Family Memories
Recently, my wife and I attended mass at St. Remy’s in Russia while spending the weekend. In a few pews in front of us was a young couple with 5 children, the oldest a boy about 10, three daughters 4-8 and a newborn son being held in his mother’s arms. I motioned to my wife that this family could have been our family 65 years ago, with me being the oldest boy and my brother the baby as we are 10 years apart, and my three sisters in between.
Ever since seeing that family in church, memories of my parents and our family at that same stage have been coming to mind. For example, I can distinctly recall the exact seat in church at St. Michael’s where our family always sat. And just like this young family we observed in St. Remy’s church, I was always next to Dad at the end and my sisters next to Mom, with my baby brother in her arms. The St. Remy kids behaved perfectly just as our parents insisted we behave in church. Even my baby brother somehow knew to keep quiet, uncharacteristic for him even to this day. The St. Remy's father also had on a suit, just like Dad always wore to church.
Mom & Dad, following their religious heritage, named all their kids after biblical saints, David, Sara, Ann, Lucy & Luke. Sara, my oldest sister, is a retired nurse for an retinologist in Dayton who now works part time for the local library in Bellbrook where she and her husband Don live. Sara was a great athlete growing up and I sure wish she could have played girls sports had they existed back then. One of her best friends growing up was another outstanding athlete, Jane Poeppelman, the long time former girls basketball coach at Ft. Loramie, preceding current coach Carla Siegel.
My middle sister, Ann and her husband Woody, live on a farm east of Sidney raising beef cattle and sheep. Ann always had an uncanny ability to remember dates and name, especially birthdays and wedding anniversaries of our many relatives. She’s like an encyclopedia for such trivialities. Woody is a renowned judge of sheep, traveling around the country to judge various shows. Ann’s biggest claim to fame is her decorating skills, with their home all decked out in scarlet and gray Buckeye decor. Here’s their toilet.
My youngest sister, Lucy, is a retired pediatric nurse, who also served in the emergency room earlier in her career. Needless to say, she’s cool under pressure, and is a fantastic medical resource for our family. Her dedication to Mom & Dad during their last years provided unceasing comfort for them. Now that she’s retired, her green thumb learned so well from Mom has literally blossomed, as she’s won best in show at the Shelby County Fair several times as documented in this previous blog. Her husband Leroy, is co-owner of Gaier’s Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Ft. Loramie, a long time Fish Report advertiser.
My brother, Luke, is married to Gretchen and they live in Piqua, but are on the road motorcycling a lot now that he’s retired from full time work. Luke was worried that he’d be bored in retirement, but like a lot of us retirees, the many activities that are now available more than fill the day. For example, Gretchen inherited her family home and the two of them are now restoring and renovating it for a family member to live. I had the chance to help Luke hang some drywall for a few hours while my wife spent time with her Mother during our recent visit.
Luke has been my partner in our golf invitational here in Michigan for the last 15 years, which is always a memorable highlight for us each July. We’ve won our flight twice and always have a great time. Luke wears his Buckeye shirt, so to offset the effect, I wear my maize and blue golf hat.
Here’s a 1917 photo of my grandparents and their five children, two girls and three boys, with my Dad age 4 shown in front of my Grandfather. My grandparents didn’t stop there, eventually having 14 children as shown in the adjacent photo from 1924.
Similarly, my Mother’s family was also large with 11 children as shown on this 1937 photo.
Needless to say, I could go on forever about my family and the memories growing up. And that’s exactly how over the last 6 years, 300 blogposts came about. More to come Fish Report readers.
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| Celebrating Dad’s birthday |
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| After Dad’s funeral mass, April 19, 2008 |
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