The family of Mark and Gina Cannary, est. 1985
Gina's side:
I was born on November 21, 1960 in Lubbock, Texas, to Marlin Eldes Griffin Whitworth (1925-1975) and Jeannette Ogden Sweeten Sharrer Whitworth Parry (1930-2023). I was the 6th baby for my mother (an XR tech) and also the 6th for my father (a salesman) - their first child together. My mother had been married twice before. Her first marriage to Alan Sweeten produced Jeannette (b. 1947), Sherry (b. 1948), and Alene (b.1950) . (it was during her pregnancy with Alene that my mother went to school to be an XR tech) Her second marriage to Kenneth Sharrer, Sr. brought Kenneth (b. 1954) and Margaret (b. 1956). Her third marriage to Marlin Whitworth produced myself, Melissa (b. 1961), and Kurt (b. 1964). By the age of 34 my mother had eight kids.
When my parents divorced we were still living in the house I grew up in on 62nd street in Lubbock - just the four of us. (Mother, me, Melissa, Kurt). My mother was working at West Texas Hospital in Lubbock having returned to work full-time to support us. She took a job at John Sealy/UTMB hospital and we moved to Galveston the summer of 1971. In 1976, My mother went to California to study Ultrasound. Shortly afterwards, she became a registered U/S tech and worked well into her 60's as such, working in Houston Victoria, Saudi Arabia, and as a travel tech. She remarried in 1990 to her 4th husband James Parry (d. 2001) and lived in California with him until they built a house in North Zulch, Texas. Jim had 3 adult daughters. After Jim passed, Mother bought some property near downtown Brenham, Texas, and built a house where she lived until she died in 2023.
I graduated Ball High School in 1979, went to Galveston College for one year, attended UT Austin 1980 - 1982, then transferred to Southwest Texas State University. At the end of my second year in college, my mother had sold the house in Galveston and moved to Victoria, Texas. I completed my studies earning a BA in Journalism and English. In college I worked retail, and at a weekly newspaper in San Marcos. Mark and I moved to Austin right after getting engaged in December 1984, then married on October 5, 1985. I worked at a credit union, retail clothing shop, and a mortgage company. Mark was an insurance agent. We bought our first house on Neans Drive in 1988. Our children were born in 1990, 1991, 1995, and 1998. I went to Austin Community College in 1992 for Radiologic Technology, and graduated in 1994 with an AAS. We bought our second house in 1997 on Rustown Drive. Mark stayed with the insurance industry and I have been employed as an pediatric XR tech since 1995.
Jeannette (Gina's Mother)
My maternal grandparents were Beatrice Margaret Pledger Dodson (d. 1979) and Malcolm Ogden (d. 1968). They were never married. My mother had a half-brother named Robert Allen "Bob" Shoquist (d. 2016), who was 3 years older. My grandmother was separated or divorced from her first husband Harry Shoquist when my mother was born, however Mother's first birth certificate names her as Patsy Jean Shoquist. It was later changed to Jeannette Ogden, and she was called Jean. My mother was raised by my grandmother, and only visited her father once, in Florida, where he lived with his wife, Cenie. Malcolm and Cenie had no children together, but may have adopted. Beatrice's parents were Olivia Pledger (d. 1937), and Lawson Pledger (d. 1958), a Baptist preacher. Olivia was Lawson's 2nd wife. I know nothing about Malcolm's side of the family.
Beatrice's second husband was James Dodson (d. 1991) and they were married until her death. Beatrice had two half siblings: Annie V. Pledger (d. 1963), Lawson C. Pledger (d. 1963), and one full sibling with Lawson and Olivia - Mattie Eletha "Jimmie" Hollingshead (d. 1994) married to Jervis Hollingshead (d. 1991). Aunt Jimmie and Uncle Jerry had no children.
My mother was married four times in total, and had eight children:
*Jeannette Sweeten Schelsteder Selby had two kids - Douglas, and Deanna with her husband Charles. They divorced and she remarried once.
*Sherry Sweeten had two kids - Raul Jr., and Jean with her husband Raul, Sr. They divorced and she never remarried.
*Alene Sweeten had two kids - Christine, and James, Jr. with her husband James, Sr. They divorced and she remarried T. Neeley, but was divorced after 20+ years.
*Kenneth Sharrer (d. 1999) had two kids: John with wife Loretta, and Phillip with wife Becky. Both marriages ended in divorce.
*Margaret (Maggie) Sharrer had three kids - Matthew, Jason, and Amber with her husband Robert. She divorced him, and he has since died. She married R. Nyland in 1999.
*Gina Whitworth had four kids - Spencer, Chloe, Dylan, and Grayson with her husband Mark. Mark died in 2021.
*Melissa Whitworth had two children, both daughters. Ashley, born in 1981 (with her first husband, and placed for adoption), and Olivia born in 1997 with her 3rd husband James. Jay died in 2015.
*Kurt Whitworth had no children.
At the time of her death, my mother had 17 grandchildren, in addition to great and great great grandchildren.
Marlin (Gina's Father)
He had four kids from his first wife Tonee: Byron (b. 1945), Karen (b. 1946), JoAnn (b. 1949), and Paula (b. 1950). {He also had a daughter, unknown to him, born to a high school girlfriend and placed for adoption. Her name is Mary Margaret and she lives in Marble Falls}
He had no kids with his second wife.
My mother, Jeannette Ogden Sweeten Sharrer, was his 3rd wife. After I was born, my mother and father would go on to have two more children together - Melissa (b. 1962) and Kurt (b. 1964).
When my parents divorced in 1971, he remarried a distant relation, Wanda, after moving to Oak Ridge, Tennessee where he owned and operated an electronics store. Wanda had two children (Susan and Cindy), and together they had Marlin, Jr. in 1974. Before Marlin Jr. was a year old, my father died of lung cancer. Wanda (d. 2013) remarried and had one more child, a son named David.
My paternal grandparents were Muriel Preston Griffin Whitworth Clark and Isaac Dewey Griffin. Muriel and Isaac had one child, my father Marlin Eldes Griffin, and divorced in 1928 when Marlin was 3. My father had lots of cousins, as Muriel came from a large family. She remarried a man named CV Whitworth, who helped raise my father. They divorced and CV died in 1975. She married JB Clark (d. 1992) in 1938 and they were together until she died in 1988. JB remarried in the late 80's. Isaac Griffin was remarried to Vivian Robison and had two more kids - Joyce and Dewey. Isaac died in 1976, Vivian in 1989. My father changed his name to Whitworth as a young man, then changed it back to Griffin after he divorced my mother and reconnected with his father. When Melissa and Kurt and I visited my father in the summer, he and my step-mother Wanda would tell people our last name was Griffin.
My father was the parent who pulled all of us aside and told us that he and my mother would be divorcing. At that time, only my parents and the three of us were living in Lubbock together. I was almost 10, Melissa was 8 1/2, and Kurt was 6. My father lived in Lubbock for a short time following that and we would go to his apartment infrequently, or he would pick us up for a "date". This only happened for a short while, as soon he would move to Oak Ridge and marry Wanda. We went to Tennessee for a couple of summers and we also spent time with two older sisters (Karen, JoAnn) as my mother had returned to work full time and needed childcare for the summer.
My Dad had a total of 9 kids.
*I have no information on Mary-Margaret.
*Byron Whitworth had two kids with his first wife - Eldon, and Pamela. He remarried once, and divorced.
*Karen Whitworth had two kids - Devon, with her first husband, and Deanna (d. 2014) with her 2nd husband. Karen is unmarried now.
*JoAnn Whitworth (d. 1999) had four kids - David (placed for adoption), Jerry Jr., Sabrina, and John with her first husband Jerry Sr. They divorced and she remarried Roger, and later was divorced.
*Paula Whitworth had one child - Tonee (last name and father's name unknown to me). I have no other information on her.
*Marlin Jr had no kids, is not married.
*Melissa and Kurt and Gina are listed under Jeannette above.
Mark's side:
Mark was born January 31st, 1961 in Galveston, and died in July 2021 in Austin, Texas. His parents were Marie Serena Jenson Cannary Crawford (d. 1996) and Harry Allen Cannary, Sr. (d. 1977) Mark was the third child, preceded by a sister, Sharon Cannary and a brother, Harry Cannary Jr. Marie was a housewife and later, a bookkeeper. Harry was in the military, then the grocery business in an executive position. They settled in Galveston, but may have also lived in Jacksonville, Hitchcock or LaMarque. Harry Sr. and Marie divorced in 1977. Marie remarried in 1978 to Waylon (d. 1982), a druggist in Galveston. Marie is buried next to Waylon in Gilmer, Texas.
Marie's parents immigrated from Norway. Her mother, also named Marie, was a cook, and her father Jens was a ship's captain. Marie and Jens Jensen settled in Galveston and had four children: Marie S., Violet, Aagot, and John.
Harry's family was originally from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. His mother Mary Margaret Walsh Cannary and father Oatha Core Cannary had five children of their own: Roy, Florence (Floss), Grace, Gladys, and Harry. Harry was a WWII fighter pilot who won several medals.
For the most part, Mark was raised as an only child, as his siblings were teenagers (16 and 14) when he was born. He graduated from O'Connell High School in 1980. In high school and college Mark worked briefly as an electrician apprentice/journeyman, and apartment handyman. He attended SWTSU, finishing up his BA in Finance/Economics in 1991. Mark married Gina in 1985 and they had the aforementioned 4 children: Spencer, Chloe, Dylan, and Grayson. Mark died July 23, 2021.
Mark's sister Sharon Cannary (d.2015) married Tom (d. 2018) and had two children: Bryan, and Paige (d. 2022). Bryan has two children with his wife Michelle - Macie, and Bryce. Paige never married or had children.
Mark's brother Harry Allen Cannary Jr. (d. 1984) married three times. With his second wife he had two sons, Scott, and Brian. With his third wife he had 2 children, Jennifer, and Bradley.
Scott Cannary had no children and died in the late 80's.
