Whenever my wife and I drive to L.A. to visit our daughter Anna Wickenden (in Highland Park), our granddaughter Juniper Wickenden, son Aaron Wickenden, and daughter-in-law Jennifer Brandel (working for several months in El Sereno and Pasadena), and my brother-in-law Matt Friedman (living in Manhattan Beach), I arrange to have lunch with my second cousin Ruth Wickenden Abel (living in The San Antonio Gardens, located between Claremont and Pomona). We spend a few hours catching up, and talking about the Wickenden Website (which she and I co-founded).
One of the amazing Small World wonders about The San Antonio Gardens is that a total of SEVEN Wickendens from THREE generations have lived there over the last 60 years since its founding in 1961, including current residents Ruth and Debbie Griffith. This story is told by Ruth and Debbie in a video interview that has been posted to the Homer and Mira Wickenden page of the Thomas R Wickenden Families section of this website.
Two weeks ago, Ruth and I were joined by one of Ruth's daughters, Gwen, who has recently moved to Palm Springs with her husband. Over lunch we discovered that Gwen had grown up living with Ruth and her family in Woodland Hills, a town in the San Fernando Valley situated right next to Encino, where my wife Beth grew up. Gwen also had several friends who had gone to the same schools as Beth. Small World!