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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Dietz Family, Easter 1961


Ron Dietz Sr. with children Ruth, Regina, Rochelle, and Ron Jr. in the back.  The print was processed in August 1961, but there is a handwritten note on the back saying it was taken at Easter of that year.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Sentimental Sunday: Streff Kids, Easter 1959


Beth, Mare, Rho, Bud, and Tom in front.  Photograph was processed in April 1959; Easter was March 29 that year.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Friday's Faces from the Past: Alamo Cenotaph and Woolworth Building, San Antonio, Texas, ABT 1944 and 2014


When I found the picture just below among many belonging to my mother, I immediately knew where it was taken, and I wanted to try to create a "Dear Photograph"-style image, where you (as their website says) “Take a picture of a picture from the past, in the present.”

I knew I'd be going to San Antonio for a convention this month, and I knew that convention would not be far from the site of the original photograph, taken about 1944, according to another photo taken at the nearby Alamo, where my mother and aunt are wearing the same clothing and Mom's age is written on the back.

Gerrie, Jo Ann, and Charles Guokas III in front of the Alamo Cenotaph, San Antonio, Texas, ABT 1944
Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the original photograph with me on my trip.  Nevertheless, I walked over to the Alamo one evening after my convention ended, and took a number of photographs like the one below:

Alamo Cenotaph and old Woolworth Building in the background, San Antonio, Texas, April 9, 2014
I then found the image I could most closely match to the 1944 picture, and with the magic of Microsoft Paint, I created the image you see at the beginning of this post.

The Alamo Cenotaph was rather new in the 1944 photo - it had been completed in 1939 and was funded in 1936 by the Texas Centennial Commission to honor those who died at the Battle of the Alamo.  Apparently its other name is The Spirit of Sacrifice, but I have never heard it called that. That second link has some interesting information about the sculpting of the monument by Pompeo Coppini, who has a number of other well-known works in Texas.  You'll notice that in 2014, the Cenotaph looks pretty much the same as it did in 1944.  The plantings and grass around its base in the 1944 photo have been removed and stone put in instead, probably for easier maintenance and water conservation.

The building in the background is the F. W. Woolworth Co. building which, except for the signs with its name, and different tenants, looks pretty much the same in 2014 as it did in 1944 and in 1921, when it opened at this location.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Bob Pape and Daughters, ABT 1963


My uncle, Paul Robert "Bob" Pape Jr. (1926-2008) and his daughters Bobbie, Terrie, Donna, and Judy, probably about 1963.  I don't think the man in the background is my dad.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Sentimental Sunday: Happy Easter, ABT 1932


Charles, Jo Ann, and Geraldine Guokas, Easter, Houston, Texas, probably near 1717 Shearn, about 1932.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Surname Saturday: Ancestry.com Ethnicity Estimates for Mom & Dad

The offspring just asked some questions about where the ancestors came from, so here's a quick reply.  A while back I had my parents' autosomal DNA tested through Ancestry.com (and also uploaded the raw data files to Family Tree DNA).  Here are the Ethnicity Estimate charts for Dad and Mom:


 Dad's above and Mom's below.


Keep in mind that these charts reflect migration patterns from thousands of years ago.  That being said, the charts do fit what I know about the ancestry of my parents.  Dad's immigrant ancestors (Pape, Kramer/Cramer, Massmann, Dienes) came almost entirely from Germany (Europe West) - and of course, many of the Germanic peoples were originally from Scandinavia.  I have to say, I am intrigued by the Iberian Peninsula and Italy/Greece strains in his background.

Mom's paternal ancestors (Guokas, Banavich/Bonewitz/Boenewitch) immigrated from Lithuania, which is reflected in her Europe East and Finland/Northwest Russia ethnicity.  Her maternal ancestors included German immigrants (Wolfe, DeHaven, Horein - the Europe West and Scandinavia) as well as Shelton, Bridges, and Spikes, who likely originated in Great Britain and Ireland.

You can learn more about AncestryDNA here.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Dietz Family, 1967


My uncle, aunt, and cousins, the Ronald Joseph Dietz (1931-1994) and Rose Mary Pape (1931-2007) Dietz family, circa 1967, with children Ron, Rochelle (Shelly), Ruth, Regina, Rich, and Rob.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Thankful Thursday: Happy National Siblings Day!


I'm away from home and my stash of photos, so I am re-posting some photos already in this blog. Above left is from 1965, above right is Easter 1973. Below is from the summer of 1968.



Above is a photo from 1997 (I'd just gotten a perm).  I am thankful for my siblings Karen, Mark, Brian, and Mary.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Sentimental Sunday: Frank James "Bud" Streff Sr., 1925 - 2014


My uncle, Frank James "Bud" Streff Sr., was born July 1, 1925, in Chicago, the fourth of six children and third son of Harold Peter Streff (1892-1936) and Monica Ruth McCaughy (1895-1966).  His family lived at 6428 N. Francisco Avenue on the 1930 Census and at 6222 Wayne Avenue on the 1940 Census, which are both on the far north side of Chicago where my dad and his siblings also grew up.

Bud's friend Robert Hack said, "Not sure how well this is known, but Bud was an Air Corps veteran. During the proposed invasion of Japan, he was assigned to a mission (skip bombing the Japanese coast) where his life expectancy would have likely been about 5-10 minutes. But thankfully that never occurred. And then there was the time his plane caught fire during a training mission and they were going down, but somehow the plane was righted and he survived. Even though he never fired a shot, or dropped a bomb in anger, he was a hero in every sense of the word. Although of course he denied it."

Bud married my dad's older sister, Elizabeth Mary "Betty" Pape, on September 11, 1948.  They had seven children.  For a while, they lived in the Chicago area.  Dad recalls working as a stock clerk for a while at an A&P store that Bud managed in the late 1940s or early 1950s.

Sometime between August 1957 and October 1959, Bud and his family moved to the Rochester, New York, area.  In 1960, according to the Rochester city directory, he was a district sales manager for the Continental Coffee Company, and the family lived at 61 Irving Road.  I remember traveling to Rochester as a family to the wedding of his oldest daughter in 1971.  By this time, I think they were living on Winterset Drive in the Penfield area.

After retirement, Uncle Bud and Aunt Betty lived for a while in the Fort Myers, Florida, area, but in recent years they moved back to the Rochester area to be closer to more of their family, which (at last count) grew to include 22 grandchildren (plus spouses for many of those) and 10 great-grandchildren (so far).

Uncle Bud passed away on April 4, 2014, with much of that family by his side.  During the week prior to his death, with his last illness and hospitalization, many of his children and grandchildren (and oldest great-granddaughter) posted pictures of themselves with Bud as a profile picture or cover photo on Facebook.  I gathered most (but not all) of those and created the collage at the beginning of this post.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Friday's Faces From The Past: Happy Birthday to ME!

At left, a nun holds the newborn me at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois.

At the time, Dad was working for Continental Casualty Company in Chicago, now CNA Financial.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Wordless Wednesday: Streffs and Papes, Comanche, Texas, October 7, 2009


My cousin Tom Streff and his wife Karen, my dad Fred Pape, my Aunt Betty Pape Streff,  my mom Gerrie Guokas Pape, and my Uncle Bud (Frank) Streff, near the Comanche County Courthouse, after we met for lunch on October 7, 2009.  Tom and Karen drove down from their home near DFW airport to pick up Betty and Bud who'd been visiting Fred and Gerrie in Fredericksburg after the wedding of Tom's and Karen's daughter Katie in Austin the previous weekend.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Tombstone Tuesday: Major Isabella Martin Henry, 1910 - 1994


Grave marker for Isabella Martin Henry at Holy Cross Cemetery in Waco, Texas.  Photo by Anonymous via FindAGrave.com.

 Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.