Aunt Em

While looking for some old photos the other day I found a couple of my Aunt Em and me.  These where taken in 1984 before I moved to Arizona.   I went to visit her in Cocoa Beach, Florida before my move, I lived in Miami.  This is the same Aunt Em I wrote the poem about last post. 

Aunt Em & Mary, she still have the smile!

People thought we could be mother and daughter when they saw us, not a bad thing.

Aunt Em, Uncle Gus & me

 Here we are with her husband "Gus" Ronca.  She was a lot more fun than my Dad, she must have gotten that from her mother Mary.  A letter I have from a great uncle said Grandma Mary was a lot a fun and all the cousins liked to go to her house.  I felt the same way about my Aunt Em. 

Poem Written for my Aunt Em

Yesterday was a busy day, the Family History Society of Arizona had an all day fall conference.  It was my first time to attend one of the conferences by this group.  I think it was very well done.  The two main speakers were excellent.  I enjoyed the round table that was done with a panel of six guest who had published genealogy books.  The two afternoon sessions were interesting and I picked up some tips from those classes. 
The one main speaker was a professor of English at ASU (Arizona State University).  He has also published a book about Persevering and Writing Family History.

He had us do a writing exercise, no surprise there.  I choice to do the poem.  It is a formula poem but it does work and it help to share the stories. 



Formula Poem and a Sample



Here is a sample of the poem formula and a poem sample.  I was drawn to this right away and wanted to try it even before he announce we would be doing a writing exercise.  He also had some us read  our stories.  They were really good and I enjoyed them all. 

I did read mine, but I am a bit of a ham. 

I will publish it here.  I might want to add it on another day but for today this is good. 

Eleanore & Emma 1949 My parent's wedding.

Emma

Who always had a smile for her favorite niece.

Who was married to an Italian name Gus and had three sons.

Who loved outings to the zoo, to the theater and to the beach.

Who felt happy at family events.

Who needed help for a son.

Who feared computers.

Who gave Birthday wishes every year, no matter the number of miles .

Who would have liked to have had grandchildren.

Who resided in Long Island City, New York and Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Hartmann-Ronca

One small step for me and my ancestors.  

Funeral Card Friday - Annette C. Hartmann

Annette C. Hartmann

When I have seen the post about Funeral Cards, I think, "oh I wish I had some".  Well on Sunday while looking for the newspaper clippings about "me",  I found this one funeral card. 

This was for my Mom, (second Mom) Annette.  She died when I was a senior in High School from Metastatic Colon Cancer.  She fought a good fight.  It is hard at any age but as a teenager it is even harder.  Finding this card brought back memories. 

I am glad I have it and have placed it in a safer place, so it can be found with my other Genealogy Material.

One small step for me and my family.

A ME Story

Since this blog is about me and my ancestors, occasionally I will have a "me" story.  Since this blog is also for my children so they know more about me and my life before we were a family. 
A lot of family stories get lost in the daily grind of living life.  So I am going to use my blog to share some of these stories I forgot to tell them when they were younger. 

I actually made the newspaper three times in my life.  Unfortunately I didn't save the dates or the names of the newspapers they were published in but I have the little articles and I can guesstimate the year. 



Mary Made the President's List BCC

 I believe this one is first, my name has the star in front of it.  The article starts, Fort Lauderdale area students appearing on the President's List for Term I at Broward Community College are:  four lines down is my name.
I did make the President's list every semester I was at Broward Community College earning my Associates Degree in Science in Nursing.  I suspect this was my first term. 
When I interviewed by the Dean of the School of Nursing she was not impressed with my high school grades and I was told I would have to prove myself before I would be considered for acceptance into the nursing program.  I remember telling her I had been the student of the year in the LPN program I attended and had a straight A average from the vocation school I went to.  Her reply was, that was only equivalent to a 10th grade education and not on a college level.  Believe me I lived that year of school, there was no way it was like a 10th grade high school class, it was a lot harder.  I believe this article was at the end of the fall term in 1970.


Mary receives a scholarship



I was lucky enough to receive a $300 scholarship my last semester at Broward Community College.  The funds covered my tuition and my books for that semester.  Now it might cover one book?   It was so hard not to look at the camera.  I graduated in spring of 1972.  The article reads:

Pilot Club of Fort Lauderdale members left, Mrs. Edward Edwards and Mrs. William A. Dale congratulate Mary Hartmann, scholar ship winner.  A licensed practical nurse (repeated twice someone didn't proof real well) Miss Hartmann is studying at Broward Community College to become a registered nurse.  The scholarship was presented from proceeds from the club's annual horse show.  A donation was also made to Pediatric Care Center.



Will the real MH MH please stand up!



My little line in the paper is more of a fun item.   This was cut out and given to me by the Director of Nursing at the hospital I was employed at.  I used Snagit to cut out the part of the article that didn't apply to me but matched the title.

I actually made the paper for my name.  That is what happens when you have the same name as a very popular TV show.  Yup Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.  Only she spelled it wrong.  I couldn't go anywhere without some one making a comment about my name.  I couldn't cash my pay check without someone asking, "is that really your name"?  Every time the TV MH MH did something I was asked at work the next day, did you really drown your best friend in a bowl of chicken soup or what ever she did in the last episode. I had to learn to roll with it but I must admit it was annoying when people thought that was the real me.  I thought I was much more interesting.  I was an RN by this time and working in Miami Florida at Variety Children's Hospital (now Miami Children's Hospital)  This was probably in 1978.

It reads: Guess who showed up at Dade Count jurors' pool the other day. Mary Hartman, that's who, that's who.  Somebody made some crack about the TV connection, and Miami's MH answered, "I had my name longer than SHE!"

I had my name embroidered across my scrubs I use to wear and every one called me by my name twice.  They got tired of saying the whole thing twice and shortened it to Mary Mary.  Some of my close friends still call me Mary Mary.

There you go a little slice of my life.



I Found A Cousin!!!

About two or three weeks ago I did a white page search for a cousin I have lost contact with.  I wanted to re-establish our relationship, especially since I found our second cousins in England.  I found a listing for her and sent her a card in the mail.  I enclosed my email address and on Tuesday night I received an email from my cousin.   I did a happy dance! 

She was able to share with me some stories that I didn't know.   I have been able to share some things with her she didn't know.  So the fun and adventures continue.  She also has some wedding pictures of our grandmother and grandfather.  I am looking forward to seeing those.  

Story #1

Our grandfather was William Chaplin - I believe he was a motorman for a trolley or bus or maybe the subway?  He died when my Dad was 14; you Mom would have been pretty young, (She was 9) I think.  From the description I got my best guess is he had bleeding esophageal varicose, or a bleeding ulcer.  One of his favorite meals was beef and kidney stew and he drank tea, very, very black.  I knew the cause of death and his line of work but didn't know about the stew or tea.



My mother Edith age 6



Story #2 

"My Dad said your mother was always a jokster and used to put on skits and plays for the neighborhood was she was a little girl."

I had forgotten this.

Story #3

Oh - I remember my Dad telling me this story about Minnie that you will appreciate - she campaigned for the women's vote, and participated in suffragette marches.  When women finally got the right to vote and she went to the polls for the first time, she was told she couldn't vote because she was married to a non-citizen, thus was ineligible.  She was furious, because SHE was born here!  Now I never heard if that was simply the law at the time or if it was mix up, but I know that since hearing that story I can't miss voting because it makes feel guilty.  Even if there isn't anyone to vote for, I gotta go because I feel like it honors her and  all the work she and others who came first did for us.

I also vote in every election, I always think of it as my right and privilege for being a citizen.  Now I know it was very important to my ancestors as well.  My grandmother was the first one in her family to be born in this country.  Her parents and all her siblings were born in Germany. 

It has been very fun to learn more about my family.