Tag Archives: Family
Happy birthday, Grandpa!
Seattle’s Salmon Derby, September 1940
Everett Hay, Salmon Derby Finalist, Third Round
I had no idea that my great uncle, Everett Hay, ever fished. But he is listed as a third round finalist, second from last on the list, in The Seattle Times Salmon Derby of 1940. His catch was an impressive, at least to me, twenty pounds.
ajh
Happy 74th birthday, Mr. Christopher Walken
Who knew? Actor Christopher Walken shares a birthday with my uncle.
Walken is “one of the most distinctive film actors of the past 50 years. Whether he’s playing an analog of Macduff in a wacko modernization of Macbeth, the ghost of a malicious Hessian mercenary or any one of a hundred other roles, you won’t mistake him for anyone else.”
There’s only one way to celebrate! And be sure not to walk without rhythm this weekend.
ajh
What the hell? A positive pic & headline for Trump?!
Grandpa Trump
ajh
🎨 Workin’ on an image of Gramps, Grandpa Hill. Perhaps an etching.
It took awhile, quite a bit of tweaking and playing about using software such as GIMP and Inkscape, but I have finally got the photo of grandpa to a point where I can blow it up, easily copy it by hand. So now I have to determine how I am going to use it. I am thinking about an etching or engraving. We will see. I will start playing around. The lack of contrast in his face presented numerous problems.
ajh
Never forget, especially the good ones
I’VE BEEN WATCHING
A Walk in the Woods with Redford and Nolte. The scene where they are reminiscing while stuck on a cliff edge got me to thinking about my aunt.
Aunt Carol died a few years back, in 2012. She was special, a terrific human being. Thank God I had the pleasure of knowing her.
I should write a book about her.
ajh
Herman, Pauline & Family
It really is amazing what you can find online. My latest discovery is pics of family from my Mother’s side of the family, specifically my great-great aunt and uncle, Herman Lentz and Pauline Fromke. Someone added them to a family tree on Ancestry.
My Mom has talked in the past about being double cousins with a branch of the family in North Dakota. Pauline is the sister of my great grandfather, Albert Fromke, and Herman is the brother of my great grandmother, Augusta Lentz. The puzzle that is the family tree is coming together bit by bit. Albert and Pauline’s parents are Carl Fromke and Caroline Radde. Augusta and Herman’s parents are Ludwig Lentz and Marie Scharnofske.
What is particularly interesting to me is information on the family tree.
Herman was born in “Steitch, Germany.” I don’t know anything about this place. I don’t recall having seen it before. I’ll have to investigate the spelling and see if I can find a copy of the original source.
In 1880, at the age of 16, he is recorded as living in Wausau, Wisconsin, though I am not sure about the accuracy of this because he supposedly emigrated in 1883 or 1893. I’m guessing 1883 is the right year.
They were married in 1889, in Baltimore, Maryland, according to the source on Ancestry. Why Baltimore? There were some folks named Fromke living there going back to the 1840s.
These latest discoveries should provide excellent opportunities for further documenting the family tree.
ajh
June 3, 1945
This is a photo I’ve never seen before. I wonder what other gems are lurking out there long forgotten in someone’s attic that I’ve never seen and don’t know about. It’s a photo taken on my grandparents’ wedding day.
According to what my mother wrote on Facebook, starting with the back row, left to right, pictured are Betty — a good friend of my grandmother and the maid of honor at the wedding, her older brother Everett — who just celebrated his 100th birthday, the bride and groom — my grandparents, Ray and Marilyn, Everett’s wife Grace, and the youngest sibling of the five also named Grace. In the front row are my great grandmother, Geneva Estella Darling Hay, Marilyn’s older sister Azalea — known to some as Kay, and the pianist from the Lake Preston Methodist Church.
Apparently the wedding took place at the family farm just south of town, what their father George named Fair Haven Farm. The oldest sibling of them all, Lois, was pregnant at the time and didn’t attend.
ajh
July 2014
This July is replete with significant milestones in our family.
My great uncle celebrated his 99th birthday two weeks ago. He has led a remarkable life. His love of funny stories and anecdotes has entertained us for decades. Thankfully, I’ve been around to hear many of them, and I’ve even recorded some on video.
He was a mere toddler when his uncle, Leslie Darling, went off to France to fight the Hun1 after America became entangled in the First World War. His uncle, Private Darling, died in late July of 1918, succumbing to a wound from a German machine gun crew he encountered near Épieds, France.2
The firefight is known as the Battle of Croix Rouge Farm. There is now a memorial on the farm where he was mortally wounded.
Douglas MacArthur, then chief of staff for the 42nd Division, which included Leslie Darling’s infantry regiment, the 168th of Iowa, noted the heroism of the men in his autobiography.
“ . . . the 167th Alabama assisted by the left flank of the 168th Iowa had stormed and captured the Croix Rouge Farm in a manner which for its gallantry I do not believe has been surpassed in military history. It was one of the few occasions on which the bayonet was decisively used.”
I should probably be there in person, in France, for the 100th anniversary in 2018.
ajh
1. Hun was a derogatory word used to describe the Germans during both world wars.
2. Leslie Warren Darling died either July 28 or 30, 1918. I would suspect the 28th is the correct date, since a letter is signed noting the day and details. A book compiled by the unit chaplain lists the 30th, but this is most likely a mistake.
AARON HILL’S NOTEBOOK 