december 2010

It has been almost 3 months since Ihave had a chance to post time just seems to fly and here we are at the end of 2010.  I guess the most news is   the fall semester for Charlie is over and we got the three Christmas dolls done for the customers who wanted them for Christmas. 

Charlie made the deans list again which for me is no surprise as he is a perfectionist when it comes to his classes and school.  He participated in a class project runway show but did not place but he created a beautiful gown which you can see on his blog My Journey with Judy.blogspot.com.  Christmas has come and gone and we had a great time with the neighbors and Charlies family. 

I guess I have to confess to calling his brother and telling him we were tired of them just coming down eating and leaving.  So this year his mom and dad came at 11am and stayed till after five and for the first time you could not keep his mother quiet.  She talked incessantly and his  brother and his girlfriend, Paula came down later in the day.  We exchanged a few presents with his family but kept ours for christmas day.  Charlie got me a beautiful bracelet which I love and some dvds and a cd.  Christmas night we played scrabble with the neighbors and we will be spending New Years Eve there also, but it will not be late for me as I have to be at work at 5 a,m   Some ungodly hour to wipe ass, as Iwork in a nursing home.

I wish all who have been reading a happy and healthy new year. Chzrlie will be in school full time for the spring semester so basically our time together will be the weekends but you have to sacrifice something to obtain a greater plan for the future.

As I enter 2011 I am reminded so much of my mother who has been gone for 20 years.  I miss her but luckily I have a video tape of her last christmas and can still hear her voice whenever I want.  you make a new
family with friends and with Charlie.  He is the love of my life, my partner , the other half of me and I hope we continue to have a long time to share.  I remember so many Christmases of long ago with my previous partner and i truly wish i had them back to spend more time with my mother than was allowed in the previous relationship.  However time moves forward and you cannot regret the past just make the future a better place to be.
well I think I will close for now and until the next time peace love and joy

birthday 10 1 10

well it is the start of my 69th year.  where has the time all gone.  you turn around and everything you know has changed.  my parents are gone father died in 1969 my mother in 1990.  all of my brothers and sisters are gone except for donald who i do not talk to for reasons known to him and Butch who last heard of was in texas but probably will hear nothing more of him as the only phone number for me is our business phone.  although you only heard from Butch when he wanted something. i guess the circle of life is half a circle now and no one knows when the circle will be complete and their will be no one left.
 my
The greatest joy of my life is my partner Charlie.  I have loved  him since the first day i saw him.  He came to meet me and when i  opened the door there he stood in shorts. t shirt and ball cap looking ever so cute.
WE hit if off quite well and now its has been an enduring committment to ea ch other.  I often think of the times i drove to Cleveland to see him.  That was a rare and crazy thing.     I remember getting totally lost one time and his landlord wanted to know which direction the sun was.  I was in a desolate area and could have cared less where the hell the sun was. 

this the start of my 69th year i have to check to see about putting charlie on the deed to the house but first
have to make sure it will not interfere with his medicaid etc.  Will probably have our lawyer in Orrville check it out for me.  I must  protect him if something should happen to me.

well charlie is in school and doing quite well.  it will be a proud moment for me when he walks down the aisle for his diploma from Kent State.  He wants this so badly.  His family doesnt show much interest in what he is doing but thats just the way it is.  Thanksgiving is coming and i am sure they will be here for dinner which will be late afternoon as i work at the nursing home thanksgiving day.  No indication as to when i will leave that job probably not for a while unless something else presents itself.

what are my g oals for my 69th year.  I guess to grow old gracefully, develop the dolls business for a while longer, help charlie thru school keep him focused on what is important and look forward to celebrating the big 70 next october.  Not bad for an old man.

Thanks to all who sent birthday wishes hold onto them till next year maybe  i will have a big party

1955 was the first year of high school i remember having to walk to the old grade school to get the bus for transportation to high school.  occasionally i would walk which was about 4 miles and a long trek up the driveway to the school   i will have to find my yearbooks to see how many students actuially were in our classes  i dont think that many  maybe a 60 to 90  would really have to check the yearbooks to be susre.
i remember some of the teachers that taught us.  There was mary fletcher the latin teacher and shee also delivered eggs from her farm to my mothers house.  She also held a Roman banquet for every latin class she taught including the roasted pig and every one would dress in toga's etc for the event.  There was Sara Lawrence our typing and shorthand teacher,  yes i took those classes.  Never played sportsor anything and hated gym class.  we made a few new friends at high school since we graduated from catholic grade school and were interegrated with the public school kids who also started high school that year  well thats enough for now will have to look for the yearbooks and publish some photos from that time    till then  stay well

high school

well my next step was going to be about my high school days.  i will start with this past weekend in the newspaper was the obituary of dennis mobley one of our classmates from the class of 1959 at Northwest High School.  A very short obituary it was listing no survivors just calling hours.  I remember Dennis from prom and how he drove me and my prom date home as i did not have a car or drive then.  Fifty one years has passed since then and i never attended any of the reunions as I always felt that after 20 years and more what do you have in common anymore.  Dennis i never saw after graduation, he died on his farm whereever that was located.  I guess you can live  your whole life and when you die someone who knew you may read about your death but life will go on like it never happened.  I did not attend the calling hours for Dennis for that very reason that i have never seen or had contact with him in 50 years so should you show up at his funeral.  Hardly i guess though it is rather scary that someone your age that you knew is now no longer here.
 Is that perhaps a fear of your on death, maybe so. Although i believe there were other deaths from our class at and early age like Miguel Guzman and Jim Finefrock whose mother-in-law is now at Chapel Hill Community nursing home where i work part time so i guess the world becomes a small place after all.  I only
realized in the past few weeks that Jim's wife was connected to our class of 1959.  Well i will write more of our high school days another night. probably find a few pictures to post of graduation and prom i am sure I have them in the same box that i just found the most recent photos that i posted.  hope all of you who are reading this are enjoying

Graduation St. Phillips and James

Well here are the pictures.  My eight grade graduation from SS Philip & James Canal Fulton, Ohio with our parish priest Father Maurer who was our pastor for 36 years.  Also shown are pictures of various May Queen crownings held at the church every year.  Seems so long ago. Graduation from grade school was 1955. calculated to be 55 years ago.   Well this is the 68th year soon to change to 69 on October 1.  Scary thats one year from 70.  I guess my next entry will be about the high school years at Northwest as my family could not afford to send us to Catholic high school.  hope you enjoy the photos

Schooldays

well i have been trying to remember some more of the school days events.  some of the members of my class were Judy Burger. Louise Seifert Martha Blank Annette Schalmo Gary Heather Bob Mcfarland Ray Yurick Gary Stephan and the others i can mention when i find our graduation picture.
Every May was the Crowning of the May Queen and the stature of the Blessed Mother.  Asenior girl from the parish was named May Queen and  it was a formal event.   I think i have a pic of that also  I will have to go thru the box of pictures and see what i can find. 
We were taught how to sqaure dance by the nuns also.  Promenade and Dotsie Do  IMAGINE THAT
 I remember we had to play softball at recess and lunchtime in the school yard.  How i hated that as i couldnt hit the ball for the life of me.  No one wanted me on their team because i was so bad at sports. Except for one time i was up at the plate and i connected to the ball and it went flying.  Everyone was hollering run run run the bases for a home run.  Well i started running and it was then that everyone noticed that the Pitcher who  was Sister Mary St Joan had been knocked to the ground by my fly ball and the wind completely knocked out of her.  Om my god i guess you go to hell for almost killing a nun. 
That was the end of my softball games. I never played again.

grade school days

it has been a while since i posted so here we go.  i will talk about my grade shool years at St Philip and James.  we had three classrooms first and second grade were together, third fourth and fifth grades together and sixth seventh and eighth were together.  At that time we had 4 nuns from the Notre Dame Sisters whose motherhouse was in Cleveland. We had Sister Mary Ewaldo, Sister Mary Leoncia and Sister Mary ST Joan.
Sister Joan turned out to be our teacher for all eight grades of school.  Each year that we entered the next room for the higher grades so did Sister Joan thus she was our teacher for all eight grades of shool as SPJ.  there were 10  students in each of our classes and I believe that somewhere I have my eigth grade graduaion photo of our class taken with Father Maurer who was our pastor for 36 years untill his death.  That lengith of time is unheard of today in the church.  I will try to locate the photo and publish it at a later date. My family lived right across the street from the school as did some of the other students so we rarely got in trouble as all the nuns had to do was walk across the street to talk to your parents.  At that time the fee for attending SPG was $25.00 which was called you book bill, today the tuition is close to $2000  Quite a difference.  We attended mass every day before schoolas this was a requirement. The school is much different today of course but i remember our lunch room was in the basement with no windows and was often referred to as the dungeon.  The fourth nun mentioned above was the housekeeper a sweet little german woman who  spoke very little english.  The nuns would often in the spring and summer walked up and down their sidewalk praying their evening prayers or the rosary.  In those days nuns wore the traditional habits of their order. our class graduated in 1955 from SPJ and most of us went to Northwest High School only one or two attended Central Catholic High School as it was too expensive for most of the families at that time and there was no transportation to the school located in canton ohio.  i guess this is enough for this evening and will try to continue some tomorrow.

well two weeks have passed since i wrote anything  charlie was in the hospital with pnuemonia and other complications and is now home recovering.  he had to give up summer classes as it will take a little while for him to get back to  normal   a minor setback but he will be back in school in september.  i had some time off from work to spend with him  he has slept a lot but thats ok.  i went down to amish country to pick up the school bag we had made for him and stopped at Winesburg Meats and bought a few things  I used to take my mother their all the time when she was alive.  Nothingmuch has changed at the meat market still the same family running the business and the same employees.  Quite a record since my mother has been gone for 20 years this august. tomorrow i return to work for two d ays then off on saturday and work the 4th of july. will get back to the earlier times on the next posting   i am surprised that 40 people have viewed this already.

well it is saturday evening and so many memories come back about this sad sad day 56 yrs ago. charlie is still not feeling well and i am concerned that something  bad may happen to him  i am just not into posting much this eve

we are one day closer to the 13th and i will be attending mass this sunday just like i did 56 years ago. charlie has not been feeling all that great and has spent a lot of time sleeping  he is concerned with school starting monday  not in the mood to write much tonight

well i am going to jump ahead a bit here  this week june 13th is the 56th anniversary of my sister Theresa's death.  it hardly seems that it has been that long.  She was killed in a tragic traffic accident on 6 13 1954 the da y before my mother's birthday and anniversary.  I remember so well that sunday morning i woke up went downstairs and my mom and dad were dressed for the 10 oclock mass.  it was very unusual as my dad never went to mass ever so i decided i was going.  they tried to discourage me but i went against their judgement.  we lived across the street from the nuns convent and as i crossed to go the church Sister Joan came out and asked me how Theresa was and i replied that she was still sleeping.  It was her way of knowing that i did not know about the accident.  I went into the church and sat in the third row where all the students were expected to sit and Mass started.  After the reading of the gospel i heard Father Maurer say we would pray for the repose of the sould of Threresa Koenig and he started the traditional Our father, hail ma ry and glory be.  I wasnt sure what he had said and i was confused as to why we were saying prayers for the dead.

After Mass i crossed the street back to the house and when i walked in my mother was crying and many of the church members had come across the street to offer their sympathy.  I remember exactly my mother saying she always felt sorry for the mothers that this had happened too but she never expected it to happen to her.  She was devastated to say the least.  I remember how the neighbors brought food immediately and as Theresa's husband was in the Navy and stationed overseas it took a week to get him home.

my mother took us boys to the funeral home for a private viewing of my sister and for us we were so young it was our first experience with death.  It has always had a lasting impression on me.  I remember the funeral mass as i went up and sang with the choir.  When the mass was over i came down and stood with my parents as we walked to her gravesite behind the church.  The funeral luncheon was held in the basement of the church and i remember so many people crying. Including Mr Colopy the father of my sisters maid of honor at her wedding  She had only been married for 7 months.

I remember the day after the funeral my mother asked my to go over to the gravesite to make sure that the
funeral director and gathered all the cards from the enourmous amount of flowers that had been sent. I remember the grave was piled high with flowers and the casket spray of yellow roses my mother picked out.
I was twelve years old and turned 13 on 10 1 54.

i remember that before the funeral our class had committed to a cleveland indians ballgame and my mother insisted i go even tho i didnt want to.  Father Maurer accompanied us on that trip and he made a point to sit with me and made sure i was ok.  He was our paster for 36 years at St. Philip and James and was always a kind and generous man.  He also is buried on our church cemetery.

This sunday 6 13 10 i am having a mass read for Theresa as this year all falls on the days as it did 56 years ago and so many memories come flashing back this week.  We never heard from any of the families of the boys who hit her car broadside and i wonder today if any are still alive and if they even remember the tragic night in 1954.  I miss Theresa the most as i often wonder what her llife would have been as this year on November the second she would have been 76 years old.  She was 7 years older than me.  So if anyone reads this it is perhaps one of the darkest periods of my 68 years.  There are some other things to write about this time but will save it for its proper space in my blog

latest info in project runway

i learned today that the semi finalists will be notified by phone. thought it would make it easier to know how the contact would be made so i called their office in california and that is what we learned.  the selection process goes thru may 31st.

onto some more history.  After my sister graduated high school she went to work for carter lumber co in akron ohio.  she rode the bus from canal fulton to akron.  yes indeed in those days we did have bus service. all the boys would sit on the porch waiting for her to come up over the hill from downtown where the bus left her off at 5pm every day.  once she was in sight we would run to meet her. i adored her.  i remember there was this contest at school selling subscriptions to the catholic exponet which was the paper published by the diocese of youngstown.  you had to sell 10 to attend the party which was held at the school for those who met their goal.  of  course i did not.  so that day Theresa took us to the school playgrounnd on the swings etc and sister joan came out and they needed another person to square dance and she wanted to know if i would join the party.  i refused because i did not want to give up the time were spending with theresa.

it is strange some of the things you remember from childhood and the rejection that came with defeat of an
activity sponsored by the school.  i remember the spelling bee i lost in 8th grade to gary stephan he won the trip to washington dc and i lost.  i never made it to washington until i reached the age of 62 and spent a week there hitting every tourist spot there was to see

well i think this is enough for tonight   will post again

well last night charlie and i went to playhouse square to see august osage county  if it is in your area go see it 
it was great funny and dramatic

back to some history  my sister theresa was in here senior year when we came to canal fulton, previously she had attended Central Catholic High in Reading Pa so it was difficult for her to leave all her friends in Reading and make new ones here in Canal Fulton.  Remembering that the town then was very small, around 250 residents everyone was related to someone except for the Koenig family who was not related to anyone and our nearest relatives were back in Reading.

My brothers and I all were enrolled in Sts Philip & James School which was staffed by Notre Dame nuns from Chardon which is where their motherhouse was located.  Our school was staffed by three nuns for all eight grades with one nun as a housekeeper.  Needless to say our school was very small  If I remember correctly there were 12 students in my class all the way through eighth grade.

will continue with more of this on the next posting  till then  enjoy

project runway

well charlie has sent his application to project runway.  Semi-finalists will be selected from April 26th thur may 21st so i guess all will be pins and needles till this time passes.

more on the family   My mother, sister, myself and 4 of my brothers traveled by train from reading pa to the fine city of canal fulton .  If anyone can remember we actually had passenger trains that stopped in canal fulton  by the old feed mill.  I remember when we got to our new house, the neighbor Pearl Doxsee immediately came over with two apple pies to welcome us. Pearl was a lovely lady and has long since passed away . Her husband charlie preceded her in death and i would visit Pearl often and she would always have a treat with tea or  coffee  Her and her husband are buried in the Union cemetery along with many of the old neighbors from days gone by.

I think this is enough for today will continue again soon   Jim

day after easter

work today was the usual fast pace working short of aids as usual but i would like to go ba ck and talk a little further about my godmother.

I remember surprising her with a visit when i was around 30.   I was visiting Reading and decided to stroll down Mulberry St. and see my grandmother old house and then came 223 1/2 Mulberry St. home of Anna and Tony Dietz.  I remember ringing the door bell and a few minutes later Anna looking very stoutly wearing a buster brown haircut and the typical grandma glasses appeared.  Her smile was instaneous and she knew immemdiately who I was.  It was as if time had stopped for her and her little Jimmy was back.  I cant remember much of what we talked about but i do remember her very plain living room narrow and not to roomy as she lived in a sandstone row house.  As i said in previous post she nurtured almost 100 children, many into adulthood so i am sure some of our conversation was about those children .  There isn't much else  I can remember of that time so this will be the last reference to my dear Anna.

My parents were married at St Paul's in Reading on June 14 1924  I still have her wedding pictures in my living room .  I always thought they made such a striking couple.  Little can you tell from this picture the course their lives would take.

today was charlies first day back in class from easter break.  He scored another A- in his class and i will surely owe him a special day out if he makes the dean's list.  I am so proud of his accomlishments and how well he is doing on all his class projects and of course the runway shows.

well i guess this is enough for today .  over and out  jim

easter sunday 2010

charlies mom dad brother and nexphew were down for dinner at 3pm as i had to work at the nursing home today from 7  to 3.   they left almost immediately after dinner which upset charlie as they did not stay around to visit at all but for me that is nothing new.  I am used to their abrupt departures.

now i will reminiesce about my early years in Pa.  My parents lived with my maternal grandmother altho i do not remember much of this.  What i remember is that my dad was a drinker and lost our home in
Reading and it is not clear why he came to Canal Fulton.  Prior to us following him i remember we all lived with different people till my mother had enough money for train fare to Ohio.  I lived with my  godparents,Anna and Tony Dietz long time deceased and buried at Resuurection Cemetery in Reading.  I have visited their gravesites once on a visit back to Reading.  Anna was a great lady she took in many foster children and most stayed with her till adulthood.  All of us would have to attend Sunday Mass iregardless of your religious persuasion.  Each of us was given a nickel for the collection plate and she made sure we deposited it in the collection basket.  Anna and Tony ran a small candy store in the front of their house and comic books were bought and exchanged for a penny.  Anna had over a 100 foster children in her house of course not all at once.  The last one a Jewish boy was also expected to attend Mass and deposit his nickel in the collection. I often wonder if he is out there somewhere remembering Anna and her nickels.  After moving to Ohio Anna would send me a nickel every year on my birthday and lovingly remind me to place it in the collection basket on Sunday.  She is the fondest memory of my very early years and I shall always be grateful to her for her wisdom guidance and love.

Well what about   the pope, what are we to say about this mess.  Another scandal being covered up which when all is said and done another worthless apology from a pope regarding this sexual scandal now in Europe and some still here in the US. Charlie thinks here in the US we should all stop giving our money to the church in protest and all American clergy should ask the pope to resign.  Little hope of that happening

Well this is enough for this post  till tomorrow over and out  jim





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the beginning post to my new blog

well 68 years of living is perhaps a accomplishment for there are those who dont make it this far and there are those who go beyond . I guess this being the first post perhaps  i should start at the beginning on October 1, 1941 born this day to Genevieve and Paul Koenig in Reading Pa.  Perhaps looking back is an okay thing, but i think issues of today and the future may have more relevance for those who might view this post.  I am in the seventh year of my relationship with Charlie Dale, and we reside in Canal Fulton on the very street i was raised and grew to know who I am.  My family home is now the parking lot for SS. Philip and James Church which my family has attended since 1947.

It has changed considerably from the early days of about 110 families to now over 1700 give or take a few.  It was on Easter that i met Charlies family for the first time at his apartment in Cleveland, Ohio.  Charlie made Leg of Lamb and Greek potatoes green beans and desert.  The table was fabulous as Charlie is a close kin to Martha Stewart. LOL So now Easter 2010 has arrived and tomorrow his family will be here for dinner which will be ham, sweet potatoes and corn and strawberry shortcake or fruits of the forest pie. How time has gone by. Charlie is doing a fashion runway show to benefit HUNGER and several weeks ago we had asked the priest, Father John to publish the event in the church buelletin and tonight we discovered he never did as he said he would.  Charlie was pissed so we had gone to the church early to see how the easter decorations looked and Father was there in the sacristy. 

Charlie confronted him about why the event was not published and he was politely told that only church related events made it in the buelletin.   Charlie reminded him of a previous sermon where he said the church had to reach out to the community.  Some reaching out but  then Father is biased against homosexuals and the probably how more to do with not printing the information on the event for HUNGER than anything else  The old adage you cant teach an old dog new tricks  or can you.  I  guess this is enough for my first post  hope  you enjoy reading and comments are appreciated  over and out till next time   jim