Building the Family Tree

 

Below: Stanley & Kathryn Rajkowicz, my maternal great-grandparents.

 

Stanley Rajkowicz: 1864-1933

 

 

Kathryn (Kras) Rajkowicz: 1871-1933

 

 

More to follow.

Thanksgiving Day 2014

 

My Mom & Aunt Helen joined us for Thanksgiving.

 

Below is a pic of them by the circa ~1917 Victrola that - according to the them - was from the Raykovitz family homestead on S. Meade Street. The wooden cabinet is in exceptional shape and the hand-cranked turntable still works.

 

Perhaps some day I'll put on a needle and see if the entire unit still works.

 

 

 

One Last Visit

 

The pic below is of my Mom - Mary Barbara (Raykovitz) Williams (right) & Aunt Helen (Raykovitz) Bolacker  - standing in the house they were born in one last time before it was sold in early October.

 

It was well worth the effort getting them there. The globe with the yellow roses and the small mirrored shadow box on the wall behind them graced those same spots over 60 years ago.

 

More in a future post.

   

 

May 28, 1944 - A Letter from PFC Dan Ugran, USMC

I thought when I wrote this post that I had actually found "The Ugran Letter" my Mom had talked about over the years.

 

I was wrong, and I am still pondering why - after all these years - my wife found this letter in an old GAR yearbook the night before we were taking my Mom & her sister Helen to their Kent Lane homestead - the house they were born in over 80 years ago - for one last visit before it was sold.

 

Without further adieu, here's a letter written by PFC Dan Ugran, USMC - over 70 years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below: My Mom reading the "Ugran Letter" in the kitchen on Kent Lane.

 

 

More in the days ahead.

  

Leaving & Living On

As best we can tell from the various Q&A sessions we've had with my Mom and her siblings, the rose bush in the pic above and below was planted at least 50 years ago. The hostas in the background - still flourishing - are even older...perhaps 80+ years. 

More than likely within the next 30 days, this property will be sold...outside the family.

 

The rose bush, a few pots of the hostas, perhaps a few lily of the valley plants, and a lifetime of good memories will leave that 40' x 100' lot and live on elsewhere.

 

We will send a few pics before we lock the door one last time and give the keys to someone else.

 

P.S.: Here's a pic of my Mom taken in 1953, when she was 21. You can see the hostas to the left and the 80+ year old privet hedges to the right.

 

 

    

 

The Rest of the Cradle...

In the last section of the basement that we are finally cleaning out...we found the following piece, which I immediately recognized as the other half of the cradle I found over a year ago.

 

This is very old, folks.

 

 

More to follow.

 

Another Family Heirloom Found...on Facebook?

The picture below, original frame and all, was delivered to me on Saturday by a friend and former neighbor from Meade Street who was in town for the day.

 

She acquired it, many years ago, when the family homestead ( my g-grandfather Stanley Rajkowicz's house across the street where she grew up ) was being emptied out. Through Facebook, she found out about this blog, told me about this picture, and asked if I would like it back. After confirming with my mother & Aunt Helen that they remembered the picture from the middle room of Aunt Sophie's home...I replied yes.

 

Yesterday, we swapped pics. I had found a very old picture of St. Cecelia - which no one seemed to remember - carefully wrapped and stored in the shed, and offered that in exchange for the pic below.
 

I think everyone was pleased with the outcome of a simple Facebook connection.

Best I can find about this pic on the web?

Sometime after 1900. 

 

 

Sorry about the recent slowdown in posts, folks.

 

Things will pick up once we get past September.

 

Be well.

 

Raykovitz Family Mass

A mass will be celebrated on Sunday, January 11, 2015. Special prayers will be offered for all members of the Raykovitz family, living & deceased.

 

The time: 11:15 a.m.

 

The place: Our Lady of Hope ( the former St. Mary's on Park Ave. )

 

Details in the weeks ahead.

  

Marymount High School: 5 x 80

For the record, and this may very well be one, there are FIVE siblings that attended Marymount High School in Wilkes-Barre, PA that are still alive and well...all in their 80's!

 

Additionally, one of them - Rita - is from Marymount's first graduating class!

 

To all the octogenarians from the Raykovitz family:

 

Rita, Stanley, Helen, Mary and Bernard Michael...

 

CONGRATS!

 

More in a few.

 

Memorial Day Service @ St.Mary's Cemetery

I attended the annual Memorial Day service for the first time. Helen (Raykovitz) Bolacker was there, along with many longtime friends from the old Mayflower and Heights sections of Wilkes-Barre. I'm glad I went, and I hope to be back next year.

Memorial Day 2014; Remember

 

To all:

 

The pics above, of my mother kneeling at the grave of her brother Raymond @ Arlington, span almost 57 years. In 2007, we took her to Washington to help celebrate her 75th birthday.

 

There's not much more that I can add.

 

Before the backyard cookouts...remember the reason for the holiday.

 

 

 

 

 

While in the service, Ray wrote an incredible number of letters to his parents.

 

I believe I have most of them.

 

 

 

Harold Raykovitz: 1927-2008

 

Yet another find in a drawer filled with memories.

 

 

 

 

Random Pics from the Past...and Present

Pictured above: 

I'm the geeky looking kid holding the pumpkin almost two months (?) after Halloween. My mother ( Mary Barbara (Raykovitz) Williams ) is holding my sister ( Diana Lee ), and her mother ( Mary Barbara (Geffert) Raykovitz ) is smiling down at all of us.

+  +  +

I recently received a copy of the photo below of my Uncle Tom Bolacker ( 1930-2014 ) when he was very young. Check out those socks!

I decided to post it here, along with a pic of him ( & family ) from the 1960's on the front porch of a home that several generations of the Raykovitz family visited over the years.

 

 

Below is a pic from my sister's wedding in October 1981.

 

To CR in Tacoma:

Two of "Slick's" brothers are in the pic: Carl (front left) & Mike (back right).

 

 

For those that have been visiting regularly, you know the story of Raymond Raykovitz's Marine Corps friend, Joe Sheridan. Several relatives commented that they had never seen pics of Joe after the war.

 

Here's a pic from their time in Australia.

 

And here are two pics from one of the last times the brothers and sisters of Raymond Raykovitz got together with Joe. He's on the left.

 

Even though Joe Sheridan survived his wounds, as you can see from the picture, he dealt with the aftermath his entire life.

 

 

 

Finally, speaking of homes owned by the Raykovitz clan in days gone by...anyone recognize this location? 

 

 

More in a few.

Middle Room in Mayflower Homestead

 

Above: Joe & Joan (cousins) in February 1968.

Below: The same room/view in April 2014.

 

 

 

 

I found the glass globe in the basement a few months back, along with the mirrored shadow box in the upper left of the first photo.

 

Note the still visible shadow on the wall where it once hung.

 

More pics to follow.

 

Happy Easter

Ray's Burial at Arlington

We have all seen pictures of war and its aftermath.

 

The one below, taken at Arlington in ( I believe ) December 1946, is pretty darn powerful in my book.

 

It was another recent find, with more to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Messenger: April 9, 1944

On this day in 1944, it was Easter Monday. My mother and her siblings did not have school that day,  and their father - my maternal grandfather - decided to take the day off from working in the coal mines, which according to my mom did not happen too often.

 

I don't have the time this morning to post the full story of what happened that day, but I will this weekend.

 

Stay tuned.

A Shot of Four Roses and a Cool Steg

My wife and I took my Mom & her sister Helen out for dinner to pre-celebrate my Mom's 82nd birthday last weekend. For a variety of reasons, we decided on going to Dukey's.

 

And guess what...we'll be back!

 

Good food, good prices, good service...and the place was packed. 

 

 

 

The conversation during dinner was wide-ranging, but at one point, I asked about my Mom's father and what type of beer he liked to drink. The unanimous answer was Stegmaier. And immediately thereafter, Aunt Helen added that he liked a shot of Four Roses from time to time, and that he did not like his beer cold.

 

More glimpses of the past...way too cool.

 

Now it's been at least 30 years since I was last at Dukey's, and probably just as long since I had a draught Stegmaier. As I was planning to drive home that evening, I wasn't able to do a shot of Four Roses, but in honor of days gone by and JTR...I will someday soon.

 

I will begin posting more regularly in the weeks ahead.

 

Ring a Ding-ding...do the Stegmaier thing!

 

 

Hudson Native Passes

Obituary here.

 

R.I.P., Uncle Tom.

 

 

 

 

 

19 June 1945: By Direction of the President...

 

Yesterday was another day of discovery in the Mayflower section of Wilkes-Barre. In the bottom drawer of a tool chest, which I was never able to kneel down and fully inspect until now, I saw some papers folded alongside a few old circular & jig saws.

 

This was an original document ( scotch tape & all ) among several others.

 

 

I also visited a local cemetery that, until recently, I did not know existed.

 

More on that in a few.

 

 

 

 

Remembering when...

The pic at the top of this blog, and below, is of a building - aka double block - in Wilkes-Barre Township that at one time housed a bar on one side ( right ) and the owner's residence on the left. If it were not for this blog, and my Mother's ( & others ) recall/description of its location, I never would have known of or found it.

 

 

More in the days to follow.