Services for Uncle Chic

Please take a few minutes to send online condolences to Aunt Rita and her family.

 

The link to the website is here.

 

 

 

Uncle Chic: In Passing...

Received a text last night from my Cousin Bob G*l*nt* that Uncle Chic passed away yesterday (12/24) at the age of 90.

 

My condolences and prayers go out to Aunt Rita, her sons, and their families at this time.
 

 

 

 Above: Wedding day pic of Aunt Rita and Uncle "Chic" 

 

Gifted Again...60+ Years Later

For those who visit frequently, and recall two of my prior posts, you will recognize the items in the pic below. One of them will be a surprise Christmas gift to my Mom from all of us  - children and grandchildren - on Christmas Day.

 

And no...I'm not wrapping up the Victrola.

 

 

More pics in a few.

 

G.A.R. Baseball circa 1940-1941

 

From all the comments in the four GAR yearbooks I've found so far, my Uncle Raymond Raykovitz was quite a baseball player.

 

The two recent finds following Ray's picture below pretty much supports that fact.

 

The GAR Memorial High School baseball teams of the 1940 & 1941 seasons must have been something special to watch.

 

 

 

 

Expanding the Reach

Although I'm pretty sure I addressed this in a prior post, I don't have time to look for it right now. To wit, the 4th quarter is an incredibly busy time of year at work, and I mentioned that my frequency of posting was going to slow down a bit until January.

It has, and that will continue for the next few weeks. At this point I have one more post in mind for ~Christmas week, and another brewing in the background.

 

I'll address the latter first.

 

This blog is getting visitors from all over the planet, and the graphic above shows traffic from the top 5 countries. There are many more on the complete list, including Australia, Poland, France, etc. 

 

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, my Uncle Raymond did a great job writing names, dates and places on the back of most of his pictures. Many of the individual visits ( from foreign countries ) that I've seen on Statcounter came to this blog searching for the name "Raykovitz."

 

Perhaps, like me, they are searching for information about their ancestors, or researching names they found in photo albums, journals, etc. 

 

In an attempt to attract visitors from the families of individuals who are named on many of the photos in Ray's album from his time in New Zealand and Australia, one of the next posts I put together will contain a brief welcoming explanation/statement, followed by a simple list of names, dates and places that Ray wrote on the back of the dozens++ of photos in his album.

 

Going back to the days of CompuServe and Prodigy, I have been on the internet for 20+ years. Going back another decade or so, an integral part of my job was - and still is - to find people who don't want to be found.

 

Based upon online search triggers & tactics that have worked for me over the years, I'm going to turn the tables a little and put info out on the web that I want people to find.

 

Should be fun. Stay tuned.

 

Dads Razer & brush ( & whetstone )

Just another of the many finds over the past few weeks.

 

 

 

Based upon the info I've been able to find on the internet, the Pike Mfg. Co. sharpening stone may date back to the mid/late-1800's, while it appears the King Razor Mfg. Co., blade was made between 1911 & 1919.

 

 

 

 

The question I ask is:

Which "Dad" did this belong to? Was it my (maternal) grandfather's...or my great-grandfather's?

P.S.: The razor & whetstone were in a Loft's Milk Chocolate Kewpie Doll box. Based upon several old newspaper ads I found online, this box was from the early ~1930's.

Still looking for the brush...

        
  

Best Buddy Killed

Over the years, I've heard many differing accounts of how my Uncle Raymond M. Raykovitz died.

This continuation of the newspaper article from this prior post, coming from Ray's friend Joseph Sheridan, should answer any questions about what happened.

 

More in the days ahead.

Above:

 

Joe Sheridan, Ray Raykovitz, Dan Ugran.

 

 

Veterans Day 2013: The Old Breed

I spent most of my weekend in northeastern PA for a wedding and a separate family gathering. My in-laws live ~two blocks from St. Mary of the Maternity's cemetery in West Wyoming. I spent a few minutes there shortly after sunrise on Sunday, November 10th.

 

 

Above: A WWI (John) and a WWII (Stanley) veteran are buried here. 

Below: The Veterans Memorial at this cemetery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To all veterans: Thanks for your service.

 

 

Coal, Ice, Beer & Polkas

I'm sure many who visit, especially those who grew up in Wilkes-Barre, will remember many of these businesses that supported the first annual Mayflower Athletics dance over 70 years ago.

 

I mean, even my children went to Chet Zawilski's store at the corner of Meade and Dana.

 

Coal, Ice, Beer & Polkas. Remember those days?

 

 

 

Sept. 28, 1944 - The Ugran Letter

---------------------------------------------- 

"Even through your grief, you can well afford to be proud of your son --- he was a man, through and through! If this world had more men like him, there wouldn't be any wars, strifes, arguments or misunderstandings."

 

-  Pfc. Dan Ugran, USMC - Sept. 28, 1944 
----------------------------------------

I've been wanting to post this letter for quite some time. When I found it a few months back, I put it in a place that 'I wouldn't forget'. You know how that goes...

Without further comment, here's what Ray's family knows as "The Ugran Letter".

 

 

 

 

 

Powerful stuff...

  

Orloski - Stempien Wedding

Here's a pic of the wedding party of Ed and Helen ( Stempien ) Orloski. The Stempiens lived diagonally ( ~south )  across S. Meade Street from Aunt Soph's house. Their 40' x 200' lot ran from Meade Street to Kent Lane and was adjacent to the Raykovitz (Kent Lane) homestead.

 

 

 

Per my Mom:

 

L to R: Unknown, Stanley Raykovitz, Ring bearer unknown, Doris Orloski, Groom Ed Orloski, Bride Helen ( Stempien ) Orloski, Best Man unknown, Bernadette Gdovin, Leonard Orloski.

 

More to follow.

 

 

Certificate for Raymond: St. Joseph's Monastery

I still have an incredible amount of photos, newspaper clippings and other items that I hope to scan and post in the months ahead.

Here's something we found recently. The date the certificate was issued is nowhere to be found, but there are two dates printed on the document of 1928 and 1935.

Based upon other documents I've reviewed so far, I think Aunt Soph may have given this to Raymond before he went into the service, and the "D" and "OK" on left of the document were handwritten by censors going through Ray's belongings before they were sent back to his parents.

 

 

More in the weeks ahead.

 

USMC's Joseph Sheridan

I've been incredibly busy as of late, so I had to cut back on several "non-essential" activities, including the time I spend "blogging." I hope to get back in the swing of things soon, but more than likely...most of my updates will be on weekends going forward.

 

As offered a few posts ago, we recently discovered a photo album @ Kent Lane with many pictures of Raymond and his Marine Corps buddies taken during his time in the service, as well as other later articles like the one below.

 

The next few posts will include many of those photos and a few other recent finds.

Stay tuned.

 

  

Wedding Day Photo - August 1954

Here's a photo from my parent's wedding day. 

 

From L to R:

 

Front row seated: Aunt Stella and Aunt Helen

 

Back Row: Uncle John, his father John T. Raykovitz, the bride & groom, and the best man ( and my godfather ) William Martin.

 

I also found a few more mementos from Aunt Soph's house and yet another 48-star flag.

 

More to follow.

  

1937 GARCHIVE: EEK!

In talking to my Mom last weekend, she only recently discovered - by asking - that her sister Rita attended GAR Memorial High School in 7th and 8th grades before moving on to graduate from Marymount in 1942. 

 

I went back to the 1937 GARCHIVE and found a few pics of Rita and Ray.

 

 

 

Above: Rita added the "EEK!"...76 years ago! 

Below: Close-up of Rita as a 7th-grader.

 

 

Below: Pic of Raymond in 8th Grade. He was on the Jr. High Student Council.

Row 1, Seat 1...go figure!

 

  

More in the days ahead.

   

More finds...more memories

Just a few more of the pics, newspaper clippings and certificates that I've found in various spots over the past few weeks. Going through every box and looking at every scrap of folded paper takes a lot of time...but it's worth it to me. 

 

 

 

 

Below: Aunt ( Margaret ) Sue & Uncle ( Bernard Michael ) Mickey

 

Below: One of the many donations made to St. Mary's of the Maternity Parish

 

 

Below: My maternal great grandparents ( John's parents )  

 

 

 

Getting into a incredibly busy time of year @ work for the next ~two months.

 

I will continue to post as often as I can.

 

  

GAR Baseball, 1941 Graduation, Wood Shop

I spent Saturday and most of Sunday wading through even more boxes, nooks and crannies @ the family homestead. I'm physically beat this morning, so this will be a brief post.

Every time I think I won't be finding any more "stuff", I open another box or clear out another corner in the basement only to discover even more pieces of family history.

 

The newspaper clipping from ~1940 at the top of the blog ( and below ) was tucked away in a 1939 GARCHIVE - Raymond's sophomore year at GAR - and the Commencement Program from Raymond's graduation in 1941 was hidden in an old Easter card from much later.

 

 

 

  

Please check out on the GAR logo on the program's cover above, then check out this book rack and/or telephone stand I found tucked away in a corner of the back basement. I've seen enough "shop projects" over the years to believe this was made by someone in a woodworking-shop. To the semi-trained eye, there are enough minor imperfections to eliminate this from being mass-produced in a commercial factory setting.

 

I guess the question is: Who made this?  

 

 

 

Anyway, here's the rest of the GAR Memorial High School's 14th Annual Commencement Program from June 11th, 1941.

 

 

Above: Could you imagine trying to get "Rejoice in the Lord" approved as part of a public high school graduation program in 2013?

 

 

 

 

 

 

That tune will never be the same for me.

 

More to follow.