40 years

 Time marches on.  

Going through old files when I was actively looking for our family. I would write anyone who has ties to our village in hopes of finding a link for my grandmother. This family has the same last name as my grandmother, although spelt slightly different...started writing back and forth in 1980.

Finally, after receiving Church records we can confirm that Val Deaser's grandfather and my grandmother's grandfather were brothers!

Val passed away in 2003 at the age of 90.

All these people I wrote to through the years are all gone now. Sometimes this is a lonely hobby.