Exchanging Portraits (Part 61)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, October 21, 1938. Here is another high-school portrait of Joy.

A Friend's Mother

 

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, November 11, 1978. This is the mother of my Mom's friend Joy. On the back of this photo, Joy wrote, "This is my Mama, Marija, in Kaunas when she reached her 80th birthday. From 1941 she endured 17 years in the Siberian prison camp, along the shores of the Laptev Sea. We survived those years in Stalin's prison listening to propaganda."

A Closer Look (Part 63)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, 1910. This is my maternal Grandmother Jadzė. Here's the original post.

A Closer Look (Part 44)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, 1925. Mom focuses on the photographer.

Here's the original post.

A Closer Look (Part 42)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, 1925. This is my maternal Grandmother,  Jadzė.

Here's the original post.

A Closer Look (Part 35)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, 1927. This is my Great-Grandmother Zigmunta. Although she married a clever and curious man, Zigmunta remained unhappy. After the war, Zigmunta lived with her daughter, Dora, in the house my Mom's parents had built.

Here's the original post.

A Closer Look (Part 24)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, December 24, 1936. This is my maternal Grandmother, Jadzė. The family resemblance is clear in this photo.

Here's the original post.

A Closer Look (Part 16)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, December 24, 1936. My Mom cherishes her Christmas gift. The doll may be wearing Polish folkdress; Mom's maternal Grandmother, Zigmunta, was Polish.

Here's the original post for this photo.

A Closer Look (Part 15)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, December 24, 1936. My Mom's maternal Grandmother, Zigmunta, holds one of the "Pupsikas" dogs.

Here's the original post for this photo.

A Closer Look (Part 8)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, 1927. This is Edvardas, my Mom's maternal Uncle. Edvardas was a pianist (like his father, Silvestras). He graduated from the Königsberg Sondershausen music conservatory. After finishing school, Edvardas did not find a job as a professional musician in Lithuania. He instead worked as a secretary at the Army College where his sister Jadzė's husband—my maternal Grandfather, Jake—was an officer.

One evening, when the family gathered for dinner at the home of my Mom's maternal Grandparents, Edvardas complained of a stomach ache. Jake thought the problem was not serious and insisted Edvardas drink a shot of brandy spiked with ground black pepper to alleviate the pain. Edvardas suffered a ruptured appendix and died shortly after that meal. He was 29 years old.

A Closer Look (Part 4)

 

Mariampolis, Lithuania, 1920. This is my Mom's maternal Grandmother, Zigmunta. She's here, in her later years. Here's the original post.

A Closer Look (Part 2)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, 1927. The early photos of my Mom's maternal aunt, Dora, in part prompted me to start this blog. Here's a close up of Dora from a family photo.

A Closer Look (Part 1)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, 1927. This is a closeup from one of the first photos I posted on the blog. This is my Mom's maternal Grandfather, Silvestras. He's the relative she most loved, and Mom talks about him often.

We celebrate Kūčios together.

Mariampolis, Lithuania, December 24, 1936. I posted this photo earlier here, but it's the one that comes to mind for me on Christmas Eve. We'll be sharing the Kūčios meal later tonight.

Exchanging Portraits (Part 11)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, March 24, 1937. This is a school portrait of my Mom's friend, Joy.

Keeping close people close at Christmas.

Mariampolis, Lithuania, December 25, 1936. My Mom and her family spend Christmas with her maternal Grandparents. Mom stands in the back row, with her eyes closed. Her friend Joy stands next to Mom, and Joy's father is behind Mom. My maternal Grandmother, Jadzė, is in the front, at the left, wearing the dress with the funky spoke design. Next to Jadzė is Joy's mother, and next to her, Joy's Grandmother.

Here's another photo from the same celebration.

Sentimental Value

A friend popped in for a lovely visit yesterday. In the course of reviewing some of the old photos I have scanned for this blog, we stumbled upon the original snapshot of the 1936 Kaunas flood. My Dad had described that flood earnestly to his Father, Vytautas, who was traveling in Belgium, in a note that filled the back of the photo.

Vytautas's trip to Belgium loomed large in our family's history. Perhaps in the mid-1930s, people considered a trip from Lithuania to Belgium a big expedition. I suppose for people who lived in a country that was the size of West Virginia, a journey that took longer than a few hours was significant. My Mom, for example, remembers packing lunches, blankets, and other "long distance" supplies for the train trip from Mom's hometown of Kaunas to Mariampolis, where her maternal Grandparents lived. Those two Lithuanian cities stand about one hundred kilometers apart.

Alternatively, maybe the Belgian trip glowed in everyone's memory because it represented a significant milestone in Vytautas's career. Vytautas, who was an officer in the Lithuanian Army, traveled to Belgium to purchase supplies for the Army. (I've wondered why Vytautas was not in uniform when he traveled to Belgium.)

Just as I'd been thinking about that Belgian trip again, my Toronto Cousin last night coincidentally sent me a photograph of the souvenir brass bell that Vytautas brought from Bruges in 1936 as a gift for his wife, my paternal Grandmother Tatjana.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, July 2012. The brassy gal from Bruges has stayed shiny.

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making this photo available to us.

Looking Grown-up

Mariampolis, Lithuania, Autumn 1940. Members of my Mom's high-school class make a senior-year trip to the city of Mariampolis. The girls wear their uniform caps, and lay teachers, on the right, are serving as chaperones.

"We all were together; everyone was happy then."

That's what my Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora, wrote* on the back of this photo when she mailed it to my Mom later, in the 1960s. Dora, of course, was shading a memory with the taint of future events.

My Mom's family traveled every Christmas from their home in Kaunas to Mariampolis, where my Mom's maternal Grandparents lived. The family made the trip by train. Back then, the 51 kilometer journey seemed like a long haul. My maternal Grandmother, Jadzė, packed sandwiches for the trip, and the train rattled along for over three hours, stopping at every small station on the way.

My Mom's maternal Grandfather, Silvestras, greeted the family as it arrived at the Mariampolis station. Silvestras rented a horse-drawn sleigh for the occasion, and he tied bells to the reins.

The visit to Mariampolis was a chance for Mom again to spend time with her friend Joy. My Mom's family and Joy's family celebrated Christmas Day together.

Mariampolis, Lithuania, December 25, 1936. In the center of the shot stands my Mom, with her hair in braids and her eyes partially closed. Jadzė is in front of Mom and quickly turns to her left to look at her uniformed husband, Jake. Joy is behind my Mom's right shoulder, stepping up on her toes and looking to her left over everyone. Dora is directly to my Mom's right; she's easy to identify because of her dimple. The other folks are Joy's Parents and relatives.

*     *     *     *    *

* "Čia Marijampolėje pas mus Kalėdos; visi buvome kartu, visi laimingi …"

Cheer up everybody; Kūčios is almost here.

Kūčios, or Christmas Eve, is a magical time of traditions and love. Santa Claus delivers gifts to Lithuanian children on the evening of Kūčios because Lithuanian boys and girls are extra special.

Mariampolis, Lithuania, December 24, 1936. Kūčios evening. My Mom, with braids, holds a doll outfitted in folkdress. That doll likely was her Christmas gift that year. Seated from left to right are my maternal Grandfather Jake, my Mom's maternal Grandfather Silvestras, my Mom's maternal Aunt Dora, my Mom's maternal Grandmother Zigmunta, and my Maternal Grandmother Jadzė.

Zigmunta is holding "Pupsikas," her little fawn Chihuahua dog.