From the Mouths of Babes

Art Linkletter had it right:  "Kids Say the Darndest Things," and the kids in the Fieg family are no exception.  

Thanks to Jean Davie Fieg for the suggestion for this article.  Read on for a giggle or two.

Liz Bookhout, maybe four or five years old, came running into the house crying, "Katie isn't doing what she was told to do on the swing.  She's not going backwards and forwards, she's going crookwards!"                                                                                                                                                                                                          At Christmastime, Diana Fieg had either wax or the sound of reindeer bells in her ears when she sang, "Jesus our brother, kind of good...," and "... curly head dolls that toddle and coo, elephant spokes and kiddie cars too."

Her sister, your kindly old editor, sang, "Up on the rooftop, reindeer paws," though, since paws and pause are homophones, I was the only one surprised to find the latter word was the correct one, as I always had an image of reindeer hooves (why didn't I realize they didn't have paws?) pawing at the shingles.

And in keeping with the Christmas theme, 2-year-old Janet Holm McHenry, daughter of Bob and Doris Fieg Holm, used to sing, "Oh, you better watch out, better not cry, Better not pout, I'ma tellin you."  Who exactly were her ancestors...?

Fieg Family Photo Surfaces

Recently your editor received this wonderful photograph of the family of Max Fieg in the early 1940s, sitting on the porch of their Montclair, N.J. home.  It was sent by Max's daughter, Doris Fieg Holm.

The picture was sent with the following notes:

Back row:
  (bro) Carl Fieg, (his wife) Gerry; Mom - Louise Fieg; Leila Foster Wood (friend); Pop - Max Fieg.
Middle:
  Rondolph Gregory; sis (his wife) Janet Fieg Gregory; Doris (Dolly) Moline (Rosenbaum), my niece; Bud Fieg; sis Ruth Stiles Tomasko
Front:
  Sis Helen Stiles Moline - later Santina; Doris Fieg; sis Emma Fieg Walter

35 Oxford St., Montclair, N.J. (ed. note:  now the site of the Essex Youth Theatre)

Doris writes, Brother Henry (Hank) was probably in Ohio, with National Cash Register.  Helen and Ruth were Louise's daughters by first marriage to Robert Stiles.  Rondolph later went to (the) Army, as (did) Fred Walter, too, and both served in Europe.  Fred was wounded in Anzio, Italy, I think.

Clarence Moline, Dolly's father, was killed in an accident at Walter Kidde Co., Bloomfield - hit by a compressed air tank, 1942.  (ed. note:  The Walter Kidde Co. makes fire extinguishers.)

Helen remarried in 1945 to sea captain Frank Santina, who spent his whole life at sea, all wars, in the Merchant Marine.  Decorated for saving lives at sea after (a) torpedo hit.  Three medals!

Many thanks to Doris for this wonderful look back in time.  Your editor notices that Emma Fieg Walter looks extraordinarily like her cousin Florence Fieg Bookhout, somewhat in the facial features but even more in the way she holds herself in the photo.

An additional bonus realized by your editor in the creation of this post was the discovery of the "Save to TIF" function for scanning the photo when she tried, tried again.  This gave a much more satisfactory quality to the reproduction of said photo, and a greater sense of well-being and happiness to said editor.