Big booties to fill

Been thinking about Grandma Alma again. Alma had a husband who made her promise to keep the family together and then died leaving her with eight small children, no money and a mortgage she couldn’t pay, and then people bought her farm stuff for pennies at auction and some of them never paid her. I … read more Big booties to fill

Alma’s progeny

Every summer for the past five years, my sister Ann and I have come to Ohio for a week. We do ancestry research and visit old friends. And our Schnellinger cousins host a family reunion. Every year, there’s at least a couple of relatives I don’t know. Usually I know all my cousins, but not … read more Alma’s progeny

Someone else’s memories

By accident, I just found online seven photos of Dad from World War II that I didn’t even know existed. The caption for the featured photo above is “Burtonwood – Flying control personnel – 1 May 1943 Cpl Schnellinger, ‘Nice chap’.” Yep, my dad really was a nice chap. Everyone who knew him would have said that. … read more Someone else’s memories

70 years of marriage

June 11, 1946, was a Tuesday. There were so many weddings that year, with all the GIs returning from the war – churches were booked solid. So Peg and Walt got married on a Tuesday morning at her local church, St. Joseph’s in Monroeville, Ohio. I wonder how many people took off from work to come … read more 70 years of marriage

Farm boys at the airfield

When Dad was 22, he had never been on an airplane or been anywhere but Ohio. He was a farm boy before World War II. He was processed through Dayton at Wright-Patterson with thousands of other farm boys, and I guess that’s where he got a few days of training to be an air traffic controller. Then he … read more Farm boys at the airfield

I’m not who I thought I was

For many years, I’ve been proud to claim my German ancestry. The good qualities that Germans are known for – hard work, frugality, efficiency and organization – are ones that I like to see in myself. I’ve always bragged that I was German, on both sides, all the way back – unusual for an American whose ancestors immigrated in the 1830s … read more I’m not who I thought I was

Restoration work

My mother bought this bracelet 40 or 50 years ago, at a flea market or something. It’s sterling silver, from Mexico, and the stone is an amethyst. I always loved it. The stone had a fissure in it, which I thought was intriguing. Then Dad took some jewelry-making classes and replaced the amethyst with turquoise. It was … read more Restoration work