Now They All Are Gone

Last month I received a letter from the McNair/Ouellette family informing me about the passing of BJ (Betty Jean) McNair, age 93, and supplying a lovely biographical sketch. In my early years, especially through elementary school, the McNairs were a large part of my social horizon, along with the Wiginton family. Of the three sets of parents that formed our lives, BJ was the last still with us.

Digging through old snapshots, I found some photos reflecting this longstanding friendship. For many years, we would gather at the Wiginton home for a Christmas carol evening. Here the grownups are in December, 1967.

Standing, left to right, are Mrs. and Mr. Fink (neighbors of the Wigintons), Catherine Wiginton, Mrs. Hay (BJ's mother), and Lee Wiginton. Lower are James (Jimmy) McNair, my mother Jean, and BJ (Betty Jean) McNair. My father, Neal, was behind the camera.

We kids participated as well.

Back Row: Cathy, Mary, and Jane Wiginton, then me and my brother Mark. In front, John McNair, Maggie McNair, Clyde Wiginton, Jean McNair, and Jeanie Wiginton.

Jamie (James) McNair must have been elsewhere that evening. Here's a photo I found from six years later; from the wallpaper we know this was also at the Wiginton's.

The tradition continued after I moved to Ohio. Here the ladies all line up at Christmas 1977.

And I couldn't pass up this photo of BJ and Jamie, who wasn't more than one year old (the snapshot is dated 1953 on the back).

I don't know the name of the goat.

Our heartfelt thanks to the generation that preceded us.