Here are my parents, Dr. Max & Angela (Brill) Thaler. They were holocaust survivors who made it out of Austria into Switzerland and eventually to the U.S., and finally to the North Country hamlet, Parishville, New York, where my father served as general practitioner for nearly 40 years.

My parents had four children: the first two, Ellen (computer specialist,now yoga teacher) and Joan (myself-- poet, yoga teacher) born in Switzerland, and the second two: David (now Dr. David Thaler, a microbiologist) and Susanna (a dancer, singer/song writer, mother and museum administrator) born in the United States.

1. Ellen married Charles Beeler. They had three children, Gracie, now a wonderful poet (check out her website!) , wife of Gustavo (Jayan) Fortado and mother of two beautiful sons, Tiago, an avid Harry Potter fan, and Ulyses (Oolie) who joined the family in October 2012.

Here are the Beeler-Fortados, summer 2005

Here are Tiago (with bunny) & Mom Gracie with "Oolie."

... Gabriel,photographer, musician, yogi, librarian and world traveler...








...and Angie, a singer and adventurer, whose voice truly could send angels down from heaven. Angie lives & makes music with her husband, Leon, young son, Pache, and daughter, Lydia Rose in, no longer in Colorado, now in  New York State.


Leon, Angie, Pache, Lydia, Ellie New Lydia February 2010

And here are Lydia & Pache at Cousin Andy Brill's wedding, summer 2012.

2. Joan (me) married Brian Dobbie in 1969. We met in the Boston commons the day after we'd both been to the original Woodstock and were still floating two or three feet off the ground. You can read about our life together in my poetry collection, A CITY WEARS ITS RIVER LIKE A NECKLACE.

Brian and I had two children, Dawn and Andy, who grew up to each have three children of their own. Dawn's children are Dane, Leif and June. Andy's are Mara, Seth and Lyla. Every one of my six grands is a precious gift to me, and though they live far, far from me I make sure to visit at least once a year.

Dawn has two sons and a daughter: Dane ,  Leif and June.  Dane is a skate boarder dancer, and an award winning student who carries an aura of goodness; Leif is a sensitive young philosopher and future scientist? musician? always in trouble because of his latest experiment. June is quick and bright, a girl's girl who loves to make herself beautiful and let the world rejoice. She's also a really good artist, dancer and gymnast. In 2007 the family moved from the Virgin Islands, all the way around the world, making their home on the beautiful West coast of Australia. And, newly married on April 18, 2019, Dawn has become Dawn McGregor! So much love to this family XXXOOO

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Andy, his wife Jenni,presently live in Boulder, Colorado, with their two lovely daughters #1, Mara Adelle, and Lyla Susan, and handsome blond brown-eye son, Seth. They had recently built their own house on a hilltop overlooking the Caribbean sea, and are now enjoying the a new life in the Rocky Mountains . For some time  they owned a high end restaurant in the BVI,  then Andy became a buyer for a wholesale company, and now, as beverage manager for Lucky's grocery chain here in the U.S., life is moving forward. Jenni, who has proved herself an incredible teacher had been home-schooling children for over three years! They are now successfully and happily attending public schools in Boulder. And Jenni is accountant, secretary for a cat only veterinary service, working, to her great joy, from her own home.

Andy & Jenni marry, January 11, 2004

Dobbie family, January 2009

Mara/Seth August 2010

Daddy Andy with the beautiful brood: January 2013

Here we are all together, June 2019

3. David, a microbiologist, and his wife, Fiona, also a scientist, live in Switzerland with their handsome young son, Nicos, (our parents' 8th grandchild) who is now multi-lingual, multi-cultural and an excellent chess player to boot. He and the Colorado three love meeting online to play Minecraft.
Family gathering, September 2006

Here we are, together again, summer 2012


4. Susanna https://www.facebook.com/Susanna.Thaler.Drogsvold?ref=ts&fref=ts, our youngest sister, married Bruce Drogsvold (now a Real Estate Agent ). They have two children, Lauren (in her childhood an Irish dancer, and now an avid snowboarder, photographer and businesswoman and Kirk, a multi-talented young man: a baseball player, skier, world traveler, painter, musician, and the list goes on.

Kirk http://www.facebook.com/LoRyder?ref=ts&fref=ts#!/kirk.drogsvold?fref=ts, Lauren http://www.facebook.com/LoRyder?ref=ts&fref=ts, Susanna & Bruce http://www.facebook.com/LoRyder?ref=ts&fref=ts#!/bruce.drogsvold?fref=ts, Holidays 2006.

In 2010 the 4 Thaler sibs joined together to create a memorial brick for their parents at the Parishville nature Trail: