To see an enlargement, click on the image.

To see an enlargement, click on the image.

To see an enlargement, click on the image.

To see an enlargement, click on the image.

M.L.E.
Henderson Farm, Noel. Mo.
Wednesday, August 1, 1928

Dear Dad,

I enjoyed the papres (sic) you sent me today. I read allof them. I noticed in the paper where mother accompanied Mrs. Hurlburt and Perry, to Noel., Fine, Eh? I also see that Mr. and Mrs. Elsner, Paul, Ralph and Maxine, accompinid (sic) by Mr. & Mrs. P. K. Hurlburt and son Perry, Jr. moved to Spavinaw Sunday from Noel. Now which am I to believe? I think we will go home with you Sunday. In other words we will come home Sunday or Wednesday.
the boys both wrote before me so I have nothing to say.
Your Namesake , Daughter, &  and (sic) the only person in the family that lookes like you,
Maxine Lois Elsner
 

In the days before television, recitals were popular entertainment events. This very beautiful announcement printed on parchment paper was circulated for Maxine's recital. The silhouette of Maxine which highlights the announcement suggests that it was Maxine's family who took the lead in preparing this circular. The silhouette was copied from the picture below and the over all design was created by Thomas Korn, perhaps, the son or husband of Maxine's teacher.
Click on the image at right to see an enlargement.

An article saved by the family appeared in one of the city papers.
" Mrs. Thomas Korn will present her pupil, Maxine Elsner, in a speech recital June 15 at her studio, 812 West Fifth street. Miss Elsner is a a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M.A. Elsner, 620 Jaccard place. She will be assisted by Betty Lou Phillips, a violin pupil of Elizabeth Keith. The public is invited to attend.
"Three Episodes" (Draper)- Miss Elsner.
"Air with Variations" (Doncla)
"So Glad for Spring" (Daley), "Rosa" - Miss Elsner
"Kamazur" (Haesche)- Miss Phillips.
"Biller Sweet" ( Seifert)- Miss Elsner

A picture of Maxine accompanied this article. She is wearing the same dress as in her 1934 photo above. The pose however is different.
 

The Chicago World's Fair, A Century of Progress.

The Fair was originally scheduled to last only one year. However, the Fair board decided to extend it for one year in order "to pay off its  original bondholders and to turn a profit."
"Before the fair had opened, Fortune magazine had predicted good attendance despite the depression: "[The Century of Progress] will attract many mid-western families who in more prosperous times would vacation in the mountains or at the seashore but who this summer will content themselves with piling into the family car and setting off to spend a few inexpensive days at the fairgrounds." This magazine's prediction was borne out. Over its two seasons the Century of Progress attracted some forty-eight million visitors and earned a modest profit of $16,000. The fact that those figures could be attained during a catastrophic economic depression is a tribute to both the attractiveness of the exhibition and the purposefulness of the businessman who saw it as means to check the nation's economic free fall.
( Fair America, Rydell, Findling and Pelle, Smithsonian Institute Press, 2000. pg 85)

Maxine attended this Fair in 1934. A picture of her taken by a street photographer and the hand written words "Chicago World's Fair 1934" are the only memory that has been passed down of her visit.

Perhaps, Maxine's trip to the Fair was a reward for doing so well in the Oratory contest. The family often took summer trips together.

At the fair something else was also happening. Les Paul, a 19 year old guitarist from Wisconsin was playing in a trio  with Fry Peters and Joe Wolverton for the Reliance Manufacturing Company. They played at the General Exhibition Pavilion. Their style was popular hill-billy-country, jazz flavored tunes. Les and Joe had played previously as the Ozark Appleknockers on radio shows around St. Louis and Chicago. (The Early Years of the Les Paul Legacy, Robb Lawrence, Hal Leonard Books, 2008)

After the fair, Les Paul went on to play at the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago. He would become mighty famous in the years to come but in those early years in Chicago, he was a young newcomer to the larger world of music.

Bill Gretsch was also a newcomer. He had come to Chicago in 1933 or a little earlier to work for his father's company, The Fred Gretsch Mfg. Co. He was full of energy and his father, Fred Gretsch, felt that Chicago offered more room for his energies than the stayed offices of the company in Brooklyn.

Bill Gretsch was looking to make his mark in the music business which his grandfather had started and his father was now running. Bill noticed the young talent of Les Paul both at the Fair and at the Bismarck and he encouraged him. Introduced him to others in the business, make some connections for him in New York and generally welcomed Les into the world of Music as Bill had known it since his childhood

When Maxine visited the Fair in 1934, she was 17 years old. She knew nothing yet of Bill Gretsch.

But, perhaps, she stopped to hear the music trio who played such fascinating music for the company which made " Big Yank" work shirts. Perhaps, a young business man, Bill Gretsch stood near her also listening to Les Paul and his friends. Perhaps.

Maxine Elsner and Bernice Payne will represent the school at the district tournament next spring. There will be a contest at the Kansas State Teacher's College At Pillsburg to Strive for the cup which was won by Maxine Elsner last year at Springfield.

Please note, this speech, "The Root" my mother wrote herself. Years later in the early 1960's, her daughter Gretchen (me) gave the same speech at a contest in New York. I didn't do so well.
 

Twelfth Night. Ladies in Waiting: Eleanor Blair, Rebekah Blair, Maxine Elsner

Tony Randall, the American comic actor who won an Emmy for his work on "the Odd Couple" also attended Northwestern from 1937-1938. His name at the time was Arthur Leonard Rosenberg. He was from Tulsa, Oklahoma. My mother who had lived for a while as a young girl in Tulsa definitely might have met him at Northwestern. They were both in the School of Speech. He was however, two years younger than she. The archive at Northwestern University has his spiral student notebook from his time on campus. His doodling in the margins show his playfulness in trying to decide on a stage name.
 

She is quite clear about what she wants to do after graduation: radio broadcasting. Perhaps, it is her insistence about pursuing her career which attracted Bill. He was not himself interested in getting married.

Also in the questionnaire I learned that she weighted 120 pounds and was 5 feet 6.5 inches tall. She also states that she has never worked for pay.
 

NB: The following notes are from a paper by Ansel H. Resler, May 1941.

"The history of Northwester University's broadcasting activities has a comparatively early beginning. In !928, Baker Brownell went on the air with his lectures in Contemporary Thought. Throughout the early 1930's the publicity department of the university planned and produced miscellaneous (radio) programs. ...in these years, the broadcasting activities were of an occasional nature with no stress on continuity of long term programming."

"In 1933, station WENR had carried a series of talks entitled "Twentieth Century Bookshelf". This was a fifteen minute series carried twice weekly from 4:00 to 4:15, and was a discussion of books and evens from the period of 1911-1925. Each week a different professor spoke about the books and events of a different year."

"Also In 1933, Northwestern broadcast a short series entitled "the World of Tomorrow" , described as a glimpses into the future of government, literature, and society". Station WGN carried this series each Thursday evening from 7:15 to 7:30. "

 
In the fall of 1934 NU began to develop more clearly its interest in radio Adult education.

In October of 1934, WGN radio in Chicago ordered and paid for the wire and other charges involved in making it possible for programs from the Northwestern University campus studio located in the basement of Annie May Swift Hall (then the school of speech)  to be broadcast on WGN's radio station. The first program "Reviewing Stand" was aired on October 14.

At the time, Ed Stromberg, the publicity director at Northwestern University wrote " WGN has shown a fine spirit of cooperation. We have been given for our programs very desirable hours, which have been guaranteed for the period of the schedule. In addition ,WGN has agreed to pay wire and other charges involved in broadcasting these programs from out studio located on the Evanston campus."

In June 1935, a contract was signed between University of Chicago, Northwestern and De Paul University establishing  the University Broadcasting Council. Disorganized competition between these local universities was duplicating the form and content of their programming. The University Broadcasting council would address this issue and resolve it. The N.U. representatives were Dean Ralph Dennis from the School of Speech and Ed Stromberg, the director of Publicity for the University.
 

NU Radio Guild Holds Auditions Thursday at 4:30
The N.U. Radio Guild meeting yesterday afternoon in the Student Building arranged audition for announcers, actors and and actresses. Auditions will be held in the basement of the school of speech building.

Twenty five students all professionally interested in radio were present at the meeting. The organization was divided into three groups: talent and production, announcing and continuity writing.  Heading these divisions were Robert Danon, Robert Martin and Gertrude Crippen talent and production; Nick Cy Harrice Announcing; Rod Holmgren and Dorothy McDowell, continuity writing.

Surely, Maxine attended this meeting.

At this time Bill Gretsch is working at The Fred Gretsch Manufacturing Company. They have offices at 529 Wabash Ave. He is living at 151 Burton Place in Chicago.

In 2006, Louis P. Cain, the son of Louis Cain and  Mary C. Dale send me this information about his parents' wedding:

"I've checked with my two cousins who attended my parents' wedding as small

children. They confirmed my recollection that it was a small wedding with

family, plus a few school, church, and work friends - perhaps 40 at

most. The wedding was at the First Presbyterian Church in Chicago, with

that church's minister and my grandfather presiding. The reception was at

the home of the bride's brother and sister-in-law, the parents of my two

cousins."

An earlier reference to the Cain family in Chicago can be found in Maxine's mother's travel diary from 1908, Here Maxine's mother, Hattie, describes when she first came to Chicago with her sister Kate and met Lillian Dieter Cain and her family.

"Tuesday June 2, 1908.  Kate and I took the train at 8 o'clock for Chicago to see cousin Lillian Cain. Her husband was at the station to meet us but was too early, so we telephoned to the house, received instructions and went by ourselves. We made our first trip on the Elevated Railway. Cousin Lillian and her two children, Helen and Louis, me us at the Edgewater.  She certainly has a beautiful home. We had luncheon at the Presbyterian Church where her husband is in charge. The church is finished with mission wood. After luncheon Rev. Cain took a carriage and we took the Lake Shore Drive. This is a long Lake Michigan. Then we drove all through Lincoln Park. The park is beautiful. We saw all kinds of animals, birds, flowers  monuments, people and everything. Rushed home, had lunch and hurried to the station. Rev. Cain took us to the Chicago and N.W. and we were again speeding on our way to west Chicago."
 

WELL! WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

" A rose by any other name, etc.; and so, a shapely limb in lisle is just as shapely as in silk-this proves it, for the six attractive sets you see here are encased in threads that did NOT come from Japan. And they won't be until Japan restores herself to the world's good graces, so have sworn their owners, who happen to be Northwestern University co-eds. Who are they? Thumb over quick to page 4."

Top of page 4, Large photo of terrified Chinese
Headline "Chinese in 'Flight from Death' at Shanghai"
" Jammed like sardines, thousands of native residents of Shanghai pour down a narrow street as they flee the death of Chapei and seek the comparative security of the International Settlement. Behind them they left hundreds of victims of the unceasing gunfire of the Japanese troops, who took the great city of Shanghai a few days ago after a three months siege.
 

Page 4 bottom right hand corner:
AND NOW TO MAKE BOTH ENDS MEET
(Click on this picture to see an enlargement.)
"Chapter 2- Northwestern's boycotters of Japanese silk stockings, left to right: Betty Philips, Mary Von Lopik, Barbara Jordan, Dorothy Harden, Roberta Racine and Maxine Elsner. Thirty of the university's sorority girls have banded together in their boycott and hope to enlist 1,500 others. (Besides lisle stockings at two bits a pair are a lot cheaper.)" ( Evening American Photo.)
 

The picture appeared in a section entitled "Campus Parade." "College Humor pays $5.00 for pictures like these. Prints must be on Glossy paper and accompanied by details and return postage"

I wonder who sent this picture into College Humor? I wonder who earned the five dollars.

The magazine was sent to Charlotte, Maxine's oldest daughter by Paul Elsner, Maxine's oldest brother in 1986.

 

All the telegrams which were saved were found carefully safely stored inside a manila envelope.

On the outside of this very old file folder Maxine had written " Bill's Mass Cards".
The Mass Cards did not survive.

Perhaps my mother (Maxine) discarded the Mass cards when she decided to save the telegrams in their place.
Or perhaps someone else after my mother's death in 1964 decided to save the telegrams and not the mass cards.
The telegrams were sent to me by my sister Katie circa 1995.
 

This telegraph also tells us that the couple are keeping in touch and letting each other know their whereabouts.

We can assume that since they first met a little more than two months ago, they have been spending time together.

Telegrams from Bill arrived at Maxine's sorority house, 628 Library Place, every two or three days over the next few months.

I remember a story that Mary Curtis, my mother's college roommate told me. My mother and father had decided to meet in an hotel lobby. My father was very fond of my mother's blond hair. My mother decided to play a trick on him. She and her friends changed her hair color to dark black. They did it as I remember with mascara. Macara was a think coating of dark that was applied to the eyelashes to thicken the lashes.
When my father arrived at the appointed hour, he did not recognize my mother and keep looking around for her. It was very exciting because usually it was Bill who was playing the tricks on everyone. This time he had been had!
Perhaps, this was the meeting in the Congress Hotel Lobby that she played the trick on him.
 

April 1

"Gretsch Missionaries at Music Educator's Convention" in St. Louis. Pictured here in an article from Piano Trades Magazine, are many people who will play a big role in Maxine's life in the coming years. Including Bill Gretsch, Duke Kramer, Mrs. Arthur Neu  and Mr. Neu.
Thank you Fritzie Kramer for sharing this clipping with me.
 

"ARRIVING COMMODORE VANDERBILT THURSDAY LOVE & KISSES= COMMODORE VANDERBILT JR."

May 8

Joplin Newspaper Clipping reads:
Personals: Announcement has been made that Miss Maxine Elsner, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. M.A. Elsner, has been initiated into Phi Beta, national honorary speech sorority, at Northwestern university in Evanston, Ill.

Walter Dill Scott was president of Northwestern University from 1920 until 1939.
Actually, Walter Dill Scott was well know for his personnel selection methods which included tests to measure certain desirable characteristics and rating scales to rate applicants on necessary skills and attributes (appearance, demeanor, neatness, judgment, accuracy).
So Bill was very correct in his use of Walter Pill Scott to critic Sylvia's behavior.
 

Sylvia must have been really mad at Bill. First she slams the phone done and then she obviously hurt him.
 

Obviously, Sylvia did not go to the wedding of Bill's friends. The Mahoney's became good friends of my mother. The wedding was at South Shore Country Club.
(insert picture)
Date is written on back of picture but not clear.
 

Was this the first time that Bill meet Sylvia's parents?
Note the telegram was sent to Maxine and not Sylvia. Perhaps, he was trying to endear himself to her parents by not joking about their daughter's name.
 

Telegram to Richard Gretsch care of Marion Reserve Power Co, Marion, Ohio.
From Brooklyn, New York

Bill Remaining in Florida until Sunday. Have a good trip, Fred.
 

According to this article from Music Trade Review, Duke Kramer was given a farewell party by Gretsch employees in recognition of his going on the road for Gretsch in the traveling musical merchandise field. His territory will be Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas. Duke has been working for Gretsch for about five years.  The farewell party was held in the offices of the Gretsch company, note all the accordians which line the room. Thanks to Rob Cook for pointing that out to me.
Note Bill Gretsch one of the few people identified in this picture. Margaret Mitchell and  Dick Metchs (sp?) were also identified by Duke's wife who wrote their names in at the time. I wonder who that older woman is, sitting just in back of Bill Gretsch and Dick Metch's. I bet she knows a lot of stories about the music business in Chicago at the time.

This article was saved by Fritzie Kramer, Duke's wife and shared with me (Gretchen Elsner-Sommer) in 2005. Duke and Fritzie were always ready to share a great deal of information with me about the early courtship of my father, Bill Gretsch and and my mother, Maxine Elsner. They also shared stories of Duke's early years with the Gretsch company working along side my Dad.

One such story is how Duke got his job at Gretsch. In the early 1930's, Duke was living at home with his mother in Downers Grove. He was playing music in a lot of clubs in Chicago and staying out late. His mother naturally worried about him and asked a neighbor who worked in downtown Chicago to help Duke get a real job.
This friend told my father, Bill Gretsch that there was a young musician looking for work. My father went to hear Duke play, met him afterwards and later offered him a job at Gretsch.
So it was all because of Duke's mother that that Duke got the job at Gretsch.

Click on the image for an enlargement. You may have to also magnify the image.

This poem was found among Maxine's papers. Did she write the poem on her father's business stationery, or did her father write it or did perhaps, Fred Graves whose name appears on the letter head write it. This strange poem entitled "Pillars of Society" was submitted to "Pictorial Review" a magazine based in New York. The repetitive beat of the poem is reminiscent of the German troops who are marching across Europe at the time 

This poem can be read is a stern indictment of how unfeeling men can be. Or it can be read more naively in praise of men. It should be noted that Maxine's father was a member of the Kiwanis Club and also a Rotarian. Both clubs are  mentioned in the poem. So the poem can also be read as an indictment of Maxine's father.

Perhaps, this was written by Max and his daughter found it and kept it. But most likely, it was written by Maxine on her father's stationary.

This telegram paints a pretty lively picture of what the Gretsch boys were up to in 1939.
 
 

At this time, Bill's cousin and his wife, Ted and Kay Clauss were both working at the French Pavilion at the World's Fair. They had something to do with the selling of musical instruments there. Bill must have been spending lots of time at the Fair, doing advertising for the business there.
 

-------------

"On Easter Sunday (April 9), 1939, the contralto Marian Anderson sang on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. the Daughters of the American Revolution had refused to let her appear at Constitution Hall, Washington's largest concert venue, because of the color of her skin. In response, Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the D.A.R. and President Roosevelt gave permission for a concert on the Mall. Seventy five thousand people  gathered to watch Anderson perform. Harold Ickes, the Secretary of the Interior, introduced her with the words "In this great auditorium under the sky, all of us are free." The New York April 13, 2009

Have you secured a position following graduation? No.

Honors,scholarships Awards: member of Phi Beta, honorary professional speech and mucis fraternity, Member of Alpha Psi Omega, honorary speech fraternity
First Prize, Oratorical contest, Lindenwood College, 1937.

Maxine would have been well aware of this because Bill would be very much involved.
Jed was born as was all of his following siblings at Brooklyn Hospital. He was delivered by Dr. Winfield Stumpf whose father with the same name was a medical missionary in China. Kay had once dated this doctor who delivered her babies.
 

President's Reception at Deering Library ( 2006, The University Archive is Deering Library)
7:30 p.m. Bacculoriate Service at the First Methodist Church.
8:00 p.m. Band concert.
8:300       Illumination Ceremony. Deering Meadow was too wet for this traditional ceremony. It was held in the Great Hall of the Methodist Church
 

A picture accompanied this article with the caption: Line side bass caught on ELk River newa Henderson Camp by Max. A. Elsner of Joplin, Mo.

Noel, Ozark Press, July 1939 is written in long hand across the clipping.
 

The Women, a movie of the successful play by Clare Boothe with an all women cast is released. It is considered the ultimate women's movie of the 1930's, staring Norma Sheare, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell.
 

Click on the image for an enlargement.

 (early June)

Dunkirk, British troops evacuate from France.

The Battle of Britain begins.
 

There was so much going on in the world of radio. Radio is what Maxine trained for and dreamed of all her life….no wonder she and my father disagreed over her career…she wanted to work in radio, he no doubt wanted her to stay closer at hand…..she was off to Texas after her job at Webb City was over….she would search for a job in radio.

Perhaps, she saw herself working in radio in a different place than Witchita Falls, Texas. Perhaps, she had more of a world view. But the situation with her parents might have forced her to settle in Wichita Falls with her mother for the moment. Perhaps, this is the crux of the stress between my mother and her mother on the streets of Kansas City in this same period.

Knowing this about Edward R. Murrow and his radio addresses to American, and seeing my mother as  a young college graduate gives a little more clarity to the situation my mother was in, in the summer of 1940. Her desire to work in radio was large, the world situation opened up lots of opportunities and her family situation, her parent split forced her to curtail her ambitions for the moment.

She left her job in Webb City teaching High School speech and debate. But intstead of being off to see the world, she went to Texas with her mother, her aunt and her grandmother, to comfort her mother. Her father had gone off with another woman perhaps.

She took a job (in June of 1941) at a local radio station ( KWFT). She would sharpen her radio skills in that small Texas station.

But what was she doing all this time between her job in Webb City which ended in June 1940 and the time of writing radio copy in March of 1941. Living already in Wichita Falls with her grandmother and mother?
 

In the theater section of the same magazine, a long article Mantel of Barnum described  the new Michael Todd Theater Cafe which has just opened in Chicago in the old Rainbow Ball Room which once housed the high priced French Casino during the Chicago World's Fair. Below is a picture of Bill and Sylvia at this "hot" new nightclub. It is located on Clark street between Lawrence and Ainsle.

Michael Todd was 33 years old at the time. He had just recently run four of the biggest and most popular shows at the New York World's Fair. Described by TIME as a "showman" worthy enough to wear the mantel of PT Barnum. Michael Todd would go on to marry Elizabeth Taylor, find the wide screen process of Todd A-O and finally die in a plane crash in the early 1960's.
 

(Click on the image to see an enlargement.)
Bill and Sylvia with friends including Tiny Hoff and his wife at Michael Todd's Theatre Cafe located at 4812 Clark Street, Chicago. It was billed as the world's largest night club. It seats 3,700 people and has a 400 foot balcony bar.
 

Note that Mr. & Mrs. W.E. Carden sent an undated graduation card to Maxine, either in 1935, 1937 or 1939. The card suggests that the Cardens and the Elsners were at one time friends.

Note that Hattie is clearly stating her address as 1821 Collins while Max is writing in his February S.S. application that they are married.

Hattie must have decided to stay in Joplin while Max went to California. Later, in the year, Hattie would join him there.

Sylvia is in Joplin with her Grandmother and her Aunt Kate. The war must have been their main topic of conversation. Imagine, Grandmother Dieter's distress to know that we were going to war with Germany again. She sill had at least one sister living there and many nieces and nephews. She and Katie visited as recently as 1936.
 

I remember hearing previously from my mother I think, that my Dad did not like her working in Texas. He wanted her closer to him. So her being fired was "big news" for their relationship.

Pictures suggest that they were together earlier in the year in February. Perhaps, they were having lots of phone calls and meeting in person often so that telegrams were necessary. Or perhaps, their arguments around my mother working in Texas has "split" the relationship and now they were beginning to come together again.
 

( This was from Lucille Jacobus who was good friends with both Bill and Maxine. She obviously wanted Bill to know that Sylvia was coming to town. Bill was obviously home for Christmas.)
 

Dear Families,

In the first place, congratulations, Dad on your job which is one hundred percent wonderful! I was thrilled to death when I heard about it, and I know every one else was too. That's really a tidy sum of money to make, and I;ll bet you have plenty of fun spending it.
 

I'm still jobless...haven't written near enough letters. And to make matters worse, I left my letter writing equipment in Fulton. Paul, You'll find it in the second drawer for the bottom in the office desk next to the typewriter. On the side next to the windows. Paper, envelopes, sample forms, and a Radio Advertising magazine. Please ship it to Mission as soon as you possibly can. We're all excited your your job , too, Paul. I really thought you were on a wild goose chase going to Detroit with only the little prospects you had of getting work there. Ralph and Betty send their congratulations too. How about a loan?

To catch Joplin and San Francisco up on my latest travels...Bill arrived in Fulton a week ago today....Friday. Brought his roommate with him. Stayed til Tuesday....Bill, that is. George, the roommate, returned to Chciago on MOnday, and Paul drove up with him. Bill and I took the train for kansas City on Tuesday, and yesterday Thrusday, Bill left for Chidago. He was supposed to call me tongiht but hasn't yet, the louse.

Oh.... I forgot to mention...we're on speaking terms again.

We did the Kansas City night spots with Ralph, Betty and Customers, Ralph and Betty got a big bang out of all the free meals...and even succeeded in buying Bill a swim! And when you can buy Bill something, you're quite a person.

Really had a grand vsit in Fulton....and now that you folks are moving , I'm especially glad I got to see you and the baby. Quite a beautiful child, I must say.

But I'll never forget how charing she looked iwth that essence of peas spread all over her puss on the first day.

Lola, will you please forward the list of things Mother asked me to bring to California? I may want it in a week or two.

Thanks for your letter, Tante, I passed it on to Ralph and Betty , too. It's a shame you had trouble with your pipes...hope it doesn't happen again. But then it is good that you have some excitement once in a while.

Dad, I think it is swell that you're selling policies on Saturday afternoons, providing you get pleny of rest. Hope your insurance company doesn't make you stop...but I don't see why they should. You don't take the place of another man, you just supplement their staff of sales men.

Looks as if Bill will have to look for a job soon. There isn't any music business now.MOst of their business was imorting, and the rest was the manufacture of brasses and drums...both of which require metal which they can't get. He'll be on the bread line soon.

I may stay the week out here and come to Joplin the end of next week.....but don't expect me until I arrive. I'll let you know.

Now that Dad and Paul are doing so well, it's about time for me to jump on the band wagon of success too. As soon as I get my letter writing supplies, I'll start writing to every station in California.

love, Maxine
 

Letter to Maxine also known as Sylvia, from Bill's father Fred Gretsch. Click on the image to see an enlargement.

Note the pictures below of the Kliegl Cottage in Elka Park. Click on the images for an enlargement.
In taking Sylvia to Elka Park, he was introducing her to some family history. Bill as a boy had gone there with his family to visit the parents of his Aunt Francis Kliegl Sommer.

In the 1950, Sylvia would take her children there to spend a few weeks in the summer at a rented house.

  "From the collection of Timothy J. Mallery, http://www.catskillarchive.com".   

Maybe this is the summer that Barbara Sommer Shea remembers my father and mother being there. Barbara was sewing the canvass top on her Opa Kliegl's car. ( Note: Opa Kliegl was one of the inventors of Klieg lights.)
Opa said that Barbara could not go off with Bill and others for a walk, she had to stay and keep working on his car. Barbara was only 11 but was very upset because she loved my father and wanted to be with him. Barbara remembers that her older cousin, my father, wasn't around much and she really enjoyed spending time with him.

The letter to Sylvia's parents dated June 1, 1941 describes the "marvelous trip" from New York to Washington, D.C. back to New York and then a planned trip up the Hudson to Albany.
 

To read more about the Army War Show and the book which describes it all, please go to the library section of this website.

More information about the Army War Show is also available here:
http://www.asmic.org/asmic_v1/tradepost/years/tponline2003/jan03/armywarshow.htm

The show started in Baltimore on June 12th and traveled to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Akron, Detroit, Milwaukee, Des Moines, Omaha, Chicago, Cleveland, Louisville, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Birmingham and ended in Atlanta on December 20th.

There were 24 events in the Army War Show each lasting from three to 15 minutes. They were " Handy Talkie", airplanes Hdkf. Stunt, Review, Close Order Drill, Butts Manual, Artillery, Medical Detachment, Horse Cavalry, Automatic Weapons, Jeep Comedy, Jeep Jamboree, Motorcycles, Flame Thrower, March Trick, Salute to Industry, Living Flag, Signal Corps Obstacles, Tanks, Tank Destroyers, Engineers, Anti-Aircraft, Chaplains, Battle Action, Fireworks, Star-Spangled Banner.

In each city, the show began at 8:15 in the evening and ended at 10:15.

There was also a radio contingent to the show . Stg. Bert Park and Stg. Bob Waldrop used the radio as a promotional devise to get the message out to as many people as possible. " More than 86 radio stations  cooperated with the War Department by broadcasting War Show programs."  My mother who studied radio in college and worked in a radio station in Wichita Falls, Texas must have been very interested  this aspect of the show.

Chicago Newspaper clipping undated glued to the inside back cover of the book, included in the article is a picture of Lt. R. F. Gretsch.

" Although the opening of the Army War show in the Stadium is nearly two weeks away, work on its lighting system started today with arrival from Washington of Lieutenant Richard F. Gretsch of the Army Corps of Engineers, a former Hollywood lighting director.

While the Stadium's lighting for night events is supposed to be pretty super -super, Lieutenant Gretsch doesn't think it's such a much, and he is going to install his own system, utilizing, however the old "house" light system of Commissioner Herbert Buckman's yawning bowl.

"Our show loses some of its effectiveness under lighting that is too brilliant," Lieutenant Gretsch said. " Our own effect lighting doesn't penetrate it. We use white, blue, red and amber lights, using an illuminating system that is as bid and complex as that at Radio City in New York."

The officer grinned asked how much equipment he supervises.

"I've probably got more copper than anyone in Cleveland. We use between 11 and 12 miles of wire, carry 225 lighting fixtures- spots and floods-and a complete switch system for the remote control of all Stadium lighting."

The show's own lighting system is a 540-kilowatt set-up to which 500 kilowatts will be added by use of the Stadium's old system- enough  juice, the Army engineer explained , to light 20,000 lamps of 50 -watt capacity.

500,000 Red army soldiers died in Stalingrad, more than all of the British soldiers killed in the whole war.
 

" America was financing a war effort. It wanted to know how its money was being expended.  Major General Alexander D. Surles, Director of the Bureau of Public Relations, thought it would be wise if a cross section of the Army could be presented to the people of the country in the form of an Army War Show....An itinerary of eighteen key American cities was arranged to be completed December 21.

With the cooperation of Lieut. Richard F. Gretsch,  Electrical Engineer, Mr. J. W. Collins, Chief Electrician and Mr. George Holtrey, Electrical Construction, the problems of lighting the Army War Show were solved.

 

(NB, the Army war show was in Cleveland on the 18th and on its way to Louisville.)
 

Click on the image to see an enlargement.
Maxine is hired as Editor of "Western Hotel and Restaurant Reporter". Established in 1896 this is the West's oldest Hotel Magazine. The previous editor held the job for one year and left to be married. Maxine would hold the job for only one month before she left to be married.

My mother told me circa 1958 that around the time of my father's birthday in 1952, he called her on the phone. They had been fighting for quite a while and she was giving Bill a hard time on the phone by acting very uninteresting in what he had to say. Looking back, I realize that they were probably fighting over the fact that she took a job in California so far away from Chicago and New York where his business was based. He was probably playing the confirmed bachelor and she was playing the "career girl". Both were well suited for their roles but it didn't make for a happy romance.

As my mother related the story to me, my father said  " You know my birthday is coming up"
"Yes" she said with no enthusiasm in her voice.
"You know what I want for my birthday", he asked.
"No" she said pretending that she didn't care.
"I want you", he said.
Plans were immediately made for the wedding which took place on December 14, the day after his birthday in California, Missouri.
 

On December 1, Maxine wrote the above letter to her Grandmother and her Aunt Kate whom she called "Tante".
Click on the image to see an enlargement. It might be necessary to then magnify the pages. The letter is hard to read because the paper is folder and the ink bleeds through. Never the less, it is fun to read in the original and Maxine's controlled excited flies off the pages.

Below is a transcription of the letter.
December 1, 1942
Dear Grama and Tante, I want you both to be the first to know that i plan to marry.
I do hope you like Bill as much as he does you, because you both are among his favorite people.
Probably this in more of a surprise to me than it is to you. It happened several nights ago. Bill called from Chicago, and we argues 25 minutes, and then decided to get married.
By the next morning I wasn't so sure, so I waited until I got a letter from him to let you in on the secret.
Bill wants to make it Dec.13 (his birthday) in California, Missouri. You'll simply have to come, Tante, if its there. Grama, I want you there too, or it won't be official.
However, I'd rather make it here, so now the whole thing is undecided. We will very likely wait 'til after Christmas.
We'll live in New York. I wrote Bill about my furniture ( the parlor set) and how I want to decorate our living room around it. But he wants to wait 'til after the war to furnish a place of our own--that will be in Chicago.
As soon as I know more definitely what our plans are, I'll write or wire.
Tonight, I'll also write Paul, Ralph probably Gus and Emma. Please tell your friends whenever you want.
Today, I bought the first item of my trousseau with your check. A black 100% wool coat (fitted, very plain) with a huge silver fox collar. It (the collar) fits square over the shoulders, comes to a V in the front....(here Maxine has made a little drawing...see the above letter) Just like that (with an arrow pointing to the drawing). Thank you very very much. Its as pretty as your coat, Tante. Very much like it. And I know Bill like it.
So I'll be seeing you both very soon at my wedding. then afterwards, it's possible that I'll spend a day of my honeymoon trip there, if we're invited. I don't know for sure, because I never know what Bill is going to do next.
all my love, Maxine
P.S. No ring yet so I still don't feel 100% engaged---love, M.

 

Letter written to Maxine (aka Sylvia) from Fred Gretsch her future father in law just before she and Bill were married. Note the reference to his wife Charlotte Sommer Gretsch.
 

Russia didn't admit to the crime until 1990.
 

Love from Sylvia and I, cordially Bill"

This letter was found in Ridgeland, South Carolina at the Gretsch offices. It had been saved in an old binder of business letters. I found it on July 27, 2001 when I was visiting Freddie for his birthday and was on my way to Luc's graduation from South Carolina with an International Business Master's Degree in Business Administration.

This letter was written from the Freeport house that my parents had rented for the summer. No doubt Bill and Sylvia spent many long week-end there. Maybe my mother typed it for him on her typewriter. A typewriter she no doubt took with her from Northwestern to Joplin to Texas and California. I remember when I was very young my mother writing letters to her parents on that typwriter.  The same typewriter I took to college with me in 1965. I had no idea of its history then. That typewriter, I gave to a priest who was on his way to South America to work in the missions there. I am sure i thought I was doing the correct thing. I am sure I thought that my mother would approve.

 

The New York Times reported that the daughter of Clare Luce Boothe, Ann Clare Brokaw, age 19 was killed in an automobile accident. She was a student at Stanford University.

My mother must have been paying attention to this.
 

The wedding diamond was purchased from "Charles W. Sommer & Bro., Inc." and sent to Mr. William Gretsch care of the Illinois Athletic Club, Chicago, Ill."

They honey mooned at the Edgewater Beach Hotel. The next day,Bill sent flowers addressed to Lieutenant Kramer and Frieda Hesse. The hotel would not deliver them because the insinuation was that they were not married. Fritzi was so mad at Bill.

At the time of her marriage, Fritzi kept a "Wedding Book". In the list of guests, "Mr. W. Gretsch" is written. I wonder if my mother did not attend the wedding. Fritzi remembers it was a snowy winter night. People came on the train from Chicago office to the wedding. She remembers that both my parents were there. From the formality in which she long ago entered my father's name in her wedding book, Fritzi signaled a distance from my parents. Or perhaps, she was just trying to maintain a formality with her husband's boss. At any rate, my father's name appears alone without my mother's in the list of guests at Fritzi and Duke's wedding.

Perhaps, my mother stayed in New York while her husband went on this trip to Chicago.
 

Sylvia, her father in law and her new baby, Charlotte Susan Gretsch.

On April 25, Maxine/ Sylvia wrote to her parents:
"We have two sets of pictures of her, some black and while some color...by Major MacNeal, who had quite a group of CasaBlanca(sic) pictures in the National Geographic. He appointed himself official baby photographer, and comes out  with a car load of spotlights, etc. He is a doctor....unfortunately will be shipped out soon, but since he is stationed on a transport, I hope he will be back at frequent intervals."

Herbert P. MacNeal was the photographer for an article which appeared in National Geographic magazine in July 1943. The article was entitled "Americans on the Barbary Coast". The article was written by Willard Author Price. The piece included a photo insert by MacNeal entitled "Casablanca Smiles".

Just three years later in June of 1947, Herb Mac Neal shows up again. He comes to Bill's sick room at the Palmer House soon after Bill's surgeries at the Mayo clinic.

Again my mother wrote to her parents:
“ Herb has been a great help to Bill, getting him on a good diet, giving him iron, locating this infection from the tooth, and generally giving him sound advice. Don’t know what we would have done without him, as only a personal friend would spend so much time and diagnose so carefully. If it hadn’t been for Herb, Bill probably wouldn’t have gone to a dentist for a year.”

Herbert P. MacNeal died in Morristown, New Jersey in December of 1987. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
 

Bill had rented a house in a row of houses while Sylvia was out of town. When she came back home, all of her thing had been moved into this house and set up there. Palmer Seeley's parents helped my father set up all of Sylvia's and Bill's things in this rented "new" home.

Jack and Madeline Hogan . Bob and Rita Cuskley, Martin and Mae McConnaughey also lived in houses along that row. They all became good friends and partied together often.

The Hoff's lived across the street. Palmer Seeley and Bob Cuskley jr., who were little boys were very good friends.

Bill and Sylvia had lots of parties. Gene Kruppa and Buddy Rich were young musicians who my father knew through his business and who came  the parties on Burns Street.

One night, a musician arrived for a party that was already in full swing but there was no piano at Bill and Sylvia's house. So a piano was carried from one of the neighbor's houses to my parent's house for the visiting musician. This story was told to me by Bob Cuskley jr, circa 2007. However, in a letter sent to her parents around this time, Sylvia ( Maxine) describes an upright Steinway piano which was in the basement recreation room. The piano was painted black and had a "B" on one side and an "S" on the other side.

Perhaps, this piano wasn't good enough for the visiting musician and a better one was carried in from the neighbor's house.
 

Clare Boothe Luce was the first woman Keynote speaker at the Republican National convention.

She spoke against Roosevelt's handling of the war. she called the united states a " dictatorial bumbledom".
 

Fritzie told me that Bill used to hid pennies in the corners and then ask Fritzie how much money she had found that day while she was cleaning. That way, he knew if she had done a thorough job. Understandably, this really made Fritzie mad. My father I am sure thought that it was funny.

Duke Kramer told me that he was with a military unit but that Bill Gretsch got Duke transferred to a desk job in New York City. Later in the war, Duke's outfit was sent to Europe and fought in the battle of the Bulge where many of his friends were killed. Duke always felt that Bill Gretsch saved his life by getting him transferred out of the unit he was in.
 

The following letter is written on Gretsch letterhead.

Lt. & Mrs. C. W. Kramer
301 Burns Street
Forest Hills, Long Island, New York                          July 24, 1944, In out 61st year

Dare Fritzie and Duke,
Tonight, Sylvia and I are having dinner with your mothers at Little Bohemia in back of Union Station.

Fritzie, your mother comes in for treatment. Will be down at the hotel about 4:o'clock. she can sit down and take a nap until Mrs. Kramer gets there and then we can go out and eat at Little Bohemia.

I spoke to Duke's mother this morning about additional information, but Mrs. Kramer said she had been in contact with the family and the information is about the same as you have it.

Cordially, yours, Bill Gretsch
WGRetsch/bls

In 2002, Fritzie Kramer told GES that Bill Gretsch bought her mother a robe made her lie down and rest. Mrs. Kramer lived until she was into her 90's. Bill Gretsch died in 1948.

Note picture of Margaret E.Simons, a good friend of Bill's mother, Charlotte Sommer Gretsch. to read more about Margaret Simons and her friendship with Charlotte, go to Charlotte's time line on this website.

It was at Margaret Simons home in Sag Harbor where my parents spent the summer of 1947, see below for more details.
 

Bill remembering his mother's friendship with Margaret, invited her to all of his parties.
 

He is their second child and first son.

At this time, Sylvia was already in the very early stages of her first pregnancy.
 

I imagine that Bill and Sylvia were there but I have no way of knowing for sure. I do know that Gertrude adored her cousin Bill.

Gertrude's father and her uncle had been business partners but their partnership broke up before she was born. They never reconciled before her father's death. It is quite amazing that she asked her uncle to give her away thus reconciling a long standing family disrepute.
They were married at the bride's home, 3 East Seventy Seventh Street, only close family members were present.
 

Max was home alone in California for a long time while Hattie was away.
 

"Your announcement of ability to meet contractual requirements is received with much enthusiasm by entire industry. I ass my personal commendation for this desirable achievement=Max A Elsner Projdct  Engineer."

 

In the same letter she writes," I am going to hire me a practical nurse today....for the big event. Bill wanted me to get Mickey, Ray's wife, but I was afraid it would be an imposition for her, and might conflict with ehr other responsibilities. So I will get Esther Kaiser, a very good friend of ours, and a registered nurse, or a Mrs. Monroe who is very highly recommended. It will be a weight off my mind."
 

Frizi and Francis felt this made them as wives look bad. So they talked to Sylvia to try and get her not to acquiesce so much.
They were all living in Forest Hills at the time.
 

A quote from Katherine's baby scrapbook " Francis Bronson and Fritzie Kramer gave a surprise luncheon for the baby on March 16 (They thought that she was due on the 19th). I had no suspicions, even when told not to bother to come on time. Appeared long after the other quests, with Nondas Helm, [Mom's good friend from Joplin]who was visiting us. Everything was pink and white with a paper umbrella Fritzie and Duke had make. Many, many lovely gifts. Guests included:Tessie Vorbach, May Emerson, Francis Sommer, Kay Clauss.
 

( A napkin from the party included on this page is distinctly pink, white and blue. Perhaps, in retrospect, everything seemed pink and white to my mom.)
 

She is born at 4:22 p.m. A low forceps delivery.
 

Also in the scrapbook is a hand written letter,
"San Francisco, California
Dearest Maxine and Bill and Daughters- How wonderful to receive your telegram this morning! Congratulations and the very best of wishes! An Easter Sunday Baby, how grand! Now if we only knew how you are feeling, could be with you and help you! There is not much I can say being so very far away, we are as happy as we can be and are certainly sharing our joy with you.
We are so glad that you didn't not have to wait the extra month  that so many first baby's take but the shock is so great that I;n afraid the Doctor ( if I had one) would put me to bed- so I'll just have to relax and bear it in the best I can.
Dad is able to walk and is now composing a telegram that will pass all censors as no congratulatory messages can be sent.
Yes, we are very very happy! and anxiously awaiting all further word. Sincerely hope, Maxine, that you are feeling extremely well and Bill, hope that you now you have recovered! Take good care of all four of you and bring the baby down to see us as soon as possible, much, much love, Mother
Dearest Maxine, plus your multitudinous family- We are very happy to get the good news and very anxiously await talking to you direst. all my love to you and to little Sylvia. POP

Also in the scrapbook, an envelope with the name "Mrs. W.W. Gretsch".
The hand written letter inside reads: Monday April 2, 1945
"Dear Mommie, Yesterday I was talking to Peter Rabbit and Daddy and I asked him for something to bring along for Mama to celebrate my first birthday.
So Peter Rabbit dug down into a large group of envelopes that he had with your name on and took this one off the top.
Gee Daddy is swell to Mama. He sure is going to be broke when
all my sisters and brothers deliver all of these envelopes with your name on.
Love from your second daughter."

Also in the envelop is a receipt dated March 28, 1945 from E.W. Clucas & Co. 70 Pine Street.
This receipt is for 100 common shares of Congoleum Nairn Inc.
The stock is made out to Mrs. Maxine Elsner Gretsch.
This must have been a present from Bill to his wife on the occasion of Katie's birth.
It is interesting to note that Bill had the stock made out to Maxine which was his wife's legal name and not Sylvia which was the name he always called her. Business is Business!
 

Fritzie was really pregnant at that time with Ken who was born on August 13. When I talked with her more than 60 years later about this picture, she remembered that little hat she was wearing in the picture.

In the background is a wooden structure. Lots of people are standing on the wooden steps of the building. Perhaps, that is the "Surf Club". Perhaps, the Surf Club was in Freeport, New York where Bill and Sylvia has a summer home.

It must have been a fun summer in Freeport with the end of the war nearing and the birth of two new babies, a Gretsch baby born in April and a Kramer baby due in August.
  

A picture was taken at a huge party in Freeport, Long Island.
Present were several generations of family, friends and work associates.
Perhaps, the party was celebrating Fred Gretsch Jr being home from the war.
Fritzi Kramer remembered the maternity dress she was wearing, so we know the picture was taken before August 13, 1945.

Drum Demonstration and Clinic
Sponsored by the Fred Gretsch Manufacturing Company
60 Broadway, Brooklyn 11, N.Y.
Drum Makers since 1883

The Rudiments of Snare Drumming and Their Application in Music
Frank Kutak and Phil Grant of the Goldman Band

Demonstration of Bass Drum and Cymbal Technique
Gus Helmecke-Formerly of Sousa's Band-
America's Foremost Bass Drummer

Ensemble Drumming    Symphony in Drums
Goldman Band Drum Section

Specialty Number
Viola Smith of Phil Spitalny's All-Girl Orchestra

Rudimental Drum Solo      The Downfall of Paris
Al Moffat-Former Instructor Navy School of Music

The Tympani-Technique and Use in the Symphony Orchestra
Saul Goodman of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra

The Art of Dance Drumming
James Crawford of Cafe Society Uptown
Accompanied on the Vibraphone by Phil Grant

Phil. Grant
your Master of Ceremonies, is head of the Education Department of the Fred. Gretsch Mfg. Co., drum makers since 1883.
Phil. Grant comes from a musical family. For many years both his father and mother taught in the Music Department of Pennsylvania State College, from which institution Phil. himself was graduated with a degree in Educational Music. Since then Phil. Grant has taught public school music, has played drums professionally with several popular dance bands, and in recent prewar years has been snare drum, tympani and xylophone specialist with the Goldman Band and the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Recently, released from the Navy with the rank of Lieutenant, this Carnegie Hall Drum Jamboree is his first civilian activity.

He is anxious to be of service to you in all matters relating to percussion and will be happy to come to your school or American Legion Post to assist on any problems you nay have.

Through Phil. the Fred. Gretsch Mfg. Company cordially invites you to visit our Brooklyn factory. Phone or write Phil. Grant, who will be happy to arrange a tour of the plant for you at any time.
 

The New York Times reported that Clare Boothe Luce has converted to the Catholic faith. She had been taking religious instruction with Fulton Sheen.
 

Duke Kramer tells the story that he was on the road selling in the south and Bill Gretsch called. Bill Gretsch said that Duke had to come to Minnesota right away there was a very important meeting coming up. So Duke changed his planes and rushed to Minnesota where he found a big party going on for the Michigan Minnesota Football game.

This was the way Bill Gretsch did business. There were university Band Leaders there and lots of music dealers from the area. Less then two years later in January 1948, a similar party would be held and billed as a christening party for Bill and Sylvia's newest baby girl. Gretchen. It was also a big party full of business acquaintances, music dealers and family.
 

The Cuskly's had lived in a house near my parents on Burns Street in 1943-44. The MacConicky's lived near by and the Nixons. They were quite a partying bunch. Bob worked fro Douglas Eliniom selling real estate in Manhattan. Rita went to Manhattanville. They would be my god parents.

Their oldest son Bob jr. remember my father going out in a little boat and fishing in the early morning. He would come back and cook his fish  on the beach, stripped bass, etc. (conversation August 21, 2002)
 

Bill and Sylvia spent their 5th wedding anniversary at the elegant Stevens hotel in Chicago. ^] (The Stevens Hotel was subsequently bought by Hilton Hotels and is today the Chicago Hilton and Towers. see wikipedia.) Sylvia was very pregnant!

(This letter written on Pink stationary was found in the Menlo Park Collection at my brother's house in Savannah, GA. Pencil marks exaggerate the date and add the year 1948 with a question mark. Next to that is written Gee Gee, Yes! Born 1/15/48. Apparently, these papers have been gone through. First by either my grandmother or my grandfather and later by Uncle Ralph. I am not the first family historian. )

 

Thursday

Infernal Revenue Dept.
Special Intoxicating Bureau
1651 N. Kedzie Avenue
Chicago, Illinois
January 29, 1948

Dear Sirs:

You are hereby notified that your Reports to this Department have been brought to our attention.

A Special hearing has been arranged at which you may present further information to substantiate your position.

Your appeal will be heard:
February 8, 1948
3:00 P.M. at the Bar
4:30 P.M. at the Smorgasbord
Dania Hall
1651 N. Kedzie Avenue
Chicago, Ill

Please signify your intention of cooperating with the Bureau by notifying address below that you will be present.

Sincerely,
William Gretsch
Special Officer in Charge

3052 Palmer Square
Chicago, Illinois
Belmont 10454


This was the invitation to a huge party which was part business party and part Christening party for me.

Fritzie Kramer remembers that people didn't know that it was a Christening party until they got there. The Christening was held earlier in the day.

Fritzie remembers the invitation as very cute and clever. It was sent around Income Tax times and was designed to give a little "worry" to the reciprient.

This particular invitation which was found in the Menlo Park Collection in Savannah was postmarked February 11, 1948. It was sent after the event to my mother's brother and his wife: Mr.& Mrs. Ralph Elsner, 8205 Summit, Kansas City, Mo.

Did my mother find herself in an awkward position, with the christening party for their new baby advertised in such a silly way? I wonder if she sent an invitation to her parents.

Or perhaps, she wrote the invitation herself. On this date January 29th, she wrote two postcards to her parents, so obviously she had some time to write.

Note: The area around North and Kedzie in Chicago was a Danish neighborhood known as "Little Denmark". Dania Hall was built by the community and held social gathering. My parents rented out this space for my Christening party. It was very close to Palmer Square where they lived.

Gretchen and David stopped here on their way to Mary Wade's fourth birthday in Evanston in 2007. The building is still there but no longer Dania Hall. The words "Dania Hall" are engraved in the stone on the face of the building.

 

At this Christening party many pictures were taken which were then assembled and hand tied with a black cord and tassel.

My god parents, Bob and Lorraine Cuskley, flew in from New York. My grandparents from California were not there. However, many friends and business acquaintances attended. A very striking catalogue hand tied and bound

"Gretsch Special Catalog

Presenting 1948 Edition
"Gee Gee"  
Also showing earlier Models,

1944 "Lottie"
1945 "Katie"
1946 "Fritz"

William and Sylvia Gretsch Production Co. Founded 1942
January 15, 1948            Chicago, Ill.

No doubt this little booklet which pictures many customers of the Gretsch company and other musical businessmen in the area was a also a clever piece of advertising .

This little booklets contains the only picture that I know of in which the whole family is together:
my mother and father, my sisters Charlotte and Katie, my brother Freddie and me, three weeks old.

Copies of this booklet were found in Savannah in the Menlo Park Collection.
 

On the back of this picture the folllowing is written....some of the letters might be Greek....

Nick presenting Two pretty
Mr. W. W. Gretsch and
2 Princesses and brother.
Has visit the Drake Hotel and also rode the famous Royal car
of Queen Marie and King Paul and Prince Carl. Now sitting in the
Royal Car. Photo by Nick the Greek J. Teszakis I Tipzauis Atto.
Tabepra Mezurn Messervia & made official
February 22, 1948
 

Maybe this picture was taken by Nick and later given to my father by Nick.
 

My father must have been positive about the future of the business in Chicago.
 

We tried to reach you the night we had the good news of your election, which was about 10:00 Sunday night but evidently you had gone out celebrating and your baby sitter must have had the doors closed.

Sylvia joins me in sending you and Jean congratulations for we certainly think it is swell. Sincerely, Your Brother, Bill

(My brother Fred sent me a copy of this letter in February of 2001 with the note "Here is one for your scrap book". Dick had recently given him the letter with a note which read, " Fred, If I had fulfilled your father's hopes I probably would be working for Dinah, too- My best-"

This wonderful letter gives a little vignette of my parents on Sunday night April 17th.
In this time so soon after my birth, I know very little about their lives. Now, I know that that particular Sunday night they were trying to reach Dick and congratulate him.
I also know that they were making plans for spending the summer again at Sag Harbor like they did the previous summer. There was apparently not very much hot water in that cabin by the bay and a very small refrigeratro.
 

Bill is on a quite limited diet, and has lost weight. We are not very encouraged by his condition. The trip was hard on him. The girls were good little travelers , but even so it was a noisy journey.

Love to you all, Mike Still hope to see Paul

Someone, either Max or Hattie, has gone through these letters trying to put these tragic time in sequence.

Bill was taken to the hospital quite suddenly Tuesday evening when he developed jaundice.
They haven't yet decided what is causing it but are taking lots of X-rays and blood tests.

He was suffering a lot of pain Tuesday but rested well yesterday. I was with him all day, and as he doesn't like to hear me write, this is my first opportunity. have talked to Fred, Jr. twice, he is anxious to come out, and will, as soon as we are sure he can so so without alarming Bill.

The trouble could be an infection, or gall stones, or liver damage. Probably won't know for 3 or 4 more days. This more than Bill knows so please be careful what you write.

He is not confined to bed but doesn't feel well enough to walk in the sun porch , which is right next door.

He has a private room....quite nice and very quiet.

The children are well situated now. But Fred Jr. has offered to get them and deliver them to jean  & dick...who now have help....two at a time. For the present, we won't change the arrangements.

Will keep you posted , but probably with brief news bulletins, love, Mike
Lucille is in California- her house is not winterized----is extremely cold for winter use and is rented year round now at great risk to  occupants health.

 

Dear folks,

The situation is the same here...Fred left Tuesday night, will be back when we ask him.
Bill is being prepared for an operation, but they haven't decided on it definitely yet.

Treating him now for amoebic dysentery which he had 10 years ago  while on a cruise---they are really double checking everything before they operate.

Expect Wednesday will be the day, if they do it.
Bill looks good and feels well sometimes. Still has some of the pain, tho, Except for his color, he doesn't look sick.

The children are well. Fred saw them yesterday. Love, Mike

Mother did you ever get the package from Fields?
Happy Father's Day - Dad-We are lucky to have such wonderful Fathers to congratulate this year-  Hope package arrives on time.
 

"Telegram -June 8- 48- exploratory operation tomorrow. Bill in good condition. Will wire tomorrow. love, Mike"
 

"Telephone call- June 9-48- Maxine
Generally spreading now between gall bladder and liver- not much pain. Still something new to arrest- will try. May go to Chicago or Forest Hills. Father will come  Friday. Have three nurses. All we can is hope."

A lot of people must have cried when they heard of my father's untimely death.
 

"When Bill Gretsch died last month, although only a young man, our industry lost one of its most widely loved and respected leaders. William Walter Gretsch, would have always commanded the world's respect but to his intimates he towered as a model of unassuming courage. Bravery has been defined as race under stress, and no one could have been more gallant than Bill. The victim of an incurable disease, to the very end, he remained on the job, and always in humorous, uncomplaining spirits. Few people in our time ever faced such a bleak future with greater forbearance and selflessness."  (Obit in a music trade magazine).

This obit which includes a picture of my dad was given to me by Duke and Fritzie Kramer in 1966. I had never seen it before.

"Pop's 63rd birthday, Joplin, Mo."
This caption was written on the back of a picture of Max and Hattie standing in the driveway of Kate's house on North Pearl Street.
 

This Christmas was the first of 15 that Sylvia would celebrate without her husband. It was also my first Christmas. Being the youngest child and born so soon before my father's death, I never celebrated Christmas with my father. It was a difference between me and my siblings that they would never contemplate. It was a difference that I was always aware of.

On this January 1, 2009, I imagine that my Grandparents weren't with us on that Christmas in 1948.  My mother's parents continued on their long car trip from New York, thru Missouri to California. If they had come back to New York for that first Christmas without my father, there would have been pictures. There are no pictures. Perhaps, the memory of their last Christmas together in New York in 1945 were still too complicated so soon after Bill's death, to bring them to New York again. Now, the anger and frustration of that last Christmas visit would have been too hard to handle. Maxine wanted to be alone with her children without the complication of her parents.

Pete Sweeney was part of my first Christmas as he was of many Christmas' to come. He was a childhood friend of my father and my uncles. They all grew up in Brooklyn. He was very tall and the always put the star on top of our tree. That was a real tradition that started I am sure on that first Christmas in 1948. Uncle Fred would always bring us the tree and we would all decorate it together.

My mother was alone that Christmas but she was surrounded by all of her husband's family and friends. All the people to whom he had brought poinsettia's to just three years earlier, must have rallied around his widow and her children on this first Christmas after his death.

Perhaps, this is the first Christmas Eve that we all went to sing Christmas Carols at the Square in Forest Hills. Perhaps, Uncle Fred, picked us all up and drove us to the Sommer's house. I was left there while the older children walked to Fountain Square to sing Christmas Carols. It was a tradition that continued through the years. Surely, all the children saw Santa Claus as he drove through the Gardens on his sled. Surely, the children were allowed to take advantage of all of these Christmas traditions. Christmas eve at the Sommer house and carols in Fountain Square

My grandfather, I am sure must have been sure to lend support to the little fatherless family. Uncle Fred was living on Shorthill Road with his father in the house I would later grow up in.. Imagine the conversation between these two men, in the familiar rooms I grew up in, about how best to help Bill's family during this holiday season. Or perhaps, there was no conversation.

" By the time you receive this, I hope to have a lease signed on the house. A family from Colombia...a delegate to the U.N. ..one child, fourteen months old , and another expected this summer...and their maid...are to come in on the 14th. My net rental for 3 and a half months will be $864. 50. which will just pay my transportation, it is a great relief to me."
 

It was during this trip to Joplin, that moving pictures are taken on the porch at 321 North Pearl Street. Emily is in these pictures.
 

"We all have good health...except for Emily. she suddenly developed pneumonia again a week ago today, and had to be taken to her daughter's home in an ambulance. She is improving , but her daughter doesn't think she will be ale to work full time again. This has been coming for a year, almost, and I'm not surprised, but we all feel very very sorry for Emily , of course."

Sylvia goes on to tell about he new girl who is taking Emily's place. Pauline is a D.P.and has been in America for 3 weeks. She is from Yugoslavia but speaks German as she was displaced to Austria about nine years ago. Sylvia hopes to learn German from her.

" Of course I won't work until I have her under control but did want to let you know all about us.
If Emily is well enough, I will want her to come on Pauline's day off......not because I need her, but because I want her to be with the children a little."

That unfortunately was the last mention of Emily in any family papers.
 

Fred Gretsch Jr. was on his way to Chicago for business and he met on the train his long time friend, Dan Mooney who was on his way to Chicago to be married. One of Dan's ushers was sick and could not attend and Dan ask Fred to take his place.

Fred took his place and that he when he first met Dan's sister, Helen, whom he later married. Of course he probably knew of Helen as Dan's younger sister. It was at this wedding that he became really interested in her and they began dating.

Their daughter Happy tells me years later that Helen's friends said to Helen "Don't waste your time dating him, he will never get married".
 

Saturday,
On March 5, Maxine wrote her parents from Shorthill Road about an accident which happened on Saturday, February 24 "Katie hit a bump on the sidewalk while whizzing around the block on her two wheeler, and tumbled off with the handlebars hitting her abdomen. We have just spent a week in the hospital, have a week to spend here, not out of bed, and then two weeks rest before returning to school.

It was such a simple accident...she must have fallen off her bike nine hundred times before. She jumped right up and ran into the house to me, and started screaming. It was a few minutes before I realized that anything was seriously wrong. She went into mild shock before I could get her to the doctor's office...and he took one look at her and said that she must have a surgeon and go to the hospital.

I called Fred and neither one of us had a surgeon on tap so we told Dr. Pratt to arrange things, and within 40 minutes after the fall, she was in in bed in a little hospital in Hollis...about 15 minutes from our house.

She came out of the shock nicely, but was in a great deal of pain. This all happened a week ago Saturday morning.

It was a 24 hour vigil...I didn't leave the room for 36 hours, but we finally decided that we must get special nurses...I was too foggy to keep close watch by then.

On Monday morning they decided that the pains had become so acute they would have to operate, but within half an hour they had subsided, and we started watching again. The red blood count kept going down, which meant she was continuing to bleed internally.

However, on Wednesday she was without pain, and that was our first good sign. On Monday night they had given a blood transfusion, and tests showed that she was retaining all or part of that blood. Thursday, no pain, and Friday we brought her there to 37 Shorthill Road, where she will be on bed rest for a week....no walking, no stirring about...before she goes home. She is still under 24 hour surveillance, but I am just eating and sleeping right with her, and so catching up on my rest along with her.

The doctors say there is no way of knowing what organ was effected, tho there was blood in the urine and in the stool. The x-rays showed a vastly enlarged liver, but that might just be a blood clot or something pressing against the liver to increase its size.

What apparently happened is that the wound gradually clotted over and sealed itself off. Now we must see that it doesn't rip itself open again, and while one week took us out of immediate danger, two weeks are needed to be completely out of the woods and more care after that to prevent too much activity.

She didn't eat anything all the time she was in the hospital, but started when we arrived here. Even a sip of water brought on the pain before. However, her spirits are wonderful and she has been very cooperative and gay.

Of course the 24 hour attention has been quite a joy to her.

Charlotte is staying at the Sommers, and the babies are at home, redoing Katie's room for her as a surprise when she comes home.

Grampa is in Florida, and of course doesn't know anything about it. The picture has changed so rapidly that before a letter could get to Florida or California whatever I would write would be changed completely.

By the time you get this, she will be well on the road to recovery.

A trip to California would have been cheaper. Keep us posted on all the fun you are having,

with love, Sylvia ( This is very strange that she signs her name Sylvia in writing to her parents. She was obviously thinking of other things.)

Katie remembers being put in a crib in the hospital. She remembers being alone and terrified. She remembers trying to climb out of her crib. These must have been memories from when she was much better. Initially, she was terribly ill and would not have been able to climb out of her crib.

Maxine writes her parents about the accident described above. She begins the letter with the six paragraphs listed below, before she tells them of the frightful accident.

This letter is typed and written on stationary with the logo "Katherine Frederick" at the top and " Virginia 7-5848-106 8nd Avenue- Kew Gardens 15, New York". This is the paper from the musical instrument rental company that was only recently begun.  Maxine had taken her work stationary and her typewriter with her to Shorthill Road. She was working while she and Katie recuperated.
 

"Dear Family,
By now I am in hopes that you'll heading for a busy reunion in California. Aunt Kate, I certainly hope you are part of the group...I would be if I could manage it.

We have thoroughly enjoyed the correspondence about the trip...it was next best thing to being there.

Since we're just beginning to get really settled here, we won't be coming west this year. The work (possibly referring to the "Katherine Frederick" rental business) I'm trying to do might bet heavier as time goes on, but this year it wouldn't keep us from coming.

We have just finished redecorating the dinning room, with grey paper all around...a combed plywood effect paper, with grey on three walls, and charcoal grey on the fourth. Dad gave us new living and dining room drapes...white background with huge chartreuse carnations....traverse, all of them. Then on the triple window in the dining room I also have fiberglass window curtains. We're very fancy.

Also redoing the girls room...three wall pink paint, and the fourth pink paper with huge bouquets of mums. For their birthdays they are getting fiberglass ruffled curtains, and cedar green chintz drapes. So it will really be a feminine room...In a few more years, they'll be getting a dressing table , I suppose.

They foyer and stairs and upstairs halls are next, but Joseph can't do that so it will probably wait until summer.

Katie and I are convalescing at Grampa's after a big scare. ( Here beings the description of the accident and recovery recorded above.)
 

The above clipping announces the death of Frederick Bruchhauser who was a good friend of Fred Gretsch Sr.
According to Barbara Sommer Shea, they spent a lot of time together until they had a falling out and then were never friends again.
Apparently, the Gretsch boys, Fred, Bill and Richard were quite fond of him. He traveled around the world and told fantastic stories of adventure.
Richard Gretsch named his first son, Fred Bruch Gretsch after Fred Bruchhauer in 1945.
Barbara remembers Fred Gretsch and Fred Bruchhauser coming to her mother's house on Continental Ave after work for a cocktail. There would be lots of cigar smoke. This was before 1948 when Barbara went away to college.
.
 

Katie also remembers that there was a huge bump running across the little road which our house was at the end of. Katie remembers that us children imagined that it was buried treasure. We decided to dig it up and went after it with an axe.
Turns out it was a water main.
Almost 60 years later, I sort of remember that adventure.

Helen's reply was " Well if you really want to get married, I will cancel my trip and we will get married here."

See February 11, below.
 

Clare Boothe Luce had been converted to Catholicism by Fulton Sheen in the mid 1940's after the tragic death of her collage age daughter.

 The New York Times reports, "Helen Mooney, Graduate of Manhattanville, To Be Married to Frederick Gretsch Jr. "
 

In the same month, "Modern Romances", quite a different magazine than "Time" publishes an article by Katherine Frederick entitled " Sew and Save".  Maxine wrote the article. She and Gretchen had pictures taken in a studio which appeared alongside the studio

In these pictures my mothers hair is very long and tied up in a bun. I remember distinctly going to the studio to have these pictures taken. Mostly, I remember the balloons they gave me to play with while they shot the pictures.

It is a convergence of many families. Here is a partial guest list complied from 16 mm footage taken by Maxine at the event.
Fred Gretsch Sr., Ralph Elsner, Bob Curry and his wife, Helen Mooney Gretsch's sisters, Rose and Florence, and her brother Dan and his wife.
Dick and Jean Gretsch and their children. Pete Sweeney was also there.

More footage, possibly from later that same day of Grampa Gretsch with all Charlotte, Katherine, Fred and Gretchen in the front yard of the house we had rented.
 

Dear Sylvia,
I have your letter of August 20th, and am glad to know that you are all well and still enjoying your stay in Candlewood. I reached home safely, and enjoyed being with you, if only for a few days. The children all looked very well and had a better color that I have seen them have for some time.

I called up the German woman. She seemed to be quite an intelligent person and was working for a doctor over in Richmond Hill. She was getting $50. a week, but would work for $40., if she can bring her 12 year old daughter. She has a position offered to her, but will get in touch with me again if she does not take it.

I have your list of investments and will look them over and report to you when you get back home. In the meantime, Mr. Kraft has been ordered to do the $80. job at Onslow Place. If this does not cure the trouble, we will have to to to the higher priced job later on. That house is getting to be a nuisance. It seem to require an awful lot of repairs.

My love to all the children. I will be looking forward to seeing them after labor Day,

Sincerely, ( signed ) Dad

FG:MR

(In Maxine's writing) Dad's last letter to us-

Mostly, I remember swimming in the lake and never wanting to get out of the water.

That summer our dog Pencil died. I remember Katie was so sad. We had a dive way made of gravel and Katie said that she was going to put a stone from the driveway in her pocket and never take it out, so that she would always remember Pencil. I was very impressed with the depth of her feelings. I was always impressed with whatever my siblings did.

I also remember Freddie taking me into the vacant lot across the street and fabricating adventures. He told me once that he had found real gold dust inside an old tree. It was actually the tree decaying...but I believed him. He also used to try and lose me in those woods and I was often terrified.

Also this summer was a nation wide polio epidemic. Symptoms : Fever, sore throat, headache, vomiting, fatigue, pain or stiffness of neck, back, arms or legs, muscle spasms; in severe cases paralysis and death. Transmissions: Gastrointestinal; victims ingest the virus, which infects the lymphatic glands and nerves until it reaches the spinal cord and possibly brain>
approximately, 58,000 cases, and 3,145 deaths, primarily children.
Public heath Strategy: social distancing measures like canceling summer camps for children and closing public pools.  (The Salk Vaccine was not widely distributed until 1955) Children of upper social-economic classes contracted polio out of proportion to poorer children who had developed antibodies through low-level exposure to the virus in unclean drinking water. (NYT, May3, 2009)
 

His granddaughter Charlotte recalls some fifty years later, that her mother Maxine wept uncontrollably when her brother in law, Fred told her of his father's death. Charlotte recalls that they were in the kitchen in the house in Kew Gardens when they heard the news.

On the same day that the New York Times announced the death of Fred Gretsch Sr., it also published a review of the new book by Clare Boothe Luce, "Saints for Now".
 

Handwritten letter from: Mrs. William Gretsch, 106 Eighty Second Street, Kew Gardens, New York

Dear Mother and Dad,

Merry Christmas from us !

We're almost set for the big day. The children have no school this week, so they put up the tree this morning and have been decorating it ever since. Don't believe they have ever enjoyed a tree so much.

They are all in very good health, and how I hope we can stay taht way!

The girls are getting ice skates for Christmas...hope I can find mine in time to go skating with them.

Your Christmas letter arrived today, and I read it to the children. They loved it, and so did I . Thank you.

Your lamps are no doubt there by now, I didn't send the shades, because the store I bought the lamps in didn't have pretty shades. So if you like the bases and want to keep them, you can get shades there, or I will here. The shades I bought for them before were 24", silk shantung, like this top and bottom....{drawing}. They were between $15 and $20 dollars each.

The pictures arrived today and they are wonderful. I think you will love those lamps in the room, and that they will be a joy...we hope so at any rate. If not ship them back!

My silver fruit knives came thought, without the spoon I ordered to send you. However, it should come soon.

The fruit knives are beautiful ...four of them I ordered. Thank you very much! Retail, they are $6 apiece, but I think they will cost me between $3 and $4. I'll have them monogrammed after Christmas.

Hope the children's pictures come thru on schedule. Charlotte was ill when the others were went with Uncle Fred to see "Tanto" so I took her a few days later.

We went to the Arion Society party yesterday...It was loads of fun!

We will probably move in January. This house isn't sold yet, but we've had lots of people in looking at it.

We have millions of exciting boxes to open on Christmas!. We're having dinner here. The children are pleased...they hate to leave their gifts. Wish you were here again this year!

With love, Maxine

P.S. Just finished 3 Christmas dresses...black velveteen bodices, read and blue taffeta skirts, with white pique collar...! M.

 

Dear Mother and Dad,
WE had a fabulous Christmas, as usual. The girls love their Horsman dolls...GeeGee had never had a doll with Saran hair before, and she has been washing it ever since Christmas eve. However, it s holding up beautifully, and she is thrilled with it. Katie and Charlotte are both delighted with their dolls....they are HUGE and beautiful!

The doll furniture arrived with Santa on Christmas eve, and the next morning the doll house was under the tree, so it is hard at work. They are the right age for it now, and seem to love arranging it.

We have hooked up the hiway flasher, Freddie and I, and the tank car is operating on the freight. Freddie had his track all decorated for Christmas...complete with big artificial tree, and spends lots of time with them.

The "potato face" is just the right age for him and we hear him chucking away with it every now and then. My fruit knives are beautiful...and I'm anxious to get them in service. However, I 'm holding off until I can get the monogramming done.

Haven't tried out my cook book yet, but I'm looking forward to it. The children are reaching the point where they don't have to have such plain fare ...thank heavens!

The skirts arrived today! They are darling, and I'm delighted with them, as are the girls. Are there any special washing instructions? They will be darling with their new wide red elastic belts and with white blouses.

They also received: ice skates, skirts, tights and socks (C. and K. from me) remote control switches, swivel vice, coping saw ( F. from me) Boll, wigwam, Indian boots (GeeGee from me) two octave pump organ and doll (GG from Fred and Helen) Gretsch Drum and plastic bugle and space Academy( F. from Fred and Helen) Dolls and games ( C.and  K. from Fred and Helen), $25 bonds (each from Fred and Helen) dress for each Girl ( Fred and Helen). From Ralph and betty, GG a plastic apron, C. and K. tortoise shell bags, Freddy a sport shirt, me a fruit bowl. From Paul, etc., C. and K. stamp books, Fred and GG games and me a cook book and gloves. Also assorted purses, books, candy and stuff from various friends. Dick and Jean sent each a red plaid robe Jean had made, and a jersey , and a very small Motorola radio for me ( which I badly needed, having only one small radio in the house). Marj gave me a book and a gorgeous white wool stole, fred and Helen gave me a beautiful black suede purse lined with red leather. Fred took the children shopping, and financed their gifts...a blue nylon gown from Charlotte, handkerchiefs from Katie, stockings from GeeGee and a petit point compact from Freddie.

They all gave me their presents on Christmas eve except Freddie, who held out until just before he opened his presents on Christmas morn.

I gave Charlotte a simply beautiful manicure set...all the implements. She immediately stopped bitting her fingernails. And Katie a camera....a little Brownie. She was so thrilled I thought she could burst. She took a whole roll of film the first day which I have misplaced.

Couldn't get my flash camera to work, so we took some pictures in the yard with the girls holding your dolls, and Freddy his train equipment. Hope they turn out. The girls had on the dresses I made for Christmas...black velveteen bodices and skirts and neckbands of red and blue plaid taffeta. They love them.

GG got a read coat and legging set, similar to the one I bought Katie last year. It's English, beautifully tailored. Wish you were here to help me with the hem.

For her birthday she is getting a navy blue storm coat, and leggings. The red ones I bought last year are nver clean, and I'm switching to navy. Also bought one for Charlotte, as they both need a size larger already, and I will have to move Katie into Charlotte's soon. They are growing by leaps and bounds.

They were all wonderful in the Christmas play. I took GG this year, and left her downstairs while I went to collect the other. When I came back she and Mons. McLaughlin were up on stage...he holding her hand, occasionally turning to her and talking to her, and GG being as good as gold. They were there about 20 minutes after I came down. He had seen her in the audience and invited her to go up with him.

Today the children were invited to a party with entertainment, and GG volunteered form the audience to assist the magician. I wasn't there but I understand that she was very cute.

No offers on the house yet....how about yours?

Wishing you the best new year ever....with love, Maxine.

In filling out this card, I wonder if she took time to think about the woman who was working at KWXT in Texas. The single woman with a dream of working in radio, vis-a-vis the woman she was now, widowed with four children.

There is no mention on the card she filled out of her husband's death.

In the 1950, while Sylvia and her children were living both in Kew Gardens and in Forest Hills,  Vincent di Domenico and his cousin Jerry Perito would occasionally come to the family home and do repairs. They both worked in Brooklyn for the Gretsch company.

My brother Fred remembers when we were living in Kew Gardens and they were working at the house. Vinnie was a real joker and Freddie watched closely everything they did and said. Fred must have been very happy to have some men around. Once, Vinnie told Fred, who was about 4 years old to take a hammer and hit Jerry with it. Fred of course was happy to oblige. He was only 4 years old. Luckily, Jerry saw the shadow of his little arm and the hammer and he was able to grab it before any damage was done. Years, later in 1965 when Fred went to work in Brooklyn, this story was told and retold by the workers in the factory. (story told July 28, 2009).

At Shorthill Road around 1956, Jerry and Vinnie came to the house to work in the basement, refinishing the bedroom set which my mother used. I remember them working for several days on this project. It was fun having them around.

The history of the bedroom set is unknown. Did it once belong to Charlotte and Fred Gretsch or was it brought by my mother to the house when she came in 1953? The pieces fit so perfectly into the Master Bedroom on Shorthill Road, I do believe that it was purchased for that room by Charlotte and Fred when they moved in circa 1920.

The bedroom set which includes a head and foot board for a double bed, a telephone table, a dressing table, a desk,  two dressers and a large mirror are now in the possession of Katie Gretsch Cuddeback.

Soon after we moved, my mother had her hair cut. Quite a change!
 

Typewritten. 37 Shorthill Road, Forest Hills Gardens, Long Island, New York (Printed Letterhead)

Dear Mother and Dad,
The Peru deal is off….couldn’t get reservations. How does this sound…. “leave S.F. on the 16^th, arrive Colon, Panama on the 28^th, leave on the 3^rd, and back in S.F. on the 17^th  of July.
We arrive on Flight # 23, on the 9^th.
If I can pack all our things in one trunk, may I borrow luggage from you for the trip I’m taking? Am thinking of using Paul’s old wardrobe trunk with the insides out of it.
Mentioned going to California to the children tonight, and they are thrilled. They offered to forego their allowances all summer to help buy the tickets.
The high school girl…she should be prepared to listen to each of the three eldest read to her 30 minutes a day, aloud.
They are bringing their music and lists of scales to practice, etc. That is your department, Mother. Evelyn Repplinger called the other night…will probably be here over the week-end.
Love, Mike

(friday)

Typewritten. Johnson Line, Sweden, m/s Portland (Printed Letterhead)

Dear GeeGee, Fred, Kate, Charlotte, Mother and Dad,

Yesterday we went ashore at San Jose, Guatemala. I had written lots of thank you notes, and mailed them from there. However, I wanted to wait until the last possible minute to write you, so that I could give you any last minute plans. But all of a sudden we were there and must get into the launch immediately….so I mailed 10 notes, none to you. I was sorry there was no opportunity to take care of that.

However, out of the 11 of us who went ashore, I was the only one who had something to be mailed anyway. So I was glad I had all those thank-you notes finished. 

We went down the gangplank, into the motor launch, then about a fifteen minute trip to the pier. In order to get us to the pier, the passengers sat in a small wooden chair, and the chair was hoisted up on great ropes to the pier. It was about 20 feet above the water and quite an exciting trip. Of course the water was rough and we were all teasing one another about sharks in the water waiting to nip off an arm or a leg if anyone slipped. But of course there were no sharks and besides there were lots of people around to make sure no one slipped.

A Mr. and Mrs. Bianchi met us with two cars, and we all drove the 80 miles to Guatemala City. The Bianchi’s have a son who is employed by Mr. Fritz, who is the man with the Spanish wife and three children who were having so much champagne before we left San Francisco. So out of courtesy to the Fritz’s, the Bianchi’s took us all under their wing and we had a marvelous time. 

First, we stopped at a native market en route, and saw lots of beautiful native costumes.  But it was all very dirty. There were no store buildings, but anyone who had anything to sell just sat under a big tree, waiting for customers to come along. Imagine having something to sell, and not having to pay rent for a store to sell it in! 

When we arrived at Guatemala City, we went to the ..Bianchi’s home to wash up and then to a delightful restaurant were all treated to a marvelous dinner and then taken to a shop run by a Canadian woman, who sells things the natives make. We didn’t have time to go to the Cathedral or the flower and produce market but had to get into our cars immediately and start back to the ship. 

In the meantime, the ship had been loading 360 tons of sesame seed, and the last lighter was carrying out the last 40 ton load when we arrived.

So we all got back into our chair and were lowered into our launch, then back to the ship. The weather was even more rough than , and the ship seemed to roll in one direction and the launch in the other. But there were lots of strong men to help us get back on the gangplank. 

The Captain invited the Bianchi’s to dinner on board, but we were an hour late returning, and nothing could be done but to hold up sailing until the Bianchi’s finished their dinner. The Captain was impatient to leave long before they had their last cup of coffee. 

The only passenger who had not gone into the City with us, Mr. McGregor, had cocktails waiting for us on return. They really saved our dispositions, because it has been along and very hot day. 

We finally set sail about 9:30, and about eleven, as we were finishing our liquors, the Captain came into the Salon to announce that we were coming into a little squall. We all rushed to shut our portholes, but the rain was coming in before we finished. Then I changed into my black corduroy slacks and a shirt and looked for a place to watch the storm. I finally decided that the bridge was the best place and looked for a place to watch the storm. I finally decided that the bridge was the best place, so up I went. If there had been any danger, I would have been asked to leave…but since there wasn’t  so I was allowed to stay.  There were three officers on the bridge and one of them was kind enough to show me the pattern of the storm on radar.  

There was lots of lightening, both sheet and chain, but not much thunder. They say that the thunder never sounds as loud at sea, because there are no hills or building for it to echo from. 

We were only in the rain for about thirty minutes, and then we could see the lightening in the distance for a long time. There was a beautiful fullmoon, which made the sky very light.  .

At 1:15 we were supposed to pass an active volcano on Salvador, they say it erupts every 8 minutes and never fails.

So I had planed to set my alarm and get up to see it: and had negotiated with one of the officers to watch it from the bridge. However, it was late when the storm was over, so I just stayed up and waited for the volcano which is named Izalco. But the sky was too light from the bright moon and we never sighted it at all.

After such a busy and tiring day yesterday, I was very tired this morning. So I took a nap and a sun bath and felt like a new woman by noon. We also took a brief tour of the ship his morning…the engine room, the big ice boxes that you walk right into, the crews quarters, and the storage rooms. Tomorrow morning we are going to see the propellers…or rather, the shafts of the propellers, way down at the lowest part of the ship. 

I have had a couple of swims in the little tank on board. It is about 15 feet square, and ten feet deep. Then I got some paint on my bathing suit and asked the stewardess to remove it for me. When she washed the suit in Tide and cold water, the colors ran dreadfully. So when I return I want to take it right back. They must certainly have had lots of complaints about these suits. If I could remember the name of the store, I would mail it to them from Panama. 

I am looking forward very much to hearing from you all when we anchor tomorrow at Balboa, the agent will come aboard with the mail from Colon and Cristobel but we can’t leave the ship until we pass through the canal which will be sometime Monday (29^th). 

It was wonderful to talk to you all from Los Angeles, and to hear how much fun you are having. Please all take very good care of yourselves.

With love,
 Mother

Handwritten. El Panama, Panama, Republica De Panama (Printed Letterhead)

Dear Family,

Having a simply wonderful time and am in excellent health.

How I enjoyed the letters from Charlotte, Katie, Freddie and Gee Gee and from my Mother! What beautiful letters they were. And the pictures are all darling! I showed them to everyone on board!

All the mail has not been coming thru, and those two letters and one from Marg are all I have received. So with no recent news I decided to leave the ship and wait here for a letter with a later post mark.

Took the train from Colon to Panama City on arrival and went direct to this hotel which is luxurious. My room has a white tile floor, and a very private lanai.

Was very lazy yesterday, but finally managed to go out and buy a few souvenirs. Mostly Swedish……the local stuff isn’t worth carting home. Had everything shipped directly to New York.                                   

                             Will probably take a sight seeing tour today, fly to San Jose, Costa Rica tomorrow and return on the 4^th and take the Silver Gate. 

                             They also have a reservation for me on the next ship, but unless I get a letter, I will not stay over. I feel fine, and want to return while everything is going well there.

                                    Had a swim in the beautiful pool here last night.

Some people from the ship are here too, and we did out shopping together yesterday.

Love, Mother.

Handwritten. El Panama, Panama, Republica De Panama (Printed Letterhead)

Dear Children, 

Your wonderful letters arrived today, and I really am so proud of how well you write.      

                             This hotel is really lovely but I prefer the simple rooms at 37 Shorthill Road. I think.
How about us staying home next summer and Grandmother and Grandfather coming to visit us? 

Today, I went sightseeing. I saw Old Panama, the ruins of a a city that was destroyed by the pirate Henry Morgan about 400 years ago…and the gold altar in St. Joseph’s church in New Panama. When Henry Morgan sacked Old Panama the priests painted the gold alter white so he wouldn’t steal  it. When he saw that white alter, he didn’t think it was worth anything, so he left it behind.

                             Please give my love to your Grandmother and Grandfather, and keep some for yourselves.
love, Mother.

Typewritten.  Gran Hotel Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica ( Printed Letterhead)

                              Dear Family,

                             Costa Rica was highly recommended to me by friends in New York, but after being here 4
                             days I still can't figure out why.                            

I flew here the morning after I spoke to you, and was supposed to stay at the San Jose inn, but when I went there I discovered they had no private baths, so I came here instead. This building is supposed to contain the only elevator in Central America, and they are repairing the shaft now, chipping concrete manually 24 hours a day. Since the shaft is about 15 feet from my room, I don’t find this too restful. 

Also, every word said in the hotel echoes up the air shaft my room is on, and the monotony of the conversations is appalling! 

However, after the gay trip from San Francisco to Panama, I decided that I had better take more time before catching a ship home. I was having so much fun I was afraid I would arrive in San Francisco exhausted. Now however, if the return trip is anything like the one down, I’ll still be grateful for the noise of four healthy youngsters.

I am going to try to catch a banana boat back to Panama from Puntaranas or Limon, since I’m a confirmed sailor. Will see about that tomorrow. Today, I went to Cartago, to see the church of Our Lady of the Angels. You would all have loved it. Tomorrow or Tuesday I’m going to see Irazu, a volcano 11,000 feet high. 

All the girls here are beautiful just like it says in all the travel books, but the women don’t live up to their promise. 

Living here and in Panama costs just as much as in the states, so next year I’ll look for a spot with a better rate of exchange.

The city is very clean but lots of beggars everywhere, and so far as I have observed, I’m the only blonde in Costa Rica, which makes me look exactly like a tourist. 

Didn’t hear a single firecracker on the 4^th of July! 

Will probably more on to another hotel tomorrow, where there is no elevator shaft to be repaired, so don’t use this  as a mailing address. It will be the Hotel Europa. However, I will continue to keep in touch with the San Jose Inn in case you’ve already mailed anything there,

With love, Maxine.
 

Handwritten. No Letter Head. (San Juan, Costa Rica Central America written in later in different script. Possibly by her parents.)

10:30 pm
                             Dear Family,

Just finished packing, will be up at 5:30 to take a plane to Managua, Nicaragua. Stay there one day, then on the 8^th to el Prado Hotel at Teguci…., Honduras. Back to the Gran on the 12^th , then the Ft. Washington, in Colon, on the 13^th. Latest word is that the ship sails on the 16^th, but I’ll keep in touch so I surely won’t miss it.
Shall I bring a Mahogany tree home from Honduras for your patio, Dad?

Feeling fine and having fun…hope you are the same,

love, Mother.
 

Typewritten. Gran Hotel Managua, Nicaragua (Printed Letterhead)                                   

                            Dear Family,
        
                            About to leave this wonderful country…headed fro Taqucigigalpa, Honduras, El Prado
                            Hotel.           
         
                            Don’t know how I will be able to describe these strange little lands but at least I will never  
                            forget them.

                            Love,
                            Mother
 

Handwritten. Hotel Prado, Tequcigalpa, Honduras, C. A. (Printed Letterhead)

                            Dear Family,
                            This is a lovely climate and am enjoying my stay here.

Met up with a woman in San Juan, Costa Rica, from Miami, Florida, whose name is Margaret McCarthy, and we have been together for there to here. She goes on north from here, while I fly back to Panama. 

We haven’t done any strenuous sight seeing but have enjoyed the markets , shops and some of the night spots. She is typically Irish, and between that and knowing people along the way it has been fun to team up with her. 

We were dancing at a local joint last night until two, and up to breakfast at 8 with a friend who has also been with us from Nicaragua and who left for Salvador at 9. 

Leaving Monday-the thirteenth- for Panama about 7 hours by air with several stops. Had a cable from Johnson Line yesterday saying we sail about 16^th from Balboa. 
Have fun, love, Mother
 

Handwritten. El Panama, Panama, Republica De Panama (Printed Letterhead)
(Note: This is the same luxurious hotel where Maxine stayed when she first arrived.) 

                            Dear Family,

Arrived in Panama Sunday the 12^th by air from Tegucigalpa, Honduras and am here awaiting the ship. Should be able to board tomorrow afternoon.

This is the rainy season but its such a lovely hotel, and the rooms so cool, that I am enjoying it anyway. Am very anxious to get aboard and head for home. They tell me 15 days, so it will be about the 1^st when we arrive. 

Drove to Colon today, but no mail there for me. However, I didn’t receive 4 letters you had sent to Panama Agencies- mailed June 17^th (I think), two mailed June 22^nd, and one that could be July1. My Ridgewood Savings Bank book not among them. 

Brining back very few souvenirs, because most everything looks like junk. However, I have bought myself a set of Swedish bone china, and Swedish crystal goblets, sherbets and wine glasses. They are being sent straight to New York, in bond, to arrive about Sept. 10^th. 

I am getting very anxious to be back with you all again., and while I’ve had a marvelous time, am sorry we could not all have shared the fun. 

Understand, we will make lots of stops en route to San Francisco….hope we get to San Salvador, as it is the only spot I’ve missed. 

Love, Mother
 

On Friday everyone went to see "Kiss Me Kate"

On Saturday, Sylvia brought the material " for Christmas dresses for the girls...chromspun....blue for Charlotte, pink for Katie, and yellow for GeeGee."

 A few days before Christmas, a package arrived at 37 Shorthill Road from Central America.
It was address to my mother. This mysterious package was placed with all the other arriving packages beneath the Christmas Tree.
 On Christmas Day, my mother opened the intriguing box to find a sterling silver dresser set. The inscription on the back of the mirror read:

Sylvia
June, 1953

 I remember my mother opening the box and looking tenderly at the gift. I remember that she held it to her heart.
 She told us children that it was from someone she met on board ship the previous summer. Nothing more is know about this gift or who sent it.

"June, 1953" is the time frame for this excerpt from her letter of July 5,

"However, after the gay trip from San Francisco to Panama, I decided that I had better take more time before catching a ship home. I was having so much fun I was afraid I would arrive in San Francisco exhausted. "

She does not mention in her letter who she was having so much fun with.

Was it perhaps, Mr. McGregor who so graciously made cocktails for all the passengers. Or was it one of the officers on the Swedish ship with whom she had spend a moonlit night watching a storm for the bridge?

Several of her letters do mention the purchasing of Swedish made souvenirs and "I have bought myself a set of Swedish bone china, and Swedish crystal goblets, sherbets and wine glasses. They are being sent straight to New York, in bond, to arrive about Sept. 10^th. " Perhaps, she meant for these also to serve as a reminder of a Swedish officer.

The only certainty is that the precious sterling silver mirror invites a completely different reading of the above letters.
 

(Mary Lois and John had a baby girl in late March. So Mary Lois was very pregnant at the time of Maxine's visit.)

This letter written by Catherine on her mother's stationary was enclosed in a letter sent by Maxine to her own parents.

"This master piece of Katie's is really a gem. Enclosed picture was taken in the fall, they have grown up so since then. Katie is more beautiful everyday. Charl's arm is not broken, her thumb is sprained. Feels better today.

Hope to go to dog show tomorrow, dentist Wednesday, " Knights of the Round Table' on Thursday, Met Mueseum (sic) on Friday.

Haven't made any plans for the summer. How about taking a house together near Merida, Mexico? Its the heart of the Aztec country, supposed to be very cheap. love, Mike"

********

Katie, not yet 9 years old, apparently wrote this letter the week her mother was in Chicago.
Katie was trying to act very grown up . She sat down and wrote a letter like she had seem her mother often do. She even used her mother's stationary.

Note in the letter that Katie refers to herself  as Catherine and relates what Catherine had stayed up until 9 o'clock.
 

Of course, my mother had her own connections to the UN and to the New York Worlds Fair of 1939. These I would have to find on my own. She never told us about them but certainly she must have thought of them as she took us ice skating in such an historic building.
 

In one picture the Gretsch family coat of arms hangs on the wall above the piano in the living room. There must have been many things in these picture that are a hold over from when my grandfather lived in the house. We had barely lived in the house for one year when these pictures were taken.

I now have that coat of arms. Molly Gretsch Lynch sent it to me when their home in Connecticut was closed.
No one can find any direct relationship between that "coat of arms" and the Gretsch family. Where it came from no one knows. But one thing is for sure, it once held a place of honor in the house on Shorthill Road.

Perhaps, "the coat of arms" was something that Charlotte Gretsch or another member of the family picked up on one of the many business trips in which they accompanied Fred Gretsch to Europe.

The pictures were found in the letters that had been sent to Aunt Kate and Maxine's parents.
 

The pictures of the wedding were taken by a special 3D camera. They are really spectacular but unfortunately could only be viewed on a projector and are very difficult to make copies of. The copies are not as spectacular as the originals. when Gretchen vistied Dick and Anita in the summer of 2005, they very graciously had their project ready to show me the pictures.
 

The family rented a house in Elka Park.
I wonder if my mother was thinking that the  polio scare was over and we could again swim in swimming pools.
 

Fifty years later his daughter Kati Marton wrote an editorial for the NYT recalling the events, which I read on the train to Chicago to visit my daughter and her children. (October 23, 2006) The quotes in these lines are taken from that editorial
 

There are no pictures or letters from this time.
 

My mother apparently was also very captivated by Helene Yaron. She persuaded several family members and friends to also have their portraits down by Helene Yaron. Helene's husband always accompanied her and helped with the setting up of each sitting.

For more information go to : http://www.atelieryaron.com/index.htm
This website is now in 2011 run by Helene Yaron.

All seven of the Gretsch children in Connecticut had their portraits painted by this woman that same year.
Stacy remember in 2011 "They came and took pictures first of all of us. Then at some point in time came and actually had us sit while they finished up the paintings.  Mom had them done as a surprise for Dad's 50th birthday.  She had Dad come in the front door and we were all standing under our portraits and said "Surprise"..
Dick's birthday was June 14. It is easy to imagine that my mother suggested to Jean that portraits of the children would made a wonderful 50th birthday gift for Dick.

Also, my mother's roommate from College, Mary Heflebower Debevic and her husband John and their daughter Betsy, also had their portraits done by this woman.

In 2010 Betsy remembers  "I think my portrait was painted when I was four.  We were on our way to Bermuda and I think my parents decided, on the spur of the moment, to get it done.  That would have been around 1958.  I remember sitting for it in your parent's house.  It was very difficult to sit still for that long.  Wasn't it in Forest Hills?  My parents also had their portraits painted...." 

Sounds like my mother was busy that year, not only getting us all ready to travel to Europe for a year, but seeing up business for Helene Yaron.

On March 9, 2011 an article in the New York Times, " A Shanghai apartment's Art Deco Splendor Restored" refers to Alexander Yaron as the architect of the building. "Alexander: Yaron, an architect who had emigrated to China from Russia in the early part of the 20th century." This is the father of Helene Yaron's husband."
It is interesting to think of the connections between Hertha Gretsch who also lived in Shanghai in the early part of the 20th Century and my mother and Helene Yaron........
 

Almost, 50 years later, my brother remembers that our mother suffered terrible migraine headaches during the time of her birthday. After he mentions it to me in an email, I remember too how sick our mother was when we finally got settled in Rome.

It must have been a terrible strain on her to travel with two teenagers and two pre-teenager across Europe from Cadiz, Spain where our ship landed to here in Rome.

We had our car with us and my mother drove the whole way. We met some friends along the way like Ruth Slattery who met us in Spain and spent  a few days with us. However, basically, my mother had sole responsibility for us all. It was soon after the war and many parts of Europe were still recovering. People often stared at us and our big American car.

I remember that birthday celebration when we were basically alone in  a foreign country. We children made a cake for my mother's birthday out of a shoe box and tissues. Katie and Charlotte knew how to take a tissue, fold it in a certain way and fashion it  into quite a pretty flower. That is how we decorated the show box with flowers made from tissues.

I am sure we were all worried about my mother. At least, I am sure I was worried about my mother as she suffered with these debilitating migraine head aches.
 

In a phone conversation on November 4, 2010, Marion Gretsch Wells, Louis only daughter told me." He died at my house (Ridgewood, New Jersey) . He had gotten up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and he fell down a flight of steps. I was home alone with the children. My mother was traveling. the police came and were so quiet they didn't wake any of the children. I called Teddy and Kay Clauss and they came right away and stayed with me. It took me a long, long time to get over this. In fact, I don't think I am over it now."

Louis and Bill were very close. Their personalities were very much alike. His daughter told me that when Bill came to New York from Chicago, he often stayed with Louis and his family. They swam together at the St. George hotel not far from Louis Gretsch's apartment.
When Bill Gretsch was in town, his wife would always say to her daughter, "Dad will be home very late tonight, he is out with Bill".

I wonder when and how my mother received this information about the death of her husband's favorite uncle. It must have been hard for her to learn the news.
 

The New York Times reported the death of Albert Crews in Port Washington, New York. See the obituary below.

Click on this image to see an enlargement.

Albert Crews was instrumental in starting the Radio Department at Northwestern University. No doubt Maxine worked with him when she began at NU in the fall of 1937.
He and his wife Lois both taught at NU. Lois was in Speech Re-Education.

His wife taught speech at Hofstra University on Long Island.

Maxine was in Europe at this time. Most likely she heard of his death from her friends Mary Curtis or May Lois Debevic who were her classmates at Northwestern.

She had visited in Central America and probably had some opinions on what went on there. Who would she have discussed this with? Marge Mclean?
 

Gertrude went to live in Paris.
 

On Thanksgiving day, drove to Connecticut, "We left there about six, and went straight to the hospital, where we spent about 15 minutes with Marge...and then were home by nine." 

This essay recalls the time of my 14th birthday with my mother and looks forward to my time with Ben Cohen when he was a young man.

Revised September, 17, 1998

17:38

The Birthday present.

June 2, 1997

Whitesburg, Ky.

Ben and I have for a long time been working out a lot of things together. David has been in the middle. Ben and I  have come a long way in our relationship in many ways and at the same time we are again at the place where we were a long time ago. For both of us I think there is a comfort this time around in having time and space to work out our differences. It first the parameters weren't so clear.

We both love David  and that is at the heart of it all is wanting him to be happy. Let me begin to try and tell the story.

The roots of my birthday present story go back very far to when I was about14 in the early1960's. Lumumba had been killed. Hammerskjold (Sept 1961) had been killed. Kennedy hadn't been killed yet. My  mother was still alive. There was lots of constrernation in the UN about the Congo and what would happen there. But I didn't know anything any of about that.

It was January in New York City and very cold. The after Christmas sales had been raging for a while and were pulling to a halt. It was very near my birthday.

I needed a new winter coat and my mother and I had been out shopping for one. We found what I thought was  the perfect one a blue loden coat which was very fashionable for teenagers at the time. But my mother refused to let me wear it until my exact birthday. This made me incredibly angry. I felt my mother was being silly and I was loosing out on the chance to show off my new coat. 

But my mother remained adamant (like Hammerskojld) and it wasn't until my birthday that I found out why. She had come across a coat in one of her own shopping expeditions which she felt that I might like better and she wanted me to have a choice. It was red and I didn't in the end like it better. On my birhtday I was presented with two coats early in the morning but I went to school wearing the blue coat which I had insisted I wanted to wear all long. The red coat was returned to the store.  

This little event had far reaching effect. Every year at birthdays I was in a quandary about weather or not presents should be opened early. When I had children it became more problematic. I usually settled it by insisting that my children wait until the appointed day of celebration to open presents. I in the privacy and rebelliousness of my single adulthood would sometimes open one of my own presents early. 

This somehow brings us to Kentucky. Walking the land that David's grandfather and Ben's great grandfather had taken ownership of in the early 1920's. (the next day as we were leaving I told Ben that I would really like to go to the daily newspapper in Norton and look through back issues for the facts about the Cohen's in the area. He said he was afraid of what would turn up.) No-one knows exactly why Jacob Cohen purchased this land. It is recorded that several members of the family which deeded it to him had to sign the deed. This assumes that it was an agreement of the whole family to give the land up. It also points to the aloneness of Jacob Cohen in the area. Here on this piece of paper the names of brotheres and sisters and wifes and husbands of the seller's family are alluded to and signed. Jacob Cohen however stands alone. He has no brothers or sisters mentioned. His wife isn't even mentioned or his children. This can all be explained in a legal sense but in another sense it is a true rememinder of Jacob Cohen being alone here. 

Its David's birthday and we have all come form various points to celebrate it in Kentucky. Rich came via Chicago from Kansas City and Ben and Gabriella came form Ohio on their long zig zag across the US. Six weeks ago I had purchased a present for David through a Catalogue. I had asked him about it at the time to be sure it was a gift he would enjoy using. It was a simple, beautiful Japanesse cutting tool that he could use in the garden. When the long triangular box arrived, David was the first to see it but I took it and put it away for his birthday.  I don't know if David knew what it was it. He didn't mention it at all. I thought a few times, "should I give it to him he might be able to use it before his birhtday?" but I always decided to wait. It was to be a birthday celebration and it needed presents. The box was packed into the truck when we came to Kentucky. 

Now the problem here is when to give you the back ground information on my relationship with Ben which is far more complicated than my relationship with the giving and receiving of Birthday presents.

September 17, 1998

so much time later.

I can't even remember writing this or what the point of it was as I find it now in my computer but I wonder if this is the time in KY when Ben got so mad because I had brought up the thought of doing something nice for Jenny when she finished her PH.d.


maybe this was background for telling that story, anyway

david opened my present and loved it and Ben said it wasn't for gardening and forest work but for carpentry. He was wrong of cause.

and David and I have used the tool many times in KY.

and when David went to visit Ben and Gabriella at their new home in New Orleans in july, he came home with pictures of Ben wearing the t-shirt which I gave him from Florence. Actually Maggie gave it to him but it was stolen in South Africa and I gave him the one just like it that I had.

I was cute to see him wearing it in the pictures.

Perhaps, my mother saw this as she read the morning Times which was delivered to our house every morning. Perhaps, she thought about her friend Lois Crews from Northwestern. Perhaps, she though about contacting her.
 

Dear Mother, Dad and Ralph,
"This is the time I have really overtaxed myself! I haven't a second to call my own, between various committments. Auctually (sic),.. I enjoy most everything I'm doing, but there are no moments for such equally pleasnt occupations as letter writing,....
Sunday night ( written in April 1)

So the time goes! This morning was the Communion Breakfast at Notre Dame, and for the rest of the day I've been working on my income tax. It's ready to type up now, and send the figures to the accountant....but I think I'll finish this, and take care of the income tax in the morning!

Katie went to work today, so we didn't see her. She started at eleven , and was going to work til nine...but called at eight and said she got off early. However it was too late to go dashing out. I had asked her to take the day off, and we'd go to the theatre or something but she preferred to work.

So yesterday I took her presents out...yours, the letters from you all and from Aunt Kate...and your presents. I gave her a school jacket, a beautiful black petticoat...very frilly...that seh wanted, a sterling silver ring, and a beach blouse. she said she loves the gown and slippers you sent...and tomorrow I'll bo aout and collect the presents you sent her for us.

Charlotte was home briefly over her birthday, and loved the gown...wore it immediately, even though I think she froze to death!  She has been having exams, and so far is doing better in her studies. She loves it there and isn't taking any chances on flunking out. And Jerry has every intention of seeing that she gets passing marks, too.

The Parent's association has it big Bridge on Saturday the 7th, and we are doing alright so far. To date our profit on it is $3,200. We hope to run it up to $5.000. Earlier in the year we have made about $2,000, so everyone is happy with the financial picture to date.

Charlotte's Cotillion pictures came through, and I'll get them off to you as soon as possible. Which may be next week. This week is already a total loss. Monday, Manhasset, Tuesday, homework at the library adn school at night, Wednesday night, parent's Association meeting ...and so on.

Dad, the news about your tired heart was a surprise...but I knew all those tests were being taken for something! Is that one of those cholesterol situations? Are you on a diet...more rest...or what? We are interested, to say the least.

Ralph, your new title sounds great. It certainly means that they like you and want you to stay around. And I think it is simply wonderful that in spite of al the turmoil of your private life you have accomplished this. It is certainly shows what the possibilities are. You seem to be ina growing area...and you always likes a small town. Ill (sic) be anxious to know what happens next.

We are all well...have had remarkably few colds and things this winter. As a matter of fact, the total of my doctor bills for 1961 was $55.00! Of course the dentist came high, but I supposet that will slack off in a few years, too.

Oh, yes.....another time consuming factor...I bought the house last week. And some time this week I have to sit down and study the insurance, etc. And taxes are due, along with income tax, etc., so I'm up to ears.

The Musical Instrument Dealer Rental Company is also in a new flurry of activity.

However, I signed off on teaching two week ago...until after Saturday's Bridge. That gave me time refund, but not financial relief.

Mrs. Coners leaves the end of May for 2 months in Europe. Mae McConnachie is in Ireland, visiting her son who is in college in Dublin.

Wrote to Paula this morning. Hope she lets us know when she plans to be here...we'd hate to miss her. She is welcome to bring a friend or two to stay here with her....by the end of their trip they won't minds staying in a private home...they'll probably be both broke and sick of hotels!

With love to all, Mike

May 2

According to a letter from Aunt Kate, Maxine called her mother on her birthday,

Then to a luncheon, then I'm due at at cocktail dance...which I think I'll skip.
The bulbs and azaleas are blooming and beautiful, Love to all Mike.
 

My mother must have been very worried but who did she confide in? Who comforted her? So far, I can find no letters from her at this time. However, she seems to be talking to her parents on the phone.

It must have been early June that the cancer was found. They operated immediately. Perhaps, the cancer was found because of some tests they were doing around her car accident.

The cancer must have been very advanced when it was first discovered. It was only 18 months later, In February of 1963 that she passed away.
 

Paula and her diary remind me of the trip that our Grandmother Hattie Dieter took in 1908. She also kept a diary and visited cousins in far away cities.                       

Paula sent the adjacent picture in the summer of 2006.

Char left yesterday. I drove her to Greenwich, Conn. where she spent the night with her room mate Mary...this morning Mary's neighbors drove them to school. So Geeg and I will be busy making enough noise to keep the house in shape! Ralph sent the Gettysburg pictures to Fred---will get duplicates for you.
My first class was yesterday...it sounds hard and dull...
Geeg and I feel fine. Katie is now thinking that she wants to go to St. Francis next year. Thanks again    love Mike Rec'd R's postcard from the airport today.

Most likely, this is the time that Maxine was having isotope therapy for her cancer. Her major surgery was over and she had recovered well.

I can barely remember the mood in that big house which was now so empty. My mother must have been very cognizant of the extent of her cancer and the nearness of her death. I was 14, a sophomore in high school, full of thoughts of my friends, oblivious to what my mother was going through.

My mother was in graduate school.

We also had a dog. Rupert. I think my mother was closest to this dog. She was used to having dogs and always had pets as a child. Rupert was named after St. Rupert, the patron saint of dogs, at lease that is what my mother told us. rupert was probablu about 4 years old at this time. He was a mixed breed, very cute.

At this time, Barbara and Joe Shea and two or three of their small children came to stay at Shorthill Road. They had just moved from Chicago and were looking for a house.

Sylvia went to Florida to recuperate with Helen Welsh while the Shea's kept an eye on things on Shorthill Road..
 

Click on this image to see an enlargement.

February 3

Apparently, Maxine had been going to a hospital in Queens, St. Johns, which was close to Forest Hills. Finally, it was decided that she would go to Doctor's Hospital in New York City.

 

Hospital records from this date read:

This patient was admitted with evidence of intestinal obstruction, secondary to extensive ovarian carcinomatosis which had markedly involved the abdominal cavity. She had been treated previously by intravaginal cobalt and applicator for recurrence in the vagina, as well bilateral isotopic lymphograms for control of iliac and inguinal lymph nodes.
On this admission an exploratory laparotomy was performed, at which time extensive carcinoma was encountered. Nothing further was done surgically and a polyethylene tube was placed in the abdominal cavity.  Dr. Irvin Ariel

Her death reports reads:
This 46 year old woman had cancer of the uterus and had a hysterectomy and isotope therapy. Recently, she developed abdominal pain and had no bowel movement for ten days."

Ralph and Hattie fly immediately to New York. They stay on Short Hill Road visiting the hospital everyday.

From Maxine's hospital room, you could look down on Gracie Mansion which was directly across the street. New York's Mayor, Richard F. Wagner, his wife Susan Edwards Wagner and their two sons live there.

Susan like Maxine were both dealing with severe cancer. Susan Wagner had lung cancer. Charlotte remembers that her mother told her that she ( Sylvia ) has the same doctor as Susan Wagner.
 

"Procedure: A midline incission permitted entrance into the abdominal cavity. The umbilious was removed, which contained a metastasis cancer. Efforts to lyse the adhesions were unsuccessful becasue of the adherance and extent of these adhesions.

Accordingly, a polyethylene tube was put into the abdominal cavity and the wound closed......The procedure was well tolerated by the patient".
 

The histological pattern is consistent with ovarian cancer.
 

It is unclear to me, reading the death certificate in 2008, if Dr. Ariel or Dr. Po were with her when she died.

In a death report it is stated, " Patient given chemotherapy P 32, 0 4 but did not respond well."