That Simple Little Postcard Connects Again!

 

May 29, 2008, in a Many Things Thursday post, From A Simple Postcard, I wrote about a postcard I had found in an antiques store in Missoula, Montana. I took the postcard and researched its owner, Grace Mathewson, and her family.

While wandering the web, Andy Graybeal bumped into that article and Close Encounters Of The Best Kind was written.

When you do research and post your findings online, you don't realize the impact you've made until you are contacted by the families. The two articles above were printed by a reader in Missoula, Montana and given to Grace Mathewson's son, David Mathewson Streit.

The following information was received, giving us another piece of the puzzle. I could not be more pleased that my research work has found so many members of this family and that they are willing to share their family history with Shades' readers. Thank You!

On a visit with my father, he showed me a printed version of your blog given to him by a friend in Missoula.

Of course, we were fascinated by the narrative and the following comments.

My Dad is David Mathewson Streit, born in Missoula Nov. 18, 1923 to Norman Church Streit and Grace Mathewson Streit. Dad attended Missoula schools including the University of Montana until the start of the war.

He always had a fascination with flying, an interest his parents disapproved of. He once carried gasoline in ten gallon cans to fill the wing tanks of a barnstormer in order to get a ride at the end of the day. Punishment was meted out with a lilac bush switch.

Nevertheless, Dad went on to a 31 year career as a pilot with Continental Airlines starting out flying DC-3's in Texas and Colorado and retired as a DC-10 captain on the South Pacific routes. He flew for a Continental subsidiary called Air Micronesia introducing regularly scheduled jet air service to Pacific Trust Territory islands like Kawjelin, Truk, Guam, Siapan and others that filled the newspaper headlines during WWII.

Dad lives in Missoula again and is busy with the Missoula Carousel project and U of M Grizzly athletics.

To the best of our recollection Grace's siblings were Alice, Betty, Gertrude and Edward. He doesn't recall a Mary but there was a child that died in infancy.

Note: This corresponds with Shades' research.

~ Wander The Web ~
You Never Know Where You Might Find A Connection