I Wonder if my Mother Knew

In 1952 my mother, Ruby Flanders Margheim, married my step-father Donald Lee Craine from Blue Rapids, Marshall, Kansas. As I grew up I had the opportunity to visit Don's hometown and meet many of his long-time loyal friends. Among them were Howard and "Moe" Shaw. 

Yesterday as I was browsing the names in my RootsMagic database I noticed an Abbie McMillan who had gotten married in Blue Rapids, Kansas in 1896. The McMillan name is in my file because Sarah Jane McMillan was my great-grandmother. Her son Milo Flanders was my mother's father. I knew that Blue Rapids was a small town when I visited there in the late 1960s and figured it had a low population also in 1896. As I saw Abbie's name, I wondered if she was related to my great grandmother and also wondered if she might be connected to my stepfather or any of his friends whom I had met. That's just the way my mind works! 

After researching on FamilySearch.com and Ancestry.com, I discovered the connection as I've illustrated in this chart: 

To my amazement I found that my mother Ruby's 2nd cousin twice removed was that same Abbie McMillan who was married to Isaac Fincham. As I followed the descendants of Isaac and Abbie, I saw the name of Howard A. Shaw, who was the husband of Thelma 'Moe' Bahnmeier. The same Howard and Moe who had been life-long friends of my step-dad Don Craine! So my mother's cousin (Abbie) was married to Howard's uncle (Isaac). I wonder if my mother knew that all those years that she and Don enjoyed the company of Howard and Moe at dances and other outings in Blue Rapids and Marysville, KS. It's something I wish I could share with her now.