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. 

     

From Austria to America

I've had the trunk pictured above and below for over 30 years. According to my Mom, and this story dates back three or more decades as well, this trunk carried the belongings of my (maternal) great-grandparents - Stanley and Kathryn Rajkowicz - and their children when they emigrated from Austria to America.

 

Although the decades have taken their toll, especially on anything made of leather, structurally the trunk us in very good shape and, when I get some time in the years ahead, I may do some minor touchups and put it on display. For now, it's safely tucked away in storage.

 

 

 

 

More in a few.

  

 

To a great shortstop...

 

 

Here are a few more pics from Ray's 1941 GARCHIVE senior yearbook.

 

 

Seems like Ray wasn't afraid to get anyone's signature.

 

    

2 Local Men...

Folks, the amount of absolutely fascinating personal information in Raymond's 1941 GARCHIVE Yearbook is borderline overwhelming. Although I will be posting some additional pictures and comments over the next few weeks, I've decided to have a good quality copy made and distribute it to Ray's siblings and anyone else who wants a copy.

 

I'll get to that in the next month or so.

 

In the meantime, here's another recently found snippet from 1944.

 

    

 Of course, we all know Ray starred in baseball.