Uncle Beans

That probably sounds like an odd name to most people, but not to those who knew him. His real name is Marcel Mortensen, but all my life, we called him Uncle Beans. The story was something to the effect that when he was a kid on a camping trip, he stepped in the kettle of beans that had been set on the ground, and his comment at the time was, "Just call me Beans!" Anyway....he's one of my mom's older brothers. He's married to Aunt Lorna and together they have seven children, six boys and one girl. They used to live in Tolleson when I was young and we used to get together and play games/have dinner/or whatever about once a week. We loved having them close by. They moved to Animas, NM, where Uncle Beans and a cousin owned a hog farm. And man, was that a STINKY place. He used to kid us and say, "That's just the smell of money!" They succesfully ran than business for many years until the government put too many fingers in the pot and caused them to close up shop. They also have a cabin in Alpine, which we were able to visit quite often years ago. We would usually go there for the long Thanksgiving weekend. We stayed in the cabin and cut our own Christmas trees for many years. What fond memories that brings to me. Uncle Beans passed away last night. We'll miss him and his funny sense of humor and goodness to all. There are now only two (of seven)of my mom's siblings still living. He will be buried in Virden, NM, their childhood home. By the way, I hijacked the picture from my cousin, Tom's, blog.