When I was around 3 years old, my Mom and Dad bought bedroom furniture for my older sister, Jean, and me. There were two twin beds, a nightstand (possibly 2), a chest of drawers, and a dresser. When my Dad died a couple years later, my Mother moved from Ebensburg to Nanty-Glo taking the bedroom furniture with her. For those of you who don't know, both of those little towns are in western Pennsylvania. My younger sister, Barb, was soon old enough for a "big-girl bed", so the twin beds were shared from then on by my sisters.

When we left home for college in the 60s and Mom moved back to Ebensburg, she took the bedroom furniture with her. Later, when Mom retired and moved to Huntsville, Alabama, she asked if we could use the furniture. It was perfect timing because our son, Mark, was ready for the step from crib to "big boy bed". We were thrilled to have the furniture, but we are still sorry today that we asked Mom to ship only one bed instead of both.

When Mark's first son, Jackson, was born, I began to refinish each piece looking forward to the time when Jackson would graduate from his crib. I took the old finish, stain and all, right down to the solid cherry wood and refinished each piece to a smooth surface with polyurethane. It took almost two years, but I passed the final piece to Jackson this Summer right after Mark's family moved into their new home and Jackson into his new bedroom.

On the inside of the bed rail, I engraved a shortened history of the bed saying that my Father, John R. Yanosky, bought this furniture for his son, John Richard, who passed it to his son, Mark Richard, who then passed it to his son, Jackson Richard.