Intriguing Picture

I have spent hours this week trying to organize old pictures. The above was taken in 1981. It's Brock's Sunbeam class, and whoever took this picture, listed all the names on the back. What I found interesting is the boy standing in the back. That is Gabriel Mahan! I either had forgotten his last name, or I never knew it. I have wondered many times what happened to him.

He was about 3-4 years older than Brock. By the way, Brock is seated first row, on the far right. Gabriel use to practically live at our house. All but sleep there. Most mornings when we woke up we would open our front door, and sure enough he would be quietly waiting on the porch. He was such a good kid. I loved having him over because he had such a calming influence on Brock and Logan.

So he would come in and spend the day with us. He was even on our chore chart. He would have his meals with us, do whatever we were doing that day, and then we would send him home about bedtime. He would often come to church with us too, as this picture shows. He was part of our family for a year or two, I think. I really can't remember exactly when he and his Mom and siblings moved from our neighborhood but we never saw them again after they did. I would so love to find him and learn how he is doing, and thank him for all those months (years?) he was a part of our family. He was just so sweet, so kind. He deserved a good future, and I hope that is what he got.

I wonder if Brock remembers him? Logan was probably too young. And McKay and Tyler were not born yet.

Also in this picture, in case any of you recognize the names, are:
front row, l to r: Nathan Boyer, David Anderson, Vanessa Anderson, Brock
back row, l to r: Matthew Bybee, Melissa Clayson, Daniel Presbyla, Ben Fretwell, Scott Sowby

And coincidentally just yesterday in the mail, we received this news from Nathan Boyer (one of the Sunbeams above). He is almost making the same expression here as he did in the picture above.