ActiveRain Challenge: Celebrating America's Birthday
Kathy Streib and Kathleen Daniels, Probate & Trust Real Estate Svcs. are hosting the July ActiveRain Challenge as we celebrate our nation's 250th Birthday. Members are asked to share their stories with the ActiveRain community.
I was born on August 21, 1937 at the Parish Memorial Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia and am probably the oldest active member of ActiveRain. I was raised in Cradock, a planned community on the south side of Portsmouth. Cradock was originally developed during the era of World War I to house workers at the nearby Norfolk Naval Shipyard. When I was a kid during the era of World War II, there was still a trolly service to provide transportation to the shipyard.
My parents were real estate investors and most of the residential properties were occupied by tenants during their military service. We had a very large presence of service members of the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard and even more government workers at the shipyard, the Coast Guard base and the Portsmouth Naval Hospital. Many of the men in our family served in the military. We had every day reminders of service to our country.
I attended the public schools in Cradock and graduated from what was the newly built Cradock High School in 1955. I was fortunate to be the first one in my family to attend college and graduated from the University of Virginia in 1958. I went on to the School of Law at UVA and graduated in 1961. During the fall of my third year of law school, I met the requirements to be licensed as a real estate broker, multiple lines of insurance and passed the state bar examination.
During the summer after graduation from law school, I opened my first real estate and insurance office and began my business career. I have shared this information because I am very thankful for a supportive family and the opportunities I had to build a foundation for a long career.
One of the challenge questions is about immigrants in our family. My family has lived in this country for many generations. Based on genealogical documentation, it appears that the first member of our family arrived in Virginia around 1660. Francis Triplett was born in England around 1635. On January 21, 1666, Governor William Berkeley granted Francis Triplett a patent for 1,050 acres of land in what was then Old Rappahannock County in Virginia. This land was acquired through the headright system which granted 50 acres of land to anyone who paid for the passage of an immigrant to Virginia. Francis acquired the massive tract by financing the transportation of 21 people.
There is much more about the family history but other stories will have to wait. I am proud to be an American because of the many opportunities that have been available for my family and myself.
'Salmon Star' Oriental Lily, Kentlands Photowalk,
Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA IMG 4753
Canon PowerShot G11 Camera, f/4.0, 1/250 sec., ISO-80, 21 mm, No Flash
Photograph by Roy Kelley
Roy and Dolores Kelley Photographs
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