesting help, or from those who were researching her family ancestry. She began helping many people with their family tree, never asking for anything in return . She wanted to help others !
Taking a break, would be for her family, especially her young grandsons. Only when they were at school, or everyone was in bed, would she go back to researching. She often called her brother ( Rick ), who took thousands of pictures at the cemeteries. He would load them up, and she would write up any info she had & post them.
Ironically, she wanted to be cremated but did not necessarily want to be buried at a cemetery, or anywhere. I told her that I did not understand this with all the research for cemetery markers and genealogy that this would undermine the principles of what she had been doing. She told me "OK, laughingly, if you find a big old oak tree, just dump me out around it. Maybe I can help it live a little longer, and laughed......"
Knowing that she was terminal, would be dying soon, she continued to work up to a few days before she passed. That's just the way she was !
She grew up in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Attended Willow Run Schools, graduating in the class of 1959.
Began working for AT&T as a telephone operator in the summer of 1959 and retired in 2001 after 42 years of service.
Married January 8th, 1965, then Divorced 1990.
One child, a son, born January 1966.
Her whole adult life, her favorite hobby was genealogy. Traveling to many states, and even to Canada to research & learn the story of the lives of her ancestors. Long before the internet, court houses, libraries, churches, and cemeteries were her playground. Often taking her young son, and/or any willing family member, to help find that missing relative through deeds, birth/marriage/death certificates, confirmations, census records, and any other possible source that she became aware of.
When her inability to walk forced her into a wheelchair, the internet became her research playground....especially Find a Grave. She would have dozens of emails daily from people requesting help, or from those who were researching her family ancestry. She began helping many people with their family tree, never asking for anything in return . She wanted to help others !
Taking a break, would be for her family, especially her young grandsons. Only when they were at school, or everyone was in bed, would she go back to researching. She often called her brother ( Rick ), who took thousands of pictures at the cemeteries. He would load them up, and she would write up any info she had & post them.
Ironically, she wanted to be cremated but did not necessarily want to be buried at a cemetery, or anywhere. I told her that I did not understand this with all the research for cemetery markers and genealogy that this would undermine the principles of what she had been doing. She told me "OK, laughingly, if you find a big old oak tree, just dump me out around it. Maybe I can help it live a little longer, and laughed......"
Knowing that she was terminal, would be dying soon, she continued to work up to a few days before she passed. That's just the way she was !
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