St. Kazimieras's Day

Kaunas, Lithuania, about 1926. Lithuanians celebrate name days, and today is one of the biggies: St. Kazimieras's day.

This is Kazimieras, my Dad's paternal Uncle. Here's the original post.

Taps

St. Casimir Catholic Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, November 14, 2015. We said goodbye.

Related by Marriage: Fiftieth Reunion

Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1997. Mr Irene's Mom joins her classmates from the St. Casimir Academy Class of 1947. (St. Casimir Academy later became Maria High School.)

Related by Marriage: Graduation Weekend

Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, June 1947. Here's the diploma Mr. Irene's Mom received when she graduated from high school. The school, St. Casimir Academy, became Maria High School.

Related by Marriage: Good Friday

St. Casimir Catholic Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, Easter 1938. Mr. Irene's maternal Grandparents, Stanley and Anna, visit a familiar spot.

Happy Dance

Suburban Chicago, about 1982. That's my friend Kris dancing with Dad, and Mom takes a spin with Uncle Al. Kris reports the group danced to the piano playing of Sister Bernarda (back visible on the right), a family friend and a member of the Sisters of St. Casimir. Sister Bernarda was a music teacher at Maria High School—the high school from which Mr. Irene's Mom graduated.

Thanks to my friend Kris for making this photo available to us.

Related by Marriage: Holy Communion (Part 21)

St. Casimir Catholic Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, 1939. Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother Anna, his Mom, and Anna's sister Petra stop by the cemetery after the Communion ceremony.

Related by Marriage: A Sunday Tradition

St. Casimir Catholic Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, about 1940. Mr. Irene's maternal Aunt Martha, his Mom, and his maternal Grandfather Stanley observe a tradition.

Here is where the Sisters rest.

St. Casimir Catholic Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, 1939. This spot—the area in which the nuns are buried—left an impression on Mr. Irene's Mom during one of her visits to the cemetery. On the back of the photo, she wrote, "Here is when Sisters die They bury them in the Holy Cashmers semtary."

Related by Marriage: Sunday at the Cemetery

St. Casimir Catholic Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, 1939. Mr. Irene's Mom and her Parents, Anna and Stanley, again visit the cemetery. Mr. Irene has stacks of photos in which family members pose around headstones. It's customary, I think, because of the comfort level with death and funerals. When Mr. Irene's maternal Aunt Martha died, for example, the family took many photos so that they could send the images to relatives still living in Lithuania.

Related by Marriage: Modeling the 1949 Plymouth

St. Casimir Catholic Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, 1949. Mr. Irene's Mom pauses next to the 1949 Plymouth.

Related by Marriage: Visiting the Cemetery

I listened to a radio program today that touched on the subject of how different cultures treat the dead. It's not uncommon in Europe, where space is tight, to move bodies after decedents have been laid to rest for a few years. In Venice, for example, burial plots are so hard to secure that people can't expect to "rest" on the cemetery island but for a few years. Most European countries also don't engage in the practice of embalming the dead.

In this country, we have large cemeteries, and families often expect to rest together in adjacent plots for eternity.

St. Casimir Catholic Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, Easter 1938. Mr. Irene's maternal Aunt, Martha, his Mom, and his maternal Grandfather, Stanley,  and maternal Great-Aunt, Petra, visit the cemetery.