For those of you who did and/or didn't receive personal news about this, here is the official report!
Friday, December 18th, Effie's mother, Cris Bisch, had her name legally changed to "Lee Enry Erickson". Dirk was home sick, but Effie and Sephira went out with Nana and Papa to celebrate this new chapter and adventure in their lives.
Here is the back-story (written by Cris/Lee):
Yes. It's true. This may come as a surprise, even a shock to some of you, but I've changed my name! Really.
My birth name was Christie Lee Caufman, then when I married Cliff I dropped the "h" in Chris, even my middle initial, and taking the Bisch name I have been know by family and friends for the past 35 years as Cris Bisch. The Bisch clan is a wonderful family of which I am still proud to be a part.
Ever since I was a young girl, I have wished I'd been given the first name of Lee instead of it being my middle name like my mother's maiden name Marjorie Lee Erickson. Unfortunately, my maternal grandfather Leif (aka Lee) Henry Erickson died prematurely in his 40's before I was two years of age. I was his first grandchild and he loved me. The photo is of me sitting on the lap of Bestafar my Norwegian great grandfather with his son, my grandfather, Leif showing me a photo of my father who was away serving in the Korean Conflict with the Navy. This photo, representing four generations of our family, was on the front page of the Bellingham Herald on Father's Day, the year before my grandfather passed away.Bestafar, Leif and Christie Lee with a photo of her father Robert Wesley Caufman.
So now my name is Lee Enry Erickson to fulfill my lifelong wish to honor his memory. And with this name I am pursuing my lifelong passion for writing, storytelling and pursing other creative ventures. At first, I intended Lee Enry Erickson to be an alias or pen name, but decided to take the plunge and formally take my new name for handling business and legal transactions, as well. I invite you to visit my L.E. Erickson blog at http://leerickson.com.
Although I will keep my "Cris Bisch" Facebook page, I am gradually transitioning over to my new identity in all online communications, including Facebook. I invite you to friend me as "Lee Erickson" on Facebook. My husband and children already have. They are very supportive; I hope you will be, too! I expect many if not most of you will continue to call me "Cris" by choice or habit, and that's perfectly fine with me, even if you friend me as "Lee". I'm a good at multitasking and respond well to both ; ). Remember, "Lee" has been my middle name all my life.
I apologize that I've only been able to include most of my family in this note and none of my friends, as I am having a persistent problem tagging more this note, but if you are reading this and are family or a friend of mine here on Facebook, feel free to share this note with mutual family and friends to help me spread the news. I've tagged Lee Erickson in this note, so you can easily click to view my new profile, and "friend" me there, as well.
I also want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. From our home to yours... Happy Holidays!
With Love, Lee (aka Cris)
