Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: User Home Page Book: Gearld Family History: Register Report of Abitha Dodge

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Page 554 of 650

Descendants of Abitha Dodge

Generation No. 4

5. EVELYN MARIE⁴ DODGE (RUSSELL IVAN³, RUSSELL IVAN², ABITHA¹)¹ was born November 22, 1947¹. She married (1) DAVID GUFFEY¹ March 1965 in Brooklyn, Indiana. She married (2) DICK PASSWAITER¹ 1971.

Children of EVELYN DODGE and DAVID GUFFEY are:

	i.		DALE JOE⁵ GUFFEY¹, b. February 3, 1965.
	ii.		KIMBERLY GUFFEY¹, b. January 1, 1969.

Child of EVELYN DODGE and DICK PASSWAITER is:

iii.

LINDA⁵ PASSWAITER¹, b. July 1972.

6. RUSSELL IVAN⁴ DODGE III (RUSSELL IVAN³, RUSSELL IVAN², ABITHA¹)^2,³ was born December 22, 1948³, and died December 5, 1999³. He married (1) ANDY THOMAS³ 1968³. He married (2) DIANA DUGGAN³ 1971 in Spokane, Washington³. He married (3) DIANA ELEANOR PATTON⁴ June 1972 in Spokane, Washington (Spokane County), daughter of VERNON PATTON and EDITH NELSON. She was born February 14, 1947 in Clarkson, Washington (Asotin County)⁴.

Notes for RUSSELL IVAN DODGE III:
Everybody called him Rusty. He enlisted in the US Air Force right out of high school and he served two years in Viet Nam. As was the case with so many Viet Nam Veterans, Rusty never truly left Viet Nam behind. I can recall several times when I was with him in an outdoor setting when he would fall to the ground holloring "incoming" or "take cover." This was usually brought about by the sound of a low flying plane or the sound of a kid running a stick along a picket fence. After he got out of the Air Force Rusty worked in the construction business. He did roofing and guttering. Rusty had a drinking problem for most of his adult life which I believe was a direct result of his service in Viet Nam. He never asked the Veterans Administration for help though; he didn't think he had a problem. However, it was apparent to everyone who knew him. No autopsy was done when he died, but the medical examiner told us that it was probably from a massive heart attack or an anuerism. He went very quickly. He was on his way up the stairs to go to bed and he just fell down dead. At least he didn't suffer and hopefully he is in a better place now.

Child of RUSSELL DODGE and ANDY THOMAS is:

RUSSELL LEE⁵ DODGE⁵, b. February 25, 1969.

Child of RUSSELL DODGE and DIANA DUGGAN is:

ii.

TORI⁵ DODGE⁵, b. 1973⁵.

Child of RUSSELL DODGE and DIANA PATTON is:

iii.

TORI CHRISTINE⁵ DODGE⁶, b. December 11, 1973, Sault St. Marie, Michigan (chippewa County); m. UNKNOWN BIGGS⁶.

7. CYNTHIA ANN⁴ DODGE (RUSSELL IVAN³, RUSSELL IVAN², ABITHA¹)⁷ was born May 7, 1953 in Detroit, Michigan. She married PHILLIP VALEN GEARLD⁷ December 22, 1972 in Indianapolis, Indiana, son of VERNON GEARLD and BARBARA HILLEARY. He was born November 10, 1954 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Notes for CYNTHIA ANN DODGE:
Spent Labor Day weekend 1997 in the hospital after having orthopedic surgery to the right ankle for a fracture/dislocation. The ankle now has two screws on the inside and a metal bar about 7 inches long up the outside of the ankle. This happened while trying to unstick a fishing line for her nephew. The creek bank was slippery. Not the recommended way to spend your summer vacation time!

Magic in the Moonlight
Published in the Fall 1997 issue of "Oatmeal & Poetry"

It was 3:30 A.M. as I paced the long, tiled hallway waiting for word from the surgeon. My child was on the operating table undergoing emergency surgery for a burst appendix. Through the stained and frost encrusted windows I could see the clouds covering up the moon and stars. My footsteps echoed hollowly in the cavernous, deserted hallway. I thought I was alone in that hospital waiting area, but as I turned to go back the way I had come, I saw an elderly gentleman at the water fountain. He was not very tall and his stance was kind of stooped over. He had a full head of snow white hair and a bright smile that lit up his whole face.

I had no idea where he came from. It seemed as though he just appeared out of thin air. He introduced himself to me as Ralph. "Fine it is, everything will be," he told me, "ye need not to worry." I asked him if he had ever had a child who needed emergency surgery? His answer was 'no,' but he assured me again that everything would be all right. I became upset and told him he had no way of knowing things like that, and to just butt-out of things that didn't concern him. The light went out of his eyes and he backed away from me as though he were frightened.

Just at that moment the clouds gave way and the moonlight shone through the stained and frosted windows. The designs it made on the white tile floor of the hospital hallway were breathtakingly beautiful. I couldn't explain it, but the beautiful display of moon light lifted my spirits and gave me hope.

Suddenly, Ralph was smiling again and coming toward me. He said to me, "It's glad I am that ye can see the magic in the moonlight. I know now for absolutely, certain, sure that everything will be all right with yer little un, what's the child's name?" I told him my daughter's name is Brandy and she's only six years old. He said, "anyone who can see the magic is sure to have only good things happen to them and their loved ones." As he prattled on I became aware of the odd way in which he was dressed and the funny way he had of turning a phrase. It occurred to me then to ask Ralph why he was in the hospital surgical waiting area. "Why I've come to wait with ye so that yer wouldn't be so scared," he told me. I asked him how he knew that I was there and the answer I got surprised me. "Well now, I be here 'cause I be Brandy's guardian angel don't ye know," Ralph said with a bewildered look on his face. "Didn't ye know about me before today? I've talked with Brandy several times before . . . she never mentioned me huh?"

Brandy had told me that she had a secret, invisible friend. I didn't think anything about it at the time, thinking it was just a phase that all kids go through. Ralph assured me that he was not a figment of Brandy's imagination; that he was always somewhere close by keeping watch over her. He also confided in me that I must surely have my own guardian angel if I could see the magic in the moonlight. Ralph said that most people do have guardian angels and just don't realize it.

He asked me to think about how many times in the past something that could have been awful turned into something great. As I thought about it, I realized that throughout my life there have been many situations that could have been really awful but at the last minute something always seems to turn the situation into a positive experience. Ralph told me this was my own guardian angel at work. He asked me to think about how wretched the world is, and to wonder how, without help, people would be able to get through each day. I began to understand what he meant and was all the more grateful for his being there with me in the hospital.

Ralph was absolutely right! Everything turned out fine. Brandy came home from the hospital after three days. I told her that I met Ralph while she was on the operating table and she didn't believe me, "Yeah right, Mom," she said. I just smiled and waved at Ralph as I walked
out of her room. I'm so glad to know that there really are guardian angels watching over us. Next time you see the moonlight shining in your window, look for the magic and maybe, just maybe, you'll meet your guardian angel.

Travel Jitters
Published in the Spring 1998 issue of "Oatmeal & Poetry"

Have you ever been so scared and nervous about something you felt like you were going to be sick? That is exactly how I felt the first time I rode on an airplane. It was not only my first plane ride but also my first trip overseas as a military wife. My husband had left to report to his new duty station in Germany four months prior. This left the job of getting things packed up and ready to go, and clearing living quarters as my responsibility. As a private first class, my husband had to be on a waiting list for housing. When housing became available it was time for me, my teen-age sister, and Christopher, my two-year-old son to make the journey on our own.

We were each allowed only one piece of luggage with a weight limit of forty pounds per piece. Deciding what to pack, and then packing what we needed to take with us for use until our household goods' shipment arrived took three footlockers. I waited until the very last minute to close them up because they were packed as tight as I could get them. My father-in-law had to sit on them for me to get them closed. I prayed the locks would not spring open and spill everything out. I could only hope I had made the right decision about what we would need while we waited for the rest of our belongings to arrive.

During the two weeks prior to our departure, we watched several movies on television about airplane mishaps. I realize now that this was just a coincidence, but at the time I felt like somebody was trying to tell me something. My father-in-law told me repeatedly we would be flying over the Bermuda Triangle and that there was every possibility our flight would be one that disappeared. This only added to my anxiety even though I knew he was just teasing me. Saying good-bye to family and friends and not knowing for sure when we would see them again was the scariest thing I had ever done in my young life.

We left Indianapolis International Airport and went to Charleston, South Carolina. Christopher and I both had problems with air sickness for the first half of the flight. I was thankful to find another military wife on her way to Germany on the same flight. If she had not taken us under her wing at Charleston, we probably would never have made it to Germany at all. At Charleston airport we had to claim our luggage and go by shuttle bus to Charleston Air Base. We were not told this at the travel office at Fort Benjamin Harrison. They just told us there would be a lay over at Charleston. Thank goodness military wives look out for each other! Once we were settled on board the Military Airlift Command plane at the air base, things calmed down. The rest of the trip from Charleston to Frankfort was uneventful.

When we finally touched down at Frankfort, I had the horror of getting through customs at a military air base with a two-year-old child and a teen-ager in tow. After successfully claiming our three footlockers, we waited in line for the customs inspectors. The person in front of us in line was an active duty soldier with one duffel bag. The customs agent made this soldier dump out his duffel bag and he was going through everything, even unrolling the man's socks. I was appalled! I knew if he was going to go through three tightly packed footlockers like that we would be there all day. I was afraid I would not even be able to get everything back into the footlockers if I had to empty them. Just as the inspector finished with the soldier in front of us, Christopher, my two-year-old son started fussing about having to "go potty Mommy." I was trying to quiet him but he kept getting louder and more insistent. Two-year-old children who are just recently potty trained can be very insistent when they need to go. We were getting a lot of sympathetic looks from the other people waiting in line, but there was no bathroom on our side of the customs gate. Trying to tell a child who has to go to the bathroom that you can not take him just does not work. Mommy is supposed to be in control and take care of things like that. The soldier in front of us had not even finished re-packing his duffel bag when the customs inspector looked at our footlockers and asked me, "Do you have anything in there you shouldn't?" I am sure he could tell by the terrified look on my face that this was a whole new experience for me. I did not want to open those footlockers; not because there was anything in them that should not be there, but because I was afraid I would not be able to get everything back into them. I shook my head no and stammered, "I don't think so." He just grinned and pointed us in the direction of the closest bathroom. He even helped me get the footlockers through the gate.

My husband was there on the other side of the gate waiting for us. Christopher was so excited about seeing his Dad that he forgot about having to go to the bathroom, but only for a minute. Dad's first job after giving everybody a big hug was to take the kid to the toilet. All the fear and the worry had been worth it to get our family back together again.

More About CYNTHIA ANN DODGE:
Degree: February 1998, Finally completed Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
Education: 1994 - 1998, National Dean's List for the 1995-96 scholastic year while attending Kansas City Kansas Community College
Medical Information: Had all the usual childhood diseases; measals, mumps, chickenpox, tonsilitis. Diagnosed as diabetic in 1997. Fracture/Dislocation of the right ankle Labor Day weekend 1997
Publication: 1997 - 1998, Won second place in a short story contest with "Magic in the Moonlight" published in the Fall 1997 issue of "Oatmeal & Poetry." Publication of short story "Travel Jitters" in the Spring 1998 issue of "Oatmeal & Poetry" (see notes for stories).

Notes for PHILLIP VALEN GEARLD:
Military service: basic training @ Ft. Knox, Kentucky: August 1972 - November 1972. AIT @ Ft. Belvoir, Virginia: November 1972 - January 1973. Ft. Riley, Kansas 1st Infrantry Division: January 1973 - February 1977. Frankfort, Germany, V Corps Headquarters February 1977 - April 1980. Pentagon, Telecommunications: April 1980 - April 1983. Oslo, Norway, AFNORTH Headquarters: April 1983 - July 1987. Ft. Leavenworth, KS, HQ CAC: July 1987 - August 1990, Bad Kreutznach, Germany, 1st Armored Division: August 1990 - September 1992. After retiring from the US Army Phill went to work for the government as a civilian on Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. He works as an Environmental Inspector in the housing units on post, inspecting and doing risk assessments in units that have lead base paint, radon, and asbestos.

More About PHILLIP VALEN GEARLD:
Medical Information: Diagnosed as diabetic in September 1997.
Military service: 1972 - 1992, See notes for details

Children of CYNTHIA DODGE and PHILLIP GEARLD are:

CHRISTOPHER VALEN⁵ GEARLD⁷, b. February 21, 1974, Ft. Riley, Kansas; m. KATHERINE DEBERRY⁷, July 1, 2000, Driftwood Beach, Brunswick, Georgia; b. November 14, 1976⁷.

Notes for CHRISTOPHER VALEN GEARLD:
While attending Oslo American School got to go on field trips to Copenhagen, Denmark (twice), Legoland in Denmark, went on winter survival outing with the cub scouts and built an igloo and dug a snow cave. Christopher met his wife via a chat room on the internet. He and Katherine got married on Driftwood Beach on Jeykll Island in Georgia. The tide didn't cooperate as planned so the wedding was not in the exact location on the beach that they had selected, but it was a beautiful wedding nonetheless.

More About CHRISTOPHER VALEN GEARLD:
Education: 1983 - 1987, See notes for details
Medical Information: Christopher suffered chronic ear infections for the first 4 years of his life and chronic tonsilitis until he was 14; before the Army finally decided he needed to have them removed.

ii.

PATRICK SHAWN GEARLD⁷, b. April 17, 1978, Frankfort, Germany 97th General Hospital; m. STEPHANIE LEANN THORNTON, April 8, 2000, Leavenworth, Kansas; b. August 8, 1977.

Notes for PATRICK SHAWN GEARLD:
When Patrick was in Kindergarten we lived in Oslo (Nesoya) Norway. While out playing in the snow he slipped and ran a tree branch into his right eye. It was a weekend and we had no phone. Fortunately the American community in Oslo was pretty small and everyone knew where everyone else lived. We rushed him over to where the Air Force doctor lived and he called the local childrens hospital for us. We took him to the emergency room there. The doctor was waiting at the door for us. She spent several hours with Patrick checking and rechecking his vision. She wanted to admit Patrick but we were reluctant to allow that as the hospital would not allow either of us to stay with him overnight. We signed a waiver of responsibility and took him home. The doctor recommended that Patrick wear an eye patch and that he avoid all rough housing. There was no internal damage to his eye and he has better eyesight than any of the rest of us. We did have a quiet couple of weeks - the doctor had told us that any kind of rough housing might cause more blood vessels in Patrick's eye to rupture and if that happened he would definately have to be hospitalized. Any time he got too rowdy all I had to do was mention the hospital and he settled right down.

More About PATRICK SHAWN GEARLD:
Education: 1998, Attended Job Corps for apprenticeship training in carpentry
Medical Information: He had the usual childhood diseases, chickenpox - very light case, and a fair share of ear infections and colds but other than that Patrick is pretty healthy.

8. ALMA LOUISE⁴ DODGE (RUSSELL IVAN³, RUSSELL IVAN², ABITHA¹)⁷ was born March 20, 1960 in Indianapolis, Indiana. She married (1) TOMMY RAY WOODS⁷ 1979. She married (2) FRANK BURNS⁷ 1989 in indianapolis, Indiana. She married (3) DENNIS MILLER⁷ January 1993 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Notes for ALMA LOUISE DODGE:
Her nickname for all of her life has been Trinket. She was such a small baby when she was born a friend of Mom's said something to the effect of, "she's just a little trinket that I could put in my pocket and take home." From then on she was called Trinket.

Children of ALMA DODGE and TOMMY WOODS are:

	i.		SHIRLEY JEAN⁵ WOODS⁷, b. 1980⁷.
	ii.		JANET WOODS⁷, b. 1982⁷.
	iii.		HEATHER WOODS⁷, b. 1984⁷.