The authors of these stories are members of a polyamorous family of seven. We formed between 1969 and 72 and have been an exclusive group since 1972 (that is 48 years in 2020). We're from Bettina a hamlet just outside Llano Texas. Back then there were 578 people living in Bettina township, 2608 people living in Llano township, and 6978 in the whole county. Despite its name -- Llano means "plains" in Spanish -- it's located on its namesake river, a tributary to the Colorado. In the Texas Hill Country just south of Baby Head Mountain, 110 miles north of San Antonio and 75 miles northwest of Austin.
Executive Summary --
George is Lisa's brother. Ethan is their younger brother. George, Lisa, and Ethan are Peter, Kevin, Paul, Hugh, Monica, Jamie, Eva, Lillian, and Claire's first cousins, and Kristin's third-cousin. Eva and Lillian are sisters. Claire is their younger sister, and George, Lisa, Ethan, and Jamie's first cousin, Paul's second cousin, and Kristin's third cousin. Paul is Peter, and Kevin's younger brother, and George, Lisa, and Ethan's first-cousin. Paul, is also Eva, Lillian, and Claires second-cousin, Jamie's second cousin, and Kristin's third-cousin. Kristin is George, Lisa, Ethan, Peter, Kevin, Eva, Lillian, Claire, Hugh, Monica, Jamie, and Paul's third-cousin. Jamie is Hugh and Monica's sister, George, Lisa, Ethan, Eva, Lillian, and Claire's first cousin, Paul's second-cousin, and Kristin's third-cousin.
Here is the complete list (for masochists)
Claus Adel b 1896 -- Erin's husband --J.W.'s father Hugh, Monica and Jamie's paternal grandfather
Erin (Casey) Adel b 1903 -- Claus' wife -- Kaylee's sister J.W.'s mother -- Hugh, Monica and Jamie's paternal grandmother
Morgan O'Connor b 1898 -- Kaylee's husband -- David's father Peter, Kevin, and Paul's paternal grandfather
Kaylee (Casey) O'Connor b 1900 -- Morgan's wife -- Erin's sister -- David's mother -- Peter, Kevin, and Paul's paternal grandmother
Nikolas Saunders b 1897 -- Lizbeth's husband -- Judith, Gabriel, and Michaels's father -- George, Lisa and Ethan's paternal grandfather -- Peter, Kevin, and Paul's maternal grandfather
Lizbeth (Reiley) Saunders b 1905 -- Nikolas; wife -- Judith, Gabriel, and Michaels's mother -- George, Lisa and Ethan's paternal grandmother -- Peter, Kevin, and Paul's maternal grandmother
Jean Deveraux b 1907-- Connie's husband -- Pastor R.P. Deveraux's father -- Eva, Lillian, and Claire's paternal grandfather
Connie (Reiley) Deveraux b 1909 -- Jean's wife -- Pastor R.P. Deverax's mother -- Eva, Lillian, and Claire's paternal grandmother
J.W. Adel b 1920 -- Heidi's husband -- Hugh, Monica, and Jamie's mother
Heidi (Strauss) Adel b 1927 -- J.W.''s wife -- Katherine and Loreli's sister -- Hugh, Monica, and Jamie's mother
(Uncle) David "Doc" O'Connor b 1920 -- (Aunt) Judith's husband -- Judith, George and Michael's 3d cousin -- Peter, Kevin, and Paul's father
(Aunt) Judith "Judy" O'Connor b 1922 -- (Uncle) David's wife George and Michael's sister -- Peter, Kevin, and Paul's father
Gabriel "Gabe" Saunders b 1924 -- Katharine's husband -- Nickolas and Lizbeth's son -- Judy and Michael's brother -- George, Lisa and Ethan's father -- Peter, Kevin, and Paul's uncle -- Kristin's second cousin once removed
Katherine "Kate" (Strauss) Saunders b 1929 -- Gabe's wife -- John and Sarah's daughter -- Heidi and Loreli's brother -- George, Lisa and Ethan's father -- Eva, Lillian, Claire, Hugh, Monica, and Paul's aunt -- Kristin's second cousin once removed
(the late) Arthur Blume b 1928 -- Miss Sherri's deceased husband, killed in the Korean War -- Gabe's second-cousin -- Steve and Kristin's father
Miss Sherri (Mindenhall) Blume b 1929 -- widow of Arthur -- Steve and Kristen's mother
Pastor R.P. Deveraux b 1924 -- husband of Loreli -- Gabe's first-cousin -- Eva, Lillian, and Claire's father
Loreli "Lori" (Strauss) Deveraux b 1931 -- wife of R.P. -- Eva, Lillian, and Claire's father
"Aunt" Anne and "Aunt" Carol -- David, Gabe, Judy and Kate's lovers from Lackland Field, San Antonio -- Mutt and Jeff's girlfriends
"Mutt" and "Jeff" -- the nicknames of two friends of David, Gabe, Judy, Anne and Carol, 8th USAAF pilots killed flying B-17s over Germany
Hugh Adel b 1949 -- stepfather of two -- lives with his sister Monica on Claus' farm
Peter O'Connor b 1947 -- Kevin and Paul's brother -- became a doctor and moved away
Kevin O'Connor b 1949 -- Peter and Paul's brother -- became a lawyer and moved away
Paul O'Connor b 1951 -- Lillian's husband -- Peter and Kevin's brother --the father of six (with Lillian, Eva, and Lisa)
Lillian (Deveraux) O'Connor b 1954 -- Paul's wife -- mother of two (with Paul)
Monica Adel b 1951 -- Hugh and Jamie's sister -- mother of two (with George) -- lives with her brother Hugh on Claus' farm
George Saunders b 1952 -- Lisa and Ethan's brother --father of six (with Kristin, Jamie, and Monica)
Kristin (Blume) Saunders b 1952 -- Steve's sister -- mother of two (with George)
Pastor Eva Deveraux b 1953 -- Lillian and Claire's sister -- mother of two (with Paul)
Lisa (Adel) Saunders b 1953 -- Jamie's wife -- George and Ethan's sister -- mother of two (with Paul)
Jamie (Saunders) Adel b 1953 -- Lisa's wife -- Hugh and Monica's sister -- mother of two (with George)
Ethan Saunders b 1955 -- Claire's husband -- George and Lisa's brother --father of two (with Claire)
Claire (Deveraux) Saunders b 1955 -- Ethan's wife -- Eva and Lillian's sister -- mother of two (with Ethan)
Uncle Mike's kids, our "other" first-cousins: Christopher, Diane, and Robert
Our second cousins "Petey" (not Kevin and Paul's brother) Donna, Connie, and Darcy.
Wendy spent summers at her grandparent's house in town.
Kids we went to school with: Our third-cousins - Meiko, and Michelle, third-cousin and Kristin's brother- Steve, brother and sister Joe (who died in Vietnam) and April, brothers - Joey and Earl, brother and sister - Duane and Mave, brother and sister Geoffery and Lydia.
Bellina Township, Llano County Texas - population 578 (1970)
We all went to BBHHS, the Bellina-Baby Head High School, Paul, and George were class of '70. Eva and Kristin were in the class of '71. Lisa, Jamie, and Lillian were class of '72. Ethan and Claire graduated in '74. Together we all went to the Holy Brethren Church where Pastor R.P. Deveraux -- Eva, Lillian, and Claire's dad -- was the minister. We were each other's casual playmates, swimming in ponds on the farms during the summer, playing Pirate or "Huck Finn" where the girls invariably got tied up and held captive by the boys. Playing "Laban's House," the polygynous version of the classic -- as directed by our resident Biblical scholar, Eva.
Except for Kristin -- she had to work mornings at her mom's diner, Miss Sherri's -- we were all on the track and cross-country running teams, where the girls all played "Truth-or-Dare" in the locker room. We went to 4-H -- "head, heart, hands, and health," run by Texas A&M's agricultural extension service - and Future Farmers of America -- which was run by local volunteer farmers, including our Aunt Judy -- together. Most of us were in the local Civil Air Patrol Squadron that Pepe and Sra. Sanchez ran. Texas Squadron 69 -- really, T-069, it was derived from Llano Municipal Airport's FAA designator of 6N9 -- today the airport designator is a far "less fun" AQO, proof that AWOS blows, or maybe proof it doesn't. Our uncle, "Doc" O'Connor, Paul's dad, owned a PA-12 which was a three-seat version of the J-3 Cub. Paul, George, Lisa, Jamie, and Lillian took lessons in that little tube steel and fabric Piper. We received our Private Pilot Licenses between 1968 and '70.
Things sure seemed to move at a different pace back then. Nobody tried to endlessly extend childhood. We had tons of fun, but we were preparing to be grown-ups. The specter of Vietnam was certainly looming, the whole town turned out for the funeral of Joe, April's older brother. He was the first son the county lost over there. Eva and Lisa had developed a plan for all of us to stay together forever, to make "Laban's House" a blueprint or a trial run. Lisa failed to launch on her first attempt, but she and Jamie made a better plan together. The boys needed the experience of Wendy and Michelle to appreciate the alternative when it was offered. Eva was successful with Paul and later Lillian joined them forming a throuple. Lisa's second shot at George was perfect, Jamie joined in and then we achieved perfection adding Kristin. We grew together and prepared for the future.
Right after high school Paul and George were invited to go "Camping at Killeen" -- US Army basic training at Fort Hood --. We went to see them for the "transition weekend" between the basic and the advanced infantry courses. They came home for Christmas and then they departed on an "all expenses paid twelve-month walking tour of Southeast Asia"-- as George puts it. Eva was ordained by a Pentecostal church because the American Methodist Church, the successor to the Evangelical Union, and the Brethren. required a penis for admission to their seminary.
George and Paul got themselves "Airframe & Powerplant" licenses after going to a school in San Antonio with their GI Bill money. We borrowed Pepe's Cessna Bobcat to fly down to see them while acquiring multi-engine time. We moved into our own little playhouse, five of us got Commercial Licenses. Then we flew Beech Eighteens. We built a basement playroom. We lived in the dark, flying through the state at night. But had lots of fun in that little house, in the kitchen, the bedroom, and the jacuzzi tub. We logged for quite a few hours and all received our Air Transport Licenses right about the time we went to Alaska for two years.
We were supposed to be getting jobs flying for the Conglomerate that was building the Alaska Pipeline but people who were already up there had more experience so they took the "newer" higher-paying jobs and we took the jobs they vacated when they jumped ship. Alaska in the 1970s was the most wonderful existence for a young pilot without children to worry about. We flew passengers, fuel, and general freight in old round-engine airplanes. We even flew some "fire-suppression" -- aka water-bombing missions -- in converted World War Two bombers, and Lisa developed her Catalina fixation. The one thing we did not do but would have loved to have done professionally was stay in Alaska longer.
Our families were all in Central Texas, so we came back. The seven of us started an air-taxi business with Jamie's brother and sister -- our cousins Hugh, BBHHS '68, and Monica, BBHHS '70. The seven of us had ten children each of whom growing up had two daddies and five mommies who all loved them. Once, Eva had a dream of creating a commune, but it didn't work because many chose not to exert themselves. We lived there and flew Piper Cherokees, then Navajos, and eventually Chieftains. It was a partnership that morphed into an organic commercial farm.
Monica set up a Montessori school there on the grounds. Then George "assisted" Monica in her desire to become a mother. Now all of us have grandchildren and even a couple of great-grandchildren. Ethan was in the class of 1974 and missed the Vietnam War. When he got out of the Army, he and Claire -- who was also '74 -- he went to work flying for us. We grew our aviation business, took an equity partner to obtain capital to grow, and we bought new Embraers to run a commuter service. We merged the company with its codeshare partner and eventually sold our stake in it, and we moved to the Caribbean for the first time.
We spent eighteen years living in Sosua in the Dominican Republic flying C-117s to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, and Miami, Florida. We flew C-46s to the Cayman Islands and Rotan, Honduras, L-749s to Sint Maarten and Guatemala City. We flew DC-6s to Georgetown and Lethem in Guyana and L-1049s to Curacao and Belize. When the US President decided to pressure the Dominicans we started passenger flights using a DC-8. Initially, we carried vacationers from Spain, and Italy, we had long layovers in Europe, so we took the kids and visited France and Switzerland. The Trade war ended and we started flying freight to Holland and Germany before shifting our operations to serve South America.
We flew the L-1049s again this time to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil and to Montevideo Uruguay, and to Buenos Aires, Argentina. We acquired a couple of Boeing C-97s and flew them to Panama, and Suriname, and Columbia, and French Guiana. After the 9-11 terrorist attacks, the big corporation that bought us out went bankrupt. We returned to the US to run the commuter operation. We flew twin-engine Embraer Jets from Wisconsin to Houston, Chicago, the Twin Cities, Ohio, and Michigan. Then, forced to retire "due to excessive experience," by the FAA, we moved back to the Caribbean where we could legally run our aviation business.
Some of our stories involve the folks we grew up with back in Texas, Steve and Earl (class of '69) Wendy and Joey (class of '70) Christopher, Michelle, Geoff, and Duane (class of '71) Meiko (class of '72) Diane, Darcy, Mave and Lydia (class of '73) and Robert (class of '74). Sally Fulbright was our science teacher, track and cross-country coach. She taught us about science including endorphins and endocannabinoids. Besides Mr. Freely -- a jovial pervert who taught us Shakespeare -- she was the only competent teacher in the school. Miss Sherri was Kristin's mom and ran a diner in town, Jamie and Kristin both worked there. Earl and Joey's dad ran the Farmer's Coop.
We are Jamie Adel and Lisa Saunders and we write a lot about our family -- a lot of it is real with the proper nouns and dates changed -- a lot of the rest is fiction inspired by our family. We've been asked to leave a place -- or was it five, we can't keep track --. We think it's five now, because some people don't like what we write about or don't like the way we say it is real. Too bad, we don't force anyone to read it. We write about the people we care about.
We'll post a list father down for those we haven't bored to tears yet. Mostly our stuff is about the 26 people in our cohort (12 male and 14 female born between 1947 and '55 or so), the 15 in our parent's generation (8 male and 7 female born between 1920 and '31) and 12 people in our grandparent's generation (5 male and 7 female born between 1890 and 1910)
Biologists say everyone on earth is related to everyone else -- not always a pleasnt thought -- it's just a matter of degree. Some of our ancestors -- the Caseys and Reileys -- were from Ireland. Ireland is a relatively small island and was relatively poor when the big migration to the US occurred. A study showed that most Irish emigres to the US were no greater than 5th cousins.
con·san·guin·e
/ˌkänsaNGˈɡwinē/
adjective
relating to or denoting people descended from the same ancestor.
"consanguineous marriages"
The folks we write about are more closely related than that. We are a polyamorous family of seven.
pol·y·am·o·ry
/ˌpälēˈamərē/
noun
the practice of engaging in multiple sexual relationships with the consent of all the people involved.
By closest relation, there are some double-cousins, we are full siblings (2/21), first-cousins (10/21), second-cousins (6/21), and third cousins (3/21). We have been exclusive for 49 years as of last March.
con·san·guin·am·o·ry
/ˌkänsaNGˈɡwinēˈamərē/
noun
romantic love of family members; consensual adult incest.
"Our" tag is "loving sibling incest" (Apparently to most people first-cousins are an "incestuous" coupling too. Although if we are using the legal definition, half of the US states, Canada, and nearly all of Latin America allow first-cousins to marry.)
in·cest
/ˈinˌsest/
noun
sexual relations between people classed as being too closely related to marry each other.
What we do and write about isn't illegal where we live -- the fictional nation of "San Mateo" in the Caribbean --. All of the proper nouns here that can identify us are pseudonyms. San Mateo is a very real place but that's just not its real name. We are US citizens. We moved here so we wouldn't have to retire. For some reason, it's become a crime in the US to be old, or perversely to be young. What we do wasn't illegal where we lived in the US either.
1940-
Lisa's father, Gabriel Saunders, was in high school when the Germans started bombing London. His older sister Judith, whom eleven years later would give birth to Paul, her third son -- and the future father of Lisa's two sons -- met a young Army Air Corps pilot, David O'Connor, who was attending college with her in San Antonio, Texas.
Back then Air Corps pilots had a quaint custom -- a sort of "really whole-life insurance coverage," they promised to ALWAYS care for the mate of a fallen comrade --. Flying was a dangerous profession in the 1920s and 30s and since they had pledged to share bad times, they shared the good ones too. This meant sharing their mates sexually with one another.
Judith was invited to one of their swingers' parties on Lackland Field. She was hesitant. David knew Gabe -- I think they are third cousins through the Caseys -- and said that he should come along so that Judith would "feel safe." The three of them joined and were part of a playgroup that varied in size as pilots came in and were transferred out. Then Judith was exclusive with David for a time after he got orders for England, leaving in February 1941.
Gabe got drafted and received orders for Massachusetts, having to report literally within a week of graduating from high school. Judith and Gabe spent three weeks together before he left as lovers. Then Gabe went to amphibious training where they practiced by invading Martha's Vineyard. He spent the next four years on a walking tour across two continents and six countries.
He guarded enemy PWs in North Africa, landed on the second wave in Sicily, and in Italy. They captured towns, mountains, and monasteries were sealifted to support the Anzio beachhead and entered Rome on D-day. They made an amphibious assault in Southern France, fighting with a Japanese-American Regimental Combat Team under French command, trapping a German Army there.
They marched across France, crossed the Rhine, entered Germany and liberated the satellite industrial slave-labor camps of Dachau, before finally accepting the surrender of another German army in Austria and getting Rest and Recuperation leave in Paris. Gabe bought "naughty" English language paperbacks in the Pigalle, and sailed back to America just before Christmas of 1945.
David slept in a tent next to his grass airfield in England before and after each bombing mission. He spent the daylight hours in the cold zigging and zagging at high altitude while being shot at by the big FlAK guns. Wondering if the Luftwaffe fighter command had guessed correctly. If he was lucky they hadn't and the bombers were so high up in the thin air the overloaded fighters were so heavy that they couldn't catch them.
Of their San Antonio playgroup, David had left first and so he returned before the others. He and Judith got married and settled down near the Saunders family farm in Bellina, Texas -- ironically named for a German Dutchess a hundred years earlier --. Judith had run the farm after both of her brothers were drafted. Michael Saunders was sent to the Pacific Theater.
David helped run the farm and tried to start an airline that morphed into an airport fixed base operation. Gabe came back to Texas and married the 18-year-old sister of one of their "playgroup," Lisa and George's mom Katherine. The playgroup in San Antonio had all been young pilots except for high-school-student Gabe -- who got drafted into the infantry before he ever had the chance to go to flight school --.
Before the war there were a few more guys than gals in the playgroup -- but several of those young men never made it back to Texas. Families were bigger back then, especially in the country. People were busy, especially farming families. Transportation was more difficult than it is today. It was easy to have relatives you didn't know well or at all.
When they were small Lisa and George were often babysat by their Aunt Anne or Aunt Carol. Half of the time it was one of those two watching her, George, Paul, and their combined three siblings at Paul's house while all of the parents were at her house. The other half of the time the children were all at Lisa's house and all the parents were at Paul's house.
When Lisa was fifteen, and dating a seventeen-year-old Paul, Judith took her aside and told her the story we just related here. Adding that Anne and Carol were not actually Lisa's aunts -- which we already knew --. But we didn't know the whole story. That Aunt Anne and Aunt Carol were Aunt Judy's lovers. They were Gabe's, Katharine's, and Steve's lovers in the present day as well since before the war in San Antonio.
Anne and Carol were originally brought into the Lackland Field San Antonio playgroup by two fine young men who never got a chance to grow old. Two Eighth USAAF pilots who died flying the B-17 Flying Fortresses over Germany.
We, Lisa and Jamie -- Jamie had moved in with Lisa when they were both thirteen, Paul and George are two years older -- already knew that Katherine and Gabe were great parents, they were suddenly very, very cool parents as well.