Irvin Linwood, Jack, Sonny, my 1st cousin on the Winslow side, 3rd on the White's.  He was always Sonny to me. 
     He was a few months older than my brother, I can remember Sonny and Clinton taking Mother's umbrellas and jumping out the barn loft. It's a wonder they didn't break their necks, at least some bone, never did, thank goodness. 
     I can remember Katherine fixing lunch to take to school the next day, we were at Aunt Winnie's where she was living at the time, and she taught me to whistle.  What a milestone for me! 
     For a little girl who had never been outside North Carolina, except maybe to Norfolk,  VA  once or twice, it was always exciting  when Frances, Katherine and Sonny  came home,  they always had such interesting experiences and places they lived/had been/had worked.
    The last time I saw Sonny, we had a family reunion because whenever Frances and Del, Katherine, Mary and Sonny came home, we had to get the family together. They all stayed at a cottage in Nags Head on the Outer Banks. Frances fell the day before the reunion and broke her hip so she and Del stayed at the beach. We met at our cousins "party house" on the beautiful Perquimans River in Hertford.  Our Aunts, Grace and Winnie, were there, lots of cousins, fun visiting,  eating and remembering days of our youth.  We really missed Frances and Del but understood.
     Several years later, my husband and I were fortunate enough to be able to drive to Tucson 
to visit with Katherine, Frances and Del.
     I have so enjoyed the genealogy Sonny put together a few years back of his life.  What an interesting  life he led.  I am so proud to say he was my cousin. I'm just sorry we didn't get to spend more time together and haven't been able to get to know the next generations.    
     RIP, Irvin Linwood/Jack/Sonny.  I miss our Sunday night emails. 

One of my favorite dad stories involved a training session during his Navy days.  Pilots had to train for the possibility of ejecting from their plane over water.  The training involved being thrown in a swimming pool in full gear and helping save your copilot.  Dad said, "If I had known then what I know now, I would have let him drown."

His copilot was Donald Rumsfeld - Secretary of Defense under President Gerald Ford from 1975 to 1977 and again under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006. 

Jack,Mary, and I met some time ago, to be completely honest it’s been so many years I’ve lost track. Jack taught me so much over the years and was a great influence on myself and anyone he met, he was one of my biggest role models in life and I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor (Mary included) and it just won’t be the same without him. One of my greatest regrets is not telling him how much he meant to me and also not getting to say goodbye one last time.

     Uncle Jack came to live with Mom and Dad (Fran and Del Mickey) when I was one so I don't remember much until several years later.  I do remember that I adored him. Everyone I knew who had a teen-age male living with them called them "brother" so I called Uncle Jack my brother.  I was corrected numerous times. However, I could not understand the concept so I called him my brother-uncle.
    Jack ate a lot but he was tall and thin.  He ate vast amounts of Velveeta cheese.  I remember bringing boxes of the cheese up to his bedroom when he wanted a snack.  He also went through many large tins of potato chips.  Once he played the tin as if it were a drum and Dad danced a hula.  His bedroom was cold in the winter (it was over the porch) so Mom stored the Christmas cookies under his bed.
     When Uncle Jack went off to Penn State for college, he used to mail his dirty laundry back to Mom in a large olive colored box.  Mom would wash  (in a machine that had a tub and a wringer) and iron his clothes and mail them back.  There were no laundromats.
     Uncle Jack had numerous summer jobs. One year he worked for a landscaping company.  Dad was a very good salesman and he helped.  They knew absolutely nothing about plants but they certainly sold a lot of them!
    When the Whites moved to Tucson so Uncle Jack could get a doctorate from the University of Arizona, they came to dinner at our house every Sunday evening.  Mom always sent them home with leftovers.  We celebrated Christmas Eve at their house.  Each year we watched an increasingly longer slide show of pictures from previous family events.