Week 41 of 2023’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge is “Travel.”
Raise your hand if you had an ancestor who wanted to get hijacked. The 1960s was a crazy decade for airline travel. There were 100 hijacking attempts on US aircrafts, and it was my great-grandmother Laura’s deepest desire to be on one of those planes when it happened. Laura, who loved to travel, always wanted to see Cuba. She reasoned that a hijacking would be her only way. Fortunately, her wish was never granted because I doubt it would have been the grand adventure she hoped for. Cuba aside, she did travel a fair amount in her lifetime.
Laura and Exalapha Meloche had a large family and weren’t wealthy, so they waited until their family was grown before they had the ability to see the world. They enjoyed going to warm, tropical climates – probably because they were from Canada and it was cold there. Florida was one of their favorite places to go together. Here are several pictures of one trip there in 1961.
Laura wasn’t afraid to travel on her own either. She went to Haiti to visit her daughter who was a nun. Some of the students dressed in colorful folk costumes and performed a dance for her.
Their favorite trips may have been those they took to Maine to visit their grandchildren.
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