David L. Brainard and the Greely Expedition of 1881-1884

My husband has a relative who was part of the historic Greely Expedition of 1881-1884.

David Legge Brainard was 25 years old when he joined the Greely Expedition also known as the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition led by Lieutenant Adolphus Greely. Brainard was first sergeant and proved to be an important leader in this ill-fated expedition where only six of twenty-five men survived.

MARILY & CECILIA ON NBC EASY READING RADIO

Marily Orosa and Cecilia Brainard were featured in NBS Easy Reading, radio talk show, this morning. They talked about their new book, Finding God: True Stories of Spiritual Encounters.

CHRISTMAS 2007

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE BRAINARDS!
Here's a memory about Jacob's Crackers. In the Philippines, when I was growing up, the best crackers one could get were English crackers called "Jacob's" - except we called it Ha-cob. The brand had been around since my mother was a young girl attending boarding school. She used to talk about her father visiting her and bringing her "Hacob." The tin can of Hacob was distinctive: rectangular, with a blue-gray design and sprays of wheat. What a surprise I had when I went to my Filipino market on Vermont (Seafood City)and saw what I initially thought was Hacob! My heart stopped; a surge of memories flooded through me!

Well, it wasn't Hacob; the box, the design had clearly been copied. I bought a can - I couldn't resist - the memory of Hacob was too strong in me. Frankly I have no memory now of how Hacob crackers tasted. This Chinese version was all right - indeed they were flaky and light, and anyway, I just had to get a glimpse of the tin can to get the surge of memory from the past and that was enough.

SOME OLD BRAINARD PICTURES

Husband Lauren was given a bunch of old pictures and I've posted some of them. I never met Grandpa Mac (McKay), the father of Lauren's Mom. What I know about him was that he had a band and played several musical instruments. The musical gene carried through to Lauren's mother (Merwyn) who sings beautifully. The baby below is the baby picture of General Robert Francis Brainard, Lauren's father - interesting isn't it? - a general's baby picture. He was the only baby in his generation so he not only had doting parents (George Francis Brainard and Ella May Fuller) but aunts (Ines and Mary) and uncle (Jerry). Except for Merwyn, they're all gone. I knew the General, Grandma Dina (Ella May), Aunt Mary, Uncle Jerry and wife Tillie Robson - but didn't know Ines nor Grandpa Mac.

Time moves on - and as full as our lives seem to be, we're sometimes reduced to black and white pictures and only a handful of people will have some memories of us.


Here are some old photos of Lauren and his family!


Lauren and Larrie Brainard with Grandpa McKay

Robert Francis Brainard, as baby