Joanie Stucky

I just wanted to tell you a little about myself and how I became interested in searching for my decendants.

My name is Joanie Stucky, I was born in Modesto, California on the same day that President Roosevelt died. I lived in Modesto until I was 12. We then moved to Turlock, California and I lived there until 1971. My husband and I then moved to Atwater, California where we raised our two children. In 1989 my husband decided to leave me and we were divorced in 1990. I have since remarried and we moved to Thayer, Missouri in 1992. We moved to Tucson to be closer to some of my hubby's children in 2000 and as we did not like the hot weather and the stress from our job we decided to move back to MO.

I have two grown children and my husband has 7 grown children, we have 24 grandchildren. All of our children live in California, Arizona, Oklahoma or Virginia so it is pretty quiet around here. The phone bill can get pretty big though.

A few years ago in January we did have a tragedy in the family and we lost one of our 17 year old grand sons to a very hard to accept suicide. This has been really hard for all of us and later, when I can put some of my feeling down will have a page for him.

One exciting thing happened to us January, 1997. My husbands oldest daughter, from his first marriage, was found after 40 years. They had lost all contact with each other in the early 60's and he had not seen her since she was 2 or 3 years old. We finally found her in Virginia and got to see her for the first time in 40 years.

Part of the reason that I have really started searching for my ancestors is that when I was a little girl growing up in Modesto, California, some of my best memories are of the Holidays were when my family would go the Caruthers, Calif. to spend time with my Grandparents. My Mother is from a large family so I had lots of Aunts, Uncles and tons of cousins. My Great Grandmother, Ginny (Virgina) McCutchen was still living when I was very little. She was my Grandmother Reddells' Mother.

My Grandparents were farmers who had come to California from Arkansas first and then to Oklahoma and finally to California in the 1930's. They had 12 children, 9 of the 12 living past childhood. We had lots of fun on these visits to the Grandparents home. We learned how to milk cows, hoe cotton and all the things that go with a farm. I was a city girl so this was great fun for me.

When we would have Christmas at my Grandparents there were so many of us that it was impossible to buy everyone a gift so on Thanksgiving we would all draw names for who we would buy a gift for. Sometimes I think that was the most fun part because we couldn't tell anyone whose name we got. I am sure that you know what it is like to be little and have such an important secret to keep.

It wasn't until I was grown (and I do mean grown) that I started wanting to know more about my family that I did not know. My Grandparents both have passed away while I was a teenager so they can not answer my question any more. I still have a 103 year old Aunt that has a good mind and she is a big help but she lives in California and I have moved to Missouri.

Since I have been living in Missouri I have been able to go to several family reunions out here. At one of these Reunions I saw, for the first time, the Cemetery where my Great Grandfater, William R. McCutchen, is burried. This has renewed my interest and that is why I have started this page.

There is so much to say that this site will be constantly changing. I will be adding every few days and when I run out of room I will take off some to make room for more information.