This is my update page on my father and my quest to find his family.  I should have started this awhile back but will fill in the blanks as time goes on.

July 2003--My husband took me to Mountain View for our honeymoon trip about a month after we married.  My first time being there and stayed with a cousin several miles up the road in Eminence, Shannon County, Missouri.  She and I traveled the roads almost constantly during that week we were there, hitting the cemeteries, funeral homes and newspaper office.

September 2003--We went back for the Denton family reunion held at Alley Springs State Park, Eminence, Missouri.  Met more cousins that I didn't get to meet first trip up in July.

January 14, 2004--Gayland and Helen Hicks contacted me by email because of seeing Helen's father (Claude Monroe "Dutch" Denton) listed on my webpage.

September 2004--Traveled to Arkansas and stayed at Gayland and Helen's house during stay for family reunion.  Helen was relentless in trying to find a way to get in touch with Aunt Lorene (my dad's sister).  She talked to all the cousins in the area to see if any of them knew how to reach her.

October 2004--Came home from family reunion and sat down to call cousin on maternal side...something clicked while dialing her number about her living in El Paso, Texas and that according to my paternal grandmother's obituary (1987) that a cousin Paula and her husband lived in El Paso.  It was a long time since grandmother Denton and passed away and a very long shot but I asked Joyce if she knew any Mitchells.  She said yeah...I asked a few more questions and it was determined that Yeah we were talking about the same Paula.  On Friday, 8 October, Joyce contacted Paula and they chatted, end result Paula gave her okay for me to email her.  On Sunday, 17 October, Paula called and we talked for somewhere in the neighborhood of about 2 hours or so.  That same evening, Paula started sending me photo's of herself, her family and her parents.  From this point on, Paula and I talked several times a week as time would allow.

November 2004--Started swapping letters with Aunt Lorene.

Christmas, 2004--Got two cards from Aunt Lorene.

January 16, 2005--Paula called and told me to hang on that she had someone that wanted to talk to me.  Aunt Lorene was waiting and we had a three-way call for about an hour and a half.

January 30, 2005--A second three-way call with Paula, Aunt Lorene and myself that lasted a little over 2 hours.

February 6, 2005--A third three-way call with Aunt Lorene in which I was then told that Aunt Lorene would be willing to give me her phone number and I could call her on a one on one basis.  Paula emailed the phone numbers after the nearly one and a half hour conference call was over with.

February 9, 2005--First phone to Aunt Lorene.  Lasted 10 minutes, long enough to find out how her dialysis went that day.

Mid-March 2005--Talking to Aunt Lorene nearly everyday by this point and Husband asked me if he bought me a plane ticket to go up to see Aunt Lorene would someone be able to meet me at the airport.  My response "Would think so!"

March 19 and 20, 2005--Aunt Lorene found a suitcase full of pictures and spent two days going through them and sorting them.  Pictures of my dad from a little boy till about his late 20's, herself and their parents.

March 26, 2005--Pictures sent to Paula.

March 29 or 30, 2005--Paula receives pictures and starts scanning them in a few at a time.

March 30, 2005--Tickets booked and everyone made aware of my impending trip to see Aunt Lorene.