They kept everything.

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My Grandparents kept everything, and it all ended up in my lap. This collection of stuff ranged from the cool (WWII V-Mail from my Uncle Frank) to the "you've got to be kidding me" (receipts from a trip taken in the 50s). I've weeded out a lot of the nonsense and kept the more interesting (at least what was interesting to me). In turn I decided to create this site to not only post some items, but also as a research exercise. Most items are from Chicago and Detroit, but of course family trips expanded their reach of hoarding. I hope you enjoy this very random collection. Frank Kownacki

theme by Robin Wragg

 

In my last post I showed you a scrap book that my Father recently uncovered in the crawl space of his home. In it are many photos shot by my Grandpa George Ehemann over the years. Now this site isn’t really geared towards showing family photos, but I have in the past posted a shot if it stood out for one reason or another. So with that in mind I will on occasion post a picture or two that I think stands out from the normal snap shot.

For example: This page shows images of the baseball team my Grandpa and my Uncle Frank McDermott were on in what appears to be the late 1920s or early 1930s. (Grandpa George wasn’t technically related to Uncle Frank, but he did marry his older sister – my Grandma Alice.) The team was the Ravenswood A.C. which is named after the Chicago neighborhood they lived in. While I can’t find a definitive answer I’m going to assume that “A.C.” stands for Athletic Club and this was their local team much like the assortment of softball teams that exist today. As for the location of this shot my Uncle Paul guessed it to be Amundsen High School, which after looking at street view I would concur.

In the close up shot you have my Grandpa George in the upper left holding what could be a play book, with my Uncle Frank just below him. Uncle Frank is wearing his glove, which after I saw this it brought back a flood of memories of him using it to play ball with us kids. Sadly, both of my Grandfathers died before I was born, so Uncle Frank many a time played a sort of surrogate Granddad. Anyway, Uncle Frank has appeared here before in both this image of him in downtown after The War along with V-mail he sent home during his time away. He also most likely joined my Grandfather at all of the various sporting events that he saved his ticket stubs from including three Cubs World Series games and the first Blackhawks Stanley Cup victory. The one thing that didn’t make it down through the ages is that jersey, which I would kill to have today. 

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