Family Matters

I have seven first cousins on my mother's side of the family. Some live relatively close by and we see them from time to time. Three live in Texas, and we have not seen much of each other since my grandmother passed away in 1996. On the Adkins side of the family I only have three first cousins. My older cousin, Judy, lives nearby in Flatwoods, KY and our paths cross every now and then. We were together a lot as children, but have not had a lot of regular contact over the years.

My Dad's sister, Diane, moved away from Logan County, WV when I was just a little guy (maybe about 5 years old) and worked as a flight attendant on an airline in Texas. It was there she met and married Gene Presley, a rising young attorney for Gulf Oil, who lived in Houston. Later, Gene's career took him to Atlanta as a corporate attorney for Coca Cola. Our visits with "Sis" and Gene were infrequent, and they were not up this way very often. As a result, our contacts with our only other two cousins on the Adkins side of the family (David and Robert Presley) were few and far between.

The last time I saw David and Robert was when we visited their home in Atlanta in 1965. Their mother made a few trips up this way, and Dad went down to see her several times during her illness but we never managed to get both families together again. That's just the way it is when families are geographically challenged. My Aunt passed away the day after my 40th birthday in 1990, and Gene died about three years ago. Carl, my youngest brother, who lives in Atlanta was able to visit the funeral home the night of Gene's visitation and was able to visit briefly with David and Robert.

It has always seemed sad to me that we were not able to grow up together. Robert and David have always been good to stay in touch with Mom and Dad with Christmas cards, etc. but I have never been able to meet their daughters, nor have they ever seen our sons. It's kind of sad. A couple of years ago, I happened across websites for both of my cousins, and have been able to check in from time to time to see what's up with them.

Robert is a cinematographer and has done some really big time movies, and from the looks of David's website - he's done a little bit of everything! I thought I'd share those sites with any of you who might be interested. Just click and check it out:

http://www.robertpresley.com/
http://www.davidpresley.com/

Kind of interesting to learn more about some close relatives that I barely know.