I received a call from a granddaughter of Alfred George "Al" and Charlene McClard "Sherry" Stewart. She wanted information I didn't have but I did look up Al and Sherry in my Serious and Grave Plots.

First off, they lived right across from the grade school (just to the west of the Kelly House where Jean Bader lives). Al was born in June 1922 and was a retiree from the U. S. Air Force and the National Park Service. His last assignment was at Mesa Verde National Park.

He ran a service station in Mancos for many years and was the mayor of Mancos in the 1970s. He and Sherry had three sons, Larry, Lance and Jeff and three daughters, Anita, Alana and Sara. Alana passed away in 2000. Al passed away in January 1996 and was followed by Sherry just over a week later. Both have plots in the Cedar Grove Cemetery but there are only an urn and ashes for both of them.

I received a couple of e-mails from a granddaughter of Richard and Elizabeth Sanders. She threw me when she wrote that her grand parents were buried in the Old Pioneer Cemetery. When I caught on as to who she was writing about I was sure they were buried in the Cedar Grove Cemetery. Richard was born in 1919 and married Elizabeth Foster in 1950 who was born in 1918. Richard was a government trapper and also worked for the Colorado state highway department. He and Elizabeth had three sons, Bert, Edward (Eddie) and Robert and one daughter, Barbara. Eddie passed away in 1996. Richard died in 1990 and Elizabeth passed away in December 2001.

My third family this week is the Burnhams in honor of Ellen Burnham Paquin who is bravely facing one of life's most difficult challenges.

Ellen was the youngest child of Vosco Burnham and Myrtle Fielding. Vosco married Myrtle in 1914. He later served on the Red Mesa school board for 17 years. Myrtle's mother passed away when Myrtle was only eight. At the age of 14 she went to work at the Mancos Hotel for room and board. Myrtle and Vosco's children were sons, Wilson (who passed away in 1989), Oen and Ben (who passed away in 2002), and daughters, Ruth Jones, Gladys Saulters and Sara Ellen Paquin.

Alvira or "Aunt Vid" was a sister of Vosco's. She married J. Lewis Halls in 1906. She died enroute to a Salt Lake hospital after falling down a flight of stairs in 1954.

Darrel Ellis is a longtime historian of the Mancos Valley. Email him at dnrls@q.com.