52 Ancestors: Sports - Ardee News Sports Reporter

My dad, Gordon Levy, was the sports reporter for the Ardee News in 1946.  He talked about his time writing for them but until recently, I thought he was referring to the RD News.  Oh how I wished I'd spent some time talking about it with him.

The Ardee News star reporter is on the job

On February 6, 1946, Dad wrote home to his parents from his post at Furstenfeldbruck, Germany - or as he sometimes called it, "Firstandthirdbase".

Our little paper (one of which was mailed to you the other day) has finally undergone an organization which made one of the veterans an editor.  In turn, the new ed made me sports chief – which should pan out pretty nicely.  Later on in the spring and summer, they are planning on a large sports program here which will include everything from track to baseball to swimming and ping pong.  So we should have quite a bit of fun trying to build up interest – that’s right up our alley.  Maybe one of these days I’ll take Harry Truman’s place as man of the year on Time’s cover.

He left me a few of the "papers", although it's confusing to me that these are from mid-January, 1946 and his letters home stated he arrived in Furstenfeldbruck on January 24.  Maybe these papers were published en route?  Or maybe the Wooster Booster was a separate publication from the Ardee News?

The Wooster Booster, January 9, 1946

It's hard to read but at the bottom left it shows a list of the staff and shows Dad as Editor.  Hmmmm.

And, of course, my photographer-wannabe father had to take pictures (with captions!)  Boy, I'm glad he did!  Here's a few.

These were the Eagles

Babich Field on opening day

We always play hard

Jungle press box, constructed for Ardee News 'good afternoon baseball fans'

Giant Babich Field scoreboard

It wasn't just baseball - here's the Soldier's Field pool.

And track stadium in Nurnberg.  This field was the scene of Hitler's pageants and in 1946 was owned and operated by the 26th Infantry Blue Spades.

Looks like he even took in some volleyball in Furstenfeldbruck.

The Ardee News on the spot at an Archway Court volleyball game in Furstenfeldbruck

I'm so glad my dad left me some tidbits about his time in Germany.  I hope that one day I run across some of the newspaper articles he wrote.

52 Ancestors: Preservation - Blog Books

A few months ago I shared that I wanted to get back to publishing my blog into books.  In 2011 I published a book using blurb.com of my first year's blog posts to give to my Mom as a Christmas gift, which she seemed to really love.  When we next were together, we had such fun looking through the book and talking about her family.

I'm the little one in the front.

It was fun to do and since she seemed to enjoy it, I made another one in 2012.

Four generations of women in my family

2x great grandmother, great grandmother, grandmother, 3x great grandmother

And then it happened.  In May, 2013 Mom passed away and when the holidays approached that year, I just couldn't face making another book since it felt like there was no one to gift it to.  So I took a pass.

And that pass lasted for eight more years until just a few months ago when it occurred to me that I needed to preserve my blog in different ways.  Maybe, just maybe, long after I'm gone a descendant will come across it and learn more about those ancestors who came before them.  So it was time to get serious and get those years documented in print form.

Naturally, my first stop was blurb.com since I'd had such success with it before.  Unfortunately, blurb had discontinued the service of "slurping" a blog which would mean I'd have to figure out another way.  A blogging friend, Wendy, commented that one way to do it would be to cut and paste.  Duh, why hadn't I thought of that?  So I started to explore that option.  After a lot of cutting and a lot of pasting, I was close to the finish line when I realized that for a 130 page soft cover book, the cost was going to be $82.  Not bad for one but I had nine books to make so that was looking to be a hefty price tag.

Come on, there had to be another option.  And then another blogging friend, Amy, said that she prints her blog books using lulu.com so I explored that option and sure enough, the same book in hard cover would be $27.  SCORE!  So off I went.....

The books would be slightly larger and I'd have to change the cover a bit and it was fun to find a special photo to put on the covers.  It wasn't long before I had my first two books in hand - the end of 2012 and all of 2013 in two different books.  I was thrilled!

Left - Me drying a bowl, Right - my great grandfather, Herman Levy

I was hooked!  Sure it was labor intensive but by putting it in Word I was able to re-format and size things before I converted into a pdf.  Lulu was fairly easy to use and I got it down to a routine.  And then when I got an e-mail from Lulu and realized I could take advantage of their discounts at certain times, I got even more enthused.  It wasn't long before the 2014 book was complete!

Santa Cruz High School Graduating class, 1890, Bertha Schwartz (great grandmother) standing on right

And on it went until I completed through 2020.  What a collection I have!

So that's how I've preserved my blog - I am so happy I finally took the plunge and completed it.  Next up, publishing all of the letters my dad wrote to his parents and the pictures he took when he was in the Army in 1945-1946.  Working on a title for that now.......

52 Ancestors: Steps - Hills of Eternity

When I saw the blog prompt Steps, I immediately thought of a very special step at Hills of Eternity Memorial Park in Colma, California.

Yes, that step shows the name Gunzendorfer, which was the family name of my paternal grandmother.  There are several Gunzendorfers buried at Hills of Eternity.  The family plot shows a few.

Ferdinand and Fannie, seen in the foreground, were my second great grandparents.  They spent the later years of their lives in Monterey - I'm not sure what took them to the San Francisco area for burial.  To the right of the Gunzendorfer monument is their grandson (my grandmother's brother), Wilton, who was placed there after his death in 1989.

From the Hills of Eternity website:

Judaism views death as a natural part of life.  Hills of Eternity Memorial Park honors the two basic principles that are part of this natural life cycle:  k'vod ha-mayat - the dignified and respectful treatment of the dead - and k'vod he-chai - the honored treatment of the mourners.

Congregation Sherith Israel established its first cemetery in accordance with these principles when it was founded in 1850.  The cemetery was located in Pacific Heights on Vallejo Street, between Gough and Franklin [San Francisco].  In 1860, Sherith Israel dedicated its second cemetery in the area that is now Dolores Park.  Twenty nine years later, Sherith Israel's cemetery moved again to its current location in Colma.

I'm relieved to learn that the Gunzendorfers are interred in their original burial location.

Also from the website:

Hills of Eternity Memorial Park consists of twenty acres of graciously landscaped gardens at the foot of the San Bruno Mountains.  The grounds and mausoleums are respectfully maintained under endowed care.  Fresh flower placements and grave ornamentation plantings add to the dignified beauty and serenity of the park.

Also at Hills of Eternity is the Portals of Eternity mausoleum and chapel, which was built in 1934, and was designed by Samuel Human and Abraham Appleton.

Photo by jcemsf.org

It is the Portals of Eternity Mausoleum where my great grandparents, Abraham and Bertha (Schwartz) Gunzendorfer, are interred.

It's hard to see but that's them in the center with the arrow pointing to their name.  I did not add that in the picture - the arrow is actually scratched etched into the plate.  Why would that have been done?  They are very high up so really no way for vandals to have been able to accomplish that.  A mystery, for sure.

Also interred at Hills of Eternity are some of the Steen family - Bertha's mother was a Steen and while she is not there, these are some of her relatives.

Interred here are:  Dena Steen (1866-1894), Hannah (Plotzky) Steen (1828-1909), Hyman Steen (1887-1924), Jacob Steen (1831-1909), Julius Steen (1862-1876), Lena (Jacobson) Steen (1848-1927), Meyer Steen (1861-1926), Rosalind Steen (1885-1902).  

I was so fortunate to have been able to spend time in this cemetery in 2012 and, hopefully, will be back again one day.