Sunday's Obituary - Lorraine Ryan nee Kuehl

I posted a couple years back when my husband's, Aunt Lorraine was killed in a car accident. A man than never should have been behind the wheel of a car due to previous drunk driving convictions was driving. He wasn't drunk. He was on his phone and crossed the center line. Aunt Lorraine was killed and a sister that was in the passenger seat was seriously injured.

I didn't realize until recently that I had never actually posted her obituary. I want to remember her and I want others to remember her. She was a sweet, sweet woman and is missed by her family.

"Lorraine B. Ryan, 79, of Eden went to her heavenly home on Sat. May 19, 2012 at Theda Clark Hospital in Neenah. She was born November 26, 1932 in Barton, the daughter of the late Romand and Leona Boegel Kuehl. On May 24, 1952, she married Vincent Ryan at St. Kilian Catholic Church, St. Kilian. They farmed together in the town of Eden and she also worked at Mammoth Springs Canning Company in Eden. Lorraine was a member of Shepherd of the Hills Catholic Church and St. Mary's Christian Women. She worked at many of the parish's chicken dinners and enjoyed playing cards with her sisters. Most of all she enjoyed spending time with her family, especially her children and grandchildren. Survivors include her children, Diane (Richard) Blackmore of Eden, Mary (Charles) Kraft of Fond du Lac, Kathy (James) Uelmen of Kewaskum, Michael (Lori) Ryan of Eden, Patty (Mark) Watters of Fond du Lac and Joanne (Jim) Binder of Plymouth, her grandchildren, Ryan and Marissa Blackmore, Joshua, Katie, Kelly and Karissa Uelmen, Jennifer, Michelle, Matthew and Megan Ryan, Jasmine Watters and Julie and Josie Binder, her sister, Alice Wood of Eden, Helen Beisbier of Kewaskum and Dolores Cayemberg of Green Bay, other relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by her husband Vincent on June 13, 2000. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 7:00 PM, Tuesday, May 22nd at Shepherd of the Hills Catholic Church W1562 Hwy B Eden. Rev. Joseph Juknialis will officiate and burial will be Wednesday, May 23rd at 10:00 AM at St. Mary's Cemetery, Eden. Visitation will be at the church from 3:00 PM until time of Mass. Twohig Funeral Home, Fond du Lac, is serving the family with online guestbook and condolences at www.twohigfuneral.com"

Family Reunion Friday - Cayemberg Family 1951

Florence Cayemberg nee Villers with her 7 sons and 3 daughters at the
Cayemberg 14th reunion

Do my eyes deceive me? The "missing" reunion clipping. And by "missing" I mean I must have been tired and missed it because it was a post in my queue waiting to be edited.

This was a pretty significant reunion for me to "miss" in my tired-stupor to prep a post. It wasn't the 15th reunion...just the 14th, but what made it special was that all of Florence's seven sons and three daughters were there and they even got a group photo! Doesn't Florence look like one happy mom!?!?

The clipping is short and sweet, but it gives us a copy of the photo and that is incredibly special. It also says when Florence's husband, Eli, passed away. That's information I already had, but someone else might not have. It also helps to illustrate that Eli was only alive for about two of the reunions. It does make me wonder if they perhaps continued to have them to help Florence deal with his passing. They had been together for so long and perhaps the family getting together each year was a source of showing their love and remembering their parents. No doubt they loved the both to have had it continue for over 75 years!

Do you take pictures at your family reunions? Is one person in charge of taking candid shots? Do you schedule a group photo each reunion? Photos are a great way to remember the event and to show others that may have missed the reunion how much fun everyone had. If your attendance is taking a turn for the worse, make sure that you're having fun events and get pictures taken! You can post them on social media or email them out.** If you let those that missed the current year's reunion see all the fun that they missed perhaps they'll make more of an effort to get there the following year.

Taking pictures is also a great way to keep a history of the event. Create a "Family Reunion Scrapbook." It could be filled with only a few pictures each year and then you continue to add to the scrapbook year after year, or you can have a scrapbook for each year complete with a group photo, candid shots, attendance rosters and news clippings to display at future reunions.

And never forget the opportunity to take a group photo! When you send out your invitations to the reunion make sure that you state where and at what time the group photo will be taken. People like to come and go as they please. Stating when the photo will be taken will result in maximum participation. You don't want the time to be a surprise to attendees who might have other engagements earlier or later in the day that they have to be at. Family members missing a group photo because the information wasn't given to them is a sure fire way to stir up some bad feelings!

**When posting photos to social media make sure that you have permission if the site is open to the public. You especially want to avoid sharing photos of children in a public forum. There are plenty of social media sites that can be invitation only so that the general public cannot see the photos. This may seem unnecessary to many, but most parents will get quite upset about a picture of their child being in the public domain without permission. If you wish to give the local newspaper a copy of the group photo, take two. Get a group photo with everyone present and then let them know that you'll be submitting it to the newspaper and if anyone would like to not be in that photo to please step out while the second photo is taken. Easy solution!

Picture caption reads:  "Mrs. Eli Cayemberg, center in the front row, had her seven sons and three daughters with her recently when the family celebrated its 14th annual reunion in Pamperin park.  Other in the front row, from left, are:  Wilfred, Felix, Henry and Walter.  In the back row, same order, are the rest of the children:  Patrick, Mrs. Harvey Moureau, Mrs. Eli Cravillion, Mrs. Russell Anderson, Frank and Joseph."

Main article:

"Cayemberg Family Has 14th Reunion (handwritten 1951)

When the Cayemberg family reunion was held Sunday in Pamperin park, the seven sons and three daughters of Mrs. Eli Cayemberg of Pulaski were all present.  Grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and other relatives and friends brought the total number of guests at the dinner to 131.

This is the 14th annual reunion of the Cayembergs, who choose several members each year to take charge of the affair.  This year's committee consisted of Wallace Guillette of Tonet, chairman, Mrs. Loyde (sic) Cravillion, Luxemburg, and Mrs. Roland Cayemberg of Green Bay.  The affair is held the first Sunday in June each year.

The seven sons of Mrs Cayemberg are Frank, Joseph and Patrick Cayemberg of Green Bay, Henry and Wilfred, Manitowoc, Felix, Ensign, Mich., and Walter, on the family homestead in Pulaski, where Mrs. Cayemberg, who is 81, makes her home.

The daughters are Mrs. Russell Anderson and Mrs. Harvey Moureau of Green Bay, and Mrs, Eli Cravillion of Tonet.  Mr. Cayemberg died 12 years ago and a daughter, Mrs. Hubert Guillette, 30 years ago.

Eight new grandchildren, all born since the last reunion, were present at the celebration this year.  It is planned to hold it in Pamperin park again next year (sic)."

The clipping was taken from a scrapbook handed down to me by my mother in law.  No newspaper name was given, but other reunion articles were from the Green Bay Press Gazette.

Tuesday's Tip - Don't Rely on the Search Engine

Don't get angry when you don't find what you're
looking for in the main search engine. Look under
more specific databases!

So after being out of the genealogical loop for awhile I finally found the motivation (and time) to get back into things.  I started by going through my family tree and verifying that everything was sourced and had been researched to the best of my abilities.  A daunting task, but one that needed doing.  So I came across a couple in my tree that I hadn't been very good at getting information for.  I had a tombstone, knew who they belonged to by talking with family, but not much else.

I was looking at the tombstone for this couple, one Raymond and Hazel Herman buried in Union Cemetery in Dodge County, Wisconsin, when I noticed that Raymond died in 1959 at the age of about 39.  How young.  How sad.  I also noticed his wife outlived him by quite a lot and passed in 2006.  I did a search on Ancestry for Raymond Herman and got a bunch of nothing regarding his death.  This was before the SSDI really covered much so I wasn't too hopeful there.  I did find an obituary for his wife, Hazel, fairly easily.  The obit was wonderful and told me when they were married and the year for when he died.  Well, that's lovely, and very useful, but I wanted more of a date.  Even a month to go with that year would help.  A location of death would help too although looking at her obit I could narrow it down to Kohlsville, Washington County, WI.  Still I didn't want to be looking through an entire year's worth of obits to try to find Raymond.

So I jumped to the Ancestry.com homepage and clicked on the link for Birth, Marriage, and Death Records and saw a link on the far right under "Featured Collections" where I could search their entire card catalog.  I typed in "Wisconsin".  I was delighted when I saw that there was a death record index from 1959-1997.  I entered Raymond's name and it popped up as easy as that.  I have no idea why it didn't come up in my main search.  I had his name spelled the same as it appeared in the death record, but it took me actually searching that specific database to get anything.  Now I know that Raymond died on December 14th, 1959 and I can try to find an obituary or request a death certificate for him.  I need to verify that this Raymond truly was the child of Valentine and Hulda Herman.  Now I can get a little closer to doing just that.

Bottom line though...search engines can be temperamental. You can put your information into the main engine and find very little that is relevant to the person you're looking for, but if you perform the same search in a specific database, it can yield genealogical gold!

Happy hunting!

Family Reunion Friday - Cayemberg Family 1952

So my Cayemberg family reunion clippings had a gap between the 1947 and 1952 reunion. The reunion in 1952 was the 15th. Perhaps that was the reason for the gap. Perhaps the missing years were placed somewhere else or lost. Hard to tell, but I'll be looking for those years in the newspapers when I go home this December.

As you can read from the two clippings transcribed below, the Cayemberg reunions were in honor of Eli and Florence Cayemberg nee Villers and after they passed the reunions were for their descendants. Are your family reunions held in honor of someone in particular or of a family event?

"(Handwritten '1952')

Dinner was served to 132 members of the Cayemberg family at Pamperin Park, Green Bay, Sunday, Chairmen of the reunion were Patrick Cayemberg, Green Bay; Mrs. Wilfred Cayemberg and Mrs. Henry Cayemberg, Manitowoc.

A corsage and gift was presented to Mrs. Eli Cayemberg, Pulaski, who is 82 years old.  Her youngest sister, Mrs. Agnes Tardiff, Duluth, Minn., attended the reunion.  Mrs. Tardiff whose last visit to Green Bay was 38 years ago is a guest at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Cayemberg, Green Bay.

Mrs. Eli Cayemberg is the mother of 10 children, three daughters and seven sons.  She has 44 grandchildren and 38 great grandchildren.  Two sons, Wilfred and Henry Cayemberg reside in Manitowoc.

One grandchild and five great grandchildren were added to the family during the past year.  Members attended from Algoma, Rio Creek, Casco, Luxemburg, Martinville, Dyckesville, Tonet, Manitowoc, Pulaski, Kunish, Anston, Two Rivers, Duluth, Minn., and Esign, Mich.  Next year's reunion will be held at Pamperin Park, June 7, 1953.  Chairmen of the coming event will be Harvey Mourlau (sic) and Mrs. Cyril Blohowiak, Green Bay, and Mrs. Donald Nellis, Dyckesville."

And another clipping for the same reunion.  Almost verbatim with the only notable change being the address for Martin Cayemberg:

"132 Members of Cayemberg Family Hold Reunion (handwritten '1952')

An 11:30 dinner was served to 132 members of the Cayemberg family at Pamperin park Sunday.  Patrick Cayemberg and Mrs. Henry Cayemberg, Green Bay, and Mrs. Wilfred Cayemberg, Manitowoc, were chairmen of this year's event.

A corsage and gift was presented to Mrs. Eli Cayemberg, Pulaski, who is 82 years olf.  Her youngest sister, Mrs. Agnes Tardiff, came from Duluth, Minn., for the reunion.  Mrs. Tardiff, whose last visit to Green Bay was 38 years ago, is a house guest at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Cayemberg, 875 Shawano avenue.

One grandchild and five great-grandchildren were added to the family during the past year.  Members attended from Algoma, Rio Creek, Casco, Luxemburg, Martinville, Dyckesville, Tonet, Manitowoc, Pulaski, Kunesh, Anston, Two Rivers, Duluth, Minn., and Ensign, Mich., for the annual event.  Next year's reunion will be held at Pamperin park June 7.  Chairmen will be the Mmes. Harvey Moureau and Cyril Blohowiak, Green Bay, and Mrs. Donald Nellis, Dyckesville."

The clipping was taken from a scrapbook handed down to me by my mother in law.  No newspaper name was given, but other reunion articles were from the Green Bay Press Gazette.  One of these clippings was probably from a different paper since it is unlikely that the Press Gazette would have published the same article twice, even on different days.

Happy Veterans Day to All Those Who Served

(This is a repost from previous years to thank those that have served in the military and to remember those veterans in my family as well. New to the annual post is my step-father, James Trunzo!)

I want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has served honorably in our Armed Forces.  Without our service members past and present our country would not be where it is today. We would not have gained our independence, we would not have unified a divided country, we would not have stopped the atrocities of 2 World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. There are many conflicts not mentioned which do not make light of the sacrifices that servicemen and women made in them. Sometimes the sacrifice was in time away from family and long hours. At times it was witnessing the horrors of those wars or even succumbing valiantly to them.

Not everyone serves their country as a Veteran does and not everyone can or should. You are unique, respected and given a burden that many would not be able to bear. Whether you served many months or many years in our Armed Forces makes no difference. You served. Thank you!

I'd like to now pay tribute to my family members who have served (I hope I didn't miss any!).

SGT James E Trunzo - USA

  

Sunday's Obituary - Marie G. Turnbach nee Guckavan

Hazleton Standard Speaker,
12NOV2001, pg2

Marie Turnbach nee Guckavan was the mother of my cousin, William Turnbach Jr.  When I first started out researching my genealogy, my electronic path crossed Bill's quite quickly.  We corresponded by email and regular mail a few times.  He always was eager to share information with me and others researching our shared family history.  Bill was a wealth of knowledge and brought many of us in this line together to continue on even after he passed in 2006.

As I was looking through my family tree and updating sources I came across this obituary for his mom that had been clipped and mailed to me (now if only I could remember who sent it...).  It's an impressive obituary.  I like to think that Bill had a hand in writing it, especially considering all the wonderful information detailed in there.  I never actually met Bill or his mother, but I'm sure my mom, aunt and uncle may have considering her ties to education in the Hazleton area.  In fact many of my ancestors were educators as well and I'm sure they knew her.  So today I'm sharing this well done obituary for this busy force of a woman.

"Marie G. Turnbach

Marie G. Turnbach, 101, died Saturday evening at Mercy Center, Dallas, where she had been a resident for the past seven years.

Mrs. Turnbach would have celebrated her 102nd birthday in two weeks.

Born in McKee's Rocks, Allegheny County, she was the daughter of the late James D. and Catherine (Corrigan) Guckavan.

She attended St. Gabriel's High School, and was a graduate of Bloomsburg State Teachers College, Class of 1919.  Prior to marrying, she taught in the Hazleton public schools, and, in later years, had substituted in the Hazleton Area School District and at St. Gabriel's School, in the elementary grades.

Mrs. Turnbach, along with her husband, the late William M. Turnbach, founded the Turnbach Funeral Home (Inc.), Hazleton.

She was an active member of St. Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church, Hazleton, taught Confraternity of Christian Doctrine classes until the age of 90, and was one of the founders of the parish's Golden Agers, of which she served as president for two terms.

When Penn State University throated to close down the local campus, during the 1940s, Mrs. Turnbach was instrumental in maintaining a branch in the Hazleton area.  She served on the college's educational council for 30 years and served as treasurer for 25 years.

Preceding her in death, in addition to her parents and husband, were her son, James A. Turnbach, local funeral director and former mayor of Hazleton; and daughters, Sister Marie Turnbach and Kathleen Finn.

Surviving are a son, William M. Turnbach, Trappe: daughters, Sister Ann Turnbach, Dalla, and Beth Turnbach, Hazleton; 15 grandchildren; 30 great-grandchildren; and a sister, Sister Elizabeth Guckavan, Dallas.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in the Blessed Sacrement Chapel of Mercy Center, Dallas.

Burial will take place in St. Gabriel's Cemetery, Hazleton.

Friends may call at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel on Tuesday from 4 to 8 p.m. and Wednesday from 9 to 10:15 a.m.

Donations to the Sisters of Mercy Retirement Fund, Mercy Center, Lake Street, Dallas, Pa., 18612 or to the memorial fund of St. Gabriel's R.C. Church, 122 S. Wyoming St., Hazleton, Pa. 18201 would be appreciated by the family.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Turnbach Funeral Home Inc., 423 W. Broad St., Hazleton."

Family Reunion Friday - Cayemberg Family 1947

The Cayemberg reunion in its 10th year reached 114 people in attendance. Not too shabby if you ask me and by the looks of it they had a pretty good time. I talked previously about the need to have games at the reunion. Here you can see that they played baseball and tennis, but they could have played almost anything as long as it appealed to the family. It's important to know what your group enjoys to do!

There are plenty of free tools online that you can use to take a survey. Just do a search and see which one you find most user friendly. If you don't want to deal with creating an online survey just ask people! Does your committee use social media? Put the question out there! If you aren't using social media, why aren't you using social media?!?!?!

If your reunion hasn't made it into the 21st century with technology, that's OK. You can always ask for input at planning meetings or even at the current reunion. What better place to corner a group and ask what they'd like to do to keep them coming back. Just remember that asking and not following through with any of the suggestions is more likely to frustrate than invigorate.

Don't be afraid to ask for input and don't be too big for your britches to use ideas that don't appeal to you. I know that I'm not a tennis player....come to think of it, I'm fairly pathetic at any sport...but if people told me they wanted tennis, or baseball, or arm wrestling for that matter, I'd want to make them happy. Heck, as long as I'm physically able I'd get in there and participate. They'd probably go home with some comical memories of their relative that smacked herself in the face with a tennis racquet! Just make memories and keep them coming back!

"Cayemberg Family Has 10th Reunion

(Handwritten '1947')

Four generations of the Cayemberg family, totaling 114 persons, met at Pemperin park Sunday for the family's tenth family reunion.

The reunion began at noon with a dinner for the family and baseball and tennis were played in the afternoon.  Races were won by Wally Cayemberg, Shelley Jean Guillette, Anston; Ben Matuszak, Algoma; Florence and Cy Blohowiak, Denmark; Bob Fellows, Shirley Cayemberg, Manitowoc, and Marie Cayemberg, Ensign, Mich.

Mrs. Frank Motquin won the door prize which was made by Mrs. Florence Cayemberg, who is the grandmother of the family and spoke at the dinner.  Mrs. Harvey Moureau and Mrs. Russell Anderson were chairmen of this year's reunion.

Mrs. Joseph Wattawa, Reedsville, and Mrs. Rose Christianson, Casco, have been named chairmen of the June, 1948, reunion.

Members of the family from Ensign, Mich., Milwaukee, Reedsville, Casco, New Franken, Luxemberg, Algoma, Manitowoc, Two Rivers, Rosiere, Sawyer, Anston, Pulask, Kunesh and Rio Creek attended the family celebratino (sic)."

The clipping was taken from a scrapbook handed down to me by my mother in law.  No newspaper name was given, but other reunion articles were from the Green Bay Press Gazette.