Age 8 about 1912
Tacoma, Washington
I began this journal as a place to share old photos and family history. I named it after my grandmother, Merle Gilman Ketner Shoemaker, who nurtured my love of genealogy.
When I look at this photo, I can see the person that Merle would become, the face that was to become so dear to me a half-center later. She remains with me now, over thirty years since I last saw or spoke with her--a part of me and the icon of a person I would like to be.
This journal is an act of love for this girl and the woman she would become.
