SUNDAY MEMORIES
About half-way through Fred’s school at San Jose State College, my Dad died.
My Dad – his official photo
I was pregnant with our first child, and Daddy’s death hurt dreadfully. We already had our orders to go to Wiesbaden, West Germany, so Daddy knew it before he died. Mother came to visit us in Germany, and I so wished Daddy had lived to accompany her.
We sold our car, and flew from San Jose by helicopter (my first and only helicopter ride)
Credit Pixabay
to San Francisco, then flew to Albuquerque on a jet. We visited with my Mother, Aunt Jessie and Granny. As it turned out, Fred’s brother was graduating from the University of New Mexico at that same time, and Fred and Larry’s parents were in Albuquerque as well, so we were able to visit with them, too.
1967 – Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fred’s parents and his brother; My mother, Granny and Aunt Jessie – and me
We then flew to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to stay the night with Fred’s Aunt Anna and Uncle Lyn.
1966 – June – Philadelphia. Fred’s Aunt Anna and Uncle Lyn
The next day we went to the Pentagon to retrieve my Passport, which had not been finished before that. We then flew to Frankfurt, West Germany.
There was no base housing available for us when we arrived, so we contracted with a “local” to live in another furnished apartment, on the economy (that’s military speak for off-base housing). It was an upstairs apartment with two bedrooms and one bathroom.
1967 – Wiesbaden, Germany – Upstairs is our apartment – with the balcony
As an aside, the landlord and his wife were Herr Minor (pronounced meenor) and Frau Minor. She stated that we would be the last Americans she would rent to. Many years later, in 1982, we drove by that house. There was a gentleman outside, washing his car. It had an American license plate. I stopped to talk with him. I told him what Frau Minor had told us 15 years earlier, and he said she told him the same thing! Guess she liked the American money too much.
There was a fairly large room that was the living room and dining room combined. There was a balcony off the living room. The bathroom was next to the larger bedroom, the kitchen on the other side of the bathroom. We had a geyser in both the bathroom and kitchen (above the sink) for hot water. I didn’t understand how that could heat enough water for a tub bath (no shower), but it seemed to do the job nicely. There was a pantry/store room off the kitchen. The washer and dryer were in the kitchen. Unfortunately, they gave us a brand new wringer washing machine!! It ruined so many snaps and buttons on our clothes that I was ready to pitch it out the window!
The view out our back kitchen window
The second bedroom was opposite the kitchen. Down the hall was the bathroom, bedroom, and living room/dining room. Quite compact and open and airy. The heat was radiator heat, which was controlled by the landlord. After our Karen was born, they made sure we had enough heat in the winter to keep the house toasty and warm.
The house was just down the street from a beautiful park, and we would walk there and back quite often. After Karen was born, we would take her in the buggy for our walk. The German people – especially women – would stop us and ooh and aah over her. It was delightful living there.
The park where we walked
The church down the street. We always heard the bells ring
We lived on Albrecht Durer Strasse. He is the artist who painted The Praying Hands you might know. It’s come to mean a great deal to me, since we lived on the street named for him!
Credit Pixabay
We lived in that apartment for one year before we were able to get into a furnished government apartment. More on that next time.
~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~
Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.
Old Things R New 
Good post. I’m looking forward to the next one.
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