Memories and Musings

My favorite group is my immediate family - 3 kids, 6 grandkids, 5 great grands and all their spouses. I'll be spending the next several days with this group so I'll hold off writing about that adventure. We're having a family reunion in Myrtle Creek, Oregon where Grandson Zachary lives. I'm excited to be with everyone to catch up and fill by emotional memory bank. Most of all I want to meet Baby Theo and hold my Great grandkids! How lucky am I?! Over the years I've been part of many groups - classmates, cousins, business partners, sororities, choirs, and church groups. I've moved in and out of many groups but the one consistent is THE GIRLS. Linda and I played together as toddlers so I've known her for 80 plus years. Next would be Maryann. Her Mom, along with Linda's and my Mom, formed the first kindergarten in our little town. Lynn and Carla joined us in the middle school years along with Pat C. and by High School we had Pat P. and Peggy. That's 8 o...

This seems like a good time to collect some early memories about my husband, James Edward Weise, father to our three children,  grandfather to 6 and great-grandfather to 5. Jim died at age 78 after a long battle with cancer. He was born in 1935 in Chicago, Illinois to Alice Isabelle Leckie Weise and Otto Edward Weise.  Alice and Otto were a May-December marriage when they married in 1933. She was 26 and he was 47. He was a department head in an insurance company and Alice was a bookkeeper in an insurance company....probably the same place. Otto was a widower with a 12 year old son, Robert. They lived in a nice brick bungalow on Warwick Ave. on the northwest side of Chicago. In 1937 Alice gave birth to a second son, Richard.  Jim and Rich were really handsome little boys and were probably a handful for Alice. The  1940 census shows her as not working with 3 boys at home with Otto listed as office manager at the insurance company, Associated Agencies,  making an a...

 I've always been fascinated with bridges and have many pictures of famous and spectacular ones that we crossed in our travels. So when BRIDGE came up as the Generations challenge word my mind's eye immediately went to a few bridges associated with memorable times in my life.  Mackinac Bridge, MI In 1963 we had two babies and I needed a break. We left the kiddos with my Grandma Quist in Wisconsin for a couple of days while we went to Mackinac Island in Michigan and, along the way, cross the Mackinac Bridge. I was pretty much a country girl in 1963. I'd only been in 3 Midwest states, never on a plane. So I didn't know that I would panic at the thought of crossing this 5 mile bridge over the Straits of Mackinac. It was foggy and the bridge looked like it disappeared in midair. I simply could not do it.  Fortunately, my Jim respected my feelings and we went on to explore the island ( on a bicycle built for two that didn't go well either! ) This is as close as I got to ...

 This last weekend in May brings Memorial Day in honor of all those who served in the Military to defend our freedom and our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In my research of ancestors I've found many draft registration cards and listings of military assignments. I have found relatives who served in the War for Independence, the Civil War, WW1 and WW11, and Korea, Viet Nam and Desert Storm. I think all of these men, and one woman, survived the wars but were damaged in many ways for life. I think of my uncle Lester who enlisted in the Army at 17 and went off to fight in the bloody battles of Korea. The sights and sounds of battle never left him. He and my uncle Tom, who landed on the bloody beach of Normandy, probably had PTSD although we had no name for it then.  Grandpa Carl Quist enlisted in his early 40's with several children still at home. He was too old for active service so was assigned to ship repair in San Diego. It probably meant a steady paychec...

 Week 21 of the Generations Cafe challenge is At The Cemetery. I've never been a regular visitor to cemeteries or gravesites of family members. I imagine it stems from the death of my Dad when I was 15. His death, funeral and burial in a local cemetery were devastating. As we left the cemetery a violent Midwest thunderstorm erupted drenching everyone and ripping off rooftops.  I did not return to my Dad's grave until decades later after I had moved to California. On a visit to my hometown I asked a girlfriend to go with me to the cemetery where my Dad is buried along with a few other family members who died too young.  For some reason I had an aching in my heart to see his headstone. I got teary eyed and realized I had never really dealt with the emotion of my Dad passing. My Mom had been so distraught that I stood strong and sort of boxed up my feelings. When I looked at the headstone I thought...Yes, he really died.   My Mom and her second husband are buried i...

 When I read up on this challenge from Generations Cafe, Cousin Bait, I realized that I'd recently done this...throw something out on the family tree and see how many cousins you can catch. In the past I have mostly pursued info on the direct line of parents to grandparents to great grandparents and on.  I paid little attention to siblings and children, just listing them. My goal has always been to see how far back in time I could go in recording ancestors. I really hoped I would find that I'm a Daughter of the American Revolution. (I think I am!) Recently I posted some old family photos on my paternal great grandmother's page and voila....a second cousin connected with me. We exchanged a few notes and I'm sure will continue to share pictures. This success has prompted me to research in greater depth, that is, siblings and spouses of my direct line of grandparents. I love to find pictures of relatives on other family trees or census info that tells the occupations of fa...