I will add a little about the resources of the Rippey annuals. It is a coincidence that while I was helping at the library last week, a visitor came in and was curious to know if we had Rippey annuals from certain years. He was thrilled to see our collection, donated by family members of Rippey graduates. It was enjoyable for me to inform him that his sister was in my husband’s class and he kept busy taking pictures of the classes she was in over the years, to send to relatives.
Another day, a person who was browsing through the annuals, was reading through the businesses that donated to produce these annuals, remembering a lot of the people and their families, while spending summers visiting grandparents and other relatives. As luck would have it, they were on a branch of a family I had had helped many years ago. We exchanged e-mail addresses and I was able to send family information that I have gathered over the years for this person that will fill in a branch of their tree! After receiving permission to share her e-mail with the other person, I have received a big thank you from both, for helping them become connected. They discovered they had attended the same reunions as infants.
I have been on the receiving end of connecting with other researchers in my own family and I do know how thrilling it is to share information and pictures!
-Jean Borgeson