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| Bertha Schwartz |
While I love this photo of Birdie and will cherish it always, what I love most is the story that's been told about it for many, many years. You see, this photo was always proudly displayed in my parents' living room - always in the same spot and I can't remember a time when it wasn't there. You can see it in its place of honor below.
Growing up, I really don't remember "knowing" this person or how she was related to me. Over the years I learned her name was Birdie but I really didn't connect the dots who she was. Do children ever think about the fact that their grandmother wasn't always "old" or that she, in fact, was once a child and had a - gasp - mother? But as the years went by I learned her name and who she was. Did Loraine ever talk about her or even mention it was her mother as a young child? I'm guessing she did but like most children, I didn't pay attention.
I don't know if it was just parental bias but over the years I heard on many occasions that I looked just like Loraine and her mother, Birdie. And now that I've done research, learned about them, and have so many photos of them, I'm honored to think that someone saw a family resemblance. Here's a photo of the two of them together, shortly after Loraine was born.
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| Loraine Gunzendorfer and Bertha (Schwartz) Gunzendorfer c. 1896 |
So I pulled out some photos of me at about the same age to see if I could see the resemblance. Sadly, I don't see it but it was fun taking a stroll down memory lane.
I don't see it when I compare Birdie's high school graduation day to that same day in my life.
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| Bertha Schwartz, Santa Cruz High School, 1890 |
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| Debi Levy, Pioneer High School, |
Maybe I should look in the mirror and compare the current me to Birdie at about the same age :-)
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| Bertha (Schwartz) Gunzendorfer, 1944 |
From all the stories I've heard, Birdie was much loved by all. How I wish I'd known her!
Lovely photo, but I have to agree that I don't see much resemblance. Maybe in the nose and mouth? But you were both adorable!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Amy. I don't see it either but I always played along with my parents.
DeleteOh, also---for some reason this didn't come by email. I only noticed it on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteNever mind. It just arrived. It seems to take 24 hours from when you posted it on Facebook.
DeleteMy husband gets it via e-mail, as well, and it's normally the next day when he receives it.
DeleteI guess I never noticed before that it takes that long with Blogger. I know with my blog, the email is sent and arrives as soon as I click on Publish.
DeleteWhen I was very young I had an Aunt Netha. When I got old and started doing family history I realized Aunt Netha was my grandfather's sister. And wonder of wonders, Aunt Fern was her daughter!Either I never put it all together, it was never explained to me, or more likely I wasn't paying attention.
ReplyDeleteI think many of us didn't pay attention and now wish we had!
DeleteOK, so did you get a comment from me already as "Unknown"? I learned that there is a glitch between the updated Safari and Google. I guess that means I need to comment from my computer, not from my iPad. So what I said was that I like Birdie's picture and that it always had a prominent spot on that table. That is how my family operated too - once a picture was hung or a nick-nack placed, it stayed there forever. I had a photo of my grandaunt Velma at age 16 that my children always thought was a picture of me. I look at my daughter and granddaughter and see Velma and her sister Violetta. Funny how those genes shake out.
ReplyDeleteI did get an "unknown" comment about Aunt Netha. Was that you?
DeleteI've always wondered how the comments come through from my iPad.