Christmas program 2011, HHBC

Lydia Martin (Amy's granddaughter) playing flute to accompany a girls' ensemble

Erie Times News 7/21/11: LOVED BY EVERYBODY

"Friends remember local soldier killed in Afghanistan"

The flag at Millcreek American Legion Post 773 is at half staff for the man some thought might be its commander one day.

Staff Sgt. Kenneth R VanGiesen, 30, of Millcreek Township was an active member of the local post. He was killed Monday in Afghanistan when a roadside bomb exploded near his convoy outside of Bagram.

Post members got word of VanGiesen's death early Tuesday and immediately lowered the flag at the post home at 4109 W. 12th St., in his honor. The post color guard will escort VanGiesen's body to Kane, the sergeant's hometown, later this week, post Commander Ben Suchocki said.

"It is so sad," Suchocki said. "Ken was the future of this post. He was up and coming. I was hoping someday he'd be commander." VanGiesen's close friend, Adam Kernohan, doesn't doubt that. VanGiesen had made friends at the post and in Erie since moving to the area about six years ago, Kernohan said. "Ken was just a good guy. He was loved by everybody." Kernohan said. "He didn't have an enemy at all.

Van Giesen joined the Pennsylvania National Guard after his graduation from Kane Area High School in 1999 and had served four tours of active duty: in Germany, in Iraq with the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team and later with the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team and most recently in Afghanistan, a Pennsylvania National Guard spokesman said.

Two more PA National Guard soldiers died along with VanGiesen in Monday's explosion. Funeral services for VanGiesen were incomplete Wednesday.

Aunt Lois sent this article to the family. "Thought you might be interested in this article that made the front page today. The Kane branch of the Van Giesens are not on our family tree but I remember going there to visit them once, stopping for pictures at the Kinzua Bridge."

Girls and their cars

Aunt Jeanie agreed to let me post this classic story --

Grandma Sophie in Jeanies painted car.

One night Amy and I were talking about the ice man and rag man in Erie and were trying to think of other memories from the past. We remembered the time we were going back home from the Lake Erie Bible Conference. Riding with me, besides Amy, were Barbara Shull and Janice Shreve. Here’s what happened:

Having saved enough money from my first job after graduating from school, I made my first major purchase; an old ’35 Ford coupé with rumble seat. Being fortunate in having a brother who was a car nut, he put fender skirts on it and painted it a deep maroon. And with its white sidewall tires it was a classy looking little car and my favorite of all the cars I’ve owned since then, but it also gave me the most trouble.

The most memorable experience I had in it was one evening when my sister, two girl friends and I were on our way home from summer camp. As it was too windy to ride in the back, we were all crowded in the front. Cars weren’t as spacious as they are now, so the girl next to me had to shift the gears.

Everything was fine until we started through the city (Erie) and had to stop at a traffic light. The motor stalled. We yelled to the driver behind to give us a push. At the next light the coupé stalled again. The man gave us another push, and we arrived at the next intersection just as the light turned red. This time our pusher, either weary of pushing us or in a hurry to be on his way, pulled around us and disappeared into the night.

I decided, once we were started by another kindly soul, to go through a quieter part of the city. Bypassing numerous stop signs, we went several blocks until I noticed a red light a few hundred feet away. Quickly, I turned down a dark street, only to find ourselves between two railroad tracks that intersected a few yards ahead. As the girls hopped out to push I told them that once the motor started I couldn’t stop, and they’d have to get in while the car was in motion. So once the ignition caught they ran alongside and jumped in one after the other. Thank heavens for running boards!

With all safely aboard and laughing till tears came to our eyes, we managed to get through the city without having to stop. Luckily, no policemen spotted us, as I not only went through stop signs but 2 or 3 red lights.

One of the girls lived midway between the city and my hometown. We stopped to let her off, and the inevitable happened. Her father, whom I believe knew less about mechanics then we did, came out to have a look. I can’t remember his lifting the hood to look at the motor, but he did shine his flash under the dashboard! Can’t imagine what he expected to find there.

After a few minutes we waved down a passing motorist who nudged us on our way.

As we neared our hometown the only problem facing us was in leaving off our other friend, as it was quite late and there’d be no one about to push us. Our friend decided to jump out while the car was in motion. Slowing down as much as I dared, she opened the door and jumped. We turned around to see her lying flat on her stomach in the middle of the deserted street, waving frantically for us to keep going, which we did.

Jeanie adds, "I wrote up this account and sent it to the Reader’s Digest. They paid for funny stories. But I never heard from them. During my early years in NYC I went to all kinds of evening classes. Once I took a writing class at the YWCA, and the teacher told us to bring in things we had written. So I brought in this story, and she liked it. She even read it to the class! I would love to have had a video of that experience!


LATER: Jeanie dug up these pictures of the actual car before it was painted. She said Uncle Ray painted it with a 1-1/2 inch brush! Wow, that must have taken a long time.



Hey, this looks like a completely different car!



Even later: Here's the Ford with an array of mechanics underneath. Hmmm. That's a later model.

The rag man, the ice man, and gypsies

Uncle Ray wrote this remembrance:

Do any of you Van Giesen's remember our 23rd and Wayne times? I'm recall those gypsies that road around in wagons with horses pulling loads of old clothing,tires, bags of rags, and what all.........I remember him hollering "R-r-r-r-ags r r r r akes or wrecks- - -wrecks!!!" Wonder what happened to those folks........ And he used to roll those R's......

That prompted this reflection from Aunt Jeanie:

I remember the rag man in Erie, but I didn't know he was a gypsy. I also remember the ice man. Lots of our nephews and nieces have no clue why we had an ice man, but before we had refrigerators we had ice boxes. The ice man would bring a huge hunk of ice, with tongs, and slip it into the top of the ice box. In the summertime, we loved it when he came as we would get little pieces of ice to crunch on. Can't remember exactly where we picked these pieces up.

That, in turn, prompted my mom (Amy) to ask if anyone remembered Gypsy Smith. Aunt Jeanie Googled him and found this information:

Rodney "Gypsy" Smith 1860-1947 British evangelist. Gypsy Smith was born in England. His mother died when he was a small boy. His father led him to Christ at the age of 15. Two years later, Smith joined General William Booth's mission, and began preaching to crowds that numbered from 100 to 1,500. He conducted evangelistic campaigns in the United States and Scotland for over 70 years. He came to America 30 times and preached around the world twice. In the Paris Opera House he had 150 conversions out of the cream of Parisian society. He was a contemporary of Fanny Crosby and G. Campbell Morgan.

Gipsy Smith was, perhaps, the best loved evangelist of all time. When he would give his life story, the crowds that came to hear usually overflowed the halls and auditoriums. His trips across the Atlantic Ocean were so numerous that historians seemingly disagree on the exact number. Born in a gypsy tent six miles northeast of London, at Epping Forest, he received no education. The family made a living selling baskets, tinware and clothespegs. His father, Cornelius, and his mother, Mary (Polly) Welch, provided a home that was happy in the gypsy wagon, despite the fact that father played his violin in the pubs at this time. Young Rodney would dance and collect money for the entertainment. Yet he never drank or smoked, which may have contributed to his longevity. Cornelius was in and out of jail for various offenses, usually because he couldn't afford to pay his fines. Here he first heard the gospel from the lips of a prison chaplain. He tried to explain to his dying wife what he heard. http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=145

A chorus of frogs, with robins

This is a little off topic, but I wanted a place on the web to embed this video. It's out my (Michele's) backdoor. The frogs were so loud! You might have to turn down your volume. One robin was on the corner of the fence -- hard to see -- and the other on the neighbor's garage (at left).

Amy's wedding shower

Back in 1954, my family gave me a shower for my wedding. Bob and I were married in June, but I can't remember when the shower was. But I recently came across a photo of me, Mama, Lois, and our Aunt Lillian (our father's sister). Oh, and there's a painting in the background that I did and had given it to Lois for her wedding in 1951. Don't you love the hairdos?

Ray's model airplanes

My mom (Amy) has fond memories of Uncle Ray's model airplanes. Anything you want to write about them, she'd love to read.

On June 21, 2011, Aunt Loie asked me to copy and paste her remembrances of Uncle Ray's airplanes:

“Our oldest sibling was Ray who is now 87 years old.  One of his longest lasting hobbies was making model airplanes out of balsa wood and paper and glue.  These he hung from his bedroom ceiling and there must have been at least 12-15 of the things.  Our mom was of the old school where boys didn’t do housework like dishes and making their beds.  So since there were four of us girls, we had to make our own beds and even Richie’s and Ray’s.  This really annoyed us and from then on, I resolved that if I ever had kids, the boys would do housework like the girls.

That wasn’t the most annoying thing because when you were making their bed, you got a knock on the head from the hanging models!  Not just once, but two or three times!  I can attest to the fact that when Skip, my oldest was in college, he was the only one in his dorm who made his bed and even got the ironing board out and ironed a couple of shirts!”

I'll give a few more instructions for posting a message. Click on 'comments' below this post. Type your memory in the box below 'Post a Comment.' When you're done, click the down arrow next to 'Comment As' and select a profile. If you belong to any of the ones listed, you can choose that, or just choose 'anonymous'. Be sure to put your name in the post!


Then click 'preview' to see if you like how it looks. Click 'edit' if you need to make any changes. Then click 'post comment' when you're finished.


When your comment is approved (by me; I get an email alerting me about a pending comment), it appears when you click '1 comments' or '2 comments' or however many there are for that post. Click that link to see comments.

Christmas memories

What were Christmases like in the VanGiesen home? What traditions from those days have you carried over to today, if any? Click 'comments' below to post a memory.

I love the riot of patterns in this photo of Grandma Sophie at Christmas!