To Marsden's, Ditty's, and on and on and on......

Archie and Elizabeth Blakeley Marsden


Joseph and Lilian Mullen Ditty


These are the people that I came from. My grandparents. In my lifetime I was only able to enjoy the frequent association of one of them, and that was my Grandpa Ditty. My Grandpa Marsden and Grandma Ditty died before I was born and my Grandma Marsden lived across the ocean in England while I was growing up in America, and although I met and associated with her on a few occasions it wasn't nearly enough. Throughout my life I've heard stories about all of them that have endeared them to me. I think that they were just ordinary people trying their best to live good lives in times that were very hard and to raise their families the best that they could. I think they did a good job. I have always felt an obligation to them to do my part as one of their posterity to bring family together. And although I'm talking about bringing Marsden's to Marsden's and Ditty's to Ditty's, in a way I have always felt that the two families are intertwined because my dads sister is married to my moms brother making Sean, Michael and Patrick Ditty double cousins to Lesley, Archie, Timothy, Alan, Lilian and David Marsden. Ever since I was a child I thought that was pretty neat. In my effort to bring family together I began a tradition in 1985 of a family Christmas party. It began small (in my living room) with just my parents and their children and my Uncle Joe and Auntie Maureen and their children. There were about twenty in attendance. At our last party in December 2007 there were more than 60 family members in attendance including many great-grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren, of Archie and Elizabeth and Joseph and Lilian. Although I send invitations only to those that live in Utah the party is always an open invitation to any of our family who may be visiting for the holidays. In 2005 my brother Alan made a wonderful DVD with a compilation of party photographs and video set to music in commemoration of twenty years of the family party (if anyone would like a copy let me know I'll be happy to send you one). When my parents returned from their LDS mission to England in 1998 many family members came to visit. The subject of a family reunion came up. I made the comment that I didn't want any of my Grandpa Ditty's posterity to pass each other in the street and not know that they are related. Because of diligent family members who organized and attended three family reunions in the past decade I literally saw that come to pass. My son Andy and his wife were in an office building one day when they passed a young man in the hall. They did a double take as they all recognized each other. It was my cousin Patrick (Uncle Bryan's) who is the same age as my son. If they hadn't attended our family reunions they would have passed each other by and not known that they were related. I am grateful that each of my five children have met all of my aunts and uncles. We've had several trips to the beach house in California that we shared with Uncle Joes, Uncle Roys (Ditty) and Uncle Bryans families, and many years ago my Auntie Margie came and spent a day at the beach with us. My children became aquainted with my cousins' children while playing at the beach. All three of my sons have been to England and stayed at Uncle Derek and Auntie Dorothy's home. Two of them have been to Ireland and spent time with Auntie Jean and Uncle Billy's family. I have pictures of Uncle Roy (Marsden) playing with my children at our favorite waterpark, Cherry Hill. When Caitlin was a little girl she invited Auntie Mavis to come in to her room and play dollhouse, when it was time for Mavis to go home Caitlin stood against the door and barracaded it in an attempt to hold Mavis captive because she didn't want her to leave. Caitlin has been pen pals with Auntie Bea, and Uncle John has encouraged my boys in scouting and shared scout patches with them. I have cousins in England and Ireland and throughout the United States. Informative letters including photos sent in a stamped envelope have always been a good intention of mine but I haven't done it nearly as frequently (seldom) as I should. When I first became aware of "blogging" and decided to start my own blog, I thought what a great way for distant family to check in and see what's going on in each others lives, and then I thought, "hey....I have distant family." So in closing I just want to say specifically to my Marsden and Ditty cousins....some of you I have met only once or twice in my life, others I see once a year, and everyone else falls somewhere in between. But I want you to know that I know who you are, through the years I've thought about you, and I care about you. So please post a comment, send an e-mail or start a blog and share it with us. Who knows, it could be the start of something good!! I feel pretty confident that "wee Joe" would think so.