52 in 52: When I was Born

So for this weeks 52 in 52 I'm not following the challenge prompt, which is "Surprise."  I have blogged many surprising facts and discoveries and it would probably take me all week to find one I haven't blogged about.  Not just that, but there's a fun little thing making it's rounds on the genealogy groups and I liked it so much I wanted to blog it instead.  Basically people are saying who was alive when they were born vs who isn't now, extending to parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc.  I thought this was a neat little bit on information and thought I could expand on it for a full post.

When I was born in 1983 I had:
-Two Parents
--14 Aunts & Uncles (including spouses)
---Three grandparents
----13 Great Aunts & Uncles (not counting spouses)
-----Two great grandparents

Now, in 2019 I have:
-Two Parents
--14 Aunts & Uncles (including spouses)
---no grandparents
----2 Great Aunts & Uncles (not including spouses)
-----no great grandparents

That's a lot of loss in 35 years.  I won't expand on everyone, in fact I didn't even know everyone, which is primarily why I didn't include spouses on the great aunts and uncles tally, because to be honest with the exception of one or two, the only greats I knew were my paternal grandmother's siblings.  I only knew two of my maternal greats, so while I may expand on those I knew to include their spouses in the rundown, the tally count will stay without. *shrugs*

Great Grandfather - Ralph Andrew Weller (1909-1994)
Great Grandmother - Irene Elizabeth Thompson (1911-1999)

I remember my great grandparents distinctly, I was 11 when Ralph passed and 16 when we lost Irene.  They lived in a big farmhouse on the next street over from Grandma and Grandpa, and we used to go over there on holidays.  For Christmas we all got fifty cent pieces, as a kid they didn't mean much but I enjoyed them as I got older. I never spent them until I cashed them all in when I bought my first house, although I wish now I'd kept them all.  I remember the year Ralph died, I don't really remember hugging them (or anyone, we're not a big huggy family) much, but I remember that Christmas as we left mom asked me to give him a hug, and to this day I remember it. He was sat in his wheelchair in the living room, and his overalls smelt so clean, and he was a big squishy man at that time, and he just kind of wrapped you up.  It's funny the things you remember.  The house always smelled amazing, we'd have Thanksgiving dinner there until they got old enough it was too tiring for them.  My mom and aunts told me how she used to make the best cinnamon rolls, especially Halloween they'd go over just for those, she made them at all the holidays.  I was to say I have some small little memory of having them once or twice, but I would have been so small, I don't remember with any certainty.  I remember the lay of the house and playing upstairs while the women were cooking in the kitchen.  I have Irene's notes she'd written about their lives, they met "at a party" in 1929.  In my mind I image some wild swinging 1920's fare but this was rural Macoupin county and it was probably much more toned down that what I imagine.  They married in 1931 at her parents home, and moved into a house owned by his father 1/2 mile west of his parents.  Ralph built the house I knew in 1951 "to replace the 4 room which we had lived in for 20 years," also building three barns, three cattle feeders, two tool sheds, and a brooder house.  Some of it is still there, and my Uncle Wayne lives in the old house now, it's been extensively remodeled.  They had six children, Mary Jane who died at birth or shortly thereafter, grandpa Lawrence, Lavina, Thelma, Frieda, and Coy.   Grandpa passed in 2014, Thelma in 2015, but Lavina, Frieda, and uncle Coy are all still around.  I know uncle Coy and aunt Mary Lou because they lived close, but I'm not very familiar with Lavina or Frieda.   Great grandma Irene wrote down all kinds of things about their lives, and kept baby book notes on all the kids, things I never would have known as I wasn't in to genealogy until after they'd all passed.  It's become an invaluable source of knowledge and I love that she had the foresight to do so.

Great Aunts & Uncles-

When I was born I had 13 great aunts and uncles, and that's not including their spouses.

The Wellers (mom's side) I touched on above, Lavina, Thelma, Frieda and Coy.  I know Coy and aunt Mary Lou, they live right down from Great Grandma's and we used to visit on Halloween while we made our rounds.  I haven't seen them in years, nor Lavina, or Frieda. I knew Thelma some, she'd come visit grandma a lot before she passed in 2015.

Grandma Lucille only had one sister, aunt Alice.  She passed in 1993, and I remember going there, but not like the other family on grandpa's side.  I want to say I remember going right before she passed, or as she passed, but I was only ten and the memory is fuzzy at best.  I do know her son, Don, who lives here in Florida not to terribly far from me, and we get together every now and again.

Alice and grandma Lucille

 

On the Heigert (dad's) side when I was born I had Oscar, Lawrence, Ella, and Otto.  They are all gone now.  Everyone passed within a few years of my being born with the exception of Ella, who passed in 2000.  I didn't know any of them.

grandpa Frank, Otto, Clarence, Ella, Lawrence, Oscar, Ben

Roman - Freida

I knew all my great aunts and uncles on dad's mom's side.  They're Italian, they're a tight family unit and they were my aunts and uncles, I didn't even knew what great aunts and uncles were.  We visited regularly, we had reunions, I KNEW them.  All of them.  Nona's half sister Rena passed long before I was born, in 1946, but all her full siblings were around until I was at least thirteen.  I used to get uncle Joe mixed up with Bruno, they looked so similar.  Bruno lived in great grandma Angela's farm, and he was a hoarder!  He used to bring us bikes he got from junkyards, but they worked and we loved them!  I always got excited when Uncle Bruno came by because he always had the most interesting things.  I don't ever remember going inside his house, but I saw the outside, and I have an antique leather top desk that was his.  Aunt Aurora lived by an old school with a playground, we went there a lot and I'd play, and she was always so nice and soft spoken.  Just a genuinely wonderful person you wanted to be around.  Alba was Nona's twin and much more outspoken, she had a yellow house (like Nona) and my husband says Italians live in yellow houses....we didn't do anything to change that idea, ha.  She didn't look like Nona but they spoke alike.  I loved her husband uncle Tuck, he was tall and funny, they laughed a lot.  There was a lot of rivalry between twins Nona and Alba, they used to say "age before beauty" and argue over who's ravioli tasted better even though they had the same recipe.  I miss them all terribly.

 Bruno, Alba, Joe, Rena

Grandma (Nona) Mary, Angela, Aurora

Grandparents - 

When I was born I had three grandparents, now I have none. :(

Grandma and Grandpa Weller are my mom's parents, Lawrence Weller (Ralph and Irene's son) and Lucille Wyzard.  We spent a lot of time there, we went to church right down the road, and often had Sunday dinners with them.  All holidays were spent at Weller's, and everyone lived nearby so the whole family would be there.   Grandma made the BEST fried chicken, and I'd love to have gotten her cast iron skillet, but I do have grandpa's bright orange cereal bowl.  He ate a hamburger for YEARS for breakfast but eventually was forced to start eating raisin bran, and I've got the bowl ha ha.  When I was really small they had hogs, sheep, cows and chickens but eventually went to just cows and chicks.  For the longest time we'd so see the chicks when they first came in, all cute and fluffy, and then when it was time all the women would go to grandmas and we'd have a chicken killin' party, they'd form a line; grandma would kill and toss, someone would dunk, someone would pluck, and everything went in the freezer.  They used to fry some up but it got to be "too much chicken" and eventually someone grilled porkchops that day instead.  Grandma always kept barn cats, I've taken more than my fare share home.  They had well water and it was like sucking nickels, but it made the best koolaide.  The house was always warm and cozy, we'd drive up in winter and you'd step into the mudroom and it was always warm, and smelled like her garlic munchies she kept in tubs out there, which was way better than the outside of the house which always smelled like cows.  My husband loved grandpa and I think the feeling was mutual, the guys would all sit around and watch a game but Kevin would sit and talk to grandpa, he was interested in Kevin's semi driving and had so many stories to tell.  When I was younger he kept dogs and the men used to go pheasant hunting, and he had a stuffed one on the wall in the living room we'd all climb up into a chair to touch.  We also all used to fight over who got to wind the cuckoo clock.  Grandma used to sew beautifully and I have one of her quilts, she taught some of the cousins to sew but I didn't learn, I was much older and already on my own when they were learning from her. She used to read us books as a kid, and I have most of my favorites, she'd always make the voices and I just loved it.   I actually favor grandma in looks, my mom has a picture of grandma when she was about ten, and I saw it when I was the same age and thought it was me, but I don't seem to resemble her so much now that I'm grown.  Grandpa always had on his bibbers and a hankie, all of us kids have his hankies.   I wish that my son had known them like I did, but we'd lived about three hours away once he was born, so he only really saw them holidays.  But you know what they say about hindsight.

 My paternal grandma Mary Heigert we called "Nona" which was supposed to be spelled Nonna, Italian for grandmother, but we'd always used it as a name and spelled it as such.  I was probably closer to her than anyone else.  I used to go there after school, and on weekends, and there was really no limit to when I'd go because I wanted to be at her house all the time.  She'd make me risotto and potato soup daily, she always had those wafer cookies in a jar.  To an Italian who lived through the depression you weren't happy unless you had food in mouth.  We'd go to Jubelt's bakery and get grilled cheese, then Dairy Queen for ice cream.  We played solitaire and watched the Cardinals game on tv.  I used to wait until the news came on and rush to bed so I could fall asleep first, she snored and it would keep me up if I went to bed after her, but I rarely slept in another room, I would still sleep in her bed.  She slept with talk radio on and for years I could only sleep with radio.  She'd have it on in the kitchen all day, and to this day if I'm working some kind of radio is playing.  She had treasures in the basement and we'd get to play down there, stuff left over from when my dad and his siblings were young, and random stuff too, nothing was off limits.  She'd let us walk down to the park, it seemed so far away but I swear I could hear her call my name.  She'd call us in, no one ever said my name like she did, two syllables, "Val-ree" I can still hear it.  I have the radio console that sat in her living room.  I was fascinated by her late husband, and was born on their anniversary.  I have her cookbook too and it's well worn from both of us, and her rolling pin.  I also have her wedding ring, which needed major repair but is now whole.  She had mimosa trees in her front yard which was unusual because they don't grow well there.  When she passed I took a start from them and grew one in my yard, and when I left there I took another start from that tree and have it here with me in Florida.  She used to feed the squirrels from the kitchen window, and he spent a lot of time outside on the swing and with the neighbors.  We knew all the neighbors all up and down the block.  I used to go to the Catholic church with her, but I didn't really like it.  She never pressured me into it but she was devout, and I had my own brush with religion when she passed, and was baptized not long after.  She would have liked that.  She had lifelong friendships with many women, I don't feel I got that from her, but she worked hard at visiting and maintaining them.  I knew so many old ladies.  We used to go to the nursing home and pass out candies,  I'd sing and dance.   We'd take the Amtrak to Chicago every year to see my cousins,  and when she was younger she'd do bus tours with the ladies.  KJ was only three when she passed, I feel like he missed out on such an amazing person.

                                   












I still have all my aunts and uncles, and my parents.  I could keep going but this would be a really long blog!  Spend time with your family while you have them, build relationships, make memories, and for God sake ask questions.  One day everyone who knows all the important stuff will be gone.