A Wider View

Suburban Chicago, April 1974. Mom knits while she visits with my Dad's paternal Aunt Victoria.

A Beloved Visitor

Suburban Chicago, April 1974. This is my Dad's parental Aunt, Victoria. This photo dates from the time Victoria stayed with us.

The Brooklyn Ladies

Brooklyn, New York, April 3, 1961. My paternal Grandmother Tatjana's Sister-in-Law, Victoria (second from left), sent this memento snapshot to Tatjana.

Scenic Overlook

New York, 1951. My Dad's maternal Aunt, Victoria, and Victoria's older daughter stop during one of the family drives along the Hudson River Valley.

Evening Knitting

Suburban Chicago, April 1974. My Mom and my Dad's paternal Aunt, Victoria, visit during Victoria's stay at our home.

A Break from the Drive

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Summer 1962. My Dad's twin sister Jonė, Dad's paternal Aunt Victoria, and my paternal Grandmother Tatjana visit Dad and Jonė's cousins at their summer place.

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

A Happy Visit

Great Neck, New York, 1985. I visit family while I'm at a professional convention. The woman on the left is one of my Dad's older cousins, and the woman on the right is her mother Victoria—the sister of my paternal Grandfather, Vytautas.

Baking Lesson

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Suburban Chicago, April 1974. My Dad's paternal Aunt, Victoria, and I make a Mazurka.

Reunited

Brooklyn, New York, March 28, 1948. My Dad's twin sister, Jonė, visits her cousins—the two daughters of Victoria—during the Easter holiday.

Tatjana describes the situation.

My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, arrived at the Schweinfurt DP camp in about 1946 and became active in the camp's administration. Before Tatjana settled in Schweinfurt—where her twins, my Dad and Jonė, also lived after the war—Tatjana briefly traveled in other parts of Bavaria while she was a Displaced Person.
 
Here is a postcard Tatjana sent to Jonė during this interval (probably in 1945): 
 

 
Tatjana wrote:

My most treasured Jonė, your aunt [Victoria] and I live in this hamlet, not far from the church, on the other side of the mountain. Yesterday we already rode 2000 meters to the top of the mountain by means of a particular funicular that takes wagons up a rail line to the very top, in the air. There, we drank coffee while sitting on the veranda and sunning ourselves. Although it was a hot day, it was rather chilly up there. We stood in line for three hours to get a ticket for the funicular. Tomorrow, if it doesn't rain, we're going to go to the mountain lake that isn't very far at all from the town—it's only about a one-hour walk. Today it rained a bit so we strolled around the shops. Beyond that, we're looking for a room because we've got to move out by Monday or Tuesday. We've also been looking for UNRRA because it's getting very difficult for us to find bread. Without a ration card we can't get a stamp—one must have a card in the first place to fashion a potato stamp. [DPs sometimes used halved potatoes to craft official-looking stamps that would pass at shops as legitimate documents.] There's no real UNRRA organization here; only a Ukrainian DP camp. [Here, there's a line I cannot read.] I'm quite worried about the bread situation, and it might be necessary for me to come back.

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

Cooling off the right way.

Palanga, Lithuania, about 1933. You've seen this group before in the "svimvear" post. Standing are: my paternal Grandfather, Vytautas; my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, and; Vytautas's sister, Victoria. In the water are: a boy I can't identify; my Dad, and; my Dad's twin sister, Jonė.

Outfitted

Kaunas, Lithuania, about 1936. This is one of my Dad's older cousins; she was the daughter of Dad's paternal Aunt Victoria.

Tender Hands

 

Kaunas, Lithuania, about 1927. My Dad's paternal Aunt, Victoria, poses with her older daughter.

Active Listeners

Brooklyn, New York, 1954. My maternal Grandfather, Jake, and—to his left—my Dad’s maternal Aunt, Victoria, listen at a family gathering.

Victoria, Later

Great Neck, New York, December 1985. The is my Dad's paternal Aunt, Victoria. She was very close to her Sister-in-Law, my paternal Grandmother Tatjana.

She was one of the most gentle people I have known.

Staging the Salon Shot

Šiauliai, Lithuania, about 1905 to 1910. A photographer must have caught this relaxed image before taking the more formal snapshot on the same day. My paternal Grandfather, Vytautas, again appears in the front, staring at the ceiling; this time, he's reclined against a family friend. The family friend chats with Vytautas's sister, Victoria. In the back, on the left, the dashing physician Charles leans into the shot's frame next to his wife, Stanislava.

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

In the Salon

Šiauliai, Lithuania, about 1905 to 1910. My Dad's cousin, Henry, sent this photo to my Dad's twin sister, Jonė. Henry did not identify each person in the image, but he did point out the people that matter to us. The boy sitting on the left, and looking off toward the ceiling, is my paternal Grandfather, Vytautas. My Dad looked a lot like him as a child. Standing behind Vytautas is the physician Charles and his wife—Vytautas's paternal aunt—Stanislava. Next to Stanislava is Henry's mother, Bronislava. The little girl standing in the front is Vytautas's sister, Victoria.

Henry added, at the end of his description, "With photos like this one, it's impossible to state a date precisely." Henry wrote "perhaps 1910" on this photo, but based on Vytautas's size, I think it might be closer to 1905.

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

More Clues

After I posted an early-twentieth-century photo of some relatives, my Toronto Cousin sent me an image of family members from about 1902. Only after I had looked at the photo for a while did I realize that I'd seen it before here. One of the persons in the photo was a well known pastor who was a pioneer of educational reform during the time Tsarist Russia still occupied Lithuania.

Panemunėlis, Lithuania, about 1902 to 1904. Seated, left to right: my paternal Grandfather's uncle, the priest; my paternal Grandfather, Vytautas, still a boy; Vytautas's mother, Salomea; Solomea's daughter, who died; Vytautas's sister, Victoria; Vytautas's paternal aunt, Stanislava. Standing, left to right: Charles, the first husband of Stanislava; a parish housekeeper; Bronislava, the mother of my Dad's cousins, Henry and Vytas; and Salomea's brother, Leo.

A housekeeper again appears in a family photo. You saw that occur earlier, here and here.

The males in my family strikingly resemble one another.

Victoria

Victoria was the sister of my paternal Grandfather, Vytautas. I've posted about her here and here.

Victoria helped our family when her sister-in-law, my paternal Grandmother Tatjana, was dying from ovarian cancer. Victoria flew in from New York and stayed with us for several weeks. Victoria was eighty years old then, and she did not drive. Every morning, she walked the two miles to visit Tatjana in her hospital room. When Victoria returned to the house in the afternoons, she cooked our dinners. Her visit straddled the Easter holiday, and Victoria baked some lovely delicacies for our holiday table. We still have a few of her handwritten recipes.

I loved her very much, and I visited again with her in the mid-1980s.

Kaunas, Lithuania, about 1936. Here is Victoria, in her prime.

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Suburban Chicago, April 1974. Victoria and my Mom relax in the living room during Victoria's stay with us. There's Mom's knitting bag!

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Suburban Chicago, April 1974. Our Poodle, Gigi, liked Victoria, too.

A Gathering in the Garden

Kaunas, Lithuania, 1936. This snapshot of my Dad's extended family was taken on the same day as this "cousins" photo. My Dad, flashing a satisfied smile, is the only subject wearing eye glasses. To Dad's left stands his twin sister, Jonė. Behind my Dad is his mother, my paternal Grandmother Tatjana, who looks serene. Her husband, my paternal Grandfather, Vytautas, is behind her.

The woman standing next to Tatjana is her beloved sister-in-law, Victoria, a sibling of Tatjana's husband, Vytautas. You've seen images of Victoria earlier here and here. The gentleman on Tatjana's left is Victoria's husband, and the three young people standing behind and in front of Victoria are her children. I earlier posted a photo of many of these family members together here.

Check out the coats and the karakul neck wraps.

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making this photo available to us. It's pretty exciting when I see a photo like this one for the first time.