Monat: August 2018

1968, High School graduation

For 4 years I attended the El Cajon Valley High school. Then it was time to graduate. The time in the school I really enjoyed.

 After it I attended the San Diego State college (it’s now a university). I just enjoyed going to school and learning. I only spent one year there. I’ll write more about it in a different entry.

1950, My Beginnings

This was our first home. Not much, but that was standard for the times, a so-called „quanset“ hut!

To start off with, I was born on Feruary 23, 1950 in Annapolis, Maryland, USA. My dad was with the Navy and stationed there and as far as I know, he actually taught at the Navy academy.

so, even then I liked cats back then!!

already bekomming a coke addict !! here with my mom

and here with  my dad!
and here is my dads mom with me and my older brother, Bob.

Then of course Christmas was celebrated

 

 

          

                                                                                                                  

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

   

1959, Mexican Wedding in El Cajon

In 1959 I was asked by neighbors of ours if I’d be flower girl at their daughters wedding. Of course I said yes. The family were Mexicans so it was an interesting event.

Here is how I looked:

Here are a few pictures of the wedding itself. Our church back then was just a roofed patio because the new church wasn’t built yet.

The bridal couple with her parents.

I kept that dress for many years and in 2006 my eldest grand daughter, Tamara, tried it on. That was fun to see. As you can see, it was Christmas time and Tamara spent a few days at my home.

1966-1968, High School Banner Corp

From my sophomore until my senior year at El Cajon Valley High School I proudly marched in the banner corb. It was so much fun! We marched in many parades and competitions.

The smallest girls were on the ends, the taller ones in the middle! We marched in Long Beach a couple of times. We drove there on a bus, stopping at a restaurant on the way.

This was our uniform for the ast two years. We had a different one in my Freshman year. Which I only lost in my last moves. Of course we marched in our local Mother Goose parade which took place every year. Suring the one year it rained, but we tried to take part anyway. And we managed to get in the newspapers!

2008, 40 yrs. Class Reunion

Saturday, 23 Aug. 2008

I managed to attend the 2008 reunion. Here are a few of the pictures. 

By chance the night before I got an inspiration and wrote a poem. I called it “ Memories in a bag“. I had with me a cloth bag my mom had sewn and I had a few ECVHS items in it which I removed and described. I couldn’t add many names because I wasn’t sure anymore if I was right. Sooooorrry But I did manage to get a few…….

Marvin Bauer had the „priviledge“ of introducing me. Thanks Marv!

In the picture below you see my school sweater and the previous reunion T-shirts.

Here I am reading the poem. The poem I’ll add in an extra entry.

And  of course I got to meet lots of former classmates. It was great fun!! Some of the lower, individual portraits were taken at the Sunday get-together.

One of my main reasons for the poem, I noticed that my former best friend, Terry Starkey, wasn’t on the list of the deceased.

Mickey Hatch and Linda?

    

            ???, Cheryl Tate, Marvin Bauer,  Jim Bolda

   Jim Supinger and  David Maier

        

2008, Poem for the Class reunion

Memories in a Bag

Written for the 40th El Cajon Valley High School class reunion

August 23, 2008

We all have our dear memories,

Hidden somewhere far away,

Somewhere in our head,

Precious to this day.

Memories, of days long past,

Of times that once were here,

Sad and happy, good and bad,

Saved from year to year.

The days of youth, we owned the world,

At least that’s what we thought,

Care free times, for most of us,

While others went and fought.

In 68 there was a war,

And we were marching in the street,

But not as protest, nor in hate,

For us, life was still so sweet.

The times we had, among our friends,

A sports event, a formal ball,

With girl’s league and the marching band,

Banner corp and all.

Remember when? We ask tonight,

And think of that long gone year,

Yes I do, or no I don’t,

I’ve forgotten, is what we hear.

Some dear friends have passed away,

Others are in this room

Still others did not attend,

The reasons we can only presume.

I have with me memories in a bag,

here for all of you to see,

Memories of some happy times,

What’s in it? What can it be?

What can it be, that’s red and soft,

And worn with so much pride?

I’ve cherished mine for all this time,

Something I shouldn’t hide.

SchoolTshirt042.jpg

My high school sweater, once a must!

We wore them all the time,

With all the pins, to mark the fun,

I proudly present you mine.

Oh, what fun we had!

20 years had now gone by,

I attended, ……of that I’m glad.

Now 30 years had come and gone,

A reunion was in 98,

Again I attended, flew over from afar,

And once again I was glad…. It was great!

Last but not least, the most important of all.

Where most of the memories are found,

The special something, we all treasured so much,

It’s red and blue and bound.

“The Legend ‘68” recorded and retells,

In photos and words, in a book arranged,

Of the events back then and the people we knew,

My, how much we have changed!

With hopes in our hearts and dreams aimed so high,

It’s been 40 years since that day,

The most important event, in our youthful lives,

We graduated and went on our merry way.

 

Now we meet once again, the few still around,

To remember those days long gone by,

To share the memories that are still in our heads,

And of the ones that are here in a bag.

 

There is another item that I still have yet didn’t bring with me….. my high school ring. I didn’t want to risk losing it. In fact, I have two rings.

In August 2006 I once again took the long trip over the big pond to visit my family. Before I arrived, I searched the internet for some news about my former best girl friend, Terry Starkey. I couldn’t find anything. After arriving here, I decided to finally visit her mom to see if I could get an address or something. Her mom still lived in the same house, just like my folks.

From Terry’s mom I found out that Terry had passed only one month before from health issues.

That’s almost spooky, since for some reason I had felt the urge to find her. In high school we had done just about everything together, from going to dances, the movies, the beach, flirting with guys, folk dancing in Balboa Park and she was my bridesmade at my wedding in 1970. But then I moved to Germany and with time we lost contact. We met again at the 20th reunion, but again lost contact….that reunion was the last time I saw her.

Her mom gave me her class ring. Terry, I miss you and I dedicate the above poem to you.

 

1957, our new home in El Cajon

After a 3 year stay in Cuba, dad got transfered to San Diego. And of course we needed a home. We found one in a city just East of San Diego. Not special, but big (4 bedrooms and a garden). Of course it was quite bare when it was new…..no grass, no plants, nothing.

here are the 3 of us at the back door. 

We soon added a patio….nice shade for getting out of the often very hot Sun.

1976, Regina is born

1976 daughter Regina was born

13 and 7 are lucky numbers

Additions etc. for her birthday 2022

It was a hot summer night on July 12, 1976. It was one of the hottest since who knew when.

I sat on our balcony together with H.-M. and some friends. We enjoyed a nice punch called “cold duck”. The punch consisted of 2 bottles of white wine, 1 bottle of champaign, and one lemon. It needs to be served very cold, which was quite refreshing in the heat. But, carrying around a big tummy was beginning to get to me. The baby had already wanted to come 8 weeks too soon so the doctor had ordered me to rest, stop dancing, and take it easy. Not very easy with a 2 year old in the house!

At seven the next morning, July 13, the contractions started. Looks like this baby wanted to finally greet us… or was it the “cold duck”? To be on the safe side, we drove to the clinic.

After the usual checks, the contractions stopped. But since it was near term, they decided to keep me there. I met my room mate and then my hubby left for home to take care of our little boy.

The room was located on the top floor of the flat roofed hospital. I believe it was the 12th floor or something. The heat really beat down and the windows were fixed so that they could only be tipped and not opened… too many women with “baby blues” might attempt to jump… can’t have that happening! The poor girl next to me had already had her baby, which had to be in a special clinic. She wasn’t nursing and was told not to drink much, which was difficult in that heat.

I was told to press the button for the nurse if the contractions should begin again…. which they then did around 7 or so in the evening! I pressed the button and got wheeled back down to the delivery room. There my favorite nurse, a cute red head, had duty. “I didn’t expect to see you again today” she said. They did the usual tests, and then we waited. Around 10 p.m. my favorite nurse had to go home, and she was replaced by a black haired young and small nurse. My doctor by-the-way was on vacation…. of course! The assistant on duty, as well as this black-haired witch, didn’t seem to know much…. and I wasn’t all that knowledgeable myself. After all, it was only my second birth! The contractions had stopped again. The nurse gave me a shot on instructions from the doc, telling me it wouldn’t hinder the contractions if they came back but would let me sleep.

About an hour later the water broke! I was all alone in the room… and quite dazed from the shot. I located the button and pushed. The black witch came in and asked what was wrong. I tried to tell her my water had broke but I couldn’t talk properly. I remember her yelling at me, as if it was no big thing and no reason for pushing the button. But soon the contractions get heavier… I was still dazed. I couldn’t talk right, I mixed up German and English. My legs wouldn’t stay bent up, they kept slipping down. The black witch yelled at me again! Roughly translated she said:  “Behave yourself!”. But I couldn’t! I was drugged!

The next morning, at around 9, the nurses came in to clean me up. I said “what for? I haven’t had my baby yet!” They looked at me, I noticed the band on my wrist, and slowly the nightmare of the night before came back. “Is it a girl or boy?” I asked. “We’ll have to go check the files!” they answered. They didn’t know! While they were gone, I told the other girl in my room that I was sure it was a boy… I wouldn’t be lucky enough to have a girl, too. But they came back and informed me that it was indeed a girl! At 15 minutes before midnight, on July 13, my lovely daughter

Regina Ellen

was born.

 

winter near our new home in Rodgau-Jügesheim 
This buggy was so great!!
Carsten really enjoyed his sister.
Regina being busy in the corridor in front of our apartment. I’m missing some great photos of him looking at her in her craddle. If I find them I’ll add them here.

The following were Christmas 1977

and she got her favorit doll which she kept for many years

me and Michael enjoying the holiday  and Michaels sister, Petra, came to visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stay here at the Offenbach Hospital was soooooo much better then the one in Frankfurt where Carsten was born.