Hi! My name is Sandra F. Thompson-Eskew [aka Sandy born 1946] and I live in Grove, OK. I am the oldest daughter of Hoyt W. Thompson, S1c, (1924-1988) who was a Veteran of the U.S. Navy during WWII and served on the USS SALT LAKE CITY HEAVY CRUISER, CA-25 from 1943-1945.

My mother, Alma M. Thompson was a "Rosie" at the Richmond Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, CA. during the time my father was on the SLC during WWII.

I have an older brother, Ric [born in 1945], and a younger sister, Peggy [born 1951].

I am married to Clyde Eskew [born 1936] & we have 5 sons. Four from his first marriage and we have one. And grandchildren arriving all the time. ;)

Clyde has been in the Construction business for over 40 years. He limits his building to doing mostly remodeling these days. I have had many different jobs... such as working as a nurses aid in hospitals, home health care, etc. I also worked at a Oil Refinery in Cushing, OK. for 5 years as the receptionist & telephone operator. A job I dearly loved. When the oil business bit the dust, the refinery closed down after being in business for over 50 years.

We moved from Cushing, OK. to Grove, OK. in 1987 to be managers of a resort on Grand Lake. That lasted about a year... which was enough. That's when I went back to the nursing field to do home health and Clyde continued his construction business plus opened a real estate business. He also designed & invented this unique "TOOL" that is very helpful on the job.

In 1991, I was injured in a car wreck that ended my career in home health. After three years of getting through that, Clyde bought me this computer and I was HOOKED!

After teaching myself how to "use" this computer, I spent 2 years working on Family Genealogy...loving every minute of it. I made several books for the family members.

After finishing that project, I decided it was time to "step-up" in the world and "get ON-LINE". So, I signed up with a brand new local InterNet company and my "learning experience" began.

After a year or so my Internet provider talked me into making my own Website for my genealogy. I was a little nervous. I had no idea how to even begin. He was a great teacher, so I started off slow and before I knew it, I had a huge site called "Digging UP Roots".

I became very curious about my dad's Navy days and wondered... just where is this SLC...and who else served on her. So...I posted a message on my Genealogy site looking for anyone that might know anything about the Salt Lake City. After about a year, I received an e-mail message from Louise Denney, widow of SLC Veteran, James Denney. She was also into Genealogy and ran across my Website, saw the SLC posting and wrote to me. We visited several times and then she mailed me several articles about the SLC.

I went to visit my mom to see what she "might have". She allowed me to go digging through all her things looking for pictures, records, etc.... anything that would tell me about my dad's days in the Navy. He never talked about them to us kids...which is a shame. We missed out on "his story".

I found very little in my mother's keepsakes...one picture of the SLC being sunk, his discharge papers, a couple of "love letters" ; ) and a few snapshots of him with a few shipmates...just first names. ;(

All this inspired me to go digging for more and that's when I came across the names of Pat Monteleone and Myron Varland on the InterNet. As you will see by the size of this Website...the rest is history.

In 1999, I made the first little "webpage" for the USS Salt Lake City CA25. It all "started out" to be a simple search for a few crew members that served on the SLC. BUT!! I have been very fortunate!! I have heard from "many" wonderful & helpful Veterans &/or Family Members.

Everyone has been very generous with information & pictures they have that "My Website" is NOW "Our Website"

Because of all the wonderful contributions, I am "forever adding to & re-organizing" the Website. Sooo...if you have "anything" you would like to see posted here, please feel free to send it to me & I will gladly add it & you to the ever growing list.

I hope you enjoy this site as much as I enjoy putting it together. It has been & still is a very emotional "trip" for me since my father is not here to enjoy all of this with me. Even though he never talked about the time he spent in the Navy during WWII, I think he would be proud to know that there are those that have kept the "Memory" of the USS SALT LAKE CITY alive...and maybe he would be a little proud of his oldest daughter for what she is doing for his shipmates. I hope so anyway. I feel like I belong to this GREAT BIG FAMILY and hope to meet you all in person some day.

There is a lot of information on this Website, so sit back & enjoy your walk through the past. I've learned more than I ever expected to about the SLC and I want to know more about "HER" & "YOU".

If you have any questions, please write to me and I will try to answer them or hopefully find someone who can.

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