Chapter 12
Big Brothers and Sisters

I had become involved with the Big Brother program and after Sombat left I was introduced to the Farthing children, David 14, Lisa 6, and Tim, 10 who lived in San Pedro with their widowed mother. I took the children out most weekends and when David was older he worked for me part time handling our mailings and printing and delivering documents. He says he also remembers having to cleaning out cat feces from some apartments.
When he enrolled in CSULB he came to live with us and worked summers for a lumber yard until he graduated in 1975. He also worked for Hughes Aircraft as an engineer, but continued to pursue becoming a physician. He married Tina Waters in 1979 and they have two children, Andrew and Vicki. For the government’s educational assistance he received in medical school, they lived and worked in Tuba City, Arizona, on the Navajo reservation.
He has practiced diagnostic radiology since 1983 and is a partner in a large imaging group in Salem, Oregon. Tina volunteers for their church and is a tax preparer each winter. When my back needed some attention, they invited me to stay with them while David handled the entire medical and imaging needs and Tina acted as my nurse and escort. He has always interfaced with my doctors.
When Vicki and Tony Stamp were married in 2007, they asked me to conduct the ceremonies in a beautiful outdoor setting and two years later David and Tina had their first grandchild, Amelia
Andrew graduated from UC Berkeley when he was 18 then enrolled at USC law school. He married Karina Hooper in 2006 and they live in Redwood City where he is a key attorney with an international firm.
Tim graduated from CSSB, married Kim and moved to Lake Oswego, Oregon. Starting with FEDEX when he was in college he moved on and obtained the licenses necessary to handle corporate international shipping needs as an independent broker. They have two boys, Nathan and Daniel.
Lisa lived with us in Sacrament while she completed high school and began her college studies. She married an F-16 pilot/navigator in the Chapel in the Presidio in San Francisco and I gave her away. Her husband, Chris Tuason was an Air Force Academy graduate so when they left the Chapel it was through an arbor of raised swords of other graduates.
They moved to the Houston area where she founded a successful, full service beauty solon which she has sold and has two beautiful and gifted daughters, Eva and Christiana, she has raised as a single parent without assistance.
The rewards of these experiences have been a constant joy and I never anticipated the level of appreciation they continued to show. How would it be possible not to consider them as part of the family?
The story ends here for now but from time to time there may be additions and corrections so it will continue to grow and be more accurate.
From it grew the idea of creating the family web site and getting everyone involved. If you have current family information or photos please add them to the Geni program in the Family Tree and I’ll do my best to include them in some manner.
Send your corrections regarding our history to me via the CONTACT button at the top and the history will be corrected.
The idea of a Family Reunion was stimulated by my son Michael and adding the Family Tree was another afterthought that allows everyone to participate as they choose.
There are enough strangers in the world, our family members shouldn’t have to be among them.
With love to all and looking forward to our 2011 reunion,



Click photos to see larger versions.

© 2011 Oliver W. Speraw