Family Ties

When I was a little girl, a relative mentioned that looking into my eyes was like looking into the eyes of my maternal great grandmother -- we have the same color.
I thought that was so cool because, I,like everyone in my family, absolutely adored her. She was a saint who had the strength and courage to come to this country with nothing. She kept the family together through some very dark days, and I was fortunate enough to know her. She passed away when I was 12, but I can still remember her kindness.

Recently, I've been trying to organize my mother's old photos. I love to look at old photographs, especially those of family. Ever since I realized we share these similarities like eyecolor, I'll scrutinize each one.


Here are my Maternal Great Grandparents on their wedding day. They shared the same Birthday, March 14, but 10 years apart. They were from separate villages in the Ukraine, but met in PittsburghI'm guessing I have the height of my Great Grandfather -- he was the shortest in his family at 6 foot tall. My great grandmother was 4'11".

Here's a photograph of my Paternal Great Grandparents.
They were from separate villages in Lithuania, and they, too, met in Pittsburgh. I'm not sure if I see any resemblance. My Great grandmother lived to be 103 and my Great grandfather lived to be 100. He probably would have lived longer, but, after drinking too much Wild Turkey, he slipped on ice and broke his hip. He never fully recovered. I'm hoping I've inherited their longevity



This is my Paternal Grandfather. He is a very intelligent man. He graduated from Carnegie Tech (before it became Carnegie Mellon) with a degree in engineering. However, he has his demons--one being depression. He never seemed to recover from the death of his older brother, a paratrooper, in WWII. I don't think I've ever seen him happy.

My Paternal Grandmother has always been a mystery. After her death at the age of 45, no one seemed to speak about her. I know my father loved her very much, and I just assumed that it pained him too much to talk about her. I don't even know her birthdate. The few things I got from my mother is that she was a very high spirited person who liked being around people - and she loved baseball…Here she is with my father.


This is my Maternal Grandmother. She taught me how to bake. I loved spending time with her in the kitchen. She was an outstanding cook, and she passed along many of the recipes from "the old country" to me. She collected recipes, and I still have boxes of them.



I've been told that I have my Father's smile. and if you would ask, I would say my personality is very similar to that of my father's. He was a quiet man - however, he had a wicked sense of humor. And Sarcastic?! Oh yeah, he could be sarcastic. He had the funniest laugh. Some of my fondest memories are of when I would make him laugh. He was a mechanical genius who could fix anything. He'd take an engine apart and put it back together again with little effort. And since I was usually his "helper", I learned quite a bit. Physically he was very strong, too. Okay, I dunno, maybe it's because he's my dad, but that's how I remember him. I love this picture of him This is his graduation picture. He was a very handsome man.
I miss him.
This is my favorite photo of my mother. In my mind this epitomizes her personality. She's about seven, but you can still see the little attitude with the hat turned slightly to the side, and the sweet but devilish smile. I like to think I've inherited a bit of that.


It's always nice to look back at our history and realize that we share a connection with so many different people --people who were unique, with there own stories, but who are very similar to us because of the genetic ties that bind.

Thanks for looking back with me.