Old proverb: "To speak the names of the departed is to make them live again."

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Eva Dangca Lands Role in Classic Hit Musical

Eva Dangca, 10,  daughter of Allan and Anna Fieg Dangca of Oneonta,  has been cast in the role of cat in the all-singing,  all-dancing (no speaking) musical "Cats,"  an Orpheus Theatre production in Oneonta.

The former, long-running Broadway hit will open at Goodrich Theater on the campus of State University of New York,  College of Arts and Sciences.  In addition to a Friday afternoon show for school classes only,  tickets are now on sale for an 8 p.m. presentation Saturday,  Dec. 14,  and 2 p.m. Sunday Dec. 15.

Tickets are $15 but a block of family seats has been purchased by the family,  with Barbara and Dr. Edward Fieg,  Greg Fieg, John Roman, Diana Monaco and Bill Doyle among those expected to  attend.  Seats are still available at no cost, but must be claimed in advance.

The former Andrew Lloyd Webber production, based on "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T.S. Elliot tells the story of a tribe of phantom cats called the Jellicles and the night they make what is known as the "Jellicle Choice" to decide which cat will come alive.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Maxine Fieg Whiteside, 1926 - 2013

Maxine Fieg Whiteside
Maxine Fieg Whiteside, last survivor of seven siblings from an old Oneonta family, succumbed to cancer in Sioux City, Iowa, on Nov. 22.  She was 87.

Maxine was born at home at 10 N. Sixth St. on Sept. 23, 1926 to the late Lothar and Florence Shields Fieg.  She attended Oneonta public schools where she edited The Echo, the high school newspaper.  From her first year in school through her last, she was a straight-A student.

Retired Oneonta High School coach Tony Drago, her schoolmate and friend, remembered her not only for her intellect but also for a radiant and congenial personality.  "She was affable, always joyful, and very, very intelligent," he said.

In 1948 Maxine graduated with a bachelor's degree in education from State Teachers College in Oneonta (now SUCO) where she was Queen of the May, salutatorian and treasurer of her sorority, Alpha Sigma Alpha.  She was a member of the Oneonta Presbyterian Church where she sang alto in the choir.

Because of her academic standing she was recommended to continue to graduate school, earning her master's degree in education at the University of Iowa.  After marrying Dr. Robert Merl Whiteside of Storm Lake, Iowa, she set aside her plans to teach and together they raised four children in Sioux City. 

The couple was active in the community, where Maxine joined the American Association of University Women and the Junior League and founded a women's bridge club.  They were also members of the Sioux City Art Center.

Preceding her in death were her parents and her siblings Emilie Fieg McGonigal, Lothar E. 'Bud' Fieg Jr., Florence Fieg Bookhout, Franklin W. Fieg, V. Philip Fieg and Dorothy Fieg Roman.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by her children Marsha Adams of Dakota Dunes, S.D., Dr. Jeffrey Whiteside of Appleton, Wis., Anne Still of  Danville, In. and Robert Whiteside Jr. of West Branch, Iowa..  Also surviving are nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews and a sister-in-law, Jean Davie Fieg, of Greensboro, N.C.

To read more about Maxine Fieg Whiteside visit www.fiegfamily.blogspot.com

Sunday, November 17, 2013

A Letter From Syracuse

Philip Fieg, age 26, attending Syracuse University after returning home from World War II, found himself at odds with the dormitory proctor.

In letters to his girlfriend and future wife, Jean Davie -- letters now re-examined after more than six decades -- Philip philosophizes about the age-old conflict between labor and management.  Noting the differences between their backgrounds, he and proctor John Owens took their positions.  Wrote Philip, "If our backgrounds were exchanged, we would be arguing on opposite sides, I know."

He continued, "[It] is difficult to separate your logical thoughts from those which are the result of personal experience.  It takes a pretty great mind to see outside himself and desire what is best for all, rather than what is best for himself.  John thinks he is liberal enough to desire the greatest good for the greatest number, but what he really wants is the greatest good for his class -- even as [do] I."

In an attempt to offer a foundation for his views, Philip mused,  "(My father)...came to Oneonta with the desire to be his own boss, so he invested his savings, put two mortgages on his house, borrowed money and announced to the world that he was no longer Lothar Fieg, carpenter, but L. Fieg, Builder.

"He worked and worried through many years, maintaining a high order of honesty and integrity.  He attempted to do always the best job possible.  He was not afraid to work with his hands himself.

"... In the last half of the nineteenth century the wages his father earned as a stone cutter barely provided food and clothing for a family....  [Lothar] went to work when he was ten and worked for the rest of his life.

"He was intelligent enough to learn, though, and he taught himself estimating, construction formulae, the characteristics of wood and steel beams, concrete strength and the thousand-and-one things a builder must know.

"He could get along with ditch diggers and bankers, immigrant railroad workers who wanted a room plastered and the town's richest man (Edwin W. Elmore), owner of a feed mill, for whom he built a mansion on a hill.

"His work was enough for him, and as long as he could put food before his family and shoes on their feet (and socks three sizes too large for them, so that they must be turned under), he was satisfied.  He made no attempt to get rich.  He never drank when his children were small.

"The only recreation he allowed himself were occasional weekend motor trips.  He had no car.  When the family went on a trip they rode in the back of the truck on benches.

"Now he is 63, and he is beginning to wear out.  The machine was a good machine and it was kept in good running order by never being allowed to stop so long it got rusty.  But a machine must wear out.

"He is a Republican and a free-enterpriser, and the new government regulations and forms are an abomination to him.  Every year there is another form to fill out every month and another tax to pay.  Every year it becomes more difficult to operate his business, and more involved.

".... So the father becomes more petulant, more easily angered, more tired.  He feels that the government is taking away from him what he gave his life to.  He has loved his work and been proud of it.  His aim was never to make money, but to do what he wanted to do and do it to the best of his ability.

Phid reveals the meat of his argument:  "But now he is lumped together with all employers, and is subjected to the same treatment as what are referred to in campaign speeches as 'The Wall Street Interests.'

"A few men have worked for him ever since he went into business for himself.  They ... could have set themselves up as employers instead of employees.  But they lack something he has -- they lack the willingness to take the risks....

"Must he then be responsible for their being born less endowed than he?  He makes about $5,000 a year.  Must he charge higher prices so that he can support a pension program for his employees?

"Perhaps the answer is yes.  Perhaps those who are more fortunate than others must take care of those less fortunate.... Such is the attitude of the young liberal -- John Owens.  His desire is 'to make my small contribution to the community.'

".... What I am suspicious of is his method -- government intervention.  So far, few of the government's efforts have been anything but wasteful and confused.  Turn something over to the government and it becomes immediately unprofitable and twisted up in reams of red tape.

"I am also repelled by the attempt at leveling -- putting everybody on the same plane ....  Men are not all born equal, and to make them all equal will always be an artificial equality."

Ed. note:  The preceding opinions, observations and sentiments are not necessarily those of the Fieg Family News,  its staff, management and stockholders,  nor the Fieg family.  They were condensed from one of three letters sent to me by my mother, Jean Davie Fieg.  She thought it would be good grist for the mill.  It was a great pleasure for Greg and me to collaborate with my father post mortem