54 Years Ago Today... ✈

Two children, four suitcases and $400.00. We risked everything (there was no safety net), and dreamed the American dream; sometimes dreams do come true.

We took a chance in a million with no guarantees, but the fates were kind and our little family was blessed. Mom gave up her beloved bungalow to help me fulfill a life long dream and without her we wouldn't be here today.
We did it, old love, and we did it our way!

Taking the train from Wales to London.

Nana, Pop, Annette, Mike, and two week old baby Claire were there to see us off.

Peter was eight and Astrid was two.

My friend growing up, Sydney, saw us off at Heathrow on August 14, 1968.

Letter from the Bank 1969 🖃

 Flying home from Pittsburgh on August 16th, 1968; little did I know we would be moving to the USA at the same time next year.

Phew.... I just had my last interview in London for the World Bank with Lacey Carter; she was tough!

A letter arrived from the World Bank early August 1969, advising me to report for duty.

That evening I called Ulrike in Frankfurt and said we had to be in D.C. within ten days! She rushed home with Peter and Astrid, sold up the contents of the house, put the bungalow on the market, and we flew out August 14th. It was a rush!!

The day before leaving Germany for London in August, 1969, to obtain visas. Ten days later we would be in the USA.
Peter and Astrid with Großmutter.

Dad's birthplace in Wales

 A few minutes past night, I was born in this little house on the far right on Bridgend Road in the village of Garth, Wales. My great grandfather had built the houses for his three daughters and at the time of my birth, Auntie Maggie (a feisty old gal you would never wish to cross), lived at the other end. The houses were sandwiched between the library and chapel but both have regretfully been demolished. Sadly, the awful Crittall & Winter replacement windows detract from the simplicity of the granite and slate tiles.

In this little house (with just three bedrooms and outside privy) my grandparents raised their seven children with strict obedience to the sabbath.

My mother, who had come down from London to give birth, witnessed a tragic accident that afternoon when a little boy was fatally run over by bus outside the house and she went into labour from shock. I was born in the same bed as my mother, and in the same bedroom where all my aunts and uncles were also born.

Great Grandfather in Germany

On Mom's side of the family - 

Hereunder, pictures of your great grandfather, August Ferdinand Julius Neth who died in France

during World War I on 21st March, 1918 at Lanicourt between Arras and Cambrai. Important for you

to be aware of your family tree.

Uncle Uli spent one summer in France hunting for his grandfather's grave as nobody knew where it was.  As

you can see from the second picture, he found it and was able to take pictures back to his mother, who

was nine years old when her father was killed. 

A Promise Made is a Promise Kept

A promise I made to myself in my teenage years,  should I ever have a family, they would never lack photographs. A promise that has been kept, but so many taken over the years I doubt the children will see them all. 

What fun it as been and so many memories which otherwise would have been lost. All the family photographs required a tripod and the patience of Job, as our children, not forgetting the grandchildren, were not always cooperative!