So what I've enjoyed the most about this little project of mine has been the new connections I've made with my cousins. And it's not just on the Ganzer side of the family. I've been chatting it up with the Beck relatives too. I see an offshoot of this site for the Becks in the future. (Nutshell...my mom's parents' families came from Finland/Russia and Sweden around the turn of the nineteenth century...you'd never tell by looking at us that we had Scandinavian heritage, right?)
Back to the new connections with the cousins. In particular Walt, my dad's 1st cousin. I met Walt when I was barely 5 years old on a road trip to California, and if I remember correctly he came through Wisconsin at some point in the 70s. Or was I hallucinating? Anyway. Back in 1969-ish my grandfather got a wild hair (hare?) to drive from Minneapolis to southern California to visit his brother. I may have this all wrong, but this is how I remember it. I was 5 for crying out loud.
Before we left on the trip we shopped for stuff to keep us busy in the car...like crayons, books, etc. This was a big deal because we couldn't open or play with any of the stuff we bought until we started the trip. So exciting!
There was a station wagon involved. So I'm not really sure how we made this happen. The travelers: Jack, Louise, Candy, Bob, Mary, Karen, me. In my opinion (as a rather open minded 50-something year old) this was a recipe for disaster, but as a 5 year old this was an amazing adventure! We had a mattress in the back. Seriously. A freaking mattress! I'm still trying to put all the pieces together of how it was decided that this was a good idea. Probably started with a "beer and a little one"...classic Jack.
I don't remember how long we visited with Uncle Bob and his family, Emma, Susanne, Steve, Walt and Jeff (and their great danes...and maybe a small dog too?) in California, but I thought they were so cool because they had a pool in their back yard. Sweet! I have no recollection of being in the pool, but I do have memories of a beach, Disney Land and Busch Gardens. Disney Land is my biggest memory. I got to ride in the tea cups and the Small World, but Candy and Walt got ride the Matterhorn. Cooler than cool in the eyes of a 5 year old.
So there's my first California vacation in three paragraphs. But this isn't about a road trip, it's about an email I got from Walt the other day. The part about not being able to shut his dad up cracked me up. I wonder if the reel-to-reel audio tapes that Bob and Jack sent back and forth still exist...but I digress.
Here's the email from Walt:
These are some photos you probably already have. The last photo is of uncle Harold(Bob and Jack’s uncle. I believe Harold was his middle name. He served in WWI in the rainbow division(Douglas MacArthur’s division). My dad once said he was a chauffeur for a general. Wouldn’t it be something if he was MacArthur’s driver. I’m sure if he was I would have heard about it. As you know Grandma Ganzer’s father died at a young age. My dad told me once that he was a Pullman railroad car painter and his death was caused by lead poisoning. I noticed some Whitney’s in the genealogy. When we were kids my dad always claimed we were a distant relation of Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin. Anyways thanks for the info. If my dad was alive you wouldn’t be able to shut him up about how he had a ancestor who came over on the Mayflower. WG
PS I believe my parents wedding reception was held at your great grandmother’s house. Anna Ray? If so that is where that one wedding picture was taken.
I'm thoroughly enjoying this, can you tell?
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