The Roach Family Crest

This is a pretty neat description of the origin of the Roach family name I just found....

Did you know Roach means "Rock"? So many perfect applications for that definition....

Don't let the long first paragraph scare you!



Origin: Irish

Non-Gaelic elements made their first appearance in Irish nomenclature after the Strongbow settlers began to arrive on Irish shores. Although the Irish already had an established a system of hereditary surnames, the Anglo-Normans also brought their own traditions with them when they arrived. The two systems were not extremely conflicting, and eventually drew upon one another. Although local surnames, such as Roach, were not entirely unknown to the Irish, this form of surname was much more popular with the Strongbownians. Local names were taken from the names of a place or a geographical feature where the person lived, held land, or was born. Originally, these place names were prefixed by de, which means from in French. This type of prefix was eventually either made a part of the surname, if the place name began with a vowel, or was eliminated entirely. The local names of these Anglo-Norman invaders first referred to places in Normandy, or more typically England, but eventually for those Strongbownians or their descendents that remained in Ireland, the local names really did begin to refer to local places or geographical features of the island. The Roach family appears to have originally lived in a rocky area or near some notable rock. The surname Roach is derived from the Old French word roche, which means rock. The surname Roach belongs to the class of topographic surnames, which were given to people who resided near physical features such as hills, streams, churches, or types of trees. The Gaelic form of the surname Roach is de Róiste.

Spelling variations include: Roche, Roach, Roache, LaRoche, LaRoach, DeLaRoach, Roack, Roch, Roiche, St.Roche, Rocheland, Rochellan and many more.

First found in county Limerick where they were granted lands by Strongbow whom they accompanied into Ireland during the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1172.

Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: William Roach settled in Virginia in 1707; Edmund, Frederick, James, John, Margaret, Mary, Michael, Patrick, Richard, Thomas and William Roach all arrived in Philadelphia between 1840 and 1870.
Motto Translated: My God is my rock.

PARTAAYYY IN SD 2007!!!!! 21 and OLDER!!!!

Projected Date: Either March 9-11 or March 16-18 (majority rules, so whichever date is voted for most!)
Restrictions: Must obtain valid 21+ id. (whether or not the picture and name are you, use your discretion)
Target Population: Roach cousins, spouses, S.O.'s or potential S.O.'s.
Plan: Party like Rock Stars with Caitlin and Colleen in their new ruled city, with lots of beach lounging time.
Where: San Diego, of course. We are your new SoCal cousins!!!!
Exceptions: Some aunts and uncles may think this sounds like a brilliant idea, and would like to join in on the fun. We vote.........................................most likely noooot gonna happen, but you may test the vote if you're feeling lucky :0)
Accommodations: Bomb-diggity, resort-style apartamentos in La Jolla. (courtesy of Colleen and Caitlin)
RSVP: BLOG

Official Date will be posted when we have sufficient responses by fellow blogging cousins or word of mouth to those cousins who aren't cool enough to blog.
-Colleen/Caitlin/Miguel-honorary non-cousin

Perpetual Roach Reunion

Hi All,
I just had an excellent phone call from Bart via some sort of computer hook-up. The connection was perfect! He sounded great, happy and has had excellent experiences, has many plans and a very busy agenda. He was getting ready to fix dinner with a group of friends! He had just gotten pick-pocketed in a busy crowded touristy congested bottle-neck by a 8yo girl who passed his wallet off to her father. He lost his wallet, bank card, driver license, ~$30US. His wallet was in his front pocket and he was even thinking it would be a spot for such a caper!!!! These felons are very good. In his youth hostel later he learned others had had the same experience in the exact same location!!! Nancy, does this remind you of the same modus operendi in Rome @ the Vatican?

Anyway, he is happy, healthy and having a good experience.

As ever,
daddio or big mike

--
John Michael G Roach, MD
GASTROENTEROLOGY
"The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory...but progress." --Joseph Joubert (1754-1824)

Happy Birthday Tommy!!!!

Two 15-Year Olds for a Week!

Just so you know, we have 2, count 'em, 2, Fifteen year olds for this week in our household!!!!

G-Ma's Fresh Coat

Last weekend, a crew of us led by Kevin and Brian Roach put in a total of approximately 100 man (and woman) hours, giving Grandma a freshie. Uncle Pat deserves extra props for being the only Oldie who was with us for the duration.

A good time was had by all, and Grandma LOVES her new paint job!

Observe:

John Michael Talbot Concert

All,

As you probably know, the Luke Roach Scholarship Fund is putting on a concert featuring John Michael Talbot, monk and guitaris extraordinaire. This concert will be a little different from his last one here, as he will be performing songs from his newest album "Monk Rock", which should be a little "friendlier" to my generation.

We would love all of your help in promoting this. We haven't sold as many tickets as we'd like yet, and we really need to get on the ball.

Here is a PDF that contains all the pertinent information. If you have any questions, please direct them to My Mother Nancy.

Thanks, and with your help we can make this a big success for Prep and for Luke's legacy.

Big Month for the Thornhills

Big Month for the Thornhills

I was checking out one of those calendars that have important dates for each month of the year and August just screamed Thornhills.

Looking at 3 birthdays (Ailis, Fiona and Sinead) and the 18th wedding anniversary for Tere and Katie made me think how lucky we are to have you all in our lives. What at loss it would have been had you two never met and deprived the community of your love, committment and those beautiful daughters...thank the Lord for Irish Bars!

Enjoy a great August,

Love,
Bill

Let's Plan Another Family Campout (a/k/a "Herding Cats!!")

My calendar this week reminded me once again that this first weekend of August is the one we set aside several years ago to stage an annual family campout. If there's some interest in getting something going for next summer, please offer your input.

I think we've gone to Mt. Ranier twice and to the Leavenworth area once. Last time we discussed it (three summers ago) we kicked around the idea of going to a campground at the Gorge near Bonneville Dam. Then Liz's family and mine headed to the East Coast instead. Without us being present, naturally no one else wanted to get together. We enjoyed lobster w/the Sullivans in Maine w/o you guys!!

The Winthrop area is gorgeous, as is the Olympic Penninsula. (Remember camping at Klalock when we were kids?) Vancouver Island has a lot to offer, as does the rest of B.C. Jacquie and I and our kids go two or three times a year to Cannon Beach where we stay in a house on the beach that belongs to friends. The setting where we stay is pretty remote (from the crowd) and is a bit of paradise and there are a number of houses closeby that could be rented although they are pretty spendy.

I suggest that we set aside a time that works for the greatest number of interested family members and then decide on a place. My gang doesn't think traveling 6-7 hours to a good spot is any big deal, provided we're going to stay for at least 3 nights!

Let's first nail down the weekends that won't work for a family campout. The things that I can think of that are on the calendar for next summer are the proposed Sullivan family reunion and the boat races.

Any weddings in the works? (If so, no need to divulge the secrets yet - we'll plan around you Joe, Colleen, Dom, Caitlin, whoever!)

Your thoughts?

Droesch's New Presidential Vehicle

Droesches, please post a jpg of your new bling bling that you bought.

Boatraces

You all better get ready for some fun. Joe is already out in the boat at the newly improved "honey hole" (where all the 40 year old divorcee's tie their boats together and drink wine coolers or mixed drinks and goggle over other divorced, not-so-in shape bikini wearers (or speedo wearers), where all have way too dark, weathered and leathered skin), with his boys from work. I am waiting for my boys from seattle and portland, and then the real fun will begin. check on you all later...

bpr

God watches over all of us. Apparently, especially our grandma.

bpr

The Thornhill Girls and their Partners in the Meadow Springs Junior Golf Child - Parent Tourney

The Thornhill girls are playing Junior Golf for the 2nd year at Meadow Springs and recently played in the Child-Parent Tournament. Fiona & Tere were partners, Ailis and Nick Cameron, Ciara and Bart, Moira and Margo, and Sinead and Bill Meyer! Here are a few photos from the event.

Happy Birthday Dominic!!!!

Hope you have a great day and celebrate well.
Love
Your Godmother

oops, joe: meant to discuss 'slewing hoist' rather than 'slewing post'. my mistake. slewing hoist is even cooler. what is it?

Joe, something about the name 'slewing post' just sounded MEAN to me. I envisoned, like, a gallows where people just get streamline massacared or something. Please explain slewing post to us. Neat neat word. Sounds cool when you say it out loud.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ED!!!

How old are you today????
Have loads of fun.
Katie

Don't Forget about Grandma!

All, (or Johnny-Boo specifically)

We should have a printed version of the blog brought to Grandma once a month. At least the important updates about her 9 kids, their spouses, and her 44 grandchildren. I'm not sure how difficult that is with printing the comments and all, but I'm sure she would be delighted to be a part of this.

Now onto me! I'm finally done flying back and forth to Minnesota testing this crane that I've been working on for 5 years. It is completely done and will be disassembled next Monday. Unfortunately I returned to management thinking something wasn't done right and the test "failed" as opposed to applause and cheers. Typical with this job, but the personal satisfaction of completing this ~$7 mill crane works for me.

Here's a picture of the team with the completed crane. The robotic arm can bee seen under neath the slewing hoist to the right of the folks.

Enjoy, and nice update Caitlin, can't wait to se you down there!

JDR

Several comments: Caitlin, I love you. You're one of my favorite cousins, hands down. And to think that Bart and Luke used to call you funny names...

Second: I am all for the 600 word essay idea. Tom capitulated it perfectly. Please all young people (I am included), dont let us down!

Third: Uncle Mike. Good idea. Never even thought about it. Now I will have a telephone, Colt 45, AND car alarm key fob accessible. That combo is sure to dissuade. Of course, I could get a pit bull too, like all my neighbors in the ghetto that I presently reside in. That's actually WHY I bought the Colt 45, to protect against the pit bulls. (one actually attacked my mail lady on my front porch. tore her hand to shreds while patricio was in an open-doored car in our driveway. scary...) We got it all around these parts...

Mariners Fan Livin' in San Diego

Hello All,
I have been reading the blogs describing everyone's interesting lives and the other postings from Aunts and Uncles (and my MOM!) begging the grandchildren to write. I'm ashamed to say that, unlike my cousins, writing poetry and essays with huge words i don't understand has never been my fortay. However, I am going to attempt write a short, 600 or so word blog about what I have been up to these past few months....
I graduated on May 7th from the University of Portland School of Nursing. This may surprise many of you, only because a few weeks ago I was reminded by my cousin Brian, who seemed shocked that I have already graduated from college and am almost as grown up and successful as he is, that it is hard to believe I am not the [crybaby] 12 year old I once was. I AM mostly grown up, but in Brian's defense, I do wish sometimes that I was 12 - life seemed a little bit easier back then with much less responsibility. :) Anyway, after graduation, the Johnstons headed southeast to Hong Kong for a week. Very fun and very interesting. Unlike anything I have ever seen before. I am actually surprised that no one in my family posted a blog about our trip (Kevin should you maybe get on that??) After the asian adventures I returned to Portland for a few weeks and stayed with the Schultes (Chambers family) while saying my last good-byes to my housemates. I bought a coche, with the help of my dad obviously, and on June 10 I headed down to San Diego. I was greeted by Colleen who very graciously let me stay with her for the first two weeks of my relocation. I started work as a critical care nurse at UCSD Medical Center just a few weeks ago and am loving it. I am working on the IMU which is an abbreviation for intermediate care unit. We get the patients whose conditions are not critical enough to be in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit, for all those non medical professionals), so we have lots of patients who were in car wrecks; hit by cars and other heavy metal objects; the medically unstable, such as those with a serious exacerbation of their diabetes, pulmonary disease, and heart attacks. We are the only Trauma I center in the Region, so we get all the bloody, serious stuff. It's very very fun and VERY high stress. I feel like I can't think straight or see straight when I'm working because there is so much to manage with these critically ill people. I am hopeful that feeling with minimize with time, organization, and familiarity with the unit.
I just moved into my own place a few weeks ago and am enjoyin' days at the beach, paychecks bigger than I could have ever imagined, shopping, and bein' close to the Mexicanos. I have not yet been to TJ, but that will come soon enough....Anyone please want to join me??
Colleen and I are having fun spending time together and spending time with BJ Mac and his wife Kate. And just so you all know...............we LOVE having family visitors!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's about it from the bottom half of the west coast. Love reading the updates, safety checks, and random websites posted on this bloggy blog. Keep in touch fam! Love you all!
~Kitty Cat Caitlin
PS: Miguel says hi to all of you, and he says he absolutely LOVES the Roach-Johnston-Chambers-Thorny-Cedergreen Family! (haha, I added in the last part, in case you didn't know...I crack myself up sometimes!)