Chris’s Aunt Janine lives in Dallas and it was here that we began our Mason Dixon vacation. I first met Janine at our wedding two years ago and thought that she was fabulous. Chris’s mom passed away three years ago, his uncle Eddie about seven, so Janine is really the last living member of his maternal line from that generation. She lives in Dallas with her husband Tim who is your quintessential Texas man. They have one daughter Lauren who also lives in Dallas. Chris’s two cousins John and Ned (both son’s of his late uncle Eddie) also live in Dallas so it was a big ol’ family reunion.
Ned and his girlfriend Trisha (who both came to our wedding) took us to down town Dallas to show us around. Ned is one of the best mixologists in the Dallas area and recently won a cocktail competition that was filmed as a pilot for a possible reality show (aptly named Cocktail Confidential). Ned is in the process of opening his first bar/cocktail lounge in downtown Dallas.
The permits are turned in, and construction is to begin soon.
He has big plans for this place.
Ned in his element-the master mixologist
Our yummy watermelon and basil infused cocktail drinks (virgin for Chris and I).
It was a great night!
We also went the site where JFK was shot and toured the museum there. Chris got into the all of conspiracy theories and was out on the street and in the museum talking to everyone, measuring angles and bullet trajectories, etc.
Chris is standing on the first "X" where the bullet first hit JFK and passed through his throat .
The shots were fired out of the second window down on the far right side.
Standing on the second "X" or the "Fatal Head Wound".
One of the conspiracy theories is that there was a second shooter that lay wait in the gutter. After Chris carefully assessed the angles, he decided that this was pretty far-fetched.
Chris has a personal interest in JFK. His great aunt Florence Pritchett (Dad’s mom’s sister) dated JFK seriously and may have married him except that she wasn’t Catholic. Even after they both married (he to the infamous Jackie O and she to the ambassador of Cuba) they still carried on an affair (according to some sources). She is often written up in JFK bios. In fact we just bought a JFK biography at DI (second hand store) in Provo about a month ago and there was a blurb about her in a chapter entitled “The Hunt for Sex.”
Speaking of family history…Chris and I bought a genealogy program and have started researching his line. We have it traced back to a Scottish King. We shared a lot of our findings with Janine and she was so touched. She shared with us photos and stories of family members.
Chris’s grandfather (Janine’s Dad). He was a WWII bomber and went on over fifty combat missions. He is buried in Arlington Cemetary.
Chris’s grandparents right after they got married.
Chris’s great-great grandmother on her 85th birthday. The cake took 50 egg whites.
This last one is Chris’s great grandma Lina Etta Lawhorn. She was Native American and looks a lot like Chris.
