By Judy Kestner
On April 5, 1966 Emilie Fieg Case – known as Millie to her family – wrote a letter outlining our family's history in America. The letter was sent to my father (her nephew), Victor Philip Fieg, upon his request. On first glance it is simply a litany of dates and names but the small, personal details Millie includes make it a page-turner (especially if you are a relative of hers).
In a recent e-mail, Doris Holm, Aunt Millie's niece and daughter of Millie's brother Max, wrote that Millie's nickname in Milford, PA, where she raised her family, was The Old Timer, and that she led the Milford hiking club throughout the woods. Said Doris, "She was so remarkable (in) her memory and knowledge of the woods and wildlife there. (They) could find their way over all the old Indian trails in the Poconos. She knew where to find a rare wild orchid." Emilie Case was a renaissance woman!
The original hand-written letter was transcribed by my father on his typewriter. My own comments (some of which now seem like the musings of an old lady -- ok, Phyllis, I am older than you ...) are in italics.
A letter from Emilie (Fieg) Case – Aunt Millie – April 5, 1966
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
1 If I knew how much your father told you of the family history, I'd know where to begin! (The exclamation mark inserted here is, for those who have never used a manual typewriter, created thus: the author typed a period, backspaced and topped it with an apostrophe. Perhaps the exclamation mark was perceived to be an unnecessary emphasis back in the dark ages and therefore not part of the original typewriter's keyboard.)
2 Our father Carl Fieg (According to genealogical research into the lineage of the second wife of his son, Max, Carl was known as Philip. That may have been a middle name, but the middle name Victor is also attributed to him in other family literature.) was one of four brothers, Herman, Lothar and Frederick. The last (i.e. Frederick) came to America about 1890. Herman went to Australia and illustrated that book, Das Buch von Pferde.
3 I don't know what became of your great uncle Lothar but Frederick worked at publishing in Newark, N.J. and fathered six daughters and two sons. Only one daughter, Helen Griffith, is left. A retired school teacher, she lives in Milford and I wish you could talk to her. Her nephew Frederick Fieg is living in California – retired from the Army. His address: 118 N. Ost, Lombac (sic), Calif. 805-RF6-3661. (There were no ZIP codes back then and also, until the late 1960s, telephone exchanges began with two or three letters as a mnemonic device. The letters represented the exchange, or center, where the phone lines interconnected, such as PEnnsylvania 6-5000 -- i.e. 736-5000.)
4 The other son, Otto, of Frederick, Sr., went to South America under a cloud, did well there for Esso and died not so long ago. He had married a Portugese (sic) girl.
5 No one knows how or where Herman died.
6 Beta (Bertha) says our name was originally Fiegen. I didn't know that, or why they dropped the en.
7 Our father had a crooked partner in Germany, in the jewelry business and he had to go bankrupt – a terrible disgrace in Germany in 1898 or '99. So he slipped away to America ahead of his family and later sent for his family in May of 1899. We sailed on the ship The Pennsylvania, and arrived in New York in July. My mother Emilie Böhler (or alternately "Boehler," and pronounced "bailer." The umlaut over the o here is hand-written.) was born in Baden Baden on Aug. 23, 1857. My father on July 11, I think also in 1857, or maybe before 1857. They were married in February, I think in 1879. (It is interesting to read that Aunt Millie was unsure about these dates. Birthdays and anniversaries are big business nowadays and people are supposed to make a big deal and spend lots of money on them. Steven Fieg researched the origin of birthdays and found that "when ancient peoples began taking notice of the moon's cycles [they began to pay] attention to the changing seasons and the pattern that repeated itself over and over and so they began to mark and note time changes. That's the start of birthday history." He also mentions that kings and nobles were originally the only people to have big birthday celebrations, "explained by a theory that nobility were the only people wealthy enough to throw such celebrations, and quite possibly were the only ones thought to be important enough to have been written about or remembered." Democracy – or socialism?? – at work!) I have a wedding ring home with the date on the inside. Our father died in 1906 – the year your father was still out west. How much do you know of his riding the rods out west? How did my mother ever let him go? (Millie is here referring to my grandfather Lothar who, as a young man, went west to work on the railroads.)
8 Martha was born May 7, 1885 and died Feb. 5, 1918. Max was born April 3, 1888. I've heard Max say that famous blizzard even occured (sic) in Germany; that when my mother was waiting for him to arrive the narrow streets – die Gasse – were filled with snow.
9 Beta was born May 5, 1890, and I on Dec. 7, 1894, tho people think Beta is younger than I.
10 (Dad was born Aug. 11, 1886 in Pforzheim.) (This parenthetical comment was inserted by my father. "Dad" is his father Herman Lothar Emil Fieg, who was called Lothar. Aunt Millie assumed details about my grandfather were already known by his son and thus she did not include them in her letter.)
11 We lived first in Yonkers in America; moved to Washington Ave. (in the Bronx; it runs from north to south between E. Fordham Ave. and E. 163rd St.), then to Park Ave. (which parallels Washington Ave. one block west. It follows the path of the railroad and continues as far south as the Major Deegan Parkway at the Harlem River.), then to Igleslock (Eagles Lock) at 173rd St. in the Bronx in the midst of a lovely cherry orchard. (173rd St. runs across the Bronx east to west from the Bronx River to the the Grand Concourse. Crotona Park interrupts its flow at one point and the street is also one block north of the smaller Claremont Park. Maybe the orchard was located in one of those parks. Interestingly, at the Bronx River, 173rd St. tees into W. Farms Rd.!) In March 1903 we moved to Schocopee in Pike County, Pa. Victor used to raise the most wonderful vegetables. He died in 1907, in March, of a kidney infection.
12 I'm afraid this letter is very disjointed.
13 Martha married George Daumann in April 1910. No children. Max married Nettie Newman at Christmas in 1909. (A hand-written asterisk is inserted here to indicate that Max's children are listed at the end of the letter.) Beta married Lester F. Bonardel May 19, 1914 – two sons, Victor, married Lois Proctor June 30, 1936. Lester Francis (Chick) married Roberta Vollmer in Nov. 1941 – six children: Robin, married to Fred Dunn July 1963, expecting a baby now; Linda, working for Lord & Taylor as a buyer in junior clothes: Diane, working as (a) secretary; Jeffery in high school, an ardent ballplayer; Dale; David.
14 Now my sons. Stanley – married Emily Porter Sept. 1, 1940 – (They) have two daughters, Judy, married to George Smith (teaches history at Whippany, N.J.). (They) have a baby Sharon born Aug. 9, 1965; Patricia, engaged to Rich Paetzold, and Jimmie, a senior in High School, hopes to go to Rider College next fall. Tim – or Thomas, May 10, 1917, married Alberta Krape of Naples, N.Y., July 8, 1944 – one daughter Shelby, 1947, going to York Junior College. Gifford – married Susannah Waggoner Aug. 29, 1940, four children, Richard, Nov. 18, 1941, Gerald, June, 1943, Lorraine, Aug. 11, 1945, Danny, May 3, 1949, in high school. Giff's home is at Maywood, Calif. but just now he is at Niles, Ohio, automating a Fisher Body plant. (Gifford was named after Pennsylvania governor Gifford Pinchot, the first American to be trained in forestry. He served as Chief Forester of the U.S. Division of Forestry under President Theodore Roosevelt and became governor of Pennsylvania in 1922. He was a tireless worker, often making himself available for citizens to walk into his office to speak to him. He established the first state budget and erased the state's debt. Governor Pinchot was a close friend of Aunt Millie's in-laws, the Cases.) All but Danny are married.
15 Richard, my #4 son, married Amelia Thomas in Nov. 1945. Four children: Richard, Sandra, Ronald and Debbie. #5 Walter married Betty Sittler May 15, 1954. Three daughters, Linda, 8; Suzanne, 6 and Beth, 2. My #6 son (Arthur) (named after Aunt Millie's husband) married Cathy Weeks Aug. 16, 1952. Two boys, Michael, 7 and Steven, 4.
16 I married Feb. 28, 1915.
Added in what I presume to be Aunt Millie's hand-writing is the following:
* Max & Nettie had 4 children
EUGENE CARL JAN. 6, 1911
HENRY DAVID MAR. 5, 1913
JANET MAXINE JAN. 3, 1916
EMMA MAY MAY 12, 1920
Nettie died Nov. 1921. Max remarried to Louise Voorhees March 23, 1923.
Born to them DORIS ANNE OCT 1, 1931.
CARL M. GERALDINE DALTON – 1936 EUGENE JR.
KAREN
DAVID
HENRY M. CAROLINE HANNA – 1935 (No children)
JANET M. RONDOLPH GREGORY – 1936 RONALD
DAVID
GEORGE
STEVEN
EMMA M. FRED WALTER – 1941 CAROL
F. JOSEPH JR.
NORMA
TIMOTHY
DORIS M. ROBERT HOLM – 1949 JANET
NANCY
PETER
ROBERTA
MATTHEW
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Guess Who This Is?
Stay tuned!
Lisa Fieg Finds Big Apple is her Oyster
By Greg Fieg and Judy Kestner
Unable to locate yoga toe socks for three years, New Yorker Lisa Fieg was delighted to learn how easy -- to a New Yorker -- it was to get to Target to buy the long-sought items. All she has to do is go downstairs to Vernon Blvd., cross the street, go down into the subway and take the number 7 train to Queens, get off at 74th and Broadway at the Indian enclave of Jackson Heights, climb five levels to the R train to Grand Ave. at the Latino enclave of Elmhurst and walk one block. Voila -- Target at Queens Blvd. and 56th Avenue and socks galore!
That reminds me of a joke: A man from Mexico, speaking no English, came to Corpus Christi over the Easter holidays last year to go to the cathedral and decided to also do some shopping. He went to the men's department at Dillard's. The sales clerk, who spoke no Spanish, offered his assistance. They went to the shirts, the man shook his head no. Underwear? No. Ties? No. Finally they came to the footwear. "Eso si que es!" exclaimed the customer. "Well if you knew how to spell it," said the salesman indignantly, "why didn't you say so??"
Jajajaja!
Unable to locate yoga toe socks for three years, New Yorker Lisa Fieg was delighted to learn how easy -- to a New Yorker -- it was to get to Target to buy the long-sought items. All she has to do is go downstairs to Vernon Blvd., cross the street, go down into the subway and take the number 7 train to Queens, get off at 74th and Broadway at the Indian enclave of Jackson Heights, climb five levels to the R train to Grand Ave. at the Latino enclave of Elmhurst and walk one block. Voila -- Target at Queens Blvd. and 56th Avenue and socks galore!
Jajajaja!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Fiegs To Mark NYC Founder's Death
Next year will mark the 350th anniversary of the death of Wolphert Gerretse Van Kouwenhoven, tenth great-grandfather of a number of Fiegs and Fieg cousins.
According to genealogical research begun by distant Fieg cousin David Kipp Conover of West Jordan, UT, Grampa Wolfie, who died in the spring of 1662, arrived in the New World as part of an initiative headed by the Dutch West India Company. He disembarked near Albany in 1625 but soon after established himself in Manhattan operating a farm for Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, one of the founders and directors of the Dutch West India Company. The farm in the Bowery adjoined other agrarian enterprises including that of Peter Minuit, the governor general of the New Amsterdam colony.
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| The Plumb Beach Channel in Gerritsen Beach |
Wolfert later crossed the East River and purchased land the Lenape Indians called "Kestateuw." He established a plantation there, the first known European settlement on Long Island, which he dubbed "Achterveldt." His estate, commanding a view of Sheepshead Bay and Rockaway Point, became the focal point of the village of New Amersfoort, later called Flatlands. The original location of his farm sits near the intersection of Flatbush Ave. and Kouwenhoven Pl. in Brooklyn. The Gerritsen Park neighborhood and park on Sheepshead Bay are also named in his honor.
"He played an active role in laying the foundations of the communities of Manhattan, Albany, Rensselaer, and Brooklyn," Morton Wagman wrote in the 1979 Journal of Long Island History. In addition to the Fiegs, other notable descendents of Wolphert Gerritse Van Kouwenhoven include presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt, 48th New York governor William Averell Harriman and actor Michael Douglas.
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| Crest of the Van Kouwenhoven family |
Doris Fieg Holm is related to Grampa Wolfie through her mother, Louise Stewart Voorhees Fieg, wife of Max Fieg and granddaughter of Carl and Emilie Fieg who immigrated from Germany in 1899. The Voorheeses are direct blood relations of Grampa Wolfie.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Kathy Whiteside Helps Kids Cope With Cancer
Dr. Robert Whiteside, via his daughter Marsha Adams, has shared an article published in The Daily Iowan about daughter-in-law Kathy Whiteside.
In her role as senior child-life specialist at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital in Iowa City, Kathy brings laughter and respite to children being treated for cancer there, and to their families as well. She has worked there for almost 27 years.
The entire article can be viewed at http://www.dailyiowan.com/2011/02/01/Metro/21023.html.
Kathy, wife of Robert Whiteside II, originally planned to be a teacher but in college the newly created position of child-life specialist caught her imagination, and her heart, and she now is able to ensure that these kids have some fun times to remember from their hospital stay, not just sad or painful memories.
Uncle Bob also proudly mentions that Kathy has run in several marathons, including the Boston Marathon!
That's enough to make you put down those Girl Scout cookies....
Kathy and Bob II have two girls, Molly and Annie Mig, and they live in West Branch, IA.
In her role as senior child-life specialist at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital in Iowa City, Kathy brings laughter and respite to children being treated for cancer there, and to their families as well. She has worked there for almost 27 years.
The entire article can be viewed at http://www.dailyiowan.com/2011/02/01/Metro/21023.html.
Kathy, wife of Robert Whiteside II, originally planned to be a teacher but in college the newly created position of child-life specialist caught her imagination, and her heart, and she now is able to ensure that these kids have some fun times to remember from their hospital stay, not just sad or painful memories.
Uncle Bob also proudly mentions that Kathy has run in several marathons, including the Boston Marathon!
That's enough to make you put down those Girl Scout cookies....
Friday, February 25, 2011
Can You Feature That? Word Paintings from the End of February, 2011
Diane Bookhout's kitties enjoying a snooze on her favorite recliner ("How did they know I wanted to sit there?").... Keenan Murphy, son of Jennifer and Don Murphy of Cooperstown, taking second place in the winter carnival sled races at Lake Front Park in the 6 and under category.... Carol and Bob Ramagosa in Florida preparing their boat for a trip north in the Intracoastal Waterway as soon as it thaws...! Jean Fieg admiring a lovely birthday bouquet from nephen Steven Fieg.... Maxine and Robert Whiteside enjoying homemade chicken soup, and they weren't even sick.... Two-year-old Frances "Frankie" Corkery saying, "Thanks, Mommy!" to her mom, Sarah, after being breast-fed....
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Bobby McGonigal Visits Diana Monaco
By Judy Kestner
Diana Monaco, middle daughter of the FFN founder V.P. Fieg, sent this message (lightly edited) about a visit from her first cousin Bobby McGonigal, youngest son of Emilie Fieg McGonigal, Philip's sister:
Just wanted you to know I had a nice visit from Bobby McGonigal yesterday. Bob's son Tyler lives with his wife about 20 minutes from me in Ft. Montgomery, NY. Bob is dog-sitting for them while they take a vacation in San Diego, California.
He took the train from Rochester, NY to Croton-on-Hudson NY and was in awe of the sea of cars in the station’s parking lot.
Bob brought some pictures of his family -- wife Mary and sons Kyle & Tyler -- along with some Fieg & McGonigal photos that he had inherited from his mother. I showed him the photos that Steven Fieg had emailed me months ago and, when he saw the picture of his mother, Emilie, at the Fieg picnic he noted that her outfit was green. He said all her clothes were green and she didn’t wear any other color. Do you suppose it was because of her vibrant red hair?
Bob is retired from Eastman Kodak and spends his time hunting and fishing. Mary just got a job in the SUNY Brockport library where they did a background check on her and came up with Uncle Jim, or as they called him, J.J., McGonigal. Uncle Jim had been the head of all maintenance for SUNY Oneonta back when the McGonigals lived in Milford Center, NY., so they said she seemed to be very well connected.
Bill (Doyle) came home while Bob was here and they talked about Rochester, NY where Bill grew up, identifying places they both recognized. Bill spent much of his childhood with the LaVigne family in a cobblestone house on Ridge Road in Spencerport, NY, just outside of Rochester. The LaVignes had 10 children so I guess it was one of those, ‘What’s one more?’ kind of attitudes that Grandpa & Grandma had with Bob Wood in Oneonta at 10 North Sixth Street. The difference was that in Bill’s story, his father died and his mother had a hard time dealing with things whereas Bob Wood’s parents had divorced and Bob was living with his aunt. Bob McGonigal said he passed by that cobblestone house every day on his way to work from Kendall, NY to Eastman Kodak.
Bob was upset that there were no Wegman’s supermarkets in the Croton area but was amazed that we still have an A&P.
Here is a photo of Bobby in his younger days...
Diana Monaco, middle daughter of the FFN founder V.P. Fieg, sent this message (lightly edited) about a visit from her first cousin Bobby McGonigal, youngest son of Emilie Fieg McGonigal, Philip's sister:
Just wanted you to know I had a nice visit from Bobby McGonigal yesterday. Bob's son Tyler lives with his wife about 20 minutes from me in Ft. Montgomery, NY. Bob is dog-sitting for them while they take a vacation in San Diego, California.
He took the train from Rochester, NY to Croton-on-Hudson NY and was in awe of the sea of cars in the station’s parking lot.
Bob brought some pictures of his family -- wife Mary and sons Kyle & Tyler -- along with some Fieg & McGonigal photos that he had inherited from his mother. I showed him the photos that Steven Fieg had emailed me months ago and, when he saw the picture of his mother, Emilie, at the Fieg picnic he noted that her outfit was green. He said all her clothes were green and she didn’t wear any other color. Do you suppose it was because of her vibrant red hair?
Bob is retired from Eastman Kodak and spends his time hunting and fishing. Mary just got a job in the SUNY Brockport library where they did a background check on her and came up with Uncle Jim, or as they called him, J.J., McGonigal. Uncle Jim had been the head of all maintenance for SUNY Oneonta back when the McGonigals lived in Milford Center, NY., so they said she seemed to be very well connected.
Bill (Doyle) came home while Bob was here and they talked about Rochester, NY where Bill grew up, identifying places they both recognized. Bill spent much of his childhood with the LaVigne family in a cobblestone house on Ridge Road in Spencerport, NY, just outside of Rochester. The LaVignes had 10 children so I guess it was one of those, ‘What’s one more?’ kind of attitudes that Grandpa & Grandma had with Bob Wood in Oneonta at 10 North Sixth Street. The difference was that in Bill’s story, his father died and his mother had a hard time dealing with things whereas Bob Wood’s parents had divorced and Bob was living with his aunt. Bob McGonigal said he passed by that cobblestone house every day on his way to work from Kendall, NY to Eastman Kodak.
Bob was upset that there were no Wegman’s supermarkets in the Croton area but was amazed that we still have an A&P.
Here is a photo of Bobby in his younger days...
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Can You Feature That? Word Paintings from the Week of Feb. 2, 2011
By Greg Fieg and Judy Kestner
Air Force Col. Edward L. Fieg sleeping in a tent at Camp Bullis, Texas, while waiting for snow as temperatures plunge to 15 degrees.... Ed and Greg Fieg enjoying fresh oysters on a half shell with horseradish and cocktail sauce in San Antonio.... Ed Williams digging out in Chicago, and digging out and digging out and digging out.... Janet McHenry readying to leave the Sierras for Berkeley to take daughter Bethany to a George Strait concert in Fresno.... Pete Holm bracing for 20 inches of snow in Buffalo, MO.... Doris Holm, 84, playing nine holes of golf in the Sacramento area's 60-degree weather while the rest of the nation is hammered by the third worst blizzard in 100 years.... Unusual Allen's Hummingbird banded in Judy Kestner's front yard.... John Roman now working at home after finding a new job.... Steven Fieg awaiting receipt of DVDs of Fieg family home movies.... Marsha Adams receiving a heretofore unknown childhood photo of her mom, Maxine Whiteside....
Air Force Col. Edward L. Fieg sleeping in a tent at Camp Bullis, Texas, while waiting for snow as temperatures plunge to 15 degrees.... Ed and Greg Fieg enjoying fresh oysters on a half shell with horseradish and cocktail sauce in San Antonio.... Ed Williams digging out in Chicago, and digging out and digging out and digging out.... Janet McHenry readying to leave the Sierras for Berkeley to take daughter Bethany to a George Strait concert in Fresno.... Pete Holm bracing for 20 inches of snow in Buffalo, MO.... Doris Holm, 84, playing nine holes of golf in the Sacramento area's 60-degree weather while the rest of the nation is hammered by the third worst blizzard in 100 years.... Unusual Allen's Hummingbird banded in Judy Kestner's front yard.... John Roman now working at home after finding a new job.... Steven Fieg awaiting receipt of DVDs of Fieg family home movies.... Marsha Adams receiving a heretofore unknown childhood photo of her mom, Maxine Whiteside....
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Cindy Harris, Doug Fieg Featured on CNBC
By: Greg Fieg and Judy Kestner
Keying in on a government investment promotion, the international financial news network CNBC on Feb. 2 featured a television broadcast from the Alpacas at Windy Hill ranch at Somis, Calif., where owner Cindy Harris gave broadcasters a guided tour.
The three-hour interview, pared down to two minutes for airing, was taped on Jan. 27. The producer's tour of the farm held a surprise for all: the birth of a male cria!
Cindy, a former teacher and musician, runs the operation with her partner and husband, retired electrical engineer Doug Fieg, formerly of Ste. Genevieve, MO.
In an e-mail, Doug said, "We finally made it [the live portion] after being delayed…not because of the 20 mile-an-hour winds that we had at the originally planned time, but because of the happenings in Egypt. The live portion was done today [Feb. 2] at about 1:50 PM local.... It looks like it turned out to be pretty good!" He included the following link to the story: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1777352649&play=1 (Check out Cindy's dimples!)
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| Cindy and Doug at Windy Hill |
Cindy explained to TV reporter Jane Wells that she initially went into the alpaca business to find a tax deferment for acreage she was using as horse pasture. Now the business provides their prime source of income, as the ranch is home to about 400 alpacas, half belonging to Cindy and Doug and the rest to various ranchers and other investors.
Their 25-acre spread is an ideal setting for alpacas because of its largely level turf, lush green foliage, dry climate, plentiful, year 'round, warm Southern California sunshine and refreshing breezes coming off the nearby Pacific Ocean. It is the largest such operation in the Golden State.
The llama-like creatures are native to South America, and a single, young, mature male can be valued as high as $25,000. To maintain the integrity of the herd, only about one percent of males are acceptable as breeders, Doug said.
Cindy and Doug have become attached to some of their animals over the years, such as Torbio, their star import from Peru, who has sired some 200 offspring. Doug admires him for his productivity, yes, but there's something more.
"It's also affection," Doug explained. "He's just the nicest guy to handle. He's cool. I work with him every day. He's 20 years old, which is pretty old, like 100 years old in human years."
(X-rated video at http://www.alpacalink.com/Torbiovideo.html.)
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| Torbio "Al" Paca |
Windy Hill also has four herding dogs: three Anatolian shepherds and a large half-Anatolian/half-Great Pyrenees, a sizable and especially effective defender when muscle is required to fend off predators such as coyotes. The dogs are bred to be protective of the herd, but are friendly to the humans.
As pointed out by the CNBC report, the government wants to promote development of alpaca wool for domestic and export use, and thus allows investors to deduct their entire investment. Investors can participate at Windy Hill with as little as 20 percent down, with competitive terms.
Cindy and Doug, doing their part to reduce the nation's trade imbalance, provide stock, veterinary consultation, sales promotion and breeding and boarding services for ranchers throughout the country, in addition to other investors. (Animals rejected as breeders occasionally be can be purchased inexpensively, or can be had for free as novelty pets and automated, environmentally friendly lawn mowers!)
More than 15 ranchers currently have stock at Windy Hill, according to a recent count, where introductory seminars and workshops conducted with participation by Windy Hill's live-in veterinarian are also offered. The classes are offered for both novices and journeymen. The whole story is laid out on their website: http://www.alpacalink.com/mainpage.html.
Judy Spots Truly Rare Birds in Subtropical Texas
By Greg Fieg
The year 2010 marked a milestone for Judy Kestner, your intrepid editor, as she spotted two highly unusual birds to add to her birder's life list: the Northern Wheatear and the Amazon Kingfisher.
The year 2010 marked a milestone for Judy Kestner, your intrepid editor, as she spotted two highly unusual birds to add to her birder's life list: the Northern Wheatear and the Amazon Kingfisher.
Both were spotted within a two-hour drive of her home in Corpus Christi, Texas, which is situated in a lush, subtropical Gulf Coast savannah where hundreds of bird species spend the winter, from the huge, endangered Whooping Crane to tiny, flitting hummingbirds, which though rare in the coldest months do over-winter often. It's sort of an ornithological heaven.
Judy has counted 387 species since she began logging them about 10 years ago, but rarely has had an experience like 2010, when she spotted the wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) thousands of miles out of its habitat and migratory path. Normally the bird, a type of thrush, can be found on the fringes of the Arctic Circle in Greenland and Alaska during its summer breeding season and at the edges of the Sahara Desert in West Africa in winter when its nesting territory is uninhabitably icebound, with temperatures as low as 50 degrees below zero Fahrenheit and sometimes colder. Among birds of the world, its seasonal flight paths are some of the longest, traversing desert, ocean tundra and ice.
"They think maybe it got blown off course during migration," Judy said, noting that the gray and white insect eater, named because of a wheat-colored ear patch, was located on an Amish farm outside Beeville, TX where bugs are plentiful because insecticides are not used. Birders from all over the United States flocked to the Borntrager farm to ogle the bird and purchase delectable homemade pecan and peanut brittle. Coincidentally, another (or the same???) wheatear had been spotted on an Amish farm in Ohio earlier that year.
The Amazon Kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona), spotted along Zacate Creek in the Rio Grande community of Laredo on the Mexican border, was nearly 1,000 miles north of its usual territory which stretches from the southern extreme of Mexico south as far as the hot and semi-arid Gran Chaco region of northern Argentina.
The Amazon Kingfisher is a shimmering emerald green with white belly and collar and looks much like its South Texas cousin, the Green Kingfisher, but is some three times larger, measuring more than 12 inches long from the tip of its bill to its tail.
Both rare birds were American Birding Association regional sighting records: the second wheatear record in Texas and the first for the kingfisher in continental North America.
Judy has been fascinated by birds most of her cognitive life, following the lead of her mother, Jean Davie Fieg, who recorded that one of Judy's first words at age 14 months was "robin" (pronounced "ah-boon") .
Judy is a member of the Texas Ornithological Society, recording secretary for the Audubon Outdoor Club of Corpus Christi and a founding member of the Monte Mucho Audubon Club of Laredo. Occasionally she leads field trips for both clubs and was a field trip leader for the TOS at their annual spring meeting in Rockport, TX in 2010.
Judy also participates in two to three annual Christmas Bird Counts near her home, counting as many live birds (seen or heard) in one day as she can identify. The National Audubon Society established CBCs early in the twentieth century in the early days of conservation in response to a tradition called the Christmas "Side Hunt" when hunters sought to shoot as many birds as possible.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Lisa Fieg Admires Jodi Applegate's New 'Do'
By Greg Fieg
Transplanted New Yorker Lisa Fieg joined WPIX anchorwoman Jodi Applegate for side-by-side hairdos at Liz Russell's Third Avenue salon and looked on approvingly as the 46-year-old beauty had her hair specially prepared for her upcoming nuptials.
Applegate, who will marry New York Yankees Yes Network broadcaster Michael "See ya!" Kay just in time for Michael's 50th birthday on February 2, is having an updo created to accommodate an elaborate headpiece requiring what she described as an open forehead. This is the first demonstration of the cut which can be modified after she models her gown in advance of the ceremony. The hairdo cost well over $100.
This is Applegate's second marriage and the first for the elusive, man-about-town groom. A native of the boroughs and a Fordham grad, Kay proposed on Montauk Beach in July with the presentation of a stunning emerald-cut four-carat diamond ring. The wedding will take place at the renowned Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.
Jodi sports a thick mane of hair which has to be carefully thinned by the stylist to ensure the headpiece will stay in place throughout the ceremony.
Lisa has met a number of celebrities as she makes her way around town, including Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Woody Allen and wife Soon-Yi, Warren Beatty, William Hurt, Matt Dillon, Ringo Starr.
Transplanted New Yorker Lisa Fieg joined WPIX anchorwoman Jodi Applegate for side-by-side hairdos at Liz Russell's Third Avenue salon and looked on approvingly as the 46-year-old beauty had her hair specially prepared for her upcoming nuptials.
Applegate, who will marry New York Yankees Yes Network broadcaster Michael "See ya!" Kay just in time for Michael's 50th birthday on February 2, is having an updo created to accommodate an elaborate headpiece requiring what she described as an open forehead. This is the first demonstration of the cut which can be modified after she models her gown in advance of the ceremony. The hairdo cost well over $100.
This is Applegate's second marriage and the first for the elusive, man-about-town groom. A native of the boroughs and a Fordham grad, Kay proposed on Montauk Beach in July with the presentation of a stunning emerald-cut four-carat diamond ring. The wedding will take place at the renowned Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.
Jodi sports a thick mane of hair which has to be carefully thinned by the stylist to ensure the headpiece will stay in place throughout the ceremony.
Lisa has met a number of celebrities as she makes her way around town, including Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Woody Allen and wife Soon-Yi, Warren Beatty, William Hurt, Matt Dillon, Ringo Starr.
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| WPIX Anchorwoman Jodi Applegate |
Monday, January 17, 2011
Dorothy Fieg Roman Receives Visitors
By Greg Fieg
Dorothy Fieg Roman, 82, received family visitors, including two of her three sons, at her Bridgewater, NJ home over the past weekend.
Having been retired for a number of years, Dorothy cheerfully greeted No. 1 son John Roman, nieces Lisa Fieg and Diana Monaco and nephew Greg Fieg. Earlier in the day she was paid a visit by No. 3 son Mark Roman and granddaughter Jessica Roman.
Dorothy vividly recalled her days as a girl growing up in Oneonta, describing in colorful detail the day of her wedding and her entry-level job as a legal secretary for the late multi-millionaire attorney Al "il avvocato" Ferone and his partner John Steidel. (Steidel's offices are now occupied by another of Dorothy's nephews, William R. Bookhout, of Oneonta and Cazenovia.)
She was misty remembering the funeral of her dad, Lothar Fieg, the moving eulogy of mayor Roger G. Hughes and the Stars and Stipes lowered to half staff over city hall in memorial.
Dorothy told of her father's unsuccessful endeavor to manufacture brass-lined garden boxes which lost him thousands of dollars. She remembered passenger service at the train station in Oneonta and the flag man at the grade crossing at Gas Avenue.
Her guests heard about Tony Molinari, the wealthy former bootlegger who lived across the street, and the tiny Pine St. apartment, rented from Wilmer Bresee, that she shared with her husband, the late Robert Roman.
Also among Dorothy's recollections were the conversion of her parents' homestead furnace from rock coal to pea coal, which could be fed into the fire automatically instead of hand stoked. She remembered ice being delivered by horse-drawn wagon and the return of her brothers Bud, Frank and Philip after World War II.
She confirmed a story that had been disputed about Uncle Bud who, sitting at the kitchen table, had a momentary Pavlovian response to the sound of the commonplace Oneonta noon whistle. At its sound he leaped up and bolted outside, the screen door clattering against the doorjamb, as if the whistle signaled an impending air raid. Bud retired from the military as a captain at the end of the war, having flown the P-51 with the Army Air Corps.
Lisa, Diana, Greg and John later repaired to John's 2,000 sq. foot luxurious garden home in an exclusive gated community in Somerset, NJ. Mark and Jessica also stopped by to visit John and his wife, Anne, who set a marvelous table for the entire group.
Those in attendance also decided, a quorum being present, that the next Fieg family reunion will be held in July 2012 in Cooperstown. Susan Williams, who heads our ad hoc accommodations committee, was consulted by telephone.
Dorothy Fieg Roman, 82, received family visitors, including two of her three sons, at her Bridgewater, NJ home over the past weekend.
Having been retired for a number of years, Dorothy cheerfully greeted No. 1 son John Roman, nieces Lisa Fieg and Diana Monaco and nephew Greg Fieg. Earlier in the day she was paid a visit by No. 3 son Mark Roman and granddaughter Jessica Roman.
Dorothy vividly recalled her days as a girl growing up in Oneonta, describing in colorful detail the day of her wedding and her entry-level job as a legal secretary for the late multi-millionaire attorney Al "il avvocato" Ferone and his partner John Steidel. (Steidel's offices are now occupied by another of Dorothy's nephews, William R. Bookhout, of Oneonta and Cazenovia.)
She was misty remembering the funeral of her dad, Lothar Fieg, the moving eulogy of mayor Roger G. Hughes and the Stars and Stipes lowered to half staff over city hall in memorial.
Dorothy told of her father's unsuccessful endeavor to manufacture brass-lined garden boxes which lost him thousands of dollars. She remembered passenger service at the train station in Oneonta and the flag man at the grade crossing at Gas Avenue.
Her guests heard about Tony Molinari, the wealthy former bootlegger who lived across the street, and the tiny Pine St. apartment, rented from Wilmer Bresee, that she shared with her husband, the late Robert Roman.
Also among Dorothy's recollections were the conversion of her parents' homestead furnace from rock coal to pea coal, which could be fed into the fire automatically instead of hand stoked. She remembered ice being delivered by horse-drawn wagon and the return of her brothers Bud, Frank and Philip after World War II.
She confirmed a story that had been disputed about Uncle Bud who, sitting at the kitchen table, had a momentary Pavlovian response to the sound of the commonplace Oneonta noon whistle. At its sound he leaped up and bolted outside, the screen door clattering against the doorjamb, as if the whistle signaled an impending air raid. Bud retired from the military as a captain at the end of the war, having flown the P-51 with the Army Air Corps.
Lisa, Diana, Greg and John later repaired to John's 2,000 sq. foot luxurious garden home in an exclusive gated community in Somerset, NJ. Mark and Jessica also stopped by to visit John and his wife, Anne, who set a marvelous table for the entire group.
Those in attendance also decided, a quorum being present, that the next Fieg family reunion will be held in July 2012 in Cooperstown. Susan Williams, who heads our ad hoc accommodations committee, was consulted by telephone.
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| Aunt Dorothy at the Roman home in 2008 - computer generated graphic renderning. Cute, huh! |
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Marsha Adams Celebrates The Big 6-0
By Judy Kestner
Marsha Whiteside Adams, the first-born child of Dr. Robert and Maxine Fieg Whiteside, recently celebrated her sixtieth birthday with an adults-only get-together at the vacation home of her brother and sister-in-law, Jeff and Kathi Whiteside. Marsha's siblings and their spouses, Anne and Kevin Still and Bob II. and Kathy Whiteside, and her hubby, Bill, joined the festivities.
Marsha writes, "Too late in life my sibs and I have discovered the joy of getting together with our spouses--but not our parents or kids--to spend a few days celebrating whoever is having the big birthday.
"In early August we had a birthday rendezvous for my 60th, and that began my month long party. We met in Door County, WI, the peninsula of Wisconsin, on the Green Bay side. Jeff and Kathi have a darling 100 year-old cottage and a beautiful power boat there and graciously hosted us for a long weekend. We had a hot day (yes, they do have a few in Wisconsin) and spent the day at a beach on an island pigging out on sweet corn and Jeff's famous ribs. The next day was cool and a bit rainy but didn't stop us from taking a long cruise on their boat.
"One memorable moment--champagne and cake for dinner. Don't tell Mom! "
Here is a photo of the Whiteside kids on the "yacht." Nice looking crew!
Marsha Whiteside Adams, the first-born child of Dr. Robert and Maxine Fieg Whiteside, recently celebrated her sixtieth birthday with an adults-only get-together at the vacation home of her brother and sister-in-law, Jeff and Kathi Whiteside. Marsha's siblings and their spouses, Anne and Kevin Still and Bob II. and Kathy Whiteside, and her hubby, Bill, joined the festivities.
Marsha writes, "Too late in life my sibs and I have discovered the joy of getting together with our spouses--but not our parents or kids--to spend a few days celebrating whoever is having the big birthday.
"In early August we had a birthday rendezvous for my 60th, and that began my month long party. We met in Door County, WI, the peninsula of Wisconsin, on the Green Bay side. Jeff and Kathi have a darling 100 year-old cottage and a beautiful power boat there and graciously hosted us for a long weekend. We had a hot day (yes, they do have a few in Wisconsin) and spent the day at a beach on an island pigging out on sweet corn and Jeff's famous ribs. The next day was cool and a bit rainy but didn't stop us from taking a long cruise on their boat.
"One memorable moment--champagne and cake for dinner. Don't tell Mom! "
Here is a photo of the Whiteside kids on the "yacht." Nice looking crew!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Sonja Davie Passes Away
By Judy Kestner
Sonja Thorsland Davie, sister-in-law to Jean Davie Fieg, died in Cooperstown on December 13 at about 3:00 in the afternoon from complications of a lung disease.
Sonja and her husband, the late Raymon Davie, are remembered as gracious hosts, opening the doors at their lakeside camp and their home on Pioneer Street not only to members of their immediate family but also to friends, acquaintances and friends-of-friends alike. The conversation was excellent, the food superlative and the love palpable.
Jean Fieg, whose late husband V. Philip Fieg is founder of the Fieg Family Newsletter, said, "I always think of Sonja as being 39," and that young-at-heart attitude was her signature.
Sonja's niece Diana Monaco said she was laughing and joking almost right up to the end. I can hear her now.
Sonja is survived by daughter Lori Price, her husband John and son Jack of Leesburg, VA, and son Stephen Davie, his wife Sharon and their children Kyle, Ryan, Peyton, Dylan and Keelin of Chittenango, NY.
There will be a memorial service in the spring of 2011.
Sonja Thorsland Davie, sister-in-law to Jean Davie Fieg, died in Cooperstown on December 13 at about 3:00 in the afternoon from complications of a lung disease.
Sonja and her husband, the late Raymon Davie, are remembered as gracious hosts, opening the doors at their lakeside camp and their home on Pioneer Street not only to members of their immediate family but also to friends, acquaintances and friends-of-friends alike. The conversation was excellent, the food superlative and the love palpable.
Jean Fieg, whose late husband V. Philip Fieg is founder of the Fieg Family Newsletter, said, "I always think of Sonja as being 39," and that young-at-heart attitude was her signature.
Sonja's niece Diana Monaco said she was laughing and joking almost right up to the end. I can hear her now.
Sonja is survived by daughter Lori Price, her husband John and son Jack of Leesburg, VA, and son Stephen Davie, his wife Sharon and their children Kyle, Ryan, Peyton, Dylan and Keelin of Chittenango, NY.
There will be a memorial service in the spring of 2011.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Photographer Adams Posts Asian Trip
By Greg Fieg
Bill Adams Jr. this year finished posting the results of his Southeast Asian photographic excursion, adding shots of Viet Nam to an online collection which previously included pictures of Egypt and various domestic locales.
The former Iowa Hawkeye, 30, who used his business degree with a heavy computer science emphasis to land a job as a psychiatric genetic research data base designer, is attempting to step into the photographic field full-time.
Billy traveled to Viet Nam's Mekong Delta in January with two Vietnamese-American friends whose acquaintance he made in his city of residence, Iowa City, IA. The trio traveled for more than a month by bicycle, motor scooter and automobile from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to Hanoi as Billy immersed himself in the culture. He was welcomed with open arms as he visited the homes of his friends' relatives, who presented him with a dinner of roasted rat. (Yum yum.) During the trip he also tasted wild boar, squid, snails, snake, fried pig intestines and other local "delicacies."
Often the food was purchased from street markets where there is no refrigeration, so everything was prepared fresh. The Vietnamese also eat dog meat, but as far as Billy knows he didn't have any. (Whew.)
Bill's pictures can be seen at http://www.billadamsphoto.com/, which features a broad collection of his work, and at http://www.billadamswedding.com/, which specializes in matrimonial subjects. He also has a sideline as a rock and roll drummer. In fact he says, "I got my start (in photography) in college around 1999 shooting photos and video in the local punk rock scene."
Billy is the son of Marsha and Bill Adams Sr. of Dakota Dunes, SD and the grandson of Maxine and Dr. Robert Whiteside of Sioux City, IA. He contributes free-lance work to the Iowa City Press-Citizen, the Chicago Pioneer Press and the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
Bill Adams Jr. this year finished posting the results of his Southeast Asian photographic excursion, adding shots of Viet Nam to an online collection which previously included pictures of Egypt and various domestic locales.
The former Iowa Hawkeye, 30, who used his business degree with a heavy computer science emphasis to land a job as a psychiatric genetic research data base designer, is attempting to step into the photographic field full-time.
Billy traveled to Viet Nam's Mekong Delta in January with two Vietnamese-American friends whose acquaintance he made in his city of residence, Iowa City, IA. The trio traveled for more than a month by bicycle, motor scooter and automobile from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to Hanoi as Billy immersed himself in the culture. He was welcomed with open arms as he visited the homes of his friends' relatives, who presented him with a dinner of roasted rat. (Yum yum.) During the trip he also tasted wild boar, squid, snails, snake, fried pig intestines and other local "delicacies."
Often the food was purchased from street markets where there is no refrigeration, so everything was prepared fresh. The Vietnamese also eat dog meat, but as far as Billy knows he didn't have any. (Whew.)
Bill's pictures can be seen at http://www.billadamsphoto.com/, which features a broad collection of his work, and at http://www.billadamswedding.com/, which specializes in matrimonial subjects. He also has a sideline as a rock and roll drummer. In fact he says, "I got my start (in photography) in college around 1999 shooting photos and video in the local punk rock scene."
Billy is the son of Marsha and Bill Adams Sr. of Dakota Dunes, SD and the grandson of Maxine and Dr. Robert Whiteside of Sioux City, IA. He contributes free-lance work to the Iowa City Press-Citizen, the Chicago Pioneer Press and the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
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| Viet Nam Haircut -- Billy was waiting his turn.... |
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Col. Edward L. Fieg Assigned to Middle East
By Greg Fieg
Col. Edward L. Fieg, who has been serving as deputy chief of medical staff at Travis Air Force Base in northern California, has received another assignment in the Middle East. Dr. Fieg has been named director of Joint Combat Casualty Research in the Afghani and Iraqi theaters of war and will depart April 10, 2011. This will be his fifth overseas assignment and his third in the Middle East. The positions he has held include acting surgeon general for the Afghani government, a post which earned him the moniker "Edward of Kandahar" and a Bronze Star for service above and beyond the call of duty.
Ed is the son of the late Franklin W. Fieg and the former Marina Pizano, and grandson of Lothar Fieg Sr.
Col. Edward L. Fieg, who has been serving as deputy chief of medical staff at Travis Air Force Base in northern California, has received another assignment in the Middle East. Dr. Fieg has been named director of Joint Combat Casualty Research in the Afghani and Iraqi theaters of war and will depart April 10, 2011. This will be his fifth overseas assignment and his third in the Middle East. The positions he has held include acting surgeon general for the Afghani government, a post which earned him the moniker "Edward of Kandahar" and a Bronze Star for service above and beyond the call of duty.
Ed is the son of the late Franklin W. Fieg and the former Marina Pizano, and grandson of Lothar Fieg Sr.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Family To Observe Carabelli Centennial
By Greg Fieg
Next year Cleveland will mark the hundredth anniversary of the passing of noted sculptor and state legislator Joseph Carabelli, co-creator of the President James A. Garfield mausoleum there.
Carabelli, great-grandfather of Ed Williams, husband of Susan Fieg Williams, was the founder of the Lake View Granite & Monumental Company which continues today under new ownership as the Johns-Carabelli Co.
Carabelli immigrated to the United States from Italy in 1870 to work his craft in New York City where he created a number of sculptures including some commissioned for the Federal Building.
President Garfield, felled by a madman's bullet as he stepped off the train in Washington, died on Sept. 18, 1881. He is honored with an elaborate Carabelli monument at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, which is considered to be the country's first mausoleum and is grander than the tombs of both Lincoln and Washington.
Next year Cleveland will mark the hundredth anniversary of the passing of noted sculptor and state legislator Joseph Carabelli, co-creator of the President James A. Garfield mausoleum there.
Carabelli, great-grandfather of Ed Williams, husband of Susan Fieg Williams, was the founder of the Lake View Granite & Monumental Company which continues today under new ownership as the Johns-Carabelli Co.
Carabelli immigrated to the United States from Italy in 1870 to work his craft in New York City where he created a number of sculptures including some commissioned for the Federal Building.
President Garfield, felled by a madman's bullet as he stepped off the train in Washington, died on Sept. 18, 1881. He is honored with an elaborate Carabelli monument at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, which is considered to be the country's first mausoleum and is grander than the tombs of both Lincoln and Washington.
The exterior of the 180-foot tall crypt is comprised of a sandstone terrace, five bas relief panels of Garfield's life and an observation deck. The interior with its stained glass windows, mosaic tiles and marble stairs is equally elaborate and amazingly, includes a ballroom! A marble statue of Garfield stands in the center of the hall.
Known as the "Father of Little Italy" in recognition of his many civic endeavors and contributions to the Italian-American community in Cleveland, Carabelli was also a pillar of his church.
"He was a devout Catholic," said 91-year-old Eleanor Carabelli Williams of Youngstown, Joseph Carabelli's granddaughter and Ed's mother. "He was instrumental in bringing a number of Catholic priests to the United States from Italy." Ed and Susan, who reside in the Chicago area, visit the cemetery often on their way to visit Eleanor.
Carabelli, who died on April 19, 1911, was elected in 1908 as the first Italian-American state representative. In 1910, he capped his political career by pushing through the legislature a bill proclaiming Columbus Day an official state holiday.
He was personally acquainted with the late oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller who made a key contribution to a settlement house founded by Carabelli. Rockefeller's monument, also in Lake View Cemetery, was created by Joseph's son, also named Joseph, after Rockefeller's death in 1937. It is a 70-foot tall obelisk where, reminiscent of Rockefeller's habit of offering dimes to the people he met, visitors often leave their own dimes in hopes of having their wealth increased like Rockefeller's.
"He was a devout Catholic," said 91-year-old Eleanor Carabelli Williams of Youngstown, Joseph Carabelli's granddaughter and Ed's mother. "He was instrumental in bringing a number of Catholic priests to the United States from Italy." Ed and Susan, who reside in the Chicago area, visit the cemetery often on their way to visit Eleanor.
Carabelli, who died on April 19, 1911, was elected in 1908 as the first Italian-American state representative. In 1910, he capped his political career by pushing through the legislature a bill proclaiming Columbus Day an official state holiday.
He was personally acquainted with the late oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller who made a key contribution to a settlement house founded by Carabelli. Rockefeller's monument, also in Lake View Cemetery, was created by Joseph's son, also named Joseph, after Rockefeller's death in 1937. It is a 70-foot tall obelisk where, reminiscent of Rockefeller's habit of offering dimes to the people he met, visitors often leave their own dimes in hopes of having their wealth increased like Rockefeller's.
Rumor has it that the Garfield mausoleum is haunted. Unexplained lights have been seen inside at night and some claim that the ghosts of Garfield and Rockefeller engage in an on-going chess game using the cemetery's tombstones as chess pieces!
Ed's mom sold her interests in the monument company to the Johns family in 1970. Ed is a retired electrical engineer and Susan operates Good BuyTravel in Chicago.
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| James A. Garfield Mausoleum, Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, OH |
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
McGonigals Relocate to Virginia
By Judy Kestner
Marilyn McGonigal, wife of Jon McGonigal, dropped your editor a lovely note the other day, which I have copied, lightly edited, below. She also kindly enclosed three photos that I will attempt to insert as well.
Dear Judy -
.... The move was very hard but we are here now and settling in and love it here.
Our new address is 1500 N. Coalter St. #E-4, Staunton, VA 24401. We live in an apartment complex (5 buildings) and outdoor swimming pool in the middle. We have 3 bedrooms, kitchen, small dinette area and 2 full baths! (I love that!)
.... I am taking line dance lessons one hour per week and helping in an after school program two afternoons. Have made three new friends - play cards and go walking and to church with them.
Jon and I go to this beautiful park and feed the ducks.
Marilyn McGonigal, wife of Jon McGonigal, dropped your editor a lovely note the other day, which I have copied, lightly edited, below. She also kindly enclosed three photos that I will attempt to insert as well.
Dear Judy -
.... The move was very hard but we are here now and settling in and love it here.
Our new address is 1500 N. Coalter St. #E-4, Staunton, VA 24401. We live in an apartment complex (5 buildings) and outdoor swimming pool in the middle. We have 3 bedrooms, kitchen, small dinette area and 2 full baths! (I love that!)
.... I am taking line dance lessons one hour per week and helping in an after school program two afternoons. Have made three new friends - play cards and go walking and to church with them.
Jon and I go to this beautiful park and feed the ducks.
Also enclosed is a photo of the Blue Ridge Mts. We have gone across Sky Line Drive twice since we've been down here.
Hope to visit in N.Y. around Thanksgiving.
Love to all,
Marilyn
Also enclosed was this photo of Jon's mother, Emilie Fieg McGonigal (b. June 29, 1915, d. January 15, 1984), taken in the '60s. I was amused to see my mother's handwriting on the back -- what goes around etc....!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Greg Fieg Talks With William Shatner on Radio
By Greg Fieg
Anyone looking for a modest diversion today can hear Greg Fieg speaking with television icon William Shatner as a guest questioner on the daily NPR radio talk show "On Point" hosted by Tom Ashbrooke.
Shatner, appearing on the show to promote his new CBS TV series "$#*! My Father Says," took questions from Greg and other listeners regarding his long, varied and stellar television and motion picture career. Greg recalled that Shatner, at the beginning of his career, appeared on the late Rod Serling's classic television show "The Twilight Zone" playing a former World War II pilot on a commercial flight who, while looking out the window, spots a gremlin sabotaging the jetliner. The episode is one of many classics and is well remembered by fans of the program that ran on CBS from 1959 to 1964.
Shatner, relatively unknown at the time, was among a number of future stars who appeared on various episodes on the series, including Robert Redford, Julie Harris, Burt Reynolds, Telly Savalas, Cliff Robertson, Barry Nelson, Cameron Mitchell and Claude Aikens to name just a few. Greg asked Shatner how it was that so many undiscovered stars appeared on the series, and whether that was because top talent competed for the roles or whether the producers sought out top talent.
"I got a call asking me to play a part and I accepted it as a workaday project," Shatner said.
He called series creator Serling, the producer and the casting director "prescient" in finding actors with potential, but said the key was that those hired should be willing to work for very little money.
He remembered that the entire cast of his episode was comprised solely of him, "some guy in a monkey suit" and a handful of bit players and extras, which enabled the producer to hold the budget to a minimum. He also explained that there were many other individuals of enormous talent who might have been as big or bigger show business successes than he, but were not in the right place at the right time and thus not as lucky.
The radio program will be replayed on NPR throughout the day in various cities and time zones and will be accessible in the archives on the NPR website for some time to come, or on the WGBH Boston website.
"The Twilight Zone" program continues to run in syndication throughout the country.
Anyone looking for a modest diversion today can hear Greg Fieg speaking with television icon William Shatner as a guest questioner on the daily NPR radio talk show "On Point" hosted by Tom Ashbrooke.
Shatner, appearing on the show to promote his new CBS TV series "$#*! My Father Says," took questions from Greg and other listeners regarding his long, varied and stellar television and motion picture career. Greg recalled that Shatner, at the beginning of his career, appeared on the late Rod Serling's classic television show "The Twilight Zone" playing a former World War II pilot on a commercial flight who, while looking out the window, spots a gremlin sabotaging the jetliner. The episode is one of many classics and is well remembered by fans of the program that ran on CBS from 1959 to 1964.
Shatner, relatively unknown at the time, was among a number of future stars who appeared on various episodes on the series, including Robert Redford, Julie Harris, Burt Reynolds, Telly Savalas, Cliff Robertson, Barry Nelson, Cameron Mitchell and Claude Aikens to name just a few. Greg asked Shatner how it was that so many undiscovered stars appeared on the series, and whether that was because top talent competed for the roles or whether the producers sought out top talent.
"I got a call asking me to play a part and I accepted it as a workaday project," Shatner said.
He called series creator Serling, the producer and the casting director "prescient" in finding actors with potential, but said the key was that those hired should be willing to work for very little money.
He remembered that the entire cast of his episode was comprised solely of him, "some guy in a monkey suit" and a handful of bit players and extras, which enabled the producer to hold the budget to a minimum. He also explained that there were many other individuals of enormous talent who might have been as big or bigger show business successes than he, but were not in the right place at the right time and thus not as lucky.
The radio program will be replayed on NPR throughout the day in various cities and time zones and will be accessible in the archives on the NPR website for some time to come, or on the WGBH Boston website.
"The Twilight Zone" program continues to run in syndication throughout the country.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Russell Fieg -- Four Years Cancer Free!
By Judy Kestner
Sue Williams, only daughter of the late Lothar "Bud" Fieg, reports that her brother, Russell, recently underwent a biopsy to investigate "spots" in his bladder and received the excellent results that they were not cancerous.
Says Sue, "This is the 3rd time since 2008 that he has had the "scare" and the 2nd time that it has been very good news! ... Let's hope the good news continues in the future w/frequent check ups!" I will add an "amen" to that cheerful report.
Sue Williams, only daughter of the late Lothar "Bud" Fieg, reports that her brother, Russell, recently underwent a biopsy to investigate "spots" in his bladder and received the excellent results that they were not cancerous.
Says Sue, "This is the 3rd time since 2008 that he has had the "scare" and the 2nd time that it has been very good news! ... Let's hope the good news continues in the future w/frequent check ups!" I will add an "amen" to that cheerful report.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Kevin Corkery Plays Drums for 'Rent'
By Greg Fieg
Kevin Corkery, husband of Sarah Fieg Corkery, has been selected to play drums as part of a five-piece rock ensemble in a presentation of the Tony winning Broadway show "Rent," being produced by the Orpheus Theatre group in his hometown of Oneonta, NY.
Simultaneously it will be staged Sept. 18-20 at Goodrich Theater at State University of New York at Oneonta, featuring a cast of largely local talent including theater majors from the school.
The original Broadway production, featuring musical and dance compositions by Jonathan Larson, opened in New York in 1996 with current primetime television staple Jesse L. Martin of NBC's Law and Order, and continues its run to this day.
The musical is based on the story line from the Italian opera La Boheme by Puccini, but updates the setting from 19th century Paris to New York's contemporary Greenwich Village, where struggling artists and musicians deal with the challenges of urban life. Admission is open to the general public. Tickets range from $15 to $25.
Kevin, father of five girls, is a graduate of State University of New York at Potsdam, where he majored in economics. He is a professional financial adviser, with offices at 15 South Main St. in Oneonta.
http://www.orpheustheatre.limewebs.com/Website/index.htm
Kevin Corkery, husband of Sarah Fieg Corkery, has been selected to play drums as part of a five-piece rock ensemble in a presentation of the Tony winning Broadway show "Rent," being produced by the Orpheus Theatre group in his hometown of Oneonta, NY.
Simultaneously it will be staged Sept. 18-20 at Goodrich Theater at State University of New York at Oneonta, featuring a cast of largely local talent including theater majors from the school.
The original Broadway production, featuring musical and dance compositions by Jonathan Larson, opened in New York in 1996 with current primetime television staple Jesse L. Martin of NBC's Law and Order, and continues its run to this day.
The musical is based on the story line from the Italian opera La Boheme by Puccini, but updates the setting from 19th century Paris to New York's contemporary Greenwich Village, where struggling artists and musicians deal with the challenges of urban life. Admission is open to the general public. Tickets range from $15 to $25.
Kevin, father of five girls, is a graduate of State University of New York at Potsdam, where he majored in economics. He is a professional financial adviser, with offices at 15 South Main St. in Oneonta.
http://www.orpheustheatre.limewebs.com/Website/index.htm
Monday, September 6, 2010
Milestone Marks Fiegs' Date With Fate
Dictated by Greg Fieg
The year 2012 will mark the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Corbett and Stewart acid factory which played a key part in the establishment of the Lothar Fieg family and subsequent generations.
As a boy, Lothar Fieg (1886-1958) emigrated from Germany with his parents, Carl and Emilie Fieg. He left the family farm in Milford, PA in the early part of the twentieth century to find work at the factory in southern Delaware County near the hamlet of Corbett, NY - then called Campbell's Creek. Lothar was remembered by the late Beulah Stewart, an heir of the factory's founder, as being affable, intelligent and capable, and he rapidly advanced through the corporate hierarchy and was named superintendent before his thirtieth birthday. This was no small feat as the plant, which produced acid, charcoal, wood alcohol and other collateral products was described as the largest such operation in the world at its inception.
Corbett and Stewart was a major contributor to munitions manufacturing and thus, upon the U.S. entry into World War I in 1917, the war department mandated that Lothar be fired as he was a German citizen and technically an "enemy alien." (Though domestic sabotage was almost unheard of during America's participation in World War I and presumably most spies were too clever to be caught, the War Department knew exactly what to do: fire that guy working in the acid plant in upstate New York!)
Without this intervention of fate, Lothar never would have taken his fledgling family in 1918 to find work at the burgeoning rail yards in Oneonta, Lothar's children would never have found their future mates and none of the next generation of that branch of the family would have been conceived! Coincidentally, without the hundreds of jobs provided by Corbett and Stewart that drew job seekers from hundreds of miles around, Lothar and Florence's union would never have been consummated in the first instance.
Florence's father, William, a stone cutter, had contracted pneumoconiosis, (also known as "Potter's rot" or silicosis), a severe lung disorder caused by the inhalation of stone dust. He and his family left their home in Colchester for Corbett where his wife, Celestia, operated the Merry Mason Boarding House. The five Shields daughters, Jane, Jessie, Nettie, Florence and Grace, pitched in with the chores.
When Florence met dashing young Lothar Fieg she was teaching school. After their courtship, the wedding date was set but on that day Florence, who had contracted scarlet fever, was quarantined to her room. Lothar was forced to climb to the roof of the boarding house and hold hands with his fiancee through the open window while the preacher performed the ceremony from the ground.
Ironically, though once a going concern that made millions of dollars for its investors, the Corbett and Stewart operation was predicated on the harvesting of thousands of acres of timber throughout the Catskills which, being a finite amount, foretold at the company's inception, of a time in generations hence when the timber would be gone and Corbett and Stewart would be finished.
By 1970 all that was left of the once mighty factory were the barely recognizable ruins of its rail yard and the sidings of the Delaware and Northern Railway, also now defunct. The village of Corbett, once wholly owned by the company, remains.
The year 2012 will mark the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Corbett and Stewart acid factory which played a key part in the establishment of the Lothar Fieg family and subsequent generations.
As a boy, Lothar Fieg (1886-1958) emigrated from Germany with his parents, Carl and Emilie Fieg. He left the family farm in Milford, PA in the early part of the twentieth century to find work at the factory in southern Delaware County near the hamlet of Corbett, NY - then called Campbell's Creek. Lothar was remembered by the late Beulah Stewart, an heir of the factory's founder, as being affable, intelligent and capable, and he rapidly advanced through the corporate hierarchy and was named superintendent before his thirtieth birthday. This was no small feat as the plant, which produced acid, charcoal, wood alcohol and other collateral products was described as the largest such operation in the world at its inception.
Corbett and Stewart was a major contributor to munitions manufacturing and thus, upon the U.S. entry into World War I in 1917, the war department mandated that Lothar be fired as he was a German citizen and technically an "enemy alien." (Though domestic sabotage was almost unheard of during America's participation in World War I and presumably most spies were too clever to be caught, the War Department knew exactly what to do: fire that guy working in the acid plant in upstate New York!)
Without this intervention of fate, Lothar never would have taken his fledgling family in 1918 to find work at the burgeoning rail yards in Oneonta, Lothar's children would never have found their future mates and none of the next generation of that branch of the family would have been conceived! Coincidentally, without the hundreds of jobs provided by Corbett and Stewart that drew job seekers from hundreds of miles around, Lothar and Florence's union would never have been consummated in the first instance.
Florence's father, William, a stone cutter, had contracted pneumoconiosis, (also known as "Potter's rot" or silicosis), a severe lung disorder caused by the inhalation of stone dust. He and his family left their home in Colchester for Corbett where his wife, Celestia, operated the Merry Mason Boarding House. The five Shields daughters, Jane, Jessie, Nettie, Florence and Grace, pitched in with the chores.
When Florence met dashing young Lothar Fieg she was teaching school. After their courtship, the wedding date was set but on that day Florence, who had contracted scarlet fever, was quarantined to her room. Lothar was forced to climb to the roof of the boarding house and hold hands with his fiancee through the open window while the preacher performed the ceremony from the ground.
In 1920 Lothar finally took his oath of allegiance to the United States at the Delaware County courthouse in Delhi and became a U.S. citizen. He never returned to work at Corbett and Stewart as he had already established himself in Oneonta where he is credited with the construction of numerous buildings, some of historical significance, many of which still stand today.
Ironically, though once a going concern that made millions of dollars for its investors, the Corbett and Stewart operation was predicated on the harvesting of thousands of acres of timber throughout the Catskills which, being a finite amount, foretold at the company's inception, of a time in generations hence when the timber would be gone and Corbett and Stewart would be finished.
By 1970 all that was left of the once mighty factory were the barely recognizable ruins of its rail yard and the sidings of the Delaware and Northern Railway, also now defunct. The village of Corbett, once wholly owned by the company, remains.
Ramagosa Yacht Outruns Hurricane Earl
By Greg Fieg
Details are sketchy but word comes from the high seas that Carol and Bob Ramagosa hastily furled sails on their 43-foot sailing yacht Sunnylands just in time to find a safe haven from a rendez-vous with Hurricane Earl. Luckily the storm only brushed the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S., though seas were predicted to be twenty feet in some areas, and Sunnylands, whose homeport is in Onslow County, NC, was presumably undamaged.
Carol and Bob reside near the original North American Fieg homestead, now operated as the Black Walnut Inn bed-and-breakfast near Milford, PA, but spend much time at their second home in the Carolinas when not at sea. The area of the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Susquehanna River dominates most of Cap'n Bob's charts.
Carol is the daughter of the late Emma Fieg of Milford and granddaughter of Max Fieg. Bob is an important builder in the Carolinas where he specializes in lake shore development.
Details are sketchy but word comes from the high seas that Carol and Bob Ramagosa hastily furled sails on their 43-foot sailing yacht Sunnylands just in time to find a safe haven from a rendez-vous with Hurricane Earl. Luckily the storm only brushed the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S., though seas were predicted to be twenty feet in some areas, and Sunnylands, whose homeport is in Onslow County, NC, was presumably undamaged.
Carol and Bob reside near the original North American Fieg homestead, now operated as the Black Walnut Inn bed-and-breakfast near Milford, PA, but spend much time at their second home in the Carolinas when not at sea. The area of the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Susquehanna River dominates most of Cap'n Bob's charts.
Carol is the daughter of the late Emma Fieg of Milford and granddaughter of Max Fieg. Bob is an important builder in the Carolinas where he specializes in lake shore development.
Ed and Sue Williams Travel to Atlanta
By Judy Kestner
In August, Ed and Sue Williams ventured south to visit with family on both family trees. They arrived at the condo of Laura Fieg (Doug's oldest and only granddaughter of Sue's dad, Lothar "Bud" Fieg) where Brian (Doug's youngest and Lothar's only grandson) and his wife Emily have been living while Laura teaches in Africa.
Brian and Emily shared lots of photos of their new home where they hope soon to move -- if only the bank would give them a closing date! Laura also had many pictures of her ventures in Uganda, as well as of her new love "Chief" who is Ugandan. Sue says, "Sorry I cannot give you his real name because I didn't write it down." Laura returned to Africa on August 11 where she has signed up for another year of teaching fifth grade. Sue did say that Laura had originally planned to teach younger children but added, "She loves it!"
One morning Ed and Sue ventured to Bob "Punchy" Powell's home. Punchy and Bud were best of friends during World War II. He actually has a mini war museum in his basement, and even has some things from World War I. He is one of the authors of the book Bluenoser Tales that includes pictures and bios of him and Bud, along with those of many other Bluenose pilots. Punchy mentioned there is another publication in paperback form to keep prices down. (To see a brief review of the publication or to purchase a copy go to: http://www.hyperscale.com/2007/reviews/books/bluenosertalespreview_1.htm. )
Of course, Sue and Ed had their personal copy of the book autographed and now have two signed pictures - Bud's and Punchy's. Punchy regaled them with stories about the 352nd fighter group of the "Mighty Eighth" Air Force. He and his wife, Betty, were wonderful hosts.
After a few hours Sue and Ed ventured south to Newnan, GA to visit with Ed's side of the family. They, too, brought out old pictures and news articles about the Williams family for an afternoon of recollections and memories. Sue says, "It was just not enough time to get everything done! But it sure was a great trip."
Any questions? Sue asks you to email sue.625@comcast.net or call 708-460-5179 (home) or 708-955-2906 (cell).
In August, Ed and Sue Williams ventured south to visit with family on both family trees. They arrived at the condo of Laura Fieg (Doug's oldest and only granddaughter of Sue's dad, Lothar "Bud" Fieg) where Brian (Doug's youngest and Lothar's only grandson) and his wife Emily have been living while Laura teaches in Africa.
Brian and Emily shared lots of photos of their new home where they hope soon to move -- if only the bank would give them a closing date! Laura also had many pictures of her ventures in Uganda, as well as of her new love "Chief" who is Ugandan. Sue says, "Sorry I cannot give you his real name because I didn't write it down." Laura returned to Africa on August 11 where she has signed up for another year of teaching fifth grade. Sue did say that Laura had originally planned to teach younger children but added, "She loves it!"
One morning Ed and Sue ventured to Bob "Punchy" Powell's home. Punchy and Bud were best of friends during World War II. He actually has a mini war museum in his basement, and even has some things from World War I. He is one of the authors of the book Bluenoser Tales that includes pictures and bios of him and Bud, along with those of many other Bluenose pilots. Punchy mentioned there is another publication in paperback form to keep prices down. (To see a brief review of the publication or to purchase a copy go to: http://www.hyperscale.com/2007/reviews/books/bluenosertalespreview_1.htm. )
Of course, Sue and Ed had their personal copy of the book autographed and now have two signed pictures - Bud's and Punchy's. Punchy regaled them with stories about the 352nd fighter group of the "Mighty Eighth" Air Force. He and his wife, Betty, were wonderful hosts.
After a few hours Sue and Ed ventured south to Newnan, GA to visit with Ed's side of the family. They, too, brought out old pictures and news articles about the Williams family for an afternoon of recollections and memories. Sue says, "It was just not enough time to get everything done! But it sure was a great trip."
Any questions? Sue asks you to email sue.625@comcast.net or call 708-460-5179 (home) or 708-955-2906 (cell).
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| From left, Brian Fieg, wife Emily, Sue Williams, husband Ed, Laura Fieg at Laura's condo in Smyrna, GA Aug. 2010 |
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| Sue Williams and Punchy Powell at Punchy's mini war museum in his home, Atlanta, GA Aug. 2010 |
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Whitesides and Greg Do Lunch
Maxine and Dr. Bob Whiteside took their nephew Greg Fieg to lunch at Bev's on the River which is Sioux City, IA's premier restaurant for lunch and dinner. Serving a modern American fare, the sprawling facility with dining rooms, outdoor deck and bar, overlooks the mighty Missouri River and is not far from where the Whitesides summered for many years at their vacation home in Yankton, SD.
The Whitesides gave up the home some years ago, opting to travel in the summer to the homes of two of their four children, Dr. Jeffrey Whiteside of Appleton, Wisc. on Lake Oshkosh, and Anne Still of Danville, IN.
During the course of the visit with Greg, Maxine was able to say a brief hello by phone to her late brother Frank's best childhood friend Col. Clifford R. "Roger" Silliman (USAF ret.) of Lompoc, CA. Roger this year celebrated his 90th birthday and is still very active, walking two or more miles a day.
The Whitesides will visit Danville in September.
The Whitesides gave up the home some years ago, opting to travel in the summer to the homes of two of their four children, Dr. Jeffrey Whiteside of Appleton, Wisc. on Lake Oshkosh, and Anne Still of Danville, IN.
During the course of the visit with Greg, Maxine was able to say a brief hello by phone to her late brother Frank's best childhood friend Col. Clifford R. "Roger" Silliman (USAF ret.) of Lompoc, CA. Roger this year celebrated his 90th birthday and is still very active, walking two or more miles a day.
The Whitesides will visit Danville in September.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Ed Williams Trains for Flying License
Ed Williams, husband of Susan Fieg Williams, of Orland Park, IL has begun training to acquire an FAA license to fly a single-engine airplane known as a "Power Parachute."
This small plane, which is regulated under FAA pilot's rules, looks somewhat like a small Everglades airboat, with a single seat sitting on three wheels with control apparatus and a propeller behind the pilot. The propeller powers the plane forward on the ground as a parachute behind it inflates and provides lift. It has a top speed of approximately 30 m.p.h. with a regulated ceiling of 10,000 feet (though only crazy people fly it at that altitude) and the unregulated ceiling is probably 20,000 feet or more with oxygen. The plane can only be flown in light winds and has no stall speed but the engine can be shut off in flight allowing the plane to float back to earth using the parachute. The plane can remain in the air for three hours on ten gallons of fuel.
Susan, who runs the Good Buy Travel Agency in the Chicago area, will not participate in Ed's endeavor, though she may stay on the ground and watch. "She might not even watch," Ed said.
In addition to this exciting foray into aviation, Ed, a retired mechanical engineer, has for more than six years been building a single-engine, two-seater aircraft in his basement laBORatory ("Come, Igor..."). Known as a Zenith model 601-XL. The plane can reach speeds of more than 130 miles an hour with a ceiling of 14,000 feet. Though small, it has a conventional fixed wing appearance and is large enough to accomodate pilot and passenger. Ed looks forward to taking Susan up with him (good luck with that!!).
It is possible that Ed can fly to a future Fieg reunion if conditions are right, though Ed may be reluctant to take the plane that far, due to the necessity of multiple stops to refuel.
This small plane, which is regulated under FAA pilot's rules, looks somewhat like a small Everglades airboat, with a single seat sitting on three wheels with control apparatus and a propeller behind the pilot. The propeller powers the plane forward on the ground as a parachute behind it inflates and provides lift. It has a top speed of approximately 30 m.p.h. with a regulated ceiling of 10,000 feet (though only crazy people fly it at that altitude) and the unregulated ceiling is probably 20,000 feet or more with oxygen. The plane can only be flown in light winds and has no stall speed but the engine can be shut off in flight allowing the plane to float back to earth using the parachute. The plane can remain in the air for three hours on ten gallons of fuel.
Susan, who runs the Good Buy Travel Agency in the Chicago area, will not participate in Ed's endeavor, though she may stay on the ground and watch. "She might not even watch," Ed said.
In addition to this exciting foray into aviation, Ed, a retired mechanical engineer, has for more than six years been building a single-engine, two-seater aircraft in his basement laBORatory ("Come, Igor..."). Known as a Zenith model 601-XL. The plane can reach speeds of more than 130 miles an hour with a ceiling of 14,000 feet. Though small, it has a conventional fixed wing appearance and is large enough to accomodate pilot and passenger. Ed looks forward to taking Susan up with him (good luck with that!!).
It is possible that Ed can fly to a future Fieg reunion if conditions are right, though Ed may be reluctant to take the plane that far, due to the necessity of multiple stops to refuel.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Dangcas Welcome Fourth Child
By Grampa Greg Fieg
Anna and Alan Dangca announced the birth on July 26 of Marta Jacqueline Dangca, their fourth child.
The baby weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces and was delivered by Caesarian section and joins her siblings Cade, Eva and Rosa. She is the ninth grandchild of Greg Fieg and a member of the fifth generation of Fiegs in the United States.
Anna and Alan Dangca announced the birth on July 26 of Marta Jacqueline Dangca, their fourth child.
The baby weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces and was delivered by Caesarian section and joins her siblings Cade, Eva and Rosa. She is the ninth grandchild of Greg Fieg and a member of the fifth generation of Fiegs in the United States.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Maren Corkery Wins Irish Dance Prizes
By Greg Fieg
Maren Corkery, 12, of Oneonta took gold and silver medallions in the recent Gov. Thomas Dongan Feis regional competition at the state capitol in Albany, competing with more than two hundred other participants. She took the gold medallion in the slip jig and the silver in the treble jig.
Maren has Irish culture on both sides of her family with the Corkerys hailing from County Cork in the Republic of Ireland and the Shields/Kenraid families who trace their heritage to the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. She became interested in Irish dance after being introduced to it by her good friend Mary Martha Kennedy from the village of Mt.Vision. The two girls came to know each other through the local home-schooling organization.
Maren is the granddaughter of Greg Fieg, great-granddaughter of the late Frank Fieg and great-great-granddaughter of Lothar and Florence Fieg.
Maren Corkery, 12, of Oneonta took gold and silver medallions in the recent Gov. Thomas Dongan Feis regional competition at the state capitol in Albany, competing with more than two hundred other participants. She took the gold medallion in the slip jig and the silver in the treble jig.
Maren has Irish culture on both sides of her family with the Corkerys hailing from County Cork in the Republic of Ireland and the Shields/Kenraid families who trace their heritage to the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. She became interested in Irish dance after being introduced to it by her good friend Mary Martha Kennedy from the village of Mt.Vision. The two girls came to know each other through the local home-schooling organization.
Maren is the granddaughter of Greg Fieg, great-granddaughter of the late Frank Fieg and great-great-granddaughter of Lothar and Florence Fieg.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Pforzheim Mystery Correction
Steven and Diana both have German connections, and it appears that "Pforzheim" has another meaning. This is what I found on Opentopia:
A settlement was established by Roman citizens at the Enz river near nowadays Altstaedter Bruecke (old town bridge). Archeological surveys have unearthed several items from that period which are kept and displayed in the Kappelhof Museum. The settlement was located where the Roman military road connecting the military camp Argentorate (nowadays Strasbourg in France) and the military camp at Cannstatt (now a suburb of Stuttgart) at the Upper Germanic Limes border line of the Roman Empire crossed the Enz river. This place was known as Portus (river crossing, harbor), which is believed to be the origin of the first part of the city's name "Pforzheim". A Roman milestone (the so-called 'Leugenstein') from the year 245 and later excavated at nowadays Friolzheim shows the exact distance to 'Portus'; it is the first document about the settlement.
I feel so much better now!
A settlement was established by Roman citizens at the Enz river near nowadays Altstaedter Bruecke (old town bridge). Archeological surveys have unearthed several items from that period which are kept and displayed in the Kappelhof Museum. The settlement was located where the Roman military road connecting the military camp Argentorate (nowadays Strasbourg in France) and the military camp at Cannstatt (now a suburb of Stuttgart) at the Upper Germanic Limes border line of the Roman Empire crossed the Enz river. This place was known as Portus (river crossing, harbor), which is believed to be the origin of the first part of the city's name "Pforzheim". A Roman milestone (the so-called 'Leugenstein') from the year 245 and later excavated at nowadays Friolzheim shows the exact distance to 'Portus'; it is the first document about the settlement.
I feel so much better now!
St. Michael's Church, Pforzheim
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Pforzheim Mystery Solved
While cleaning out my email inbox, I came across this message from Diana dated April 19. Please be advised that it contains a word you may find offensive (though it is something we have all done).
"I am talking to a German woman on the phone and she is telling me the meaning of the word Pforzheim. The real meaning of the word Pforzheim is Farthouse. Did you know that? She says that names were given starting in the Middle Ages and at that time farting was thought to be very healthy. She said it was probably a small town with a wall around it – maybe 5,000 people. So she’s thinking people went there to fart or the people who lived there thought they were healthier – maybe like a farting spa or something."
So now you know......
"I am talking to a German woman on the phone and she is telling me the meaning of the word Pforzheim. The real meaning of the word Pforzheim is Farthouse. Did you know that? She says that names were given starting in the Middle Ages and at that time farting was thought to be very healthy. She said it was probably a small town with a wall around it – maybe 5,000 people. So she’s thinking people went there to fart or the people who lived there thought they were healthier – maybe like a farting spa or something."
So now you know......
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Joke Corner
1. The men's room at a service station was vandalized and all the fixtures were stolen. The owner asked the police about the case and the officer in charge said, "We have absolutely nothing to go on."
2. Lady goes to get her hair done and mentions she's going on a European vacation. "We'll fly Continental to Rome, stay at the opulent Casa D'Oro Hotel and even visit the Vatican and see the Pope!" she exclaims.
Hairdressers sniffs, "Continental's planes are old, the food stinks and the attendants are all old and ugly. Rome is so hot this time of year, and that hotel? Seedy and run down. And if you see the Pope, you'll be so far away he'll look like an ant."
Lady comes back from vacation and goes for a hair cut. "We got to fly on Continental's newest plane, and we were bumped up to first class (steak for supper -- yum!) and the attendants were young and good looking and so attentive! A cold front was stalled over Rome and the weather was perfect. The hotel had been newly renovated, and because they over-booked they gave us the Presidential suite at no extra charge. Oh, and at the Vatican one of the Swiss Guards tapped me on the shoulder and said the Pope likes to meet a few visitors in person every day! He ushered us into the Pope's private office and there he was -- I knelt and said a prayer, and the Pope murmured a few words. What a vacation!"
"Hmph. What exactly did the Pope say?"
" 'Who messed up your hair??' "
2. Lady goes to get her hair done and mentions she's going on a European vacation. "We'll fly Continental to Rome, stay at the opulent Casa D'Oro Hotel and even visit the Vatican and see the Pope!" she exclaims.
Hairdressers sniffs, "Continental's planes are old, the food stinks and the attendants are all old and ugly. Rome is so hot this time of year, and that hotel? Seedy and run down. And if you see the Pope, you'll be so far away he'll look like an ant."
Lady comes back from vacation and goes for a hair cut. "We got to fly on Continental's newest plane, and we were bumped up to first class (steak for supper -- yum!) and the attendants were young and good looking and so attentive! A cold front was stalled over Rome and the weather was perfect. The hotel had been newly renovated, and because they over-booked they gave us the Presidential suite at no extra charge. Oh, and at the Vatican one of the Swiss Guards tapped me on the shoulder and said the Pope likes to meet a few visitors in person every day! He ushered us into the Pope's private office and there he was -- I knelt and said a prayer, and the Pope murmured a few words. What a vacation!"
"Hmph. What exactly did the Pope say?"
" 'Who messed up your hair??' "
Judy Kestner Directs Three-day Girl Scout Event
On July 6, 7 and 8 your editor directed the annual Summer Fun event conducted by the Lone Star Service Unit of the Girl Scouts of Greater South Texas Council attended by sixty Girl Scouts, fifteen adult volunteers and thirteen camp aides.
The girls learned about patriotism and what makes our country the best in the world at this event titled "Red, White and Blue: Patriots Through and Through." They learned flag etiquette and history, played games that girls in colonial times played, made their own ice cream and butter in Ziploc bags (just like girls in colonial times) and were entertained by speakers from the VFW, local historical society and a real live female Navy lieutenant who is a pilot and pilot trainer.
Since one of the craft leaders was sick for the last two days I had to wear her hat as well as mine. That meant that some of the activities I had planned did not come to fruition, and others were not as detailed as I would have liked, but all in all it was a great success, and the leaders even pitched in and bought me a hummingbird feeder (my camp nickname is Bird Lady) and a $50 gift card to Chili's Restaurant.
One of the most helpful aides was, of course, my own daughter, Emilie Kestner, who is proficient in herding cats, and proved to be equally skilled with the little girls. Emilie even mopped the floor at the end of the last two days while her mother sat, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth, rubbing her throbbing feet.
The girls learned about patriotism and what makes our country the best in the world at this event titled "Red, White and Blue: Patriots Through and Through." They learned flag etiquette and history, played games that girls in colonial times played, made their own ice cream and butter in Ziploc bags (just like girls in colonial times) and were entertained by speakers from the VFW, local historical society and a real live female Navy lieutenant who is a pilot and pilot trainer.
Since one of the craft leaders was sick for the last two days I had to wear her hat as well as mine. That meant that some of the activities I had planned did not come to fruition, and others were not as detailed as I would have liked, but all in all it was a great success, and the leaders even pitched in and bought me a hummingbird feeder (my camp nickname is Bird Lady) and a $50 gift card to Chili's Restaurant.
One of the most helpful aides was, of course, my own daughter, Emilie Kestner, who is proficient in herding cats, and proved to be equally skilled with the little girls. Emilie even mopped the floor at the end of the last two days while her mother sat, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth, rubbing her throbbing feet.
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