Cousins

Tweet

This is Bob, and Jeff. Jeff is his second cousin, I believe. They do not spell their last names the same. We are Echola, Jeff is Ekola. Another branch of the family is Eckola, but they are all related. Jeff was the big brother Bob never had. He is four or five years older. Bob regales me with stories from their growing up in Crystal Falls, Michigan. Jeff was Bob's best man at our wedding and told a story about Bob falling through the ice on a stream one winter when they were out doing something together. They would go canoeing at other times, and Jeff told Bob how to find a baby bat. He got Bob his first job "peeling sticks" when they were "cutting pulp" and sending them down the river. Bob got to be a camp cook for the guys as well. I am glad we got to see him. Since he tested positive for covid, although he did not feel very sick he wore mask and gloves. Bob did not leave his mask on. We were in the parking garage of his assisted living apartments in Madison, Wisconsin in this picture. There was more open air there. We would have stayed outside but it was raining. I think we will need to visit him again pretty soon.