Random Memories of Germany

Wiesbaden-Part 1

SUNDAY MEMORIES

My husband, Fred, joined the U.S. Air Force following his college and seminary education.

While he had intended to go into full-time ministry, God had other plans for him.  He was sent to San Jose, California to attend a year’s study/training in meteorology at San Jose State College (now University).  

Credit Google Search and San Jose State University website

During our stay in California, he received follow-on orders to Wiesbaden, West Germany.  He was to be assigned to the Weather Unit there, for the Air Force.  We were both excited about the prospect of living in Germany.  I had never been out of the U.S. (except for a couple of visits to Mexico as a teenager), so this was an exciting time for me.

I was pregnant with our first child at the time we left for Germany, and was a bit concerned when our baby stopped moving after we arrived on German soil.  However, I think she was just tired from that 8-hour flight – as was I – because she picked up the pace after a good rest!

We delighted in Germany.  We were unable to get into American housing right away, and lived “on the economy” the first year we were there.  That was an amazing experience, as well.  We found a house that rented to Americans, and we lived on the entire second floor of this house. 

1967 – Wiesbaden, Germany – Upstairs is our apartment – with the balcony

We didn’t have any furniture, so we were glad to find this house was furnished, since we were only allotted 2,000 pounds of “furnishings” by the U.S. government.  We purchased a car (actually two separate cars while there), and set up for living.

There was a lot about Wiesbaden we loved.  We lived just down the street from a beautiful park.  Fred and I would take walks through the park, and later, after our Karen was born, we would take her on buggy walks through the park.  The German people – especially the women – would stop us and ohhh and ahhh over Karen, and we were pleased.  

The park where we walked

We had originally decided to attend the military base chapel on Sundays, since Fred had grown up in chapel, and his father was an Air Force chaplain, but give our tithe to the English-speaking Baptist Church we found in town.  However, after visiting the church a few times, some of the members of the church, convinced us that we should indeed, be members of that little church.  And so we did.  While there, they moved from the “cellar” where they met, into a more up-to-date building.  I began playing the piano for that congregation during that time, and played until we left Germany.  That’s where we met Frau Katie.  Quoting myself from another post I wrote about Wiesbaden:

There was a nursery there [in the church], that was manned by a lady they called Frau Katie.  I think she really took a shine to us, since I would take Karen down to the nursery and nurse her.  That was when a lot of American women were against nursing their babies, and only using bottles.  In any case, Karen became a favorite of hers.

Karen and Frau Katie

On one of our last trips before we rotated stateside, we asked Frau Katie to stay with Karen while we were gone.  We later discovered that she was teaching Karen to speak German!  That gave Karen a head-start on German when we returned to Germany 10 years later.

~~~~~~~~~~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.

Tags: 1967, Military family life, Wiesbaden Germany