Ron & Olivia's Home Page

Hello to all our friends and family!  It’s been a year since our last blog entry and as much as we love remembering all that we went through to finally bring Tommy into our life, I think it’s time to finally write some updates on what’s been going on since May of 2008.  Most of the summer last year was a blur.  As any parents can attest, during the first six months, parents spend most of their time feeding a noisy northern end while cleaning the southern.  And whether you intend to or not, parenthood forces you to give up much of the luxuries in life – luxuries like sleep and independence.  Tommy was a pretty good baby when it came to sleeping at night though, after just a couple of months he was already sleeping all the way through the night.

There were a couple of times when we had some uncomfortable moments.  When he was about 5 months or so he started vomiting up everything he ate.  One night Olivia found some blood next to the pillow in his basinet and we got pretty scared that something serious was going on.  After a couple of trips to the hospital, some X-rays and a lot of anxiety it was finally determined that he had acid reflux and he was prescribed liquid Zantac to help relieve it.  Tommy to this day still struggles with this ailment.   The reflux causes phlegm to build up in his throat which gives him coughing fits (especially in the mornings when he first wakes up).  What’s worse is that his symptoms get exacerbated whenever he contracts anything such as the flu or the common cold.  During times like this he refuses to eat which makes us very frustrated because he stops gaining weight.  The doctors tell us he will most likely just grow out of it and in the meantime it’s just something we have to deal with.

Tommy’s first Thanksgiving and Christmas came and was spent with Mom, Dad, his big sister Alanna, aunt Nancy and grandmother.  Wherever he goes, Tommy is always the center of attention.  He’s the apple of his granddad’s eye and already breaking the hearts of females around the world.  In January we travelled to the Philippines so that Tommy’s maternal grandparents could take a gander at their brand new American grandson.

As I’m sure you can all appreciate, travelling in an airplane with an infant is a nightmare to begin with.  But try travelling for 22 hours in three separate planes with two  stopovers and three security checks.  Then on top of that have an extra hour delay inside the second plane while on the tarmac due to icing conditions.  Believe me when I tell you that travelling to the other side of the planet in a 747 with a baby in tow is about as much fun as having a root canal without anesthetic.  We had to constantly switch positions, trade-off holding the baby, manipulate carry-on bags to get to the baby supplies, mix baby formula, and change his diapers…all while crammed into a space the size of a Smartcar.

Upon arrival in Manila, it was our original intention to travel to Aklan so we could experience the famous Ati-Atihan Festival.  From there, we were going to make the short hop by boat to the resort island of Boracay for a couple of days.  But after all we went through just getting to the Philippines…I found myself grateful that we decided to forgo this plan for next time.  Instead, we spent the first week in the Manila suburb of Fairview with Olivia’s sister Nalie and family.  We finally travelled to Olivia’s home town of Lingayen on or about the second week. 

During Tommy’s visit to see his grandparents, he started showing signs of fever and outward pain in the evening of his first night.  We found out that due to the rapid air change from hot to cold in the tropical climate, he had contracted what’s called “atypical pneumonia” also known as “walking pneumonia”.   When a someone has this, the person shows no outward signs of distress except short and occasional bouts of fever and cough.  We were so concerned that we actually had him seen by a couple of Filipino pediatricians while he was there and they had prescribed him a couple of different anti-biotics to take before we came back to the United States.

Aside from his brief moments of illness, Tommy seemed to have really enjoyed meeting his Lolo and Lola (grandad and grandma) his Titos and Titas (uncles and aunts) and all his Filipino cousins and family.  He especially loved his cousin Nicole who was born just two days after he was.  These two were always seen together.  In the house, in the yard or even during the family trip to Baguio, Tommy and Nicole were inseparable.  With the fact that they are born only days apart…I’m sure this is a bond that will keep them close as they grow up despite their distance from one another.

Despite the occasional hardships and inconveniences, our trip to the Philippines was a great success.  Not only did Olivia’s mom and dad get to see their grandson, but we were also able to take some side trips to Corregidor, Baguio and Mount Samat.  Olivia was also able to reunite with some past friends and schoolmates.  But even so, after the end of the 3 weeks,  Olivia and I were ready to come back and reunite ourselves with the comforts and conveniences of home.

One of the coolest things of being a parent is watching your child experience things for the very first time and almost immediately when we got back from the Philippines Tommy was welcomed with his first snow!  It wasn’t long though before warmer days were upon us and Tommy got to to meet Mr. Peter Cottontail for Easter weekend at the local mall.  He has grown so much in the past six months that he doesn’t resemble much of what he was during the first six months of his life.  He has recently begun to take steps with the help of his grocery cart toy and never stops babbling from morning to night.

Finally, it’s now been one year since our little miracle was born and he is becoming more and more like a unique person with his own personality and mannerisms.  We can now tell that he really enjoys music because his favorite TV programs involve singing and dancing.  Whenever we play the music segments on the internet from his favorite TV show “Yo Gabba Gabba!” he becomes mesmerized, excited and starts giggling and laughing.  His favorite TV channel “Noggin” has this singing group called “The Jump Arounds”, and whenver they come on he stops everything to watch them sing and dance.

We had quite a big weekend celebrating his birthday.  He had his first party at the day care center.  He was surrounded by his classmates, teachers and friends Friday with cupcakes, pizza and punch.  The following night Tommy went to his very first major league baseball game at Nationals Park in Washington DC.  Tommy loved all the bright lights and colors during the game, but he didn’t appreciate the fireworks and crowd noise too much.  But he looked so cute in his little Nats gear that he was filmed by the TV station between innings.  So there was our son on television, a one-year-old TV star!

On Sunday we had his actual birthday party with friends and family.  We rented a picnic area at Occoquan Regional Park near our house and invited everyone to join in celebrating Tommy’s special day.  We ate barbecue from Famous Dave’s and Pizza from Papa John’s…along with some veggies, fruit and of course a great big yummy birthday cake! 

We were concerned at first that it would rain on us, but the clouds opened up and the sun came out just in time for the guests to arrive and everybody ended up having a good time, especially Thomas.  When it was time to blow out the candles and everybody was singing around him…he was looking around and you could tell that he understood that this was all for him – that he was special on this day and he smiled from ear to ear.

Watching our little guy grow up has been a joy and we are so thankful to God for how he has blessed us this year.  We can’t wait for the next…

Just like us, our great grandparents and great great grandparents had hopes, dreams, triumphs and tragedies.  They reacted to situations and made decisions similar to the way we do today because their genes still live in our DNA.  But what makes you YOU is that your DNA is shared from two different families - one side from your mother and one side from your father, each passing on different traits from two separate gene pools.

The reason I started delving into genealogy was to answer an age-old question on my mother’s side of the family. You see, my mother’s maiden name is Calhoun… and it had always been a family legend that we were direct descendants of the great Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina (a politician in the mid 1800s who played a significant role in starting the American Civil War).  But my mother’s family was from North Carolina and John C. Calhoun was from South Carolina – something didn’t seem right.  So, I decided to try and determine if I could find out the truth of the matter and put all the rumors to rest once and for all.  After much research and tracing back over five generations, I came to the revelation that our family was indeed of the same lineage that arrived in the American colonies during the early 18th century.

When civil war broke out in 1861, five Calhoun sons served in the Confederate Army and fought in some of its most famous battles.  One son died during the siege at Fort Macon, two were at Gettysburg and one of those actually participated and survived as a member of Pickett’s charge.

The subsequent defeat and demise of the Confederacy devastated both the infrastructure and economy of all the southern states and my ancestors were not spared the hardships of reconstruction.  With the loss of slave labor, the plantation fields were no longer manageable and had to be sold off into individual lots.

My Grandfather; the man from which my son's middle name derives, was raised on a farm that was carved out of that original plantation. A farm that had been passed down through generations from one of the Confederate sons; Orren Dates Calhoun to his only son: Charles Orren Calhoun…who then hoped to pass it on to my grandfather: Charles Marion Calhoun and keep the land in family hands for another generation.

But life doesn’t always go as planned, and my Great Grandfather was both shocked and dismayed when my Grandfather told him that he didn’t want to be a farmer.  Life was too slow in rural Carolina and he wanted instead to see the world and do something exciting with his life.

After a heated debate, my grandfather packed up his belongings and moved to the capital city of Raleigh where he attended North Carolina State University to study engineering.  Upon graduation, he first began working for the electrical companies in Tennessee and South Carolina.  But not long afterwards, he found a career working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Because of the bitter row between my Granddad and his father, they didn’t speak to one another for many years. And it certainly didn’t help matters when my Granddad had no male heirs.  This left the Calhoun farm and his line doomed to its last chapters in history.  Fortunately however, other descendants of the original confederate sons exist in Rocky Mount today and there are still Calhoun cousins living on properties close to where my Great Grandfather's farm used to be.

Throughout his younger life and through his job with the Army Corps of Engineers, my Granddad was able to travel all over the world and took amazing photographs of all the places he went.  Places like Okinawa, Japan and Rome, Italy.  I was introduced to photography through my Grandad when he gave me my first SLR camera: A Canon 35mm just about the time I entered high school.

My Grandfather Calhoun was a hard working, honest and deeply religious man.  He took woodworking as a hobby and made the coolest things out of his basement workshop.   He taught me love for nature and used to take me on walks as a kid around the neighborhood just for fun.  My Grandfather truly loved spending time with me: his one and only grandson.  

To my grandfather, I was the son that he never had and as an adult today, I can now realize how much he must have cherished me even though I was sometimes a less than ideal grandson.  When I think of this from time to time during my daily life, I try to remind myself to strive every day and be more like the man that he was in his faith to God and love for life.

In honor of the true affection that I have for him, I decided long ago that I would include his name into any son that I might bear. Through this I hope that the spirit of my grandfather will live yet one more generation, and that my son Thomas might inherit both his ambition and noble character. 

The Hilton side of the family is a different story.  My paternal Grandfather; George Paul Hilton died when my father was only five years old so obviously I never got the opportunity to meet him. As a consequence my father ended-up being raised by his mother in the small Western Maryland town of Cumberland.

Most of the Hilton family at the time were still residing in Western Pennsylvania near a suburb of Pittsburgh called Washington, PA.  Unfortunately due to my grandfather’s untimely demise, my father lost touch with his Hilton relatives there and instead became more intimate with his mother’s family in and around Cumberland, Maryland.

It wasn’t until I began researching my family tree a few years ago, that I discovered that a brother of my long passed Grandfather Hilton was still living and residing in California not far from Los Angeles.  What started as a hobby of researching genealogy for fun, turned into a once in a lifetime experience of meeting my living Granduncle that I never knew I had.  An event that I will cherish for the rest of my life...and the closest I will ever come to meeting my own grandpa on my father’s side.

First things first, let me clear the air: my family is not related to the hotel giant Conrad Hilton, and no we don’t have any relation to Paris Hilton for which I am most grateful.  According to my family accounts, our Hilton family actually emigrated from Scotland sometime around 1830 or so.  The first male Hilton to set foot in America from my line was named George and that’s pretty much all I know about him other than the fact that he settled near the township of Buffalo, PA.  His wife (my GGG Grandmother) died when their son was an infant and he himself died when my Great Great Grandfather; Thomas Fergus Hilton was no older than ten years old.

At the time of his father’s death, Thomas Fergus was an orphan and destitute.  He was raised by a neighboring family, was well cared-for, schooled and brought-up with sound Christian morals.  He became deeply religious and was an active member of his church, but remained very poor and seemed destined for a simple life.

After leaving his adoptive parents and marrying his wife Sevena, he was able to purchase a simple house in nearby Taylorstown with some help from his father-in-law Benjamin Bartilson. Together, they began a life as a typical family in rural Pennsylvania.  Tom had four children; George, Robert, Mary and Sarah (George being my Great Grandfather).

Life was rough at first and the land where his house stood was mostly infertile and unusable for growing crops.  But one day, while surveying his property he found something much more interesting, it was a black watery liquid that could be seen bubbling up in small pools along the ground. Thomas found out that his infertile ground sat on top of a large deposit of light crude. 

Machinery and the combustion engine had just started to take hold in America and now was the time for any property owner that had oil to exploit it and my Great Great Grandfather didn’t miss the opportunity.  He called in the oil barons in the area who had already been drawing from other sites throughout PA. These businessmen and the conglomeration of oil resources within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania eventually became the worldwide oil company known today as Pennzoil.

After the discovery at “Hilton’s Hill”, neighboring landowners also started surveying and pumping oil of their own. This created a carnival-like atmosphere at Taylorstown the likes in which had never been seen.  The area ended-up being so lucrative that the black liquid started flowing into the streets of the town proper.  Oil was everywhere and was all over everything.  A news article from the time period reported that the situation became so volatile that state authorities and citizens of the town began to worry of a conflagration or massive explosion due to the filthy conditions.

It is the ultimate from rags to riches story: with a single blessing from God and a stroke of good luck, my Great Great Grandfather had gone from being a poor and simple farmer to becoming one of the richest, most powerful men in the county.  After establishing a steady income from his multiple oil wells, Thomas moved out of rural Taylorstown and into a house he had built overlooking the more prestigious village of Claysville - a house that still stands today overlooking the town. 

Even though he wasn’t the first to set foot in America, I personally view my GG Grandfather Thomas as the true patriarch of the Hilton family.  He overcame the death of his parents, poverty and insurmountable odds, found himself blessed with wealth and used it not for trivial pursuits, but to better himself, his family, his church and his community.

Other Hilton sons of greatness have also been named Thomas through three generations: my great grandfather George Thomas Hilton, who ended up fathering ten children and greatly increased our family lineage.  His second son (my father’s uncle) John Thomas Hilton was also named after Thomas Fergus.  He died an American hero fighting in Tunisia at the beginning of America's entry into World War II.  John was a member of the United States 1st Armored Division and was lost at the Battle of Kasserine Pass against Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Corps on February 14, 1943.

My Great Great Grandfather Thomas was a pioneer of greatness because of his faith, perseverance and strength.  My Great Grandfather George Thomas also was a man of considerable endurance as he went through the death of his first wife and then attempted to raise a family during a period of hard economic times.  And finally John Thomas, who showed the most heroism of any standard by dying for his country in World War II.

Because of little Tommy's mixed ancestry by having a Filipino mom, he is a vision of the future here in America. Hopefully just like the Thomas Hiltons of the past, Thomas Charles will be able to use the tools he finds in life to seize the opportunities given to him.  Somehow I know that Tommy will find the greatness in his DNA that will bring pride to himself, his family and his descendants for generations to come.