End of an Era: A Time to Mourn

It's been a little over 12 weeks since my father, Frederick Henry Pape, died, and now I will finally have some time to really process his death.  His funeral on November 14 was rapidly followed by Thanksgiving, a care plan meeting at my mother's memory care facility, her subsequent eight-night hospitalization with pneumonia starting on November 30, her discharge to a skilled nursing center for rehab (where she still is), and during all of this, the need to deal with all of my parents' possessions in the duplex they were renting in Austin.

The lease for said duplex expires today. I have spent every weekend this month in Austin working to clear out items (that were not claimed by family members over the Christmas holidays) through direct sales, consignments, storage, donations, and recycling/trashing.  I'd leave my home at sunrise Saturday morning, drive three hours, work until dark (lighting in the duplex was poor as lamps disappeared), visit my mother at the skilled nursing center until her bedtime, then sleep at the duplex (the last two weekends on a cot) and work Sunday until I needed to leave to get home before dark.

This past weekend I stayed an extra day, as on Monday, I cleaned the inside of the oven and refrigerator along with the entire garage (thankfully cleared out of all items by my brother Brian, who has been a huge help in this whole project), while my parents' long-time housekeeper thoroughly cleaned the rest of the duplex interior. 

It now truly feels like the end of an era, and time to mourn.  My sister Mary currently has Dad's cremains, and set up this lovely little memorial to him in her home.  My memorials will be in this blog, as I share more memories and photos as I go through the process of grieving.

© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.

Kodachrome in Korea III

Last month, while cleaning out the study of my late father, Frederick Henry Pape (1929-2017), I found a paper bag containing a number of Kodachrome slides from the early and mid-1950s, taken during his time in Korea and also in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois.  Kodachrome is extremely stable, and the color on these slides is near pristine.  I'll be sharing some of the images over the year.

Unfortunately the mounts on the slides do not have any processing dates, but I know this one was taken sometime between October 9, 1952, and March 7, 1953, because that is the period when he was in Korea with the Air Force.  This is Dad in front of his tent, #19, also known as the "Sans Nookee Tee Pee." Dad said it was "the only tent with a red door in tent alley," because his pilot partner, Captain Milton C. "Milt" Royles, had painted it that color (I posted a photo of him and my dad in front of this tent in May 2014).

The two Korean women may have been "house girls," who were paid to do such tasks as keeping the tent clean, laundry and ironing, and running errands.

© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.

Kodachrome in Korea II

While cleaning out the study of my deceased father, Frederick Henry Pape (1929-2017) last month, I found a paper bag containing a number of Kodachrome slides from the early and mid-1950s, taken during his time in Korea and also in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois.  Kodachrome is extremely stable, and the color on these slides is near pristine.  I'll be sharing some of the images over the year.

Unfortunately the mounts on the slides do not have any processing dates, but I know this one was taken sometime between October 9, 1952, and March 7, 1953, because that is the period when he was in Korea with the Air Force.  The Bengal tiger painted on the B-26 plane was the emblem of the 37th Bomb Squadron, of which Dad was a member.  Dad is standing just below the navigator/bombardier's station, which was in the nose compartment of the B-26.


© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.

Kodachrome in Korea, late 1952.

Last month, while cleaning out the study of my deceased father, Frederick Henry Pape (1929-2017), I found a paper bag containing a number of Kodachrome slides from the early and mid-1950s, taken during his time in Korea and also in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois.  Kodachrome is extremely stable, and the color on these slides is near pristine.  I'll be sharing some of the images over the year.

Unfortunately the mounts on the slides do not have any processing dates, but I know this one was taken sometime between October 9, 1952, and March 7, 1953, because that is the period when he was in Korea with the Air Force.  Here, he is standing next to the sign for the 37th Bomb Squadron (L[ight]) Headquarters, the "Home of the Royal Bengals," at K-1, the Pusan West Air Base in South Korea.

I've cropped out much of the background in this picture to emphasize Dad, but the background is the same as in the black-and-white photos in an earlier post on this headquarters, so that further narrows the photograph to the last quarter of 1952.  According to a history of the 17th Bomb Group/Wing (of which the 37th Bomb Squadron was a part),

During the October to December [1952] time frame, the 17th moved from K-9 [Pusan East] to K-1 (Pusan West) to allow for the resurfacing of the K-9 runway from PSP to asphalt. The Wing returned to K-9 on 20 December having flown uninterrupted through both moves.

© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.

Mom "at School"

In the process of helping my parents move, I found some photos from my mother Geraldine's high school days at Incarnate Word Academy in Houston, Texas.  Here is one of them, undated, but labeled on the back with her friend's name and the words "at school":

The girl on the left is Anna Marie Hainline von Marbod, who was born about 1928 and died in 1981.  My mom is on the right.  I only found Anna Marie in the 1942 IWA yearbook (she was at Austin High School in Austin in their 1945 yearbook), meaning this picture was taken in 1941-42.

© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.

Mom "at Seawall"

In the process of helping my parents move, I found some photos from my mother Geraldine's high school days at Incarnate Word Academy in Houston, Texas.  Here is one of them, undated, but labeled on the back with all the girls' maiden names and the words "at [Galveston] Seawall":

Standing from left:  Frances Kopenski, Rosalie Marian Triola Zenner (born 1926), Dorothy Jean Gorman Kerkman Bickers (1928-2011), Mildred Bell Fisher, Martha Anne Cabler Clark Skinner Venable Anderson (1928-2003), and Miriam Catherine Jamail Perkins (1927-2004).

Kneeling:  Kathryn (or Katherine or Catherine) Stringer and Geraldine Margaret Guokas Pape


© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.

"Mary Joe Danna - Approaching Marriage - Empire Room, Rice Hotel, 9-7-46"

In the process of helping my parents move, I found some photos from my mother Geraldine's high school days at Incarnate Word Academy in Houston, Texas.  Here is one of them, labeled on the back with (almost) everyone's names and the words "Mary Joe Danna - Approaching Marriage - Empire Room, Rice Hotel, 9-7-46":

From the left:  Mary Joe Danna White (1928-2009), her sister Ignatia Marie Danna Albert (1915-2005) and her son Mervin Joseph Albert Jr. (born 1940), Mrs. Joe (Mary Ann Artale) Danna (1893-1962), Shirley Patricia Hogan O'Brien (born 1928), Dorothy Jean Gorman Kerkman Bickers (1928-2011), Ruby Jane Kuhn Porche (1928-2017), Geraldine Margaret Guokas Pape, and Barbara Alice Parker Bruder (1929-1999).

Mary Joe married Harry White at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Houston, Texas, about seven months later, on April 10, 1947.


© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.

"IWA 1944"

In the process of helping my parents move, I found some photos from my mother Geraldine's high school days at Incarnate Word Academy in Houston, Texas.  Here is one of them, labeled on the back with all the girls' maiden names and the words "IWA 1944":

Top row, left to right:  Dorothy Jean Gorman Kerkman Bickers (1928-2011), Marjorie Ann Hays Olson (1928-2011), Geraldine Margaret Guokas Pape, Dorothy Rose Rush Johns (born 1928), and Rosalie Marian Triola Zenner (born 1926).

Bottom row, left to right:  Vera Hope Barbosa Stowell, Shirley Patricia Hogan O'Brien (born 1928), Catherine Emma Holderman Williamson Dobecka (1927-2010), Miriam Catherine Jamail Perkins (1927-2004), and Katherine (or Catherine or Kathryn) Stringer.

Interestingly, Mom's classmate Vera Barbosa Stowell has a daughter named Cindy who was my classmate at St. Agnes Academy in Houston.


© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.

Mom "in backyard at 916 W. Gardner"

In the process of helping my parents move, I found some photos from my mother Geraldine's high school days at Incarnate Word Academy in Houston, Texas.  Here is one that really has nothing to do with school, other than having a girl who might be one of Mom's classmates in it.  The photo is labeled on the back with names and the words "in back yard at 916 W. Gardner."

From the left are my aunt and Mom's sister, Jo Ann Guokas, Barbara Alice Parker Bruder (1929-1999), and my mother Geraldine Margaret Guokas Pape.  Also in the photograph are "Duchess and her [six] pups."

I wasn't familiar with the 916 W. Gardner address in Houston, Texas, as being associated with my family - but sure enough, I found listings in the 1948 Houston city directory for my maternal grandfather Charles Guokas at that address (he was manager of Park-Ur-Car).  My mother also had her own listing - "student U of T."  The two-bedroom house, built in 1926 in the Greater Heights area, has been well-maintained (and updated) over the years.  In the photo above, you can see the house next door (at 912 W. Gardner) in the background, and the door to the detached garage for 916 is on the far right.


© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.

Remembering Dad

Above:  Dad cleans my car windows, 12 March 2006, Fredericksburg, Texas

I haven't been posting much for the last two months, even though I have plenty to write about, as my father, Fred Pape, passed away rather unexpectedly eight weeks ago, on November 6, 2017.  I am going to try to post a little more in the new year 2018, particularly photographs (especially since I found some I've never seen before in my parents' home).  This is one I've had for some time, but it says a lot about the kind of man Dad was.  Every time I would drive to visit my parents in Fredericksburg, Dad would clean my car windows before I left.


© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.