Remembering Dad - It's Been Seven Years

Seven years ago, my father, Frederick Henry Pape, died rather suddenly at age 88.  It's the anniversary of the first of three family deaths that happened in NO-vember.  This photo was taken March 12, 2006, when I visited my parents at their post-retirement home in Fredericksburg, Texas.  Every time I visited, Dad would clean my windshield before I left.

© Amanda Pape - 2024 - e-mail me!

70 Years Ago...

...my parents, Geraldine Margaret Guokas (1928-2019) and Frederick Henry Pape (1929-2017) got married, September 11, 1954, at Annunciation Catholic Church in Houston, Texas.  This photo is from their reception at the Milford House.  The photo is by Kaye Marvins.

© Amanda Pape - 2024 - e-mail me!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My sweetie and I on May 13, 2006, the day I received my Master of Science in Library Science degree from the University of North Texas.

© Amanda Pape - 2024 - e-mail me!

Remembering Mom: It's Been Three Years

Geraldine Margaret Guokas Pape, October 19, 1928 - November 30, 2019

It's been three years now since I lost my mom, and I miss her.  This photo of her, taken sometime between 1998 and 2016,  is a favorite of my niece Madison Pape, who yesterday graduated from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland with a master's degree in sustainable development.

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

Happy Birthday to Mom in Heaven

Senior portrait for Geraldine Margaret Guokas Pape (1928-2019), Incarnate Word Academy, Houston, Texas, 1944-1945.

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

Happy Birthday to My Sweetie!

A picture from 40 years ago!  Breathless is reading an E&B Marine Supply catalog on Contigo, his 27-foot 1969 Pearson sailboat he'd bought about a year earlier.  I used this rather blurry picture to make a READ poster in a 23 Things activity on online image generators that my library did way back in 2008.

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

Happy Birthday to My Little Brother!

My brother Mark on his birthday in 1965.

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

Happy Birthday to My Son Eric!

 Eric at Dinosaur Valley State Park, March 6, 2017.

Animal sculptor Louis Paul Jonas built this 45-foot fiberglass Tyrannosaurus Rex model for Sinclair Oil Company's "Dinoland" exhibit at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair.  This statue, along with a 70-foot Apatosaurus, were acquired by the state park and were on display at the park's dedication on October 2, 1970.

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

Amanda Remembers "Amanda Remembers"

Genealogy guru Thomas MacEntee asked an interesting question today (in honor of Dr. Seuss Day - it's also National Read Across America Day) in his newsletter:

What children's book title would best describe your family history?

Amanda Remembers, by Robert Kraus, was one of the first books I got as a kid.  It was published in 1965, the year I turned age eight.  I picked this picture book out as a child simply because it had my first name on the cover.  Amanda was not a particularly popular given name the year I was born (I was named in honor of Texas Governor Miriam Amanda Ferguson), and there were very few children's books with an Amanda as a character, let alone the title character.

In the story, Amanda's mother has discarded Amanda's two favorite (but worn out) toys, a doll and a stuffed dog, and Amanda recalls memorable adventures with them.  (There is a happy ending.)  I love the soft colored pencil illustrations and the Victorian dress of the characters.  I still have a copy of this book on my shelves.

Anyway, Amanda Remembers is certainly an apt children's book title to describe my family history - or at least, my pursuit of it, especially through this blog.

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

My First Communion Dress - December 6, 1964

Continuing the theme of First Communion and the exchange of posts with my reader Aleksandra, here is a close-up picture of me on my First Communion Day, December 6, 1964.  

My mother made the dress, but the veil was store-bought (and later worn by my two sisters for their First Communions).  I can see in the photo that I am holding a prayer book and a rosary, which were probably gifts, and I also appear to be wearing a necklace, probably a religious medal.  I did get a little "remembrance" pamphlet (images of it are pictured below), but I don't remember getting something really cool like a wristwatch, as Aleksandra did in Poland!

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday to My Sister!

My sister Karen on her birthday, around 1960.  In the background is my mother's sewing machine, and a dress she was making for either Karen or me.

© Amanda Pape - 2021 - e-mail me!

Wordless Wednesday: Nana and Grandpa, Chicago, Christmastime 1951

Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape (1902-2000) and Paul Robert Pape Sr. (1896-1970) outside their home at 2093 W. Lunt Avenue, Chicago, Christmastime 1951. 

© Amanda Pape - 2020 - e-mail me!

Wordless Wednesday: Pape Family Christmas Tree, 1976

In the living room at 8015 Sharpview, Houston, Texas

© Amanda Pape - 2020 - e-mail me!

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Grandpa and Nana, Christmas 1953

My paternal grandparents, Paul Robert Pape Sr. and Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape, at either Christmas 1953 or 1951 (Dad was home at 2093 West Lunt Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, on leave from the Air Force, both times).  I think it is 1953, because of other pictures taken the same day.

© Amanda Pape - 2020 - e-mail me!

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Nana, Mare, Rho, Grandpa - Christmas 1953 (or 1951)

My paternal grandmother Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape, first cousins Marianne "Mare" Streff Gustafson and Rosemary "Rho" Streff Grandusky, and paternal grandfather Paul Robert Pape Sr., at either Christmas 1953 or 1951 (Dad was home at 2093 West Lunt Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, on leave from the Air Force, both times).  I think it is 1953, because Mare would have been only 21 months old if it was 1951, and she looks a little older than that in this photo.

© Amanda Pape - 2020 - e-mail me!

(Almost-)Wordless Wednesday for Veterans Day

While looking for something else in the National Archives Catalog, I stumbled upon these Award Cards for the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal (with two Oak Leaf Clusters) awarded to my father, Frederick Henry Pape (1929-2017), during his service with the Air Force in Korea in 1952 and 1953:

Link to card above:  https://catalog.archives.gov/id/133422553/409/public?contributionType=comment

Link to card below:  https://catalog.archives.gov/id/143786352/241/public?contributionType=comment

The Award Cards collection spans the years 1942 to 1963.  The cards were transferred by the Air Force (and its World War II predecessor, the Army Air Forces) to the National Archives and Records Service in 1973 to be used to help recreate official military personnel files that had been destroyed by fire.

© Amanda Pape - 2020 - e-mail me!

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Ewald Pape and Family, Christmastime 1946

Recently I was contacted by a third cousin once removed named Rachel who is the great-granddaughter of Margaret "Grete" Pape Travaglini (1901-1988).  Grete is the first cousin of my grandfather Paul Robert Pape (1896-1970) and his siblings, and the youngest daughter of Lorenz Pape (1862-1932), my great-great uncle.  More about Margaret and her family in a future post.

Rachel sent me a number of pictures of Margaret and her family, including pictures of her with her full brother Lorenz Jr. (the only one of Lorenz Sr.'s children to stay in Germany), as well as from visits Margaret made with her half-brother, the Portland architect Ewald Theodore Pape (1894-1976), or that Ewald had sent to her.

Below is one of those pictures, from Christmas time in 1946, of Ewald (on the right) with his wife Alma D. Albert Pape (1898-1983) and son Albert "Bert" Theodore Pape (1928-2003).  Note the background - more about this in my next post!

© Amanda Pape - 2019 - e-mail me!

Wordless Wednesday: It's Been Two Years

Frederick Henry Pape, February 4, 1929 - November 6, 2017.

Photos taken in 1953.  Not sure who the little black dog belongs to.

© Amanda Pape - 2019 - e-mail me!

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday to My Baby Sister

Mary at Halloween 1968

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

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday to My Brother!

My brother Brian with our grandmother (at left), Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape (1902-2000), and aunt (at right), Rose Mary "Moe" Pape Dietz (1931-2007), in Florida in May 1997.


© Amanda Pape - 2019 - e-mail me!