My World…..
Of course, Easter is celebrated different in some countries.
When my kids were young, I used to back a cake formed like an Easter bunny. Let me show you some examples:
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When I was a small child, in the 1950’s, it was an Easter tradtion to wear new clothes and girls had to wear a hat!
I used to have much better homepage, designed with the program „FrontPage“ which ubfortunately doesn’t exist anymore.
But maybe I just add the links to some of the pages and maybe you’ll be able to enjoy my entries. This is my first try.
https://old.dorrie.de/reports/1960s/SubicBay.htmhttps://old.dorrie.de/reports/1960s/SubicBay.htm
nope, it didn’t work….darn. But you can, of course, try it manually.
Prague, Czech Republic
August 27-30, 2011
Trip to and from
plus: Hotel adventures
I took over 400 pictures so I can only present a selected few. Instead of chronologically, I’ve decided to post them here in themes…. enjoy!
Oh, and all pictures are my own… none of them are scanned from any books or other publications!
Saturday, August 27
The trip started with a 1.5 hour train ride on the ICE from Aschaffenburg to Nürnberg, then a double-decker bus to Prague.
Luckily the 3.5 hour bus ride was a bit entertaining since there were two groups of young men celebrating a bachelor’s last with the gang… I even got offered some of their beer and a piccolo! Did I say I arrived tired? Or was I drunk? lol this is a picture of one of the bachelor groups… the guy in the pink rabbit costume on the left was the bridegroom!
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and the guy sitting next to me was nice enough to take my picture, lol
Crossing the border
Arriving
When I arrived in Prague, my first thought was…. what’s so special? It looked like any other large city. OK, it was pouring rain, cold, and grey. I had no idea how to get to my hotel and ended up taking a taxi (I think he charged me too much… but I was too tired to argue).
The hotel looked fine at first. When the porter pushed floor 4 in the elevator, I thought great! Should be nice view. Then we even walked up stairs to the next floor. He opened the door and I was presented with a tiny little room, just wide enough for a single bed, slanted roof with no closet to hang my dresses, and a nice enough bath, but no shelf for my toothbrush and stuff. the roof had a small window with a shade pulled down. I climbed on the bed to open the shade and see if there was at least a view….nope, only a very dirty window and I could just barely see birds flying by.
Now, I’m not usually a complainer, and for one night I would have stayed, but for THREE? No way! I went down to the desk and asked about getting a new room. They were full, but she said
Now, I’m not usually a complainer, and for one night I would have stayed, but for THREE? No way! I went down to the desk and asked about getting a new room. They were full, but she said she could put me up in their partner hotel on the other side of the river. She gave me a voucher for the taxi (free) and by the time I repacked my things, it was already there.
The new hotel was PERFECT! The room was standard quality. I didn’t have a nice view, only to an inner court, but it was quiet (on the other side of the hotel a loud trolley drives by). And, as I later discovered, the hotel was located not only within walking distance to the main parts of town, but also to the main train station.
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Entrance way as viewed toward the street
The next day, and the days following, turned out warm with blue skies! YES! And I discovered why this town is loved by so many.
This will be only a small part of the history of my dad’s family.
Salomon Abrahams van Cleef, born ± 1690, died ± 1748.
Married to Saartje Abrahams.
From this marriage:
Married to Philip Abrahams van Goor, butcher, died on 16‑05‑1817 in Hasselt (Ov).
Abraham Salomons van Cleef, born 1739/1740, died on 28‑03‑1822 in Zwartsluis(Ov).
Married to
Rebecca Andries, died > 03‑1822.
From this marriage:
Married at the age of 51 on 05‑02‑1820 in Zwartsluis(Ov) to Esther Philips van Beek, born 1798/1799 in Ameide(ZH), died on 27‑10‑1861 in Zwartsluis(Ov), daughter of Philip Abraham van Beek and Schoontje Israëls.
Elias Abrahams van Kleef, butcher, born 1767/1768 in Zwartsluis(Ov), died on 29‑08‑1846 in Zwartsluis(Ov).
Married on 30‑01‑1819 in Zwartsluis(Ov) to
Kaatje van Beek, born 1792/1793 in Ameide(ZH), died on 07‑12‑1866 in Zwartsluis (Ov).
From this marriage:
Married at the age of 36 on 09‑05‑1862 in Zwartsluis (Ov) to Aaron Simon Aronius, 38 years old, born on 22‑05‑1823 in Zwartsluis(Ov), died on 24‑01‑1892 in Zwartsluis(Ov) at the age of 68, son of Simon Aronius and Roosje Wolf Kokernoot.
Married at the age of 42 on 19‑03‑1874 in Borne(Ov) to Isak Lievendag, 43 years old, merchant, butcher, born on 16‑09‑1830 in Borne(Ov), died on 04‑07‑1906 in Borne(Ov) at the age of 75, son of Joseph Hartog Lievendag and Diena David van Gelder.
Salomon van Cleef, butcher, born on 27‑01‑1822 in Zwartsluis (Ov), died on 20‑11‑1871 in Zwartsluis (Ov) at the age of 49.
Married at the age of 41 on 05‑05‑1863 in Zwartsluis (Ov) to the 25 years old
Rachel van Leer, born on 24‑11‑1837 in Lippenhuizen (gem Opsterland)(Fr), died on 17‑02‑1922 in Amsterdam(NH) at the age of 84.
From this marriage:
Kaatje, born on 20‑02‑1864 in Zwartsluis (Ov), died on 11‑10‑1936 in Amsterdam (NH) at the age of 72.
Married to Lehman de Vries, died < 10‑1936.
Levenloos, born on 02‑07‑1866 in Zwartsluis (Ov), died on 02‑07‑1866 in Zwartsluis (Ov), 0 days old.
Elias, born on 29‑07‑1867 in Zwartsluis (Ov), died on 12‑02‑1943 in Oswiecim (PL) at the age of 75.
Married at the age of 36 on 25‑02‑1904 in Zaandam (NH) to Mietje Klok, born ??‑??‑1877 in Amsterdam (NH), died on 26‑12‑1932 in Amsterdam (NH), daughter of Joseph Hartog Klok and Rebecca Groen.
Jesajas, born on 13‑04‑1870 in Zwartsluis (Ov) (see also 8).
Jesajas van Cleef, bookseller, born on 13‑04‑1870 in Zwartsluis(Ov), died on 19‑02‑1943 in Oswiecim(PL) at the age of 72.
Married at the age of 26 on 19‑01‑1897 in Zaandam(NH) to the 32 years old
Sientje van der Woude, born on 25‑10‑1864 in Amsterdam (NH), died on 19‑02‑1943 in Oswiecim(PL) at the age of 78.
From this marriage:
Edward Siegfried, born on 30‑08‑1899 in Amsterdam (NH)
Edward Siegfried van Cleef, born on 30‑08‑1899 in Amsterdam (NH), died on 14‑09‑1979 in Tifton (GA)(USA) at the age of 80.
Married at the age of 23 on 01‑11‑1922 in Amsterdam (NH), divorced ± 1937 from the 27 years old
Tjamkje Terpstra, born on 31‑12‑1894 in ’s‑Gravenzande (ZH), died on 03‑01‑1998 in Florida(USA) at the age of 103. She called herself „Joan“ when applying for naturalization
Married (1) at the age of 27 on 01‑11‑1922 in Amsterdam (NH), divorced ± 1937 from Edward Siegfried van Cleef
Married (2) to Willem Bos.
1924
Married to Pat ?
DEPRESSION YEARS
1935 – 1942
In 1935, the depression was in full force. My Aunt Gert, my father’s sister had been laid off from work in the mill and she had used up all her savings. (No unemployment checks in those days.) So Aunt Rose suggested to my parents a solution. If we could find a bigger house, Aunt Gert could move in with us. Since Aunt Gert had no income, Aunt Rose would pay any expenses until Gert went to work again. My parents agreed and the house hunting began.
312 Durfee Street
Banks had a lot of foreclosures at that time and my parent checked on one. I remember that it was a very rainy day with thunder and lighting. The house was full of cobwebs and dirty. It felt haunted. It had been empty two years so you can see how ones imagination could run away with you. The bank was very eager to have it rented. They offered to clean the house thoroughly and do any repairs that were necessary and all we had to do was move in. They did all that and more,. They had to put in a new furnace and they would still build some kitchen cabinets that my mother requested. (Years later my father bought the house.)
The previous owners must have had servants who cooked in the basement. The food was delivered to the first floor on a dumb waiter, which is a hand-operated box on pulleys, inside a wall. The dumb waiter was still there. It was a big house with kitchen, pantry and double parlors with beautiful decorated plaster ceilings. There was also a separate sitting room on the first floor and a curving stairway to the second floor. The bathroom and four bedrooms were on the second floor. You could go up a short stairway to a widow’s watch on the roof. The view from there of the harbor and the Taunton River was fantastic. The Old Fall River Line cruise ships could be seen docked at the pier. So everyone was eager to move to 312 Durfee Street.
My folks lived there for almost 50 years. And I enjoyed living there for several reasons. It was only 2 minutes from high school and downtown was only a ten-minute walk. Also, my bedroom was the one with the view of the harbor, the best view of all the bedrooms.
SCHOOL
School was something I always enjoyed. I went to public school for kindergarten and first grade. Second to eighth grades were at St. Patrick’s. They always celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a “Coffee Supper”, which consisted of two nights of Buffet Style Dinner and a School Play. Every one looked forward to it, and since it came in the middle of Lent, it was a break in the fasting or giving up for Lent. The women did all the cooking and the nuns did all the teaching of the children who took part in the plays. My first play was in “The Wedding of the Painted Doll” and I was Red Riding Hood. My mother made my costume consisting of a red dress and a red hood. I still can remember part of the song after all these years. I have a picture of the cast still. I had to carry a basket of fruit and the boys were all so friendly. Fruit was very expensive so I had to make sure no one stole some.
Boys looking from my window
The girls that went to St. Patrick’s stayed close friends until we all graduated from high school. Some went on the college and others to work. Mary Sweeney became a Dietitian at Durfee High and Grace Dunn became a teacher. Geraldine became a Nurse for the city, and Connie, Marie and I all went to work. Mary, Grace and Geraldine never married. Marie had eight children; her first one became a nun. Connie had four boys. One friend Margaret Corbett went to a private high school and we lost track of one another. The last time I saw her was at my father’s funeral coming out of church. She looked just like I remember her. I was hoping she would phone so we could get together, but she never did. She had married and I never knew her married name.
HEALTH PROBLEMS
Growing up I had a problem with asthma and before I went to high school, my parents thought I should see the doctor. After he examined me, he told my father that if I started to have too many attacks, he would okay my quitting school. That I didn’t want, so I was very careful not too overdo, and I did manage to get along very well. Then when we moved, it was only two minutes from school instead of a trolley ride and fifteen-minute walk. I finished high school and graduated in 1937. It was the 50th year celebration for BMC Durfee High School so that class was pretty special. The school was a beautiful classic building and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1987. There was talk of destroying the building because it was so old, but they didn’t. It is now a courthouse. The city of Fall River did destroy other buildings, which they should have kept. In fact, they destroyed all of Main Street and City Hall. Then they constructed a freeway through the center of town and built the City Hall over it.
During my sophomore year, I started to work at J.J. Newberrys Dept. Store part time. I stayed there on permanent status after I graduated since jobs were difficult to find. As a sales clerk, I had to wait on customers as they came to the counter, total the sales in your head (no calculators) and ring it up on the register. The salesgirl had to keep the counters full of merchandise. All the clerks were friendly and we enjoyed our work. I left in 1942 because I was getting married and believe it or not, Newberrys did not hire married women.
My beautiful pictureMy beautiful pictureOne of my biggest hobbies, besides dancing, was sewing. I’ll try to present a few of my samples here. I hope you enjoy them:
The following blue dress I made for my high school prom in 1968.
I’m wearing it here in the 20’s and it still fit! But one of my care ladies around 2023 took it to the local second hand shop. I hope it found a good new owner!
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The first is my wedding dress that I made in 1970. Also the dresses for my brides maids I made.
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| I also plan to bring my wedding dress to the second hand shop, but my daughter thinks it’s too „old fashion“ and no one would want it. But I’ll try anyway. Also, the brides maids dresses I also sewed.
The following dress I also sewed myself and now, in 2024, I still have it. But we may give it to the second hand shop. |
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The coat pictured above I sewed especially for during my pregnancy. I then loned it out to Petra and never saw it again, but that’s OK.
The following picture with my daughter, Regina, was taken on a Christmas trip to El Cajon. I had made the dress for her for a wedding of one of Michael’s collegues in 1979, the second picture was taken in our garden with some of Regina’s friends.
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Of course I also made many costumes for my dance groups and for fasching (carnival). Here a few examples. The last picture was with my first dance group in the 1970’s when I got my first introduction to Fasching. We performed a can-can dance.
The first picture is my childrens marching group and yes, I made all the uniforms! Mine was a bit different. I gave them all to one of my dance students who happened to have a children’s group.
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Of course I also made costumes for my dance groups or just for myself . Here are a few excamples:
The first two are supposedly examples of Israeli costumes. The designs I got from various magazines and/or books.
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The next is one desighned after a Russian sample and the second one Bulgarian. The Russian one I wore at man demostrations abd still
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Of course I needed proper dresses for square dancing. Here are two that I made in the 1970’s and still have today (2024).
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When my daughter, Regina, married Sven Jagodzinski, I made her two daughts matching dresses. They wore them often, even after the wedding!
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here Tamara was more interested in the museums items. |
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My Mom’s Memories
by Ellen Dorothy Van Cleef
edited by Dorrie, Ellen’s daughter
Some years ago my mother started writing her down her „memories“. My dad finally introduced her to using a computer, at the age of 80!!, and with Dad’s help she could even add pictures. Taking her age into consideration, you’ll find some repetition in her tales and/or years missing.
I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did!
Dorrie, October 2002, corrections made : 2024
Update, May 2024
The pages need a complete re-formatting and while doing that I decided to add pictures from my archives to the entries. The entries themselves are the original as written by my mom, with only minor corrections (typos mostly).
Not all of the entries mentioned below so you will find some missing, at the moment (May 2024)
1944; Mom and Dad
1871-1938; The Beginning;
1941; Unhappy and Happy Times
1943; Navy Life Begins
1943; Ocracoke, North Carolina
1945; The War is Over
1947-1948; On to California
1950; Annapolis Maryland
1952-1953; Back in Fall River and Carl arrives
1953-1956; Quantanamo, Cuba
1957; Arrival in San Diego
1961; Square dancing in the Philippines
1962; Sailing to the Philippines on the USS Barrett
1965; Back to El Cajon again
1966; Trip back East
1967; More Changes
1968; Meeting Michael
1970; Retirement
1971; Bob and Mary’s Wedding
1971; Family Trip
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I was born in Annapolis, Maryland, USA. I don’t have any pictures of my first home, but we did at once live in a Quanset house. |
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In 1954 or so, we moved to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where we lived for 2 years.
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We then moved to El Cajon, California, where we bought a house. Before that we lived in Chula Vista and that’s where I started going to school.
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Our house in El Cajon 1956:
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We did lots of work on the house, added a patio and lived in it for many years!! As my parents got older, we added a „Granny“ house in the backyard. My younger brother, Carl, moved into the main house with his wife, Alice, and kids. He still lives there today, 2019.
Day 2 January 9, 2008
Luxor / Karnak Temple
Today was our first excursion planed, boarding a bus for the near-by Temple of Karnak. Our guide, Mohammed, told us before and during the tour lots of information about the history of the largest temple in the world! And, believe me, it was huge!
There are no words to describe the awesomeness of the place! And, as soon as you see one section, you walk on and more sections open up. It was extremely fascinating. I won’t even attempt to describe it.
At first we were guided by Mohammed, then we had an hour of free time to walk around as we pleased. That gave me time to take lots of pictures!
After the tour there we returned to the ship for lunch. Then we had time to rest before the next excursion at 16:30. This was an extra tour, first with a drive through the city, then a visit to a farm, and back to Karnak.
Day 1; January 8, 2008
Arriving in Luxor
As usual, I awoke before my alarm went off, which had been set for 3:00 a.m. I washed my hair, got dressed, and made the last preparations. My suitcase had already been brought to the airport the evening before, so what was packed, was packed….. no more re-packing.
I then walked to the train station, bought my ticket, and waited in the cold until it arrived punctually at 4:41. At the 5th station I got off to catch the airport bus which left there at 5:01. The bus was amazingly full, but mostly with airport workers. The ride itself was only 10 minutes.
I arrived at the gate on time! Because of lots of construction going on, I had to walk a very long way to get to it! Boarding was supposed to start at 6:00, with departure at 6:45, but for some reason it was a bit delayed. But soon we boarded airport buses which took us to the Air Berlin A 320 for the short flight to Nürnberg. In spite of the short flight time, we were served drinks and a snack. The flight was full of vacationers planning to go on in various directions from Nürnberg to Fuerte Ventura, Mallorca, etc., etc.
I had never been in Nürnburgs new terminal. It was fairly large and very modern…. and crowded! It seemed to be a hub for Air Berlin flights, which also seemed to be scheduled to depart at around the same time. I had a bit of time to people watch and I noticed that, with the exception of a few students, everyone was my age and older! Like with the flight from Frankfurt, it seemed to be an old folk’s home on tour!
We soon boarded the LTU A 321 for our flight to Luxor. The flight was fully booked! And again, it was an old folks’ home on wings! The flight time was about 4 hours.
As with the flight from Frankfurt, I had a window seat and soon I was already taking pictures! Of course, some may not come out, but I took one of the Munich airport,
after that the Alp mountains, which were covered with snow and just gorgeous.
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The route went along Slovenia, then to the Mediterranean, which was partly covered with clouds. Soon I saw below me a desert coast…. we had arrived at North Africa. I attempted again to take some pictures. Then the captain pointed us to a long, dark strip to the left of us (the side I was sitting on), informing us that that was the Nile River valley.
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As we approached Luxor, we flew direct over the Nile, which you could see meandering in the middle, or on the side, of that green valley area. Soon we were preparing for our landing at Luxor, again right on schedule.
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It appeared as if the airport has a new runway, since the one left of us was blocked off and looked unused. A part of it was used as a taxiway toward a large and also seemingly new terminal. There were only two airplanes parked at the apron and it looked like the airfield doesn’t see very much in the way of traffic.
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We headed for the passport control where those without a visa received their sticker and we turned in our coupons from the travel agent. Everyone pushed and shoved to the counter, even though it was clear no one would be left out. One idiot stood on my foot and didn’t even notice my complaint. The passengers were from at least two different travel groups, the largest one being Phoenix Travels, my group.
Then we picked up our bags from the baggage claim and went outside where another representative of Phoenix travel told us which bus to board and the name of the ship we were assigned. My ship had the name “Marquis II”.
Since everyone had booked different categories of trips, we were soon going our different ways. My bus had about 10 people. A young German gal, Stephanie, greeted us on board and pointed out a few sights to us on our short drive to the Nile and our ship. One of the sights was the temple of Karnak which would be our first sightseeing tour on Wednesday. While waiting for the bus to get on the way, I turned on my handy and got connection, so I could give Hermann and Regina a call to tell them I had arrived safe and sound.
We arrived at the pier where our ship was tied. The water level of the Nile was pretty low so that the gangway was tricky. We had to walk over that to one ship, walk through three ships until reaching our own. Luckily, we didn’t have to carry our baggage, that was done by the many Egyptian workers. We had been told not to give the workers any tips since that was taken care of by Phoenix.
My first impression of the ship was ok. We went first up to the salon on the 3rd floor. Here we were met by a young Egyptian, Mohammed, who would be our main tour representative. He spoke good German and explained to us the procedures and schedule. We were only one of a number of groups on the ship. According to Mohammed, the ship was fully booked, though we didn’t see that many people around. We then when back downstairs to receive out cabin number and collect our luggage.
My cabin is on level one, right above the water line. It’s a small, compact room containing 2 single beds and its own rest room complete with shower. There was even a hair dryer.
The room appeared clean and I had no reason for complaints. It had a weird smell, but I assume that has to do with the type of cleaning materials used. The bedding was also clean. There was a telephone plus a television, complete with German television (ZDF).
I unpacked my stuff, hanging some things in the closet, then freshened up before going on a tour of the ship. It was now about 1600 local time. We were scheduled to meet Mohammed again at 1800 for the next instructions.
On board the ship we not only had the salon, which was also the entertainment room, but a bar room and a relative elegant restaurant where all the meals were served, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, in buffet style. All drinks between 1000 and 2400 are included in the “all-inclusive”. Behind the salon is an outside deck where coffee and cake is served. At the rear of the ship is a small swimming pool. It, too, looked very clean.
A young couple from my group was standing at the reeling, looking over the Nile. Soon we started talking and getting to know each other and, together with a lady I sat next to during the talks, we now have our little group for during the meals. As is common on such vacation trips, we were soon on first name terms. Anna and Wolfgang are from Bavaria, and Rosi is from Berlin. Rosi received the trip as a gift from her daughter for her 60th birthday. She had lived in Cairo some 3 years ago and intended to use the trip just to relax. Later …….. from Rudolfstadt joined our table.
All meals were served buffet style with enough choice of salads, main dishes, and desserts for everyone, even me, to find something. In the evening our little group sat together in the salon and enjoyed some of the wine served…. and it wasn’t bad, either. But soon we each went to our respective cabins, where I started writing this report.