Rick Wickwire's Blog

Hi everyone. Tomorrow I am leaving Guinea for a three week vacation and I plan to be traveling a lot and won’t have my computer with me, so this issue will be the last one until I get back to site. Fran is planning on taking up all my time while I am home and she appears very serious about it. Hopefully all of you will be involved in holiday planning as well and won’t miss the issues.

Unfortunately we also have some very sad news to share with you this week. Deltra Wickware Johnson passed away on the 17th of November. Here is the notice that cousin Linda Tannis sent to us:

JOHNSON, Deltra Died Peacefully at Kingston General Hospital on Tuesday November 17, 2009. Deltra Wickware, formerly of RR # 1, Lyndhurst, in her 93rd year. Widow of Dr. D.S. Johnson (D.J.). Dear Mother of Deltra Willis of Watertown, N.Y., Sharon-Gay and her husband Dr. Nick Doroszkiewicz of Hagersville. Predeceased by son, Dr. Graeme Johnson. Also survived by daughter-in-law, Kim Johnson. Predeceased by brother, Douglas McNeil Wickware. Fondly remembered by grandchildren, Deltra Lynne, Andrew, Ashley, Andrea, Allan, Fraser, Curtis and Cameron as well as great-grandchildren, Zachary and William. Also survived by several nieces and nephews. A Private Inurnment Service will be held at Capital Memorial Gardens, Nepean at a later date. As expressions of sympathy, memorial donations made to the Carveth Care Centre, Gananoque or the Charity of your choice would be appreciated by the family. Funeral arrangements entrusted to the SCOTLAND FUNERAL HOME, 27 MAIN STREET, ELGIN: 1-613-359-5555

Deltra was from one of our fine Canadian family lines. Here is her lineage for your review: DELTRA BEA14 WICKWARE (ALBERT BROWNBRIDGE13, TILLEY HOUGHTON12, PHILIP11, JAMES10, LEBBEUS9 WICKWIRE, LEBBEUS8, JONATHAN7, JOHN6 WICKWARE). She and I would be 7th cousins, twice removed, and our common ancestors were John and Mary Tonge Wickware. We send our heartfelt condolences to her family.

We also found out that another of our oldest family members passed away but we don’t have many details. Avis Marie Wickware, born 26 December 1927, passed away 10 November 2009, in Newport, Oregon, we believe. We don’t know a lot about Avis, except she was a retired teacher in the New York school system. Her family spent the 1930’s through the 1950’s in the New York area, primarily in Warsaw, Cortland, Homer, and Buffalo, which are not far apart. In 1980 she was in Gallup, New Mexico. Her later years were spent in the northwest part of the US. She never married as far as we can tell. She was the daughter of Albert F. and Alice Rende Wickwire. Here is her lineage for your information: AVIS MARIE14 WICKWIRE (ALBERT F.13, FRANK12, ALBERTO11, GEORGE WASHINGTON LOOMIS10, JEREMIAH9, JEREMIAH8, PETER7, JOHN6 WICKWARE). Avis and I would be 7th cousins, once removed, and our common ancestors were John and Mary Tonge Wickware. We would certainly be interested in learning more about Avis, if any of you know more about her. It is amazing that she lived 82 years and this is all we know about her. According to our records she was an only child so there isn’t any hope of finding any close relatives.

This week we heard from one of our Canadian cousins with a unique request. Let us share the email with you so you can see what Michael David Wickware needs:

Hi Rick,

I’m a long-time reader of the Family Newsletter, and I’m writing to you with a really big request. Here’s the story:

My company, Wickware Communications, is based in Toronto, Canada, and virtually all of our clients are here in Canada (I’m a writer, and we provide marketing/communications services to financial industry firms). Me and my team of five employees have just added a sixth person who is based in California, and we are finally embarking on a longstanding dream—expanding into the U.S. market. Truthfully, my hope is to one day be able to move to the U.S. and enjoy, among many other things, a warmer climate.

So, we have our first American employee and are setting up our American office. My business partner and I plan to spend as much time as possible in the U.S. seeking out and serving new clients. We are within weeks of launching a fabulous new website that will include a beautiful promotional video designed to help sell our services to U.S. clients.

There’s just one snag: our web address is http://www.wickware.ca, and all the feedback we’ve received is that a “.ca” URL is a no-no in the U.S. market. It’s unfamiliar to most users, and may register as “untrustworthy” with some people. We’ve heard this from more than one expert on the matter. Of course, a “.com” URL is the universal standard for a commerce-oriented website. I think you can see where I’m heading with this…

Would you consider giving or selling me the http://www.wickware.com address, and moving your site to an alternative, such as http://www.wickware.net, http://www.wickware.org, http://www.wickwar.com, http://www.wickwire.com, or something along these lines? I’d be more than happy to pay for any costs related to making the switch.

I know you’ve put a lot of effort into your current site, and I’m loath to even ask. But it would mean a lot to me, it would help our business create new opportunities for ourselves and others, and I’m quite certain it would be a smooth transition for your fans and readers. I’m grateful for your consideration, and glad to answer any questions you may have.

Have a safe and happy trip home for the Thanksgiving holiday, and I’ll look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you and all the best,

Michael Wickware

We do understand where Michael is coming from, and we are very sympathetic. And I might add we are actively considering transferring the site address to him. It has been a good one to us for over ten years but Michael is correct about the commercial aspects of the site for his type of website whereas ours is not commercial in any manner. So, Trey and I are checking out sites and other providers to see how we can help Michael out. If any of you have any suggestions we would be glad to hear them. By the way, most of the alternate sites mentioned above are already taken by other people, but there are options available. We forgot to mention that Michael is the son of Walter David and Trudy Kent Wickware, and we wish him immense success in his business ventures, and in his quest for warmer weather.