Embracing Your Past--sponsored by Geocaching

I'm not one to get all teary-eyed about the past--it is what it is. It never really occurred to me to see where my parents or ancestors grew up.  My husband, however, has been doing research and found the house in Steelton, Pennsylvania where my dad was raised.  Since we were traveling through the area, we decided to check it out.  My grandparents and their kids lived in the house here from about 1920 until 1945.  My grandfather worked in the steel industry---back then, thriving.

Grandparents home in Steelton

Alas!  It's being auctioned off!!!

peeking in through the window--if walls could talk!

After finding the house, and taking some pictures, my husband and I wanted to continue our trip out of town.  I plugged in one random geocache into the GPS---it took us here, to Steelton Veteran's Park.  

Steelton Veteran's Park

 Steelton Veteran's Park---my first thought was to just find the cache, a dinky magnetic container; nothing special.   If you don't know what geocaching is, click here. 

Then I took a look at the list of names of the veterans on the WWII memorial.  I thought to myself that there sure were a lot of Steelton people who died in WWII; then I realized that it was a list of the veterans, most of who survived.

When I looked closely, I found my dad's name.
(Norman Howells) 

 I had no prior knowledge of this park. 


I'm still amazed at how a random selection on a GPS brought me to this site, and am grateful to have been here.   I'm sure that my father would have felt honored to have his name posted. (This is the part for me that brings tears.)

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