The people in the top photo are my maternal family.
My mother is the tall gal on the left. Her sister is on the right.
My grandparents are in the middle.
Heinrich Kuhn married Gertrud Gabel during WWI.
This photo dates back to about 1933.
It is the Kuhn side.
It is my father's family along with my mother and her sister top left.
To the right of my father was his 15 year old sister. Seated are his 19 year old sister and my paternal grandfather Franz Frederich Dietze, an inventor and an electician from the city of Aussig after 1918. He married Helene Rast and my father was their first born in 1920.
Non of them remain alive now that Ursula has joined them.
It is hard to think of the tough lives they once lived. Both of my parents had lost their moms before their wedding. Then my Dad's youngest sister died of cancer at age 28. The next to pass was my Dad of a heart attack at age 42. His father folloed him at age 71. He had a stroke. Then my mother at 70 joined her beloved. She had cancer. That left us with two aunties. The 19 year old made it to 82. She never married. Ursula made it to 96. Ironically all used to believe she was a sickly one who would die young. She fooled them all.
What is fascinating is I share genes with each of them and I have wondered often about their lives. The wars affected them all. They did share how they hated those days. They were peace loving but politics pushed them into a horrific situation.
Kuhn will not be passed on as there were no sons.
Dietze will not be passed on because my brother died childless at age 30 in an accident. Only genes go on.
Today is Canadian Thanksgiving and I am very thankful for the way my life is going. We spent a lovely sunny warm Sunday thankful to be fortunate for all we have and all we may share.
