Tragedy

Tragedy

While visiting Maple Lawn Cemetery in Elba, New York, I noticed three small headstones. This cemetery published a booklet of obituaries for people buried there. I learned the story of these small headstones.

A family had three small children. An epidemic occurred and one of the children died. The parents went to the cemetery to bury their child and when they returned home a second child had died. Then only a short time later a third child died.

I can’t even imagine surviving that loss and remain sane. This was probably not a really rare occurrence one hundred years ago and fortunately today this would be a rare occurrence. The loss of even one child is tragic but to lose more in such a short time had to be unbearable.

This cemetery was so beautifully maintained and to make a booklet with the obituaries is such caring project.

#Loss of child, #52 Ancestors, #52 Ancestors - Tragedy, #Maple Lawn Cemetery, Elba, NY

Weirdly Comical

Weirdly Comical

There were two incidents in my grandmother, Hazel Bristol Wiedrich’s life that relate to the fact she only had one leg. Her leg was amputated when she was a teen after about 19 operations stemming from a bone issue that wouldn’t heal.

Once when on a family outing she was in a car crash. My grandfather was driving a station wagon along a highway in Florida. This was about 1963. In the car besides my grandfather and grandmother were my aunt Yvonne, cousin Patsy and her daughter Cindy and Mrs. Thorp, a family friend from NJ. There were no speed limits or at least they weren’t enforced at that time. My grandfather was going at a high rate of speed when he went off the side of the highway. The car was thrown. My grandmother was thrown from the front passenger seat into the back seat. Everyone had some injuries, some minor and some serious. My grandmother was almost scalped. Of course, head wounds bleed a lot and my grandmother was covered in blood. People stopped to help and when they pulled my grandmother out of the car they all got very upset shouting “She’s lost her leg. Look for it.” My grandmother was somewhat in shock, but she said in her mind she was laughing that people were running around looking for a leg she had lost 40 years before.

Another incident that involved here missing leg was when she had her Gaul bladder out. It was an emergency surgery and the doctor visited her each day following the surgery. They kept you in the hospital for quite a few days at that time. The day before she was to be released she asked the doctor if she could use her crutches. The doctor replied, “I operated on you stomach. Why would you need crutches?” She replied, “If I don’t it’s the first time in almost 40 years. I only have one leg.” The doctor through back the sheets and said, “Oh, my God, you only have one leg.” It took a long time for him to live that one down. It goes to show he only looked at what he was supposed to although this was the same hospital that years later amputated someone’s wrong leg not once but twice.

Thankfully there are sometimes a funny moment during difficult times to help us keep our sanity.

#Hazel Wiedrich, #Wiedrrich, Hazel, #52 Ancestors, #52 Ancestors Comedy, #Amputees

Sisters

Sisters

I’ve never had a sister, so I feel I know little of the topic. My knowledge is from my mom and her sisters. They were four, Yvonne, Bonnalyn, Millicent (my mom) and Constance. The older two were separated by a few years from the younger two. Still they were close but had what I assume to be the normal sisterly rivalries.

I hear of all their adventures in childhood. They roller skated in the second open floor bedroom of their farmhouse. Sounds like they were incorrigible, but this was during the terrible northwestern New York winters. They swam in the Tonawanda Creek at the back of their properties. Well, not my mother so much as she had a fear of the water. When I was young we went to their swimming hole for a swim. The water was freezing. Mom told of how she, Yvonne and Connie took lots belts and belted Bonnie’s bed so that she had to do a lot of unbuckling to get in bed. She was the bookworm and didn’t participate in all their shenanigans. At times they were all together in the same school room as they attended a one-room schoolhouse.

When they moved to New Jersey a year or so before WWII they lived in a truck that was converted into a trailer. This made for tight quarters. They my grandfather went to sea for a year and sent home no support. My grandmother only had one leg, and this was very hard on her. Yvonne was out of school and worked as a waitress. My mom was 12-yrs-old and worked at the diner with Yvonne after school. They supported the family.

In adulthood they continued to stay close. My family and Bonnie’s lived in southern New Jersey. Connie and Yvonne’s family lived in Florida. But we still would see each regularly. My family and Bonnie’s were together regularly. Thanksgiving was always celebrated together. My cousins went to Delsea Regional HS and my brother and I went to Gloucester City HS. Our schools played football against each other on Thanksgiving, so Bonnie made dinner if it was at Delsea and my mom made dinner if it was at Gloucester. 

They always kept a bond even though there was of course some competition, especially when it came to brag about their children. I loved all the stories, but sisterhood is still a bit of a mystery to me.

#Sisters, #52 Ancestors – Sisters, #52 Ancestors, #Wiedrich sisters

Brothers = David Cicero

Brothers – David Cicero

Not all brothers are biologic. Sometimes God drops a brother into the family because he knows it just completes it. That’s what happened to my family. We got Dave Cicero who could not be a better brother.

Dave became a part of our family when his mother died, and his father could not care for him. He became a foster child to my aunt. Our families were close, so Dave was always there. He was special to my mom and dad. When I was born Dave was a young teenager. I still have the donkey stuffed animal he gave me.

He is smart and worked as an engineer including designing things for the space program. If you’ve ever bought some honey in the little bear container you’ve seen something he designed. If you’re old enough you may remember chocolate syrup in a robot container (I think it may have been called “clanky”) you’ve seen something else he designed.

If he has a flaw it’s staying away from injury. He’s tussled with bikes, army gas masks, 5-ton trucks and big pots, not to mention motorcycles and tires falling off a car. I’m thankful a guardian angel has kept him around for his and our family.

When you’re a child you don’t know the reality of things. It took many years for me to know that my aunt didn’t treasure him as much as my family did. Dave was always being punished for some infraction that was usually the fault of my aunt’s adopted son. She passed up a chance to adopt a better son, but I think her prejudice prevented her from adopting Dave. It pains me to hear him refer to her as Mrs. Ludlum when he was her foster child for 17 years and she never let him call her mom or mother or any other maternal name.

After my aunt died, David lived with us until he got married. He worked for RCA and bought a color TV. His bedroom was upstairs, and my little brother and I weren’t supposed to go in his room. One night the Wizard of Oz was on TV. Dave brought us up to his room to watch his TV. I still remember my amazement when Dorothy opened the door and black and white turned to color.

After he married our families spent holidays together. When his children arrived, I was a babysitter for them. My mom and dad were God parents for their oldest child. When my dad was dying, Dave was by his bedside and when my mom was ill, not only was he for us but his daughter and son-in-law helped navigate the medical maze.

Dave is the most loving, compassionate, totally good person on the planet, and I’m blessed to have him as a brother.

#52 Ancestors Brothers, #52 Ancestors, #Brothers, #Foster children, #Cicero, David, #David Cicero