2012 Christmas Letter
Dear Friends,
2012 has been an eventful year for Alan and Cheryl.
The most significant event was the death of Cheryl’s father, Bill Roach, on March 8. You may recall that we had moved him out here to Sunrise Assisted Living in Hermosa Beach (from Texas) as of August 24, 2011. Bill went on hospice care in November, 2011 and passed away in March, 2012. The funeral was held in Dallas, Texas. Caring for her father was more than a full time job for Cheryl. During his time on hospice, she spent most of every day with him providing emotional and physical (supplementing Sunrise and the hospice organization) caring based on a lifetime of love. Bill is missed by both of us.
You may also recall that Cheryl successfully completed all treatments for breast cancer as of June 28, 2011, just before the intensive caring for her father started. She is now marking one and a half years of post treatment success.
Later in 2012, Alan and Cheryl had several out of town trips. If you wish, you can see some of our best photos by going to our Flickr page (see link above).
- March - Dallas, Texas for Bill’s funeral.
- April - 5 days in Yosemite National Park.
- May - 5 days in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Alan went to graduate school, UW-Milwaukee, from 1973 - 1978. It was strange being back there after so many years away.
- June - we were delegates, appointed by our Riviera United Methodist Church, to the Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, held in Redlands, California (4 days).
- October 2 -31 - a full month in England. We had 1 week total in Cornwall at two different Landmark Trust properties (Landmark Trust does holiday rentals of historic old buildings), 2 weeks in a rented vacation cottage in the Cotswolds, and 4 days in a hotel in London. It was an amazing trip. We saw everything from prehistoric stones to charming villages to historic castles, to the hustle and bustle of modern London. We also took some amazing photos - the very best are posted on our flickr page for all who are interested to see (the direct link to England photos is https://www.flickr.com/photos/cheryl_and_alan/sets/72157631975648845/).
- November - Thanksgiving in San Francisco with Cheryl’s family (her oldest nephew moved from Texas to San Francisco last summer).
We are now back home for awhile - no trips planned just yet. There will be, eventually. The loss of Cheryl’s father is still felt.
Alan remains retired (since January 1, 2011). Cheryl still teaches some private students.
We both continue to serve our church, Riviera United Methodist Church. We both sing in the choir. Alan serves on the staff-parish relations committee and on the communications team, he is the records administrator (managing all church records on the google cloud), and serves in many ways as a computer/internet expert and advisor. Cheryl serves on the committee on lay leadership and on church council, occasionally substitutes as choir director or organist, and participates in several charitable ministries.
We wish all of you a happy and rewarding 2013. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Love,
Cheryl and Alan