We have a serious side, and we have a comic side.

One of my Mom's paternal uncles, Cody Jr., was a dapper, worldly man. He studied in Paris. After Cody Jr. finished his university education, he got a job as an engineer in Warsaw. He became an expert in railroad development.

During the early part of World War II, the Soviet Union had occupied part of Poland. The Soviets then swallowed up Lithuania. It was during the Soviet occupation of both Poland and Lithuania that the Soviets returned the old capital, Vilnius, to Lithuanian "control."

Lithuanians had an expression for this: "Vilnius mūsų, o mes Rūsų" ("Vilnius belongs to us, and we belong to the Russians").

With these political shifts, the borders between Lithuania and Poland became easier to cross. In the past, relations between Poland and Lithuania had been tangled and strained, and people could not travel between the two countries.

When the travel restrictions eased, Cody Jr. drove his car to visit the family in Lithuania. Everyone was impressed that Cody Jr. had a vehicle and drove it himself all the way from far, far away, Poland.

Kaunas, Lithuania, Summer 1940. The family rejoices on the weighty occasion of a visit from Cody Jr. From left, my Mom, her paternal aunt, Mary, and my maternal Grandmother, Jadzė—holding a branch—stand in the front row. In the back stand my Mom's paternal uncles, Zigmas—without his eye glasses!!—and Cody Jr.

Kaunas, Lithuania, Summer 1940. The family rejoices on the lighthearted occasion of a visit from Cody Jr.

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This was the last time the family saw Cody Jr. Mom later heard from her maternal aunt, Dora, that Cody Jr. died in Poland in the early 1950s, and that there had been a prominent obituary in the Warsaw newspaper because he was a famous engineer.

Cody Jr. never married, and he never had children.