(InEDC) BY Ron Harris, Wagon Trains Ride, 2024 Published: Aug. 28, 2023 12:14 A.m.
I started photographing the Wagon Train in 2014..
After that..in 2019..VI asked if I would share my photos for the Book…That year..my photo graced the Cover..
I was mesmerized by her..Her smile , Wit..
Passion for the Wagon Train..she became my friend..
Afterwards…I began working with her…
She graciously gave me free rein ..to photograph and
copy her collection of photos..
many hours were spent.
Remembering and giving me tidbits and story’s..
She would later be the reason…I went collecting..
Other personal collections…Not to keep for myself..
But to share with the group…
I now have 41 collections..Over 900 photos from 1949-2023..
Vi would be amazed at the photos from the past..
Trying to fill in years..she gave me some people
to contact and see if I could get photos from them..
One of them was John and Sandy Schwartzler ..
It was because of her..I joined the ..
Gold Rush Fire Brigade .. Running into a family friend.
Michelle Russell …she would give me a list of
Photos to take..She was a hard one to get a photo of!!
She was proud of her family and her Wagon Train family…She was a fierce fighter when it came to history..
In 2022 I shot a photo of the Wagon Train coming around Horsetail Falls bend…
I sent her updates as I rode with them…
That photo by the end of the Trip…
Had reached over 21000 people..At the time..
We had only 1900 members on our page..
Vi was so happy…she said ..
She was going to ram it down the people that didn’t care about history…She was a great supporter of Myself and my photography…but I was just one person…She had influenced many others..
All with similar stories…She may be gone now..
But she crossed over the bridge to heaven..
Meeting up with friends of days gone by..
Riding new Trails..with Cactus , Black Bart , Lee Hofer, Indian Liz..and many that have gone too soon..
As the train rolls .. You’ll see them beside us..
Laughing and yelling encouragement..
She made a difference..in many lives ..In mine..
Goodbye Vi Tara ..
Source:
Goodbye Vi Tara ..
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